#and mean af to the characters as if they aren’t teens like sorry man kids act like that sometimes.

[khamomile-kitty]

trying to watch John Wolfe’s playthrough of The Quarry and my god. He’s not normally this fucking mean?? He’s been super cold and shitty to the characters, especially Ryan, which really rubs me the wrong way. Ryan seems p autistic coded, whether on purpose or not, and instead of making fun of the actually weird moments the game has he’s picking the stuff that’s straight up harmless. Like making fun of Ryan’s deep voice or berating Emma for not being comforted when told how quickly Abi died just bc she wasn’t there for it so apparently she has “no right” to be upset?? (even though it’s heavily implied they are good friends at that point) and it’s not just every once in a while it’s like every minutes, literally. damn ig the YouTube brain rotting sickness comes for them all in the end :/

[elizabeatrice]

Feeling Blue, Seeing Red (Chapter 69)

Let’s Talk About JSHK Manga #5

Updated: 19/8/2020 (more thoughts)

Bea is back with the lame punny titles~

Warning: !!! MANGA SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 69 !!! Duh.

Soooo I opened the raws this morning. Saw the spicy and went 'ohh shoot'. Then some of y'all say that some folks are hating Akane bc of this chap. I proceeded to panic, because fandom war is scary af. So I translated the chap for myself. And I just gotta say:

Aoi, Nene, your boyfriends are idiots. Y'all gonna be punching and headbutting the idiocy out of them for the rest of your lives and I'll be willing to pay for your karate classes.

The teen drama made me laugh so hard ahahahaha I guess this is what you get for hoping sensei will drop a bomb this month lmaoooo.

P.S. Teru you little shit

Man I don’t even know where to begin. This chapter is oozing doraaaaama and I can’t take it seriously no matter how much I try. I remember thinking, “Shoot, this is the ‘I hate you, I hate you too, proceed to make out’ trope in JSHK’s classic ‘oooh serious moment, eh? PSYCHE!’ style,” before bursting into laughter.

I swear I’m not making fun of it.

Because it’s already fun to begin with. Ahahahaha.

I do however, take seriously the long-awaited insight into Aoi’s mind. I hollered in joy, y’all. ‘Cause like ... finally!

(Also like ... ngl the development of Aoi and akaoi in this arc might come into play in my Shrek AU. Pls don’t ask. Yet. That’s not the official AU name I swear I just wanna confuse my readers ahahaha)

Back when chapter 64 came out I wrote something that was supposed to be the first of the Let’s Talk About JSHK Manga series but I ended up not posting it because I wasn’t sure about a bunch of things. Here’s an excerpt from that post, titled ‘Aoi and Her Blues’:

I mean, what did the minions do to her? ‘Remove unnecessary things’. Someone said they removed her inhibitions (I’m terribly sorry I forgot who said this because it’s been so long so I can’t put the link here, but if you know, feel free to send me the link).

But she has to be brainwashed, right?

She remembered enough about Nene. Enough to call her out on her feelings (that she still denies btw lol) and recognize Hanako from Nene’s wonderful description (or because Aoi could see him all this time and never said anything, who knows?).

Most importantly, she remembered Akane.

So apparently they weren’t unnecessary enough to be erased from her memory. Which I’d beg to differ if I were going to make this girl willingly sacrifice herself.

Would she let her best friend fall down into a pit full of giant insects, or let her childhood friend get impaled? I mean this is the same girl that cried when Akane and Yamabuki got together (by accident) and when Nene started talking to herself like a madwoman.

So yeah. Definitely brainwashed. Pretty sure now.

The one thing that bugged me is what she said though.

“I’ve always wanted to go somewhere far away.”

“Nothing will stop me from getting my wish.”

Btw these aren’t accurate word for word I’m just drawing from memory.

Is that a wish forced upon her by the brainwashing, or has Aoi been depressed all this time and ... y’know, therefore thought about ‘going far away’? I’m personally leaning more towards the first, but it still got me thinking.

Remember back in The Clock Keeper arc when she said there was something she wanted to tell Nene?

Can some creepy hands showing up in the gardening club’s album photos really warrant that kind of expression? Is it just me who got disappointed when the thing she wanted to tell Nene ended up being just that?

But if she did have such thoughts, why?

Maybe she was lonely? I mean Nene got so busy with supernatural shenanigans. Akane’s busy with student council stuff (and school wonder stuff). Though I don’t doubt for a second that he’d drop everything for Aoi, but Aoi’s not the kind of person to do that. And to be honest, I feel like so far Aoi hasn’t been shown having genuine interaction with anyone aside from Nene and Yamabuki without the other person being completely enamored by her. And even with Yamabuki that was just in that After School chapter.

