#lgbtqa actors

[palatteflags]

Radio assistant and Actress based Panromantic Ace moodboard~ ^^ For an anon! Hope you like this!

Want one? Send an ask! -mod Jay

[opheliamorgenstern]

A very niche reference.

[msfcatlover]

Allo people confuse me. Like, I think I’m starting to understand y’all, and suddenly someone makes a comment and I’m just like “???? WTH prompted that???“

[jisungyyskz]

Gun: Oh just so you know, its very muggy outside

Tinn:

Tinn: GUN i swear, if I step outside and all our mugs are on the front lawn...

Gun: *sips coffee from a bowl*

[mieczyhale]

@gay-jewish-bucky IT REALLY FUCKING IS. No matter what if it’s a canon gay couple it’s just not going to be good enough for the exact same people who complain about wanting more gay rep. Part of getting gay rep is accepting that we’re going to get rep for all kinds of gays, all kinds of relationships, all levels of relevance - not just the kind that some people want or deem acceptable.

We finally have what is, in my opinion, a pretty well balanced canon queer ship that isn’t just ~hints and eye contact~, that isn’t squeaky clean, that have meaningful conversations and show love and affection like it’s not a big deal. It’s treated on equal levels to any straight ship on the show and I think that’s a breath of fresh goddamn air tbh.

I know people are always going to complain, but this topic has gotta be one of the most annoying and most exhausting ones. People should be happy we get any kind of lgbtqa+ rep, and that that rep is getting not just more diverse over the years but better too. There’s never going to be Perfect Queer Representation and to bitch and hold out for it?? To nitpick the fuck out of every ship?? Why would you, y’know??

[callmebrycelee]

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, DAN LEVY!!!

[watchyourbuck]

The blatant and constant exclusion of Henrietta Wilson not only as a queer character but as a main character in articles following up on Buck’s coming out is disgusting. She has been a proud lesbian since the very first episode, serving as authentic rep on the show. It’s striking that the media’s interest seems to have peaked only with the revelation of a masculine, white character as LGBTQA+ (who they consistently mislabel as gay instead of bisexual, going against the actor’s own words and the network’s public statements). It is telling, but alas, not utterly surprising, considering sometimes they don’t even bother to learn Aisha’s name. It is a disappointing act of erasure that contradicts the show’s message of inclusivity and undermines the very essence of its commitment to representing a wide spectrum of experiences.

[goddesscookiefelix]

Thoughts…

Things one ponders on her 11pm night shift.

Young Clay Aiken when he lost his virginity is todays Lance Bass. Clay Aiken today is just Tilda Swinton on her best day. - Goddess Cookie Felix

I’m fucking Jesus Christ but I’m not fucking Jesus Christ-Mary Magdalene

Is that her personality or it is cocaine? Thoughts about Nicole Scherzinger…

To be continued….

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil, I can`t stop crying rn because of a conversation that I had with my best friend a couple of hours ago. We`re been friends for like 13 years and we sooo close. We start talking about movie I suggested her to watch and she said that she liked it, but “there was too much black people and homosexuals. Why do they (creators) need to promote this? It seems to me that by taking the roles away from white heterosexual people, they are discriminating them as well.” I felt like someone poured cold water on me. It was the worst feeling and i`m not being dramatic. I felt unsafe and anxious, even though it wasn`t about me. She doesn’t really watch movies, and given this, I cut her some slack. I explained to her the importance of representation. She said that she is not racist and homophobic, she just feel like everyone making a big deal about “all this rights and stuff”. But...it is a big deal. She is my best and what`s more important ONLY friend. It means I can`t talk to anyone about this and how I feel and how I questioning our friendship all of a sudden. I can`t stop crying I feel so ripped and she didn`t even do anything wrong to me.

Perhaps a conversation about who told her the racist and homophobic stuff would help you and her. It’s unlikely that she came up with it on her own. It’s more likely that she’s parroting something she heard.

I’d say the best thing to remember and to point out is that life (and movies) aren’t a pie. It’s not like white heterosexual actors are a dying and forgotten breed relegated to a tiny slice of pie. They are still vastly in the majority, and casting black actors or lgbtqa+ actors isn’t stealing parts from them, any more than dark haired actors are stealing roles from ginger haired actors.

[fuckyeahizzyhands]

Info compilation from the How To Fuck Off With Con O'Neill workshop :) ❤

The online workshop took place June 29 2024 for LGBTQA+ charities :) ❤ you can see the more public part of it on youtube :).

