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davidtennantgenderenvy · 1 year ago

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My Two Cents On The “ Is David Tennant Queer” Drama

As some of you know, I spent a solid third of the past year working on a movie-length video essay about David Tennant. This video essay features an eight minute section titled “Gender, Vulnerability, and Why David Tennant Is A Queer Icon”, which does not speculate on David’s own sexuality, but discusses the queer coding and subversion of gender norms in plenty of his roles and his importance as an ally to the LGBT community. At the same time, I was also coming to terms with my own identity as nonbinary and bisexual, and it ended up playing a crucial role in me finally working up the courage to come out to my parents. Characters like Crowley and the Doctor, both in terms of how they present themselves and how and who they love, have been absolutely instrumental in me developing my queer identity, and my comments section was full of people who had had similar experiences, who’d realized they were trans, nonbinary, gay, etc thanks to David and his characters. And as a result, I won’t deny that if David himself were to be queer, it would mean a lot to me.

Do I think David is queer? It’s certainly possible. I see a lot of how I express my queerness in how david chooses to express himself, most prominently through his frequent queer coding of characters who don’t necessarily have to be played as such. This can especially be seen through his Shakespeare characters, such as Richard, Hamlet, and some would argue Benedick as well. When I was 15 I played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, who I chose to play as a closeted young gay man harboring an unrequited crush on Romeo. I think I saw this role subconsciously as an outlet for my own repressed queerness, both of gender and sexuality, as I had experienced an unrequited crush on my female best friend the previous year which I was still in denial about. I’ve described my gender identity as “a girl with a chaotic tortured gay man inside of her that needs to be let out every once in a while”, which has never been more true than with Mercutio- a character who I might add, I took a great deal of inspiration from David when playing! In terms of using roles as an outlet for one’s queerness, I could absolutelt see this being true with David, especially when it comes to Crowley, who seems to have had an impact on David’s style, behavior, etc in a rather similar way to how he’s impacted me. I don’t want to act like David wearing pink docs means he must be gay, I think people should be allowed to wear whatever they want regardless of sexuality, but taken in conjunction with so many other things about him, it does make one wonder, and the fact that a seemingly straight man has been so many people’s queer awakening is a bit puzzling to say the least. I won’t pretend that these “signs” (if you interpret them that way), haven’t been increasing somewhat in the past year, and if I got to share my own coming out journey with the man who inspired it, I would be absolutely thrilled. I also can’t specifically think of an instance where David has SAID he is straight, as opposed to Taylor swift, who has.

With all of that said, where I personally draw the line is when mere speculation crosses into interfering with the subject’s personal relationships and the sense that one is OWED something. I believe that what matters to David more than anything is being a husband and a father. I believe he adores Georgia and his children and would not do anything in the world that he believes would jeopardize his family. As happy as I would be for David if he were to come out (probably as bi) I realize that that would put so much unwanted attention on his marriage and family and I think that’s the last thing he wants. I don’t think it’s IMPOSSIBLE that he and Michael Sheen are having a passionate love affair behind everyone’s backs, but I absolutely don’t consider it my place to insist that they are, because as much as I may feel like I do, I don’t know these people! And besides, if David were cheating on Georgia, he really would not be the person I thought he was.

So many queer people see themselves in David and his characters, and that is beautiful. And I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with having theories that David might be queer himself. However, it must be acknowledged that these theories are THEORIES, and they should not be used to invalidate people’s real life relationships- after all, it’s totally possible to be bi/pan and also be in a loving and healthy heterosexual relationship like David and Georgia at least seem to be in! If David were in fact “one of us”, I would welcome him with the openest of open arms, but unless and until he himself decides to proclaim himself that way, I will not expect anything of him other than to be the incredible artist and person we know and love.

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noirandchocolate · 9 months ago

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I said I would do a headcanon post about Yiga Clan wedding ceremonies, so Here! I! Go! (If you're interested but missed it, here's a post about proposal headcanons.) Time for so many details and a very long post. Also, just at the outset, I wanna say that the other reason I've been thinking about this stuff recently (in addition to real world reason of me and my girlfriend getting engaged), is that my Kohga and Sooga just got married in an RP. So I'll be using examples from their wedding alongside others, in this post!

