#Kinda feels like the we don’t know what to so with our female character role for Transformers

[ask-cloverfield]

[phoenixkaptain]

I absolutely love Legally Blonde (the musical). Elle is such a great character!!

The audience is introduced to her in such an amazing way, with her mathematically trying to figure out what to wear. “It may be perfect for a blonde, but I’m not that blonde. I may be in love but I’m not stupid, lady, I’ve got eyes.”

Elle in general is so good. She’s so smart and she’s legitimately the most interesting character to follow.

But!!! The best!!! Part!!! At the end of the musical, when she says she’s leaving, Emmett confessing that he loves her isn’t what convinces her to stay. Instead, it’s the other female characters showing their support for her!!! The way the girls in this movie support each other!!! The “Greek Chorus” is perhaps my favourite example, if only because they’re so supportive of absolutely everything Elle does!!! It’s so sweet!!! “We came to see our president be legally blonde”? Best line, I love it, it’s so good.

But also, the romance between Elle and Emmett is so fucking good. Emmett supports her through absolutely everything. Emmett is such a great person, but also his musical cue is an oboe, which means I’m biased to like him anyway-

“They laughed at me like they’re laughing at you. We can’t win if we don’t follow through.” “Though it’s hardly my business to say, could it be the real thing in your way is the very man you’re trying to impress?” “But I know it’ll all be worthwhile when I win my first lucrative trial, and buy my mom that great big house out on the cape.” “As I hugged my mom and told her, with the chance I’ve been given, I’m gonna be driven as hell.” All of Emmett’s lines are so good, all of his songs are perfect, Emmett is the best character ever.

I love the ending, when Elle proposes to Emmett. It’s the character coming full circle. She begins the musical by planning an outfit that will be perfect for Warner to propose to her to; “This dress needs to seal the deal, make a grown man kneel, but it can’t come right out and say bride.” “I’ve got t leave Warner his pride.” She’s fulfilling the stereotypical idea of the woman having to be proposed to. She can’t propose to him or look too desperate to be proposed to, because that will ruin his “pride.”

Elle proposing to Emmett at the end shows such an amazing character growth. She knows she doesn’t have to fulfill the stereotypical female role in their relationship. She proposes in a room full of people, proving that she is no longer concerned with her partner’s “pride.” She proposes by saying “Emmett Forrest, please make me the happiest woman I know.” She proposes in the stereotypical male style, but it’s so fucking sweet because Emmett is so excited and they just love each other so much-

But the best way to portray the character growth is two specific interactions. To set it up, the Greek Chorus mentions, in the very first song, that being married won’t come between Elle and their “sacred bond of sisterhood.” Later in the same song, the Chorus sings: “We love you guys.” And Elle responds: “No, I love you guys.” Note that she specifically says “I,” because presumably, Warner doesn’t actually care all that much about them.

Now, in the finale, the Chorus repeats the line, this time to Elle and Emmett: “We love you guys.” But, this time, Elle and Emmett respond together: “No, we love you guys.”

Emmett supports Elle’s interests to the point that she feels comfortable sharing them with him. She feels comfortable introducing her best friends to him and he actually likes them. It comes full circle. Elle finally has someone who supports her completely, just like she supports Emmett completely, they make each other happy. It’s so sweet.

Also, it’s kinda funny because Emmett is Elle’s sugar baby-

[lucky-clover-gazette]

extremely long essay-adjacent post about female representation in the captive prince

capri is interesting bc i dislike the lack of female characters, but knowing the way that people are treated in vere and akielos, i kinda feel relieved that we don’t see many women.

like idk, gender stuff is complicated. it is a double standard, that seeing female characters in the same positions as the men in these books would just feel different. given how women have been treated and continue to be treated in real life society, it’s almost escapist fantasy within itself to see this world where we don’t have to really look too hard at women being abused and oppressed. and in addition to real life, we get that in plenty of fiction already, written mostly by men, often in a way that feels condescending or fetishizing.

capri’s male-dominated cast comes at the expense of really seeing women on the page, but the few female characters do seem to be intentionally written in positions that don’t feel disempowering or misogynistic. vannes holds her position of authority through similar means to the powerful men, and she’s just as morally questionable as the rest—no exceptions are made. jokaste is authoritative simply by her characterization, and uses her femininity in as a tool to put herself in higher stations. like, that woman has a uterus and she knows how to use it to her advantage. and then there’s the vaskian women, like this entirely separate matriarchal warrior society, and we really only get a peek into whatever the hell they have going on.

we know, logically, that there are plenty of female slaves and pets and prostitutes, almost undoubtedly abused and undervalued wives of men in the nobility. the regent's court is male-dominated by choice. kastor, i would bet, is similarly misogynistic. the male characters we follow are explicit misogynists, gay and disinterested in women, or like legally forbidden from any heterosexual romance they might want to have. gender roles and sexual taboos run deep in this world. we know that women are out there, suffering, just like damen and erasmus and laurent. but pacat shows us women who are not suffering instead. and that, to me, is something.

but like, i think the instance of womanhood that’s most interesting to me in the series is actually the absence of it in laurent and damen’s lives. the characters and story we follow are so steeped in masculinity and patriarchy—but there are women in this world. they are up to things, and i think pacat has given their existence thought. i can't know her intentions for sure, but i sense that she might have made them absent in our protagonist’s lives for a reason.

becauseeeee who is the person to finally Beat the regent? a female character who you are meant to ignore, who appears to be a random bystander, but reveals herself to be mindful and caring. a woman who, just like damen and laurent in book 1, is relatively powerless in this society but left with very little to lose. loyse is the closest thing to like… a just kinda average woman we see in this entire series. she’s not partaking in the debauchery of veretian, akielion, or vaskian nobility. she’s not playing power games with her body or sexuality. she’s basically just, like, the normalest person in the room, full of people like fifteen feet deep in a pool of power struggles, sexual depravity, manipulation, politics, and war strategy. she has her head above water, at least after aimeric’s death. that isn’t a gendered quality by nature, and i hate the implication that women are more likely to be level-headed, good advocates or caretakers, etc… but i don’t think that’s what i’m trying to say here at all.

because loyse, like… isn’t a perfect mother. she either completely missed or knowingly enabled horrible things happening to her son because her husband wanted to social climb. i’m not sure if she knew, during aimeric’s childhood, exactly what was going on with guoin, the regent, and aimeric. it might say somewhere (i hope it does!) but my skimming yielded nothing. i think it would make the most sense if loyse only found out after aimeric’s death, like on the road with guion and the main characters. she clearly spoke to laurent about it at some point, and didn’t tell guion that she planned to testify against him. regardless of when she found out, she’s just over it all at the trial, and finally speaks her mind.

loyse being a woman doesn’t inherently make her more likely to be wise or compassionate than the main characters—but it’s more like, idk, being so far removed from the very male-centric story that we see, it allows a character like her to have the clarity to essentially defeat the final boss everyone else has been struggling to fight for three entire books. loyse really just said, “hi. fuck you all. my son is dead because my asshole husband made a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with him as a bargaining chip. i’m not delusional, i know this is wrong, and im not going to shut up about it to appease this depraved and cowardly court. also the regent killed his brother, because i know you assholes don’t care about my son and never will.” and that is the first domino in the regent’s defeat.

so, like… what if damen and laurent had been written with loyses in their lives? women who weren’t there to have sex with them, in damen’s case? mothers and sisters and friends? what qualities could they have then developed in themselves, so much sooner than they do in the series?

if more of these characters were women—if more women were Involved In The Story, in general—would it have been as brutal or difficult as it was? could things have been better communicated, would social reform have happened sooner? would damen and laurent (especially laurent) have had the same experiences that so strongly define who they are? it’s a slippery slope to assign traits to gender, i know, but i think there is something to be said for the different ways men and women handle intellectual and emotional problems—especially if they’ve been socialized heavily based on their gender, which does seem to be the case for this world. if damen had a mother or a sister or a simply platonic female friend, do you think he would have more quickly realized some of his own ethical blind spots re: sex and consent? if laurent had a mother or sister or female friend, do you think he would have been protected from the regent, and given more opportunities to feel safe and unsexualized? if there were actual authoritative women in the venetian royal bloodline, would the regent have been able to take over, and make the court so male-dominated in the first place?