Izzy and OFMD:

Con's start with Izzy: 'Izzy wasn't in the pilot episode of Our Flag. So when David approached me Izzy was just a thought, a husk yet to be formed. David said to me he saw him as a Salieri type character - the character from Amadeus, or Iago, a man in the shadows. And I agreed absolutely but also, I saw him as a man desperately, painfully in love, so his passion and his anger and his fear and his love all erupted in his expletives. I loved him from the off, I loved his directness, I loved his fearlessness, his pain, of course his fabulous use of profanities.'

Izzy swallows: At one time Con has a sip of water and then points at the glass of water and says, 'Izzy swallows. Still makes me laugh every time I hear that.' (There is a Izzy swallows t-shirt Con did for this charity :)))

Twat (doing the part of the workshop on 'fuck, shit and twat':) 'Now, 'twat' belongs to Izzy. Sometimes with an actor, you find a costume that fits you like a glove or something a line of dialogue opens the door to your character. For me, with Izzy, it was 'twat'. The first time I said it as Izzy it exploded in my fucking head. Because fundamentally Izzy is a twat man. [Con smiles widely] Also an ass man but that's a whole different workshop.'

Con improvised the rancid, syphilitic cunt: 'In Season One I was terrified about ad-libbing and improv which I've said many times. We had great writers and everything I needed was on the page. Except for the day 'daddy' came to visit. I have no idea where that line came from, no idea which part of my dark perverted psyche it interrupted from but as soon as it was out, it was out. In Season Two, again, everything I needed was on the page. Our writers are... were... are... will always be... spectacular. They gave Izzy such beautiful stuff and I will be forever grateful to them, to David Jenkins and the whole cast and crew, and to you lot for your continued support. But then towards the end of the shoot, we were filming the tavern scene with me and Erroll AKA Ricky. And it was the 'belonging to something' monologue, which was so beautifully writte it took my breath away. And we shot many, many takes and I was tired and emotional. And I knew we had it... nearly. There was something missing. There was a beat. A moment to end what was really Izzy's epitaph. And then our brilliant director Fernando came up to me and whispered in my ear, 'We'll do one more take. Let him go.', and we started the take and I could feel myself getting emotional. This was Izzy's big moment. It had to be right. It had to be right. And then as we reach this final line, instead of what was written, I heard Izzy say, 'And you are a rancid, syphilitic cunt.' And to my dying day I'll never understand how we got that on the Telly, but we did. Because sometimes in life, only a rancid, syphilitic cunt will suffice.'

What Con suprised the most in the OFMD fandom: 'The art. The art has blown my fucking mind. It blows my mind every day. What is nice... when you've been around as long as I have and you... you know, I love what I do and I am blessed to be able to do what I do and I have done it for a long time. And every now and then you get casted or you have the opportunity to play somebody who you fall in love with and that is not always the case by any means. But it's so gratifying when you fall in love with somebody who is complicated and difficult and flawed, when an audience also finds him and loves him. What was beautiful for me with Izzy is... Izzy is not easy to love and you all had to fight hard to love him. But it's worth it. Fundamentally what he is is an ally. Fundamentally what he is is what we have all been at one point in our lives. In love with somebody who doesn't love him back. And it's those flaws in his character that make him compelling and interesting. And the art is all about him, not about me. Very few people are drawing me which is fine but it's lovely to see the love for him, because I fell in love with him really quickly and I'm so delighted that people have fallen too. And some people hate him, but fuck it, what can you do? You know, the only way to get people to always love everyone you play is to play Santa Claus. And unless the Santa Claus is a big queer, fucking, leather-wearing fucking fucker then I am not interested in playing him.'

Con got hate on social media for playing Izzy - sb said that ppl loved Izzy earlier than Con thinks and Con said: 'I know that people did but I was getting quite a lot of hate on social media. But you know, fuck it. I am a big boy. I can take it.' (honestly, fuck those people, what person goes off spewing hate to an actor for playing a role, wtf?!)

