#agatha of the woods beyond

[starrylayle]

I am so sick of people guilt tripping lesbians when we that say we feel queer baited by Sophie and Agatha. Aside from them already being heavily queer coded as individuals (I already made a separate post about that) -- they fucking kissed in the movie. On the lips, might i add. Before y’all start coming to me with the whole bs that is, ‘oh no it was supposed to be platonic!!’ and ‘kissing doesn’t have to romantic!!’.

I KNOW that. But let’s be real for a second. They kissed (on the lips) in a climactic moment, revealing that they were each other’s true love. If this had been a guy and a girl -- y’all would have never implied that shit was platonic. Hell, even if it was two guys!! That’s not how friends act! 

I feel like this is adding to the whole rhetoric that ‘Lesbian relationships are not serious’ and ‘oh they’re just really good friends’. 

We were queer-baited. I don’t care who you ship. I don’t care that Soman himself is queer. This film is reaching a wider audience and can potentially add to the negative representations of sapphics in media. 

Stop guilt tripping us. We deserve to be upset. And hopefully, we can influence the writers to retcon that stupid sisters twist. This doesn’t mean that agaphie has to be endgame (tagatha can still be) -- but i’d at least like an explicit confirmation for a little while.

[moonlightkitkat]

I feel like if Agatha had been thrown into big poofy gowns that she clearly didn’t like or was comfortable in, and didn’t have her hair perfectly done in every scene, it would have been better than having her transition right away. I know we have that one clip where she sits down and her hoop skirt pops up to show that she isn’t used to these dresses and stuff, but after that there’s nothing! Maybe if her posture was bad compared to the others or she threw her old coat over her dress so she could stick her hands in her pockets it would have worked! I didn’t like how it seemed Agatha fit in with the Evers right away. Her hair clearly took time to style, something she didn’t bother with in her town back home, so having her hair be down and unstyled would have brought some of that Agatha charm to her look! Plus then at the end when she shows up with her hair done, wearing a beautiful dress thay she truly feels beautiful in, it could have shown the “she was beautiful all along,” part of the book!! One thing that upset me was that we got her in this boring Cinderella like dress which didn’t suit her at all, when in the books she walks in with a MIDNIGHT BLUE gown with a velvet train and gold leaves on her dress!! She found a happy medium for Ever style with her dark black style, which was this beautiful dark blue! Her confidence in the dress made her feel so pretty and she had the room go SILENT when she entered! And then when Sophie enters and slyly comments about the new princess in the school only to mock gasp when she realizes it’s Aggie?? Ugh it would have been so good!!

[nerdylolo]

The School for Good and Evil

[incorect-schoolforgoodandevil]

Tedros: This is pretty good babe!

Agatha, not looking up from her bowl: It was my grandmothers recipe and her official cause of death.

Tedros: !!!

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

“The bread crumbs on the dark trail were gone. Instead, she had the truth to guide her. A truth greater than any magic.

I’ve been beautiful all along.”

- agatha of woods beyond, graveyard girl: book 1, ch. twenty-three

[calebs-hangout-corner]

[drawingsober]

today’s random character: Agatha from the Woods Beyond from The School for Good and Evil (movie adaptation)

you’re telling me we got a britney spears, billie ellish, and olivia rodrigo songs in this movie but NO strawberry dress???

[fangirlingfanatic]

I've got to say School For Good And Evil is so dramatic.... and its great

Agatha starting fights in Good and Sophie having people plan murders in Evil and they both just want to be friends and live life its fantastic

[katmaatui]

The fact that the main trio in SGE never became a polycule is a disgrace. They have more polycule vibes than the Titans even

[pearloftheforest]

Them <3

The movie sure did have it’s flaws, but I enjoyed watching it. I’m currently trying to improve my realistic-drawing-people skills, and drawing characters is a fun practice.

Plus I have these two blue and red pens so I did a few outlines, cause yk. Blue and red. Good and evil.

