#especially in mainstream shows that aren't specifically about being gay

[itswhatyougive]

Sometimes, it feels like we're living in the age of cowardice when it comes to queer representation.

On the one hand, some things we see onscreen today would've been unthinkable at one point in time.

However, there is this pervasive feeling of dancing around characters' queerness, timidly alluding to it via post-release interviews, and wishy-washy "up to your interpretation" characterizations.

"Be grateful you have anything at all," some might say. But I want more!!

I'm tired of this stupid dance, tired of characters who are obviously queer not being allowed to get too "out of bounds" for fear of the moderate/conservative straight viewers.

I know the state of LGBTQ rights seems in danger of rapidly declining, but that's exactly why I want raw, authentic, tender, joyous queerness to be normalized onscreen.

TL;DR This "abundant tame and toothless, sanitized queer rep in media" moment we are living in is getting me down.

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

thoughts on Gaylor?

I'm sort of surprised I haven't been directly asked this before, but frankly I'm glad I have been now, because I've been spoiling to tell people off about this.

Substantively, strong-to-dispositive arguments can and should be made that Taylor Swift's actual ouevre is a lot less monomaniacally obsessed with buttressing heteronormativity than her public image tends to suggest. This shows up in her choices of hypotexts, in her aesthetic and intellectual relationships with other artists, and in specific songs like (off the top of my head) "Wonderland," "Seven," and "Ivy." This doesn't mean that Taylor Swift the human person is gay or bisexual, but it's at least a little bit likelier to mean that than it is to mean that Taylor Swift the cultural product (an ungainly generation-absorbing chimera better understood by drinking heavily while watching Millennium Actress than by experiencing or researching anything in the mind-independent physical world) is "queer." She isn't, and people aren't really saying that she is. These are three separate Taylor Swifts. No one worth listening to is arguing that the one who's to do with gridiron football now for some reason is gay.

What's demoralizing about every time Gaylor (both in the narrow sense of speculation about Taylor Swift not being straight and in the broad sense of the LGBT side of Taylor Swift's fandom) makes mainstream news is the hostility to which queer Swifties, especially lesbian Swifties, are subjected. It can get shockingly overt, to the point of making one wonder how much other homophobia is just barely repressed in our society rather than having actually been overcome, but it also shows up in coded forms. Foremost among these is the idea that Gaylor speculah is somehow more egregious and insulting than other kinds of invasive speculah about Taylor Swift's affective life, an idea that only makes any sense at all if you do on some level think that saying that someone is gay or bisexual is derogatory. The bemusement with which queer people who like more-firmly-queer art and do not like Taylor Swift tend to react is a bit more understandable, but still depressing to see because of the no-true-Scotsman element and the apparent lack of awareness that millions of people like Taylor Swift AND ALSO like Jen Cloher and Rina Sawayama and Boygenius and Killing Eve and so on.

In conclusion, Gaylor is a land of contrasts.

[nonbinarymlm]

Stop listening to misinfo about other LGBTQ+ people! Stop hearing something bad about another LGBTQ+ identity or symbol and just assuming the bad thing MUST be true without double checking!!

Don't assume lesbians/wlw are TERFs because of a double Venus symbol and be wary of lists that give common wlw or lesbian symbols/words like that as signs of TERF dog whistles without any disclaimers! (Febfem and radfem are pretty much TERF only, but Venus symbols and the word lesbian and that stuff shouldn't be treated as a sign of bigotry!) If there's a wlw character in a show or a creator you don't like, leave them alone instead of obsessing over any imperfection they might have. (If they're a blatant bigot that's one thing, if they've occasionally made mistakes or imperfect choices don't try to destroy them over it.)

Also, stop making jokes and snide comments about bi women having boyfriends or interacting with men, it will always be biphobia. Stop believing that women with men are "faking" being LGBTQ+. Stop believing that people are faking being LGBTQ+ in general. Even if they're harmful to the community, their LGBTQ+ identity isn't the problem.

Don't assume mlm/gay men symbols and stuff are evil or mean to lesbians because of some un-fact-checked claim! The mlm/gay men specific flags AREN'T a hue changed version of the lesbian flag. Even if it is based on the lesbian flag, the lesbian flag is based on the leather and bear (a mlm term) flag. If you find it easy to assume the worst about mlm (especially femme mlm) and to assume mlm content is inherently sexual, that's internalized homophobia that you need to get over. If you get angry and offended over mlm content that you don't personally like (who has time to get mad about the Boyfriend comic or Heartstopper??) then just don't consume it, don't latch onto to literally any reason to call it problematic.

Stop believing the worst of trans people. Stop policing trans people who use imperfect words to talk about their experiences or hating on trans people who use words for their own experiences that you don't like. Trans people struggling to try to describe the intense bigotry and hate they face that can be so invisible. Just communicate your own experience and lift other trans people up, don't put other trans experiences down or down okay them or assume what they must be to describe your own experiences. Listen to others and believe them.

If you're cis and LGBQ+, give trans people the benefit of the doubt and don't believe anyone who tries to tell you that trans identities or "ideology" is bigoted no matter how they dress it up. Give trans people space, respect, and listen to us about our own experiences.

Also, listen to intersex people and make space for them, don't just lump them in under trans issues.

Stop mocking LGBTQ+ identities that you don't understand. Start listening to why people made them. If someone made the identity to target other LGBTQ+ people, then that's a problem. If you just don't understand why the person uses that label or think the label is odd, leave it alone. Mocking things just because you don't understand them is gross, cruel, and often leads to bigotry. LGBTQ+, marginalized cultures, and neurodivergent experiences are often harder to understand because they're not mainstream. Let aspec and xenogender and unusual mspec people be, they're not the mainstream, we're the community they have. If someone with an unusual identity is getting bigoted, then you can correct the bigotry without blaming it all on the identity.

Stop eating our own! Stop believing the worst you hear about other LGBTQ+ people and spreading misinfo about fact checking. Stop it with thinking an identity isn't LGBTQ+ enough or is problematic just because you don't like it. Stop spending your energy on who's "really" LGBTQ+. Stop. It. It doesn't matter and it's almost always harmful.

There are laws being passed to refuse access to trans healthcare, to target LGBTQ+ teachers, to take trans kids from their parents and force trans kids back in the closet, to police any gender non-conforming children, to censors LGBTQ+ fiction and people, to genuinely harm the LGBTQ+ community. Focus on that. Get involved in your local community. Lift each other up because these times are hard enough.

Stop targeting other LGBTQ+ people online because of your personal feelings that are, honestly, likely based in some kind of internalized prejudice. Start doing things where it matters. Start focusing on solidarity.

[rhube]

Watching the Mae Martin Netflix special and I have two things to say about it:

You should watch it because they're a great comedian and a lot of it is genuinely funny and we have to support non-binary comedians talking about gender and their personal experience (which is incredibly brave and valuable) at this time when lazy older cis male comedians are making way more money just talking trash about trans people.

I'm disappointed as an agender person to hear, once again, a fellow non-binary person talk about gender as a spectrum between male and female between which everyone falls - even though they talk earlier in the special about cultures that have three or four genders and that don't see everyone as falling between 2 specific binaries. Let alone people like me who don't have a gender and don't relate to gender at all. Plus, Mae has had way more fun than me in their life, and I can't relate to the assumptions about everyone having a Big Ex among their many previous partners. And I wasn't doing drugs in school to shy away from confronting gender issues, so I'm not grateful to Gen-Z for standing up to stuff now. I stood up to stuff then and it *exhausted* me - I'm glad Gen Z don't have to DO that, and a part of me would like more recognition for what I went through and the work that I did, but also: we need to stop putting all our hope for the future on Gen Z. They are KIDS. I don't want them to burn out like I (and a lot of other Millennials) did.

And I guess the upshot of these two things is that I hate that Mae Martin is put in the position of Speaking For All by being one of the few non-binary people who is successful enough to have a Netflix special and have a chance to speak about these issues from a place of experience.

Of course their experience isn't the same as mine (although I wish, once they'd decided to include a bit where they define gender, they'd done a bit of research outside their own experience to check that they weren't being a dick - or at least said something like 'Of course, I'm simplifying'). It sucks that when they do comedy they feel *obliged* to talk about gender. That they feel they have to watch those hideous transphobic and binarist shows because they know they're gonna be asked about them.

And the upshot of this is that I want to post and be supportive of them. And to say: you should watch this. Because if we don't, Netflix will say 'Well, audiences *actually* like Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais more. We should commission more transphobic shit and fewer non-binary and trans voices.' Even though I know that part of their strategy in giving Mae a special is to make money off BOTH the bigots AND the group that would like to wipe us out.

I am angry about all of that. And I'm angry that if I want to watch a special that's from 'my people' I have to feel the ache of watching one of my people erase me. And that does hurt. And I know that's not malicious, but it still hurts.

I felt more recognised by Nannette than I do by Mae Martin's Sap. Especially the bit where Hannah Gadsby talks about seeing Pride parades and is like, 'Oh, those are 'my people', are they? Where are the quiet gays?' - and I'm not gay and I'm not quiet, but I know what it's like to look at the people who are loud and vocal in queer spaces and feel like I don't really belong in that space - that it doesn't look welcoming or safe to me. I am trying to work through those feelings, but I have lost a number of friends just for voicing that - that mainstream LGBTQ+ spaces aren't always welcoming and can be intimidating.

So I don't really want this post to be *criticism* of Mae Martin, because they deserve all the support in the world, and I hate that they have to be *brave* when they're there to be *funny*.

