#magic is an allegory for being queer right?

[justaz]

once again pushing my freygana agenda,, but this time they are Evil >:)

morgana heard freya call herself a monster and morgana knows that feeling better than anyone and just goes “no, ur not a monster. you were given a gift that everyone has made you believe is a curse. u cant just roll over and let them win, u bear ur teeth and claws and tear them to shreds.” morgana helping freya hunt down the sorceress who spelled her and cornering her just as the moon reaches its peak.

“you said i was cursed to kill forevermore” freya stands tall as she glares at the woman who blamed her for her own sons actions “you’ll get what you asked for” morgana watching as the pretty girl shifts into a large beast and pounces of the older woman clawing her and tearing her to shreds. bastet!freya turns to morgana, blood dripping from her maw and her teeth bared

morgana calls out praises and comforts, reaching out her hand and letting her magic seep the air between them. bastet!freya investigating before ceasing her snarling and butting her head up against morgana’s hand

morgana, high priestess of the old religion and freya, a beast of the night. morgana and her scary dog feline privileges. morgana with magic crackling between her fingers and the group of knights who finally have her cornered and think they can win this fight then BOOM torn to shreds by her kitty gf

bastet!freya curling around morgana and purring to her hearts content which keeps morgana from falling asleep as she keeps watch, magic pulsing beneath her skin as she looks out for any monster hunters that wish to take her gf away

plus. i mean. come on. a witch and her black cat? a match made in heaven if you ask me

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

1: Magic is a Metaphor < 2: Morgana is a Lesbian < 3: Merlin is Gay < 4: Arthur is Bi

Do you remember when you were bullied in middle school? Because if you're reading this, I think it's fair to assume that you were. And your parents would say to you, 'that boy is just being mean to you because he likes you'. That's what this is.

Arthur is just so repressed. He has really bad daddy issues, and he doesn't know how to express his emotions, and he's really uncomfortable with physical intimacy, especially with other men, especially with Merlin. And this isn't me trying to psychoanalyse away his heterosexuality. It is a very evident part of his character.

And another big part of his character is that he has inherited all of these bigoted ideas about magic from his father that he has to work to overcome. Because, of course, Arthur himself is born of magic, but his dad is so ashamed of it that he hides the true circumstances of his birth from Arthur. Honestly, I don't know exactly how that would fit into this whole metaphor. I do have a half-formed theory that it could be interpreted as an allegory for intersex identity, I know that a lot of people headcanon Arthur as trans, so idk there could be something there. But regardless, it is only through his relationship with Merlin that he is able to overcome this magicphobia, because he realises: how could it be wrong when everything about Merlin is so right. And I just feel like there's a metaphor in there somewhere.

Of course, I have to mention this iconic quote from the audio commentary of the final episode: when the executive producer refers to Arthur taking off his royal seal to give back to Guinevere as passing over "the last vestige of his heterosexu- oh sorry, I mean his marriage." So, they knew exactly what they were doing.

I also thought I would just draw your attention to the fact that at one point Arthur says, "I only care about my men, they're more than friends, more than brothers." Now, I think we can all agree that out of context, that is a very gay thing to say, and yet somehow the context is even gayer, because Arthur is pretending to be talking about the Knights of the Round Table, but he's actually talking about Merlin, how Merlin is the only person he cares about, more than a friend. And then Merlin responds, "I understand. I wish I didn't, but I do." It's barely subtext at that point. This of course, brings me to my final argument:

Arthur risked his life to save Merlin at least eight times. It could be more than that, I genuinely lost count. And you have to keep in mind that Arthur is the King of Camelot and he doesn't have any heirs. It is quite important that he stays alive. And yet anytime that Merlin is in the slightest bit of danger, he will just drop everything to protect him.

And it's really only in those moments where he's faced with the thought of losing Merlin that he shows him genuine emotion. Such as in this scene (which was cut out of 4x02 purely because it was too gay) where Arthur is planning to sacrifice himself to protect Merlin, again, and he gives Merlin his mother's sigil, the only thing he has left of his dead mum and he wants Merlin to have it as something to remember him by. Also, apparently in medieval times giving someone your family crest was basically a marriage proposal, so that's pretty gay.

You know what else is pretty gay? Telepathically communicating with Merlin and then immediately leaving Gwen in the middle of an active war. This is literally the last time that Arthur and Gwen ever see each other. Poor Gwen.

In conclusion, Merlin is the story of gay sorcerers and bisexual knights getting into love triangles. Everyone in this show is queer and you cannot tell me otherwise.

[unityrain24]

ok people here's my essay. (also note that this was for my english class so it is written in a different style than i usually would. it had to be all formal and grammatically correct and such)

2212 words, analytical essay

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: A Queer Allegory for Religious Trauma

ND Stevenson’s She-Ra and The Princesses of Power is an animated Netflix original series rebooting the classic 80s show Shera: Princess of Power. This time, however, the show is chalk-full of diversity, varied body types, queer representation, pleasing colour palettes, and a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers lesbian romance. The first four seasons follow Adora (aka She-Ra) and the princesses of Etheria’s fight against the Evil Horde, using their magic to try bringing peace and justice to the planet. A portal is opened at the end of the fourth season, however, bringing the planet of Etheria out of the isolated dimension of Despondos. No longer separated from the rest of the universe, Horde Prime arrives at Etheria- not only bringing higher stakes than any season preceding it, but an entirely new layer of symbolism to the series. The final season was a clear allegory for religious trauma, an especially relevant topic for the show’s majorly queer audience.

When his armada arrives at Etheria, Horde Prime sends his army of clones and robots down to take the planet by force. Unlike the Evil Horde that had been trying to take the planet before Prime’s arrival, who were disorganized, messy, and industrial, everything under Prime is sleek, elegant, efficient, and most importantly: white. Horde Prime’s ships are white, Horde Prime’s robots are white. Horde Prime’s skin is white, his hair is white, his clothes are white, as are all his clones. Pure, unblemished white, with only sparing accents of grey or green.

In colour theory, white has a few meanings. The colour can represent purity, cleanliness, innocence, and even righteousness. This colour theory is heavily incorporated into biblical verses, metaphors, and artwork (and some might even argue that our modern idea of white comes from the Bible). In art, God and angels are almost always depicted wearing white, as is Jesus in his resurrection. Halos of white or light yellow are shown adorning holy figures' heads. Several bible verses use white robes or other white objects as a metaphor of the wearer’s purity. White is still used in several Christian rituals/customs today, such as weddings, baptisms, and more. White is one of (if not the) most important colour in Christian lore. Even in instances where pure white isn’t used, there is a clear correlation between light versus dark and good versus evil. 

White has more than one meaning, however- on the opposite side of the coin, white can also represent coldness, blankness, emptiness, and loneliness. The most interesting thing about the show’s use of white is that it encapsulates both facets of its representation. Horde Prime uses white to represent his purity and perfection, but to the people of the colourful, messy world Etheria, this is a cold, eerie colour. As are Horde Prime’s ideals. His perfection and purity is synonymous to coldness. The white represents both- not only simultaneously, but as the same thing.

Horde Prime’s empire being entirely white is no coincidence- neither in-story by Prime, nor in real life by the writers. Horde prime uses white to represent everything he stands for, and the writers use white to represent everything Christianity stands for.