it’s like that meme, “x media (image of giant book), x media if character had a gun (very short book).” i think, fundamentally, that capri would not have been able to tell the same story if more female characters were involved. and to be clear—that is not an excuse to exclude female characters, because i fucking love female characters. it would almost certainly be a better series with more women thoughtfully involved, but the point is, it wouldn’t be the same. and i do admire that pacat seems to understand that there are differences between men and women, in many ways, and doesn’t just like… write a character she means to be a dude, and then genderswap. or write an character who’s in essence genderless, insert them into this very gendered society, and then spin a wheel to see what pronouns they use.

i’m not sure exactly what point i’m trying to make here, but i’ll leave two related excerpts for your consideration. actually, yes, i do know my point, and i’ll say it with conviction: simply thinking to put female characters in a story, does not make it a story with thoughtful female characters. and capri, as a series, is defined by its thoughtfulness to me. i cannot fully commit to the suggestion that its lack of female characters is inherently misogynistic, because i think that lack of female presence is a character within itself. and more than anything, it’s an ongoing flaw of fandoms in general, people in general, to either want women to be 1) absent, so they’re not in the way of the men’s stories or 2) simple and archetypical, to check a box for inclusion. but there are other options. i like those options more.

to truly want female representation in a misogynistic world is to want to see the complexity of womanhood, both in its presence and its absence. and i think if cs pacat ever decided to take on a female perspective, intentionally, as the main point of a piece of writing, it would be masterfully done. i would love to see her write women, but i want those women to truly be the main characters. and i never want to tell anyone what they should want to write about.

capri is what it is. and to its credit, i do believe that this series both considers and values the female perspective much more than the fandom seems to acknowledge. the real problem to me rests with fandom and the society it reflects, rather than the story or its author.

excerpt #1, from the summer palace by cs pacat, author of the captive prince series:

‘My mother planted these gardens,’ said Damen. His heart was pounding. ‘Do you like them? They’re ours now.’ Saying the word “ours” still felt daring. He could feel it mirrored in Laurent, the shy awkwardness of what was so dearly desired. ‘I like them,’ said Laurent. ‘I think they’re beautiful.’ Laurent’s fingers found his again, a small intimacy that had him overbrimming. ‘I don’t think about her often. Only when I come here.’ ‘You don’t take after her.’ ‘Oh?’ ‘Her statue in Ios is three feet tall.’ The corner of Damen’s mouth twitched. He knew the statue, on a plinth in the north hall. ‘There’s a statue of her here. Come and meet her.” It was part of the nonsense they were sharing, a whim, to show Laurent. He tugged; they came to an arched open garden. ‘I take it back, you’re just like her.’ Laurent said it looking up. The statue here was bigger. Damen was smiling; there was delight in seeing Laurent explore himself, a young man who was sweet, teasing, at times unexpectedly earnest. Having made the decision to let Damen in, Laurent had not gone back on it. When the walls went up, it was with Damen inside them. But when Laurent came to stand in front of the statue of his mother, the mood changed to something more serious, as if prince and statue were communicating with each other. Unlike in Patras, it wasn’t the custom in Akielos to paint statues. His mother Egeria looked out towards the sea with a marble face and marble eyes, even though she’d had dark hair and eyes like himself and his father. He saw her through Laurent’s eyes, the old-fashioned dress of marble, the curled hair, her high, classical brow and outraised arm. Damen realised that he didn’t know how tall his mother really was. He had never asked about it, and had never been told. Laurent made a formal Akielon gesture that matched his chiton and the gardens, but was different to his habitual Veretian manners. Damen felt his skin prickle with strangeness. It was part of Akielon courtship to seek permission from a parent. If things had been different, Damen might have knelt in the great hall in front of King Aleron, asking for the right to court his youngest son. It was not that way between them. All their family was dead. ‘I’ll take care of your son,’ said Laurent. ‘I’ll protect his kingdom as if it were my own. I’ll give my life for his people.’ Above them, the sun was high and bright, and encouraged a retreat to the shade line. The boughs of the trees around them were heavy with scent. Laurent said, ‘I won’t let him down. I promise you.’

and an excerpt from the captive prince fan wiki.

[try-set-me-on-fire]

#more points towards buddie canon: eddie treats buck like he treats his female romantic partners aka takes them for granted

yeah..... i didn't wanna say he was taking Buck for granted 'cause it felt kinda mean oskaoskas but he totally was taking him for granted because like, Buck almost died 3 times in what? maybe 6 months? and Buck really wanted his life to go back to normal so he did something extreme because nobody was checking in on him even though they had acknowledged that the 118 is all Buck has, and Eddie had his own shit going on and the way Buck doesn't notices and tries to fix it, like Buck has done in the past with noticing the way he was struggling with finding the right care for Chris and giving him Carla for instance, makes Eddie go ballistic as if somehow Buck has to prioritize him and that's so insane. But it also makes sense with the way they constructed Eddie's character with his particular flavor of abandonment issues and the struggles he has voicing his needs and expectations, and I also think a bit about the way he overcorrects because he trusted Buck, Buck let him down so he went straight to yelling at him. And the craziest thing is that it wasn't even about Eddie. He makes it about his feelings because he got caught in the crossfire between Bobby and Buck and that's such a fascinating reaction to the situation they were in. Kinda totally wish they had made Eddie apologize for the you're exhausting thing tho, because that stayed with Buck.

Yeah!!!!! I love Eddie I love that he has like real flaws he feels like an actual person! He absolutely does just kind of assume his partners will keep things running smoothly while never asking for the specific help he wants, or really giving that help in return! He defends Shanon to his parents after the fact but doesn’t support her while she’s actually around. And now Buck’s in that support role he just expects him to be there without asking, to take care of things and magically know what Eddie needs, which is something that Buck is very good at usually. He thinks of Buck as behaving selfishly while he’s literally saying why don’t you care about my problems….. the lack of self awareness is DELICIOUS to me!!!! And I really think he has grown past this, the Eddie who waits for Buck to come sleep on his couch and says “Now can I ask how you are?” Is an entirely different person than the Eddie who says “you’re exhausting, we all have our own problems, why can’t you just suck it up?” I’m really looking forward to see what he’s like in season seven, if new communicative Eddie who’s not burying his feelings sticks around or if we’ll see backsliding into old habits! And yeah would have loved an apology…. Maybe we’ll still get that some day…. Boys, talk out your feelings….

[suchacomet]

Spring Awakening Fandom Tag

(By @winter-asleepening, tagged (kinda) by @feelssogoodinmyarms )

sorry for this being long and for jumping in on this out of nowhere, i got excited and i missed talking about this show now that i’m once again in my yearly spring awakening phase thanks to seeing a local production yesterday :)

1. How were you introduced to the show?

i was an emo kid trying to find musicals i liked bc i started doing theater in high school, i saw american idiot was made into a musical, and followed the john gallagher jr rabbit hole to a b00tl3g of obc spring awakening. this happened to be in 2014 and when i heard about dwsa on broadway i conned my mom into taking me to nyc to see it (i didnt tell her how sexual it was i just said “it’s about teens coming of age in germany set to rock music” and she had Words for me during that intermission lol)

2. Seen a production live?

yes, four: dwsa, a local college production, and two productions at local theater companies in the areas i’ve lived

3. Dream role/character you relate to most

y’all already know it’s moritz…. i imprinted on him when i was 14 and have never stopped being obsessed with him as a character. but i think it’s more likely i’d get the chance to play ilse before moritz and i would love to play ilse as well

