#i see a LOT of talk about rue's story being a queer one

[autistic-beshelar]

rue is, i think, in love with the idea of love.

they set a wager. the lords of the wing will find true love in this romantic, ephemeral bloom, if they only seek it. they can win it, as though it’s a game.

they long to abolish the courts. their own court has never held any love for them - why would any other court be different? a court stifles, a court smothers, a court suffocates love. the courts must be abolished, so that love can bloom. true love, love that is unfettered by politics, or station, or duty.

they are the architect of the bloom. the hunt, the heart. the dance. the potions. they will pour love into a cup and the guests will drink their fill. fae from across the realms will fall in beautiful, perfect love at rue’s hand. 

they have become the arbiter of love. when an engagement between a cruel prince and a wild goblin is set, what else can they do but judge it unfit? it was not love, it was not true. 

they share a moment in a forest with a venerated captain. he is tall, as they are. he is clawed, as they are. he is a beast, as they are, and so beautiful for it. they fall fast, and hard, and heavy. and perhaps it is only the nature of queerness, of a life lived behind a mask, yearning for the faintest spark, that causes them to love so fast. 

or perhaps they did not truly fall in love with hob at all. for they did not see him. 

they fell in love with a reflection of themself.

except, of course, that hob is not a reflection of rue. hob is his own person, and like any real person, he cannot live up to an idea. and while rue is on a wonderful journey of revelation and self acceptance, it is baffling to them that someone else’s love does not always mirror their own.

rue, in an act of bravery and vulnerability and hope, removed their mask. and they long so very much to remove hob’s - but he has never worn a mask. he has always been exactly as he is - a soldier, devoted and dutiful. an outsider, used and abused by his court. rue’s true form was hidden by their court, while hob’s otherness has always been mercilessly exposed.

rue loves hob for the idea of who he could be, if he could simply unmask as they did. but hob needs, just as rue does, to be loved for who he is.

[jyndor]

Ooh I’d really like to see what you’ve written about Jyn meeting Cassian’s friends💕💞💗

i have more planned than actually written LOL but i can talk through the concepts first.

this is all going to be set in the early days after rogue one. pre-relationship as fuck lol. and it's as much a character study of cassian as it is about jyn and her dynamics with these different people who love cassian.

cinta - cinta and jyn partner up on an intel mission. jyn spends a lot of time observing cinta and notices that she's very similar to cassian. cinta says VERY little about cassian, she's a stone cold pro and isn't about to have that kind of talk with jyn about another agent.

i like the idea that cinta is who cassian is in the beginning of rogue one, except that she would have killed galen. not without thought, not because those are her orders, but because cinta would at least partially AGREE with the orders - galen erso is responsible for the death star in many ways, and she'd hold him to account by assassinating him. but she's also WHO CASSIAN IS IN THE BEGINNING OF ROGUE ONE so she'd also find jyn's fire attractive and inspiring, and she'd probably not let jyn die on jedha tbh. in the same way that she supports vel all through the aldhani arc.

i think cinta is too perceptive to just not notice cassian is a merc on aldhani. she believes that he's a rebel (because he is LOL), but she also wouldn't care if he wasn't (she's clearly more upset that vel didn't tell her than that cassian's being paid). i also think she sees a lot of herself in him.

i also want to amp up the queerness. cinta and jyn are both bisexuals obviously, no discussion needed it's canon. but anyway, i think they'd be attracted to each other but i don't do cheating oml. they'll get into some sort of accidentally sexy moment on the mission, jyn's probably down because she's in denial about cassian lol but cinta and vel are definitely not poly so they acknowledge the attraction but it's a non-starter.

cinta will probably say something about jyn having a lover, too, and jyn's like ? um no i think i'd know if i did. and then cinta's like there's no way these two hoes haven't fucked lol but she's wrong, fairly sure she's projecting onto cassian again but whatever.

but the main thing with this section is that jyn learns that cassian wasn't always a rebel - at least that's what cinta will say because whether or not she believes that he wasn't a rebel until after aldhani, she'll respect him enough to not just tell jyn all of her thoughts about how cassian was always a rebel in some ways.

this is gonna piss jyn off LOL that i know. vel will show up in this section but it's mainly about cinta.

melshi - jyn's already met melshi so this will be more about them getting to know each other. in my headcanon rue is an ex-boyfriend of cassian's. unlike with bix and cassian's s1 complicated dynamic (which i have a feeling is based on the relationship being on-and-off when they were younger and probably not having a lot of closure/not always being great about boundaries) they're really just very good friends, their romantic relationship fades more easily than with bix.

jyn and melshi end up as workout buddies. that's the storyline i have planned, jyn needs a spotter while she's lifting weights (what a hottie omg i bet she could lift me) and melshi volunteers. jyn notices that his nose is still fucked up from when she hit him with the shovel on wobani. she sort of apologizes (sort of, she's a tough nut to crack) and he's surprisingly understanding about it. so they end up working out together a couple times a week, and over time he opens up to her about his time on narkina. i'm assuming he was there for a LONG time. eventually he mentions cassian and jyn's like ??? the fuck??? and that's how she learns that cassian was in a labor camp like she was.

i don't think melshi would feel super comfortable talking about cassian's story but also a big motif in this fic is that everyone thinks cassian and jyn are fucking. how these different people handle talking to jyn about cassian is important in exploring these dynamics and relationships. he assumes cassian has told jyn things about his past because when THEY were together, they did a lot of talking about shit.

im not sure where i want to go with how jyn takes it. jyn doesn't trust easily and i think she'd understand that she doesn't know a lot about cassian yet - but something like that is so similar to her own personal trauma that i can't help but think she'd be upset.

bix, bee and brasso - bix works as a mechanic for the rebellion at this point (with her husband brasso and their dog droid bee because lol it's an everyone lives au except all parental figures they're all dead) and is working on the ship cassian and jyn are going to be taking for their first mission together since scarif (cassian is finally cleared to go back in the field, congrats major andor) and jyn finds out that bix and brasso do a lot of salvage work. she wants to find a new chassis for kaytoo so that cassian can have his friend back. ugh love her sfm. what a good thing the fandom has her doing in so much fic.

well, bix is like ? hmm why are you looking for a kx oh shit you're jyn erso. something like that. there's all kinds of rumors about jyn and cassian, and bix is like... yeah of course that tracks. hot, competent, brunette, bit of a smart mouth. and you know bix has been trying to get the tea from cassian for weeks, but he keeps telling her "lies" about how they're not together, it's not a good idea right now, etc.

but this time cassian actually shows up, clearly a bit unnerved by jyn and his old friends (esp bix) scheming together, which is the part i actually have written:

Cassian walks into the mechanic's bay (?) with a familiar unease building up in his chest. He wonders if he’ll always feel this way around Bix. Even before the shitshow on Ferrix, their relationship when they were teenagers always ran hot and cold. Fresh out of a war zone and a prison camp, he wasn’t in any state to love her properly, even if he loved her fiercely, in the way a boy loved his first girlfriend.

Too busy hating the Empire to do better by her. Or anyone. He can’t say he’d do anything differently. They would have always broken up, fallen out of love, grown out of each other. He can’t imagine himself in Brasso’s place, can’t even bring himself to be resentful towards his old friend for their marriage. He never thought about any of that back during their time together - commitment was sneaking around behind her father’s back, saving whiskey for her, keeping his head in the present while he was with her. 

But he doesn’t feel guilty about any of that. Romances end all the time. And he’s a very different man now, one who Bix doesn’t even particularly like sometimes - even if she still loves his sorry ass, exasperatedly and against her better judgment. Their friendship is shaped by trauma and loss and hope, like he is himself.

He doesn’t feel guilty about breaking her heart. 

Her torture, however, he carries with him everywhere he goes. It wasn’t his fault but he feels responsible. For the change in her very chemical makeup. For the hands that shake, the way she never quite trusts her privacy.