Izzy is a great First Mate + how his meeting with Calico Jack went + why the whole thing with Stede and Blackbeard takes Izzy so much by surprise: 'Izzy is mathematically good at his job. He's a great first mate. And when he is asking anyone for help it's simplistic and straight to the point. There is no emotion. It's not: [subserviently] 'Can you do me a favour?' It's all straight down the line. It is unemotional. And that how he is with Jack, that is how he is with everyone. He's just... he's really fucking good at his job. You know, that's how he operates within the boundaries of his work. He is very unemotional. So he was very specific and very: ' This is what I need you to do. This is why I need you to do it. And you owe me.' Because everybody owes Izzy, because he's so good at is job. So... you know... it's... David and I spoke about that early on that he's just... the reason the whole thing takes izzy by surprise with Stede and Blackbeard is because he can't work out why Blackbeard would fall in love with THAT guy. Because that guy doesn't compute. He's crap at his job, he's a crap parent and he's bit of a... you know [waves hands] - it doesn't compute. So that's why he has such trouble with it. Because it just doesn't make sense. It does later. In Season 2. In Season 1: no, can't work it out. So yeah. Sorry there is no great reveal though, but yeah it's pretty much: 'This is what I want you to do and this is why I want you to do it.''

Con's personal thoughts how Ed and Izzy came to meet: 'They've known each other since the start. And I think they were young men together. And I think they were always kind of soulmates on that level. And that they've grown together as pirates. And the great understanding is Izzy is the best first mate ever. But he's not as good a captain as Blackbeard would be and he knows that. And Blackbeard knows that without Izzy he's not as good a pirate. So they've had that mutual respect. And everything else that happened... which is up for discussion as in the intimacy or the sex or whatever or the love or not love or the no sex or the whatever, that's all secondary to that relationship, the relationship is a work relationship. But they're pirates and everybody fucks on a pirate ship. Allegedly.'

Con's favourite scene to film in OFMD: 'Everything with Taika was just lovely. Because he's such a great scene partner. And his work is very similar to how I like to work so it was always joyful and easy, easy to work with. I really got to enjoy working with Rhys more and more and more, and the more our relationship became clearer, I really enjoyed working with him, and you know, and anything with the gang. Because they are such good actors those guys and girls and they thems. They're just... And I loved watching them, as well, I loved... because Izzy is a watcher. So I used to sit back in all those big group scenes be able to watch these truly gifted actors do their thing. And those of them that were brilliant at improvising were genuinely brilliant at improvising. That's not something I do very well so it was really inspiring to watch somebody deliver on levels of that brilliance. But my very favorite scene would be... would be the death scene. Because it felt... as a scene it felt perfect. On the level of Blackbeard and Izzy it just felt perfect to play. And I also enjoyed the 'Oh, daddy' scene because that was unexpected. To myself in that scene. And everyone else on the set it has to be said but the look of horror when that first came out of my mouth was kind of fun.'

This is Con's first experience with a fandom: 'I have never experienced a fandom before. Not by choice but I tend not to do the sort of shows that would l end themselves to fandoms. Above maybe Uncle? But Uncle kind of... people gravitated towards Uncle a long time after we finished it. And they only gravitated towards Uncle through Our Flag. It's not a choice that I don't do things that have the possibility of fandoms, it's just I've never considered it and then this came along.'

Izzy said he loves sb twice in his life: 'I think he said I love you twice in his life. Once to Blackbeard - and then he doesn't say, he says 'I have love for you'. And once to the other person who we will not talk about at this stage.'

Izzy + Stede in S2? - Question: 'Did you intentionally act maybe as if Izzy was kind of falling in love with Stede? Because we just get that vibe. It's like all this... there are so many pictures and little looks and it's fantastic.' --- Con: 'No. I think a lot of it is about a) Izzy seeing Stede becoming a better pirate. And also, I think my... I always loved working with Rhys but I thought Rhys exploded in Season 2. So I think possibly a lot of that is me not being able to hide my admiration of how Rhys grabbed it by its horns and smashed the fuck out of it in Season 2. Stede isn't Izzy's type, let's just leave it at that. I don't think. Now I'm sure people who ships Izzy and Stede together are going to hate that and I'm not saying that they don't, I'm just saying on the surface Stede is not Izzy's type. But he could have been... in the right circumstances.'

The most suprising inspirational thing that has happened to Con through his OFMD journey: 'The most inspirational thing was just working with a group of actors who was so comedically adept. And so supportive of those of us who weren't. And realizing that in comedy, it takes all different approaches. And you can be funny without being comedic. And that revelation was huge to me. It's something I've taken away. It's something I will absolutely endevour to include in my work from now on. Is that you don't have to be... you just have to be truthful. And if the moment is comedic then it is comedic. And that's what I've learned from Samson and... I think Samson is one of the best actors I've ever worked with. I think he's so deeply authentic. Nathan. Vico. Samba. Just really wonderfully talented organically funny people. And yeah that's what I learned, that you don't have to put on red nose and flippers to be funny.'

