#Joey Batey is a genius

[thelostgirl21]

A celebration of Joey Batey offering TV show writers a pure masterclass on how to write a queer character with a queer audience in mind.

Can I just say how much respect and appreciation I have for Joey, that he went above and beyond in term of queer representation, by bringing some much needed attention towards people on the aromantic spectrum, and making gender a complete romantic/sexual (and even queerplatonic) non-issue?

I mean, imagine that you are part of a show with a young and powerful canonically bisexual lead, Ciri, who is at an age where people might start exploring their own sexuality, slowly figuring out who and what they like, etc.

And suddenly, you're offered to also be playing another queer lead character, with a male love interest - while knowing it will be the very first time that the audience will be officially introduced to the idea of Jaskier being queer...

And, instead of going with the more familiar, and often expected:

"A man that's always been with women before, now finds himself romantically and sexually attracted to a man, and starts questioning his own sexual identity..." coming out story...

You find yourself with a unique opportunity to go a bit further, to explore more specific and lesser known LGBTQ+ themes, and to delightfully surprise your queer audience!

You can take a full dive into the wonderful world of Queerdom, by exploring a different - yet just as equally important and significant - coming out story!

i.e.

"A usually aromantic person, that has always experienced squishes, smushes, and possibly meshes before, finds himself experiencing a (sapio)romantic crush for the very first time, and starts questioning his romantic identity..."

Of course, a lot of people in the audience will probably miss this.

The monosexuals that have been conditioned to believe that gender must always play a role in how one experiences romantic and sexual human attraction - will likely be paying more attention to how Jaskier is showing an interest in a man.

People that are used to equating "falling in love" with "romantic attraction", might miss the significance and importance of Vespula specifically using the word crush to refer to Jaskier's current attraction towards Radovid.

People that typically see non-gender-related orientations as "mere preferences", or have simply never heard of them, might miss how Jaskier goes on and on about how "emotionally intelligent and insightful Radovid is" , with a look of vulnerability and wonder, putting emphasis on how different he feels about him.

People that were taught to see emotional relationships according to the "platonic vs romantic" binary - with a strict idea of what each means and implies - may not be familiar with what queerplatonic relationships are, and will interpret Jaskier saying that he loves Geralt "platonically" as meaning that he's not as deeply and strongly in love with him as one might usually expect a romantic partner to be.

They'll be unaware that there are committed life partners out there - that would go to the end of the world for each other and perhaps even share sexual intimacy together - that don't have any romantic feelings for each other whatsoever.

Romance does not mean "being in love", romance means "being in love in a romantic way".

And it is not the only way.

To aromantics and greyromantics - and even to romantic people that also have the capacity to fall in love in non-romantic ways, such as yours truly - queerplatonic and alterous relationships aren't "lesser than" romantic ones, they are different.

And Radovid... is different.

Radovid is no better, nor worse, than a hammer...

But he's a spoon.

He's a romantic connection that is completely new, exciting and intriguing to explore for Jaskier!

According to Joey Batey, as a sapioromantic panromantic pansexual, Jaskier finds himself developing a strong sapioromantic and sapiosexual connection with Radovid.

Jaskier is representing people that aren't romantically or sexually affected by a partner's gender in the way that they experience sexual atttraction, and people that experience a lot of tertiary attraction when falling in love, while very seldom ever being able to love others in a romantic way (sapioromantics / greyromantics... ).

Jaskier is a queer character that was truly created with a queer audience in mind!

He was created so that all of us that don't see or experience love according to the platonic vs romantic binary.

All of us that are hyperaware of those other forms of attraction (tertiary, aesthetic, sensual, etc.) that one can experience for another human being.

All of us that don't see or experience romance or sexuality as something that ties into their partner's gender.

Could finally see themselves in a character on screen.

Of course, you still need characters that experience their sexuality while feeling like the gender of their romantic and sexual partners matters - including those that love all genders... Desperately so!

First, because all members of the queer community matter and are equally as important and valuable. Rejoicing over Batey diving into lesser known and familiar representation doesn't mean that familiar and better known representation should not be encouraged and celebrated as well!

This is not a "there should be less gay character on TV to make room for more aromantics and asexuals instead" post.