Preparation/Background

It should come as a surprise to no one that Master Kohga officiates all weddings. If a Master Kohga is getting married, their Right Hand will do it. If the Master is marrying their Right Hand (which is on the rare side but hey, Kohga's Nana also did it!), another high-ranking member of the Clan will do it. For Nana Kohga's wedding, it was the most senior historian, who had been friends with her father. For the recent nuptials, it was current Kohga's former Right Hand/sort-of-pseudo-uncle and Sooga's mentor, the very respected elder Blademaster Chisao.

Weddings are held outside, in the circular area by the chasm, like many of the Clan's festivals are. They start in the late afternoon (for whatever season they're happening in), so that afterward, a big dinner feast can be held indoors before the party commences back outside (after some of the seating is removed to allow room for dancing, etc).

The outdoor area is hung with lanterns as well as the strings of protective noisemaker talismans, and a tower is placed and hung with even more lights. This structure is reminiscent of those used for the Japanese Obon festival ("Creating a Champion" states that some design elements for Master Kohga and the Clan were inspired by Bon Odori dance!), but with Yiga flair. A similar decorative piece can be seen in the hideout in the games (see above left). It serves a couple of purposes. First, masks of the couple's ancestors are brought from the Complex's shrine and carefully hung around the sides of it. Second, that's where the band is placed!

That's an excellent segue to say that music also plays an important role in wedding ceremonies. An ensemble traditionally consisting of taiko (also seen in the above left image), shamisen, shakuhachi and shinobue plays background music throughout the ceremony, with specific cues/phrases/flourishes accompanying specific events. (It may be noted that a similar combination of instruments is used in kabuki theater; several elements of the Clan were also inspired by this art form.)

The marrying couple wears their very best clothes, of course, and polish up their masks for the big day! Formal attire is, again, similar to Japanese garments but not exactly (since the Sheikah and Yiga are Japanese-inspired but not...literally Japanese). A wedding is cause to wear long furisode-like sleeves and fancy-patterned haori, kimono, and hakama combos. Oftentimes, because these garments require fine fabrics that require a great effort for the Clan to create, parts of a person's wedding outfit are passed down through their family and re-tailored to them. The Clan does of course have a whole group of people who make clothes, and their training includes embroidery and silk-painting for just such special occasions! If you didn't think Kohga had a haori with Dinraal embroidered in gold thread on the back and phoenixes and Inverted Eyes painted in patterns all over it, you would be WRONG. He also wore his father's black wedding hakama! And Mama Hotaru's long and gorgeous wedding robe was black with a pattern of softly painted insects on it, in an homage to her family's naming tradition; it originally belonged to her own great-grandmother, who shared her name.

Ceremony

The ceremony begins with the officiant welcoming the Clan on this happy occasion and declaring that the date is "AUSPICIOUS!" I plan to do a post about Hyrule's calendar and associated "astrology"-type beliefs but for now suffice it to say that one could come up with a way that almost any day is auspicious (since nobody would want to say someone's wedding day is cursed or something), but couples do very often try to schedule their weddings for particularly positive dates (as I said in the last post, they have to wait at least six months--it doesn't have to be exact).

The couple is then called to approach from either side of the area. They are each accompanied by two family members--usually parents if possible. If not, more extended family or in the absence of any family, friends can do it. For example, Kohga's the last of his family lines aside from distant-er cousins, and Sooga wasn't born in the Clan, so Chisao's children (who both men are close with) stepped in. These four people act as assistants to the couple in various parts of the ceremony! It may be noted, that on each side, there is a group of three.

Yiga wedding ceremonies, like so much else they do, are meant to reinforce not only the joining of two individuals but the bonds that join the whole Clan together. For that reason, they involve several call-and-response-type declarations that all present participate in, and many references to the Clan's history.