But I hate more that if I ever want to see someone on screen talking about my experiences to me, I have to support people who get up on stage and define me out of the club.

It's hard. But I do think you should still watch Mae Martin's special, if you're up to it. They're funny and brave and they mean well, they just have a bit further they still need to go.

[eightfifteen]

I'm one of those people who won't believe Byler is going to be canon until I see it because this isn't my first rodeo and I know that just because it textually, subtextually, and narratively makes the most sense, doesn't mean it's going to happen.

My biggest concern was that even if the Duffers had planned a Byler canon all along, I doubted Netflix would allow their most popular show ever to be queer. And also because the GA loved midleven; they were iconic.

This is what makes it so strange that the Duffers were allowed to ruin them in season 4. And how Midleven is not being marketed AT ALL. If the reason for midleven being endgame is because it would be most profitable for Netflix,... then why aren't they cashing in??

And then I was watching this video essay by Verilybitchie on YT about Queer media which explains how oftentimes new companies (streaming platforms but also in the past just regular up-and-coming cable channels) would target minority groups because they're the ones most looking for new places to get content.

"In the 60s and 70s, when cable channels were first introduced, small new networks like Fox, and the CW, got their early success targeting niche audiences, specifically black audiences. (...) And streaming is following this exact same business strategy. They're churning out huge amounts of diverse content because they're building up a new business and they want to attract invested viewers who don't feel like they're getting enough content elsewhere. That includes people of colour, LGBT people, women, and young girls." - Verilybitchie

For example, one of Netflix' first shows Orange Is The New Black, is diverce as fuck. The main character is bi and in multiple queer relationships, and most side-characters are also queer one way or the other and ethnically and racially diverse. But it also targets women specifically; a huge demographic that isn't being catered to enough. This clearly helped build Netflix' userbase.

But now, with Netflix having become as popular as it is today, they want to target bigger, more lucrative audiences (aka predominantly cishet, white groups), which is why all of their shows are slowly becoming stale and mainstream or get canceled after one season.

But my point is that Stranger Things was given the green light in phase 1 - the phase where they were targeting minorities. This means that there's a higher chance for them to have been greenlit even if - or maybe even especially if - it was queer. And now with the panel saying "they were just amazed Netflix was letting them do this at all", I don't know it's just reminding me of all of this.

It's clear that Netflix is being very hands-off when it comes to ST, trusting them to deliver one way or another. Especially now re-watch value isn't as important in Hollywood anymore; they don't have to please the GA for it to remain popular, the GA will watch it either way until they figure out the queer endgame, and by then they've watched the whole show and ST will no longer be the reason for them to renew their subscription at the end of the month anyway.

If they hope to get a new audience for ST after the show is already over, so they can get a small boost of new subscribers, it would make more sense to once again target the queer audiences who wouldn't otherwise have watched it. Everyone who likes Sci-Fi Fantasy is already subscribed (or watching the show illegally) so they have to give it a new appeal if they want to get new fans; the queer userbase that will watch anything just because it's gay. In my opinion, it's their only way for getting new fans, especially once everyone knows how it ends and the suspense is taken away. And with shows like Sex Education, Young Royals, and Heartstopper doing as well as they're doing, they know there's a huge audience for this.

But more importantly; this brings more credibility to the Duffers having planned Byler all along, and with it being slowburn, and them only getting together in the final season, Netflix would have no reason to not allow the Duffers to continue doing whatever they want.

[bassiter2]

maybe it's just me and how i have personally interacted with the internet and media for my adolescence but i feel like i've just been straight up lied to by the fandom-centric online lgbt community. maybe that's my fault for tethering myself to fandom-centric stuff specifically for basically all my teenage years. but i feel like the scarcity of lgbt rep has honestly been exaggerated! like there absolutely IS a discrepancy between irl gay people and gay rep, don't get me wrong, but i've been watching so many gay films lately that were not even close to being on my radar in my teenage years. so many honestly fucking GREAT gay films. like ok maybe i'm wrong in using the word 'exaggerated' so much as that i feel like my generation didn't want to dignify the existing representation - it just wanted men to kiss onscreen in currently existing shows. and that's fair, that desire makes sense, we have characters that we care about and they absolutely ARE gay and we wanted that to be acknowledged, but i'm 25 now and i'm finally really appreciating the 60s-2000s gay films that maybe show very little sexual affection but are important parts of my history. i'm rewatching films that i watched at age 16 and only paid attention to the gay sex parts and really paying full attention now, and they're hitting so much different. gay people have been making movies for as long as straight people have been making movies, and yes there aren't nearly as many as there SHOULD be, but you really just have to look for them. gay people have also especially been writing books for forever. you can find a lot of overtly gay novels from many eras. you just have to look and you have to be willing to adjust yourself to the context of how gay culture was in each of those eras. but if you've been raised more or less online you're unlikely to be inclined to search for it. you want it mainstream or not at all. and that's fair, so many people only consume what is handed to them. it's just the nature of the internet now. but god there are SO many books and films with compelling gay stories in them out there, that are portals into our history, that thanks to the very thing that made us all like this are very easy to find now! you can find them! you can feel the breadth of the reality of gayness in a way that you're never going to get outside of having hard proof in front of your very eyes that people have been gay forever and ever! yes being normalized and mainstream is the ultimate goal but in the meantime please god please i'm urging every baby gay to get invested in the nichest points of gay history bc that's where the real shit already is

[stormysapphic]

hey so where I'm from "fruity" isn't gendered/isn't just a term used to describe men, it's also not really ever used in a bigoted context and has been part of the mainstream queer lexicon for like, decades. Also, imo people are using it in a positive way so it's not derogatory or homophobic. "Gay" isn't a bad word, but it's been used that way in the recent past which is homophobic. The context changes whether what's being said is derogatory or not. I wouldn't even say it's been reclaimed because it's not a slur. Like, I hate stranger things I'm only saying this as a queer fruit who thinks this sort of black and white focus on language is often more harmful than helpful.

I mean all of this gently, hope you have a nice day 💝

i appreciate you reaching out and sharing your opinion in a civil manner! however, to me this ask screams simplistic (perhaps black and white) interpretation and flat out misreading of my original post & a lack of understanding of queer history or the nuance that is needed here.

- what a word means where you're from specifically is not the only indicator of whether it's offensive or not. my native language isn't english, so obviously "fruit" is not even a term that's used where i'm from. that's no excuse for me to use it online in an inconsiderate manner, though.

- i never said "fruit" was a slur. i don't have an opinion on whether it fits that specific description, but it is offensive regardless.

- the origins of the word aren't 100% clear, so don't claim to know what not even linguistic scholars agree upon. and still, whether it comes from "fruitcake" meaning crazy and diseased or from referring to low income street vendors with "immoral qualities", it's 1) meant as derogatory and 2) currently understood to be offensive.

- i can't believe people are still using the "gay is used as an insult too" argument to try and completely brush over the stark differences between words with positive vs negative origins, connotations, and histories.

- again, in this case idk and idc what it means where you're from specifically, but universally it absolutely is overwhelmingly used to refer to men. the widespread use of the word as a quirky catchall lgbt term is a very recent online phenomenon. for sure some circles have always had different interpretations of the term, but here we are talking about being considerate in an online environment in the modern day where a majority of people associate the word with being derogatory and mlm-targeted.

- the connotations of a word depend on the context, yes. i can call my best friend the f slur and he can call me a dyke & it's a jokey bonding thing that comes from love, not hate. but 20somethings on tumblr using the word "fruity" to refer to some tv show characters (none of whom are even mlm) as a funny bit is not the same fucking thing. idc if they think they're using it in a positive way - it's just insensitive.

- idk what about the sentiment "non-mlm shouldn't throw mlm-targeted insults around carelessly" is black and white to you. i'm not even telling off any specific person or trying to completely revoke anyone's right to use the word "fruit", especially as a self descriptor. i think you identifying as a queer fruit is fucking awesome! but if you feel attacked by the aforementioned statement, maybe you're the one that needs to take a step back and consider the nuances of words like this, including the hurtful connotations.

tl;dr: "fruit" is and has always been a predominantly offensive and mlm-targeted word, i'm all for queer evolution, reclaiming our hurt, and intracommunity solidarity/sharing, none of those nuances apply to non-mlm jokingly gunning for "the fruity four" as a go-to fandom term as if it's just another word.

[thesharondefenseleague]

mlm imo werent sexualized to the degree that wlw were in most canon media mostly because of the male gaze. Gay and Lesbian relationships or moments got very limited representation. One was probably more sympathetic but also heart breaking like say brokeback mountain. One was explicit but depicted as grotesque or twisted or perverted or immoral in some way. And the last version was the titillating version. In western media because of the assumed straight male gaze lesbians making out to titlate guys was a common thing like say in Jennifer's body. The equivalent of that with guys wasnt really that common not in western media. Not that wlw couldn't like that content but it was made to be fanservice for men .

So thats what I kind of mean by wlw were sexualized at least in western media. This equivalent with mlm in fandom never really existed they never made out for girls to find hot in the same way. It was never marketed like oh look hot guys making out. Fandom did that but not canon.

As for comic book men being sexualized kind of. There is definitely the unrealistic beauty standards but theres that debate of was it for the purpose of titillating women? Or a result of toxic masculinity putting this unattainable unsustainable goal for men. Maybe both? But both in comics and the movies they are based on the posing and clothing and moments with women get made to clearly sexualize them . It especially ovbious with comics with them twisting their bodies so their boobs and butts are jutting out. Or like movie moments like Bruce landing in Natasha's clevage. Or angles where you are staring down a female character's shirt or she has a boob window for some contrived reason. Or just reasons to give full page spreads of them in skimpy clothing.