4. Favorite male character

mort steeple :) i have never gotten enough of this dude, ever

5. Favorite female character

wendla <3 she’s such a good character when she’s played with the right amount of joy, stubbornness, and curiosity

6. Deaf West Revival or Original Broadway Cast?

dwsa all the way. i appreciate obc for what it is but dwsa is my definitive best revival/adaptation ever ever ever

7. Favorite song

comet on its way :) christ such a whole, like, deal 🙄😏

but if you force me to pick “a real song” that “is actually in the show” then… i think a production that has a really good “and then there were none” is killer bc it means 1. they’re focusing on my favorite boy moritz and 2. they have an adult woman who plays fanny gabor compassionately but flawed in a way that underscores the show’s themes around adults not trusting kids with their own minds and bodies. which i greatly enjoy

8. Least favorite song

this is unfair of me bc it never fails to make me cry and it has one of my favorite lyrics ever in it (window by window you try and look into this brave new you that you are) but it’s “the guilty ones” bc i think “there once was a pirate” is better. my hot take is that dwsa is only version of spring awakening i’ve ever seen where i actually prefer their use of guilty ones instead of pirate

9. Favorite quote/line

musical: so maybe i should be some kind of laundry line / hang their things on me / and i will swing ‘em dry / you just wave in the sun through the afternoon / and then see / they come to set you free / beneath the rising moon - don’t do sadness it’s just such an evocative description of feeling hopeless against all the pressures of life and perfectly encapsulates being 15 and desperate and just wanting a little bit of relief. plus the way daniel durant and alex boniello performed this is so killer. moritz stiefel i love you

play: “don’t let’s be sad […] if we recall this in thirty years, perhaps we shall make fun of it.——and yet everything is so beautiful. the mountains glow; the grapes hang before our mouths and the evening breeze caresses the rocks like a playful flatterer.” from hans in the vineyard scene. augh it’s just so tender and lovely in a way that the musical doesn’t have the time/ability to address, with the acknowledgement that yes this moment is temporary and who knows if ernst and hanschen will “make it”. and yet. everything is so beautiful. also PROOF THAT HANSCHEN ISNT A CREEP OR MANIPULATIVE HE IS ALSO A TEEN BOY IN LOVE FUCK YOU STEVEN SATER

10. Favorite TV performance

always and forever dwsa touch me on seth meyer i have seen it at least two hundred times and i’m not exaggerating

11. Favorite cast member(s)

daniel durant always always always. he is such a talent i’m so glad his career seems to be taking off, he’s genuinely one of the best actors i’ve ever seen in my whole life.

12. Favorite cast member moment

can i say 1st national tour cabaret where the boys performed comet on its way in order to bring up comet on its way again. if not it’s when i gave daniel durant a painting of him as moritz at stage door and i was a shy anxious teen who learned just enough asl to say “hi” and “thank you” and “will you sign my playbill please” and he was SO sweet to me and lovely and he hugged me and i know actors do that kind of shit all the time and i’m sure he doesn’t remember it but it really made my whole life when it happened :’)

13. Do you write fan fiction?

not outside of personal catharsis pieces that have never seen the light of day. i made an aloto/vineyard scene web weaving post though that i do think goes hard

14. Do you make fan art?

i still love the moritz and then there were none piece i did a few years ago but i haven’t done a whole lot past that… that may change though i want to get back into drawing

15. Do you cosplay?

no, but spring awakening costumes have 10000% influenced my real life fashion and hair decisions. lol

16. Don’t do Sadness or Blue Wind?

i just saw this GORGEOUS performance of dds/bw where ilse sobbed through her verse of blue wind and the rest of the cast like gathered around her and slowly peeled away to represent her memory/longing for real connection and the reality of her never really having that at all, and really underscoring that her spoken lines about her new life in the artist’s colony and wanting to take moritz home are just posturing to hide how lonely she is… so right now i think blue wind

17. Word of Your Body or the Reprise?

reprise when it’s done earnestly, but i do really love the lyrics in woyb

18. Touch Me or My Junk?

my junk! i love seeing the different ways it’s staged between georg and hanschen and the girls, plus it’s the only time the girls get to be horny

19. Explain the Song of Purple Summer

it’s a metatextual message from the story of spring awakening to the audience that underscores the themes of open and honest communication being the key to healthy people and relationships, it’s asking the adults in the audience to believe children (when they say they’re gay, when they ask for information and want to be given all of it, when they ask for help and say they want to die), it’s a message of hope to the kids in the seats who relate too much to the kids on stage, telling us that it will get better

20. Explain the Song of Purple Summer (wrong answers only)

horses fuck and have foal babies idk <3

that was very fun thank you for indulging me. if any of mine olde spring awakening/dwsa mutuals are still around please consider this me tagging you <3

[jayflrt]

Ok I’m going on anon because I’m pretty supportive on SMAU posts and I have been reading awhile. The author of that post talks about specifically Asian women, however in my time reading fic across multiple kpop and pop culture fandoms,I have seen white, black, latinx, desi, east/west asian face claims (yay diversity I guess?) though specifically east asian women are used as face claims more in kpop fics (not always though, I have seen the whole spectrum). I think you’re right that using someone’s face is a little touchy. And yes. For kids—minors in general—that’s a full on no. You can post a pic of baby shoes or something. There are plenty of free/no copyright/fair use photos online of like a smaller kid hand holding and bigger hand or something like that where it’s an image intended for use in multiple ways and no one’s identity is compromised.

I know a lot of kpop fics and other genres use either female kpop idols or actresses as their face claim as well. I kinda feel like that’s maybe less problematic? (Especially since we are already using the male kpop idols as face claims and name claims for what are technically our OCs) Those are public figures and their images are publicly shared to promote content and content creation. I guess I’m saying an author could always use like one of the NewJeans girls as a face claim. I mean if I was writing a SMAU about Karina then maybe I would use Sunghoon or Hee as a face claim (no idol shipping for me—strictly face claim). So I guess I’m saying if an author is wanting to use a face then…maybe just use another idol? Or an actress? Though some people make the same argument about influencers. That they can use their images because they are also posted online for a large audience? I personally don’t know where the line is (except with kid’s faces—that’s a clear no) and since I don’t write SMAU… But if I did… I would probably use a kpop idol or an actress as my face claim—IF I even chose to have one. (I know some people get really touchy about face claims in general though because…I mean no matter who your face claim is—even if it’s a pic of YOU the author—putting a specific face and a body to yn is less ‘reader insert’ for some readers. I mean it has never bothered me one bit, even in writing if there are distinctive features described—to me it’s just a story—but some people do get truly upset.)

i'm the author of that post just to clarify!! i just screenshot that from my twitter, but that's very true there's definitely more diversity in the face claims people use out there, i just think east asian face claims are more widely used in kpop and anime spaces maybe 🤧 diversity rep is great i just wish we could move towards more faceless ones?? idk just publicly posting people's faces in certain contexts just feels a little like an invasion of privacy but i'm sure people feel different ways toward that

and i agree in the context of smaus i think it makes more sense to use an idol/celebrity as a face claim !! i sort of see face claims as like casting someone in a role, so it makes more sense to use actors/idols who are already in the spotlight and have their pictures spread on the internet because their career depends on exposure and publicity (unless of course said actor/idol has stated that they don't want their face being used for such things). i was referring to a different sort of fic actually (not smaus) but yeah smaus could be a gray area too and i feel like the same rules should apply. i've read plenty of twitter social media aus where no selfies/pictures are used at all even from the idol and they've been some the best smaus i've read

children/babies are a hard no for me :( there's just so many ways to go about it without inserting a child's face,, so i rlly don't get it !! oh yes i've never exactly cared about how a reader insert looks because i always just imagine a character anyways but the privacy issue of whoever's the face claim is my main concern with it 🧎‍♀️