The officiant recites the following: "Our Clan was born of conflict. May you weather any in your path. / Our Clan as ever weeps the blood of our fallen ancestors. May their spirits raise you up. / Our Clan has turned betrayal on its head. May you remain ever true." The last of these lines is accompanied by a gesture toward the speaker's mask, evoking the symbolism of the Inverted Eye.

There are two major sections of the ceremony that each require an exchange of three things, between the couple. The first of these sets involves three liquids: saké, water, and blood. The couple's assistants will pour them dishes of saké, which they then exchange and drink, and then the same is done with water. The saké represents the time, patience, and effort that must be put into a marriage, as preparation of the drink surely requires such care. The water represents life and replenishment--and it's not just any water, but some taken from the especially healthful spring at Satori Mountain (which I've said previously, the Clan has strong ties to)!

(NOTE: For this and one other notable part that involves eating/drinking, the partners lift their masks only enough to imbibe.)

For the blood, the couple are each handed a special knife with which they cut their palms. Carefully--it isn't meant to be a super deep cut, just enough to produce drops of blood. The couple then hold out their hands toward each other, palm down so those droplets fall to the sand. Their assistants then wrap the cuts with red bandages. The symbolism is multi-fold: to show the joining of blood/family, the willingness to endure pain and hardship for each other, and, since the blood is dropped to the ground, the Clan's connection to the land and its energy.

(NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT take this headcanon as some suggestion that I think the Clan is some kind of ~weird blood cult~. I absolutely do not think that. The Clan was born of a bloody conflict/betrayal. They have not forgotten this, nor will they forsake the blood, both in terms of family and in terms of bloodshed, that ties them together. I thus think it's reasonable to headcanon that the concept and symbolism of blood--as well as actual physical blood--are present in some of their rituals/traditions. There's nothing creepy or evil about it. It is meant to be a meaningful, loving exchange and promise. Please please do not willfully misunderstand me. Thank youuuu~ <3)

The second set of exchanges is of three gifts. This section of the ceremony begins with everyone present reciting the following together: "Our strength is in our edges. Our might in what we take. Our bond is what defines us. All three, our family make." Each of these three concepts is represented by the gifts, which are brought forward to the couple in succession by further family members or friends. (As in, someone brings the gift to the giver, who then offers it to the receiver.) For example, Sooga's helpers for this section were three of his most recent Blademaster trainees, who had all recently passed their tests!

"Strength" is represented by a weapon. The Yiga have always been willing to fight for their beliefs, and more importantly to protect themselves/one another. They have a strong culture of martial arts and weapons training. So, each member of the couple offers the other a weapon of some significance to them. The exchange is typically symbolic; if a woman gives her intended the vicious sickle she uses on missions as her Strength gift, the idea is that when she uses it going forward, it's in his honor. However, if a man gives his intended a meaningful family heirloom weapon that isn't in use anymore, the couple will continue keeping it among their belongings together. See? Kohga's father gave Hotaru his eightfold longblade, and she gave him a (carefully sheathed) poisoned dagger. Sooga gave the longblade Kohga first presented to him, at the ceremony when he became a Blademaster years before. The words of exchange for this gift are: "I give you this, my strength. / Will your strength defend my body? / I will protect you with all my strength. / Then this I accept."

"Might" is represented by, you guessed it, mighty bananas. A bunch is brought to each person, who selects one and peels and feeds it to their intended. I know we Earth gamers think the bananas are kinda funny, but to the Clan, they're quite the opposite. Food is serious business when you're a marginalized community considered wanted criminals by the outside world. For the purpose of a wedding, the exchange means the couple are promising to provide for one another as well as possible. (To clarify, the Clan is very highly communal about resources, but the thought here is that one party would go without to allow the other to eat if necessary, and that regardless both will do their part within the Clan as a whole, etc.) It's not even just about food; it symbolizes caretaking in general. The words of exchange for this gift are: "I give you this, my might. / Will your might nourish my soul? / I will care for your with all my might. / Then this I accept."