Still. She’s been a lot better lately. Since Scarif and the Battle of Yavin. He just hopes-

Jyn Erso is in the mech bay. Smiling with Bix over a large pile of black metal and wires. Jyn doesn’t just smile at strangers. 

The uneasy feeling grows.

[… blah blah some shit i haven’t written, jyn fucks off …]

Bix sighs, wiping her forehead with her rag. "You being… you-” Cassian crosses his arms. “Don’t look at me like that, of course I thought you fucked her. ‘Course I did.”

“It’s not like that,” he says. She rolls her eyes and pulls out another wire. “Jyn and I… it’s never been like that. Not even sure where this rumor came from, anyway.”

“She’s gorgeous and competent. Only issue is that she’s not in a long-term monogamous relationship for you to screw up-” Cassian glares at her. She laughs. “Are you serious? You disobeyed the kriffing Council for her!”

“For the Rebellion,” he corrects, and he’s mostly not lying.

“And I’m the Queen of Naboo, and Bras is secretly related to Wynssa Starflare. Who are you kidding?” Her smile fades. “But I believe you now,” Bix says. “Seeing you two together. It’s definitely not like that.”

Cassian turns away. “I’m glad that’s settled.”

Her eyes widen and she reaches for his arm, turning him back around. “No, I don’t mean- shit Cass. You know how sometimes things don’t come out right for me now.” She bites her lip. “You’re in love with her, and she has no idea.”

“She’s my partner, Bix.”

“You should tell her.”

He shakes his head. “We’re in the middle of a war. It’s really not a good time.”

“Brasso and I got married last year, you nerf!”

“I am a spy, Bix!” Cassian snaps. “I carry a poison pill in my jacket so that if I get caught, I don’t give up Rebel secrets. I’m already living on borrowed time.” He shuts his eyes. “She’s lost everyone who ever loved her, and you think I should tell her? I wonder how long it’ll be until I’m lying dead somewhere. Just another disappointment. Three, four months? A year?” He opens his eyes again and sees Bix shaking her head, stricken. “I’m sorry.”

[filmnoirss]

Euphoria SPOILERS!!

TW: abuse, addiction

I'm gonna talk about this on here because I see a lot of y'all defending Sam Levinson as if his creative choices weren't problematic. Euphoria DOES glorify drugs, it justifies abuse, and it sexualizes teenage characters.

To be fair, I'd say the first season was the one where Levinson really made drugs seem cute and quirky. This season I feel like he listened to the backlash and decided to actually have the character suffer the consequences. Now, this season has just been weird overall with the way he's chosen to represent addicts... I understand this is like him telling his story, but he's making it seem like if being an addict was a choice. As if you continuing to be an addict, was because you didn't want to help yourself and you choose to make your family miserable. The whole scene about Rue's mom telling her how she's given up on her..... Like dude what?... What an addict needs is a support system, and you're just going to take that away from her. Then continue the series like Rue is the villain for not wanting to be clean... ok then.

Also, the fact that he never brings up the conversation about race even though Rue is black... Like it's so much more than just addiction when the system is designed to put black people at a disadvantage when it comes to addiction. But that's a whole other thing.

So... The whole thing with Nate.... Just because you have a traumatic backstory, doesn't justify you being an abuser. This is a CLASSIC trope I see everywhere. Writers think that just because the poor man has been through some tough shit, they think beating women up is the result of having a tough life. It's overused and fucking lazy. Men are abusers not necessarily because of trauma, but because they're a piece of shit. It's that simple. Same goes with Nate's dad. Just because he repressed his queerness, doesn't justify him being a pedo. It's like Levinson is trying so hard to make these men seem like victims lol.

(Oh and I'm gonna need y'all to stop posting the scene where Nate physically assaults Maddy as if it's aesthetic and kinky.... Y'all make me sick)

Now, the sexualization of teenagers... People STAY defending Levinson on this one... Just because the actors are full grown adults, doesn't change the fact that they're portraying T E E N A G E R S. Idgaf that this season they're 18, they're still in fucking high school. There's absolutely NO reason as to why this is necessary. Yes, there have been dicks shown throughout the show, but not ONCE were they sexualized :)

[transmasc-wizard]

hey tumblr user chaotic-queer-disaster aka nico !! tell me about your wips !! or like literally anything you want to talk abt go balls to the walls insane dude

also in case no one told u this today you're super cool and valid !! and if someone has told you this, then, well, couldn't hurt to hear it again :]

aksjhasjkd this is one of the nicests asks i've ever got, thank u

SO (this is a sign of rambling)

my default wip when it comes to rambling is GFS/GFW1 and since you did not specify, that is the one i will talk about! it's my baby, i love it, it's the story closest to my heart and absolutely my favourite child.

So, i've talked very very vaguely about the plot, but i don't think i've actually said anything... helpful? I've just said "cinderella retelling with murder" then dramatically swept the plot off the table to talk about my characters instead. But it has a plot! A very weird and elaborate plot! which is actually three or four plots! and i will explain them now. under a cut for the benefit of people's dashes. (also this will focus on book 1 only, because. it's 5 books and each one has a mini-plot, plus the overarching one.)

It opens with Angel (the first POV, there's 5 main ones) being her usual morally dubious self and conning people! but it's cops so it's ok. Angel bumps into her fellow narrator and morally dubious individual, Bea, who's giving fake prophecies. This is extremely distressing because Angel hates/adores Bea, so she Hits The Bricks.

Severely distressed, she decides to follow the advice of a creepy message she finds that tells her to get in a car on Rue De L'Enfer (which. fun fact. means hell street. She knows this). Surprise, surprise, it's a terrible idea, and she and 4 others (including Bea, and the 3rd narrator, Hope) realize they're being kidnapped. They escape, blah blah blah, they nearly run over 2 dudes, and lo, they meet the rest of the narrators! Corey and Oliver. Now that they're together:

plot one revolves around the fact that later that night, they find out that all seven of them are prophesized to either save the world or burn it down. Specifically, they're meant to each awaken a Terrible Bad Monster, and once all 7 Terrible Bad Monsters wake up... they're fucked! But they can also kill the terrible bad monsters. Plot one goes through all the books, where they're finding increasingly more obscure but also more powerful ways to destroy the Terrible Bad Monsters once and for all.

plot two revolves around the absolute chaos being that brought them together. (She is human but... she is chaotic.) She sent them an invite after finding them. Said invite is to a masquerade ball. They take it, hoping to kill her and the others manipulating them.

plot three is the roadtrip to get to that ball, which frankly could be a book all on it's own if i bothered to expand on it, lmao. it's the most shenanigan-filled part of the book, probably.

plot four is the "falsehood" plot with magic plague shit that's killing people, especially petty criminals, smugglers, and people the government doesn't like. they're trying to trace it to it's roots and stop it, and it seems weirdly connected to plot 2 up there...

plot five is the rowan plot!! she has 4 chapters of narration in book 1 (plus the 280 word prologue) and her plotline is about how she's trying to... kill the main characters lmao. but she becomes part of the chaotic found family later, i promise.

plot six is all the character/emotional plotlines in general. Bea and Angel trying to reconnect, Corey and Oliver trying not to absolutely love each other (because thats Not Allowed), Hope learning not to be a doormat, all of them learning to trust each other, etc.

as you can see, i have a Lot of plot and therefore kinda just vaguely mention it. if i actually bothered to talk about all my plot work, i'd be typing up fukkin essays every day. but yeah!! gfw1 does in fact have a plot and here it is

sorry i took like a week to answer this lmao, i hope its... at least someone interesting and/or entertaining.

taglist just bc this is Literally The Plot: @e-the-village-cryptid, @stormharbors, @timelybees, @citywillow, @void-fireworks, as to be added or removed

[suspiriu-m]

Examining Youth Culture

Youth Culture in television in cinema is a theme we’ve all seen before. In some way or another, we’ve all probably related or even seen ourselves in something we’ve watched. A lot of experiences we see in these coming of age style pieces most of the time have something to do with at least one of three recurring themes. Sex, drugs and alcohol. Character archetypes are also an important part of these stories too. To sum it up, we’re generally confronted with Jocks, Nerds, Goths, Popular Kids, Pot Heads etc.