This is a "we need queer identities people are less familiar with in addition to proper gay, lesbian and bisexual representation" post.

And second, because you still need characters that don't stray too much from the platonic v.s. romantic binary, too - and the usual social conventions tied to romance and sexuality - so that non-queer audiences can more easily connect, and empathize with, the queer community.

Because, when the existence of bisexuality already is something that monosexual people often have a hard time understanding, acknowledging, or even believing in...

Well, going:"By the way, I'll have you know that you can totally want to have sex with, live, and raise children with someone you've got platonic feelings for, too!"

You might accidentally lose them.

And if you try to explain that some people are unable to romantically connect with anyone, unless they get specifically attracted to their intellect (often combined with their aesthetic looks)!

That's likely going to be even worse!

And this is where Batey's pure genius comes to light.

Because he's just shown that you can find a beautiful and organic way to explore queerness more in depth - totally stepping away from the usual relationship conventions and specifically addressing your queer audience - simply by using a vocabulary that said queer audience will understand and connect with.

You can make it clear that the character is on the greyromantic spectrum, by having Vespula state that she's never ever seen him with a crush before!

You can put the emphasis on him being more specifically sapioromantic, by having him dreamily go on about how Jaskier perceives Radovid's intellect.

And, if Batey is to be believed - and he's been exploring the idea of Jaskier being queer since the very beginning of the show (without any clear response from the writers or producers regarding Jaskier's sexuality) - then, by making it clear that he loves Geralt platonically in Season 3, he's also allowing us to revisit all the scenes between Jaskier and Geralt from Season 1, while enjoying them through an aromantic lense.

Someone on the aromantic spectrum watching that scene might thus find themselves deeply connecting with the strong platonic squish (although it could also be a mesh) that Jaskier immediately experienced the very first time he saw Geralt...

You can see Jaskier as specifically believing himself to be Geralt's best friend in the whole wide world, and instinctively reading into Geralt allowing him to physically/sensually touch him (rubbing chamomile onto his lovely bottom) as him possibly desiring a queerplatonic connection with him also.

And, the scene where he's suggesting to Geralt that they could get away for a while, head to the coast together...

Where he mentions that life is too short not to do what pleases you, and admits that he's trying to work on what pleases him...

Look, the fact is that there's always been aromantic and greyromantic people experiencing tertiary forms of love and attractions for other people long before we had any words to put on those emotions, desires and needs.

So, it's rather easy to see Jaskier as someone that is experiencing a powerful alterous attraction for his best friend, and realizing that what pleases him the most, is the idea of them sharing a queerplatonic or alterous relationship together...

It makes sense to interpret what Jaskier is saying as him trying to express and articulate the love he feels for Geralt the best he can - implying that Geralt is what pleases him - while trying to ask Geralt if he also feels the same way...

Sadly, Geralt doesn't quite get it; likely because he's also romantically and sexually attracted to Yennefer and, when he loses her, instinctively throws all his own hurt and heartbreak at Jaskier - blaming him for everything that (he believes) lead to that loss!

And just because the break up Jaskier experienced wasn't a romantic one doesn't make it any less devastating.

Poor loving bard was making plans for them to continue to travel and enjoy their time together as the platonic boyfriends he believed them to be, and Geralt told him that all Jaskier had to offer him was a giant pile of shit that he kept shoveling his way!

There's been a lot of alterous and/or queeplatonic subtext since Season 1 (that could also read as romantic, but should never be used as evidence or proof of romance if we were talking about a real life partnership).

And, while I do acknowledge that queerbaiting has been messing with our ability to perceive and appreciate those relationships as such, I do think that, canonically establishing Jaskier as a sapioromantic, at the very least, clearly addresses the reasons why Jaskier was behaving in such an amorous way with Geralt without being romantically in love with him.

For once, instead of mocking the queer audience for "having mistakenly read two same-gender close friends as being romantically attracted to each other" (while doing as much as they can to suggest romance to keep them hooked!), they are canonically establishing Jaskier as a sapioromantic, with him experiencing his first romantic crush with Radovid.

The show's dialogue is telling people on the aromantic spectrum that "Yes, Jaskier is one of you. He gets squishes, meshes, lushes, and can desire a queerplatonic relationship with a best friend he's got strong platonic feelings for also."

