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awhimproned · 9 months

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"you don't actually want the thing you think you want", a nandermo retrospective

In this post of mine deep diving into the decision of guillermo staying human, I said I wanted to make a nandermo analysis at one point. I absolutely have no self-control so I immediately started working on it. So, welcome. This is it.

This post will attempt to analyze in depth two implications of the infamous quote from above by Yana Gorskaya:

It’s shipbaiting and we’ve got a storm coming

It’s slowburn and the importance of recognizing toxic dynamics even when enjoying the drama and the potential

The quote comes from this interview question right here:

It can be interpreted in a lot of ways and directions, the most prominent one being “and they were platonic all along. trust us you dont want them together” — it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth because I can see the showrunners dangling a carrot in front of a target audience until the finish line. Especially when one of the directors herself says and proves outright that nandor and guillermo have been framed romantically on purpose just by having the line “will they won’t they relationship” in the interview.

Keep in mind the admittance of will they won’t they directly out of Yana automatically eliminates the argument that the writers were strictly going for platonic friends. There’s no refusal. No going: yea no we dont know. They wrote nandor and guillermo to be romantic.

From there we have two routes we can take:

1) On the direction that they’re not having nandermo be a thing: This makes everything shipbaiting.

At least it’s not queerbaiting, I hear you say, both characters are queer. I’d argue shipbaiting is worse in this situation, because in this frame, it rather looks like the showrunners are using the certain attachment and sentiments of the audience to string people along:

Both of these characters are people of color, one is plus size, both of them queer. If it’s shipbaiting, this kind of alludes to discrimination, I’m afraid. It does not look good on the showrunners/producers’ part (when Taika’s name is attached, too. This man is literally in OFMD. Help)

And you don’t want to be like Jason Rothenberg; beefing with your own fandom, making writing decisons to spite them, kill a lesbian character after exploiting your sapphic audience and be infamous for the worst case of bury your gays, shipbait for seven seasons to hold the largest fandom in the audience to keep your views up, mistreat your POC cast members... etc. God, yeesh.

It’s almost incriminating in that sense, when they stopped floating around the idea of them and made it canon by dropping the “maybe he has feelings for you as well” line in season 3 and while guillermo was disguised as nandor. And have him be bitchy about gail. Everything about s3 told us that guillermo had a thing for nandor.

If nandor and guillermo were intended strictly as just a couple of pals, they could easily shut down the excitement and expectation for the ship, but instead they did those. It was a confirmation more than anything rather than a rebuttal.

But I guess for the shipbaiting case, the “rebuttal” was s4 when Guillermo was in his healing era, Nandor wanted a wife, and they resetted allathat in s3 to practically nothing.

As much as I’m going to use this as an opposition argument in section two, it also is a potential support for shipbaiting case, and that is the repetition of “friends” for nandor&guillermo that started becoming more of a thing in seasons 4&5. Especially s4.

It saw Guillermo outgrowing Nandor for a potential love interest when s3 had the biggest plot twist in their favor ever, it was going somewhere, and then they immediately established not only Guillermo finding a boyfriend in London, but also him having no hard feelings about Nandor wanting to find a wife when we all know how hard he’d taken Gail — and most important of it all, Nandor just wanting a Freddie of his own. It’s really weirdly romantic drama-centric with each of them getting partners & setting up for jealousy, but the writers subvert every trope, and instead do this weird shit with Nandor’s storyline where it’s purely a horror story from Marwa’s POV and he’s a horrible, selfish monster (and I was flabbergasted at the downward spiral his character took) — yet he’s incredibly “generous” to Guillermo because he chose to make his own Freddie rather than take his and let him go in the end, it’s all so very bizarre.

Which makes the shipbait even more outrageous. Because now it’s personal since it has more shipbait moments inbetween that don’t have heterosexual explanations. KEEP IN MIND THEY’RE STILL FRAMED ROMANTICALLY THEY KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND THE WHOLE THING WITH DEREK IS A WHOLE CHEATING METAPHOR.

The equivalent would be that one scene in Sherlock BBC when irene goes “of course you are [in love with him]” to john and how the show keeps bringing up how other characters think they’re in a relationship and saying it. You never want to be like Sherlock, either. Ugh.

I’ve been in through enough queerbaiting&shipbaiting to know that it could definitely turn out this way, and I’m still half-expecting this to be honest. I’m also a big fan of ofmd and go, but they’re exceptions, not the norm, and as much as wwdits is a wildly revolutionarily queer show, there is enough material for it all to turn out to be nothing.