Its rare men get depicted like this or posed like this. And when they do it often stands out because its not the norm. It's something unique. Not true with men. Even in form fitting spandex they are often posed and framed to make to make them look powerful or intelligent or to reveal things about their character.

Again not that men never get sexualized or that fanservice is always bad. Or that its not a concern that men are having these terrible body image issues. But just that for women for the sexualization its so pervasive and constant was my point.

Its just as bad in wlw in canon as it is for women in relationships with men in canon when it comes to that sexualization but i hear so much more about the problems about the wlw ship than the mlw ship. Like to use DC as a example i hear so much about how people sexualized or mishandle harleyivy but compared to that i hear very little about batcat in comparison even though Catwoman is often just as sexualized in that ship.

As for misogyny in shipping wars yes it definetly exists and is a problem as is racism and homophobia. But my issue is mostly that the problem isnt because the main popular ships are mlm. But so often I see the argument framed that way.

Like shipping wars existed between m/w ships and still do today. And they are still often pretty misogynistic towards the woman in the other ship. I don't even have to look at other fandoms I remember Steggy vs Starton getting real ugly.

Mysogny in fandom doesn't uniquely pop up when mlm are the more popular ship. Its often just as bad in fandoms where m/w is the popular ship. But people just bring it up alot more they make it bout valuing the men over the women .

Well i mean that goes both ways you could say its homophobic for valuing the straight ship as better than the gay one or liking it more. But either way its stupid they dont care bout sexism or homophobia only that their ship is more popular.

Thats the sentiment of all ship wars the gender dynamics and racial make up change nothing. Nothing except the bullshit you use for the ship war.

The problem is that people are being homophobic and mysogynistic and racist not just in regards to fictional characters but towards real people just to win a ship war. It comes out so easily. Thats the problem imo.

Mysogny for example i think isnt discussed as much when its a m/w vs m/w ship war or drama because as both ships have women it can't be used to slander the other ship. But when its drama between fans of a m/m and m/w it comes out alot again not because anyone really cares but because now because one ship lacks a woman it can be used as fodder for what people actually care about. Tearing down the other ship.

Again not that mlm fandom doesnt have mysogny. They definetly do. But they aren't mysogynistic because they ship two guys together. Thats not proof they hate women. Having a ship with women isnt proof that you aren't sexist towards women. There might be homophobia in fandoms of mlm ships and mysogny in fandoms of m/w ships.

But in the drama between a m/w and m/m ships that doesn't get brought up because no one cares if that problem can't be used to show that someone only doesn't ship your ship if they are bigoted against it. Who cares about misogyny if your ship is two guys? Who cares about homophobia if your ship is straight?

No one because they cared about the popularity of their ship not the actual issues.

Gonna under under the cut for length again.

This is a lot to read so I'm gonna respond paragraph by paragraph and hope for the best in terms of comprehension.

When it comes to media made about the LGBTQ+ community, you have to keep in mind when it was made, who made it, and who was it made for. And that it's been shown that straight women have had the same reactions to mlm content as straight men to wlw content. QaF was dumbfounded to find that the majority of their audience was straight women when the show's sex scenes were 95% between two or more men and yet that's what they ran with because hey, it got the views. The views of mlm and wlw content in the mainstream media before then was minimized, despite how fucked a lot of the other content could be. If by "most canon media" being directed at the male gaze being summer blockbusters, and more specifically comic book movies, then sure. If we step out of that box, then not really. The film examples you chose are interesting because BB is portrayed exactly how the author of the original short story wrote it which was meant to be heartbreaking since it was a tragic dramatic piece while JB has a woman who wrote and another woman who directed it while purposefully trying to allow to actress to have a level of sexuality without exploiting her as past directors have (also neither of the main characters are lesbians - one is bi, the other I think is straight but maybe questioning?).

The sexualization of wlw in modern western media is definitely a thing. I mean, the first Iron Man film has stewardesses on the private jet pole dancing if I remember correctly. It took until 2016 to stop sexualizing Scarlett in every movie: the changing scene in IM2, the lowered zipper in A1, the ass shot in Cap 2, the boob faceplant in AoU (in your third paragraph, but mentioning it here anyway). It's a joke that you know when a man directs a wlw indie film during the sex scenes. But the mlm equivalent did exist alongside it, and it's what kicked off the century.

Comics and their movies were always for men. The male bodies are male wish fulfilment for their physical appearance. The women are male wish fulfilment for their dream girls. Funnily enough, one of the least sexualized women in comics I've ever read is Sharon. She's rarely, if ever, drawn to be sexualized for the audience. I'm not even sure she's even been in those swimsuit issues Marvel did years ago. And it shows heavily that Marvel struggles to know how to appeal to women without being aggressively in your face about it. The best example of them appealing without pandering is WV, and the worst is the group shots the Russos did in IW and Endgame, especially the latter.

But the men get those poses in the movies too. Thor bathed shirtless for no reason in TDW. There's a scene in Endgame dedicated to talking about Steve's ass. Pratt in GotG. Rudd in Ant-Man. Most actors are expected to look good shirtless and put themselves through intense shit to look that way. So do the women, but they aren't doing it to have the glamor shots of their muscles. And the MCU is not the only film franchise like this. Most, if not all, franchises with majority or entirely male leads expects them all to look like bodybuilders. And I'm gonna take back that it's just for the male audience, because these bodies are meant to appeal to women who are intended to thirst for these actors too. They think these bodies is what will bring women to the theaters.

None of this will change, as you say, that women's sexualization is "constant and pervasive". The film industry is just a part of the larger whole of media. Television and advertising have a treatment of women that's beyond whatever you or I say because there are decades worth of shit to go through that would take dozens of essays worth of writing to fully divulge beyond "please stop it's gross".

Now DC is a whole other ballgame. They're pretty infamous for their artists' sexualization of heroines and villainesses. Harley, Ivy, and Selina are definitely pretty bad, but when I remember what I've seen drawn of Kara, Kori, or sometimes Barbara... But outside of one artist, I think Harley and Ivy as a couple have been drawn tamely. Can't say the same for Selina, because they just can't not draw every part of her body even when she's fully clothed.

I think it's hard not to talk about fandom misogyny outside of m/m ships because of how often popular m/m shippers have rooted their shipping into misogyny. And even with m/f ship wars, a lot of the time the "faulted" character is always the woman when majority of the time it's the man who sucks. I don't get why everyone is fighting for who should kiss Steve because Steve sucks and they'd be better off without him. But because Steve is the object of affection for our fave, we have to fight off everyone else.

Don't look at other fandoms for m/f ship wars. We don't appreciate how tame we were, even at our worst. I'm serious, I've seen so much worse.

I think why the topic of misogyny comes up more with m/m ships is because they follow a similar principle of the male characters being more developed in canon and fanon so it's who people gravitate towards.

There is definitely layers of homophobia in fandom, but there's many versions of how we see it. Homophobes who won't ship anything that's not m/f. Homophobes who ship m/m but won't support IRL rights. People who love m/m but abhor f/f, and vice-versa. The shippers who use them for personal fodder. But the sexism is more prevalent than the homophobia. And the racism way more than both combined.

And it does cause a lot of ammo, and much of it severely unjustified, in ship wars. Literally the bullshit I've seen pulled out of thin air to accuse Sharon of not being worthy because someone said she's a racist for [they literally had no reason just called her one because we said Sam and Sharon are friends because they are] and other nonsense.

The real world repercussions of the homophobia, the sexism, and the racism in fandom... there's just so much. Like we are all still people, and yet we decide because we hide behind screens to be antagonistic, and use homophobic, sexist, and racist shit to attack each other over ships just because we want to paint the other person as crazy, I guess? If you can't see that there are no enemies in ship wars and that the other side is still people, maybe you need to sit out and log off. It's baffling how often it still happens to people. Then it's no longer about ships, it's about who is an asshole.

I will say that Steve and Peggy vs Steve and Sharon is probably the only m/f ship war I've seen where misogyny is talked about. Is, not was, because it still is. Both sides call the others misogynistic. I don't think either side is, but you can see in individuals. Those who tweeted at a certain actress that she was a slut for kissing her costar certainly are though.

You are right that shipping m/m isn't inherently sexist. But tearing down women in those ships to prop up m/m has made me stop shipping certain characters altogether. People, seriously, we don't have to justify why we like them! We can just like them! And other characters can still exist! It's never been that deep.

And you're right, the popularity of the ship helps people ignore any deeper issues within them and this is a power used to silence valid criticism if it pops up.

(I hope I answered everything well for you.)

~Mod R

[janiedean]

(1) Can I just say I hate all this Freddie Mercury biopic wank with a passion? Like, this hellsite went from "Queen is one of those boring 'classic' bands all whites are obsessed with bc they won't even consider new music by diverse artists u.u" to "WWRY is clearly a song about rebellious queer youth, cishets don't touch Queen u.u" after someone pointed out Freddie's ethnicity and sexuality, to "why aren't they making Freddie gay in the biopic!!!11" and... whatever they're whining about now.

(2) And I HATE looking at all this bs and thinking "fake fans", bc I'm pretty damn sure that by most standards, *I* count as a "fake fan", too. I mean, most stuff I know about the band's history is actually stuff about Freddie, thanks to a few documentaries centered around him and my mom, the long-time fan with a big crush on Freddie who introduced me to Queen when I was a kid. Hell, I couldn't even name all their albums or anything needed to be considered a "true fan". But ppl on here... ugh. (3) It's like they're really embarrassed bc they were called out on mistaking "woke" stuff for "unwoke" stuff, and now they have this desperate need to prove their ability to discern wokeness by getting offended about something they don't even care all that much about, as loudly and dramatically as they can.