If he could spend a day with 1 member of the OFMD crew: 'Obviously Blackbeard is the obvious answer. But, I think, this might be a little provocative, but I think Izzy had a very soft spot for Nathan - Lucius. That grew and grew and grew. So if we're talking Season Two I would say Lucius. And Season One I would say thank Fang, beacause is his little buddy. But, yeah, I really like what developed between Lucius and Izzy.'

Con and Vico's hike: 'Come for a walk, they said. It will be lovely, they said. It's an hour, they said. Four fucking hours later, having climbed mountains and being attacked by eagles and sharks, we eventually ended up back in the place we started because Vico said they knew where we were going and they didn't. Also, Vico wanted me to take... I don't know if Vico ever said this but I'm gonna say it, once wwanted me to take film of them climbing down in rockface and they got so fucking freaked out halfway down, that they lost their cool. And now for Vico to lose cool it's pretty huge. I was laughing so much that the camera was shaking and they never posted that. There's a piece of footage of Vico rockclimbing, losing their cool and me just howling with laughter at the other side of the camera but the never printed it. But yeah, also it was... because I hadn't seen them for a while and Vico is one of my favourite people on the Earth. And it was lovely to spend that time with him even though I hated them because it was four hours.' (actually footage is here and photo here :D)

Izzy ship that Con would like to see more art of: 'I was always surprised it wasn't more of Izzy and Jim. For me, that is the kind of yin and yang of the same person I was very surprised that didn't make the top 10, really.' /fan comments on Izzy and Lucius and being closeted/ Con: 'I don't know if Izzy is so much closeted sexually, he's closeted emotionally. I think his leaning, sexual leaning as in attracts is towards the Blackbeards, the Jims, that kind of... [Con raises hands in fists]... kind of macho kind of thing... but we all have our softer moments so maybe Lucius is in there. I don't know. But the instinct would be... I would think more Jim and Izzy.'

If they had more time what scene he would like to have filmed: 'I would have liked more swordplay in Season Two as I enjoy doing it. And I like the idea of Jim and Izzy having a duel.'

Response from disabled fans about S2: 'Vastly positive. You know, it's always difficult to play somebody who becomes disabled because obviously, you're acting. And all I could do to qualify it was read up as much as I could on amputations at that time. And we... like for instance, there is a scene where I am putting out candles with the sword, and the original routine was much more fluid. And I had to sort of say my piece which was the leg would not have healed sufficiently for him to put enough weight on it to do these movements. And, so that's just one instance where you had to honour the situation rather than just be gung ho about it. But, yeah, I can't say I think we did well because that is not my call, but I never wanted to be blasé about it. So I did as much due diligence as I could do, within the confines of when I found out and the filming schedule.'

Izzy's motivation in the S1 Izzy provokes Ed scene: 'Do you know what? It's been a while. He wants to provoke Blackbeard into becoming Blackbeard again. That's what he wants to do and he succeeds because Ed grabs him by the throat, it's a violent act. And that's what Izzy's trying to achieve because he feels like Blackbeard has gone soft. And he achieves it. He achieves what he wants to achieve. And, it's the catalyst that brings Blackbeard into his other self. Shakes him out of Stede. So. Yeah. I mean, it's a really interesting question. I can't unpick it in the time we've got. As I always said about Izzy is complex as he's flawed. He's not always emotionally connected by any means. The only thing Izzy is absolutely clear about is his job. And this question is not just about his job, it's about his emotional connections. So that would take me more time and I'd have to rewatch the episodes because I've done a few things since, so it is not as clear to me, the motivation.'

Izzy's hair in Season 3: 'It was always work that decided about my hair. I've never been particularly interested in my hair. I've had my head shaved, I've had a perm, I've had it long, I've had extensions put in, it has been blonde, it's been red, it's been black, it's been gray, it's been peroxide, it's been a blah, but never from my choice. I would like to go white-gray though for something. I would like to try that. Because I'm going grey. That would have been Izzy's hair in Season Three. There's a little snippet.'

How much input Con had on Izzy's outfit: 'Overall, very little input into the outfit the costume. I'm very much a practical actor so if there's anything on the costume that if the character like Izzy is - he's a practical man - if there's anything on the costume that he wouldn't use, he wouldn't have it. So that was a little bit back-and-forth. But both designers of Season One and Season Two were brilliantly collaborative. And I think it's the best costume I've ever had and I am the only actor in the entire show whose costume never changed, apart from the last episode with the british army uniform. So yeah I feel that costume spoke volumes.'