Horde Prime is a being that has lived an amount of lifetimes beyond comprehension- every time his body starts to grow old and fail, he selects a new clone of his to insert his memory and very essence into. So even though he has a new body, he is still him. And the reason for this? To fulfill his self imposed purpose of bringing peace and perfection to the universe. To thousands of planets he has been, one at a time, to reach this. Horde Prime believes there is only one right way to do things, and that humanity cannot be trusted to govern themselves.

Every planet he takes goes the same: he arrives with his ships, and slowly implants chips into the neck of each and every being on a planet. These chips take away the autonomy of the host, and they are left blank. No personality, no choices, no person. All their actions are perfectly automated and controlled by a hive mind, and Horde Prime can take specific control of and see through the eyes of any individual at any given time. With Horde Prime in control, there is no war, no famine, no pain. There is only peace, perfection, and purity. And anyone who does not conform, does not accept his gracious rule, are dealt with accordingly. Entire planets have been left desolate and barren, entire peoples subjected to genocide for not accepting Horde Prime. All dead in the name of peace.

These ideals upheld by Horde Prime are strikingly similar to Christianity. Perfection and purity are two of the main ideals of Christianity, in hand with righteousness. Christians strive to “be like Jesus,” to be their idea of a good person, to be loyal to their religion, and to make it into Heaven. Several rituals to “repent” exist when they feel they have not upheld these standards correctly- including prayer, confessionals, sacrament, and baptism. Even though true perfection, purity, and righteousness are typically seen as unattainable to everyone but the Godhead, it is common belief that constant trying will at least get you as close to it as possible. Conformity is another key aspect of Christianity, though it is not advertised, and to the exact extent it is upheld depends on the sect. In general, though, Christianity pressures every one of its followers (and even those who aren’t) to behave a certain way, to think a certain way, and to only associate with others among themselves.

Horde Prime’s way of upholding these ideals isn’t dissimilar to Christianity’s either. Much like Horde Prime’s Galactic Empire, Christianity has had a long history of forced assimilation. From the Spanish conquistadors to the pilgrims and other colonial settlers of North America, death and pain has come in the wake of the spread of Christianity for hundreds of years, amongst various sects of the religion. Native peoples have been murdered for their loyalty to their “savage” non-Christian ways, land has been stolen, and indigenous religions and other important cultural traditions have been changed past recognition or completely erased, all in the name of “saving,” all in the name of “love,” all in the name of “what’s right,” all in the name of God. Christianity is the only right way, Horde Prime is the only right way.

Its likeness to Christianization isn’t the only resemblance Horde Prime’s ways share with Christianity, however. When Horde Prime arrives at Etheria, three people are brought aboard his ship- Queen Glimmer, one of the Etherian rebels that had been fighting against the Evil Horde (and now the Galactic Empire), Catra, a high-ranking member of the Evil Horde that had been taking over Etheria before the Galactic Empire arrived (but is in love with Adora, who is one of the rebels), and Hordak, the leader of the Evil Horde. Hordak was a clone of Horde Prime’s that had been stranded on Etheria, which was in an isolated dimension. He spent his time in isolation trying to take the planet so that if he was ever reunited with Horde Prime, he would be seen as “worthy”. Horde Prime, however, is displeased by Hordak’s actions- claiming that Hordak was trying to take the planet for selfish reasons rather than for Horde Prime, and for giving himself a name. As such, Hordak must be “purified.”

In this purification process, Hordak’s mind is wiped, and he begs for forgiveness and to complete the process. He is then dressed in white and walks into a circular pool with liquid that reaches his waist. The liquid is electrified for several moments, and his screams can be heard, and then it stops. He is left blank, and Horde Prime and the other clones watching praise him for being the purest among them. Later, Catra is subjected to the same process against her will, and is now a mindless servant of Horde Prime as well. This process is almost identical to the Christian concept of Baptism. While exactly how baptism is carried out varies between sects (full submersion under water versus just a sprinkling, infant versus child, etc), the purpose remains the same- to purify past sins.

A more abstract similarity between Horde Prime’s empire and Christianity is the use of titles. Prime’s clones refer to each other as “brother” (and to Catra as “sister,” once she has been “purified”), and Horde Prime as “big brother.” Not all sects of Christianity use such titles to refer to each other, but some do; notably Catholic nuns or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). But even those sects who do not refer to each other as brother and sister often view Jesus as their “older brother” and God as their “heavenly father.” 

Horde Prime himself has many more titles than simply “brother” or Emperor of the Galactic Horde, however. Other titles given to him include Ruler of the Known Universe, Regent of the Seven Skies, He Who Brings the Day and the Night, Revered one of the Shining galaxies, and Promised one of a Thousand Suns. In Christianity, Jesus also is referred to by many names. The Saviour, the Redeemer, the Son of God, the Son of Man, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, and several more. In addition to titles, some of the phrases in general used by Christians and the Galactic Empire are common. Both use the word “rejoice” when telling of their faith. Amongst Christians, “glory to God in the highest” and “[God] is the same yesterday, today, and forever” are not uncommon phrases. “Glory be to Horde Prime” is a common phrase expressed by the clones, and even more so, the infamous mantra “Horde Prime sees all, Horde Prime knows all” repeated so many times throughout the season.

The titles used for each other perpetuate a feeling of conformity and a feeling of “otherness” concerning those who do not conform. The titles used for their leaders perpetuate subservience, power imbalances, respect, and devotion. The phrases used in relation to their leaders perpetuate devotion and omnipotence. These are true of both Horde Prime’s Galactic Empire and Christianity.

Horde Prime was a genuinely disturbing villain who represented every painful thing Christianity is made of- toxic perfectionism and purity, conformity, obedience, control, and omnipotence. Loss of expression and individuality. The fear of being constantly watched. These are things that anyone with religious trauma may deal with, but it’s especially true of queer people. Queer people have had a long history of oppression at the hand of Christianity (and colonialism in general). From outright murder to conversion therapy and other abuses, from abandonment to dismissal, Christianity has perpetuated all of it for centuries. And it’s still something that happens today.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power has a majorly queer audience, due to both the creative process of the show and the representation within the series itself. Not only is the creator of the series (ND Stevenson) queer, but so was practically every character- whether they were a main character, side character, or background character with only a few seconds of screen time. One of the main plots of the show is the complicated lesbian romance between Adora and Catra. As such, the series attracted a good number of queer fans, and religious trauma (or at the very least, religious fear) is a topic that hits uncomfortably close for many.

Other pieces of media that incorporate religious imagery have a tendency to be unclear about how it is framed. Is the imagery shown to be wrong and the victim is right and prevails? Is the imagery shown to be right, and the pained victim in terrified denial? Is the imagery shown to be truly wrong but inevitably triumphant anyways, no matter what the victim tries? It is so muddy in so many pieces of media. The important thing about the fifth season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power was how it was framed. Perhaps it was because it was a kids show, or perhaps it was the queer creators’ spirit and defiance, but the series was clear in their framing of Horde Prime. The perfect white make the audience uneasy. Horde Prime’s retelling of his victories fill the audience with dread and then hollowness. The “baptisms” of Hordak and Catra are disturbing. Every aspect of Horde Prime and everything he stood for was presented as wrong. Without any doubt.