So, in conclusion: shipbaiting turns out to be worse than it is because it’s on purpose and there’s no salvaging it after the “it was friendship all along ❤️” insistence, there’s receipts and the actors are on board with it. And in a situation like things, there is only one thing to say:

At least we have fanfiction and the actors like the pairing.

2) On the direction that nandermo is a thing: “you don’t know what you’re asking for and you won’t like it if we give it to you right now” dilemma, aka “you don’t actually want the thing you think you want” —

which basically rounds up to yana meaning, if nandor and guillermo were to be a thing right now at this point in their relationship, it would be messy, abusive and toxic [and there are still other plots to explore and directions this pairing could/have to be taken before they become canon.]

“Yeah they are messy, toxic characters, we know what we’re asking for,” I hear you saying. And I say to that, no, you really don’t, and you would end up hating what they did with nandor and guillermo if they became canon before they were true equals. One example of this would be people switching on Olicity (Oliver and Felicity from Green Arrow, wildly popular crackship there was no hope and only the teasing of in the fandom before it became a real thing) after the writers rushed to make them canon and did them very wrong afterwards.

The allure of nandermo is guillermo breaking the status quo and catching nandor slipping by establishing himself as his equal, destroying the power imbalance completely, them standing as individuals with equal power if not guillermo flipping the dynamic upside down and asserting dominance over nandor this time when he was a mere familiar nandor couldn’t care less about before.

This process is still in progress as of season 5 and let me tell you this, them becoming canon during Guillermo’s familiar status would have been downright icky.

This show’s only other canon ship ladja is the most healthy, gomez and morticia-esque thing ever, they’re in love, they’re horny all the time, they are queer, they fuck other people all the time and encourage each other, they’re wildly protective of one another, the man steps up to be a single father of a child he isn’t obligated to look after and he doesnt let it derail his wife’s career or force motherhood onto her, like. Do you really expect they wouldn’t let nandermo cook enough before they are on this level of iconic and healthy before they become a thing?

Nandor wasn’t even able to admit that Guillermo was a friend to him (and to Guillermo’s face) up until season 5. In season 1 he was weirded out by even saying it, in season 4 he could only manage to say “best man” and immediately reverse when the word friend was brought up — “closest companion for 13 years” in the market fight & “i may have killed my friend” muttered to himself before guillermo comes bursting out the door, it’s like he didn’t want to admit out loud that Guillermo became very important to him in a very short amount of time. Half of the pairing consisting of a person who is unable to make it clear and known to the other how important and precious he is just doesn’t sit well in the case they are in a relationship.

And the power imbalance is still there even if you don’t see it or think it’s gone, albeit knocked almost even by “I can kill you if I want to but I don’t” assertiveness from Guillermo.

Because even in season 3 and 4 in instances Guillermo was able to best Nandor in power, he’s still inferior to and is in service of him — because he’s working for something he wants from Nandor, which Nandor of course keeps taking advantage of by treating Guillermo like a subservient familiar (although it keeps getting better as things change more and more) even if in name he’s a bodyguard.

Their relationship is that of employment in name, the nature of it is give-and-take, Guillermo says it himself in s3 Nandor is a boss more than a friend and he would still be have to be “friends” with him because he’s his boss. And let’s be honest, before Nandor really became found family to him and he himself realized that over the seasons, Nandor was a means to an end for Guillermo, he’s “Master”, not “Nandor”.

And from Nandor’s perspective, Guillermo is with him because he wants to be a vampire. Simple as that. It’s what allows Nandor to exploit Guillermo.

Imagine a premature romance happening in these circumstances, it’d be absolutely in abuse territory, you don’t make your significant other do the dirty work for you like that. It’s why boss-employee relationships are most of the times, forbidden in the workplace, because the boss holds some power over the employee and can very much have them do things that they don’t want to do.

Nandor would not be able to see Guillermo as an equal even when there are feelings involved, because I have to remind you, Nandor is a cruel bastard, and it would turn into one of those AITA posts real quick between them when Guillermo is fully in service of Nandor still.

And remember how Nandor treated his “love” Marwa, how fast he dropped her from his life once that “phase” was over, all the things he did to her, she was his significant other — yet he never connected with her, not really, she was just an accessory to him and this was supposed to be “love”; and the other side of the coin, how he keeps self-sabotaging and ignoring his real problem by filling the void with what he thinks is the solution, getting in the way of his own happiness.

This can’t be ideal from Guillermo’s perspective when imagining a relationship with him.