[chellyfishing]

apparently i have read seven books already this year, mostly because i have been too tired to do basically anything else (plus january is typically a strong reading month for me, for whatever reason). anyway that sounds like a little more than it is, since two were finishing up my locked tomb reread and two were under 100 pages (poems and essays by mary oliver and, uh, bunnicula, which i read while lying in the tub at 4 am trying to manage pain). the first non-locked tomb book i read was a far wilder magic, which is actually a book i have a LOT of thoughts on that i might get into eventually (still loved it tho! love allison saft’s prose!!) but mostly i wanted to tell you about the two romcoms i read!

i’m really so pleased with both of these books because they are apparently the first romance books i’ve ever given 5/5 stars too (unless you count kings rising, but that’s literally the only other one). i did notice that both of these are ya, which means there’s no sex in either, not even a fade to black, it just doesn’t happen over the course of the story, and i genuinely don’t know if that played a role. i kinda don’t think it did, bc my next-favorite romance book, all the feels, does have graphic sex scenes, but the reason i rated it a little below 5 had more to do with some of the writing choices in other places. SO i dunno! just something to ponder. onto the books!

the first is highly suspicious and unfairly cute by talia hibbert. this is actually my first talia hibbert, who has written a bunch of really well-loved adult romances. i’m looking forward to reading more from here because i loved her writing! it’s so full of charm and personality and literal lols. it doesn’t get boring because the narrative voice(s) are so engaging. the characters are so good in this. the main male character, brad, is also important to me because he’s very casually bisexual and also has OCD (i don’t have OCD but i have fifty other anxiety disorders in a trenchcoat and am somewhat OCD-adjacent, so a lot of his worries and intrusive thoughts really hit!). and our female lead, celine, is a fat girl, but that never ever ever comes up as a pejorative. brad constantly remarks on how beautiful she is and celine herself has a frankly enviable amount of self-confidence. and of course, both of them are black, as seen on the cover. this book truly is unfairly cute. i was rooting for the couple but i was also rooting for all the little friendships they made along the way. just a really good time.

the second one was the borrow-a-boyfriend club by page powars. this book is very ouran-coded, in that our main boy sort of accidentally joins what it is not called but very clearly is a high school host club. the boys are even sorted by Type with a capital T. more importantly this book is the purest definition of trans and queer joy. our boy noah is doing his best to “prove” he’s a boy at his new school to avoid all the little “accidents” and “slip-ups” that drove him from his last school, and it is sad to see him struggle to feel confident in his identity, but the more he’s affirmed the more his joy comes through. he’s got a very dogged personality that is so endearing. genuinely just a very lovable main character to follow. i would have liked to get to know the other characters in the club a little more but this is a pretty short book (under 300 pages) and i feel like for the length of the book we actually do get a pretty good amount of them. and they were lovable too! every time they were nice to noah and he became more embedded in this little friend group/family the happier i felt. our love interest is an absolute disaster but it was in such a quintessentially teenage boy way, especially given his upbringing. such a fun, funny (so many more literal lols) little story about male friendship and queerness and transness and boys and happiness. honestly if “ouran but in ann arbor and haruhi is actually a trans boy” sounds like a good time, do not hesitate!!

[eleganzadellarosa]

Sweetpea

pairing: male oc x female oc

genre: fluff and angst

word count: 1.4K+

AN: would you believe me if I said this plot came to me in a dream? I kinda woke up crying 🥺 it’s so cute and so adorable and I hope it warms your heart. As always, enjoy and thanks for reading <3

P.S - characters are seniors

“Hi Sweetpea, good morning!”

There it was again, the sweet smile that fills my heart with love every morning. The one that makes my heart flutter and flips my stomach. Does he know how much love I have for him? Can he tell?

When I smile back, his smile gets brighter as if his smile is powered by mine. Sweetpea has been his nickname for me for as long as I can remember. The only boy that didn’t throw dirt on me during recess or steal my milk in the cafeteria. I didn’t love him then, he was just nice, a good person, soon my best friend.

It was the start of high school that I realized the small jump my heart did every time he was around wasn't only due to being happy to see him but that I wanted to be in his arms forever. Can he tell?

He didn’t care that he lived 3 miles away, he always came to walk me to school without hesitation. I looked forward to it. Looked forward to looking left and right until I could finally see his shape round the corner. He always did a little jog and wave when he saw me standing in front of my house.

It was cute, maybe even the cutest thing he did and he has a long list of those.

“You look so cold, sorry I had you waiting for so long.”

His hands came up to warm my cheeks, hopefully hiding the blush that threatened to paint them. He was perfect in my eyes, the most handsome I had ever seen. He truly shined inside and out.

“Hi Pumpkin, good morning.” That was the best nickname I could come up with for him after all these years but of course nothing could beat Sweetpea and he didn’t seem to mind it at all. “I didn’t wait long so I’m not cold.”

Maybe I should have kept the last part to myself so I could feel the warmth of his skin a few seconds longer. Truthfully the brisk of the winter air froze the moisture in my skin, yet I never felt cold when he was around. He was the sunshine that melted the cold snow.

At school everyone knew we were two peas in a pod. Rumors circulated that there was no way we weren’t dating with how much time we spent together. He always denied them and it broke my heart. Did I really not have a chance?

“Okay class, today we’re finally going to announce the two leads for the play.”

The drama club teacher was nice, very bubbly and brightened any room she entered. Being a part of the drama club helped me express my feelings without having to claim them as my own, labeling them simply as acting.

I never knew why Pumpkin joined, he had a knack for it but it didn’t really seem like an interest of his.

“Pumpkin and Sweetpea congratulations, you will be our two leads in the upcoming play. You have 3 weeks to go over your lines but I’m confident that you’ll both push through and give us an amazing performance.”

My face flushed hearing the “ooohs” and whistles from everyone after hearing the announcement. My nerves were triggered, my hands were shaking. The play was about a romance between two royal parties who belonged to opposing sides who eventually confess their love for each other, a forbidden romance of sorts.

And there was a kiss scene. Nothing vulgar, quick and innocent but knowing who I had to do it with made me anxious. This would help none with the burning desire I felt for him. And with his skills, he would make it as believable as possible.

The weeks passed by and the script flowed smoothly as if we lived as the characters themselves, but the kiss scene we never practiced. It would have to be perfect for today on the first try. No room for mistakes.

“Sweetpea, how you feeling? I’m kinda nervous, I don’t wanna mess up.”

How would he? He was perfect for the role and he looked like a prince himself. He didn’t know what nervous was. I stood thinking about kissing my best friend for the first time and enjoying it. I wanted it but I didn’t want to mess up the picture perfect friendship we had. I didn’t want to break the cycle.

“You two are on in 5!”

The deafening silence from the audience and the booming dialogue from the stage battled for who could break me the fastest. Each step we took toward that stage, arms interlocked, my heart rang closer to my ears. My face had to be cherry red by now, no one could tell me otherwise.

“Deep breaths Sweetpea, we got this. I got you.”

It was time, no more giving yourself a pep talk when the curtain had already risen and you were exposed to the crowd.

It went well, the first half, just like we both practiced for weeks. The emotions, the dancing, everything. Everything except the kiss. The kiss that was approaching like rapid fire, something I could no longer stop.

What was I so scared for? It was one kiss lasting 5 seconds at most. I was in a comfortable setting with my best friend of 10 years. I was scared of the change, not between us but within myself.

I knew my love would grow stronger to the point of sleepless nights, but the fear of losing him was too painful. He said it himself, we weren’t dating and the stern manner in which he said it made it known he had no intentions on ever changing that.

The moment was now to deliver his lines and get it over with and never look back.

“My love, I cannot bear to live without seeing your beautiful face everyday.”

3.

His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me in.

“It pains me having to return home without you in my arms.”

2.

A hand came up to cup my cheek.

“I love you.”

1.

His lips were on mine and everything around us faded. Only he and I stood on that stage, no one else in sight as he confessed his love to me. Oh how I waited for this day to come. Or so I hoped. My delusion could not get me any further, so I let the tear fall from my eye as he ended the kiss.