You can speak to your queer audience, without fully risking alienating your non-queer audience, by simply using clues, and a language that your queer audience understands.

And I will forever be grateful to Joey Batey for having understood it, and having so skillfully managed it.

As someone who is ambiamorous, panalterous, panromantic, demisexual, and pansexual, all the nuances and details he brought to Jaskier's queerness was a pure delight, and spoke to me in a way that no TV show character has ever spoken to me before (except, perhaps, in "Sense8", but the whole show itself was about what it meant to love and be human, with main characters sharing a supernatural psychic bond making them more likely to open themselves to all the queer forms of love... whereas shows like "The Witcher" is of a more mainstream fantasy show).

I wish I had a way to contact him to tell him thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for breaking gender boundaries, and "platonic vs romantic" boundaries with Jaskier, and offering us a character that is one of the purest, most beautiful, and most perfectly balanced love song to queerness that one could have written and sung about!

Jaskier is a queer representation groundbreaking masterpiece on a show such as this.

That representation is as intelligent, insightful, and sharp as Prince Radovid himself.

And Extraordinarily Things said more about Jaskier's feelings, issues, and vulnerabilities than any piece of dialogue ever could have, and had me weeping my eyes out by the time Jaskier sang about how he finally felt like he was enough...

Well done Joey, you absolutely brilliant and deeply empathetic real-life bard and poet, well done...

[jemmaredgravewhore]

pls rb!!

[viking-raider]

Can I ask?

Are we not talking about what they did to Filavandrel's lute last season? Are you not telling me; Jaskier, Julian Alfred Pancratz, Viscount de Lettenhove, (thank you Codringher for bringing that up) wouldn't be 'oh woeing!' the destruction of that Lute all across the Continent and back???

Because I think the biggest drama queen, besides Valdo Marx, fucking would!

[maybeimissu]

it's been so long since i listened to fair but goddamn it that song still destroys me and makes me go feral

[le-velo-pour-dru]

Joey Batey's hilarious, and he makes some of the best music on this planet, what can't this man do?

(Well, bake a cake obviously, BUT STILL XD /ref)

[shortamarble]

i’ve listened to mr. joey bateys song ‘welly boots’ approximately 156 times this week and every time i listen to it i relate it more and more to geralt and jaskier 😭 i know it’s technically about coping with the death of a loved one but don’t the lyrics just SCREAM geraskier ??

Oh darling lord, how you make me laugh/ Get drunk for me, sing louder than you’ve sung for me/ Grow young each time that thunder in your lungs begins to rumble at the world/ 'Cause you were always strong

They said ‘That girl, she’s wrong’/ But I’ll stick up for you, even though you haven’t got a clue, you haven't got a fucking clue

You’ll miss me, oh Jesus Christ, you’ll miss me/ Just as much as all those years ago, and you’ll look up at the storm

You’ll say ‘I’ve been so scared/You left me here behind, do you not care?/ How the fuck am I supposed to carry on without you here?‘

[shastafirecracker]

ooh!

∞

The Horror and the Wild, The Amazing Devil

ahhhhhh another one where the entire song is my favorite lyric! ok I will pick some...

they thought us blind (we were just blinking)

give me back my heart you wingless thing

you are the son of every dressing-up box and I am time itself, I slow to let you play / I steal the hours and turn the night into day

welcome to the storm, I am thunder welcome to my table, bring your hunger

[hockles]

I’m having some big Joey Batey appreciation feels today

[chaosandwolves]

NO PLEASE LIKE WTF

WHAT THE HELL IS STEVEN RODRIGUEZ' VOICE EVEN!????

Like what the hell?

This part... I'm losing my mind

I'm left without a choice

And without a doubt

Guess the pack of wolves is

Swimming with the shark now

I've gotta make you bleed

I need to see you drown but before you go

I need to make you learn how

Like... Omfg...

