sleepysimon - Tumblr blog

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Someday I’m going to write a book about working in museums and have an entire chapter dedicated to the weird things people have said to or have asked me. On second thought maybe I’ll make that the whole book.

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HELLO 😭

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Caves are weirder and more varied than you think

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this this this

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thinking about the makeup of the final car is funny sometimes. 50% of the people in that car have kissed Wille. 50% of the people in that car have slept with August. 50% of the people in that car have physically fought with August

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Thinking about how softly and delicately Simon runs his fingers over Wille's face, and the fact that he does it the first and last time they spend together.

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What's the most heartbreaking scene that is not Wilmon related in your opinion?

When Sara asks her dad if she’ll end up like him. I talked more about that scene here, but the way it all cumulated to her being scared she’ll end up like her father because they share the same diagnosis, but also I think because they both failed Simon… it’s heartbreaking to see but it was so good too. I loved seeing Micke be a great father (because while his kids can’t rely on him and he keeps hurting them, he also has moments where he’s great to and for them and that’s important to show too, how both can coexist). I loved the pep talk he gave Sara, and how ultimately he can’t follow his own advice, but he can give Sara the tools to have a better life and not succombe to some of the same mistakes he keeps on making. Ultimately, I think he’s one of the main reasons why she chooses herself, Simon, and her friendship with Felice over her relationship with August. But that scene where she was so low and scared was beautifully heartbreaking.

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The fact that Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian Mckellen are best friends in real life makes me so happy

x

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I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD.  If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

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how does one go on knowing that simon was letting go of the love of his life (him begging to keep fighting, heartbeats labored and painful with sorrow) because they were good, but there was no place for them in this kind of life. that simon was letting go of wille's hand aware that his wille would keep drowning in the murky sticky waters of the crown prince's hurt, but having to take the risk anyway, to give them both the chance to swim to the surface. that, despite the agony like glass shards with every breath, he had the resolution to give them up, and wille the maturity to accept it.

and that in the end the only thing left for simon to do, if he wasn't allowed to have wille's handsome face in his life, was to make sure, tenderly, that even the tips of his fingers remembered it.

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young royals fic rec, 25/?

i’m (slowly) working my way through the wilmon tag on ao3 and thought that as i go i might shout out some fics i enjoy along the way! i've tagged authors where i knew their tumblr url, but please feel free to tag folks or dm me if you know ones i've missed!

see all my rec lists here

1. Dear lover, I’ll fight whoever is in your locker by @piebingo - The girls are tired of seeing Wille and Simon dance around each other without doing anything about it. They decide to take be matchmakers and matters into their own hands, asking both boys out for them to go to the ball together, through a series of love poems. What could possibly go wrong?

2. my hand was the one you reached for by @prncewilhelm - on their third valentine's day together, wille and simon discuss their first.

3. We exist in each other's memories by @cupofteainme - Simon and Wilhelm haven't seen each other in four years. Felice hosts a Hillerska reunion party. Old feelings rise to the surface.

4. We're Not Made of Stone by @princewillesothermom - As Wille and Simon navigate Christmas break and their return to Hillerska, they learn more about not only each other, but also what it means to be themselves in the face of grief, family, and love.

5. Right Here by @earlgrey-lateatnight - That’s what this weekend was about. A last chance to hang out and relax and make love before everything had to change.

6. tell me what you'll do by @purplesimme - Playing cool his crush on Simon is one of the hardest things Wille has ever had to do, and he's a Prince, for Christ's sake. He should be better at pretending, but he fell so hard and so fast it all feels out of his control.

7. a crown prince's tear-stricken guide to life by boytoast - In the dead of night, when he becomes insomnia’s favourite victim, he tries to imagine the same sensation by wrapping his own arms around his shoulders. It only works for a second.

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In the back seat, Wille looks at Simon and takes his hand. Simon rolls down the window. The wind blows through their hair. Simon starts singing along. Felice and Sara join in. Wille is enjoying the moment, looks at Simon, then straight ahead, into the camera. And then he looks away. That's how we say goodbye to everyone.