"Bond" is the most personalized of the three, and the associated gift is something that represents the individual giver! It may be an item they crafted, or something else that shows off one of their skills or interests. The idea is that the giver is offering themself to the receiver--something that makes them, them! There are so many possibilities, too, as the gift may be an object to keep, or something more abstract or ephemeral. For example, a member who makes clothing for the Clan might weave a garment or blanket for their intended. A cook might offer his partner her favorite food, prepared fresh right before the ceremony, to eat a few bites of on the spot. Hotaru's Bond was her music, in the form of a shamisen song she composed. Her son followed in her footsteps and went a step further, with a poem too! The words of exchange for this gift are: "I give you this, my bond. / Will your bond shelter my heart? / I will hold your heart in mine forevermore. / Then this I accept."

Following this exchange, the couple recites: "We grow in strength. We grow in might. Our bond is unbreakable. All three we pledge, that we will grow in love."

If the Master is a party to the ceremony, there's an additional section here. The other partner says, "I vow to serve you with my body, soul, and heart, and to follow where you lead forevermore." Then the Master says, "I vow to keep you with my body, soul, and heart, and to lead you ever with your joy in mind." And finally, they say in unison, "You are my guiding star, from now into eternity."

The final bit is a general vow recited together, as follows: I am with you through your joys and all your trials. I am with you by your side or over miles. I hold you as the sky holds sun and stars. Where my heart is, ever there you are. I pledge my life to you and to our Clan. To the future and our master plan. We join our souls together with our kin. Together may we all life's battles win!

AND THEN! As the couple JOINS HANDS for the first time as SPOUSES! The ENTIRE ASSEMBLY! Shouts with ALL THEIR MIGHT: "Glory to Master Kohga! Glory to the Yiga Clan! Long days and nights to the love of [name] and [name]!"

Post-Ceremony

Well then it's feast time!

And then it's party time! Bring on the bonfires and bananas and saké and music and chatter and dancing and--

Speaking of which, during the after-party, the newly-married couple will start off the dancing by performing one together while holding on to a red silk cord between them. Symbolizing, again, the joining of their souls and fates, and also the need to work together carefully in walking the path of life.

Additionally, as I have brought up several times in previous headcanon posts of mine, following the wedding ceremony, couples are now considered family and can see each other's true, un-magicdisguised, -masked, or -veiled faces. This is a big deal! (I do find it quite romantic, that partners court each other without knowing for sure what the other looks like. As I have said before, if both grew up in the Clan they will likely recall things like hair and eye color, but Yiga start wearing veils around everyone but their close family quite young and get their masks at the start of the year they are to turn eleven. So, what your partner's face looks like as an adult, or at all if you've truly never seen/paid attention to them before...well, it's something to anticipate!) Couples are given leave from work to go have a brief honeymoon away from the Complex if they wish, to go unmask each other and spend some good time together. A traditional place to do this is Satori Mountain, since most other people keep away from it anyway. <3 <3 Those who don't want to leave, get to stay in a sleeping room set aside just for this private purpose, instead!

Final Notes

Just wanted to point out, if it wasn't obvious, the threes in the ceremony. Three people on each side of the rituals, three liquids, three gifts. While the Yiga's particular wedding traditions have grown and changed from Ancient Sheikah customs over the millennia, to the point where Yiga marriage ceremonies have only a little in common with the older ones (and are quite different from contemporary Kakariko Sheikah ways), one small detail is the presence of threes. I headcanon that the Ancient Sheikah often utilized the number three in their various rituals and customs, to reference the Triforce, the three Golden Goddesses, the three major Springs across the land where Hylia is worshipped and their three attendant dragon spirits, etc. Some Yiga traditions also involve threes, despite that they've renounced their service to Hylia and to any deity in general. After all, even apart from that, three is an auspicious and satisfying number.

Master Kohga loves officiating weddings, it's one of his favorite parts of being Master Kohga. <3 It just delights him to his core, to see two of his fellow Clan members in love and getting together, and he really helps everyone make it a special day. (Weddings are an occasion when he's most likely to join the band for the party, twanging away on his shamisen...or two. He can make a double of himself. And use it to play duets! How fitting!) He's done the ceremony so many times over the course of his (so far) twenty-five years as Master, that he knows all the words by heart.