Other:

5 fucks and 1 cunt: Con says that when he filmed Dancin' Thru the Dark (1990) one of the BBC execs said, 'As this is a BBC film, we're only allowed five 'fucks' and one 'cunt'.'

Con's tattoos: 'I do not have any tattoos but I'm gonna get one this year.'

How many doggos would Con have tf he had adequate space and resources: 'This one [Con's doggo Cooper] won't accept any other dogs. Because Cooper's a rescue dog from Hungary. And he was a feral dog for some time. And he's okay with dogs outside of the house but when any dog that comes into the house it's war. So I think once he goes to doggy heaven - which isn't gonna be for at least 50 years - we will... I've always liked the idea and I want - now that we got a house with a big garden - I want dogs. Ideally two. But probably ideally eight.'

Con's favourite movies: 'I'm a big shark movie nerd.' + 'I'm a horror guy.'

[myidlehand]

I've once again seen a post on my dash about how Joey had to "fight" for Jaskier being queer this season.

I didn't reblog it cause I don't want to target one post in particular but people who make those posts need to understand this is factually wrong and just keep the hate towards Lauren growing for no reason.

It was Lauren who approached him. Joey said so himself. He praised her in many interviews for going that road. He worked with her on making sure it was done right, his words again (he seems quite aware of LGBTQA+ culture and maybe his sensibilities are a bit more "up to date" than the average straight person. If Lauren and most of the writers are straight, it seems logical for them to struggle to make it not cliché and for Joey to help make it something the community would like more, but that is just my theory).

But he never said he had to fight for it as much as people say he did, on the contrary. He said in at least one interview that it was very collaborative. From what I understand in some of his interviews he possibly wanted more control over Jaskier's journey this season but he certainly didn't have to fight for it. People seem to have gotten that idea from Joey's "essay" but at no point did he say it was to fix what they did. He obviously had an idea of what he wanted to do and asked for re writes and cuts in the dialogue to add more music. Every interview where he mentions this he pretty much says he was helping and collaborating with the writers. This sounds pretty normal to me as every actor on this show (Henry in particular) seems to be allowed to participate with the writing of their own character.

I know most of the fandom loves to believe all the good parts come from the actors and all the bad ideas come from Lauren (she obviously hasn't always made good choices and I'm not excusing her for the mess season 2 was) but this is just deforming what Joey actually said and taking some of the credit away from other people.

I love that Jaskier is pan. It's one of my favourite parts of the season. But it was not just Joey's idea it was Lauren's as well. Credit where credit's due. She's not as bad as the fandom makes her to be and she's a big reason why season 3 is so good. I don't love the way she try to sell the show as something never seen before because it still is mostly adapted from the books but nobody can argue when it comes to Jaskier that she made him a lot better than Dandelion (who I love to death but he's a little shit and I think Jaskier is a much more interesting character).

[chaotic-beautiful]

Build up where ??? HOTD

Those who are defending HOTD writing , fighting tooth and nail like obsessed fangirls , are they even watching the same show ??? This show is literally garbage writing , zero characterisation and full of illogical plot holes looking like pot holes on a muddy village road .

Where to even begin ? Atp, a whole 200 page book can be written on the lack of writing and cringe fanfiction OC inserts of showmakers that are not even subtle anymore.

Where's the smartly written dialogs and interesting scenes between small fry characters and MCs ?? Interestingly composed scenes of diverse cultures , grounding scenes of daily lives that are somehow intricately connected to who they are about one or more characters.

Truly , true art can not be replicated or replaced . I'd watch old clips of GOT where it's just two random characters talking to each other and nothing else happening over this entire dump on fire season . Such memorable quotes n conclusions that kept us all on our toes came out of such conversations.

Let me not even start on our female characters. Whichever gave the showmakers this idea that a person who doesn't even identify with that particular gender will be ideal candidate to play a feminist icon in the show ? They do not understand the power that comes from embracing the fragility, gentleness, allure and softer sides of being a woman . And the show makers ?? They've zero idea about Women , their bodies , their hearts , pregnancy, motherhood , marital bond , importance of husband wife bonding and rearing children . They've zero idea what makes a woman strong . I've seldom seen such poorly written female characters, each weak , pathetic , cut board cut outs ( Rhaena , Baela , Haelena ) and unrelatable. They're denied of agency ( Alicent ) , femininity ( Rhaenyra ) , ambition, ruthless strive. Catherine, Sansa , Dany , Cersei , Arya even small female characters that appeared for a season are of fuller blood and flesh , feel like real life and they each embrace different sides of what being a woman actually means.