A major point to take into account when looking at this type of media is the perspective the story is told from, and where it’s taking place. For example, Barry Jenkins’ 2016 film Moonlight, is completely different from 2018’s Love Simon, directed by Greg Berlanti. Moonlight tells the story of a young Black man named Chiron. Through three different time periods in his life, we see him come to terms with his identity and sexuality, all while living with his drug addicted mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Miami. Throughout the film Chiron not only faces the struggles of his sexuality within himself, but how his unaccepting peers react, his mess of a mother, and maneuvering masculinity without the guidance of his missing father. In a review written for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw says that Moonlight

“is a film about masculinity, the wounds and crises of which are the same for all sexualities, but conditioned by the background weather of race and class” ((Bradshaw Moonlight review – a visually ravishing portrait of masculinity).

Love Simon however, is a completely different ballgame. The juxtaposition between the two films is extremely noticeable, even from just from looking at their promotional images. While Moonlight is more of a serious, realistic and emotionally charged movie, Love Simon has more of a young adult, coming of age, happily ever after tone to it. In the film, the main character has to find his way through growing up, high school, coming out to his friends and family, but most importantly figuring out how Blue is. Blue is the person that Simon has formed a connection with through emailing each other. The only problem? He has absolutely no idea who Blue even is. One of the more important aspects of this film when looking to compare it to others is the fact that the main character and most of the cast are all white. Not only that, but it takes place in a much more suburban setting compared to that of Moonlight. Simon’s relationship with his parents is very strong, his friends are all super close to him and the impression is given that they would obviously support him once he comes out. Surprise, they do.

In terms of which character I related to from the selection of films and shows assigned, I don’t really feel like I can truthfully say that I felt some sort of connection with them. Being gay myself, there wasn’t a crazy amount of representation in terms of queer youth in the films. Yes in Mean Girls you had Damian but he was kind of underutilized and exaggerated. In Euphoria you have Jules who is a trans woman but that also isn’t something that I’ve experienced and won’t pretend to. Could I relate to a few aspects of her character? Of course, i’m sure anybody can. But am I able to say I identify with her? Definitely not. That’s not a bad thing though, trans stories need to be represented in the media. More importantly they don’t always have to be represented in some tragic story or situation. Even though we’ve seen more queer representation today than ever before. We still have a long way to go. Rachel Bays wrote an article for The Advance-Titan stating

“Out of 109 major studio releases in 2017 researched by GLAAD, roughly 13% had LGBTQ characters. Of these films, about 64% featured gay men, 36% featured lesbians, 14% featured bisexuals and 0% featured trans-inclusive content”(Bays The complicated history of queer representation in film: The Advance).

It’s imperative that we see more queer representation mashed with Youth Culture in our media because not every single person experiences the same thing, especially queer kids. In terms of Kids, Saved By The Bell and Mid 90’s, I don’t specifically remember any particular moments in which I personally felt any sort of strong connection.

Now, if we’re gonna speak about common themes in a lot of these stories, then here is where I can say I definitely connected with some situations more than specific characters. Sex, drugs and alcohol are topics we see come up in a lot of coming of age or youth centered stories. In Kids, the main cast is basically parading around the city smoking, drinking and fornicating multiple times throughout the entire day. In Euphoria, one of the main characters Rue suffers from drug addiction. Kat comes to terms with her sexual awakening and a lot of her storyline is focused on her coming in touch with that side of her, whether or not it was the best way to portray it. And most of the other characters are all seen smoking, drinking out having sex at some point in the series.

Growing up, especially in our teen years, we’ve all had the opportunity to partake in at least one of those activities previously mentioned. I know for a fact that I have definitely been to parties, drank alcohol, smoked weed. I’ve encountered hookups and the whole nine yards. Something that really stood out to me in Euphoria was the episode in which Jules ends up meeting with an older man in a hotel room late at night. We shall not name the character for sake of spoilers but those of you who watched know exactly who i’m talking about. That entire scene was just gut wrenching for me to watch and I know it was for many other young queer people as well. Everything about that scene was purposefully uncomfortable to watch from the cinematography, music, acting and the location.

Speaking of music, the soundtrack to a film or TV show is super important and a lot of the time helps the creators in getting their point across. Euphoria specifically used a lot of modern music but also threw in some classics as well. The singer-songwriter Labrinth played a big role in adding music to the show’s soundtrack. He even collaborated with Zendaya in making All For Us, the show’s theme and closing track. It was premiered in the last episode of the series and incorporated into the storyline with a performance by Zendaya herself. This song specifically is so important aside from the rest of the show’s music because it aids in showing Rue’s downfall at the end of the season. She goes through so much in her recovery and relapsing and her relationship with Jules that when Jules finally decides to hop on that train and leave even though Rue tells her it’s not the best idea, it absolutely crushed her. In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine, Labrinth stated “When you look back to your teenage days... it feels semi-magical but semi-crazy and semi-psychotic. I wanted to make sure the music felt like those things”(Marks How Labrinth Created the Perfect Soundtrack for HBO's 'Euphoria').

To help convey how certain songs can help in telling a story, I created a short playlist with songs that I felt matched certain plot points in the show. Without going into too much detail in an attempt to avoid spoilers, I want to give you guys a short explanation of each song about how I feel it can fit into the show. In no exact order, the first song I chose was Regulars by Allie X. The song is about trying to fit in with society and the people around you when you feel out of place all the time. Personally, I feel like this is a good representation of Rue when she comes home from rehab and has to try and blend back into society knowing that everybody knows where she was. Halsey’s Beautiful Stranger is about meeting somebody after being hurt so many times, or just being in a bad headspace and finally feeling like this person could be the one. This is a good explanation for how Rue feels about Jules when she first meets her. She’s hesitant but slowly starts to fall in love with her before Jules starts acting out. Contaminated by Banks is a piece about loving somebody but having their history or the other person's actions make you feel not so good about the relationship you have with them. This is how Rue feels after her first little fallout with Jules. They kind of have an on and off relationship throughout the season and Rue subconsciously has doubts. Simmer by Hayley Williams is a song about suppression. Suppressing your emotions, especially the bad ones like anger, fear, sadness, rage. Nate in the series suffers with a lot of mental suppression. He suppresses his feelings about his relationship with his father, his questioning sexuality, his feelings for a specific character. Although he does lose his cool multiple times throughout the show, it’s not until the end of the season that he really bursts and lets everything out. Another song from Hayley Williams with her band Paramore called Fake Happy is also on the playlist. Fake Happy, to put it simply, is exactly what the title suggests. Pretending to be okay when you’re really not. In the show Rue relapses a few times whether that be big or small, and she has to hide it from her friends and family.

Maddy and Cassie are both the pretty popular girls of this show, leading me to choose Rina Sawayama’s XS as a representation of them. The title XS, otherwise interpreted as “excess” is literally about money, appearance and materialistic items. All of which Cassie and Maddy display throughout the show. The popular cheerleaders with the nice clothes and toned bodies, the pretty makeup and done up hair. It’s a perfect representation of their characters in my opinion. Even though they do have storylines going deeper into their minds, this is what they portray on the surface level.

Hallucinogenics by Matt Masson is a song about going somewhere else most likely due to drugs, and feeling like a different person. Although the song is a bit lighthearted in terms of sound, I think it fits with the scene with Jules and Rue taking drugs together and tripping in her room together. Rue was wary about doing it especially after the fact that she just got clean, and she already has this war in her mind going on but she does it anyways because she likes Jules. Attack of Panic by Aly & Aj heavily focuses on anxiety, which is something Rue deals with multiple times throughout the show. Especially the episode when she’s in school and pretty much has a mental breakdown and runs to the bathroom and hides. Even though the character Kat isn’t the primary focus of the show, her storyline has a bit of line shined upon it multiple times. For her storyline i chose Doja Cat’s Cyber Sex. Kat becomes a cam girl at one point in her sexual awakening and kind of goes full throttle into it. The song talks about having sexual relations with somebody over the internet and that’s exactly what Kat does, except she sees it more as a way to make an income.