Which are more, for the officiant to say, than I've written out here. There's more that accompanies each exchange, for example. But this post was already six million miles long. So I'm going to end it now.

Thank you for taking the time to read! Hope you enjoyed!

#yiga clan #master kohga #sooga #yiga husbands #age of calamity #legend of zelda #banana bread #i had all of this worked out *months* ago and have been vibrating to share it but kept getting too busy and doing other topics instead #mostly about kohga's family so i could keep mentioning them as examples in more general posts like this #i alluded to it in the tags on the last post but i was being coy--kohga proposed at the end of february #so i developed aaaaall this proposal and wedding stuff shortly before then <3 #anyway FOR REAL if you read all this THANK YOU! for taking the time to #i spent a bunch of time on this post!#made some silly lil' picture dividers and everything!#kidk says stuff #kidk headcanons

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kiwiaok · 1 year ago

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yes, neil doesn’t shy away from andrew’s past since he knows abuse too and we all know it and love it, but I want neil that just selfishly, morbidly wants to know every little thing about andrew. every bad memory, all unfiltered abuse included.

neil that wants to know what was andrew’s routine after being raped. that wants to know if andrew ever had to feed himself rotting food bc his foster parents didn’t care to provide fresh one. he wants to know if andrew let blood drip down his arm when he hurt himself or if he quickly wiped it off. he wants to know how many shards of glass were imbedded in andrew’s skin after the accident with tilda.

he doesn’t really offer comfort when he’s offered those truths bc andrew doesn’t want it and what is comfort worth for men like them anyway. and he never asks for those truths – he’d never take them without being given them freely. but he collects them like one would collect marbles: to have them, to hold them, to look at them, to keep them forever

#neil wants that boy like he never wanted anything else in his life #so of course he wants it all #neil has his brain divided between exy and andrew #and he’s obsessed with knowing everything possible about both of those topics #aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #andreil #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg trilogy #kiwiaok

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operator-report · 1 year ago

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cw: ableism, Worm spoilers through Scourge 19.7

Thinking about Marissa Newland in the club tonight (Saturday afternoon). What a fast track for needing to go lie down.

Do you ever think about what it takes to be able to kill your best friend? What would your relationship with that friend need to be like? ("Sundancer spoke up, calling out, 'Remember the promise we made together.' Noelle didn’t reply.) How would you need to think of her? ("Hate these runs. People look at me funny when I bring a cart of meat and only meat.") How badly would you need to want to go back to your old life? ("How's life among the Travelers?" "Intense. Violent. Lonely.")

The Travelers entire team dynamic is a hideous torment nexus, but the collapse of Noelle and Marissa's friendship really gets to me. Going from Marissa always making sure Noelle ate to Marissa being ashamed of the food runs is agony. Marissa was Noelle's friend who cared for her, and cared about her, the most. Now, when Marissa talks to Noelle, she doesn't respond. Marissa can hold Dinah while she's sick in Noelle's cage, but can no longer reach out to Noelle. All care is completely cut off - Noelle is only a disease, who needs to be managed and grieved.

Marissa hates hurting people, but she can kill Noelle. Taylor just has to first tell Marissa that Noelle is no longer herself. (“She’s… she was my best friend.” “She’s not Noelle anymore.”)

Of course, it's so much more nightmarishly complicated than that. Marissa isn't a bad person, here - she's handling a horrible situation imperfectly. Marissa still loves Noelle. She insists to Taylor over and over again that Noelle is her friend, despite everything. But for one hideous moment, Marissa has to believe that Noelle isn't there, that the thing that Noelle has become isn't really her friend, isn't a person, before she can do the deed. And then Marissa goes right back to mourning.

It's awful. It's an incredibly well-executed tragedy. I don't really have much of a point beyond that, other than, damn. It really does suck that Noelle's friends - even her friend who best understood her struggles - no longer see Noelle as a person. Can't believe that's what killed her, in the end.