Applause roared through the auditorium. The performance was perfect but my heart was broken. The curtain dropped and I pushed my way past the heavy double doors and ran to the dressing room.

The tears flowed down my cheeks and my heart burned with pain. My knees could no longer hold my body and I fell against a chair clutching my chest.

It was an ugly cry. The kind that wet your face, shortened your breath and stuffed your nose.

He came. He came to check on me as he always would whenever he knew something was wrong. I couldn’t see his face this time but I knew from experience that he looked as if the doctor told him a family member had only days left to live.

“Sweetpea…what’s wrong? Did I do something?”

Ah, the pain in his voice as he accused himself of doing something that would put me in this state only further pained me. Of course he didn’t do anything wrong, he never did. Especially not this time.

He came closer, cautiously and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Hey…look at me, tell me what’s wrong. I don’t wanna see you like this.”

I looked up at him because I needed him to know that as badly as I was crying, nothing he did or is currently doing was the cause.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong? You did an amazing job with the play, the audience loved it!”

“I love you Pumpkin!” I confessed through teary eyes and a snotty nose, but better late than never right? “I love you and I’ve loved you for years now and I can’t take it anymore. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me and I want you to love me too.”

“Sweetpea…why is that making you cry? I do love you. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. I care about you so much and I’m sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me that sooner. You are my Sweetpea from before, now and forever.”

He kissed me again but this time after his own confession, one that I waited to hear for a long time. It was worth the wait and worth everything that lead up to it.

I am his Sweetpea and he is my Pumpkin.

cr to kgymz for divider

[maroonghoul]

Horror Movie’s I just watched: May 2023

Shorter list this time. Here we go:

Resurrection (2022) I saved this one for Mother’s day because I heard the main character was a Mom. I was a bit afraid it wouldn’t factor into the plot that much, but I was reassured, especially with the final scene.

This is another one, kinda like Censor, where the whole thing might be in the protagonist's head. Where she’s so wound up tight at the beginning that her daughter’s accident only starts the ball rolling in her head some nightmarish fantasy of the worst case scenario. It helps that we never got any confirmation about whether of not Tim Roth’s character was a hallucination or anyone else can see him. Hell, given that we never get a flashback with him and his first lines is him saying he doesn’t recognize her, there’s a disturbing possibility that he is real, but is some poor guy who just looks way too much like her ex and she’s hallucinating everything he said. And that final reveal about the baby actually being inside him is too surreal and supernatural to not have heavy implications if it wasn’t in her head.

Granted, like the best of ambiguous films, the story works regardless if this theory is right or not. The point is, externally or internally, this character is tormented. I feel like the moral of this story is; Girlbossing can only help you in limited ways. When it come to trauma as severe as this, try to find therapy. Though given our culture, she still probably couldn’t. It’s not fair.

Mad God Here was a movie I couldn’t take my eyes off, and I still feel like I missed a few things. That’s how striking the imagery was. I don’t know what I can add to what’s already been said about the themes that others haven’t already. Cycles of violence not solving anything, the de-personification of mass labor, civilizations rising and falling again despite the sacrifices; those are what I can glean. Also, being reminded at various points of Eraserhead, Fallout New Vegas, Metropolis, and Cemetery Man. Probably not even half of that was intentional. 

It just wows me. Any one of the creatures in this could be the centerpiece or high point of any other film. Stop motion really has become a lost art. Sure, we know now a big reason why studios heavily prefer CGI, despite how good it actually looks, is cheaper and faster to make then any other effect. But works like this show that, if you’re actually comfortable letting film take as much time as it needs and use as much money as possible to make it look good (Better there than some executive’s overstuffed salary), you’ll allow a lot more variety in how each film is made and look. Gee, it’s almost like time crunches and trying to save money is actually bad for the product. WhO kNeW?

Scare Me I recognized the male lead, Josh Ruben, from CollegeHumor. And after that, this whole movie, to me, played like an extended Hardly Working sketch. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

I was worried a whole movie mostly about two people (briefly three) telling scary stories, and not actually showing us the stories, would look too cheap. Thankfully, there were some technical flourishes. The performances, including the bits their characters acted out so they’re effectively a performance in a performance, are good even if the stories themselves are hit or miss. 

The first werewolf one is just goofy, but that’s intentional. The Grandpa one is ok, even if it’s a touch ableist at a point. The troll’s a bit fun. And the “deal with the devil” one has a fun payoff. 

What this actually ends up being about, insecure white male (maybe?) getting violent with his more successful female colleague was pretty inevitable given how passive-aggressive they both are. Honestly, that they’re both such a-holes help kept what would be a too uncomfortable situation pretty light. You can mark this as another case of “actor known for comedy taking a serious villain role to show their range” movie, like Robin Williams. This was effective enough here, though I don’t know if it would work for him outside of it. 

Final note (and mild spoiler for two films), can’t help but felt like the mid-credit scene reminded of the very end of the 1982 movie Death Trap. Not sure if that movie was a direct inspiration for this. I saw that for the first time about a month ago so it’s fresh on my mind. Outside of that, this is pretty much a good hang-out horror movie. Especially for fans of the old College Humor.

That’s all for now. I’ll probably have less films to talk about next time, but I’ll try to make up for it in July.

[awkwarddystopianwarlord]

It's Not "Just Fiction"

One day I was watching this video and then I was perusing the comment section under it and then I stumbled upon this comment that, in a nutshell, said fictional role models aren’t real role models. The video was about female comedians and how a lot of them tend to joke about womanly things in vulgar ways as if that’s all women have to offer. This is in another nutshell. It was a very good video with a good message. Anywhomst, in the comment section, people were talking about good female role models who had a perfect balance of being a person without shoving down everyone’s throats that they were also ladies. Then someone said to veer away from fictional characters when listing good role models. Most of the responses were “like, why?” And thus a wee dispute erupted where a bunch of folk said it didn’t matter if the people were real or not because it’s what they represent and others disagreed and thought it was telling that the only good lady role models anyone could think of were fictional. 

So, I got inspired by this concept because I have stumbled upon it throughout my life. I have heard more than once, fiction getting discounted because it’s fiction. Some humans lack the comprehension around how someone could fall in love with people that are made up, want to go to worlds that don’t exist, get so invested in stories that aren’t real. I think it’s in a similar realm of people thinking that animated shows are for kids and therefore not intelligent or meaningful the same way, I dunno, a documentary might be. 

All real world concepts can be expertly woven into fiction. In fact, fiction is a grand way to convey difficult topics and themes in a digestible manner. We can see our worlds mirrored in worlds that only exist on a screen. We can see ourselves, friends, and family mirrored in characters that only exist on paper. Our brains like to find patterns and they can find the parallels and familiarities in fiction and apply that to real life. Therefore, fiction has just as much value as non fiction. And the fiction that really sticks in one’s memory banks are the stories that come from people who have something to say. People with statements and ideas and truths that they want to show the world and they know how to do it. 

I always looked up to characters that started shit, specifically rebellious shit. I love to see oppressive systems toppled and that’s because I can’t topple my own. I also look up to characters with strong human-y connections and bonds. I will elaborate on that. Characters who stand together and support each other not out of romantic feeling but the base empathy we as a race have for each other. In the Hunger Games, Katniss partnered up with Rue because Rue is a wee child that is innocent and sweet and pure. In a Quiet Place: Day One, Eric stuck with Sam because she ain’t doing great and he feels for her and wants to do what he can to ease her suffering. In the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, the main ensemble kinda just stayed as a group beyond simply having a common enemy because they all had their own traumas and were broken in their own ways and they found they could gradually open up and trust one another. 

I look up to a slew of fictional characters based on their morals, actions, struggles, flaws, and ideas. I have learnt what unhealthy relationships look like, what PTSD looks like on different people, what quality friendships look like, and countless ways love is expressed. I can identify when certain things aren’t represented well from comparing and contrasting both my life and other fictional works. I can identify poorly written characters and arcs with that same method. There is so much to see underneath, in between, and around the words and images in front of my eyeballs. That’s why nuance and critical thinking are incredibly important. 