So I guess my hunch wasn’t that far off. Still though. Still though. Is she or is she not brainwashed? Because as much as Aoi likes-but hates-but actually kinda likes Akane, I still don’t think she’s the type of person to stab her childhood friend until he’s got a hole through his fucking torso.

Throwing Nene into the bug pit I guess makes more sense if Aoi knew all along that the pit won’t lead anywhere too dangerous, and that Hanako wouldn’t leave Nene’s side. Nene’s perfectly safe with him. Sorta. She did get kidnapped and were about to be sacrificed after all. But heeey Hanako still showed up to save her in the end.

Stabbing Akane like that tho? Even if she knows he wouldn’t die in a boundary especially in his school wonder form? It just doesn’t feel like Aoi, man.

Then again she did say no one really knows her, and that anyone who does would end up being disappointed in her.

I’m really happy to know that she does not, in fact, appreciate all the attention given to her. Comedy framing aside, constantly having some random guy approach you to ask you out presumably every day is ... annoying at best. Kid deserves better.

So ya girl got some extreme trust issues. Strangers, even Akane and Nene, I could understand. But her dad tho? Is something going on in the Akane household? Bruh ....

How long has Aoi not been able to trust anyone enough to let them get close to her? Because if she’s been feeling like that about Nene all this time, Imma be super sad bruh. Nene is one of the most genuine kids ever (perhaps only second to Kou).

I understand that Aoi’s disappointed because Nene’s been keeping secrets, but honestly, who would believe you if you come up to them and say, “Hey so I summoned a toilet ghost and now I’m stuck as his assistant. The rumors about supernaturals are like, totally real, and can endanger everyone in this school for real, too. Also I turn into fish when I come in contact with water.”

Sensible best friends would either a) not believe you, or b) try to get you as far away from supernatural shit as possible ‘cause hello? Ya ain’t Miles Morales ya can’t just blast What’s Up Danger when monster of the week shows up.

Even if Aoi does let it continue, wouldn’t she wanna get involved? Would Nene let her get involved when Tsukasa’s still around? Ya girl got cursed, thrown off the top of a boundary, sent to literally nowhere and everywhere, almost got her body stolen by mirror monsters, kidnapped and taken into a fake world, and now trapped in literal Grim Reaper’s realm. Honestly, who would involve their best friend in this sort of shit?

It just makes me sad to think that all this time Akane and Nene have genuinely cared about her but she didn’t think they were. Aoi, my girl Nene literally threaded hell boundaries and high shallow water to save you!!!

Unrequited platonic love hurts just as much as romantic ones, y’all ....

Speaking of romantic love.

Hey, uh, Akane. For claiming to despise Hanako and calling him a slimy pervert, y’all kinda act the same way with your respective girlfriends when things get a bit heated up, huh? Even the teasing part.

Boy, you’re dumb af. You deserve that.

There it is y’all, it’s official. We got punches for akaoi and headbutts for hananene.

You deserve this too. But Teru’s face here is really annoying, I’ll give you that. Teru you little shit.

At least you’re finally gonna be useful. Let’s just see.

Hmm I guess I have to address the thing now.

Ahem. The thing. The pushing (pulling?) Aoi down, grabbing her neck thing.

Yeah I don’t get it either. Whether it was a creative choice taken in consideration to the actual character’s state or to just pander to the trope that seems to be marketable in Japan or both, I don’t really know.

I do however, have to remind you that none of these kids are in their right mind. One is possibly still recovering from the effects of brainwashing and dealing with not only extreme trust issues and insecurities, but also the sight of a gaping hole on her childhood friend and perhaps crush’s torso, not to mention having to deal with this in the middle of nowhere. The other one is the said person with a gaping hole on his torso, who almost lost his life-long crush, and even got stabbed by her in the first place.

They’re lost. They’re tired. They’re emotional. They’re frustrated. They’re two hormonal teens.

I think Akane thought Aoi wouldn’t listen to him unless he makes her. Which is why he went with exposing her by saying he hated her. Which is still a dumb move in my opinion. But Aoi rightfully got back at him. And honestly I didn’t think he really hurt her. I mean, it’s Akane after all. *shrugs*

The way I see it, the entire thing was a result from not only their current condition but also the uh ... not telling each other how they really feel all this time. Aoi with her issues, Akane with his secrets. They’re a ticking bomb. It’s horrible that they ended up hurting each other because of this (physically and emotionally), but I could see why it went like this. These two are flawed. Most importantly, they’re teenagers. They’re bound to fuck up in this equation.