Show makers have zero respect or true regard for LGBTQA characters. They literally deleted a bunch of canonically established book characters belonging from that group . They treat Ser Laenor like garbage . No body cared about him when he was in the show , he literally proposed to be there for their children and for a fresh start with his wife but was then kicked out from her life because atp, she felt she needed a new husband to secure her position and safety of her children and decided to seduce and manipulate an emotionally vulnerable Daemon mere days after his wife's death.

And now in the show every one has moved on. Where is Laenor?? Is he alive ? Why is Seasmoke so restless and ready for a new rider ?? Can he sense that his rider is gone? Does your favorite girl boss cares ?? No ! Neither does the show.

But nor does the viewers , because hey we've got a hot toxic lesbian kiss that pretty much ruins the essence of both the characters and deviates them so far away from their book selves that they're no more the same characters. They might as well just change their names and introduce them as OCs . Yay for representation. We won ! Not.

The show stinks so badly of racism that it makes me feel sick. The Valeryons are played by a bunch of Bl actors without that having any effect on the story . AND yet those same characters are treated like disposable and insignificant within the story , existing as props to enhance the story of White characters. How typical. 🤔 They erased Nettles whose story reverberated through the heart of Westeros for eons to come and was truly inspiring , because that could not endanger what they're trying to do with their OC Rhaenyra, not comfortable making her human by showing her jealous and possessive of her OWN husband whom she loved crazily and was prepared to cross all limits of morality for him . No , that'd make her a human being and a wife . Can't have that here. Doesn't fit with our narrative. Can't show her to be dismissive and vindictive as she was of Nettles because of who she was and where she came from. Can't have the simp Daemon of the show look outside of his cheater wife, when Nettles was without a doubt the most important person for him near the end of his life.

They ruined another book , ruined great characters and those who have no idea about the book and the essence of these characters are praising and defending this garbage by attacking the books fans . It's indeed an interesting psychological study how like minded people are attracted to like minded stuff.

Mike drop.

[crossdreamers]

Bella Ramsey on fighting zombies and being nonbinary

When the Zombie apocalypse comes, you could do worse than joining nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey, one of the leads in the new HBO TV series the Last of Us.

I have been pretty  fed up with zombies shows, but the Last of Us brought me back on the zombie train again. This TV series is an absolute work of art, and nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey does a great job playing Ellie William, one of the main characters (and a queer one at that).

Watch it!

They did not play the game

People reports that  Ramsey avoided playing the game the TV series is based on when preparing  for the role.

Instead  they watched major gameplay scenes on YouTube, which helped them "to feel confident that the Ellie I felt inside of me, under my skin, was the right one."

Any pronouns will do

They are not particular about the use of pronouns, according to Teen Vogue:

"This is what bothers me more than pronouns: Being called a ‘young woman’ or a ‘powerful young woman’, ‘young lady,’ but I'm just not [that],” Ramsey said. “Catherine Called Birdy, I was in dresses. Young Elizabeth, I was in a corset. And I felt super powerful in that. Playing these more feminine characters is a chance to be something so opposite to myself, and it’s really fun.”

Speaking to the Times, Ramsey said she identifies first as a person, rather than a gender. “I’m very much just a person,” she said. “Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like."

Becoming friends with Pedro Pascal

Bella has developed a strong relationship with her co-lead Pedro Pascal.  GameRant reports. She says:

"We didn't get as chance to meet or bond before we started filming. We were very much just thrown in. And that chemistry was just there immediately and just grew and developed as Joel and Ellie's did. As their relationship developed so did ours.”

Supporter of transgender rights

Pedro Pascal is a vocal supporter of transgender rights.  He has a transgender sister. According to GQ Bella and him have had many talks about gender and sexuality.

Bella wore a chest binder for “90 per cent” of shooting The Last of Us. allowing her to focus better on set, GQ reports.

Both the show and the game have several prominent queer and transgender characters. This is exactly the kind of TV series that humanizes LGBTQA+ characters, even when they are  surrounded by the fungus infected undead. We need more productions like this one.

Needless to say, the haters will hate, but the doubters may understand. 

“If you don’t want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character, that’s on you, and you’re missing out. It isn’t gonna make me afraid. I think that comes from a place of defiance,” Bella says.

