nedxnancy

[nedxnancy]

well, y'all know where my mind immediately went

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[nedxnancy]

Okay one more

[nedxnancy]

Last Nancy Drew Mystery Stories episode! (Back to the Files for the next one.)

[nedxnancy]

I just want to imagine them snuggling, dammit

Why can't I be a professional blorbo thinker

[nedxnancy]

all the men whose hearts Nancy has broken replying to her honeymoon-with-Ned posts 😂

[nedxnancy]

my internal 8 year old when writing Nancy/Ned wedding day fic

oh my got they got marrieeeeeed. Theyre in love and they got marrieeeeeed

[nedxnancy]

Nancy Drew (2019-2023)

I don't think anyone who's followed me for any length of time could ever genuinely believe I'm anti-fanfic or think that fanfic is uncreative, but there absolutely is a wide swath of fanfic that's literally just OCs dressed up in the clothes of popular characters as a quick way of attracting audience engagement. And that's like. A thing that should be acknowledged in discussions about fanfic I believe.

Fanfic isn't INHERENTLY lazy or uncreative, but there absolutely are writers who use familiar characters with built-in audiences as a shortcut when in actuality they have zero interest in the source material they're writing about and they're basically writing a wholly original work in someone else's clothes.

But I mean, you didn't hear it from me. Or maybe you did. Idk. Its five am, what are words even, why am I awake.

[nedxnancy]

[nedxnancy]

Well, having just read a recap of the Nancy Drew show finale… real real glad they stabbed me in the chest early by breaking up my OTP in S1 so that I wasn’t watching that reveal. I would have BURST INTO RAGE FLAMES.

[nedxnancy]

Just finished rereading Double Jinx Mystery (the Nancy Drew book my avatar image is from!)

A chapter-ending cliffhanger is a guy asking “so when are you two getting married?” after Nancy and Ned were asking about an apartment building development plan

Nancy turns beet red and Ned looks at the ground and they’re like “ummmmm we aren’t 😶”

Ned comes down with Bird Flu and Nancy is immediately like “LET ME PLAY NURSE”

(She already has that outfit, Ned’s into outfits)

(He’s had this request for a LONG TIME)

Despite being forbidden to care for him, she comes down with it too

(She was 100% sneaking in there for “caregiving” reasons, he was AT HER HOUSE, it was giving Jane Austen)

Ned gets delirious and demands to speak to her and she’s like “fuck it, I WILL NOT just stay in the doorway, he NEEDS ME”

Nancy has been named a witch by the end????????????? Like with a ceremony???????????

This is also, I am convinced, the genesis of the Sasha Petrov love triangle in Files 48-50

[nedxnancy]

Barbie (2023) and Nancy Drew (1959)

I have to put this under a read-more because it's gonna talk about the way Barbie (2023) ends.

I went to see the movie today, and I couldn't help thinking about Ned and Ken.

There are a lot of similarities between Nancy Drew and Barbie (in fact, if somehow that ever actually happened, a Barbie modeled on Nancy Drew instead of just general Detective Barbie or Spy Barbie, I would lose it. Lose. It. A friend made me some vintage-inspired-Nancy-Drew Barbie outfits and I LOVE THEM.) - Barbie is allowed agency and high-profile careers and all the importance, although, as the film points out, Stereotypical Barbie exists only to be pretty and blank.

(I also didn't realize until drafting this post that the Nancy Drew revisions, removing racial stereotypes and streamlining/shortening the plots from the 1932-1958 books, which began in 1959, started the same year Barbie was introduced.)

My Barbies were always involved in crime plots. Evil Barbie was blackmailing people and trying to steal their boyfriends. It was like a reality show in my Barbie townhouse. My Kens (who were outnumbered by a significant ratio) were pretty much always just accessories, either literal or figurative.

Nancy Drew is on the cusp of adulthood and has no stated money-earning career, much like Stereotypical Barbie. She loves mysteries and is an amateur detective, but it's very clear that she is not professional, is not paid for her work, and would be unable to operate as an amateur detective were her father unable to bankroll her activities.