Joey... Joey you got competition now 😅

I've never thought I'd say this 😂

(Don't worry, he'll keep being by favorite but omfg Steven's voice just scratches a certain part in my brain... It's just perfection)

[friendlygirlswag]

nothing like trying to fall asleep at 1am and accidentally uncovering the amazing devil character lore. bc its more than scarlet scarlet and the blue furious boy. its scarlet scarlet and the blue furious boy, and the boy from inkpot gods falling for her over and over again. its the parents from chords and the parent from welly boots. it’s scarlet scarlets trauma in her relationships and the lyrics in all of the songs with simultaneous melodies. its these lyrics from pruning shears and its my half baked nighttime theories

[escapeintothe-book-universe]

The line "Cause we'll be all that you hate about yourself so you can grow" in Chords always makes me cry. I spend so much time of my life hating myself even when my parents tried their best to make me feel loved.

This song means so much to me in several different ways.

[dkniade]

August 4, 2022.

I searched up chords for Farewell Wanderlust for the first time ever since I’ve known the song (which isn’t that long), and played along

“…It’s in 3s OF COURSE IT’S IN 3s THAT'S WHY IT SOUNDS LIKE A BAR AND A WALTZ (BECAUSE IT IS A WALTZ WHICH IS IN TRIPLE METER”

“LET US WALTZ FOR THE DEAD INDEED JOEY BATEY YOU GENIUS BASTARD”

…

oh my fucking god it’s literally a waltz that takes my favourite metaphor of “waltzing with your enemy while flirting” to a musical level I LOVE IT

pov: you’re talking to a writer who doesn’t know the time signature of a song unless he consciously tries to play it

[jemmaredgravewhore]

“i’m not trapped with you, you see, you’re the one who’s trapped with me” is so !!!!

it’s saying, i have the power here actually. not you.

(u might hear abt a child who was trapped with a psyhco murderer but not rly abt a psycho murderer trapped with a child.)

it’s saying yeah u think you’re in charge here? you think u have the upper hand? NO BITCH THATS ME,, FUCK YOU

i feel this is especially poignant if we’re interpreting the ‘old witch’ as like anxiety or some type of mental illness because as much as we might begin to feel like it’s become an integral part of us, we need to fight it and be like babe no. i’m in charge of my own body and though you are a resident here you do not get to control it.

[the-better-rainbow-unikitty]

I posted 1,394 times in 2022

That's 1,162 more posts than 2021!

250 posts created (18%)

1,144 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@crying-like-a-fucking-baby

@itsrapsodia

@idkimqueer

@sundere1181

@the-better-rainbow-unikitty

I tagged 957 of my posts in 2022

Only 31% of my posts had no tags

#the amazing devil - 108 posts

#tad - 98 posts

#joey batey - 97 posts

#madeleine hyland - 79 posts

#dracula daily - 69 posts

#dracula - 64 posts

#my chemical romance - 52 posts

#the magnus archives - 52 posts

#mcr - 48 posts

#tma - 48 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#avocado is the love of my life the reason it's worth living my lord and saviour my soft wife my inspiration my baby and momma my everything

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

How did they put “I’ll withstand what’s written for the writer in you, write me well, my love, write me weird” and “we thought you were mental, you were talking to trees” into the same song i swear

214 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

#4

"Dear heart, it's me, it's me, you don't need to pretend to be someone you're not."

292 notes - Posted June 17, 2022

#3

Not the author of this article being a comedic genius

380 notes - Posted May 25, 2022

#2

The Slovaks: the fuck is that guy doing

The hetman: that just count's afternoon snack

The Slovaks: lol ok

608 notes - Posted June 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

"I'm gonna watch Morbius to see what the hype is about"

My brother in christ, the hype is about NOT seeing the movie

2,417 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[magic-multicolored-miracle]

Here's another one: Joey Batey, Rory Culkin, David Bowie

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Ok, now that that's out of my system...

Husband: Joey, 100%. His face, his little awkward laughs, the way he can go from boyish and adorable to sexy smoulder in a finger-snap span. The fact that he looks equally attractive with or without scruff and no matter his hairstyle. His eyes. His deceptively muscly arms. The number of instruments he can play. His lyrical genius. His VOICE. I just want to lay my head in his lap and listen to him sing forever ok. Unless D&D is an option. Then we should definitely do that.