 And even more importantly, the people of Etheria were able to prevail. She-Ra and the other princesses were able to defeat Horde Prime and his empire, and free those forced into subservience by his chips. Catra (and Hordak) were saved. The ships were destroyed. The people of Etheria were allowed to be free and express themselves and be people. This message was something very important to the queer audience. Not only was the fifth season an expression of queer pain, but an expression of queer hope. Neither thing should be ignored. Pain is valid. Hope is needed. To be healthy, both need to be recognized. To have a series that expressed both, and in such a queer way, was extremely important to so many people.

[graceblackthron]

What is your unpopular shadowhunter opinions 👁️👁️

okay let’s get to this *cracks knuckles*

i think clary and simon being parabatai kinda ruined for me. one thing i appreciated is that their friendship hadn’t need a magical rune binding them forever to be the kind of codependent best friends they are. their friendship was the core of tmi and it was so beautiful the sacrifices and how far they would go for each other that for me it was like a proof that you do not need to be parabatai to reach that level of love and connection with each other. them not needing a parabatai bond was the point, so when they became parabatais i was like meh. and their friendship lost their uniqueness.

thule. i hate everything related to it! it’s one of the reasons i still hate qoaad so much. it feels so unnecessary and forced. i know other dimensions concept has been introduced since tmi and it fits the whole fantasy stuff so i never minded that but parallel world? now you’re just pushing it. and the whole dystopian world we are shown in thule is so unserious to me. janus plot feels stupid as fuck and also this is one of the reasons i can’t care for ash like seriously the whole thing is just so dumb.

i never liked wessa individually sorry. only scenarios i can like wessa is in herongraystairs. which is not the case with jessa and heronstairs because i love both relationships individually and together as poly. but yeah wessa has never been my cup of tea

but this is not new actually. i’m not a fan of cc’s main couples ever. i have always preferred the side couples (but not always) or queer fanon ones, they always feel more natural whereas with the main couples i can’t help but feel like cc is trying too hard to tell the audience how perfect for each other they are instead of letting us see it for ourselves. i think kitty is the only main couple i’m actually seriously invested and i think it’s because they started as a side couple first.

i know everyone loves novellas about their favorite characters but i wish we had novellas from characters that aren’t already main/secondary characters in the sagas. like i wish we could get a novella about jonathan shadowhunter or just characters that are mentioned but not already shown.

people will call me bias but grace is truly by far one of the best characters in tsc (i would even dare to say her best female character at all) and i think a big part is because she wasn’t tied to a romance

which leads me to this point. i don’t think romance necessarily strips characters of their own individuals arcs (because there’s big exceptions: magnus. jem. jessamine. simon. to name a few) but a lot of the time, especially with main couples, the characters do end up feeling very reduced to romance only and it’s quite annoying.

i really wish julian had became a villain sorry that was such a wasted opportunity.

tessa and her powers feel so underutilized when she’s canonically one of the most powerful characters in the verse.

the parabatai to lovers trope should’ve been given to a mlm or wlw ship. listen the implications it would’ve had!! the metaphors and allegories for homophobia through the whole forbidden love punished by law. how you’re allowed to be the closest and have the deepest bond but also aren’t allowed to be romantic because it would be viewed gross (that talk between emma and sarah) and a perversion of the parabatai bond. THE POTENTIAL WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF CC!!!! i hope one day she tries or makes a novella about queer parabatais because it’s such an opportunity icb she fumbled it. idm if they die either because it would make it more tragic and i love that

i don’t want magnus or tessa to lose their immortality. personally i love the tragedy immortal x mortal romance brings and i think immortality in general is such a sad but at the same time beautiful concept, it brings the questions “is it worthy to love if it brings you pain later?” and for me the answer will always be yes. so i ate it up.

for the sake of my sanity i need that theory of dead shadowhunters coming back to life in twp to be FALSE. i’m sorry i can’t do it it sounds too much like a wattpad fix it fic. i don’t want it!

there’s honestly a lot more these are the ones i could remember as for right now so i apologize but yes, i have a lot

[randomtvpollsjp]

Anybody who walks out of the theater and says, “Barbie  is anti-men” lacks media analysis skills. So let’s do a what I thought no one would have to do for this film—an unnecessarily deep dive. But it seemingly needs to get done for this crowd.

Shall we?

(And spoilers)

In Barbieland, men are seen as nothing but accessories to all of the exceptional women. Even the least exceptional woman—Stereotypical Barbie—is more exceptional than the average Ken.

(The exceptional Kens like Sugar Daddy Ken and Earring Magic Ken as well as Allan are othered within the hierarchy of Barbieland, a clear allegory for non-conforming/queer men. Even Weird Barbie is othered by the Barbies for her non-conformity but at least has a house)

Contrast Barbieland with the (still surreal) Real World, where the gender roles are often reversed.

In the lead up to the 2016 US Presidential election, for example, there were still people saying that they couldn’t vote for a woman.

That was it. Not her policies. A woman.

The film goes out of its way to prove that Ken—despite being cis/White/straight and male—cannot get EVERYTHING he wants without qualifications and experience. But he DOES get a basic level of respect that he never got in Barbieland from Barbies and the power structure they benefit from.

At one point, the film has a line where a man says, “I’m a man without power. Am I a woman?”

In the film’s Real World (and ours), women often struggle to get power. And so do men! But women face social barriers that men simply do not.

Meanwhile, despite being “everything”, in the Real World, Barbie’s a sexual object to men and almost immediately assaulted; and vilified by girls/women for setting unrealistic body standards. And is torn to shreds by Sasha, the girl she thought she had to help.

Ken takes patriarchy back to Barbieland and the Barbies—unable to conceive of a world like the film’s version of the Real World—basically short-circuit. The Kens, meanwhile, having always been second-class citizens, relish in the new idea and hierarchy.

But, as the film establishes, Kens don’t have an education or qualifications. They can’t even build a wall right because they weren’t conceptualized to be useful/given the tools to be.

Ken’s job was literally Beach.

They’d have actually destroyed Barbieland.

Similarly, nobody is saying you should just appoint women in our world into positions of power, just to appoint them. But we ARE saying that there are qualified women who deserve to be in places that they aren’t because they’re not men.

And that’s wrong.

By the end of the film, Barbie realizes that she actually owes Ken an apology. Yes, Ken tried to overthrow the Barbies. But Ken was reacting to Barbie’s rejection in a toxic—yeah, I said it—way.

And reacting to their society too, even if he doesn’t really know it.

The Kens had a point. The Barbies HAD mistreated them. Barbie didn’t even know where Kens lived in Barbieland, after all.

And to not acknowledge their point is to also not acknowledge the real world point that women are often mistreated in our world just for being women.

I’ve seen some people brandishing stats about how women USED to be marginalized. But now they aren’t. And can do anything. And earn just as much as men.

And yet, Forbes reports that only 10% of Fortune 500 companies have female CEO’s.

Anyway, so the film ends with Barbie telling Ken that he needs to define himself independently of being with Barbie. Which is analogous to how women in the workforce and getting educated/qualified in our world, allows them to be financially independent of men.

In Barbieland, Barbies have always been autonomous and allowed to be independent of men. And have flourished. And President Barbie promises to allow Kens to take part in the running of their shared society. Because everybody deserves to be seen and heard.

There are valid criticisms to be made about this film ranging from how its feminism lacks intersectionality; to how Mattel’s own workers in developing nations are often underpaid and overworked; to consumerism being the main tool of empowerment that Barbie (the toy) endorses.