HAHAHAHAHA.

okay so, tldr: I hate this discourse and I honestly hope that it dies within two weeks out of the biopic for a whole lot of reasons amongst which the ones you said, but like, this discourse actually highlights a shitload of issues with the usual tumblr discourse which I will gladly go into now because I’m fucking tired and this movie isn’t out yet.

now, premise: while I don’t think that true fans are a thing - at most there’s casual fans or in-depth fans but I mean, a fan is a fan so I don’t believe in the *fake* fans thing..... the problem here isn’t that they’re fakes. it’s that they aren’t fans. period.

other premise: from what you’ve said you’re a casual fan which is normal and you DON’T count as fake I mean if you like them and listen to them and know something it’s basically being a casual fan same as I am with idk the rolling stones, I like the famous stuff, I have the fundamental records and I like them when they’re on but that’s it.

but, yours truly is a Not Casual Queen Fan in the sense that a) I got into them when I was seventeen and I’m thirty now so thanks it’s been a while, b) I own all the records, c) I own a decent portion of roger taylor’s/brian may’s solo records (and I have listened to all of them that I couldn’t buy), d) I went to see them live once (k it was with paul rodgers but nvm guys not my fault if I wasn’t born in time for freddie) and I love queen’s music and I’m also fucking cishet and you know what? these people Are Not Fans and they should stop pretending they are and just stop making themselves look like assholes.

SPECIFICALLY:

the movie’s not out yet and I’ve had to see FIFTEEN ‘FRIENDLY REMINDER TO ALL CISHETS THAT FREDDIE MERCURY WAS GAY (at least a couple said he was bi and they were less asshole-ish) AND POC AND IF YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’D BETTER LEARN NOW HAHAHAHA YOU THOUGHT HE WASN’T. spoilers: every fucking casual queen fan who has bothered to buy three records knows that. yes, also the cishets. like, as someone who went from VERY CASUAL (ie: I know three songs) to NOT CASUAL in the span of two months I can 100% assure you that before getting into queen the usual preconceptions are that freddie was gay and that queen = freddie + three other people. the first three things you learn when getting into queen are (more or less in order but it can change) that a) the band was actually brian may + roger taylor first, b) that roger brought freddie in because they knew each other already, c) that mary austin was a fundamental person in freddie’s life and that she was also brian may’s ex and knew him first before they got together, d) the members’s backstories including where freddie was born, so like...... this idea that CASUAL CISHET FANS wouldn’t know that freddie was a) not heterosexual, b) poc is just something a NON-FAN would say because guess what, most queen fans even at a casual level are 100% aware that freddie was a) not heterosexual, b) not ethnical british. and saying that OMG CISHETS DON’T KNOW it’s ridiculous because guess what, everyone knows and if they have no idea they do, though luck, we did;

(spoilers: I also am 99% sure that those ppl have no idea that roger and brian actually sing on the records and composed a shitload of the music and queen =/= ONLY FREDDIE but okay)

they have no idea that rock music in the 70s/80s was not so heteronormative and was not the cishetmalething they think it is. like, please look at led zeppelin (ie THE PEOPLE WITHOUT WHOM YOU WOULDN’T HAVE HEAVY METAL) and tell me they were heteronormative. like, you saw robert plant? yeah, me too. and the thing was that queen were revolutionary in the sense that they brought an operatic/theatrical approach to the music that no one tried before but guess what, the point is that they made it sell. the thing that I would like tumblr Woke People to grasp is that what made queen groundbreaking as far as Wokeness goes is that they managed to sell and become the monster-moneymaking group they were (while keeping things quality) with a frontman who was Not Heterosexual, Did Not Try To Pass For Heterosexual One Day In His Life and Never Shied Away From It. like, idk if people are aware that while the scene was way less heteronormative than they think it still wasn’t the most openly talked about topic around (I mean guys elton john did marry a woman at some point X°DDD), but going around in the seventies flaunting your non-heterosexualness around and selling millions of copies making your stage persona a selling point of your music wasn’t exactly common. like ffs one of the most famous queen songs has a video where for 3/4 of the time they’re in drag and the other part has freddie performing with the royal ballet (and guess what the song was actually written by john deacon and the idea of doing the video in drag was roger taylor’s and none of them as far as we know is Not Heterosexual, but never mind giving the rest of the band some credit when it came to Not Caring About Heteronormativity) and fine, that video was banned/controversial, but it still was a huge british hit and it’s in the top five queen songs Everyone Knows. and tbh I’m terrified of that video being shown in the biopic (which it should since the works was from ‘84 and they stop at ‘85) because I’m 100% sure that those people have no idea it exists and when they find out how long is it gonna take them to decide that IT’S PROBLEMATIC? I mean, Woke Kids on here think the rhps is problematic, I’m shuddering at the thought of what they’d think of the i want to break free video;

actually a lot of us cishet queen fans might have had a wake up call including, er, finding out certain preferences, thanks to either their music or their shows or their videos (*cough* I 100% assure you that watching roger taylor in drag was what made me realize crossdressing was my thing for good like I knew before but I didn’t actually put two and two together until I saw that video and went like ‘............. AH WELL SHIT THEN THAT’S IT FAIR ENOUGH’), and a lot of us cishet queen fans who weren’t, like, strictly playing to heteronormative rules back in the day found a lot to relate to in their music even without being queer ourselves and guess what I’ve never met a single queen *fan* who could give less of a damn about freddie’s ethnicity or orientation (as in: everyone was a-okay with it) regardless of their background. that was what made them groundbreaking and extremely important as well, because they managed to be that kind of record-selling records-breaking band while not shying away from having a Not Heterosexual frontman AND Not Heteronormative Heterosexual Band Members Who Also Didn’t Give Two Fucks About Their Lead Singer’s Sexuality so going like OMG NOW WE’RE GONNA TEACH YOU THAT FREDDIE WASN’T HETEROSEXUAL BECAUSE WE’RE WOKE is ridiculous because dearest susan, we already knew and we already were woke about that and to us he was the frontman of a band we liked for a bunch of reasons;

also I don’t think people realize that freddie was a role model/example for the entire next generation of rock bands frontmen even in genres that had zilch to do with him - I mean guys AXL ROSE had a hero-worship for freddie and sang bohemian rhapsody at the freddie memorial concert WITH ELTON JOHN and grn really aren’t the same exact sphere as queen jsyk, but if you look at axl on stage esp. when he was younger? guys. it’s obvious. like you can see the influence. but lmao, now ALL the very cishet(-ish) singers who OPENLY SAID FREDDIE INFLUENCED THEM DIDN’T KNOW ACCORDING TO TUMBLR DOT COM?

LIKE, fuck’s sake, one of freddie’s major accomplishments in that sense was to ending up being a role model for younger singers in a genre where heteronormativity is way less common than everyone thinks BUT where not many people esp. back in the day would be open about their sexuality because it still was a taboo-ish thing -- like, gender roles were a lot more blurred but you wouldn’t hear many of those people admitting openly they were bi or gay or Not Heterosexual and the entirety of the rock scene especially mainstream but also not was entirely fucking aware of it, do these people think THE FANS wouldn’t?

also, we will rock you was WRITTEN BY BRIAN MAY AND IT WAS ABOUT A FUCKING ENCORE WHERE THE FANS SURPRISED THEM AT ONE SHOW IN LIKE MID-SEVENTIES which already shows that They Know Nothing because if they think freddie wrote all the queen songs then it’s already obvious they have no fucking clue about how queen worked as a band because all the members contributed something (guys john deacon wrote at least two of their major hits, roger taylor sang on all the records along with brian may and if you hear the back harmonies on ‘39 he goes way higher than freddie and a part in seaside rendezvous has both him and freddie mimicking other instruments with their voice and you wouldn’t know if no one told you first, brian may wrote a SHITLOAD of music for queen and it was an all-four effort, not just freddie + three other generic british dudes for fuck’s sake) so like, anyone saying that is already giving ample proof that they have no idea;

now of course you can interpret it as whatever the hell you want, but assuming that all of queen’s music that might relate to queer issues was written by freddie ABOUT QUEER ISSUES (this when freddie’s main topic of interest was... not really discussing his sexuality especially in the seventies like again, I want to break free is one of the queen to-go songs everyone brings up when it comes to that topic and IT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE ELSE and the video concept was THANKS TO SOMEONE ELSE) just shows that a) you don’t know shit about the band’s history, b) you’re not a fan because you didn’t even bother to look it up on wiki, c) you’re trying to look woke at all costs;

they have NO FUCKING CLUE that most people in the 70s/80s/90s in the business were NOT politically correct according to their standards LIKE LITERALLY NO ONE WAS;

goes unsaid they probably haven’t listened to one full queen album from beginning to end not even the greatest hits.

tldr: I hate that they don’t seem to realize that things existed before 2005 and that music in the 70s/80s COULD and WAS diverse and *woke* already before they were even born, I hate that they decided that ALL CISHETS DIDN’T KNOW when thank you I think even my damned parents know and they don’t listen to rock music, I hate that they decided that queen APPARENTLY DIDN’T HAVE A FANBASE BEFORE THEM (lol) or that that fanbase didn’t understand them (triple-lol), I hate that they’re reducing freddie to his sexuality when he didn’t want that in the first place, I hate that they’re falling into THE MAIN MISCONCEPTION AROUND ABOUT THIS BAND as in THAT IT WAS FREDDIE + THREE OTHER PEOPLE and not an all-around group effort of people who were friends and deeply loved/respected each other and put the same share of work into it, I hate that they moment they see the movie and are introduced to the actual music/the actual story they’ll MOST LIKELY find problematic things to wank about because like hell they wouldn’t and I hate that they’re basically pretending to give a fuck about a band that I love and have loved dearly in a very non-casual way when they actually fucking don’t.

fucking hell please never let anyone make a biopic about either springsteen or led zeppelin or other people I actually like because this is bad enough, I don’t even want to think of what tumblr ppl would say if they knew anything about any rock artist of medium-large fame back in the day. peace.