#much like there is an absolute gulf between 'treatment' and 'cure'#it's the difference between 'care' and 'management' for me #worm #parahumans #personhood with noelle is such a complicated topic that i really want to sink my teeth into #how much of noelle is her? how much is her shard? who benefits from the noelle-versus-shard divide? and so on #but i still need to finish worm lol #currently on arc 29 as of writing this post

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philsmeatylegss · 1 month ago

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Not to continue my continuous streak of being a pretentious history major on main, but I hope this site realizes it is not at all exempt from the horrific rampant trend of historical misinformation online, right? Like please hear me when I say it is not anywhere near as bad as most mainstream social media sites, y’all do have that going for you, but it’s definitely a problem. The majority thankfully the most common and easily fixed kind of historical misinformation which is historical information being either partially true, inaccurately characterized, and or taken out of context. But the problem being similar to most mainstream social media in which any attempt to correct the misinformation is either ignored or attacked. I just beg y’all to use google to doubt check whenever you see anything history wise on here. Unlike a lot of other social media sites, there actually is a lot of accurate historical information. Important, accurate, often overlooked history that is so important to learn. But you have to sift through a lot of half truths to find it and just. History is rarely 100% good 100% bad (though it does happen), so when you come across 100% good/bad history, I do ask to just google it. Because it’s also so important to learn the 100% good/bad as well. There’s no downside. Just read

#this is way longer than expected #my problem is a lot of times I see historical misinformation it is towards a topic I support and the information even correct still supports #the original point #and a lot of times this website will attack you for pointing out the not 100% good/bad divide #and I will not elaborate on that point more because I’m scared😭#rae’s rambles #history

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frownyalfred · 11 months ago

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Hello! A random and specific question has occurred to me, and I think you might have some thoughts, if you're ok with answering!

So, most of the time Judaism is passed down matrilineally. I know there are some exceptions, and some groups that believe Judaism can be passed down through either parent, but generally it's just through the mother. This is how dc accidentally made Bruce Jewish.

However, is it the birthing parent who makes a child Jewish? Or is it strictly the mother, regardless of if she gives birth to the child or not?

I know that sounds like I'm asking about trans Jewish people, but I'm actually curious how this would play out in a world where mpreg is normalized, like in an abo alternate universe. For instance, if Bruce is Jewish and gets pregnant as an omega, would his kids also be Jewish? I did look up perspectives on trans Jewish people having kids, and unsurprisingly views are divided but it seemed like people mostly consider the birthing parent being important, i.e. a trans Jewish man would have Jewish children regardless of the other parent. What are your thoughts on this, if you're open to sharing?

(This ask got longer than I meant, sorry I wrote you a whole essay lol. Also I really hope this doesn't come across as rude, and I sincerely apologize if it does. Tone is difficult on the internet!)

Oh, that's a very very interesting question. Another one I'd like to ask my rabbi if I ever work up the nerve.

I'm no scholar, so if someone else wants to correct me on this one, feel free. But here's my best guess:

The gist of matrilineal descent is that it emerged from a time when the only way you could guarantee that a child was Jewish was to witness the birth from a Jewish mother. Rape, missing fathers, etc all made it a grey area, and back then, it was the only way to be "sure" that a child was halachically Jewish.

The interesting thing is, this was a change from patrilineal descent, but people still argue about when that change happened. Depending on the denomination, matrilineal descent is very very important beyond just determining Judaism, or it's a vestigial practice that has stuck around because it's, well, tradition.

Now, origin and existence are two different things. While it might have emerged for certain reasons, modern standards have obviously changed. We can do DNA tests and other rituals. But a lot of major denominations will turn away patrilineal Jews or hold those with Jewish DNA at arm's length until their Jewishness has been determined. That's only changed recently, and even then very slowly.

So, now that that's out of the way -- how does this relate to omegaverse? I suppose carriers in a/b/o universes would be considered de facto mothers, because they give birth. From my (limited) understanding, the core of most strict matrilineal arguments are 1) we've always done it this way post reception of the Torah 2) it was the only way to ensure someone was Jewish and 3) there are inherent attributes to mothers/the feminine that Rabbis argue are metaphysical and important to consider.