[starrylayle]

Soman’s failed POC and Queer rep in the SGE saga — And why criticism is essential to the movie (franchise)

[repost]

Before I start though, I’d like to say that if you have any argument about forced representation, dni. I don’t give a shit that ur faves aren’t white anymore — and please stop fucking harassing Soman and the cast about this non-issue.

Now onto the racial criticism of Soman’s work, which I don’t see talked enough about.

Being a person of colour does not mean you are exempt from racial criticism. I’m sure this is known by now, but in the books, literally everyone is white. Like EVERYONE. And not only that, the beauty standards he portrays and tries to critique (but then fails miserably at unfortunately) are so Eurocentric it’s quite disheartening actually - pale skin, small noses, coloured eyes, etc. The themes are also quite Eurocentric as well — if you had told me that the books were written by a white author, I would believe you.

Now, I’ve always given him the benefit of the doubt here, considering he was writing a middle grade series as a marginalised author, which was a lot more difficult at the time, and because he does genuinely try to improve his POC rep in the later books (even if that does include retconning character’s previous descriptions lol). In that same vein, the cast is also noticeably more diverse, and I truly applaud Soman for that. However, he has not said anything in regards to the racism the cast have been getting, which considering his influence on the fandom, would have been much appreciated. (The only casting choice he actually spent some time defending was brunette Tedros 💀💀 — like mate, get your priorities together!). Also, since whiteness is quite intrinsic to the core themes of the story (I’ll make a separate post on that later), I worry that the movie will unintentionally be pushing it. And if that’s the case, people should be allowed to critique this (hypothetical) poor depiction of race, without it being considered racist. (As previously mentioned — this excludes those fucking weirdos who just hate on the cast coz their faves aren’t white anymore 🙄🙄)

Ok so, in regards to the queer-coding/queer-baiting:

Just like being a POC doesn’t mean u can’t have internalised racism, being queer doesn’t mean u can’t have internalised homophobia, especially to other members of the community. I don’t know why exactly Soman struggles with writing queer rep so much (I mean I can understand in 2013 — but now plenty of middle grade books include queer characters), but he barely has any canon gay rep.

Tristan/Yara, who is not even specified whether they are gay or trans, is one of the first characters to die, with absolutely no resolution to their arc whatsoever - and their queerness is never mentioned again. The next confirmed queer couple are two backgrounder guys who barely have any significance to the story. The couple after that are two evil white boys, who are only confirmed to be queer after they both die. They are are the only relevant gay characters at this point — yet ofc they’re dead, white and evil. This wouldn’t be a problem if there were other (good) queer characters, but since that is not the case, it just comes off as rather… icky.

Now notice how all these couples, as poorly written as they are, are all (white) gay men? There are hints that Hester and anadil might be in a relationship, but it’s never explicitly confirmed.

In addition, sophie and Agatha are explicitly queer coded — (I made a post about it on my acc for anyone’s interested) — they even kiss!! Of course people are going to be mad that they were baited into a relationship that ended up being incesteous! Especially, ESP, considering that Agatha is now a Black girl in this adaptation. We barely see any white canon wlw couples in media — Black sapphics are almost unheard of in the mainstream, especially as leads. first kill, one show that featured a Lesbian Black girl lead (a Dark-skinned one at that!)— got cancelled. And this happens all the time. Lesbians/sapphics, esp sapphics of colour, ESP Balck sapphics are barely given any time of day in our media in favour of centring gay white men in queer narratives, and thus they have every right to be upset at the queer baiting.

I’m not Black, but as a queer woman of colour, Agatha’s character has always been very special to me. I’ve always thought she should be a POC considering how different her and her mum are from the rest of her cookie-cutter village, and queer because she did not fit into conventional notions of femininity. It would be so awesome to see Agatha, a queer woman of colour, as the lead in a high-budget fantasy series. But alas, that is too many marginalised identities for the general audience.

Not only that, the twin reveal was just plain bad writing. It had absolutely no bearing at the story whatsoever and is never mentioned again. It was just done purely for shock value, and for that, I will absolutely critique Soman.