Heck, I’ve fucked up worse in less endangering situations before.

But heeey once things get cleared between them they fall right back to each other. Sure things aren’t entirely resolved. But they’re gonna be okay. Teru’s there. Should be fine. Probably.

The thing is we as the audience who come into the story with a clear head can easily figure out the best, most sensible way to deal with the characters’ problems. But these problems affect the characters in (physical, physiological, psychological, emotional) ways most of us can’t immediately empathize with, which can make their bad decisions frustrating for us to see. We know it’s wrong. And when these characters have calmed down and healed, they’ll know that it’s wrong, too. If they’re not dicks, that is.

You know how it feels when you’re fighting with someone, and you know the best thing to do is to talk it out, but you just can’t bring yourself to? It makes things worse, right? And you’re frustrated, right? Unfortunately that’s just how humans are.

Even I let my emotions get the best of me when I judged the villagers’ actions back in chapter 68 hahaha (but I still think they’re awful).

It’s just my opinion tho.

And whooo everyone is officially here but Yamabuki (and Sakura and Tsukasa, but they’re bound to show up)! Catch up soon, my citrus child.

Lastly, I have the moral obligation to remind you that if akaoi’s confrontation ended up like this, imagine how hananene’s would be.

I’ll leave you to your deductions.

As always, feel free to discuss. Just ... don’t fight, onegaishimasu.

[yakumtsaki]

I only call you when it's half past five, the only time that I'll be by your side, I only love it when you touch me, not feel me, when I'm fucked up, that's the real me, when I'm fucked up, that's the real me, BABE ♪

Here we fucking go again, desperately trying to make the fuckboi wolf commit to a serious relationship. My plan to turn Komei into a werewolf crashed and burned last generation and Jojo has had the want locked for like 10 years and it just won’t fucking happen. I’ve never had a non-cheaty werewolf in this game, I don’t know how other people do it but I’m having a ridic hard time with it. Victor’s ghost is judging me and who can blame him.

Speaking of, Shajar’s makeover is this wolf shirt, and yes, full shade intended. I still can’t believe she rolled popularity, way to single out your weakest spot and make it your life’s purpose. I mean that would be like Wyatt rolling fam-  ..nevermind.

UGH. Will you pick a fucking attitude and stick with it you furry asshole??? 

What kind of defective cuck wolf even is this. He won’t befriend us but he won’t attack either, he just sits around with his plastic bone playing house. USELESS. I didn’t know it was possible to hate a digital animal this much..

..but here comes Maxx to defy all expectations. Happy birthday Maxx, you look so wholesome and Lassie-like, I’m sure life with you will be like a vacation!

LOL. Is antagonizing Sophie really how you want to start your adult life, Maxx?? Well I guess having eyes is overrated.

SOPHIE WTF. You beat Victor but can’t take on this flop? Where is your holy warrior spirit??

- I’m old af and starting to worry about my eternal soul, so I’m literally turning the other cheek.

Nice, thanks for nothing. God I miss Victor.

Man, Maxx has ISSUES. He doesn’t even have a mean personality or a bad relationship with the cats, why are you like this you freak??

NOOOO not the fucking pet fight club again omg MAXX YOU DICK

Great, amazing job, Goro! The real Goro is rolling in his grave. All this went down in literally under a minute after Maxx grew up, talk about determination. 

-HA, kneel before Zod!

That’s not even from Mortal Kombat, Maxx, god, can you not make this worse than it is?

-Yea like I give a shit, what am I, some kind of fatass nerd cat?? I’m a dog, bitch, I like running..

Omg.

-And playing outside..

OMG.

-And being affectionate to my owners!

STOP. Christ, what kind of monster have I brought into our lives???

-One day in and I’m already the alpha.. Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy? Oh yes, Maxx is.. The best boy. And soon this cat legacy.. will be history.. the Age of Dog.. is finally.. upon us. 

💔💔💔💔💔

Not that we needed further proof that Maxx was given to us straight out of Satan’s unholy womb, but guess who else loves him on top of Cyneswith?? Why, Wyatt, of course, chief of police married to a serial killer, truly the best judge of character the world has ever known. Show me your friends..