Ned, like Ken, exists without Nancy—but also has no job. Ken does "beach," but performs no function there. (The film aside that Ken's domestic sphere, the Mojo Dojo Casa House, sells like hotcakes, is fascinating: masculine-coded toys seem to have castles or Batcaves for "homes," and are heroes or rescuers or doers in some sense; Ken is allowed to just be a horse enthusiast who also loves full-length fur coats. Ken doesn't sit in the Pink [White] House being absolute ruler all day.) Ned is a college student who plays sports but also isn't employed beyond temporary summer jobs. To the viewer/reader, Ned does functionally disappear without the context of Nancy. Nancy defines Ned's life.

a yellowed-paper heart imagines Ned without Nancy, much like Ken, but in the story Ned recognizes that Nancy has been made to never return his affections; he has agency, where she is bound by the decisions of her creator. Ned seeks meaning in reality but it's to escape the pain of knowing his love won't and can't be requited. He gets to be his own main character for a while, but recognizes that the lack remains.

Ned can't return. But Ken does. Ken comes off as kind of incel in the last part of the film, but he also freely admits early on that even if he did "stay over" at Barbie's house, he's not sure what that would actually mean. He's hurt that his feelings aren't returned, not that Barbie is denying him (functionally impossible) sex.

I think it's very easy to read Nancy Drew, especially original Mystery Stories, 1932-1979, Nancy Drew, as asexual. She can't return Ned's feelings because she hasn't been given the capacity. She does feel warmly toward him, he is her favorite escort, but her priority is always her mysteries, and for the most part Ned has no interest in interfering with that, because the excitement of her mysteries is part of what he loves about her.

I think it's really interesting to read Barbie as asexual too, although the film makes the point that Barbie lacks functional genitalia (until the end, anyway). Becoming a "real woman" doesn't make Barbie attracted to Ken. Stereotypical Barbie can't be married Barbie because that isn't a universal goal.

You can argue that Nancy Drew is niche; she's not stereotypical Barbie. But Nancy Drew also breaks gender norms in a few different ways while reinforcing others, and just like Stereotypical Barbie, Nancy calls the shots in her relationship.

Ned doesn't exist only for Nancy's gaze, even though he very obviously hints that he wants to marry her eventually. Ken wants to make a home with Barbie partially because Kens just don't have homes in Barbieland. Ned, were he to change his mind and seek another partner, is presented as a very attractive guy.

In the movie, the ways the Kens perform a lot for and with each other was fascinating. The Barbies interact with each other; Kens are temporary distractions from the work. Nancy and her friends interact with each other; Ned and his friends are around to serve as muscle in dangerous situations, crew sailboats, and call the cops before returning to their summer jobs. In that way, Ned does have a role, where Ken is shut out.

(This is also ignoring the Kens who clearly DID have careers, or at least the wardrobe to imply them. Those Kens always seemed niche, though. Doctor Ken was a thing. Otherwise, Ken comes dressed appropriately to accompany the corresponding Barbie on an adventure.)

Nancy Drew can't end. Barbie can't end. They were written to survive and be and read ourselves into. Marriage/relationships aren't the goal we all have - and even if they were, we aren't all straight - so the characters can't have that, but that doesn't mean that they, that Barbie, can't be people, adults, complete.

It's just interesting to think about.

[nedxnancy]

Yep. When I wrote Nancy as more dominant/masculine and Ned as more feminine/submissive in a story/series, it was ridiculously easy. Ned isn’t interested in dominating their relationship; he values it and her because she brings excitement to his life, and he wouldn’t trade that for a demure housewife situation. Nancy sees her mysteries/cases as her primary concern, and that is only occasionally and temporarily overwhelmed by her worry over the safety of kidnapped or imperiled loved ones.

Ned is the adoring sidekick. And I can’t help loving him for it.

Dissecting "Nancy won't Settle Down," Nedcy versus Traditional Marriage, and Ned versus Hypermasculinity versus the Hardy Boys because it's 3 AM (very long meta)

I don't exactly how to phrase this, but there's something that really bothers me about the way that people say that "Nancy's never going to settle down"

Who said she had to?

Like it just feels like continuing this weird expectation of how either men or women have to be in a marriage and then also a weak attempt to be against it at the same time for something that literally doesn't have to happen.

idk it's just like....performative. saying that feels performative.

Marriage will never actually be a part of the equation of Nancy's life as long as people respect the reason her character is designed the way that it is. Which they won't, but that's another post.

But, hypothetically,

why would Ned, who many of you describe as a doormat, force Nancy into a position that she does not suit because that's how marriage is "traditionally" supposed to be?

Or even why would Nancy, a woman with a strong sense of identity, force herself into a position that she does not suit because that's how marriage is "traditionally" supposed to be?

It doesn't make sense to me.

Why if they got married would it have to be a traditional marriage? Cause a lot fo you seem to be implying that needs to happen if they got married. She has to be forced into a quiet and calm life when that doesn't even have to be an option.