I know that this discourse is tired and worn out — and understandably so, it’s been years. However, now that this movie is approaching mainstream — At worst, this queer baiting can already add to the whole ‘lesbian relationships aren’t serious’ and other terrible stereotypes. At best, it deprives sapphics of much needed representation in mainstream fantasy films.

Remember, unlike with the books, we as fans have the power to influence the story. If the creators see how unpopular the twist is with the public, they can probably change it. We can make a difference! Btw, this doesn’t mean sophie and Agatha should be endgame — I’d like for them to be in a short term relationship and be confirmed as canonically queer — Tagatha can still be the end couple! (Not hophie tho, coz sophie is a lesbian and I despise Hort lol).

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Facts about The One True School Master of Vault 41

Tedros and Japeth-related things would entail too many major spoilers, so this is probably all you’re getting for now:

Rafal confesses to Sophie that he breathed part of his soul into her toward the end of the second Great War.

Rafal reads his own obituary. And also sees the multitude of vandalism that accompanies it.

Rafal attends a rather depressing, actually, positively dismal Ever tea party. Agatha insults him, despite the fact that he has better table manners than her. They mock each other. And he chokes on his finger sandwich. (But, I suppose genocide weighs more on the morality scale, in terms of minor infractions and major transgressions that will send Pollux rolling in his grave like a roast pig on a spit over subjects which mustn’t be discussed at tea parties.)

Agatha unnecessarily feeds her savior complex and plays chaperone.

Sophie is fashionable and traumatized. Business as usual.

Agatha commits a burglary.

Rafal trains the Nevers in classical dance. (I promise it’s vaguely plot-relevant.)

Agatha trains the Evers for war.

Sophie performs an archival search and reads Fala and His Brother.

The fic is still largely unwritten, so things may be subject to change later on.

[nerdylolo]

The way I hyperfocused on Winter Hayle-Blackburn from The Lunar Chronicles because she was basically my only good protagonist Black representation when I was in middle and high school. And like. Was a feminine Black girl--a mother fucking princess--who was known to be the most beautiful, who was selfless, and had a caring love interest and a good backstory and was pretty well developed despite various flaws, considering she was only in about a book and a half of the main series. I saw her and latched onto her.

And now, seven years later, we have Black Annabeth Chase and Black Agatha of the Woods Beyond, and might get an animated TLC movie. And I'm just so happy for the young Black and brown girls who get to see themselves a little more than I did.

[incorect-schoolforgoodandevil]

Honestly, I don’t even play an active role in my life. Shit just happens and I’m like oh this is what we’re doing now. — Agatha of the Woods Beyond

[perccyjackson]

Agatha, you saved me from that reaper, and you made me want to see the world in more than just black and white. And no one has ever done anything like that for me before. And it made me realize... 

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL (2022) dir. Paul Fieg

[atrenchcoatfilledwithbeees]

Watching the school for good and evil movie and they fucked everything up so badly

They made Sophie too nice making her sympathetic when she is meant to be conceited passive aggressive and vain

They made Agatha too nice as well somehow, she’s meant to be sullen, moody and kind of greasy at the beginning

They made Dovey shallow and go against all her principles in the book

They made it so Sophie and Agatha didn’t know abt the school despite it being well know throughout the town

They made Honora mean when she’s supposed to be plain and reasonable but kind

They made half the villains hot when they’re supposed to be greasy and muddy and “ugly” that is a key point in the book

They made the princesses outright mean. They are supposed to be nice to Agatha but passive aggressive. They have some good in them

Tedros and Agatha are supposed to hate each other at first site not whatever they gave us here

TEDROS DID NOT HAVE A MAGIC SWORD AND AGATHA WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK BLATANTLY OUT OF PLACE IN THE SCHOOL NOT FITTING RIGHT IN, IT DEFEATS THE WHOLE POINT

YHE SCHOOL MASTER DIDNT EVEN HAVE HIS MASK ON AND HE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SEEN BY STUDENTS HE STAYS IN HIS TOWER