..and I’ll show you who you are. UGH DAGMAR

-As a mailwoman I’m programmed to hate your kind, but I feel such a connection between us.. It’s like the universe conspired-

GTFO. Don’t test me, istg I’ll marry you in..

..you actually don’t look half bad compared to what else is out there. Shajar brings Toadface McBooberson here home from school which. why does bigger cleavage clothing even exist for teens and why do I have it, I really need to stop downloading default replacements in the dark. Anyway, hope you’re all ready for the adventure called ‘What is Shajar’s sexual orientation/does she even have one’!

Ugh, this certainly feels familiar. Shajar please, PLEASE fight your Jojo genes, I mean everyone loves Cyneswith, this is shaping up to be Gunter/Jojo volume 2 AND I CAN’T DEAL WITH IT AGAIN

-So, Butterface, my ambition in life is to have my own music theme play whenever I enter a room, like Darth Vader or Mary Poppins-

-Isn’t the sound of people already in the room sighing enough of a theme for you?

-Well it looks like one little frog around here isn’t getting turned into a princess!

Yea, I really don’t know what I expected?? Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.

Speaking of daddy dearest, let’s check in. How’s it going, Jo? Great? Thought so, ok bye-

-DON’T YOU DARE PAN AWAY AND LEAVE ME TO MY MISERY MY ASPIRATION IS SCARLET RED

I’m sorry Jo but I’m a hear no evil, see no evil, spend-legacy-time-on-no-evil type of bitch and your life just bums me out at this point. But if it’s any consolation, it’s all your fault!

-HOW THE HELL IS IT MY FAULT I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS BULLSHIT

Um, YEA YOU DID. This is generation 2, we’re barely middle class and being heir is quite literally a shit job. Of course you could have minimized the impact had you chosen someone else to marry, but you just HAD to have Wyatt Narcolepsy Monif so.. talk to you later?

-Wyatt I’m worried our ship is sinking and no amount of rotting birthday cake can ease the pain.

-Oui, my estomac hurts toό.. Nothing 14 heures of sleepé won’t remédit of coursé :)

-DIDN’T NEED SUCH A GRAPHIC REMINDER THAT LIFE IS GARBAGE

God, wtf more do you want, 15k and still whining-

-OH. Well this just has Wyatt written all over it, but omg he tried to do a household task, just got confused at the very end. Bravo, leaps and bounds!

Meanwhile Shajar is having a successful interaction with a family member!! It’s a toddler who can’t get away, but whatever, it counts. Looks like this is a game-changing night for everyone.

-YES IT REALLY IS.

Jojo how about you take a page out of Komei’s book and devote your leftover energy to cats or cooking contests or banging Marissa Bendett instead of this constant, obnoxious guilt-tripping?? Man I really didn’t appreciate Komei while I had him.

7 a.m., the usual morning lineup, start on the chores and sweep 'till the floor's all clean, polish and wax, do laundry, and mop and shine up, sweep again, and by then it's like 7:15,  

and so I'll read a book, or maybe two or three, I'll add a few new paintings to my gallery, I'll play guitar and knit, and cook and basically-

-just wonder when will my life begin? ♪

And of course that’s Victor making his nightly appearance and helping put Jojo out of his misery. What a sweetheart!

With the addition of Wulf and his 10 active points generation 3 has officially evolved past sleep, we’re talking 10/10/9 (Shajar you lazy bum) and it’s seriously exhausting. You know how when sims are asleep you can check your phone or eat smth or w/e, yea that’s simply not happening anymore, I’m in constant vigilance all night long..

..and thank god because otherwise I would have missed Allegra and Victor’s ghosts playing??? WTF MAXIS. I’ve never seen this before and it’s the rare combo of sad and adorable. Right in the feels ❤️💔

THAT WASN’T AN INVITATION TO EXPRESS YOUR SADNESS FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME JOJO

Oh “ok” it’s a cockroaches related freak-out. I don’t see anyone else crying over them but that’s Jojo for you. Exterminator bro if you’re that grossed out by a pile of dead insects I have some bad news for you regarding your profession. And while we’re on the topic of professions and crying:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You may recall that Wyatt has been one promotion away from his LTW for about 150 years and all we’ve been doing since is trying to amass the 8 friends needed for it. Welp, we finally got them through our blood, sweat and tears, so what does Wyatt do the day he was supposed to get promoted?? Get fired of course, what else! 

Honestly I’m not even mad, this truly is like the culmination of everything we know Wyatt to be. I mean just cast your minds back to the final moments of this post. We knew what we were getting into. Rock on, Wyatt!