But it’s one film and I understand that it can’t address EVERYTHING. It chose to stick with gender broadly.

And I think it successfully lands that point.

[skittlespizza]

poking you like a cat, what's pathologic about? ^_^ like generally story-wise

HEHEBE OKAY WAIT SO it's about a town more than anything. The town is calles the Town-On-Gorkhon (Gorkhon = River in the Steppe language)

Here's some screenshots from the second game. The entire story focuses on the town as it's ravaged by a plague called the sand pest. The game itself is weird, trippy and no one speaks right. Has a huge cast of characters, several queer side plots and more.

This intro is from the first game. It introduces you to the main characters you play as.

Daniil Dankovsky, the one with black hair and the gloves is the first protagainst. He's a doctor who wants to cure death and goes to the ToG to try and talk with a man who's "supposedly" immortal. He dies before Daniil can talk to him. He plans to go home afterwards but then the plague- the Sand Pest- begins to spread and the trains halt. No one is allowed in or out. He spends the game being manipulated by those in power. He's annoying, he's awful, he's a bitch bastard who is incredibly selfish but deep down he has a heart of gold. His story is about Capitalism and how it kills passion. How politics uses people as pawns and how we have no control over what we can and can't do under a dictatorship. This game was made in Russia for context. Daniil is a complex character rooted in self doubt, self worth and even his racism. He's not a good person but he tries.

I didn't mention this earlier, but when you aren't playing as one of the healers, they still do their own things and follow vaguely the same story but make all the worst choices. Artemy is a mixed race indigenous man who is returning home after years studying at the Capital (same place that Daniil comes from). He's the son of Isidor Burakh- one of the people that Daniil wanted to interview about immortality. Artemy is immediately accused of Patricide and spends the game trying to clear his innocence, balance his life between his indigenous Kin roots and his whiteness. His father was the folk medicine doctor to the Kin and left all his stuff to Artemy. Artemy is a story about family and love more than anything. He adopts two kids, helps unite the town and Kin (or in the 2nd game, he's forced to choose between the two), while also dealing with the grief of losing his last family member.

Clara is my favorite. She's a girl who- well. Okay. To put it simply, she woke up in a grave and suddenly has consciousness but no memories. No identity (wow) and is forced to deal with the adults who use her. She has the magic ability to cure people of the plague but in turn, she takes on their pain. Clara is a story about teenage abuse. The adults in the Town use her for their own gain. She's neglected, called useless, forced into homelessness and has the weight of the world on her shoulders because the adults can't take care of her. She's also expected to cure the plague as well. She has always been my favorite and means so much to me for so many reasons but especially if you have a disassociative disorder. She has an evil twin sister who does things in her name and she can't control it. She is an ocd allegory. She's a teenage abuse allegory. She's a girl trying to find her identity when all the adults push labels onto her.

The game itself is a survival horror game. I highly recommend it if you like stories about the plague, russian literature, theatre or philosophy. All of the side characters mean a lot to me too, Anna Angel in specific. Quick thing though, the game is REALLY FUCKING DIFFICULT and unfair. If you know the game F&H imagine that as a first person survival game. The game is not easy and that's the point. You will kill, you will rob and you will do awful things just to live. You're in a hopeless town that wants you dead. You are nothing but a human. A doctor.

Beautiful game, amazing soundtrack, wonderful characters. I've loved this game for four years now and no game will ever mean as much as this game has and 100% you should watch a video essay on it.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY doesn't care if faunus are viewed as an allegory for real world minorities. Faunus are magic hybrids of humans and animals - fairy tales in RWBY were always true. Hence, Blake is offered to become a human or a cat. Blake calls herself a cat because she is part cat. Ruby tells the red prince Blake is a faunus (the elf of the group) and the rest of them are humans because they are. Simple. RT: "I didn't come over here looking to solve systemic societal issues."

Then RT shouldn't have written a story in which they are actively and knowingly commenting on a systemic societal issue.

Yeah, this could have been the case. It's absolutely possible to write a version of RWBY where faunus are just #there and their animal characteristics in no way intersect with social justice. But RWBY didn't write that story. They explicitly introduced the faunus as victims of long-term discrimination. They're "second class citizens." "Animals" to be exploited, tortured, and discarded. There's nothing simple in writing a post-war decree that forces everyone with certain physical characteristics onto an isolated island away from the "superior" group. Or making your billionaire CEO target faunus for slave labor, including giving us one character who was branded. We're shown an extremist group fighting for their civil rights and the end message of that is, "They're fighting the wrong way not to be treated like they're disposable :/" RWBY introduced Weiss as a character who would compare Sun to a trash can and, what? We're really supposed to believe that he's just the "elf" of the group? It's a complete coincidence that the citizens of Remnant just happen to systematically target all the people with animal traits.

This isn't even the only time RWBY has explicitly woven social justice into its story. They had a main character lose her arm, introduced another with a metal body, a third that had lost half of his, and took all three on a journey that hinged on their disabilities. The entirety of the Atlas arc revolves around class and getting us to emotionally side with the victims of the rich elite. They've been teasing a queer ship for four years, but refusing to commit to it in a way that might piss off real life homophobes. Our fictional world supposedly wasn't grappling with the same discrimination... until May casually tossed out that she was disowned for being trans. The ENTIRETY of the story hinges on rooting for four young woman in a genre that has historically been dismissive of them and the go-to insult when someone disagrees with a reading is, "You just hate women, huh?"

RWBY is seeped in social issues. It's built on it. They're the freaking linchpin. The writers WANTED that because they understood that the best storytelling engages with real life concerns. But they didn't know how to approach these topics respectfully - they wanted the rewards of a "deep" story without carefully working out what they wanted to say about these topics - and the result is a franchise that's often more insulting than it is inspirational. After nearly a decade of that, RWBY doesn't get to suddenly backtrack because they fucked it up. They can't have their cake and eat it too. "We're a story about strong, empowered women, one of which is fighting for equal standing in her society, another who is grappling with disability, a third who is acknowledging her status as heir to a company that has done irreparable damage to her world and exacerbated class discrimination... but if that's not written well, don't worry about it! It's just a fun, silly story! Haha, why would you take a cartoon so seriously?"

RWBY has always wanted to be taken seriously but, you know, only when they're succeeding. If they mess up they want you to do them the courtesy of ignoring that which is... not how writing a paid for, public story consistently commenting on minority groups works.

[youranemicvampire]

Thoughts and opinions on The Little Mermaid (2023) with SPOILERS.

First of all, i'm so happy to be able to watch it. I've been waiting for it since 2019. And the casting announcement was the reason i became a fan of Chloe x Halle

The casting is perfect! I'm really a sucker for a good casting so....

Halle Bailey is everything Ariel. TBH, it feels like she's not acting that hard coz her expressions and voice are naturally Ariel. She's born to be a Disney princess. I could not imagine another person playing this role. From her face, features, physique, height and voice. She's a whole package.

Jonah Hauer-King is indeed charming. When his casting got announced, i never doubted him coz from his looks, he also has this Disney and Princely face. And i even like his version of Prince Eric better than the animated one.

Melissa McCarthy is great. She is actually terrifying lol but my complaint is that her make-up is lacking and then i found out that a straight person made it. I don't see the Drag in her face. It should have been better. Way better. They should have hired a queer make-up artist or someone in the Drag scene.

I know we all hate Awkwafina, but she actually has this annoying bird voice that is right for the role.