But it depends on how you write omegas. Are they defined by their ability to birth? Are they dual sex or single sex? Do they have the ability to sire offspring in addition to carrying them? Do they serve a "motherly" role in addition to giving birth? All things to consider.

Me personally, I'm a big proponent of accepting all Jews as they are, as long as they're not proselytizing or cosplaying as Jewish from another religion. It's a closed practice but we're also dwindling in number, so turning away people because their father was Jewish and not their mother is bizarre to me. Especially if they were raised in the religion -- at that point it's a technicality, but many rabbis will still make you go through a conversion which is wild to me.

I would throw out there, for the sake of omegaverse -- if the carrier is Jewish, generally, in most cases, the pups are Jewish. That makes sense to me.

#hope that helps a little!#or maybe just made it more confusing #definitely a divided topic #as a grandaughter of a convert #i feel the tension in this #jewish #jewish stuff #judaism #omegaverse #a/b/o mention #a/b/o tw #a/b/o #asks

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dearweirdme · 5 months ago

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I saw your recent comment on @peachjagiya’s ask. So true. It’s crazy how people think we just moved past that. It makes me wonder what the narrative will be in a couple of years. Will people just believe it all to have been true? Or like that ask will people see it as something that was a small weird thing to have happened?

Hi anon!

Ah, it is so hard for newer fans to fully understand how things felt when they happened. I no longer consider myself really new, but I still remember being new and having to dig through the fast amount of BTS and Taekook information and content. There’s still stuff I know I’m unable to fully understand.

Those of us who were there when the Paris walk happened know what mayhem it caused for months. I recently tried to look through my tags on it.. and even those don’t fully do justice. The whole fandom went in investigation mode. New insights dropped every hour. Debunks and complex theories had a grasp on everyone. There were ao many tkkrs lost and anxious. So many actually left and a lot of people were keeping a close eye on everything Tae and Jennie did for weeks. In the direct days after sooo many were expecting things to go further. For him to join her in Cannes (which was ofcourse why it happened when it did). In the months after every time Tae left SK people were afraid another Taennie sighting would happen and they would track their flightscedules obsessively (only to find out Tae and her never actually met again and in fact at times their comings and goings would happen just when the other left a place again 😂). And it keeps popping up.

Even now, a couple of months shirt from it having been two years… and it’s very obvious that even if you think they were real then they are not now… it keeps coming back. Because it’s the one thing that to many solidifies that Tae and Jk aren’t together. Jkkrs and non-shippers use it against us. If closeting was part of it, it partly worked.

But we’re kinda tired of it. People have mostly made their minds up and no new information will (probably ever) drop. So it’s always the same old conversation.. and many of us with our tags full of it just don’t really feel like discussing it in great detail. I don’t think it’s real. From a business perspective (marketing, narrative control) it has a place in conversation at times, but the realness of it for me personally has been discussed aplenty. I’d much rather talk about all the ways in which Tae and Jk are cute… and how I MISS THEM 😫.

#fandom shenanigans #taennope #taekook #i think there will always be a divide in what people believe #but i also think it’s something that will be less and less talked about in a while #people are bored these days #so they visit these topics more

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thecoolerliauditore · 7 months ago

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Just curious, when did you start shipping Pearl and Scott? Or at least when you realized you did ship them?

sorry if this is a more pretentious answer than you anticipated anon because this is actually something I had to think about for a bit. Because to answer when I started shipping them, I would first have to define what shipping is, and that was one of the biggest question marks over my head when I entered the fandom as well as when I started doing Scott/Pearl stuff.

I wouldn't say I really engaged in fandom prior to life series, the closest thing would be pokemon nuzlocke comics back in the day, so I might've had a somewhat weird impression of "shipping" because to me at the time being a this or that shipper just meant you were obsessed with the dynamic between two (or more) characters to me, that dynamic being romantic is the default expectation but typically it wasn't weird to see "I ship them as best friends" and stuff like that.