Last but not least, I of course had to choose Labrinth and Zendaya’s song made for the show All for Us. The song represents Rue’s feelings of not wanting to let her family down, knowing the struggles and pain they have gone through and not wanting to upset or disappoint them again. Everything she’s done to get clean and sober up has been because of them. She loves her family so dearly but in the end she just broke down again, all because of Jules and the mess that she got herself involved with pertaining to many of the other characters she meets throughout the show. I hope you guys enjoy the playlist and take a good listen to the lyrics and themes in each song! They might not be perfect, but to me they have a lot of commonalities with themes and specific moments and themes from the show!

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/playlist-for-euphoria/pl.u-AGAaiylr2l

[diskhorsedudes]

Idk if many of you know about this but HBO recently put out a new series called Euphoria. It’s a teen drama that deals with tough topics that tend plague youth as they deal with growing up like sexuality, mental health, figuring out who you are, trying to fit in, etc, and the main characters are Rue (played by Zendaya) and a trans girl who’s new to town named Jules (played by Hunter Schafer, who is trans and an activist). Lots of really cute gay shit happens between the two of them and honestly, my aro-spec ass has never enjoyed watching someone fall in love more. The other characters are extremely fascinating and I find myself interested in seeing how things play out for even the ones I don’t like. They each represent a different kind of struggle that teenagers/young adults tend to find themselves trying to navigate. Only 4 episodes have aired so far and already it’s become one of my all time favorite shows.

When the show was about to come out, there was a lot of discourse going on about the show being nothing but “negative” representation for queer and lgbtq+ people because Zendaya’s character, Rue, is a drug addict and the show is dark and incredibly graphic. But the thing is, it feels real. Like, real as fuck. It does not shy away from showing the truth of teenage adolescence and it does so in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s glamorizing anything like most shows in this genre that cover these topics do. It’s incredibly unique compared to other teen dramas and it being on HBO means that they don’t really have any limits on what stories they can tell and how they tell them (this is also why the show is so graphic. Like, you straight up see several dicks in the first episode).

And even though I’m 25 years old and haven’t stepped foot in a high school in like 6 years, I’ve never felt so fucking represented by any media I’ve ever consumed. While Rue herself isn’t nb, she’s black, queer, uses drugs, is neurodivergent, even dresses and looks and talks like me, and her experiences with Jules mirror almost exactly my experiences with my trans girlfriend (Jules literally looks just like my gf). Rue is me and I literally feel like I’m watching a slightly different version of my adolescence played out on screen. If I and my gf feel so thoroughly represented, how could it be negative representation?

I know lots of queer people are tired of the fact that a lot of queer media has negative and traumatic shit in it, but that’s literally life. I don’t know any queer person that isn’t troubled and hasn’t had bad shit happen to them or going on in their life. Y’all really need to stop shouting “that’s negative representation!” just because there’s conflict in a show that has queer characters. Just because it’s telling a story you don’t want to hear, doesn’t make it bad for our community as a whole, especially when there’s many of us that are finding comfort in some of these stories. While it’s nice to see fluffy, happy stuff sometimes, overall I’d take something that represents truth over fantasy any day. Showing the truth is incredibly important to me and it’s incredibly important for people not in our community to see and that’s what Euphoria does. I literally cried happy tears after finishing the first episode because this show is everything I’ve ever wanted and exactly what I’ve needed.

If you want to see queer people in a show that aren’t cis white gays and can handle seeing the portrayal of tough topics, please watch it.

[smokeybrand]

Venomous Visibility

As a creator, I always find the subject of representation kind of dubious. With the f*cked up Last of Us II leaks, the continuous misandrist poison leaking into the Star Wars canon from that Kennedy-led Lucasfilm, and the incredibly amazing portrayal of Jill Valentine in the Remake, this sh*t has been on my mind lately. Like, how do you write strong, female, protagonist without falling into that Mary Sue trap? How do you code black without being offensive? How do you write gay without resorting to stereotypes? I don't know how to distinguish a trans or deaf or autistic or native person through text without outright stating these things. Where's the nuance in portraying someone queer without it coming across as pandering? I don’t know if it’s because of my limited experience as a straight black dude who kind of thinks the current trend of eighty-eight genders and personal identifications is kind of ridiculous but i find the attempts studios make to cater to these groups to be adequate as f*ck. Like, Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley kind of defined feminine bad-ass and they both did it way back in the 80s. Why is there this irreverent need to portray this misandrist energy in modern cinema? Birds of Prey was a fun time but it was way heavy-handed on that “Girl boss” energy and it didn’t have to e. Harley Quinn is already a boss and the Birds kick ass in their own right. Why does that have to be the focus of your narrative instead of actual character development and plot? Especially when you have that Ellen Ripley template? It’s weird to say but it feels like certain groups want those aspects to define the entirety of a character instead of it just being a part of them. I think that mindset is both toxic and does a disservice to the given narrative, unless the narrative, itself, is defined by those aspects.

I'm of the mind that, if you wrote dope characters, that should he enough. Take, for examples, Disney’s newest attempt to represent a queer character in Onward. I’ve never seen the movie, i have severe daddy issues so this hilariously outside of my wheelhouse, but i hear that one of the characters makes a passing reference to their same sex spouse. How is that not good enough? Isn’t that how it is in real life? I don’t see gays running around, shouting about their homo love from the balconies and rooftops. Unless it’s Pride. To add that little tidbit in the middle of a Pixar film, aimed at the notoriously conservative middle America, and not have them trying to burn down city hall is kind of amazing and, in my opinion, very tastefully done. At least it’s better executed than the way Beauty and the Beast did with the LeFou reveal. Like, holy sh*t. Talk about blue-balls. This fervent obsession with representation for representation sake or to push an agenda is absolutely repugnant. You think the character of Rey Skywalker would be enough of a lesson on that poisonous nonsense for everyone, not just Disney. Be it female lead, bisexual heroine, gay protagonist, whatever; If you're character is strong enough to be more than whatever social label cats want to code them with, then the representation is inconsequential. Don’t force something that doesn’t need to be forced.

I’ve seen representation executed beautifully. Euphoria is one of the best shows i’ve seen on television and it deals with a ton of sh*t that most SJWs want to fight about. Zendaya is excellent in this show and so is her trans partner, Hunter Schafer. The way that show is written, you can tell that there is an understanding about that culture, a personal connection to their world. That level of representation is outstanding and i commend the creators for giving us such a rich vision for those characters. That said, the strength of Euphoria is in the characters. Rue makes that show. It’s about her journey and everything after that, is a part of who she is as a character, not the defining aspect of it. That subtlety is how you represent an uniquely ignored demographic. That’s how you handle representation in media for adults. For kids, i think this is a little much. Not many nine-year-olds out there are recovering drug addicts.

I think the best piece of media i’ve ever seen in terms of representation actually came out of Disney years ago and gets criminally slept on to this day. Atlantis: The Lost Empire i easily the most diverse, accessible, and palatable piece of “woke” media, Disney has ever made, and it was never created to be so. Atlantis is a story with a female co-lead of color, who has her own agency, doesn’t really fall into the trap of being “damseled” and ends up being a Queen by the rend of this story. The male co-lead is an anxious, neurotic, nerd with a distinct lack of brawn, who beguiles the antagonists with his intellect. The supporting cast is a mixture of people of color, both of which are dope as sh*t, and various nationalities. I’ve spoken at length about my love for Kidagakash Nedakh, she’d be my favorite Disney Princess if she wasn’t a motherf*cking Queen, but i’d be lying if i didn’t admit Audrey had a near equal place in my heart for her sheer dopenesss. Doc is cool, too. Seriously, how is there no Atlantis world in Kingdom Hearts yet? F*cking Disney, man... For the record, my actual favorite Princess is Rapunzel with Jasmine coming in a close second.