-Nό, there is no disgracéd police capitaine in this maison! Quelle?? I’m not even Français! Et toi shouldn’t be calling personnes at 5 p.m when everyόné is sound asleép!

Time for the black sheep to get the full Kylo Ren treatment. Looking good, Shaj! Now let’s put that hot makeover to use-

-NO.

Here we go, HUMAN contact. Toadface was a bust so let’s try a dude. Shajar do you mind talking about something other than your dead pets??

-But I don’t want to talk about anything else!

Yea and I don’t want to overstate things but I’m getting the distinct feeling finding you a partner is gonna make Daniel’s run at it look like Californication.

Well, the data we’ve gathered so far points to Shajar being a noogiesexual, I’m sure somewhere on tumblr there already exists a pride flag for it. 

That’s right, mop up the dog piss from that grass and think about the face you present to the world.

HOW IS YOUR ASPIRATION GONE TO SHIT AGAIN. WTF ARE YOU DOING WHEN I’M NOT LOOKING, GOING AROUND FACING YOUR FEARS?? JFC

-I have a perma fear of leading the miserable life I’m trapped in.

-Oh look, my kid is potty trainted and I get 5k points.. I’m soooo happy... Definitely don’t miss my serial killer days...

Ok I can’t take this anymore, either Wyatt will have to take up more household duties..

..or we can aim for something within the realm of reality and build a robot servant instead. And if you’re thinkering you’re not whining! Everyone wins.

In the dead of the night, a time when only 12 year old children are awake and watching god knows what-

-Game of Thrones! Team Stark!

Ugh, of course you are-

-Wulf grows up! 

-Woo happy birthday Wulf! Don’t even try to come for my golden child crown, I’m as perfect as my grades.

I don’t like what Game of Thrones is doing to you, Cyn.

First thing Wulf does after his pj makeover is head for the keyboard, which makes the choice for his general makeover clear as day:

Wulf...Wolf...WOLFGANG. I mean, some things are just written in the stars..

..AND SOME THINGS AREN’T, in this case Shajar’s dating life. We get another Butterface McBooberson (wtf is it with this dress in this town) but this one is also sporting terrible hair as a bonus. Score!

Great, we’ve moved from music themes to dead pets to world domination. At least we’re committing to the Kylo persona. Butter 2.0 is into it?? Get a grip girl.

-Um why do you think I have this last century hair? I’m very into monarchy.

This is not only going non-disastrously but dare I say, well?? I can’t tell if I want it to work or not though, on one hand I’ve made my feelings about this face template abundantly clear.. on the other hand this is the first human (except her 10 nice point sister) to like Shaj.. 

..thankfully it looks like there’s no need to solve that dilemma after all. Btw at the time of this writing I literally still don’t know if Shajar is into girls or dudes, or both. No reaction to anyone whatsoever. 

Meanwhile even after the noogie Butter is super receptive and doesn’t hate us? I was as shocked as you are, if we were rich I’d think she has some ulterior motive but nop, it’s just low standards. God bless them-

-cause we made our first friend!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank the fucking lord Shajar’s LTW isn’t friend related, take a wild guess what it is instead.. And of course, the answer is ‘become Mayor’. I can just see the banner now: ‘vote Shajar Union or face the deadly consequences’.

-Ahh my dear, finally, no screaming toddlers ruining my life while you pretend you can’t hear them.. Now I can slowly start un-resenting you.. Maybe there’s hope for this marriage after all..

Not if Cyneswith has anything to do with it! After spending her entire childhood cockblocking by sleeping in her parents’ bed, she literally grew up just as they were about to woohoo for the first time in 10 years. how in character. Wanna know what isn’t in character??? Hold on to your seats, everyone..

............

....................................

..............................................

OK THEN. Much like Wolfgang there is but one appropriate look for the above:

Did anyone think fucking Lolita Cyneswith was remotely possible, let alone probable?? ROMANCE?? And into the elderly???? I thought that combo was bad enough, I mean then you bring in the tinkering factor on top of it and it’s like, Waylon Fairchild and college profs won’t know what hit them.. How naive I was. Things can always, always get worse, and in this family, they usually do. You can probably tell where I’m going with this.. Fast forward a few days and the LTW shows up..

..........................................yup. You know it’s been months and you’d think I’d have articulated a response by now that isn’t just screaming or miscellaneous incoherent sounds, and yet! what can I say, sometimes emotions are so powerful that words fail us. In lieu of a written reaction please listen to this song after the specified time stamp. It’s 3 minutes long and the only lyric is ‘oh no’.