Fiction is a perfect way to pass on life lessons to all ages from all walks of life because you can mold what you want to say so that it reaches who you want it to reach. It’s as much a tool of communication as me writing this for you to see and that’s as legitimate as me talking to my friends in person tomorrow. The fandoms that form from shared love of a work of fiction is just as strong and alive as a real life community. Fiction brings people together impeccably well. Fictional characters might as well be walking amongst us from how much they are brought to life in people’s minds and hearts and spirits.  Just because something is “made up” does not warrant it to be discarded as lesser. Reflect on what you read and watch. Reflect on what those in your life consume and how that might impact who they are. Be mindful of what your children, if you have any, put their eyeballs on. There is more often than not a depth beyond “just a kids show” and “just YA literature”. Brains be sponges and sponges be soaking up information, regardless of its origin. But brains also be muscles and muscles be working hard on organizing all that info and finding the meaning in it. Lolita is a fictional story, but if you know someone who thinks the protagonist is cool and good, run away real fast. If you know someone who finds the story fascinating but the protagonist disgusting, they’re probably all right. If you want to read the story yourself, and you’re in public, be sure to make a show of shaking your head in disappointment the entire time so others don’t get the wrong message about you. The reactions around that book alone though are enough in of themselves to show that fiction is not simply just fiction.

[binwizardry]

The Power is a book men should read tbh, it’s less about female empowerment and more about the corruption, issues and ethics of power being concentrated in a single gender. Most of it is just, what if men had to deal with what women deal with. What if we rebuilt society but women were the powerful ones and they wielded it like men do. It’s a very good read, fast paced, action packed, thought provoking. But as a woman myself it felt… pointless? It’s just our power structure inverted. I don’t necessarily need a whole fiction novel to dumb it down and explain why it’s bad. The power is a book men should read…

I definitely enjoyed it, and if you want a gruesome, cruel, and powerful read this is definitely the book for you regardless of gender. My only ~bad feelings~ about it, my personal worries, are that 1. It would literally take magical powers for women to be able to take the power; implying that men are ~inherently~ more powerful irl. I don’t know how to expand this feeling fully in this post, I think I need a second read, but yeah; IRL women are essentially powerless against men and I guess we kinda have to hope they wanna do ~an equality~ or that we gain super powers. 2. The books inability to examine or even really mention (other than jos and her fleeting romance) LGBT(queerness, gender non conformity, chromosomal/biological irregularities) allowing the book to almost fall right into gender essentialism and that gender roles and man v woman is also inevitable and perhaps even ‘natural’?

I don’t this these issues make this book bad, or even negate its message, it just makes me desire a more in depth and perhaps different exploration of the concept of women suddenly and collectively being able to take the power in a fast and decisive way. I think in the end the concept is so compelling that the book feels comparably incomplete in its exploration. Because In the end it’s just a device to say that power is bad, corruptible and that men need to see themselves suffer fictionally in the way real women actually do in order to maybe understand the power that they wield.

Also Stan Roxy she was by far my favourite character <3

[moonslinger130]

had a dream last night that was sort of spiderman/spidersona related and i want to recollect it here sorry for long post but it was really interesting. it’s gonna sound wacky but it’s a dream ok

in 2 parts/dreams

- i was playing a role but can’t tell if i was myself or someone else in both dreams

part 1:

- i was a popstar idol who performed songs at lots of different places

- i had two companions who performed with me like backup singers/dancers, named canary and crow. they were shorter than me and may have been younger

- there was a sort of bird theme but mostly cutesy magical girl theme

- we had a female manager who drove us in the bus to our shows (the bus rides were always hectic)

- she had a nephew who sometimes tagged along named ray. he sometimes showed up in a bright blue/white/black spider suit, but i couldn’t tell if he was real hero or another performer or if it was a secret but i knew it was him. he also seemed to be the love interest of my character. out of costume he was tall, short light brown hair and a bit of a emo or rockstar look (mostly black clothes)

- there was another character nicknamed death. he was quite goth, very tall and lanky, light blond hair, and one eye sometimes had an eyepatch or was showing, which was all black with an orange pupil/iris. he had some kind of magic power and also rode a motorcycle, may have been another performer, kind of the antagonist

- it was really fun and everything was in 2d animation mostly anime style

part 2:

- i woke up, or maybe i just thought i did, and had a second dream. i retained the memory of the first dream but knowing it was a dream. this one had a cool plot going on that was kinda set up by the first

- i was more close to me but not quite myself, another character. i remember in the parts that were third person that i looked kinda like a disney alice in wonderland girl (long blond hair, but no hair accessory, and blue dress). i was a very happy and positive kind of character

- i lived in a big city and was probably still in college or maybe high school?? i remember there was schoolwork i had to do

- i had a best friend named amelia. she had long black hair and knew everything about everything. i got the vibe that i had maybe just moved to the area and she was guiding me around. anytime i had a question she had an answer and helped me move along. we explored lots of places in the city together

- at some point i was in a store and buying something for one cent at the register. a guy tapped me on the shoulder and told me that “Way wants you to call him.” i didn’t know what he meant but i pretended i did and said sure and he walked away

- i asked amelia who way was and she got serious and said something wary about him. i was a little nervous but felt confident with amelia there

- i think at this point i asked if she knew anyone named ray. i knew he was in my previous dream and for some reason, i felt that the dream was prophetic and the people there were real (in the context/world of the second dream). she perked up and said yes and that he’s really cool

- she started going somewhere so i followed her feeling that she was leading me to him. we passed by a huge crowd outside in a park that was a birthday celebration for some teen girl, and i had to push past all these people to follow amelia but i kinda lost her. so i just kept following the dirt path i found until i came to some building. inside i think it was a basketball gym and in the bleachers was ray

- he was writing something in a notebook and i called out to him. i don’t think he knew who i was but i was really happy to find him :) his aunt was there too, the manager from the first dream. she was scolding him about something but i made up an excuse for him and whisked him away

- we parted ways and i met amelia again. i told him i met ray and she was like awesome! and i asked “but way is different, right?” and she said “yeah he’s like… really cold.”

- then amelia tells me that ray hangs out in another world a lot (i think she just called it fairy world). she led me to a public pool and jumped in. she sank to the bottom and sat there. i asked a girl next to me what she was doing, and she said “she’s teaching you, look” and i looked down and amelia had both legs together and moving them to the right, the left, the middle, the right, the left, the middle, and then she was gone

- i jumped in the pool and had one of the weirdest dream experience i’ve had; i kept my eyes closed but could feel the water around me and let myself sink until i felt the bottom under me (my dreams are extremely visual which is why it felt weird)

- i moved my legs the way she did and my vision was suddenly all white with a loud “shine” sound effect, and i found myself next to a pond in a grassy forest with extremely tall trees

- ray was nearby and was surprised but happy to see me there, and we all hung out a lot in this place

- i had the feeling that he had powers from my previous dream, which was confirmed in this place where he showed me his powers (including web-slinging when he saved me from falling because i swung from a vine that broke)

- his powers could be strengthened by touching a flying dragon (this shape 🐉) that lived there

- he also showed me bookshelves i think he stole from the library with all his favorite books in them lmao

- at some point i left and explored the city more. there was a moment that didn’t seem important at the time but as i was walking out of a building, a heavy ball was accidentally thrown toward me and i was able to dodge it, to the surprise of everyone nearby

- then i meet ray again and he has been challenged by someone to a fight, possibly by way. we go to prepare for the fight and train but find out that rays powers won’t work 😱

- we go back to fairy world through the pool to find a way to get them back. we bring a sandman-like creature (little guy that produced sand/pollen that makes you sleepy) with us to catch the dragon and put it to sleep, but as i hold the dragon my face begins to change to look kind of like it until i let go, but my character wasn’t aware of this (in third person at this moment)