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This NPR interview with with Angela Saini about how race science never really left the global scientific consciousness is super interesting! I’m gonna read her book!

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I've just realised that the first time we saw the show, on 1st July 2021, it was only about three weeks after this👇 happened in canon, and now I need to go and lie down.

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Hot take, but why did the creators of the show leave Simon hanging with the internet hate he got?

Racist and homophobic hate speech is a form of violence. It's always the perpetrators' fault, not Simon's, not Wille's and not the monarchy's. The royal court could have helped Simon, Linda or Wille could have done more. (I blame curfew and phone limitations in Wille's case.)

Simon was deeply impacted by the hate comments, he felt like everyone hates him and even that he doesn't want to be anywhere anymore.

I think it's irresponsible to use the social media plot as the thing that took away most of Simon's agency in regards to Wille and the monarchy and then never address it again.

Did Simon stop seeing all the hate after he deleted his socials? Did he make a new account after he broke up with Wille? Did the situation realistically ever get better for him? I'm not sure what the show wants me to believe.

There must be so many platforms where Simon's and Wille's relationship and for example Simon's parents are discussed including the newspapers and magazines (as seen in season 1). I don't think Simon was able to shield himself from all of that.

We know that the students and even Marcus talk to the press. The media might have found out about Wilmon's break-up. Soon after the ending the world is going to find out that they're back together again and that Wille is stepping down from his duties. Even if you'd believe that Wille did it for himself, the general public in YR universe will have a hard time to do so since it alligns so well with Wille getting back together with Simon.

Simon will likely be in for an even bigger onslaught of hate speech. He might not directly get the comments, if he keeps his socials private, but online spaces and magazines will be full of those speculations. Somebody threw a rock and smashed his window in episode three. The threath of people approaching Simon on the street is real.

I hate to see how Simon was left in a situation that hurt him so much at the end of the season. Wille telling his mom that he doesn't want to be King didn't solve Simon's issue with hate speech. (The only benefit in this regard is that supposedly Wille has more time and emotional capacity to be there for Simon.)

Simon deserved better than being treated as a plot device and anti monarchy mouthpiece.

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about simon’s social media plotline

instead of deleting it, why didn’t simon just temporarily deactivate his instagram/make a private account?

all season, simon has been trying to find workarounds to his worsening situation when it comes to outside pressures and an increasingly stifling environment. he tries to find ways to still be himself and have some sense of freedom, even with all the criticism and negativity being hurled his way.

he’s hit with a barrage of hate comments everywhere? fine. he’ll reply to some of them, just to make sure that everyone gets a sense of who he really is. but he soon finds that when he does so, he’s only met with even more hatred and people coming for his throat. and wille himself tells him replying will only make things worse, so he should try to refrain from doing so.

okay, then. he might not be able to directly comment and tell the world who he is and how all of this is making him feel, but he can show them. so he uploads the video of him singing, the thing he loves most in the world, and he expresses himself through that original song. but that doesn’t work either, and wille tells that simon shouldn’t be posting those things on social media because they can easily be misinterpreted and cause harmful speculations and media attention. and to make things worse, there’s a whole new barrage of hate comments, this time leaning into more sinister territory.

but simon is not going to give up so easily— even if tons of people online are telling him that he’s a golddigger and pathetic and chasing fame, he knows that those aren’t his intentions. he’s with wille because he loves him, and he’s not looking for fame or wealth out of it. and all simon wants out of life is to make some positive change in the world. so of course he can’t help himself when he adds himself to the post of the picture he took with the younger boy who looks up to him. he’s hopeful and a little giddy about it all, because he is making a change. he is helping and inspiring others. he wants to share that with others.

and then simon goes home to find that an anonymous stranger has thrown a rock through his window, into his house.