[guardian-angle22]

Okay, I get the wanting more male + female friendships, but... The show has given us Owen and Tommy and Judd and Tommy and TK and Nancy, and we had Carlos and Michelle in season one, so please don't try to say that's a dynamic rarely seen, at least on 911 LS. I am so tired of people using this line, because Paul and Marjan have NOT been set up platonically, and I feel like the only reason people push the "let them stay friends" thing is because Paul is trans. Seriously, they check so many romance trope boxes that the resistance to it is getting kind of ridiculous.

Paul and Marjan getting together would be groundbreaking. There has never, ever been a trans man in a romance on a mainstream drama on a major network. So the fact that the show seems to be going there is important.

Paul already gets the short end of the stick when it comes to attention from this fandom. You have no idea how frustrating it is to see so many people bend over backwards to find reasons not to ship them.

When I said the dynamic is rarely seen, I definitely mean in media in general - not specifically 911ls... and what I mean in that regard is a friendship between two seemingly straight (I just say seemingly cause I guess we haven't had confirmation of Marjan's sexuality but she's straight-appearing right now), single people of different genders. I do enjoy those friendships you've mentioned but I feel like they aren't the same as what I'm referring to being rarely seen in media. I love the TK/Nancy friendship and the little we saw of Carlos/Michelle - but they're gay men. A romantic relationship would never be possible between them. The friendships involving Tommy are also great but she was established as being a family-oriented person in a loving marriage and that also makes a romance between her and Judd or Owen as not something that would be assumed to be a possibility.

That being said, I definitely get where you're coming from, and I'm not resistant to it at all. As I said, I think they would be fucking amazing together and I would love it if they did get together. Especially for what it would mean in the terms of representation.

but also... like I'm literally aromantic. So most of the time, I'm going to prefer friendships in general. It's just a personal thing to me that seeing really good friendships can be more rewarding to me to see at times.

I have fun shipping romantic relationships - I mean I love Tarlos and Grace/Judd and there are plenty of other romantic ships I follow out there in other fandoms. But as someone who doesn't ever truly feel those kinds of romantic feelings, I just connect more with friendships (and I wish there were more fandom related things like fics for just friendships). Which is my reasoning behind being "torn" on any kind of relationship like this in any show. So while I definitely don't speak for anyone else in the fandom, I hope that explains a little bit more about where I'm personally coming from?

As far as Paul getting the short end of the stick as far as attention, I agree! I literally taught myself to make gifs a month ago because I wanted to see more things in the fandom including Paul, Mateo, Marjan, and Tommy specifically... and I've been trying to do that and I'm going to keep trying! Because I love all of them and I think they deserve more focus.

[girlonfilmmovies]

Welcome to Friend Island: "Love Island US Season 3" and the Gaping Sores of America

So I foolishly thought that in the new year of 2021, the world would be in a better place than it was the previous year. After all, we were coming out of the "worst" of the most horrifying pandemic of the past century, a middling presidency that at that point served only a wealth of TV soundbites and less actual damage to the political system, and we were looking forward to a brighter future and a return to what some hoped would be "normal". The past was the past, and this was going to be a new moment.

Oh how naïve we all were.

As of this writing Covid-19 cases are hitting staggering new highs in the southern US, with Florida (of course) somehow hitting a record amount despite vaccines being easily available in the country for months. The death rates are at almost the same as last year. The middling disaster of the 45th president had one more trick up its sleeve, a firebomb brewing for dozens of years that went off in one of the most embarrassing fiascos of American political history. Misinformation has already implanted itself so thoroughly among half the country that people would rather die than admit they were wrong; the spread of such chaos being happily spat out through the algorithms of corporations only intent on raking in dollar signs. All the potential benefits that could have come from this once-in-a-lifetime moment are being briskly swept away: offices demanding their employees come back, no respect given to science and healthcare workers, the country's clearly weak infrastructure forced right back into action as if we didn't just see its gaping holes. The earth is dying and the people who actually have the resources do something about it instead have kickstarted a capitalist space race.

2021 has gone to show that old, toxic habits die hard.

Sigh.

Yeah, I watched Love Island again.

Despite my... let's say mixed feelings regarding last year's shitshow, I couldn't help but admit that it was the closest thing that I've had to appointment viewing TV that I've had in a long time. In an era of streaming and DVR boxes, it's a bit of an actual feat to get someone who works a fulltime job (especially one with erratic scheduling) to go out of their way to watch something the second it premieres. Love Island brings the family together, so they can engage in our favorite pastime: pointing and laughing at young, dumb, fame hungry cis-hets.

Plus, the second season had offered a fascinating glance at how to contend with a pandemic while also trying to stage a typical dumb reality show. The tropical island villa was swapped for a luxurious hotel rooftop in Las Vegas -- a literal ivory tower of ignorant hedonism looking down upon a plagued nation. You could feel the sexual tension of the hot, hyper-sexual adults forced without physical contact for months finally allowed to relieve themselves the only way they know how: toxic relationships. It was trying so hard to be an oasis in a desert yearning for frivolous content, but the façade was clearly visible to the point of satire. It was a wonderful thing to experience firsthand as what I originally thought as merely me dipping my toes into the genre.

Season 2 was the show that we deserved at the time, a funhouse mirror reflecting all the callous stupidity that had led us to this moment in world history. It attempted to offer a happy ending, a look towards the future: a black couple finally winning a reality show, a first for such a mainstream program (both of them actually kind of turned out to suck, but shhhh...).

It also allowed America to completely break the hearts of people while watching them fall apart live on TV. It was cruel, it was stupid, but most of all, it was fun as hell.

Season 3 is not about torturing the competitors. It's about torturing us.

In all fairness, there were a couple of lovely positive developments for the series this season. While still struggling with racial diversity a little bit, as evidenced by them casting only one very specific kind of black man like five times, strides are being taken elsewhere in the lane of body diversity. Alana makes her debut as literally the first woman on this show who isn't a size 0-2, looking absolutely gorgeous in every single shot.

The almost aggressively heteronormative nature of the show is slowly being shaken by a more openly queer cast than previously expected -- multiple bisexual/pansexual contestants participated, even though there wasn't any overtly queer romance shown (also almost all of them were women, with them describing their sexualities being confined to streaming exclusive episodes, which isn't... great). It's certainly a step in the right direction for a show that unceremoniously shuffled off the only queer member of the Season 2 cast overnight once the internet found his gay porn shoot. Ironically, they also ended up booting off the most openly queer member of this cast too, the purple haired proudly pansexual TikTok-er Leslie, but for the more legal reason of smuggling weed into the villa.

It's not terribly surprising that both Alana and Leslie garnered a lot of positive attention both inside and outside of the villa -- they stand out so much against the otherwise predictable casting that we've come to expect from this show and white American media in general. Alana is a woman with actual curves who looks stunningly gorgeous in comparison to the monotonous supermodel figures of everyone else. Leslie almost falls into a stereotype from the way she appears: dyed purple hair, tattooed all over, obviously queer, vaping weed constantly, exuding the kind of chaotic yet weirdly fun energy that only a former stripper can. Yet she obviously grabbed the attention of the contestants because while people like her abound in real life, in the fantasy land of reality TV she's an absolute rarity, a far cry from the sanitized beauty pageant-esque standards that they seem to pluck girls from. The men are still dumb, bland, boneheaded idiots in this show, but by offering some actual variety, they get to actually pursue people they aren't "traditionally" supposed to, while an outsider audience member like me gets to see women like herself be offered up for titillation in the same way "conventionally attractive" women are.

It's kind of cool, even if it is just playing into the icky sexualization of everyone, but hey...progress?

In an odd "two steps forward, one step back" kind of situation, the show has somewhat dialed down the outrageously toxic relationships of last year into a more relatively subdued level of toxicity. Gaslighting/cheating is at least kept to a relative low in this season compared to the nightmare that was last year, although this year's ratio depends on how much of that corresponds with sexy Columbian boy Will's obviously flimsy grasp of the intricacies of the English language. He continued to be plagued by the cliquey-ness of the cast until the very end but his genuinely sweet couple with Kyra still did enough to sneak into the final two.

The actual main problem this year was an almost unbearably long love triangle between Cash, Trina, and Cinco that refused to solve itself for nearly a month. Cash and Cinco perennially kept flip-flopping in their feelings for each other, bouncing between failed partnerships despite so obviously being into each other. Trina ended up roped in as Cinco's partner for a while, a constant victim of his own lack of courage to make up his damn mind. Cash, freshly single and in horny jail (aka Casa Amor), coupled up with the handsome and mysterious Charlie.