[southsidewrites]

Thoughts on Riverdale and Marginalized Groups

So, after a lot of thought, I’ve realized what one of my biggest issues with Riverdale is, and that’s their flippant treatment of marginalized and disenfranchised groups.  I’ll preface this by saying I am a straight white woman, meaning that I will undoubtably have gaps in my understanding and experience.  I do always welcome additions/corrections from people who have lived these experiences, though, so don’t feel bad for calling me out (politely please).  I just need to put this in words though because my discomfort with this show is so much deeper than “ew, cringey plotlines”

Warning: This is going to be long (and it’ll probably still not cover even half of the issues).  Topics covered will be people of color, Native Americans, the LGBTQ community, people with mental illness, and people suffering from poverty/homelessness.  Read on for more.

People of Color

Riverdale has a lot of people of color for a network show.  No doubt about it.  However, these people of color have literally some of the least development.  It’s like they were cast to shoot a few promo pics and then forgotten as soon as they were introduced,  Most prominent examples:

Josie and the Pussycats: When I saw they were an all-black group, I was thrilled.  Then, they promptly disappeared.  This feels like such a half-hearted attempt to be diverse without any care for making them actual people.  A huge dissapointment.

The Serpents: Aside from Jughead, our main Serpents are all people of color.  And what do we get for them? No backstories, no real names in some cases, no representations of healthy families, and definitely no solid character development.  Again, a huge disappointment.

Reggie: One of the most under-developed characters on the show.  Not much to say other than he’s a stock douschey bad boy.  Again, no family and no development to speak of.

Special shout-out to the Lodges who are canonically Latino but show almost no sign of it other than an occasional “mi’ja”.

Extra special shout-outs to Chuck and Dilton who basically serve no purpose on this show other than a half second of storyline.

Basically, this show loves hiring actors of color, but when it comes to actually giving them screentime and worthwhile development, no such luck.

The Uktena

This I wanted to touch on in addition to people of color because it was extra disappointing.  The whole episode that introduced the Uktena and their history with the Serpents and the Blossoms was downright fascinating.  It was interesting, complex, and a sort of thoughtful exploration of colonialism.  Then, once they could promo it and get the box checked, it was gone, leaving us wondering if the Serpents are/aren’t the Uktena and why the heck is it being run by a white man?  Cool idea, pitiful execution.

LGBTQ

Ugh.  This one is hard to even start because I am PISSED. Riverdale has given us a few non-straight ships (Joavin, Kevin/Moose, and Choni), and they’ve all been messy af.  Let’s break it down.

Joaquin/Kevin: Initially built on a lie, but immediately a fan favorite.  Some interesting potential.  Ripped away as soon as it got good. 

Kevin/Moose: A rebound couple with a history of cheating.  Possibly the realest thing on this show, but kind of a disappointment.  Why can’t Riverdale just give Kevin a love interest that isn’t built on a foundation of lies/cheating/death?  Also, why can’t they develop Kevin as more than a stock gay best friends?  Literally, he just seems to be there for other people to vent to.

Chery/Toni: I’ve said a lot of this before, but this ship pisses me off the most because it could have been so good. Instead, we get a rushed romance that goes from literal enemies to literal girlfriends in the span of like three two-minute interactions.  Then, they get no  individual or relationship development, no valid screen time, and no anything really.  They’re just there to be there, and it seems to clear to me that they only exists to appease us.  It’s such a shallow cop-out relationship, and it makes me mad.  I would have been happy to wait for season three to get Choni if it meant I got well-developed, natural Choni instead of forced down my throat Choni.  Do better, Riverdale.

I don’t know what else to say other than I’m mad, and I want some valid LGBTQ relationships.  Give me some depth on these characters--tell me their struggles, their joys, their messy teenage emotions as they wrestle with who they are.

ALSO LET’S NOT FORGET THAT THEY MADE A WHOLE EPISODE ABOUT CONVERSATION THERAPY AND THEN DROPPED IT LIKE IT WAS NOTHING. Conversion Therapy is downright traumatizing.  Even a few days can literally destroy teens.  I am not okay with how passively they “rescued” Cheryl, and literally all she needed to do to feel better was kiss Toni.  That’s just wrong, and it downplays such a huge, traumatic problem that is still a problem today.  Basically, they just wanted Toni to play hero, and they thought that could be an “edgy” way to do it.  Not okay with it being taken so lightly.