- ray sees and kind of laughs, then makes me stand up and says he wants to test something. he says he’ll get a friend of his (one of the creatures in the forest) to shoot an arrow and see if i can dodge it. i could actually kind of feel an alarming feeling grow until i had to dodge, and then an arrow flew past into the dirt

- he concludes that i probably have the power to absorb other peoples powers, and that i now have his. i felt kind of guilty about it but he seemed fine with it and got the idea to train me so i could take his place in the battle with way

- unfortunately i woke up around here but i think i did catch a glimpse of way and came to the conclusion that he was the same as death from the first dream, but looked a bit different, and also got the thought that amelia might have been canary and crow, my friends from the first dream

- there was technically a third dream but it didn’t have much to do with this plot; i was fully myself but i did pass by the girl i was in the 2nd dream but she had bright pink hair and makeup now, and i overheard something that implied she was a mutant

anyway here’s some doodles of ray my new blorbo from my brain

[kallypsowrites]

When Twist Villains go Bad(ly written)

Sometimes I think a lot about “twist” villains. Villains that are first cast in the role of love interest and then revealed in a TWIST to be bad and afterward their entire personality changes. Ya know. Hans. The Darkling. Maven (I only ever read book one of the Red Queen, so I dunno if he became a less cartoony villain later on). Show Daenerys. 

What bugs me about these twist villains is that they are essentially two characters. The before character and the after character. The character that the author was writing back when they were trying to conceal the twist. And the character the author is writing now as an ‘AH HA!! GOTCHA!!”

The implication is that the character after the twist is their “TRUE SELF” and the character before the twist is a fiction. A performance. But the author is afraid that we’ll get their twist too early so they don’t actually build those villainous elements into the character and foreshadow it. Then they’d risk not being able to SURPRISE the reader. And they want to feel all superior about tricking us and laugh about how “sometimes you can’t trust a pretty face”.

But the result of this desperate “GOTCHA” is some cheating in the writing and a lot of retconning.

For instance, once in Frozen, Hans is shown smiling softly at Anna when no one is looking at him. It’s just him on screen. Why did he do that?? What was the reason if not just to lull the audience into a false sense of security?

And the Darkling is clearly driven by a desire to help the Grisha but post twist I guess he’s just okay with allying with Grisha-enemy #1 Fjerda (and they’re okay with allying with him somehow too???)

Everything about their demeanor changes. Everything about their dialogue. It doesn’t feel like a gradual transformation. It feels like a good/evil switch.

And some might say “its a warning because sometimes you can’t TELL who’s going to be evil because they’re liars :)”

But a character pre twist and post twist should still be recognizable as the same person and have a consistent character.

Take Petyr Baelish for instance. The moment we meet this man, we think he’s sketchy. Ned thinks he’s sketchy. This man is a liar and a politician. But.....lots of people in King’s Landing are liars and politicians and Baelish seems to be helping Ned. He even gives a reasonable motivation! It’s because he’s friends with Cat that he’s helping Ned. But he also flat out says: “you shouldn’t trust me”.

So when HIS twist comes, it IS surprising at first. We kinda thought we had his motives figured out. But it makes sense AND he’s still the same person afterward. Same vibe entirely. Nothing about him transforms when he stops lying.

And then there’s the twist villain that descends unexpectedly into villainy. Annakin was a good example of this (perhaps because we all knew it was coming). He was always brilliant but also impulsive and hot headed. He’s driven by his fear of losing those he loves, especially after the loss of his mother, and it’s those good intentions that lead him over the edge. But he’s still the same person after the switch. He’s just deeply changed. Certainly his arc was handled ten times better than that of Daenerys

On another level, I hate that usually the “twist villains” are there SPECIFICALLY to shame female characters for being stupid or gullible or naive. Like “oh you silly girl. Trusting this bad man who looks pretty but lies. You’re just like our young readers. They’re also stupid and need a LESSON to know DON’T TRUST ANYONE, especially someone who makes you FEEL LUST.”

But so rarely do these fictional twist villains act like real life abusers or men that they actually need to watch out for. Because the author is hiding the red flags because they want their twist. It’s just...it’s bad foreshadowing. It’s bad character writing. It’s annoying over all. No thank you.

[petruchio]

What is your opinion on Riordans writing of girls? Like, the POV of them. With Annabeth, I thought it was fine, and I'm sure its cause she was such a estabilished character already, but Piper?? What WAS that bro. Hazel was kinda fine but I have this feeling that he doesnt flow well with girls POVs, idk if its just me

hmmm yeah it’s hard to say because im not sure if it’s a fault of them being female characters or if it’s the fault of these particular characters being poorly developed characters. like we love jason but his pov is pretty boring too. and it’s hard for me to say because i haven’t read any of riordans other work so i don’t know exactly what i’d say — but that said i’ve always admired his writing of annabeth in the original series, because she feels so genuine and true to what it is to be An Annoying Twelve Year Old Girl (which is why so many of us were and are still so attached to her character) but then again that series is from percy’s pov!

i wrote a series of posts a while ago about the female characters in ttc and their roles in percy’s story, but the conclusion i came to on my blog then was that it had less to do with their being female characters and more to do with disruption vs. maintenance of the status quo. (the fact that maintenance comes from the female characters and that percy is the one who disrupts is *interesting* and worth examining though)

anyway a bit of a lame answer from me but im not sure i have a straight answer. i love annabeth as a character and i always will. hazel and piper suffer as characters because they have nothing to do. is it because they’re girls or because they have no interesting plot lines? probably a bit of both, but im inclined to lean toward the latter… mostly because it’s not as if the boys in hoo have particularly interesting plot lines either. but like with our ttc discussion it’s def worth examining how riordans biases affect the text! and the way the female characters present themselves in the books is definitely one of those angles to explore!

[hypnoticxopoison]

I know this is gonna set your minds on fire, but.... You can appreciate Zoey Deutch’s acting in the VA movie and like her for what we got and still acknowledge that the character was white-washed and therefore Zoey was not the best choice.  You can appreciate Sisi Stringer’s upcoming performance as well and hope she nails the part acting-wise and acknowledge that the erasure of Rose’s real ethnicity isn’t what we were hoping for when we hoped for a nonwhite actress for Rose. It’s possible to love her and love her acting as the character and acknowledge the erasure. It can go both ways. Things aren’t always so black and white. You can like and not like both, not like either, or like one and not the other. Differing opinions are not a personal attack and a wish for book accuracy does not equal racism, nor does the reverse. Vampire Academy was published at a time when Middle Eastern representation in American storytelling was not exactly favorable. I have known people throughout my years in the VAFamily who have expressed their appreciation and love for the fact that a character with a Middle Eastern background was a protagonist in an American story. And that she was a badass, heroic, FEMALE character at that! She means a lot to them for that reason. Of course they wanted to see a Turkish actress get the role. Of course they wanted to see that representation on screen and they are allowed to feel erased and disappointed. People of any race, color, sexuality, and background are allowed to view it in this light too because it’s a valid opinion. I can’t rule out racism of every single member of the fandom, of course not, but not liking this casting does not equal hatred for black people in every person who is feeling unsure or who straight up feels the way I just described. So cut the crap with that.  The other side is valid too. The cast is beautifully diverse and that’s a really good thing. Do I think known racist Julie Plec is doing it for selfish reasons rather than the right ones and do I worry about how the cast will be treated with her at the helm? Absolutely. All opinions are valid. I’m happy for those of you who are leaping into this without reservation and feel nothing but excitement. I’m happy for those of you who are looking forward to it. I don’t think you’re wrong. I don’t think you’re racist. I don’t think you’re evil. I just don’t agree with you. For all I know, Sisi will be flawless acting wise and she’ll win the entire fandom over and we’ll all feel blessed to have her... BUT the above opinion is still valid. You can like and not like something at the same time and I hope those of us who feel dread and fear that our favorite story is going to be butchered get proven wrong. I genuinely do. I would love to love it. For those of you who don’t see the racebending as erasure and who are simply plain happy with the casting, then you know what? I’m happy for you too. You do you. If it wasn’t for the fact that Rose’s ethnicity plays such an important role in the plot, I’d be right along side you. Rose Hathaway as a black woman would be unstoppable and amazing if it weren’t for that. I’d love her just as much as the rest of you, but like some, I have my reservations for the reasons described here.  As for Dimitri.... Ever since the Cold War, Russians have been the villains of American stories. Dimitri, the hero, is a rarity. Look at the most recent perpetrator of this: Stranger Things. It’s STILL a popular storytelling trope in the US. Of course Russian fans and fans who view Rose’s casting in this light are confused and disappointed by this casting as well. For all we know, this actor is incredible and he’ll have the perfect Russian accent. For all we know, he’s been training for months to perfect it. But the point is, is that we know virtually nothing about these actors and people are allowed to feel reservations and worries when it comes to characters that mean something to them. I think, if the actor masters a Russian accent and they don’t change him to an American, as is the rumor, then... that’s fine. I think? A Russian fan would know better than me about that.  At the end of the day, I personally won’t be watching it. I can’t afford another streaming service and I don’t trust Julie Plec with the actual writing as far as I can throw her. Even if the first season is good and it hooks everyone in, I feel pretty confident it’ll be downhill from there. Based on the character descriptions released today... I’m kinda thinking it’s gonna suck for people who want book accuracy and not a loosely based on the source material fanfiction. Some people don’t care as much anymore and they don’t mind new twists. Some people do. And both views are okay.  So VA fandom, let’s knock it off. Love it or hate it, find your people. Rant with them or celebrate with them and leave the other side alone. Their opinions don’t impact you personally. So just follow people who feel the same as you do and don’t drag yourselves down like this. We’re all adults in this fandom by now, so... let’s act like it. 