Now we need to discuss how bizarre Charlie as a cast member. Not only is he the only member who is, looks, and acts like an actual adult, but he also seems to show no adherence to the rules of reality TV: he's very relaxed and unassuming, seems genuinely uninterested in the "game" aspects of the show, and only perks up during rare moments of actual romantic potential. He's a fascinating spanner to throw into the machine of Love Island, and once Cinco was eliminated in the competition, Charlie had to sit there while Cash only continued to openly and aggressively pine for a man who isn't even her current partner. Proving once again to be an anomaly in the cast, he actually decided to do something about this: he unceremoniously dumped fan favorite Cash like a sack of bricks, sending her home while hooking up with the previously mentioned Alana. This smart decision was met derisively by viewers, despite him being the only person there who actually acted like a fucking adult for once. Ironically, this got him and Alana into the finals, where they finished in last place with the same trademark lack of enthusiasm that we've come to expect from him.

I suppose now we need to uncork the problem of the season and by extension the franchise as a whole. You might have read that previous situation and thought, "gee, a fan favorite got tossed aside while a guy that everyone hated ended up making it into the final four? That seems weird."

But by that point it really wasn't at all.

See, the problem with the voting is that you don't usually get to pick who goes; the audience only gets to pick who to prevent getting kicked. At that point, the audience control is out of our hands and now into the contestants', and if there's one thing we all learned in high school it's that cliques are very much a thing. The contestants seemed dead set on booting anybody who was new the second they had the chance, so many potentially exciting people were so quickly thrown out. Instead of the exciting potential we could have seen, we got a love triangle sucking anyone nearby into doom, with everyone else being a relatively stable couple or part of the Jeremy/Korey wishy-washy railway. Casa Amor was an absolute bust, with people making half-assed couplings despite still being in love with somebody else (it speaks a lot to the weakness of the Casa Amor men that Olivia literally preferred to come back single than with any of those planks of wood).

Part of the problem did rely on factors that nobody could control at all though. "Romance novel come to life" Slade seemed like a threat with his rugged handsomeness, twangy accent, and classic southern charm, but had to quickly leave due to ambiguous family troubles. Similarly, the nearly perfect Josh and Shannon, who seemed like an obvious shoo-in winner by virtue of being probably the only actual relationship on the show, had to depart in the middle of the night due to the tragic death of Josh's sister. Aforementioned chaotic pansexual Leslie was unceremoniously removed in the middle of the night once they had realized that her classic vape pen was actually full of weed, an especially tragic circumstance considering she basically had Cinco wrapped around her finger and was about to bring that love triangle crashing down (also tragic because she has gone on record saying that she was fully crushing on Genny while they were both in there, robbing us of any potential of a queer couple).

But part of the pain as always has to do with how the producers control everything no matter what: what we see, what we hear, who gets the villain edit and who gets the hero edit. It's why they seem to play Jeremy as dumb hot surfer bro instead of the actual funny and charming guy he is. It's why Trina was treated as a bitch and Cash as a woeful victim despite the roles more often than not lining up the other way around. And most embarrassingly, it's how the biggest joke couple of the show ended up winning it all.

Now, look at this picture right here: the poses, the awkward hand holding, the very strange smiles between those two. No, this is not a picture of two teenagers going to prom together who just met only five minutes ago and are taking pictures on their parents' front lawn; these two are the winners of season 3, the supposedly "strongest" couple on the show. This is Olivia and Korey.

Korey is a charming boyish sweetheart by way of an absolute fucking dumbass. He's sort of like last year's beloved and wonderfully stupid Carrington: a very sweet and nice teenager who seems to have "13 Going on 30"-ed his way into an adult body. He's childish in a way that's very cute and friendly but also woefully unattractive to anyone who's an adult. Just like Carrington, he notched up a staggering amount of dates with pretty much every single beautiful woman that came into the villa, all seemingly very interested in him. Carrington, for as dumb and childish as he is, could bag anyone because he was outrageously confident too. Korey on the other hand seems incapable of making any decision, following any girl who pays him the time of day like a little puppy, constantly looking up to her with his big puppy dog eyes. It's very telling that for all the dates he had, almost none of them actually went anywhere because it's just not that appealing to anyone. If you're looking to win, he's not someone who can scheme and play the game. If you're looking for love, he's not going to cut it because he can't seem to even understand the concept of romance. If you're looking for a friend, he's probably the best damn one you'll get in that villa -- but as constantly established by everyone, this show isn't called Friend Island.

Olivia is a bit of a thornier subject. She habitually couples up with people that you can kind of tell she's not at all into. She started the first half relatively unassuming and not particularly interested in the men that she was supposedly attracted to. But you could basically see her panties drop when Slade walked in, ready for him to pull her up into the saddle and ride away into the sunset. But his sudden departure only left her more empty, desperately grasping onto whatever random attraction she could. She went off to Casa Amor single and had the gall to come back without coupling up with any of them (although once again, they really dropped the ball with the men compared to the stunning Casa Amor women). And somehow in the midst of all this wishy washy mess, she finally settled on the one single man who she hadn't coupled up with and supposedly suddenly had feelings for: lonely, little Korey.

As a watcher of two seasons of this shit, I've seen a lot of fake relationships, but this one is just ridiculous. The chemistry is really nonexistent; she seems more annoyed or at best partially amused whenever he tries to say anything genuinely sweet to her. She reacts like how you would when a little kid tries to tell you they have a crush on you, an adult: you just kind of go, "aw, cute, thank you!" and walk away chuckling. It's genuinely comedic in how tragic it is, a boy who thinks he's finally found someone when all she's found is a trip to the bank.

And what did the editors do? They tried their very best to sell this as genuine, as actual romance. We know what romance is -- we basically saw it with Shannon and Josh, and to a lesser extent Will and Kyra. And yet they whipped out that expert level edit to say, "wow, look at these two lovebirds, huh?" It's ridiculous, especially since only in the final episode did they suddenly remember that Jeremy and the stunning Bailey (aka the combination of Gal Godot and Ashley Judd circa-2001) were an actual couple and even they looked more real than the winning couple.

Love Island is, if nothing else, a reflection of America.

It's an outdated tradition desperately grasping to what's left of the typical western idea of romance. No matter how many beauty pageant contestants they pick, men like women who aren't size 2s, or with natural hair/skin, or with family-friendly occupations. Women are probably tired of the big muscle bound hunks they usually put on here, the nearly identical men that they seem to cast every single season who have all the looks but zero of the confidence or personality.

It's an example of how our choices are an illusion, how our influence can be easily overwritten by those in charge. Votes that don't matter when they change the rules on the fly, ripping out the actual choice of the people in favor of letting them decide what stays and what goes.

It's a testament that even in the face of a viral pandemic that's quickly turning into part two, as the lives of millions are being further destroyed across the world, there will always be some asshole who has more than you and looks better than you, vacationing on a tropical island stolen from its people, ignorant of everything else that's happening around them.

Love Island hates everyone. It hates it's contestants. It hates the viewers. It hates change. It hates me.

But I do still kind of love it.

[nikkifilm]

#1 Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino Entry: The Panti Sisters, dir. Jun Lana (2019)

I. Face Value or Surface Level Analysis

NICOLE: Looking at the film's face value, they've put extra effort on this, especially in terms of the props, costume, and makeup. 'Yun talaga pinakanagstand-out sakin sa buong movie eh. Just by looking at it, you'd know na hindi basta basta mga ginamit nilang props and costume; it's not cheap and it's been consistent throughout the movie. I also love how each of the character has their own distinct identity. Talagang may kanya-kanya silang personality at hindi lang 'yung gender identity nila ang nagdedefine noon. You can easily distinguish who is who despite them sharing one common ground. Technical and aesthetic wise, I adore the way the movie was color graded. The way they used vibrant colors yet visually pleasing strikes and generally makes the film more entertaining to watch. Masarap siya sa mata, kumbaga. It's not your typical gay comedy film, hindi lang siya puro punchline, talagang nandoon pa rin yung message na gustong iparating nung direktor.

PETER: At first, the film felt like your typical filipino slapstick comedy, with a side of stereotypical representations of how lgbt people are portrayed, but really shows that they're more than just looking pretty and more than just what society thinks they are, it shows how each sister cares for something in their life, and as characters develop mas nagkakaroon sila ng gaan ng loob sa isa't isa so dahil dun, they started to care for one another. Per character sa film, may kanya kanyang traits and you'd think na "ay malamang may di ako magugustuhan sa mga 'to" pero hindi eh, the more I watch, the more I get hooked, mas nagugustuhan mo sila, kasi per character well established ang origins, kahit na sa mabilisang paraan makikita mo yung pinagmulan nila and that kind of justified din kung bakit ganun kilos nila. Story wise, yung buong film in face value, for me, was your classic family problem themed movie but told in the eyes of 3 siblings who were separated by their parents' morals and beliefs. It tackles the struggle of acceptance in a family, in gender and in blood. All in all, masaya siya panoorin, even with those moments na merong sad parts, may heated arguments, napapalitan kaagad ng something good or something to make you laugh and it's a genius way of mixing laughter and drama.

II. Film Language

PETER: In a personal standpoint I do see the film residing with neorealism because of how the problems in the film can be seen in some parts of the country, for example, may mga mindsets din ang ibang mga kalalakihan na porket bakla o porket nagdadamit babae, mahina na.  May representasyon din ng pang aabuso sa mga kababaihan. Speaking of mindsets, naeemphasize din yung toxic masculinity within the film, doon palang sa part ni Don Emilio,  makikita na agad kung pano niya tratuhin ang mga anak at especially asawa niya and that really speaks for itself lalo na sa kultura ng bansa natin.