Mental Illness/(and kind of abuse)

So, a while back, Lili made some remark in an interview about how Riverdale tackles mental illness in a complex and real way.  Lies.  Sorry if this one gets heated, but I am someone with a diagnosed mental illness, and I get heated about poor representation.

Betty has some sort of mental illness.  Not sure if it’s depression, PTSD, something else, or some combination, but it’s there.  Calling it “darkness” and having it presented as her becoming some sort of dominatrix in a wig is creepy, romanticizing, and not to mention offensive. Her darkness isn’t profound or dramatic, it’s an illness, and she needs help and support.  Taking down bad guys is not the solution--real treatment is.  

Archie was sexually groomed and abused and watched his father get shot.  No way the boy doesn’t have PTSD.  Maybe instead of making him make all these dumb, thoughtless decisions, develop that a little more so we can see him as a struggling, hurt kid and not an idiot that’s easier to manipulate than a jar of play-doh.  

Cheryl attempted suicide and then literally burned down a house after her murderous father killed himself.  And how was that handled?  Not at all.  Literally, she should be hospitalized and given real, meaningful treatment, not sent back to her crazy abusive mother, sent to conversion therapy, and then initiated into a gang.  Honestly, it’s so ridiculous that I don’t even have words.

In general, all these kids are going through some heavy stuff, and there is not a doubt in my mind that they are suffering some clinical trauma and abuse issues.  I’m not sure how/if the show should tackle this, but what they’re doing now just isn’t working.

Poverty/Homelessness/Economic Disparity

Let’s talk about the Southside for a minute.  Jughead has been bounced around in foster after being semi-homeless.  Toni is admittedly couch-surfing while semi-living with her uncle.  Fangs and Sweet Pea have zero backstory.  All of them are lower-class, go to a poor school, live in trailers or other lower-class housing options, and all of them joined a gang (which typically don’t attract people with means and money).  And how does the show introduce them? Villains.  How shallow is it that the rich side of town was initially presented as good guys and the poor side as bad guys.  Sure, that dynamic was mostly demolished in Season 2, but it definitely started that way.  Not to mention, the three main Serpents are POC while the core four are all white or white-passing.  While some of these dynamics were disrupted, the foundational assumptions are still there, and they’re a bit too heavy-handed for my taste.  

Basically, the Serpents were introduced as the “edgy” foils to the main characters, but none of them have any of the development to go with it.  The ONLY reason I care about the Serpents is the fanon development because canonically, they’re beyond shallow.  They’re barely even characters--really, they’re just kind of plot pawns that keep the action moving.  Overall, they should have been more developed.  At least give the kids some parents, some background, some internality, because I cannot get behind them as heroes or villains when all we know it that they come from the “rough” side of town.

IN CONCLUSION/ TL;DR

Riverdale needs to stop worrying about checking inclusivity boxes and develop their damn characters.  Instead of trying to cram in a little bit of everything, slow down and do a couple things well because right now, it feels phony.  Like, “yeah, he include all sorts of real-world issues and problems, and our character are totally #diverse.”  When in fact, the show is about four kids, three of which are white, all of which are straight, three of which are upper middle class/wealthy, and all of which have been through severe trauma/abuse.  Don’t tell me this show is inclusive if your definition of inclusivity is two second storylines that have no development and serve only to forward the stories of four main characters.

As I said before, I welcome feedback/additions/corrections.  I just had to get this off my chest before I punched a literal wall.

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

Love, Simon comes out today in America.

Pun intended.

Since there are strangely enough still people crying about how we shouldn’t support Love, Simon because the book it is based on (Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda) is written by a straight woman.

Honey.

Sit the fuck down cause guess what time it is? It is time for my unnecessary opinion! Lemme tell you why this entire thing bothers me so much.

It actually started a while before I found out there were LGBTQ+ peeps shitting on Love, Simon. A similar thing happened in the Check, Please! fandom, which is a HAPPY mlm webcomic. 

“Gay people? Happy ending? Too unrealistic!”

Honestly, I was so pissed. I remember talking about it on the Gay af debate app (a group chat filled with other LGBTQ people to talk about more serious issues in the community, as a result of the Pulse shooting). The same thing is happening with Love, Simon.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not denying that Becky is straight and that she will probably never fully get the Gay Experience, but there is still a difference between Becky, who worked with LGBTQ youth and who decided to write a happy book for them in the hopes they could find support and happiness in it, and straight people who think homophobia doesn’t exist anymore and go “is Love, Simon still needed in this current progressive time?”.