Personally, when I create a character, I describe the way I imagine how they physically appear and let the reader assign whatever else afterwords. If I say a character is female with caramel color skin and lavender hair, it's up to the reader to define the minute details in their mind's eye. Is the Lavender a natural hair color? Is she black? Maybe Hispanic? Could she be native or Indian or something completely different? A lot of people have caramel color skin. Hell, she might just have a tan, I don't know because the way I see the character, is different than whoever reads it. I think that's one of the joys unique to literature, that ability to essentially "customize" a narrative to taste, which only amplifies my inability to reconcile this trend of "representation." A lot of people in the fandom attribute Ahsoka Tano as an LGBTQ character and i think that’s fine. It’s never implicitly stated but i don’t think it really has to be. Ahsoka is a bad ass and she displays all of that effortlessly. If you ant to ascribe a queer connotation to her, fine, but that’s not the part of the character that matters to the overall narrative. It shouldn’t be the one aspect which is harped upon officially. I actually really, really, love Ahsoka so i have a dog in this fight. Not so much about the gay coding, that’s a thing that doesn’t really matter to me, more the fact that she needs deserves more shine in the franchise. Thank you Mando II. Also, Dr. Aphra. I hope they actually give her a show. She’s f*cking awesome and, i think, a legit LGBTQ character. I could be wrong about that though.

If a character can be whatever you want them to be, why does it have to be implicitly stated? How is all of this forced representation and social agenda pushing not disingenuous at that point? How is it not more a hindrance than a strength? Why is it acceptable to have your token marginalized appearance, if it’s forced and detracts from the overall story trying to be told? Is it really okay to just accept such pedestrian pandering for the sake of pandering? Like, i’m not gay. How am i supposed to write a gay character without being an ass about it? The only way i know how is to be direct with it. Direct but subtle about everything. “Strong Female Character” should not be the one aspect of your character driving their development. You don’t need to create a Mary Sue in order to have a compelling female lead. Tifa Lockhart and Norah Price prove that. Your protagonist doesn’t need to be “the big gay” in order to be a bad ass. Ian Ghallagher and Willow Rosenberg prove that. Also, they’re both gingers so, you know, double the suffrage points i guess? You don’t have to write a potato who can do physics in their head, to represent an autistic person. Sherlock Holmes and  Amelie Poulain prove that. I would definitely do what Disney did with Onward in order to represent a character of that type of minority because, to me, as a minority, i don’t believe any singular aspect determine the whole of a character. Race, gender, orientation, religion, and other social identifiers; All of those are just qualifiers to the core of the character you’re creating. They are parts, never a whole. These things are just additions to embellish and enrich, not the definition of who they are, as much as everyone wants it to be. I mean, at the end of the day, how lame is your character if all they are is gay or stronk female? How much of a boner is our story going to be with a protagonist as deep as a puddle because you feel some kind of way about visibility?

[thecourtneychronicles]

“Ever since, Act has enjoyed enormous success. From participating in the Emmy-winning TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race to becoming the first drag performer ever to sing live with the San Francisco Symphony to being in campaigns for big fashion brands to winning Celebrity Big Brother to touring the world with her live shows – there is nothing she doesn’t do! Without a doubt, she is a multi-talent and enjoys her career with full passion.

In a time where gender equality, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ movements have become more visible and important than ever, Courtney Act has played a massive role in the conversations concerning it by engaging and educating people about it.

We’ve had a chat with the versatile drag queen and talked about all things drag race, the conversations around drag, and her future plans.

Hi, nice to meet you!

You too, where in the world are you at the moment?

I’m in rainy London unfortunately, and you? Are you back from Hong Kong?

I’m here too! Hong Kong was good, but a lot of civil unrest which wasn’t so good. But then I went to Thailand for the weekend and had some fun! I have only been once before; I had a marvellous time.

Sounds amazing. So, what’s a typical day in the life of Courtney Act then?

Every day is different! Yesterday, I was flying from Bangkok to London, today [18th November] I’m talking to you and debating politics at the BBC, then tomorrow I’m going to the opening of & Juliet which is a new musical. Thursday, I’m recording music for my new live show – it will be sort of a cabaret live show tour through the USA and Australia, and this time all my music will be original! It’s just super exciting and super daunting. Each Thursday, I’m going to the studio and recording. My mission was to write one song a week and so far, it’s been going really well. This time, it’s a different process to what I usually do. Usually, I will sit in a studio with different songwriters and producers and we are trying to come up with pop songs together. But this show is about my views and experiences in life, so I sit at home, sit or stand on the Tube, and just writing down notes. I’ve written songs that are so personal, there is nobody else writing them with me. So, quite often someone says, ‘we need to change this or add that and so on’ and you feel pressure to make creative decisions. But now, it’s just all me, staying up until 4am if I want, in order to perfect and craft songs.

Wow, that sounds busy! How do you ever unwind and let go of the stress that could come up?

Well, all I do is what I love doing anyway. The songwriting thing is so relaxing; you can sit there and watch TV, it’s a good process just sitting there and be creative all night long. It’s been digging up some old emotions! The show is called Fluid; it’s all about the fluidity of life, gender fluidity, fluid sexuality and all sorts of forms. The kind of work that I do is usually exciting and stimulating but when I have a day off, I usually lie in bed all night long, watch some TV or read a book or something like that. I love doing absolutely nothing, I’m extremely good at that when I get the chance!

Well, we’ve got that in common! So, which TV shows are you recommending then?

Oh, Pose Season 2. It’s on BBC iPlayer! It’s just, ‘Oh My God!’ In the first episode, I was already bawling like a baby; it’s just so beautiful and so tragic and yeah, it was amazing. I’ve been watching Strictly [Come Dancing], RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and just reading lots of books on feminism and fluidity. I just read that great book, called ‘Mother Camp’. It’s about female impersonators in America, it was written a long time ago. It was super fascinating to read about drag and all that in such a pre-revolutionary era, and so many things were actually quite similar. It was really fascinating!

Sounds amazing! Good recommendations. Going back to work, how was the whole experience of Celebrity Big Brother? Congrats on winning!

Haha, I think when you win, all of it has been wonderful. If I hadn’t won, I’d probably be like ‘Oh, this happened, and oh god, that happened’. But I have really fond memories of it all. It was so wonderful because the reasons for me were mainly that I was sitting with people, talking to people respectfully – whether it was sexuality, or gender, very sensitive subjects which people tend to polarise. People, I think, just appreciated me and the conversations. That part of myself is one of my favourite things – talking to people and hopefully sharing my story, and hoping to bring understanding in times like these.

The interesting thing was when it came down to me and Ann Widdecombe who has literally voted against every single right against LGBTQ+ in all of her years in the Parliament, so basically everything that I stand for and that I am. She not only had a different opinion but literally legislated against queer people, women’s rights, the environment and more, all across the UK. And even though she had those views, we still remained civilised but, of course, distanced. It was kind of like a Brexit, Courtney vs Ann! Although I’m sure the actual Brexit is more important than me winning [laughs]. Let’s see if we even get the Brexit though!

Oh dear, let’s hope we won’t! You said you’re currently in London – considering you’re from Australia and have found major success in the States as well, what made you want to settle down in London for now?

I was living in the US for eight years, and although things might have been a little tumultuous over here in terms of politics and Brexit, it’s practically smooth sailing compared to Donald Trump and his administration. I lived there for eight years and loved the understanding that came to live in a country. We see the world through media and press, but I realised how much I really don’t know about the US at all. So living there, during an Obama era which was much nicer, I came to appreciate the US.

But then after Celebrity Big Brother, it was a calling to come here and I grew to love the country even more. The UK has a long-standing history of camp and queer and punk, and whereas there are posh institutions, there is also this other side that respectfully co-exists, which is all about diversity, and drag and queer identities in the media. You’ve got people like La Rue, Boy George, Graham Norton and so many more on UK television. Whereas in America, you are starting from the bottom and trying to educate people. Like I mentioned early, I’m going to the BBC to discuss politics. The US doesn’t have a broadcaster that is as dignified as the BBC and also, I would have never been invited at a broadcaster in America. Here, there is a respect and it’s not just about how sensational you are!