simon loves his family dearly. he would do anything for them. and someone he likely doesn’t even know hated him enough to threaten his family’s safety, his mother’s safety, by finding his house and breaking the window with the rock. being harassed on social media and in person by reporters fucking sucks, but in simon’s mind, at least that’s only affecting him. but this? this is too far. this is his family, and they’re unintentional targets now, too. they aren’t even safe in their own home anymore, where they’ve lived in the last fourteen years.

so when jan olof and farima come by and tell simon to delete his social media accounts for his own safety— not temporarily deactivate, not make private, specifically delete— simon does it. because private accounts and deactivations are workarounds, and to simon, workarounds have only made things worse. it’s not just him on the line anymore, it’s his family and safety and his relationship with wille altogether, so he does exactly what the royal court says and deletes his accounts. workarounds just aren’t worth it.

okay, but why is deleting his instagram account such a big deal? he can always make a new one, so why does it matter?

one of the first times that we get a deeper look into who simon is, not coincidentally, through the contents of his instagram account! when wille is lurking on simon’s profile, we get a solid introduction into the key aspects and people in simon’s life. he he has two best friends who he adores, he loves his sister and his mother, and even his bio says “music makes my world go round”.

but looking past that aspect for now, we also get to see who simon is outside of social media and these close relationships: he’s very outspoken, doesn’t let others silence him (even in his very first scene, he sings louder when vincent makes fun of him), is unafraid to call others out on their bullshit and has strong values that he’s quick to share.

but throughout season three, as simon is faced with more and more pressure and cruelty on behalf of the public and royal court, he starts losing himself. he finds that singing isn’t as enjoyable anymore, he becomes quieter and quieter. he initially fights back when he feels that the royal court is being unreasonable, like when he was first told by wille about being careful on social media, but eventually just reaches a point where he stops and just takes it. he ends up going against his own values just for the sake of not fighting with wille during the sit-in, despite clearly being bothered by it. and of course, this isn’t helped by the fact that he’s not on speaking terms with sara again until much later and his relationship with his mom is strained until mid-season, so a integral part of his support system isn’t able to help him until he was a little too deep into all this.

so looking back at the social media aspect, simon deleting his instagram accounts is the nail in the coffin. he publicly displays his unabashed love for his family, friends, and music through his posts, all of which are essential to his sense of self and who he is as a person, and we see him literally delete it all. this drives home the point that simon is deleting himself, and marks one of his lowest points in terms of losing and changing himself to try and fit into a space that will never be made for someone like him. square peg in a circular hole.

so yes, realistically, simon deleting instagram is a sad thing to see, although not necessarily earth-shattering. but metaphorically? it’s everything.

why were there only hate comments? sweden is very progressive in terms of queer rights and social acceptance, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

of course, i can’t speak for lisa and the rest of the team, but i feel that this was an intentional detail. because the truth is, there probably weren’t only hate comments! we even see the initial response after simon posts the clip of him singing, and it’s positive.

but as an overall society, we tend to take criticism harder than we do compliments. you likely don’t remember that one time last week where a stranger complimented your hair or outfit or handwriting, whatever it may be, but you probably do remember the last time someone told you that your efforts weren’t enough. you probably remember the last time you got a bad review or a bad grade on something you tried hard on, or when someone made fun of your interests. and speaking as a teenager, i can confirm that this is a huge thing to us as well— we want to be accepted and complimented, we want to be wanted, and when we aren’t, it feels like it’s the end of the world.

so of course simon would take all those disgusting comments to heart. anyone would, especially when they haven’t had any time to prepare for it. so as more and more hate comments roll in, it’s harder to pay attention to the positivity that may also be there. from simon’s point of view, the hate is everywhere and too much to ignore, so that’s what we get to see. we see criticism and threats and people being mean, because those are the responses and the view that affect simon the most.

tldr; simon deleted his instagram because he felt that using another workaround in deactivation/private acc would be a risk, it’s a big deal because by literally deleting his social media the writers show that simon is deleting himself, and there’s mostly hate comments because through simon’s pov those are the ones that are the most impactful.