Hell, I don’t want to spoil too much because I really encourage all of you to fucking watch this movie and to support it, but straight people who think that homophobia isn’t a problem anymore are in the actual book! And guess what? It is shown as a problem and their ignorance actually results in some homophobia because guess what straight people, homophobia still exists.

“His parents are soooo supportive it is so fake! It is not realistic.”

Listen, I am truly, truly sorry that you were given a reason to believe that. This world still sucks a lot, I am not denying that. But there are very supportive parents out there (mine included) and one of the goals of this movie is showing teens that it does get better, and hopefully it will show straight parents that there’s nothing wrong with their kid not being straight. But also, it shows that even those supportive parents still make mistakes that can hurt their kids (mind included). Again, I don’t want to spoil much, but Simon even confronts his parents about subtle homophobic jokes and so on. 

This movie needs to do well, okay. The media influence the public opinion and this movie shows how a cheesy gay romance is not that different from a straight one. It normalises homosexuality, and since y’all are still yelling about homophobia, isn’t that what we want. We want to show to an audience that we are here and queer and happy and we deserve it.

Looking back in history and LGBTQ portrayal, it fucking sucks. That’s all I can say, okay? It sucks. Homosexuality was not always permitted on television, but there were always the sneaky gay characters. They were the psychos. They were evil men stealing innocent husbands from their loving wives. And then it eventually got better, but most stories about LGBTQ people were still the typical: “I’m gay and I wanna kill myself.” 

And somewhere around 2013, it started to change. LGBTQ characters became more common. If you’d told me 5 years ago that we’d get a big commercial LGBTQ+ teen movie, with the same promotion and leverage as typical straight YA adaptions, I wouldn’t have believed you. And now it is happening. Yes, LGBTQ representation is still not ideal, but it is changing. 

I have read so many posts of: “Man, if I were younger and we would’ve had positive LGBTQ content, I’d be so much more confident/my parents would’ve understood better/I would feel safer/I’d know I’m okay and that there’s nothing wrong with me.” Or: “Wow, I wish straight people would use more LGBTQ characters in their works!”

I read posts about how we need more happy LGBTQ content so that we can normalise it for children and to show the world that LGBTQ people can be happy and don't always have to be portrayed as the sad or the mean ones (so side-eyeing you, Heathers 2018).

And now it is happening.

And it is seen as bad?

And I also think it is kind of sad because most of those haters are actually LGBTQ and if you look deeper into this, it basically means that this community is so used to all the shit that the moment we get some happiness, we turn against it because we've come to a place where homophobia etc has been normalised and I think that's even more sad.

As if after years of being thrown under the bus, we finally get the opportunity to crawl out of that shithole and we choose to stay because that shithole under the bus is all we've known and that's what we've gotten used to.

Don’t get me wrong. That is also a problem created by straight people. I am not saying that all the evil started in the LGBTQ community, you know, like straight people do.

But really, you won’t support happy LGBTQ content because it is “too unrealistic”? I have great news for you! If you want to watch stories about how awful being gay is, just watch most of the media content that already exists! So much self-loathing. So much hate. So much pain and bullying and death.

Besides, straight people have so many unrealistic scenarios, it is kinda weird. Happy mlm content is unrealistic, but a woman falling in love with a bee isn’t? 

Okay.

Well, it is a “straight bee” so it doesn’t matter anyway.

Also, this movie has to succeed in order to show Hollywood that there is indeed an audience for LGBTQ rom coms. And idk man if Becky being straight is such a big problem for you, just think that if this movie succeeds, the chance of LGBTQ authors getting full blown movies is bigger.

Look at Wonder Woman and Black Panther. Like, Scarlett Johansson has been Black Widow for ages and no one was going to make a Black Widow movie because “women aren’t into superheroes so a female superhero won’t do” and then Wonder Woman not only smashed the box office but that movie also single handedly saved the entire superhero franchise and it opened the doors to move female-led action movies. And Black Panther got shit as well because uhm “an all black-movie? who’s gonna care???” and it totally annihilated the box office records and it shows Hollywood that black magic is magic and that there are indeed people willing to see more diversity in big movies.

And last but not least, if you are still not convinced, then please support this movie for the actual LGBTQ people who have put their heart and love into this project. Support the LGBTQ crew. Support the LGBTQ actors. Support the LGBTQ artists on the soundtrack.

Do it.

Just do it.

For the love of god, watch Love, Simon.