Photo: Austin Hargrave/AUGUST/GQ

[tortured-demigods-department]

an unhinged (and unofficial) dissertation on the pjo fandom

so i don't usually post anything that isn't my-works-related, but i had a...mildly heated discussion with a fellow film student tonight about the pjo show and it's got me thinking. bear with me, we'll be here awhile.

as we all know, the first season of pjo has ended. i've stayed relatively OFF tumblr and other social media during this time, but i know there are a lot of OG fans who are (in their words) "massively disappointed" in the show. most of the complaints i've heard have been during in person conversations though, so this post is mostly going to be referencing real complaints i've heard.

i've been a part of this fandom since i was thirteen. that's nearly eight fucking years of my life that i've devoted to the pjo universe. i have written and consumed YEARS' worth of fanfiction, i have read and reread every book so many times i can quote them forwards and backwards, and i went to the bookstore every single year on the new books' release dates to pick up my copies in-person. this fandom, these characters and this world have brought so much joy to my life, and i don't think i could ever fully articulate that in words. when i think of this series, i genuinely feel nothing but happiness.

but a few years ago—around the time i started college—i started distancing myself from the fandom for one glaring reason. this fandom can be such an...angry place? like, genuinely, i don't know how far it goes back—maybe all the way to the release of HoA, honestly—but i wasn't here pre-HoA, so all i know is that i very much remember how much people hated ToA when it came out.

here i was, having the TIME of my life with apollo and his silly little haikus, and people are going to war over how the series' writing quality has gone to shit and how everything was better before, blah, blah, blah. IN SPITE of everything that series gave us—discussion of the repercussions of child abuse and ptsd, representation of lgbtqa+ characters, and deep psychological messages that really teach young readers, i think, how to better understand themselves and their emotions and deal with them in healthy ways. and it just wasn't fun to be in a fandom where, as soon as you go "hey, did you read the new book?" they scoff and roll their eyes and only want to talk about how terrible it is. (i also missed all the discourse on the sun and the star when it came out—PHENOMENAL read, btw—but i've read some things that lead me to believe that it wasn't well received either, in spite of how lovely it was.)

so...it's dramatic to say i "left" the fandom, but i certainly withdrew from it. deleted my pjo ao3 and tumblr, started over with a different fandom. but the love has always been there, and the show starting really helped spark it fully back to life.

but now, the same thing is happening again, i'm noticing. remember back in the day, when we only had the shitty fucking movies, and we were like "man, ANYTHING would be better than this garbage. literally just give us actors who are the right age and we'll be happy." well, now we have PHENOMENAL kid actors who genuinely are having a good time playing our beloved characters, and instead of supporting them, we're STILL complaining about them not being "portrayed correctly"?

i've talked to so many people who complain that percy is "too smart," which is kind of a bullshit insult to percy's canon character. in the books (at least the first five) we're seeing things ONLY from percy's pov. he's a kid who's struggled with learning disabilities and been told he's an idiot all his life by everyone except his mom—but as others have pointed out way more eloquently than i could, percy is a very intelligent and powerful individual while maintaining his goofy fun personality, which is WHY so many people love him so much. he's complex, and i think they managed to capture that really well in the show even amidst all the changes.

don't get me started on the fucking racism towards leah sava jeffries—i'm honest to gods ashamed that there are racists who call themselves pjo fans. she is so talented, and everything we ever could have hoped for in an on-screen annabeth. ALL of the kids are—there's literally no argument to be had there.

and then, if people aren't complaining about the casting, it's the series' writing. or there's too much exposition. rick is changing too many things. the directors don't know what they're doing. it's not a TRUE book adaptation. (someone said that to me, and i genuinely laughed because i thought they were joking. when the MOVIES exist, they wanted to make that comment about the show.)

are there some things i would change about the show, given the opportunity? god, yes. the set design for the underworld was horrendous. (in my opinion, of course.) but here's the thing. i have spent eight years of my life waiting for this show to happen, and in that time, i've learned a lot about how much goes into successfully producing such a complex series. how much money and time is spent, and how many people have to be on board to make it happen. it's genuinely kind of miraculous that we're even getting this show at all, considering all the ways it could have failed before it even made it out of pre-production.

and i think we, as fans, sometimes forget that we aren't owed this. we don't own the percy jackson franchise. it makes me so sick and tired when authors or artists in any capacity feel like they have to cater their works to the masses, because they know they'll get thrown into the fucking fire if they don't. rick and becky riordan didn't have to got to the trouble of producing this show for us. they chose to—everyone involved chose to—because they wanted to make something fun and enjoyable not only for the fans, but everyone who chose to be a part of it.