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

ok i agree w/ everything you said about those ladies besides, lwaxana gives s*xual pr*dator vibes and that is why i dont like her.

I can see that reading for sure and all things are subjective. I do strongly disagree, but hey, fandom is a space for that! Super chill.

to go a little more into this though, since it's not really so much about what any of us feel, but more about how we engage with female characters (and I'll use your example of why you don't like her - not to drag you, your dislike is totally fair, she's fictional, she won't mind, but just because it's a single line that kinda puts her in a box. And not a very nice box to be in, that's for sure...)

a little tw for mild references to some of the shadier writings of star trek vis a vis sexual assault and otherwise sexist and/or strange relationship dynamics

okay so you know how Riker has like. two? episodes that're suuuper shady in terms of his treatment of women and the rest of the time it's pretty chill. and he's one of my favourite characters, but I have gotta skip those episodes, because whatever they were trying to do, they Did Not Succeed - and there's a reading of him that incorporates those elements and if you do you've gotta contend with the character being quite probably someone who's assaulted women.

or how Worf at times espouses sexist shit that makes me roll my eyes outta my head and you're either gonna say "I don't fucking like this character" (and again, totally fair, I've seen people who don't Vibe) or you've gotta find a way to make this work for you if you want to explore that character - or both of those things, you can dislike a character and want to write about them

Or some of the weird shit the writers have Geordi do (which, Geordi is my favourite character in TNG, but sometimes ya gotta breathe and go "the writers are fucking dumb, the writers are fucking dumb")

or - the spiritual successor of Geordi, Julian Bashir (my favourite character from DS9 - clearly I have a Type). You've gotta go: This is stupid writing. I can make it work with my own read of the character, but first and foremost The Writing Is Dumb!

Or hell, Q - since we're talking about Lwaxana and I assume her interactions with Picard and Odo, let's not forget to mention Q, both in TNG and on VOY with Janeway - some of the more urgh-inducing scenes between Q and Janeway are, I think, meant to be charming and funny? And I'm a massive QCard shipper here, okay, I actually vibe so hard with him as an alien who doesn't get shit about boundaries (this mostly with Picard, with Janeway I have gone: "Hm. This doesn't feel good" a fair few times).

or how the writers of DS9 had Garak be in a very uncomfortable relationship with Ziyal, who was a teenager, then not a teenager within much too short a span of episodes (and actress changes)

or Quark. Remember the episode in which Quark tries to get Kira's likeness so he can put it in a sex-fantasy roleplay that she did not consent to? or how there are two cold opens where his female employees are told they have to sleep with him to keep their jobs

or like... Neelix (okay, I am not a fan of Neelix anyway, but for people who are fans, there are times when you've gotta wonder what in the heck the writers are thinking - not the character, the writers)

what I'm trying to say with the post I wrote is that this same graciousness isn't offered to female characters - especially female characters of colour, but in the case of Lwaxana

she's older, she's an ongoing female guest star, she's very (sometimes uncomfortably) sexual towards especially Picard and for a short while Odo, before they become really good friends.

she's also in-text several times in positions in which men are trying to control her (the episode where she gets kidnapped, the episode in which the guy who's married her is a misogynist) and she uses or tries to use her "wiles" to escape these situations.

She's really more of a faded beauty who's putting a pressure onto her daughter (in a rare interesting, complex, fraught mother-daughter dynamic that I loooove) and refuses to let go of the past, because (and here we get into my read, but mildly supported by canon) it's the only way she seems to have learned how to be loved and have relevance. She's terrified of letting that go, because where does she go next, without everything that's defined her? which is why her final episode with Odo is actually so powerful to me.

Picard is never threatened by her in-text. He's not massively fond of her (at first, she grows on him... like a mold), he would prefer to avoid her, but he's not in a powerless situation here. She undoubtedly makes him uncomfortable at times in a way that - like some of the above examples have made me go "mmmmokay" but certainly not the worst example of this in the writing.

With Odo I also don't like how some of her interactions with him go in the first episode they're in together. But once they're friends and you see how easily she accepts him ("I can swim" is always going to be one of my favourite little chuckle lines) that no longer applies. He clearly likes her and enjoys her company. There's something incredibly lifelong platonic partners in their easiness with each other.

You can argue in both cases (and argue well) that there are scenes that are kinda sus. But there are lots of scenes that offer you depth of character. She's not one-note. She's got off moments.

Some of these guys (and others - I haven't watched as much TOS and Voyager so I don't want to misrepresent anyone, but I feel sure that Tom Paris has made me squint once or twice + I've not seen Enterprise yet) have whole episodes that make me shudder.

It's really - within this fandom for sure - open how we interpret characters and I'm not saying anyone needs to read Lwaxana like this or change their minds and like her.

The point of the post is not to say you have to like any of these characters. Or even to say you have to engage with them regardless of how you vibe or don't vibe with them. It's just... I have listened to several up-until-then-enjoyable deeply analytical podcasts where at some point one of the (guys... always guys... I'm guessing white) makes a sneering comment completely dismissing their value within the series.

My point is that Lwaxana (since we're on her) has value as a character within the Trek universe. She added something important. She's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a big series, we're not all guaranteed to like everyone.

and in the original post I used "shrill" and "cringy" on purpose, because those are descriptors I've heard. And they are absolutely rooted in misogynist dismissals of female characters no matter what shape they take (Keiko, Lwaxana, Michael, and Ezri are radically different from each other and yet all easily brushed aside regardless of screentime, personality, show, age, role/job).

I'm not making points about having to engage with or like characters. I'm just saying we need to be aware of how easily we specifically look down our noses at female characters (and specifically female characters of colour - apologies, this was just because we were talking about Lwaxana, but some of the shit I've heard about especially Michael and Keiko have made me want to bang my head against a wall... or other peoples heads against walls... you know, for a nice change)

so how much sympathy or analysis of behaviour is afforded to female characters vs their male peers. What judgements are we making and how do they compare to our readings of their male counterparts?

sidenote: I hate using male and female about star trek, my brain is just like "why anyone gender? why do this? you're in space? there are aliens? y'all can't chill with the binary for two fucking seconds?"

different post