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Additionally, I'm not sure who failed some of you in this department, but there are so many bad takes assigned to either of their personalities with this phrase.

And I'm not saying this to force any nonnedcy shipper into shipping nedcy, I'm saying this to help people understand how it fits in canon.

In that personality post that I never expanded upon even though I said I would, I said that Ned's personality complements Nancy's. Which is true. He complements her because he represented the things she needed, and not just to shut sexist people up. That was just bonus.

He understands her without having the exact same personality/dreams/goals as she does. He's a scientist. He has an investigative mind that grew in a different way. He's charismatic. He's strong. He's safe.

She needed safety, understanding, compassion, strength, intelligence, and a strong right hook.

She has a weird life and she needed someone who was well along for the ride, because before Ned she didn't have that. She dated guys who basically belittled or never truly took her interests into consideration. In defense of some, they just couldn't because of how their own lives were. But Ned could. And he did. He likes how weird is life is because of her.

There's a whole speech in a Files book I could use, but I much prefer the Sapphire Spider where Ned is kidnapped and missed finals and he is more worried about finals than the kidnapping which he basically takes as an "it happens" sort of thing. I feel like that has the same energy if he's just accepted that that's his life now with seemingly little-to-no difficulties.

That's the most basic of it.

Without pulling everything up, whenever Ned has talked about his future, he's never decided anything about her future. which is what she really loved about him. If he ever actually forced her into doing anything it was stopping her from dying. He never told her what her future was going to be, he just knew he wants her in it.

If you think that all men, no matter what their personalities are, would force their wives, no matter what their personalities are, to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen at all times, then that sounds like a totally different problem than disliking a character or ship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This also bleeds into something I've been feeling for a long time that I've never really said, but I'm not sure how progressive this fandom actually is compared to what it acts like it is.

The people doing the "settle down thing" seem weirdly opposed to a less-than-traditional relationship at times. Like if they got married, they would never do the breadwinner husband or housewife thing. That's not their personality. I don't think they would have even done it in the past, because there are Stratemayer books that didn't really do that. They would probably both work. And not even in the "neotraditional" household where the wife has a job just still does all the childcare. Ned is too loving. He would never just make kids to ignore them and complain about "slaving away all day to put food in their mouths." That's not their personalities either.

If any "type" of marriage would better describe what would be suitable for them is a partnership marriage. A partnership marriage is a far more gender-neutral model of marriage based on an equal division of labor that is suitable for both parties. They are unique to every couple and are based on a shared decision on what they think is best. Overall, the couple lives life as they find suitable and they don't need anyone telling them how well they think their relationship should be. This much better reflects modern views on marriage.

She could maintain her jet-setting ways, and be a wife and mother. But is that too weird for some of y'all because it puts a woman in a position where she is not at all times accessible to her children and a man in a more accessible caregiver position? Be honest. It's fine. It's necessary to unpack this stuff.

Not all of you are Hardy Boys fans, but there are some people who are seemingly more comfortable with Fenton and Laura who have been in a similar relationship for years but the genders reversed and do not see the similarities. For this argument, I am including when Laura is not just a housewife (I'm not entirely convinced this has ever truly been the case but another time). Because for many, it's easier to digest when a man neglects his marriage and childrearing duties to work and travel than when a woman does it.

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Continuing on the feminism train. This also reminds me of this concept I learned that honestly does apply very well to how many people here treat Ned (and maybe others). A very unprogressive concept in which people are uncomfortable with a man who does not display the "traditionally masculine traits" of ambition, restraint, independence, or just simply being happy and comfortable being in a position similar to a SAHD or making less than their female spouse.

Sometimes the way that people talk about or straight up just insult Ned reminds me of this concept of people being apprehensive with men that are seemingly not comfortable with being the best/the manliest/the most superior. For example, there was once this children's librarian who was berated, laughed at, and bullied by his coworkers (male and female) for not wanting to be the library director. He did not want to be at the top of his field (to them more of a man/more masculine), so he was ridiculed for already achieving his dream of being a children's librarian. You might not think this fully applies to him, but keep reading this novel of a post and you'll see the connection.

Now, this idea came to me from the book Gender: ideas, interactions, institutions. There are honestly so many different concepts of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny in this book that I could apply to any character. But for now a little taste with just Ned.

There are many people in this fandom who have a problem with the way that he does gender. The same thing actually happens with George, Nancy, Frank, Joe, and Bess in their own ways. But Ned has always been my main example of seeing this. He does not "do gender or perform his gender in a way that people are usually comfortable with men doing. There are ways that he breaks gender rules.