do you know how insane it is that, when you read pretty much any interview of pjo bts, everyone talks about how fun the production was? i've been on film sets. they can be ABSOLUTELY miserable when they're not done right. but eight months into production, the kids were still laughing and having a good time, everyone's still giving 100%, they're excited, it's fun. walker was willing to go into a diving tank for a full fucking day in order to get one scene—i know i would never have that kind of dedication, and i bet 99% of you wouldn't either.

i know this has gotten really long-winded, but i've said all of that to say that...i'm kind of tired of fans trying to bring down the show, and more than that, trying to bring down each other for having a good time. as i've said before (many times, i'm sure), i waited eight years for this, and i have had SUCH a fun time watching it. assuming we get a season 2 renewal, there are going to be even more new fans coming in than we've already gotten from season 1, and i want this fandom to be a fun and positive place for them. for all of us. we don't have to miserable and angry all time. we can critique the show, sure—it's not perfect, and it was never going to be—but we have to remember that television is an art form, and that art is subjective even when it involves our favorite characters. and we can accept that and still have a good time, because it's just more fun to have fun, you know?

this fandom has always had so much potential to be the BIGGEST, most supportive and kind and loving fandom. with how much representation this series has, with how much content we've been given, with the SHEER massive number of us...i've always thought we could be a really, really great community. maybe it's impossible to hope that we could be the best fandom on earth, but if nothing else...could we all try to just be a little bit kinder? genuinely, as cheesy as it may sound...it's just nicer when we're nice to each other. and when there's so many real things in the world to be mad about...i would much rather this be a place where we can come to at the end of a long day and just...feel at home. personally, i just think that would be really, really nice.

[niuniente]

Alright, I've got a inquiry. Why doesn't Kizzie just disown her dad? Then legally she's not related to him and should be able to stay in the music business in her town, right? I've read a lot of stories about adults who have disowned their parents so theoretically this could work?

Grudges carry really, really far. I've grown up in a rural area, where grudges carried over for centuries. What your great-great-great uncle did in 1823 mattered so much that you were still tainted by that action. It was even worse if it was someone from your immediate family, like a parent or a sibling.

No matter of disowning this relative or trying to explain that I am NOT the same as my family member and hey, this thing happened in 1744 didn't take the grudge away. These carry (still!) in small areas to such extend that you might have difficulties getting a job (because the said great-great-great uncle screwed something over, or your great-great-grandmother was rumored to bewitch someone's cow so that it died).

Same works the other way around, too! If you great-great-great uncle was someone important and very valued, you're automatically great and valued too. You don't have to do anything to earn this respect; it's automatically given to you in your blood.

For example, the small rural area where I grew up in always celebrated everyone who graduated from a high school. The people in the area collected some money, typically like 100€, to give for the student as their sign of a gratitude. Typically 1 or 2 students graduated each year, some years none did.

This was a long tradition. Everyone had gotten money. But, when I graduated from a high school, I wasn't given money but a cheap utensil set.

It took me like two decades to understand that why I was not given money was because of my father's reputation and our status. While he was a hard working guy, he was also financially abusive, always in dept. The people apparently feared that if I get money, my father will take it, so they bought me utensils. But they bought a cheap set with less value than the 100€ because we were a newcomer family, clearly not to be trusted that well with no roots in the area (we had lived there 9 years by this time but were still "not welcomed" because we didn't originate from the area), and thus, my value as a person in that area was low. I was an outsider getting into a tradition which had been going on for a long time but which clearly belonged only to the people who had lived there for long as a family line.

While Lywood is a big city, the music scene there is like a little world or a village of its own. This is still true in modern days, too. When my friend, who works in an entertainment industry and in the capitol area, started a relationship with a same sex partner, they both hid their relationship for 10 years from work, because they both feared they would lose their jobs. And we're talking about the entertainment industry! Actors, directors, composers, dancers, opera singers, artists etc. who are generally very LGBTQA+ friendly (and this whole country is) - and yet, since in the industry everyone knows everyone, my friend and the partner didn't want to take a risk of their reputation being stained by their personal love life. They honestly openly came out as a couple after 10 years when they got married and my friend had gained enough reputation as a reliable employee and her resume was honorable enough to guarantee her more work in the future. It seemed to pay off as she signed a contract with a company for a permanent position recently, and she doesn't have to jump from a project to another.

These kinds of things are at play with Kizzie's case. Curiously enough, Kizzie seemed have taken a risk and counted it as the least of all evils to ask help from a Death-Head....

[justpostsyeet]

Amount of actors who belongs in LGBTQA+ community present in The hobbit trilogy is amazing