NICOLE: There's not much to point out on this part, at least for me kasi the entire film was more on narrative than style or technical. However, what I did notice is the way they break the fourth wall by directly speaking to the audience. It's as if they really are aware and they want to talk address the audience of what they want to say. In a way, it's a neorealism film because yes, it is set to be realistic in a way that it's what at least some of the LGBTQ+ community are struggling with family-wise, but at the same time it's modified in a subjective way, in a way that we all wish it would be in real life where they aren't simply tolerated or belittled but also truly accepted, not only within the family but also with the church. Personal belief and religion is still a huge factor that plays in the film. Nagkakaroon pa rin ng debate in the real life context, pero dito ipinapahiwatig 'yung side ng LGBT community patungkol sa kung ano ang gusto nilang iparating sa mga tao at sa simbahan. The way the characters narrate the film, especially in the last few parts spoke louder in terms of that. Kumbaga naging instrumento 'yung mga characters para sabihin sa mga manonood yung underlying message ng film which has been prominently asserted throughout the movie.

PETER: My partner tackled the story's fourth wall break which I agree with, maganda for me yung fourth wall breaking ng film dahil it doesn't do it just for the sake of having the 4th wall breaking element, it blends well into the story itself, subtle and in a way it's something never seen before (or atleast for my standard) it stands as being a narrator for the movie itself, hindi lang siya for a comedic purpose, although yes that is there but as a way to have a continuous flow that most audience can easily follow through or in a way a guide for us to understand what's going on during the film.

III. Social Relevance in the Philippines

NICOLE: First off, nakakatuwa lang na marami ang tumangkilik sa pelikulang ito, lalo na't kabilang pa sa Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino. I think bihira lang na umabot ng mahigit isang buwan sa takilya 'yung mga local films, especially yung kabilang pa sa mga ganitong annual celebration ng local films o mga independent films. Like I said, this isn't your typical gay comedy film. Hindi lang puro comic relief yung LGBT characters in the film, at lalong hindi sila stereotyped into a single purpose. Hindi lamang ang sexual orientation o gender identity ang nagdedefine sa kanila as characters, may sarili talaga silang personality at identity. That being said, this film isn't the first yet has largely contributed to the gay films that have good representation of the LGBT community especially in the Philippine cinema. Not to mention na pang-masa ang audience nito, they really broke the convention of how LGBTQ+ people act within a comedy film. Hindi siya puro patawa lang at yung essence ng message niya doesn't stray away from the comedy factor of the film which is good considering its audience. It's a good turn in terms of mainstream films, na oo pang-masa siya, but its deeper context isn't. Given the current situation of the stance between the LGBTQ+ community, there's no denying that mas marami pa rin talagang ang mga religious who are not in favor of the LGBTQ+ community considering na composed pa rin talaga ng more than half of the population ang Catholics. This film, however, became an instrument to LGBTQ+ community, to be able to voice out what they're fighting for — 'yung maging pantay sa paningin ng mga tao at ng simbahan at mabigyan sila ng karapatan, 'di lang bilang miyembro ng LGBTQ+ community, kundi bilang tao rin. At ako, bilang parte rin ng community, I find it quite fascinating na nabibigyang pansin 'yung mga ganitong klaseng pelikula, especially since relevant siya sa issue natin ngayon on the SOGIE bill wherein marami ang hindi sumasangayon kesyo tanggap na raw naman ang LGBTQ+ community yet ayaw naman nila bigyan ng pantay na karapatan bilang mamamayan. Sana nga pinipiling tangkilikin ang mga ganitong klaseng pelikula di lamang dahil pag sinabing “gay” film, alam nilang good vibes at puro katatawanan kundi dahil sinusuportahan talaga nila yung LGBTQ+ community. Regardless naman of whatever belief or values they have, this film can help address the bigger picture with the underlying issue and hopefully the Philippine cinema would push through these kind of mainstream (indie) films.

PETER: As mentioned earlier din, the film breaks the normal thought of an ordinary Filipino sa mga bagay-bagay at ibang social issues, and for me eto yung naging defining factor ng film, saying na hindi porket eto ang nakasanayang kaisipan ay eto dapat lagi ang tingin niyo sa gender na 'to o sa ganitong klaseng pamilya. Nagbabago ang panahon pati na ang mga tao. With this in mind, it applies din with other stereotypical views that the film offers and binabasag nito yung normal na pag-iisip ng masa. As a Filipino living in the current generation, mas napapansin ko na may ibang tao parin na gustong ipilit kung ano yung nakasanayan or yung tradisyon, especially sa religion, in regards to LGBTQ community, hindi sila tanggap or they are seen only as the sinners. Again the film breaks this thought saying na hindi porket dalawang kasarian lang ang unang nilikha sa mundo, hindi ka na nakikita ng panginoon pag part ka ng LGBTQ. It explains na you are seen so long as you believe in the religion (specifically in Roman Catholic) and I do see it as the film sending a mesage to people or to members of the church even, to try and accept them more and to see them as people as well, not just as sinners. Speaking of the church, in the film, discrimination also takes its place here as well, although not implied but it leaves a big impact to those who noticed, sa film, yung boyfriend ng isa sa mga magkakapatid said na wala namang bisa ang kasal nila dito sa Pilipinas and Daniel (isa sa mga magkakapatid) said na hindi importante ang bisa, mas importante ang seremonyas. I do see this as one of the film’s highlights because it is subtle but it leaves the audience with something to think about.

IV. Opinion and Remarks

NICOLE: Personally, I liked the part in the hospital where Chiqui had her miscarriage, because it's where Samuel realized na hindi naman talaga mahalaga 'yung mana na makukuha mula kay Don Emilio, at mas pinahalagahan niya yung morale niya, yung pagiging makatao. Doon din kasi nagstart din na marealize nila Gabbi at Daniel na 'di rin na mahalaga 'yung pera na makukuha kapalit ng hiling ni Don Emilio dahil produkto lamang ng pangangailangan ang batang dinadala ni Chiqui at hindi pagmamahal. Gusto ko na nagkaroon ng development in a way you'd expect na someone would finally inherit the money but they all had that realization na ang mas mahalaga pa rin ay totoo ka sa sarili mo at wala kang ibang tinatapakang tao. From that moment on, kita mo talaga yung pagprogress ng development nila individually and then as siblings or sisters. I also love the ending, kahit na it felt a bit rushed. The scene where Don Emilio had a change of heart since Daniel's death and confronted his two daughters about him not being accepting of them and Gabbi saying that they forgive him. The wedding scene of Gabbi and Kat was more than powerful to me, although it may seem a bit controversial to others, I love how they implied that marriage has nothing to do with your sexual orientation and gender identity and should be with someone you truly love and whom you see yourself living and growing with. Although what I didn't like was that a few of the dialogues felt forced, especially the punchlines. But I do commend that the jokes made aren't offensive and also funny, I just find some of the lines unnecessary, especially at times where the scene is either heavy or serious. Another one was Daniel's death was unnecessary to me in a way that it felt like there was more to her character than what we saw on screen. Although the characters did progress from the moment she died and it definitely made the message they wanted to address more powerful. Maybe it all felt so fast and sudden that it became as a shock to me as an audience. Regardless, it there was still enough closure to lift back the atmosphere of the entire movie.

PETER: Personally for me, the film itself was the whole deal, every scene was made with purpose,but one of the scenes that I loved the most was at the ending parts where they met up again (spoiler) near Daniel’s grave, the remaining family members sees each other with much tension while the father apologizes for everything he did and for mistreating his children, he finally accepted who they really are, for what they are, nakita ko sa scene na yun yung isang despite sa mga pinagdaanan, handa parin magpatawad sa isa’t isa, yung acceptance of both sides is what got to me kasi it is hard for a person to accept someone especially if that someone or group of people go against your morals and what you believe in and at the same time it is hard to accept a person that put you through hard times and not knowing what your worth is and only looks at you from face value. It actually shows how we are as Filipinos as well, despite through the troubles, we see to it that we make amends to our family members who we hurt or who hurt us (so long as they apologize) kasi at the end of the day, pamilya parin sila.

V. Conclusion

NICOLE: I love the film, in a way that I would watch it again and recommend it to other people. It didn't only represent the community well but have also empowered it through the messages they delivered within the movie. Sobrang meaningful and at the same time, sobrang feel-good family movie siya. It tackled the toxicity and the conflicts within a family, especially those of the LGBTQ+ community na kung saan pinaparusahan sila kapag nahuhuling nagpapaka-“bakla”. However, napakinggan naman both sides which was also a plus point to me, na kung saan the father, who is an epitome of toxic masculinity only wanted to protect them from judgment. Although it seemed ironic kasi he resorted before to abuse, it was a good shot for me kasi in the end, he realized his mistakes and is apologetic of his bigotry. With all that happening in one movie just feels good and hopefully it would pave the way para mas maging mulat ang masa pag dating sa pagkilala ng LGBTQ+ community 'di lang bilang comic relief kundi bilang tao rin.

PETER: In conclusion, the overall film was something to think about, the film itself progressed in such a way that you kept on wanting more to the story, and it actually gave you more, hindi lang siya yung normal slapstick comedy or feel good movie, at first, you’d think that the movie won’t have any sense of seriousness when it comes to portraying the social issues it presented, it looked as some film that would just be about its characters, it was quite an experience to actually look at these issues in this kind of light, a modern take on problems that seem to stick. It did a great job of elaborating on its characters, hindi mo makikitaan ng butas yung backstory na pinapakita sa film, kahit with the short amount of time, it still gave the viewers the idea of who these people are and what role they play in the story, kahit nga yung supporting actors malaki ang part to move the story forward. It’s cinematography was simple yet effective, nothing mind blowing and wala masyadong magarbong transitions. It did a great enough job to set the scenes and what messages it wants to portray. Aside from these, the film represents great morals as well, I think the film was effective with this because, again it does look like a typical slapstick comedy, it suddenly changes its appearance as it paces through the story, it’s sudden dramatic scenes and tense atmosphere will get you at times, especially when the story needs to.