In the way that he is more comfortable with being at least semi-stationary while is globetrotting girlfriend lives up to that alliteration is a problem in the way that he performs his masculinity in society's perferred method.

Ned is a love interest to an Action Girlfriend aka a female character that acts as "the hero," which means he is put into a position that leans towards a more feminized area in fiction. Remember that he has existed since 1932. There are more male love interests in a similar position now then there have been for the entirety of his existence. He is the damsel in distress at times and he's alright with that, mostly because he knows that Nancy will save him. If you actually look in the Distressed Dude section in TVTropes, Ned is there.

Besties with Lois Lane and Olive Oyl /j

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------However, as I briefly mentioned, the love interest position is not the only thing that causes this type of reaction that I'm seeing. Even if many don't realize gendered thinking and the gender binary are so ingrained in socialization that people often police or enforce gender when they don't even realize this.

This often comes in the form of criticism or expectation. The criticizing is obviously focused more on someone who is not currently performing the preferred behaviors of their gender while the expectation is similar, but this form of disliking someone's gender performance comes with the expectation that they will fulfill it even when they've given the person no reason to believe that they will with their behavior.

Some of these critiques or even expectations that I've seen of Ned (and other male characters) often associate with hypermasculinity being enforced.

The type of characteristics we can see with hypermasculine behavior is

aggression

ambition

combative

dominant

hypersexual

unempathetic

restrained (emotionally)

impulsive

violent

unkind

contentious

brutal

strong

confident

physical

abrasive

assertive (bossy)

possessive

Some of those might be synonyms, but you get the idea. These are things that are socially enforced and accepted as the ideal display of masculinity. If a man fails to perform all of these in association with each other, he opens himself up to being targeted, harassed, harmed, or ostracized. They will be seen as lesser men.

Again, this concept is something that people will even enforce without realizing it because society ingrains the expectation of upholding the gender binary in our minds.

How many of the words in the list really describe Ned? Like sure he's strong, occasionally confident, and he has his ambitions....but the other ones. They don't really suit him.

He is rather emotional, and empathetic, and thinks things through for the most part. He is not typically possessive, violent, aggressive, abrasive, or assertive. Helping Nancy and being "at the beck and call" puts him in a more subordinate position compared to her leadership and dominance.

Ignoring the fact that Ned is getting his degree to obtain his career, he is not actively pursuing his career. At least in the way we see Nancy, Frank, and Joe. This is something that is enforced and encouraged in androcentrism (favoring masculine traits aka ambition). In the games specifically, his ambition is not actively shown. The internship is close, but we don't see that.

Ned is put in a less ambitious, less stereotypically masculine position. He is the housewife. He is making dinner and cleaning up the kids before the breadwinner (Nancy) comes homes and gives him 20 bucks to buy himself something pretty.

Now some people who have a well-filled pool of information of the Nancy Drew franchise might try to point out that there are times when Ned performs hypermasculinity. There definitely are. But let me point this out from the Nancy Drew Scrapbook.

These traits may exist. But they are inconsistent. They honestly do not always exist. Any amount of aggression that exists in one book is absent in the next. Same thing with jealousy, some people try to portray him as an aggressively possessive monster. At most, that is another inconsistent trait that often appears in books heavily criticized for their poor writing, excessive cliche attempts at drama, and mischaracterization of everyone. Files is a constant example of this.

Sidenote: Ned's relationship with jealousy is weird and also often misunderstood in my opinion so someone remind me to discuss that further. (THINK SEA or CAP)

Comparatively, even if you use the most hypermasculine examples from any part of the franchise, Ned doesn't really do gender in the same way the Hardy Boys do. It has actually been a long-standing critique that Fenton, Frank, and Joe are constantly upholding the ideals of "traditional American masculinity" as they often display all of these traits. Some level of variance of course, but they're there.

And I saw it. I even see it in the ways that they are praised over Ned. It's because they're more driven, active, independent, and confident. They are more masculine than he is. They perform masculinity better than he does. The masculine traits they have in common, they are better at them. Therefore, they are better men.

It's no secret that many people here openly put down Ned to uplift Frank. Even if some of you pretend that it isn't true, you're about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. "Nancy really needs someone more like her. Nancy needs someone who can challenge her. Nancy needs someone who displays more hypermasculine traits and better fits society's mold of what a 'real man.' is." The last one is an exaggeration, but it also isn't.