Gender equality, pride, drag and everything around it is starting to finally become recognized worldwide by everyone. People are getting woke. Why do you believe people who are not in this scene are only properly respecting it now, and not earlier?

I think there has been so much more visibility now. And visibility always leads to understanding. There are TV shows about drag and queer identity, which has made it really accessible to a wide audience. Drag Race is predominantly watched by females aged 16-35. That filters through. Sexual and gender revolution have been going on with the likes of Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner for example. Caitlyn is a visible person and brought a lot to the conversation. I think this is really the first time that we’ve had some transmissibility around gender. The examples of people, like Laverne Cox, are just really interesting people and so public. Of course, there is still misinformation but there is a lot of conversation going on.

Even with RuPaul’s Drag Race – I keep reading about it all the time and people really seem to love it!

It’s such a fun show that celebrates identity, creativity and has drama that people love about reality TV in general. But there is a real hots for the show. The fashion and creativity elements make it belong to the fashion industry which makes it so cool. It’s just a brilliant celebration about drag and a middle finger to what society thinks of us.

How did your appearance on the show change the way people respond to you, in particular?

Drag Race Season 6, when I started out, aired in 2014 and I had been living in the US since 2011. I just started touring around the world and through the States. I was constantly performing and earning money. I’ve done shitty jobs in gay bars, don’t get me wrong, but then we decided to tour and perform in bigger venues. And when it came to the UK it became hugely popular. And during that time, I was performing in Edinburgh for the first time, and everyone came to see me because they watched Drag Race. And then I started working on so many things, and I feel like it really changed the global way people view drag, and I got to be a part of that.

Do people come up to you a lot and ask for photographs?

Yes, for sure! When I was in Bangkok with my ex-boyfriend last weekend, he was asking me the exact same question when we had lunch, literally! And then someone came up and asked, ‘Excuse me, are you Courtney Act?’, so I was like ‘Oh, perfectly timed, haha!’ Sometimes people just hug me, and I just hug back. And they are like ‘How are youuu, oh my god’ and I just go along. They’re usually respectful, but I have learned that I’m kind of public property in a gay bar – so I pick and choose where and when I go out! But I do get a lot of discounts and more, so it’s not all that bad [laughs]!

[Laughs] I bet!  

Live performances and being on TV must be two different things; you do both. Which one do you personally enjoy more and why?

They’re different. I love performing live, it’s so exciting and also easier. I did a Christmas special for Channel 4, and it was a big live show, but on TV. I love performing with a live band. I love honing and crafting, and finding out what the audience loves; it’s so gratifying.

Sounds like you are living your best life!

I kind of am! We had this offer for a big TV show in the States and I was so hoping it would happen, but then I was like ‘Meh, even if it won’t happen, I will still do my cabaret show and tour all around the world’. So, I’m doing what I love either way!

Besides your cabaret show, what else does your future hold?

Well, the music alongside the cabaret show is exciting because sometimes music in pop is sometimes pointless in a way. You put it out, a few people listen, and it costs a lot to make and create videos. But we are sort of packaging the music into my live show, so I’m excited to put my original music out.

Also, I have a different TV project that I’m working on. Also, I’m working on YouTube videos in which I want to discuss political topics and current affairs, sort of like a web series. It seems like a lot of people don’t know what is going on in the world, so I want to give them an understanding!”

Courtney’s interview for 1883 Magazine - November 26, 2019

[lizardrosen]

Hamlet at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater

This was a really good production, that I’ve been looking forward to for six months, and it really lived up to the wait! I took two and a half pages of notes of things I remembered or loved, which I’ll try to condense, but regardless, some of this is ending up under a cut.

Characters

Maurice Jones was an incredible Hamlet, really broken up about his father, but so overcome with grief that he had to push that aside for rage at his mother’s infidelity because it was an easier emotion to handle. He was very physically aggressive to other characters, and this performance really illustrated that Hamlet isn’t indecisive because he can’t decide to do anything; he’s indecisive because he acts on each decision right away but doesn’t commit to any of them.

Horatio was a pillar of stability that everyone turned to for a sense of normalcy. Soft-spoken but with his trademark wry humor, he seemed to position himself as a quiet observer from the very beginning, almost like he’d come right from Hamlet’s directive at the end and had to see how things fell out. But he and Hamlet really didn’t seem to be dating, it’s more that Horatio is there for everyone.

Ophelia and Laertes had a really good sibling dynamic, and made fun of their father wonderfully! They physically deflated when he started giving advice, and then imitated his motions exactly when he got to “This above all...” because they’d heard it so often.

Ophelia was a lot of fun, and felt like someone growing out of girlhood into adulthood -- in her first scene she’s playing with a toy boat, and by the end she’s sharp and jaded, (almost the opposite of Hamlet, in that she’s incredibly angry at her circumstances, but that keeps being overwhelmed by grief)

Laertes was really good! In the first act he really played up the “puffed and reckless libertine” aspect, doing anything that was fun for him. But when he got back he was furious of course, but also more thoughtful and willing to listen to reasoned arguments (even if they were given by a gross snake like Claudius, UGH). A very neat way to handle his sense of honor!

Polonius was sincere and a real character trying to help, not a cardboard cutout who says things that don’t make sense so we can laugh at him. And I mean, other characters were making fun of him, but because he felt so real you had to feel bad for him. Sometimes he was almost self aware but then shrugged it off and kept talking

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern had almost an opposite relationship dynamic from how it is in the Stoppard play, which made me laugh, but they were both very good. But Guildenstern seemed shy and unsure, and tried to fit in with the court customs, while Rosencrantz took charge like “don’t worry, baby chick, I’ll take you under my wing”  and then strode forward in the wrong direction. Someone help them, they’re Trying Their Best.

Gertrude and Claudius were really handsy with each other, always sneaking off to kiss, and it’s like they wanted Hamlet to get pissed and vengeful. Claudius stepped very easily into his new position and just acted like it wasn’t a big deal, which possibly dazzled his courtiers into agreeing. I don’t think Gertrude knew he’d murdered Papa Hamlet at first, but became suspicious and watchful after the closet scene. By the time she drank the poisoned goblet she absolutely knew it would kill her

The Players were a queer punk Scandinavian acting troupe, but I love and value all of them, especially the petite tumblr who shyly handed Hamlet a rose just before the Murder of Gonzago started

The Player King came back as the second gravedigger, so he didn’t get to banter with Hamlet. But the comedic timing was perfect in that scene!

Stage and Set

The lighting and music both worked very well, subtly tying into each scene.

The ghost was a black and white video projected onto the back wall, with a lot of smoke in between, so it was even more unsettling and disorienting, and the ghosts voice moved around the house to come from different speakers so you never knew where he was going to be next.

The thrust stage could have been used more effectively, but I’ve seen that kind of stage used really badly and it wasn’t that.

Cool wall hangings with fancy patterning - they were just white with embroidery or something, but with different colored lights shining on them from the top they’d change colors all the way down, and that worked with each scene. So Claudius’s pomp and circumstance was usually orange, Ophelia’s scenes usually got blue, and I didn’t pick up on all the color choices but I felt them

When Polonius dies he pulls one of the curtains down on top of him, and when Claudius dies all the rest fall at once, and the lighting changes from loud and dramatic to something plainer and free of artifice, until it condenses to a white (and very slightly blue) light centered on Hamlet and Horatio

Plot Etc.

Started with Hamlet at his father’s grave, singing until he was too overcome with weeping, and then Claudius and Gertrude ran onstage giggling and kissing, and Hamlet glared at them until he stormed off the stage.