VI. Recommendation

NICOLE: Ang sa akin lang naman, sana hindi nila masyadong pinagsiksikan sa bandang huli yung development ng characters. Mas maganda siguro na may nakikita kang gradual improvement throughout the movie, para hindi rin siya overwhelming pag dating sa dulo. Another one is that masyadong direct yung mensahe na gusto nilang iparating, although I get it naman na masa ang audience at gusto rin nilang makasiguro na hindi mamimisinterpret yung message ng film. I guess to me masyado lang maingay yung movie in a way na madalas through dialog ang means of telling the message of the film and I hoped na maybe they thought of another way to express that without letting the characters do all the talking. Moreover, it was an overall excellent film na despite comedies being stereotyped with narrow plots, this movie went the extra mile.

#2 Cinemalaya Entry: Pandanggo sa Hukay, dir. Sheryl Rose Andes (2019)

I. Face Value or Surface Level Analysis

PETER: Pandanggo sa Hukay at face value seems to create somewhat of a mysterious atmosphere,  from its settings the film indicates poverty and struggle, the color grading for the film creates a dark and dead toned ambiance that suits the theme and story of the film.  The scores in the film did help in creating the desired feel or vibe in each scene, whether it's a fast paced action scene or a suspenseful one it helps invoke the audience in a certain way. 

NICOLE: The film is about a mother's love, especially to the single mothers, where in it implies how they sacrifice and strive to give the best life they can to their children. It takes a different perspective on mother-love, as it is a crime, suspense film. The characters on this one are naturally realistic, especially Iza's character, Elena. She's a very simple mother with also a simple lifestyle who works as a midwide in Cavite and is seeking to work abroad in Saudi in order to have more income enough to be able to support her son, EJ. Technical wise, the setting feels realistic and you'd really feel for it in a way that you think you are in the film. It's as if you're not watching a film but rather in the actual point of view of Elena. What's more is that, the long pauses or intervals in the film, watching Elena either do the chores or her doing her daily routine. They're simple and have no underlying meaning but it speaks to the audience to some extent. Narrative wise, the storytelling in the movie was slow-paced, I have to be honest with that. Though the ending really did seem pretty much like a cliffhanger in a way that I was expecting something where everything gets resolved and perhaps we might even see her finally work in Saudi or at least get to see EJ, but none of that where shown anymore. It's more of an open-ended ending, but I do think that I get what the director was trying to tell on this one.

II. Film Language

NICOLE: This felt more of a formalism film, yet of course, it is neorealism as it's always a modified take on reality. It's alarming, and the suspense in the movie doesn't just take place within the screen but also in real life, how possible it can happen to anyone and you wouldn't even know. Films that make you feel like that are what really builds up the suspense factor, especially considering how the crimes shown in the film are really prominent in the Philippine setting. The dialogues of the film at least seemed all realistic like it wasn't even gotten from a script. It all seemed so natural and that's what's traumatizing. I love the camera movements in the film and the use of the angles that depict whether something may be happening or something is important. Especially in terms of the sound design. You know how they want to subtly imply what they want to push through in the movie when a certain dialogue or sound effect is being emphasized or prolonged. This applies to the scenes or cuts where it's either long or prolonged. I haven't observed as to what film theory it may be with this film, but it is heavily influenced or implied that it has something to do with POV or Point of View Theory, as the character may reflect as to what the director want to tell the audience. 

PETER: The characters in the film was well utilized as well,  it have the main character life in a way the audience know how her personality affect her decisions and how these decisions affect the story. The etibak gang in the film were the ones who further determined how far Elena would go in order to survive for her son, naipakita dito kung agno din kabilis mag isip ang bida, with one wise move, she outsmarted the bandits by making one of them kill the remaining three.  I think that the story was written in a simple way, and just in the right complexity in order for most people to understand what was going on in a fly rather than just making it hard for them to process it. Each goal for the characters were so different but each of their needs were too convenient, not easy to get to, but conveniently placed and it felt a bit rushed.

III. Social Relevance in the Philippines

PETER: Pandanggo sa hukay was filled with social issues, some were said in subtle ways and some were explicitly told through scenes,  and  dialogues. One of the issues tackled was about being a single mother and how hard it is to be one as the main protagonist goes through different struggles and sacrifices in order to provide for her child. The sacrifice of a single mother is more than two parents as she's the only one providing for the child's needs. The film elaborates on this in a deeper level as the mother undergoes into a series of unfortunate events. It also tackles another issue regarding the pay of laborers in the country and how unfair it is to get less of what you worked for, filipinos tend to work abroad as the pay there would be higher but would be in a lower position compared here in the Philippines.  It was implied sa film na gusto lumipat ng bida sa ibang bansa dahil mas malaki ang kita kahit assistant lang ang magiging posisyon nito.  The film also elaborated on the poor justice system in the country, it showed how slow the police are in terms of catching the crooks.

NICOLE: I would say that this has changed the game in the Philippine cinema crew wise, as they did have an all-female crew in the making of this film. That alone is something that I wish could be applied to all the films that have the same theme, plot, or set of characters, especially since the cinema in general consists mostly of men. Representation matters most, and through these, you as a viewer are able to comprehend the film more. There have been prominent social and moral ills that have been shown in this film that is occuring in the real Philippine setting. It had tackled about the single parenthood, where there is this unspoken thing that mothers, regardless if they are being supported by the father of the child or their family, their initial response is to do everything it takes to give their child a better life. No matter what the status in life is, there's that drive within mothers that nothing can be able to hinder their love for their child, even if that means sacrificing their lives for it. It also implied how underpaid our local laborers are, regardless of what position you are in or what kind of job you are working for. It depicts the the Filipino mindset of how we aim to work hard only to be successful in another country. It's sad, but also very alarming as it is still prominent in the real life society yet no underlying solution. Lastly, is the poor justice system. It wasn't directly implied but it can be seen through subtle ways, like the news being shown on the televisions in the movie. The prominent news on crime depicts how everyday there are endless crimes yet little justice for the victims who have suffered. Another is when it has been particularly implied in the news about how many victims of the EJK have died since President Duterte.

IV. Opinion and Remarks

PETER: The expectations I had was on par from what was happening in the film, it was satisfying but in the story’s case, it was dark and it was a little too much at first, but helps keep the movie’s flow and in a way it developed the character, making her stronger. In a way pandanggo sa ilaw was straightforward, but how the film presents its story and issues was clear enough and it wasn't hesitant to show what it needs to show. The film itself was actually straight forward although you wouldn't know what the film is about at first or going into it with an open mind. In my opinion the film was slow paced, it was at times hard not to doze off or turn your attention into something else inside the theater. The film’s closure was a bit lacking and even if the filmmaker’s intention was to leave the audience with a cliffhanger, it felt as if they were, again rushing although Maganda yung pagkakalatag ng storya all the way to the end in a way na tumatatak talaga siya sayo, all emotions I felt sticked to me even after an hour after watching it, mabigat siya and it really shows na effective ang story sa gustong iparating ng writer at director.

NICOLE: There's not much to point out on the parts where I disliked any of the scenes. Perhaps what I did dislike in general is the pacing. I liked the way the storytelling was executed throughout the film, though. It's simple, vague, yet it's enough for you to be able to understand what the deeper context is in the movie. But going back to the pacing of the movie, it was really quite short or at least felt like it as it was happening slow. I kept on waiting for whatever conflict that was implied to all have its resolution and closure, like if she got the work she's been applying for, if she ever get to reunite with her son, or if she get the justice for what happened to her. I thought it lacked a lot of resolution with all the plots, characters, and conflicts that they have introduced. From the moment that she was introduced, the town she lived in, her son, her friends and co-workers, her job, the clinic she works at, and her boss. I think they kind of dwelled too much on that that I think the conflict or climax where she gets hostaged by the Etibak Gang felt rushed and all so short up to the moment she got back home.

V. Conclusion

NICOLE: I both liked and disliked the film. As mentioned, I liked the portrayal of the social and moral ills, along with the realistic approach towards its representation. I also liked the message they want to tell the audience, and how they took a different perspective on single mothers. The delivery of the dialogue, acting, and the overall concept of the movie is also commendable. It's all natural, and less staged. I also love it in a way that the characters are really alive. Each one of them are unique, regardless if they're the main or supporting character only. It's one thing that I have noticed throughout the film and also why I truly admire the film. Not only that, but also each of the character has their own story and personality, which makes all of them memorable. The reason why I dislike it is only in terms of, again, the way they paced the film. Moreover, it's all good and still a great local film in general. It's not stereotypical or cliche. It's also a unique choice of what profession they wanted to show the audience. Lastly, it's also unconventional, yet something very relatable and relevant regardless of what you are and where you live. 

VI. Recommendation

NICOLE: There's nothing much as to what I would like to recommend to the filmmakers, besides the pacing and resolution part. I wished they prolonged it in order to have  closure, especially considering how heavy the conflict was. Although if it was intentionally that way, perhaps I would better understand. Regardless, I have nothing to complain about the ending and the plot. It's just how I wished it happened, but then again not all films are close-ended and have a bright or happy ending.