It's my first time to see Jessica Alexander act and whew! I think i might have a new crush. And she's bisexual??? I stan!

I don't have that much say for the other casts, but they are all great and visually amazing.

I expected a lot of changes, but i think it's good that they only changed the things that are necessary. It felt more genuine.

It's not that dark! It was just the right level of darkness for the scenes that are meant to be dark. The day scenes are actually colorful.

I saw a take about the sea creatures not being animated and expressive enough, but i think it's more of the CGI limitations, not the movie itself.

Having said that, Flounder could've been better. Still cute tho.

Halle and Jonah's chemistry is amazing. I'm a hetero-hater, but i was gushing in the theatre. Ariel and Eric are the best Disney live-action couple 💯 And Jalle's friendship offscreen is cute and wholesome.

I'm also a big musical fan so this live-action is special to me because they actually casted a singer and not just a basic one. What i hated about other Disney live-actions is the autotune. It's so annoying.

One of the minor issues i have is that i wished they didn't release too many stills and clips. I was kinda pissed on the "Under the sea" part coz i already saw the majority of it on social media. I wanted to be surprised because that scene was so fun and magical.

They should definitely have a sequel, a prequel, and a mermaid sisters spin-off. It would be a waste to only see them once especially Halle and Jonah's chemistry. The sisters are also too beautiful not to have their own stories coz from how they look, they have really different identities.

People complain too much on animal designs, but ignore the mermaid tails of Ariel and her sisters.

I'm also proud of Halle's acting coz i watched her on Grown.ish and her acting skills and confidence really improved by miles. Even when she lost her voice, she was very expressive. She didn't even have to try that much.

For me, this is the 2nd best Disney live-action so far. My first is still Maleficent.

Idk if I still need to say this, but the soundtrack is on-repeat after I watched. I actually want to rewatch the whole thing with subs coz i can't understand the British accent. lol

Halle Bailey needs to be in more musicals. I just can't get enough. Jessica Alexander should also be in more villain roles. Sapphic villain specifically 🥵

I also liked how Ariel and Prince Eric were longing for each other's world you know. It's a story about freedom really, not wanting to be boxed, and wanting to explore no matter how dangerous it is. It's such a queer allegory. And it's special knowing the original version of Hans Christian Andersen.

[gellavonhamster]

monthly media recap: august 2024

read:

Cabal by Clive Barker - oh you know, I've yapped about it and Nightbreed a lot here. The intersection of horror and eroticism, the monstrous and the divine, the queer allegory, the monsterfucking. So good.

The Second Continuation of Perceval - I liked it better than The First Continuation which I didn't even finish, but by the end I still decided to put my Arthuriana reading on pause for the time being. These were dragging me into a reading slump which passed as soon as I stopped trying to get through them. Going back to The Second Continuation, I am tragically unable not to picture that little dog that Perceval carried around as a chihuahua

Jelgava 94 by Jānis Joņevs - part coming-of-age, part chronicle of Latvian metalhead culture, extremely funny (even funnier than I remember the movie adaptation to be).

Rīgas raganas (Witches of Riga) by Linda Nemiera - first assumed it's gonna be the kind of ~ironic~ fantasy I've kinda outgrown, then got seriously hooked (the fact that it's set in my city certainly helped), then came the anticlimactic ending. Still, mostly liked it in the end. Also, gotta say it's extremely funny how the author created a magical explanation for the very real recent phenomena of roads caving in and cars falling into the resulting pits. Was reading this like oh right, this happened next to our office

The Amateur Cracksman and The Black Mask by E. W. Hornung - been reading the Raffles & Bunny short stories through Substack and just realized it has already covered the first two collections! This reading method is not for me, but the stories themselves are charming. They're like, what if Holmes and Watson but gentlemen thieves (Hornung was Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, btw) and also partially based on Oscar Wilde and Alfred Douglas? Really a very nice read.

+ currently reading: Weaveworld by Clive Barker

watched:

Nightbreed (1990), the Cabal Cut - not the version I'd, like, recommend to a random person, because it's glued together from the theatrical release and deleted scenes (some of which don't even have sound) and what not, but it really is much closer to the novel than the theatrical cut. See the post linked above for more thoughts on the book and both cuts of the movie

Lisa Frankenstein (2024) - finally watched it, and it was as delightful as I was promised :) I thought I saw enough spoilers for it, but I somehow didn't expect that ending at all, loved it. Loved the relationship between the sisters, too.

Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021), Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (2021), Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021) - me watching part 1-2: eh it's alright, not very original but interesting, and I like the kids. Me watching part 3: oh it's GOOD good! Thank you OPLA cast for luring me in

[ceps-pers]

💭 Daydreaming Questions 💭

⏳How long have you been daydreaming for? What was your first scenario/paracosm? I've daydreamed for as long as i can remember. I dreamt of balls with characters i loved, i dreamt of going to magical schools (not Hogwarts, i hadn't yet discovered it), i dreamt of adventures fighting the shadows of the world and of being a lost boy. The In-Between though, dates back to the begining of me writing. In primary school, we had a personal notebook for when we were bored, and i started making my own world in it. That's the very beginning of the paracosm i still hold onto.

❓Would you rather: have your daydreams projected onto a screen attached to your head at all times or be entirely unable to daydream ever again for the rest of your life? The screen! It's not maladaptive anymore, so it wouldn't pop up anywhere anytime. Plus, it's be nice providing free movies for people i love and trust! And maybe i could use the screen like a movie director, and record it to make my own little movies! It's certainly be easier than trying to write it all down!

🪞 What para of your is most like you? Paraselves/self-inserts don't count! Probably a mix of Viaris and Lilly! I'm very artistic and jittery and flamboyant like Vi but also when I was younger I was literally a younger version of Lilly (didn't notice at the time-)

🏷️ How do you come up with names? Do they come to you or do you spend hours on websites? Sometimes they come to me, but it's quite rare! Most often I look at generators or websites until one rings right! For the main cast for example, Viaris came to me, the others i had to look.

🗺️ Do you do extensive worldbuilding for your paracosm? If so, what are some of your favorite elements? I do! I'm currently trying to sort that information and write it down actually! I coudn't really choose favorites right now though to be honest

🪽 If your paras found out you were their creator, how would they react? Viaris: Step 1: existential crisis. Step 2: dang that's cool, someone made me, so I have to be wanted! (yes he needs therapy) Nikolas: That boy would never be the same. His entire view on reality and purpose would be shattered. Lilly: Freaked out. As in, why the fuck would the equivalent of a god be so close to its creation, this feels parasocial Brue: Probably would find me a bit lame/weird for having that as a solution, but would do her best for me to feel supported Harvel: Would feel like he just got out of the cave from Plato's allegory. Would think they're taking it well, they're not, they're having an existential crisis.