Scene two was a coronation gala and Hamlet, in a black hoodie shouldered between Claudius and Gertrude’s linked hands and headed straight for the snacks table

The Ophelia + Laertes + Polonius scene opens with Ophelia running onstage holding a long blue cloth that trailed behind her like a river, which divided the stage diagonally through the whole scene - a visual marker of how far characters actually are from each other, and where they come together

After the nunnery scene Claudius and Polonius just ignore Ophelia when she’s sobbing on the ground! She was just a tool for them to use and then they stopped paying attention, no wonder she “went mad”! Polonius says “How now, Ophelia” and then doesn’t wait for an answer, just immediately says “You need not tell us what Hamlet said” and is already turning back to Claudius. That said, I think he really does care about his daughter, but tends to reflect the worst of the people around him.

Act One ended at “Bring me some light!” which I was not at all prepared for, but it worked really well because the play’s answer was a sudden blackout and then a slow return to house lights. And then Claudius repeats the line at the top of Act Two and the tableau jumps into startled action

Hamlet was very rough with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and it was just awful (but in a good way). He forces the recorder into Guildenstern’s mouth and sort of pushes him down so he has to bend his knees. It was a clear power play and made everyone Very Uncomfortable. Horatio and Rosencrantz finally pull them apart and Ros helps Guil collect himself, while Horatio sort of tries to comfort Hamlet while also clearly thinking that he’s gone Too Far.

Later when he calls Rosencrantz a sponge he squeezes him around the midsection from behind to hold him still before he suckerpunches him in the gut and it just looks very painful and bad. Besides the fact that he just killed a man, I think that’s what gets Rosencrantz running the fuck away.

The way Hamlet drags Gertrude around in the closet scene mirrors the way he drags Ophelia in the nunnery scene, owwww

The interview with the director in the playbill says that Polonius’s death is the moment the play becomes a tragedy, and you can feel everything draw in and get darker at that point, so good job from all the designers to make that happen!

Buuuut, she also said that “When the men in her life leave her, she implodes in on herself. There’s no other way for that story to end, not for someone as fragile as Ophelia, which I DON’T like. It really showed in how she was played, but the actress did a really good job in that Way Ophelia Is Usually Played. I just want to see a different kind of Ophelia once in a while!

They kept the scene where Hamlet talks with the Norwegian Captain about the territory in Poland!

When Hamlet is putting on an antic disposition he wears his mother’s dressing gown, and in Ophelia’s scenes she wears the shirt her dead father was stabbed in (who gave it to her tho?)

I found it VERY interesting who got which flowers, because it wasn’t at all what I usually see! Gertrude got rosemary, fennel and columbine; Laertes got pansies; Claudius got rue; and Horatio got a daisy.

When Ophelia breaks down about the withered violets she and Laertes end up full on SOBBING together for their father, which was heartrending and probably very good for both of them

Claudius and Laertes make their sinister plans in a sauna in the same trapdoor hole where Ophelia’s grave is in the next scene, and they’re still there when they hear of her death

The priest refused to sprinkle the holy water over the grave at the end of the service, and he just threw the container on the ground and strode away, so the gravediggers did that part instead, which was such a good moment!

Horatio was appropriately horrified at Hamlet switching the letters, and Hamlet was cavalier about it, but he showed enough emotional maturity in that scene overall that you could tell he wasn’t entirely unaffected either.

Definitely not my favorite Osric - for one thing, they left out the Hat bit. I usually read him as a very young man trying really hard to fit into the politicking of Elsinore and agreeing with Hamlet because he feels he has to, and to have him older and well established makes it harder for Hamlet and Horatio to mock, and you feel less bad for him in general. So I guess in that sense it's good that they left out the Hat scene.

When Hamlet is distracted by Gertrude collapsing, Laertes gets in a nasty little cut on the back of the leg, just a frustrated flick of his sword, and then Hamlet retaliates with the same kind of thing — surprising but effective!

Laertes got his full and proper death! YAY! It is so, so, important to me that his life doesn’t end on “The king, the king’s to blame” because he has never been about revenge as much as reparation. They have to forgive each other or the play doesn’t work right!

Horatio wasn’t so much mourning a boyfriend as he was mourning A Life because all lives are precious to him, and he was always there for everyone.

There was gorgeous almost choral music as he holds Hamlet, and a white (blue-ish) light centers on the two of them as Hamlet shakes from the poison.

And yet, even though the beats were clearly spelling out that they were setting up the final image of the play I was shocked that it ended with “flights of angels” and not the clamor of Fortinbras and court intrigue starting up all over again. I think the reason I was so surprised by what is actually a pretty typical ending point is that they did include the bit with the Norwegian captain, and the gravedigger talking about the day Papa Hamlet defeated Papa Fortinbras, so it seemed obvious to me that there would be a continuation of that.

Overall, I really loved this production, even if there were some things I would have done differently!

[smokeybrandreviews]

Venomous Visibility

As a creator, I always find the subject of representation kind of dubious. With the f*cked up Last of Us II leaks, the continuous misandrist poison leaking into the Star Wars canon from that Kennedy-led Lucasfilm, and the incredibly amazing portrayal of Jill Valentine in the Remake, this sh*t has been on my mind lately. Like, how do you write strong, female, protagonist without falling into that Mary Sue trap? How do you code black without being offensive? How do you write gay without resorting to stereotypes? I don't know how to distinguish a trans or deaf or autistic or native person through text without outright stating these things. Where's the nuance in portraying someone queer without it coming across as pandering? I don’t know if it’s because of my limited experience as a straight black dude who kind of thinks the current trend of eighty-eight genders and personal identifications is kind of ridiculous but i find the attempts studios make to cater to these groups to be adequate as f*ck. Like, Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley kind of defined feminine bad-ass and they both did it way back in the 80s. Why is there this irreverent need to portray this misandrist energy in modern cinema? Birds of Prey was a fun time but it was way heavy-handed on that “Girl boss” energy and it didn’t have to e. Harley Quinn is already a boss and the Birds kick ass in their own right. Why does that have to be the focus of your narrative instead of actual character development and plot? Especially when you have that Ellen Ripley template? It’s weird to say but it feels like certain groups want those aspects to define the entirety of a character instead of it just being a part of them. I think that mindset is both toxic and does a disservice to the given narrative, unless the narrative, itself, is defined by those aspects.

I'm of the mind that, if you wrote dope characters, that should he enough. Take, for examples, Disney’s newest attempt to represent a queer character in Onward. I’ve never seen the movie, i have severe daddy issues so this hilariously outside of my wheelhouse, but i hear that one of the characters makes a passing reference to their same sex spouse. How is that not good enough? Isn’t that how it is in real life? I don’t see gays running around, shouting about their homo love from the balconies and rooftops. Unless it’s Pride. To add that little tidbit in the middle of a Pixar film, aimed at the notoriously conservative middle America, and not have them trying to burn down city hall is kind of amazing and, in my opinion, very tastefully done. At least it’s better executed than the way Beauty and the Beast did with the LeFou reveal. Like, holy sh*t. Talk about blue-balls. This fervent obsession with representation for representation sake or to push an agenda is absolutely repugnant. You think the character of Rey Skywalker would be enough of a lesson on that poisonous nonsense for everyone, not just Disney. Be it female lead, bisexual heroine, gay protagonist, whatever; If you're character is strong enough to be more than whatever social label cats want to code them with, then the representation is inconsequential. Don’t force something that doesn’t need to be forced.

I’ve seen representation executed beautifully. Euphoria is one of the best shows i’ve seen on television and it deals with a ton of sh*t that most SJWs want to fight about. Zendaya is excellent in this show and so is her trans partner, Hunter Schafer. The way that show is written, you can tell that there is an understanding about that culture, a personal connection to their world. That level of representation is outstanding and i commend the creators for giving us such a rich vision for those characters. That said, the strength of Euphoria is in the characters. Rue makes that show. It’s about her journey and everything after that, is a part of who she is as a character, not the defining aspect of it. That subtlety is how you represent an uniquely ignored demographic. That’s how you handle representation in media for adults. For kids, i think this is a little much. Not many nine-year-olds out there are recovering drug addicts.