One Night Stand: Rory. He seems like he would be sweet and attentive, without being too sappy? Also that hair could be fun. And have you seen his hands 👀

Best Friend: How cool would it be to be able to say "oh yeah, my best friend is David fucking Bowie"?! Also he seems like he would be a party, but also down to just chill. And the stories he could tell. Plus he could have some killer jam sessions with my new hubby Joey.

FMK Alternative De Jour

[themovieblogonline]

The Witcher Season 3: How Geralt Evolved Beyond The Grumpy Hero Archetype

The Witcher probably gave Henry Cavill his biggest hit outside of Superman. But he was also perfectly suited for the role of the silent but strong Geralt of Rivia. The character was an instant success with audiences, becoming one of the bigger factors behind The Witcher’s success. So much so that fans are concerned about the status of season 4, with news of Cavill’s exit and subsequence replacement by Liam Hemsworth. But despite that The Witcher season 3 Geralt further evolves the character beyond his initial depiction. For the better. Please note that the following will contain some spoilers for the previous 2 seasons of The Witcher, and some of season 3 part 1 as well. Geralt From Seasons 1 And 2 Of The Witcher When audiences first met Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) he was a quiet and vicious character. A man of few words, the mutant monster hunter rarely spoke, letting his sword do the talking. It was perfect. Especially when Geralt paired his adventures with the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) who spoke more than enough for the both of them. Geralt's strong and sombre demeanour was perfect when facing monsters and harsh and brutal truths. The depiction even worked when he met Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra) and developed the intense sexual tension that added to the success of the show that much more. The tumultuous and tormented Yennefer, desperate to find a magical way to reverse her inability to conceive a child, coupled with a man who never expresses anything; a genius contrast that added to their chemistry even more. The Grumpiness Of Geralt Worked Even Better With Ciri By the time season 1 ended, The Witcher cemented Geralt as a stone-cold monster hunter. So when his destiny became intertwined with Ciri’s in a climactic embrace, the stage was set for a Lone Wolf and Cub-type story to take place in season 2. And The Witcher season 3 Geralt is quite different from season 2 as well. Season 2 paved the way for the grumpy Geralt to have to deal with a young and impulsive teenage girl. Becoming the reluctant father to a princess with powers was a great dynamic that season 2 explored, without ever going over the top. Geralt even sacrificed any romantic happiness he might have sought with Yennefer, in exchange for being there for Ciri. But the tension between them never went away. Their ‘will they-won’t they’ dynamic was consistent through season 2. But with them finally becoming a family in the season 2 finale, the dynamic shifted drastically with the depiction of The Witcher season 3 Geralt. In The Witcher Season 3 Geralt Has Grown When The Witcher season 3 begins, Geralt is fully part of Ciri's life, horsing around with her and just begin a full-on father to her. A natural progression from his depiction in season 2. It is such a great move, to have the character change, given where he is in the story. Even his dynamic with Yennefer has evolved. Spending that much time together sees the two openly discussing their feelings about one another. While initiated by Yennefer's incessant onslaught of love letters, eventually Geralt shares his feelings about her too. But even going beyond The Witcher season 3 Geralt’s relationship with the main leads, and even other areas of his life has evolved. When faced with the news of his mother’s passing, Geralt finally opens up about her. Geralt’s mother famously left him behind to become a Witcher; a tragic plot point in season 1. But in The Witcher season 3 Geralt not only discusses but shared a sweet monologue about this mom, bringing closure to his issues with her. Why Geralt Changing Is The Best Part Of The Witcher Season 3 We’ve seen the grumpy hero turned softy character arc many times. But the subtlety with which it happens with Geralt in The Witcher is incredibly well done. There are no definitive moments where Geralt softens or changes. The writers don’t depict his eventual transition as comedy or as the expense of a joke. There are no wink-and-nod moments that showcase Geralt becoming more loving or romantic. Characters don’t call it out or mock it. It just is. Geralt’s evolution from a loner butcher into a reluctant father and lover affected other aspects of his personality, as evident by the monologue about his mother. It’s a subtle transition that could have become trite if handled any other way. But in The Witcher season 3, Geralt evolved beyond that archetype into a fully rounded character that isn’t defined by what happened to him in the past. The Witcher season 3 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. What did you think about this transition of Geralt in The Witcher season 3? Let me know in the comments below or follow me on Twitter at @theshahshahid to discuss more. Read the full article