So MCYT was kind of a culture shock for me since so much of the fandom is "duo" content, yet "shipping" is treated as its own separate category. Which makes... enough sense I suppose when you factor in CCs and boundary discourse, but it now meant I had to pull apart my own scenarios and imagery in my head to dissect whether it's romantic-coded enough to classify as "ship art" vs "duo" art. Which I now, looking back, would maybe classify as a form of torture albeit very enlightening in terms of seeing how much that label of platonic vs romantic actually influences peoples read of the art. <-- I could go on about this point i.e. how platonic/romantic is just as much of an abstract concept as masculinity/femininity and how this relates to the joelshipping discourse but I'll cut myself off there.

So if we define "ship" as when I first became obsessed with their relationship and daydreaming about different little scenarios for them: Probably around the time I just finished their POVs of last life and immediately afterwards got spoiled on the ending of DL by seeing it out of context in animatics. I was so intrigued at why Scott would do that, and at the time I hadn't know Pearl won DL so I assumed he permakilled them both. It just seemed so harsh and I only got more invested after seeing snippets of Pearl in Bdubs' DL POV which was my first DL POV.

If we define "ship" as when I saw their relationship as being not entirely platonic: when Scott himself called her his "ex-girlfriend" and I was like. 🤨 this is when I started getting headaches over the concept of shipping because "exes" and "soulmates" and "girlfriend" are all very romantically coded terms, but I assumed people would not respond well to Scott/Pearl art being tagged as shipping.

At this time I didn't think Scott actually saw Pearl as anything past a friend, but that he was making things weirder than they had to be because the "soulmate" label was freaking him out (comphet king). Hence romantic tension, but no actual romantic attraction from either of them. (<-- this is still a pretty solid take I think btw maybe more solid than my current take)

Alot of the fanfics in my head at the time revolved around the narrative I saw of m/f best friends torn apart by outsiders forcing a romantic label ("soulmates") onto their relationship. There's was Alot of post-DL Scott apologizes AU stuff in my brain where they hug and promise to be best friends again regardless of what others think. I was so naive then.

This is also what started the. aughh wahhhh wah eughhhh auhhh ahhhhhh!!!!!! feelings when looking at fanart of them. you know the ones.

If we define "ship" as when I decided no actually Scott desires her carnally: SL was a heavy hitter with its Scott/Pearl moments and the insane fucking things that blue mf had to say about Pearl ("you guys are obsessed with Flower Husbands when it's really just been me and Pearl").

Also at the same time I was slipping ever so slightly closer to RPF lite and learnt about Scott's history of ship-baiting with female CCs. I will never unsee that one goddamn thumbnail he made where he photoshopped his face onto. I think Laurens(?) wedding photo to make it look like they got married. Very much the no hetero to Joel's no homo. So that part of me who was just the littlest bit of self-conscious that I would make CC Scott uncomfortable kind of imploded on the spot never to be seen again.

If we define "ship" as actively wanting them to get together and get married and have a happy future together: Never.

My current "ideal happy ending" for them is something clicks in Scott's brain and he has a breakdown and disappears. And the only time he and Pearl see eachother again is just in the street or something years later and they've both moved on with their lives (extra angst points if they both have their own new partners/families) and kind of just. make eye contact for a second and then walk off.

If I let the shippy brain parasitee take me, my "idealer happy ending" would be something clicking in Scott's brain and he has a breakdown To Pearl, apologizes and they have a big mutual crying session before tuckering themselves out and falling asleep together. From then on Scott kind of tries to keep his distance from Pearl, and Pearl eventually tells him she'd forgiven him a long time ago and they learn to be friends for real this time with maybe a little bit of added intimacy thrown in there.

I think this would be wild coming from both of them, especially Scott, and don't think they would do that. But it does make me happy imagining it.

Unfortunately their current situation is um. "whether you want it or not" and "pearl's memory is selective" which is um. hmmmm.

#asks #long post #if i had to classify how i'd see their (ideal) relationship still btw id still say qpr #i just might have some hang-ups about the way ppl use that term in fandom and some more complicated feelings around #the platonic/romantic divide as a whole but that's a bit away from this topic specifically

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