I think the best piece of media i’ve ever seen in terms of representation actually came out of Disney years ago and gets criminally slept on to this day. Atlantis: The Lost Empire i easily the most diverse, accessible, and palatable piece of “woke” media, Disney has ever made, and it was never created to be so. Atlantis is a story with a female co-lead of color, who has her own agency, doesn’t really fall into the trap of being “damseled” and ends up being a Queen by the rend of this story. The male co-lead is an anxious, neurotic, nerd with a distinct lack of brawn, who beguiles the antagonists with his intellect. The supporting cast is a mixture of people of color, both of which are dope as sh*t, and various nationalities. I’ve spoken at length about my love for Kidagakash Nedakh, she’d be my favorite Disney Princess if she wasn’t a motherf*cking Queen, but i’d be lying if i didn’t admit Audrey had a near equal place in my heart for her sheer dopenesss. Doc is cool, too. Seriously, how is there no Atlantis world in Kingdom Hearts yet? F*cking Disney, man... For the record, my actual favorite Princess is Rapunzel with Jasmine coming in a close second.

Personally, when I create a character, I describe the way I imagine how they physically appear and let the reader assign whatever else afterwords. If I say a character is female with caramel color skin and lavender hair, it's up to the reader to define the minute details in their mind's eye. Is the Lavender a natural hair color? Is she black? Maybe Hispanic? Could she be native or Indian or something completely different? A lot of people have caramel color skin. Hell, she might just have a tan, I don't know because the way I see the character, is different than whoever reads it. I think that's one of the joys unique to literature, that ability to essentially "customize" a narrative to taste, which only amplifies my inability to reconcile this trend of "representation." A lot of people in the fandom attribute Ahsoka Tano as an LGBTQ character and i think that’s fine. It’s never implicitly stated but i don’t think it really has to be. Ahsoka is a bad ass and she displays all of that effortlessly. If you ant to ascribe a queer connotation to her, fine, but that’s not the part of the character that matters to the overall narrative. It shouldn’t be the one aspect which is harped upon officially. I actually really, really, love Ahsoka so i have a dog in this fight. Not so much about the gay coding, that’s a thing that doesn’t really matter to me, more the fact that she needs deserves more shine in the franchise. Thank you Mando II. Also, Dr. Aphra. I hope they actually give her a show. She’s f*cking awesome and, i think, a legit LGBTQ character. I could be wrong about that though.

If a character can be whatever you want them to be, why does it have to be implicitly stated? How is all of this forced representation and social agenda pushing not disingenuous at that point? How is it not more a hindrance than a strength? Why is it acceptable to have your token marginalized appearance, if it’s forced and detracts from the overall story trying to be told? Is it really okay to just accept such pedestrian pandering for the sake of pandering? Like, i’m not gay. How am i supposed to write a gay character without being an ass about it? The only way i know how is to be direct with it. Direct but subtle about everything. “Strong Female Character” should not be the one aspect of your character driving their development. You don’t need to create a Mary Sue in order to have a compelling female lead. Tifa Lockhart and Norah Price prove that. Your protagonist doesn’t need to be “the big gay” in order to be a bad ass. Ian Ghallagher and Willow Rosenberg prove that. Also, they’re both gingers so, you know, double the suffrage points i guess? You don’t have to write a potato who can do physics in their head, to represent an autistic person. Sherlock Holmes and Amelie Poulain prove that. I would definitely do what Disney did with Onward in order to represent a character of that type of minority because, to me, as a minority, i don’t believe any singular aspect determine the whole of a character. Race, gender, orientation, religion, and other social identifiers; All of those are just qualifiers to the core of the character you’re creating. They are parts, never a whole. These things are just additions to embellish and enrich, not the definition of who they are, as much as everyone wants it to be. I mean, at the end of the day, how lame is your character if all they are is gay or stronk female? How much of a boner is our story going to be with a protagonist as deep as a puddle because you feel some kind of way about visibility?

[cookinguptales]

What are your favorite f/f ships?

Hmm… Well, as far as canon f/f goes, I loved both Saving Face and But I’m A Cheerleader enough to request both for Yuletide a few times. Oh! Also 40 Love, which is a super fuckin cute f/f short that I def requested one year.

I really like Elle/Vivian from Legally Blonde (and btw Serious by Toft is a really cute YT fic for that pairing) and it’s like half the reason I rewatch that movie. Two girls fight over a boy, then realize he’s overrated and they want each other instead is a great trope that we should get all the time. I have similar feelings about Jess/Jules in Bend It Like Beckham, which apparently was canon in the original script?? Instead now I have to see them bicker over some guy when they clearly want each other instead. At least they ditched him at the end of the movie to go to college together, lol.

Doris and Mary-Anne Are Breaking Out Of Prison is my jam and I ship Doris/Mary-Anne a lot. I actually considered writing fic for that last yuletide, but I got caught up in my Arsenic and Old Lace fics and didn’t have a lot of time.

I did like Amethyst/Peridot in SU, but I’ll admit I don’t really watch SU anymore. I was kind of mildly into Mabel/Pacifica in Gravity Falls, but I don’t tend to ship children that much so it was only kind of a mild thing.

Heathers the Musical is way gayer than Heathers the movie and I ship basically everyone in this bar!! My two main ships, though, are Veronica/Martha (childhood friends torn apart by schoolyard bullshit, then they learn the value of each other and have a lot of homoerotic moments in the musical!) and Veronica/Heather McNamara (Veronica saved her! They’re best friends by the end of the show!) but I could also be swayed by some dark Veronica/ghost!Heather Chandler. Ayyy.

Speaking of musicals, like all queer women, I ship Elphaba/G(a)linda. I mean, do I even have to explain my reasoning here? lmao

Back in my anime days, I shipped literally every combination of the main four characters in Princess Tutu, so Ahiru/Rue is still a ship of mine. I really love their relationship, the way that Rue sees herself as unlovable and the way that Ahiru is probably the only character who genuinely loves her for who she is. The way that Ahiru is sunny and loyal and wants to save Rue even as Rue hurts her. Like that whole character dynamic is my jam and I was very into that and I’ve now talked myself into being into it again!!

For a more obscure one, there’s this ballet that I studied for one of my classes, Giselle, and I got a chance to actually see it live when my local ballet company put it on. I ship gay all over the place in that one. For the uninitiated, Giselle is a story about a peasant girl named Giselle who fell in love with a man named Albrecht. He really leads her on, but then it turns out that he’s a fuckin dick nobleman playing peasant. He’s actually got a rich noblewoman fiancee – which Giselle finds out the worst way possible after befriending his fiancee. So Giselle is broken-hearted, she can’t even be mad at Bathilde bc she genuinely likes her, and she eventually dies of a broken heart. (Which is a thing in romantic ballet, don’t worry about it.) BUT THEN SHE BECOMES A GHOST!! And she joins these forest spirits called Wilis led by this scary-ass ghost lady named Myrtha, and all the Wilis dance men to death as revenge for all the ways they’d been wronged by men while they were still alive. The Wilis get hold of Albrecht and Giselle pulls a Little Mermaid where she doesn’t want to kill him and instead sacrifices her (after)life to save him. Which is bullshit! But Myrtha’s so upset about it that, so I mean. Yeah, I ship both fluffy Giselle/Bathilde and creepy Giselle/Myrtha and Albrecht can go dance himself to death or whatever.

I also have some where I headcanon as being gay and even maybe having a relationship with a female character, but I don’t care much about the relationship so I’m not sure I’d call it a ship. Like Mahiru in DR2, who I firmly believe had a thing with Hiyoko and Satou, or Mikan/Junko. I don’t really ship those, but I still think they happened, lmao. (I shipped Mikan/Junko more before it was revealed that Junko didn’t manipulate Mikan into loving her, she just brainwashed her.) Oh, but I do actually ship Aoi/Sakura from DR1 and I really ship Touko/Komaru in UDG. Dang.

I could go on longer, but uh. this is already a pretty long post.