🦦 If you have a self insert/paraself, how similar are they to you? Pretty similar! Braver, more reckless. And, well..; not stuck in a static human body-

🕐 Is there any time of the day where you can't/don't daydream? The morning! It can't be the first thing I do after making my coffee- however I can write about it first thing in the morning, just not daydream in itself for some reason. I think it's because I love calm chill mornings so much and even if my daydreams are chill/slice of life sometimes, I move a lot when I daydream, so it doesn't really fit the vibe X)

📜 Are your daydreams linear and structured, or do you jump all over the place? Pretty structured! The jumps are more of a "in the meantime, with X character(s)" kind of thing, but even if there's flashbacks and all it's pretty linear and organised despite me improvising the whole time

🎶 What's a song you've been daydreaming to lately, and what's your favorite moment in said daydream? I've been daydreaming to "Labour - the cacophony" by Paris Paloma. Always for revolts of opressed people, often queer (or queer coded) or feminine people (like the fae or shapeshifters) That song and the feminine rage I feel while listening make me shiver everytime, it's such a powerful song

🐣 Do your paras age with you, or are their ages static? They age with me! And we have a whole history together, we grew up together pretty much! When I include fictionnal characters that I got to know younger, they aged with me too. I don't really think about it much, but if I met them for example 3 years ago, they're aged too since then.

🚀If you had the opportunity to leave this world and live in your paracosm forever, would you? Why or why not? I'm very torn, because this world and these people have been with me for around 10 years, b ut I've found great people in this verse and I'd feel bad abandoning them… I'd rather just float in between them, since the in-between is linked to all worlds theoretically.

🏃 Do you move a lot when daydreaming, and if so, in what ways? I walk (unless I'm in a moving vehicule, as the world already moves around me) and gesticulate a lot, as well as make faces and mouth things.

🎬 Have you ever wanted to make a piece of media of your paracosm (comic, animation, visual novel, novel, tv show, etc.)? I'd love for an animated series and a book series to be made!! But also I could never look at any criticism, not matter how constructive and kind, because it's too much of my baby

💫 When you actively want to start daydreaming, what is your mind's process? I'll look at fanarts and tropes and stuff I like on Tumblr or Youtube, put on some music, and usually it comes easy like this!

👻 Do you ever daydream about yourself (not a self insert, just you)? Yes, but mot in the usual way I daydream. It's more when I'm bored waiting, or even lost in my thoughts, where I'll daydream about what I'll do the next day, or when/if I get my dream cottage, what would my day be like, stuff like that. I don't move, I just sit back, and music isn't necessary for those.

🧱 When you experience a daydream block or crash, what are things you do to try and fix it (or ways you cope)? Consume series, books, movies, animatics, etc, anything that I love and inspire me! I don't usually look at prompts or tropes like usual though. And if it's still blocking, I'll try to discover a new thing I'll love, and that usually gets me out of it. Otherwise, now that it isn't maladaptive anymore, I just do other things (even if I miss my paras, they'll be there when I'm unblocked ❣️)

📖 For fictparacosms, do your daydreams affect how you perceive the media and/or the fandom? The In-Between being in between worlds, I sometimes mix it with some characters and worlds from things I like, so while it's not quite a fictparacosm, I'm still answering this ^^ Yes it does. I'll usually seperate my version and the canon one, as like, an alternate timeline yk? That's the best way I've found, as that way I can enjoy both my daydreams and the source, no matter how different or what happens!

💅 If you have tried to make your paras in character makers (picrew, meiker, etc), what is an aspect of your para that these makers never/rarely have? The colorful glowing tattoos the Bitweenians get when they get "adopted" by the in-between!! There's sometimes tattoos, but they're always in back ink TwT Still looks good, but not quite my vision

👁️ Are your daydreams clear in your mind's eye? Yes! Like a movie/series! Sometimes animated, sometimes live-action!

[themagicalkidproject]

✨💫ASKS ARE OPEN CURRENTLY💫✨

(As of July 15, 2024)

(But if you see like more than 15 here then maybe hold out for a little)

✨💫WHAT’S GOING ON?💫✨

The Magical Kid Project takes place in a world much like our own.

In this world, a mysterious entity appears to outcast adolescents. It calls itself Glass.

It gives them the ability to transform into a Magical Kid, giving them a new outfit, increased strength, stamina, and speed. Magical Kids start out without powers, without weapons, and with a basic white costume- it is up to them to discover who they are and thus what they embody.

A Magical Kid’s costume takes the appearance of their pride flag because they connect deeply to the meaning of the flag.

Glass has slight future awareness. Because of this, there is never more than one Magical Kid representing each flag. That being said, this only accounts for the flag they represent. There may be more than one bi Magical Kid, but only one represents the bi flag.

I, the Creator @theanonymousclown, take the role of recording every Magical Kid currently on the field.

Welcome, everyone, to the Magical Kid Project.

✨💫CURRENT REQUESTS (IN ORDER)💫✨

1. Objectix

2. Omnigender

3. Epicene

4. Gorture

5. Oldwebpartygender

6. Amasui

7. Lovedate

8. Eldrichcute

9. Synthroin

10. Cisgenderqueer

11. Binaryless

12. Fictoreal

13. Arospec/Fictoromantic

14. Lesboy

15. Genderfaun

16. Translunar + Transtidal

17. Frutirobunnyic

18. Strawblainberic

19. Abinary

20. Trixic

21. Honeygender

✨💫TAGS💫✨

#The Magical Kid Project: Main Tag!

#The Creator Speaks: Posts directly from the Creator!

#Lore from The Creator: Lore of TMKP!

#Commissions: Where to find Commissions Info!

TRIGGER WARNINGS

While for right now this blog is focused on the characters, the STORY of The Magical Kid Project will feature aspects of religious trauma, homophobia, transphobia, aphobia, death, injury, and possession. It also features various allusions to Christianity, Angels, and Demons in a negative light. One of the main allegories is how religion can effect how people view the LGBT community, and how the Christian faith can be harmful to queer people. If you have any triggers related to Christianity, I would recommend avoiding this project- some of my anxiety triggers used to be God and Angels, so take my word for it that the topic will be a very apparent and can be a trigger.

[greyscale-exe]

the magic in bbc merlin is a perfect queer allegory

(this is long but i have so many thoughts about bbc merlin and specifically merlin’s character) 

we all know and love bbc merlin as a kinda queerbait-y show about a couple of pals (arthur and merlin) who go on adventures together, but it’s also a great queer allegory (an allegory being a symbolic representation of something else). 

throughout the show, magic is presented as an innate part of a person that they are born with that they cannot control, yet they are persecuted for it. some people can hide it and live fulfilling lives in spite of the anti-magic rhetoric in camelot, but others, like morgana, morgause, nimueh, and others cannot live any other way than loudly themselves. now does that sound at all familiar?? if it does, lovely! that’s a queer allegory!

you can also see this in merlin’s journey from s1 to s5 because in the beginning, he is not at all confident in his magic abilities and he’s (mostly) very careful about people finding out because he is terrified of being outed as a wizard in a city of people who would have him killed. gaius is really his only ally there because he understands merlin’s situation and what he’s going though. you might even say he’s a bit of a queer elder.

in s4 and s5, merlin is significantly more confident in his abilities and you see the shift from being a timid little guy early on, to proudly saying “i was born with it” when agravaine said he had magic. hell, he was even able to stand up to uther and show that he had magic during the ghost episode! to me, this feels comparable to when a queer person has fully accepted their queer identity and gotten over a lot of internalized queerphobia to be able to be loudly and proudly themselves. obviously merlin isn’t suddenly flaunting his magical abilities because as dumb as he can be sometimes he’s not a complete idiot, but he has made his magic a central part of his identity and he’s comfortable with that! 

for merlin “coming out” as a wizard to uther was a huge turning point in his character arc because he was able to leave some of his anger towards uther behind him and prove to himself that he won. uther was scandalized that he had given merlin such a privileged position and yet that just showed how merlin had won. he had survived right under uther’s nose, becoming arthur’s closest friend and lover and to me, that final scene with uther’s ghost is a massive “fuck you” to uther and everything he stood for, after which merlin is more able to come into his own and be more proud of himself and his magic. s1 merlin would not have been at all able to something like that and it always makes me smile when i watch s5. 

