#idk why soman refuses to give us queer rep

[starrylayle]

Sophie and Agatha don’t need to be a couple to be queer.

I really dislike the rhetoric that if agaphie isn’t canon, than Agatha and Sophie are straight. They are both EXTREMELY queer coded as just individuals. (tbh so many of the sge characters are -- that series is the gayest fucking heteronormative shit I have ever laid eyes on smh) 

Let’s start with Agatha, coz hers is the most obvious. That girl is a bisexual through and through. From the start, she is already deemed an outsider by her village; that Randy guy or whatever even says that she “has no friends and is queer”.  So, from the get-go, Agatha is already different. She also doesn’t fit into the conventional notions of femininity. She doesn’t like very traditional feminine activities. In the books, she dresses goth as opposed to the very ‘girly’ girls in her village. In the movies, she dresses in a very androgynous/masc style. (also keep in mind that this series is 19th inspired — so what was considered gnc is gonna be different)

When she’s sent to the school for good, she is forced into roles of femininity that she never had to before. However, as much as she hates it, she still wants to be perceived as beautiful and normal, hence the famous dovey ‘you’re beautiful just the way you are’ scene. 

Now from then on, i wish that instead of deciding to change herself and beecome very feminine, Agatha, decides to accept who she is, and maybe even wears a suit to the dance or smth. Now, alot of people argue that Agatha had to unlearn her internalised misogyny, which she definitely had a lot of; please remember that alot of this misogyny came from never being accepted as the girl that she was in her home town. Once Dovey accepts her and tells her that she’s beautiful, Agatha is able to feel more confident and secure in gender presentation more than ever while ALSO accepting the girls around her who are more feminine.

Ok, now moving onto Sophie. that girl is the biggest comphet lesbian i have ever seen. Like please, her attraction to men is not geniune in the slightest. Her crush on Tedros was more about securing her status as the princess she always wanted to be, her crush on Rafal was also about status, and the desperate need to feel loved and wanted by somebody. And as for Rhian, I assume she just wanted to feel loved properly after her failed relationships (don’t even get me started on hort -- she settled for that boy big time and i’m still mad about it).

I definitely think that before the sisters plot she had a crush on agatha (and agatha had a crush on her lol) and later on she was def in love with Nicola -- No i will not elaborate (ok perhaps i will but on a seperate post lmao).

Anyways, as much as i wish Agaphie had been canon, I wish at least we got a confirmation that Agatha is bi & gnc (or perhaps nb??) and that Sophie is a lesbian with comphet. They are both so fucking queer coded and we deserved it. Having hope that this is addressed in the movie. 

Also lets not even get started on Tedros’ bi coding lol.

[starrylayle]

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

[repost]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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