I love all three of them. However, I'm also not afraid to critique the pitfalls of the more hypermasculine or toxically masculine ways that the Hardy Boys are boys. They do not have the same level of healthy masculinity as Ned.

(They are better in the games, I will give them that, but there is a notable difference in the games being marketed towards girls and the Hardy Boys franchise being marketed towards boys.)

And I am going to define it as healthy masculinity because the ways that the difference between healthy and toxic have been defined lean closer to Ned's behavior rather than the Hardy Boys.

Masculinity is a spectrum along with feminity and androgeny. There are many ways that a man is a man or masculine because they are separate concepts. Remembering that is vital in unpacking the ways that binary is enforced. Even policing the behaviors and displays of gender in fictional characters is a part of enforcing the binary.

Do not get fanon mixed up with canon here. Because the games may lead people to misunderstand how these characters have been portrayed with their associations of masculinity over the years. Along with Tumblr and turning Frank Hardy into the ideal YA Fiction Love Interest over his actual personality. But that's a whole different topic that might get too personal.

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Anyway, I've spent a lot of time unpacking my relationship with gender. I barely have one. So this is a topic I am comfortable with discussing randomly at 3-6 O'Clock in the morning.

This is not an attack on anyone or calling anyone sexist or close-minded for falling into socialized gender norms. Pretty much all of us were raised on this cisheteronormitive bullshit and it takes a lot to undo that damage.

Like I said earlier this type of policing or enforcing of gender rules can often happen without someone realizing it. Gender rules are beaten into the minds of many and take a long time to truly, fully alter your mind away from societal expectations. There's a strong possibility that many of you are actually policing Ned's gender without even realizing it. In the same way, using Frank or both of the Hardy Boys enforce gender.

The same way that "Nancy settling down" oddly circles back to the oxymoronic enforcement of traditional gender rules in relationships. Because they don't fit them as well, there's no way that a relationship could work.

At its' best, the Nancy Drew franchise displays an interesting relationship with gender concerning all of the main characters. Bess and George are the most obvious because of their foiled nature with their femininity and masculinity being so central to their characters. But honestly, Ned and Nancy have their own relationships with the gender that are equally interesting and go against cisheteronormative ideals in their own ways.

I wish I could say the Hardy Boys have an interesting relationship with gender or display it without it coming out in a sarcastic and resentful tone. I'll save that for next time.

To sum up

Nancy can get married without compromising her identity (not nedcy specific)

She can marry Ned without either of them compromising their values or identity (nedcy specific)

I am questioning the clue crew's relationship with tradition, progressiveness, performativeness, and masculinity

Many critiques in Ned seem to actually be rooted in gendered thinking and gendered policing. Men irl are critiqued in similar ways when they do not perform the most socially accepted behaviors associated with masculinity.

I hate how the Hardy Boys franchise portrays women 95% of the time.

Gendered thinking is everywhere, even when you think it isn't there.

I should make this a thesis.

[nedxnancy]

Me talking to a fellow Nancy Drew fan

Them: cool how many pieces of media do you have

Me: NO THE MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION IS HOW DO YOU THINK NED PROPOSES TO NANCY THE TIME SHE ACCEPTS

[nedxnancy]

Nancy/Ned feels 🥹❤️❤️❤️

José Olivarez, “Let’s Get Married”

[nedxnancy]

Nancy just marveling at Ned vibes ❤️

things people do that i find very cute

𖠿 when they see a footprint somewhere and just put their foot right in it so it lines up 𖠿 when they see chalk on the street and just have to read it / do what it says 𖠿 when they go to throw something away and they take everyone else’s trash as well without saying anything or being asked 𖠿 when they make playlists for each other (or when they’re like “this song reminds me of you”) 𖠿 when they leave follow-up messages like “i had fun today” or “let me know if you got home safe” or “i’m still thinking of you” 𖠿 pinky promises 𖠿 when they drop someone off at home and wait until they’re inside to leave 𖠿 when a small child gives them something and they excitedly play along 𖠿 the little voice when they’re talking to pets 𖠿 when they laugh so hard that it’s just quiet and their whole body is laughing with them 𖠿 when they find out they can relate to each other and they keep adding stuff and grow more and more excited 𖠿 when they call out a compliment like “i like your hair!!!” as they drive past someone 𖠿 when they wave at each other from different sides of the room or out of a window (so sweet and innocent)

[nedxnancy]

Is this the horniest book of the show so far? Maybe. Maybe it is. 😂

[nedxnancy]

Nancy: “Ned Nickerson. Obviously.”

you finish the post