--

tldr: most stories about forbidden magic (including bbc merlin) can be interpreted as queer allegories and merlin’s character development over the show is simply so amazing :)

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

1: Magic is a Metaphor > 2: Morgana is a Lesbian > 3: Merlin is Gay > 4: Arthur is Bi

Obviously, magic is a metaphor for being gay. It is something that you're born with, that you can't change, but that you have to hide because the society around you won't accept you. Both Merlin and Morgana are always saying that they've been made to feel like a monster, an outsider, and they just want to be accepted for who they really are. And it's no coincidence that they are the most queer coded characters in the whole show.

But building off of that subtext, I think that you can read the different way that Merlin and Morgana go about trying to achieve equal rights as being an allegory for queer identity politics, where Merlin embodies this homonationalist assimilation strategy. He believes that if he stays closeted and conforms to the status quo, then eventually he will prove that sorcerers are good, moral, normal people and therefore worthy of rights. But over time, he internalises all of this shame and self-hatred and becomes increasingly obsessed with Arthur and dependent on his validation until he becomes complicit in his own oppression.

Meanwhile, Morgana represents a radical rebellion ideology. Even though she comes from a place of privilege, she quickly realises that she can't achieve meaningful change through constitutional methods and therefore resorts to violent protest. But her downfall is that she's more motivated by personal vengeance than a genuine desire for equality. So she creates a lot of infighting within the community by shunning anyone whose ideas aren't as extreme as her own, and she inadvertently confirms all of the negative stereotypes about 'angry witches' that she has been trying to fight against.

Obviously I don't think that all of this political commentary is intentional, but the basic idea of magic being gay is definitely intentional. As evidenced by this quote from the executive producer of the show, where he says very sarcastically, "some people say that (magic) is a metaphor for his sexuality, but that's just read in by them, isn't it? On no level is magic metaphorical in this show." And then Katie McGrath says, "it's funny because I don't actually think you're being sincere." And then she says directly to the audience, "Julian is lying right now."

[phosphorusab]

The Thing About Remus Lupin Being Queercoded (And How Bizarre it is in Hindsight that JK Rowling Ever Wrote Him)

I loved Remus Lupin as an undiagnosed Neurodivergent and unrealized queer kid. Not only was he the most competent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in the Harry Potter series, but genuinely cared about his pupils and was committed to their safety and education.

I remember being very comforted as a little anxious kid by watching the scene where he taught the class on how to face their fears through a boggart or privately teaching Harry how to use the Patronus.

He was an example of a genuinely good and helpful teacher, which I didn’t have in abundance throughout my K-12 education.

What I find extremely bizarre is that Remus Lupin had an explicitly queer allegory in his character, that JK Rowling retconned and killed off. Seeing her true colors and her politics, what was to be expected?

One thing that Rowling explicitly stated that ties Lupin to queerness is the lycanthropy. Werewolves, vampires, etc have had a queer history before Harry Potter, but in Rowling’s universe lycanthropy was a metaphor for the HIV/AIDS virus.

Lycanthropy is an incurable magical condition which causes the sufferer to turn into a uncontrollable violent wolf monster during a full moon. It can be alleviated with a Wolfsbane potion, much like the early cocktails of pills in the 80’s and 90’s were the first medication to prevent the worsening of HIV/AIDS.

The problem is how Remus contracted lycanthropy. The only other known lycanthrope in the series, Fenrir Greyback, intentionally infected Remus Lupin as a child. Fenrir explicitly enjoys preying on children and infecting as many people as he can with lycanthropy.

Explicitly linking HIV/AIDS as a metaphor for lycanthropy, and the only lycanthropes in the series is a literal child predator intentionally spreading magic HIV/AIDS and his victim, is extremely disgusting, thoughtless and poor taste- especially since gay/bisexual men being demonized as diseased sexual predators in the media.

The Prisoner of Azkaban came out in 1997, and Sorcerer’s Stone came out 2 years prior. HIV/AIDS was (and still is) a big issue in the LGBT+ community. Our community lost so many people and we will probably never shake off the stigma HIV/AIDS left on us, I honestly don’t expect it in my lifetime. Rowling couldn’t possibly not have known all of this, but intentionally used lycanthropy as an allegory for HIV/AIDS.

And the consequence of Remus Lupin being outed as a werewolf was being removed from his teaching position at Hogwarts, because parents complained that he would be a threat to their kids- despite most of Lupin’s students loving him, and had it not been for the events in Prisoner of Azkaban, his lycanthropy would still have been a decades long, well guarded Hogwarts secret.

How is this not parallel to the concern of kids having gay/lesbian teachers (closeted or not) that started in the what, the 50’s? And continues under a new scapegoat, that being openly transgender educators? Openly or not, transgender people being anywhere near children? But what would JK Rowling care, right?

Other evidence that the early Harry Potter fandom had in their arsenal that proved Lupin’s queerness was that he was a bachelor and seemed to have chemistry with another bachelor, being his childhood friend Sirius Black. Apparently, even the actors on set of the movies intentionally portrayed them as such.

Rowling did not appreciate constructive criticism, fans theories, attention to canonical details that she wrote that she had forgotten, or attention to plot holes. For whatever reason, she randomly stuck Remus with Tonks at the tail end of the books, having them get married and have a son in the middle of a war.

They never seemed to have any chemistry prior to this random last minute pairing. What I also find insidious in hindsight was that before Tonks got with Lupin, she was a pretty beloved character for her gender fluidity, having been born as a rare shape shifting Metamorphmagus. She was very spunky, independent, and expressed herself with alternative hair styles that would still make a few people clutch their pearls. She also rejected stereotypical womanhood, and explicitly preferred being referred to her surname “Tonks” instead of her birth name “Nymphadora” or “Dora” for short. But after she gets with Lupin and has Teddy, these traits are all erased.

And then they die, for no reason other than shock and to traumatize their child that doesn’t matter to the plot, because they were originally supposed to survive the ending.

I just find it really odd that Rowling decided to put the two most headcannoned queer characters in her books, who have historically “queer” magical abilities like the lycanthropic and shape shifting characteristics, and forced them into what she thinks will make everyone happy- a nuclear family.

I think she wrote Remus, and by extension Tonks, as queer completely by mistake and she had to correct that for whatever reason.

Because JK Rowling doesn’t have the guts or the capability to actually empathetically and delicately write a character like Lupin as queer- someone who isn’t evil or morally grey (like Dumbledore, confirmed in everything except canon) but an educator, a good one at that, who was run out of Hogwarts on a rail because of people just. like. her.

[fertbutt]

I watched the school for good and evil or whatever it's called last night and i am just so conflicted and confused and confounded.

note, this is coming from someone who has never read these books. I think this is the type of series i wouldve devoured in 7th grade though

The premise is borderline dystopian. These kids are being separated into either good or evil, no inbetween, with extremely rigid but also arbitrary rules as to what is good and what is evil. there's no room for change or growth, you're either one or the other for the rest of your life.

agatha and sophia, the protagonists, are upset with this. sophia thinks she's not meant for the evil school, there's been a mistake, and agatha (who is infinitely more likeable throughout the entirety of the movie) just wants to go back to her home to take care of her mother.

as i was watching the scene early on where all the students are separated, and the good boys come out and do all the sword tricks, i sorta came to a realization.

this is a queer allegory, right? am i insane for thinking that? like, this is just But I'm a Cheerleader. the way the boys and girls in the school for good are separated to strictly, forced into these masculine or feminine roles, it's almost satirical.

and the whole movie is satirical, right? it feels like it's trying to be, at least. it's sorta campy and very clearly poking fun at these fairy tale cliches. which can be annoying sometimes, like in Enchanted, but i think this movie does a good enough job of embracing the absurdity of it all without coming off as down-right laughable and corny.

however i still thought there were problems with the tone of the film. they're trying to balance this whimsical, quirky fantasy story with like, high-stakes mature aspects that don't work very well imo. like, a kid gets turned into a bird monster and then killed by another kid who doesnt recognize the monster as him. the kid just dies. this other kid, tedros, just murdered an innocent person. but the story really wants you to like tedros, and really wants agatha to like tedros (even though shes clearly a lesbian but I'll get into that later....) so he never faces any meaningful consequences and never meaningfully changes. agatha is mad at him for like, two scenes.

another example is the weird "love" going on between sophia and the centuries-old evil big bad guy. was this necessary? could he not have just been manipulative and creepy without passionately making out with her in the climax? the actor even looks older than her, the character is supposed to be immortal and young but he looks like hes in his early-to-mid twenties while sophia is clearly a teenager. and im not saying that just because the movie is depicting this sort of relationship, that makes the movie problematic or anything. I'm saying it really, really does not fit in with the tone of the movie. depicting this sort of predatory relationship in a movie for teenagers could be really good, a way to warn the younger audience about relationships with older partners, but that requires much more commentary and critique than this film is even allowed to provide. the movie is already TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG, adding in a subplot about an abusive predatory relationship wouldve just overstuffed it even more. so why even bother if you're just going to half-ass it? what's the point? to make the story more mature? it's about fairy tales and folklore and a magic school, it doesn't have to be dark and edgy.

but at least, i said as i was watching it, they were still seemingly trying to critique all of these things. I kept watching, hoping that this would all be resolved, and they would come to the obvious conclusion that separating children into these two factions benefits nobody and the whole concept should be gotten rid of. and also, sophia and agatha should kiss.

the entire movie these two were in love, i swear I'm not pulling this out of my ass. the way that they only ever had each other, and they were always doing things for each other, and they always had each other in mind. the movie sets up this whole idea of true love's kiss, and in typical young adult fantasy fashion sophia scrambles to find a guy to magically fall in love with, and agatha helps her. and it just felt so clear to me that logically sophia should just kiss agatha. all of this movie's sins would have been forgiven, if it was just sapphic.

and guess what. they do kiss. in the most unsatisfying way possible.

in the climax, evil big bad makes out with sophia, and the whole school starts to be destroyed and it's the apocalypse or whatever, and agatha comes to save sophia, obviously. evil big bad tries to impale agatha with a giant magic quill, sophia pushes agatha out of the way and gets impaled instead. tedros tries to kill evil big bad with excalibur, fails. sophia, with her last ounce of strength, levitates the sword into agatha's hands so she can slay the evil big bad, and agatha succeeds. agatha goes to sophia, bleeding out on the ground, cries over her dying body. sophia confesses her love for agatha, agatha reciprocates. AGATHA KISSES SOPHIA ON THE LIPS. SOPHIA IS REVIVED BY TRUE LOVES KISS. I was ecstatic.

and then.. sophia calls agatha her best friend. sophia offers to leave agatha at the school with tedros and watch over agatha's mother for her. agatha almost agrees, goes over to tedros and fully kisses him on the lips, then says she cant leave her best friend. the movie says "what's greater than the love between two best friends". they go back home, holding hands. I'm devastated.

they don't get rid of the schools for good and evil. at the end, theyre just switched, and they just decide it's okay for good students and evil students to be friends.

and that's the movie. in a word, disappointing. it couldve been so much more, it set up all these cool things, all of the pieces were there, but in the end they just ended up scrambling the whole puzzle. it's just so frustrating. I'm sure someone else could give a much better analysis of the things this movie gets wrong, and a tumblr post probably isnt the best outlet for this sort of thing, but I had to put this somewhere. if you actually read this far, thanks, if you read this far and you still love the movie, thank you sincerely for listening to my ramble.

[dontgofarfromme]

hey! you post a lot of realm of the elderlings, would you recommend it? i’m a fantasy die hard but have heard that the back half of the series is a bit iffy so i’m hesitant to dive into this one haha, would love your opinion on the books!!

Hey! Sooooo my answer to this is the same as my answer to this question for a lot of extremely long fantasy series which is: are you prepared to read 16 entire books that are significantly flawed in order to experience the absolute brilliance they simultaneously house.

There's absolutely no wrong answer, this series is so goddamn long and for some people getting through the sometimes incomprehensible plots and weird changes in story direction and Robin Hobb's thesis on gender and sexuality (the bad one, involving "why women need to keep their legs closed or die in childbirth," "men always fight over women to have sex with them this is the way of nature" and honest to god the stupidest love triangles i have read about in years) aren't worth the effort. However if you do manage it you get to experience some of the best, most life-like characters I've ever read, lovely and awful arcs about how trauma and parenting and social standing and shame and love shape and change who a person is, and Robin Hobb's (accidental?) thesis on gender and sexuality (the good one, involving forbidden magic as an extremely apt allegory for sexuality, a character whose gender was self described as something along the lines of "why do you care," and honest to god one of the most batshit and beautiful queer love stories I have read in my life).

I would put out a baseline warning that these books get pretty dark. If you're not doing well mentally right now and feel that reading more depressing shit might drop your mood rather than being cathartic, I'd consider foregoing them until you're in a better place. (Otoh, if youre looking for something cathartic, this might be the series for you). The first time I tried to read these books I finished the first series feeling hollow and angry that I had been left where I was, and looking for spoilers about the rest of the series only worsened that. When I read them the second time, having a baseline understanding of how sad they could get (and also being in a completely different situation, looking for a different type of experience) allowed me to appreciate the range these books actually do have--it isn't all down, there's a lot of happy and funny moments as well. And the sad/bad moments are done incredibly well and are frequently some of my favorite parts of the series. But if you wouldn't consider yourself at least somewhat of a tragedy-enjoyer I would tread cautiously, as while they are not wholly tragic these are also not books where everything is always guaranteed to work out happily.

Personally my favorite series is the second Fitz trilogy, which is both beautiful and gut-wrenching and is imo the strongest subseries all the way thru. When i reread i did it with the intent of getting to and reading this subseries bc of things i had heard about it, and god was it worth it. The last trilogy does have a somewhat divisive ending that I will not go into in detail on. There are elements of it that I don't like, but at the same time, for me i found reading the entire series to be worth the parts i was unsatisfied with. I don't think that it would be worth it for everyone, though. Ultimately I'd say to consider what you're getting yourself into (it's SIXTEEN books), and if you do decide to read it remember that you're not obligated to finish it (or to read every single book--skip shit if u feel like it!). Good luck in ur decision and potential reading endeavors!!