And now, change Guillermo’s gender. Imagine it being a woman who’s going through this. It’s putrid toxic when you think about it like that. And to think “she” would receive Nandor’s respect and equal footing once she became a vampire same as him — uhh... No, please, thank you. It’s less fun and more this is problematic when the tables turn, isn’t it?

Not to mention how open the vampires’ relationships and sex lives are, they are not monogamous. Guillermo is a very repressed and private Catholic, he wouldn’t be able to handle Nandor and Laszlo’s trysts. He has his own journey to go through for him to be also into open relationships because Nandor sure as hell won’t turn monogamous for him, this is wwdits.

Which is why the progress of “work relationship” to “official declaration of friendship” over the course of season 4 & 5 is very important in their dynamic, because it takes things into a more attentive, caring and intimate territory in which both openly care for each other beyond being Master and Familiar. They both grew tremendously as individuals. Guillermo admits he loves Nandor the most, Nandor is finally able to say that Guillermo is his friend and openly do acts of service and somewhat redeem his selfish actions in s4 when he was lashing out making dumb decisions and actively self-sabotaging because he was given the power instead of confronting leftover problems he was repressing from s3.

This solidifies their connection, makes it something undeniable that it affects a vampire who immediately is able to move on from another’s death. You’re shown again and again how they react to death and how insignificant it is to them, yet Nandor is close to tears when he thinks Guillermo is dead, falls to his knees even, and is even more disturbed and outraged when he thinks Laszlo is violating his corpse.

For the first time you see that more than an unhealthy codependency or a symbiotic relationship between a vampire and a slayer bodyguard/familiar, Nandor is emotionally attached to Guillermo.

Like, really attached that he will actually be kind and giving and forgiving — not only did he violate a vampire society taboo to kill a fellow vampire, but also overcame the pride and humiliation because he finally realizes Guillermo is much more important to him and that he actually doesn’t want to kill him when the anger lets up enough for him to see that. (Thank you Patton Oswald for your service)

And we don’t stop there. He accepts him as an equal and invites him to live together in the house, which proves that even when he was a slayer bodyguard Nandor didn’t see him as an equal, and after Guillermo is having problems with the killing side of being a vampire, he doesn’t humiliate or shame Guillermo through this. You‘d think he and the vampires would make fun of him endlessly, but they let Nandor organize this intricate ritual so all of them together can allow Guillermo’s decision to be as authentic and without pressure and shame as possible. You’d think that ritual room was prepared by Guillermo but everything is done by Nandor, so he proves he’s not entirely unable to function as a normal being who can live by himself, he’s just dramatic and likes to be pampered.

If you thought The Roast was an incredibly generous nandermo episode for me to think we collectively hallucinated it like a Goncharov moment, this final episode is downright fanfic. Nandor has never been this nice with Guillermo, EVER.

All of this is done right after Nandor’s official admitting that Guillermo is his friend. This is a crucial step in their relationship for Nandor to consider Guillermo to be more, and Guillermo to question just what they are.

And love can only work where there’s mutual affection and respect for one another. And the writers are gradually working up to achieve that while tackling individual character arcs for nandor and guillermo to get there.

The power imbalance I’m talking about is a thing that exists beyond the powers they hold over the other’s head, it is about what they think of each other as. What Nandor is to Guillermo, and what Guillermo is to Nandor.

They could only become canon without it being toxic is when Nandor can look at Guillermo and think — “This is my friend and not my servant” and when the carrot of vampirism isn’t hanging in front of Guillermo and he’s naturally an actual part of the friend group (so that he wouldn’t be mistreated while he’s Nandor’s partner too.)

And I really don’t think nadja out of nowhere saying “my best friend” about laszlo was a coincidental writing choice.

And we’re nearly there at this point. Mister Nandor nobody can betray me and get away with it the Relentless just let Guillermo get away with it, and not only that, he fixed everything for him. Everything. He didn’t even get jealous that Guillermo had a choice in staying human when he obviously would kill to be human in season 3. He just went “I will fix”. It’s the most selfless thing he did in the entire series and he only got competent and smart when it was Guillermo in question — he wanted to fix the friendship.

And in episode 8, he told Baron Afanas — “whatever Guillermo’s flaws may be [...]”

That suggests Nandor doesn’t see any flaw in Guillermo, and is unaware if they do in fact, exist. He genuinely likes Guillermo, enough to cry and mourn when he thinks him dead, enough to snap at the Baron and defend him until the end, enough to clutch his favorite sweater like a shock blanket. It was this episode that cemented Guillermo as indisposable to Nandor, and the season finale to establish how far Nandor would go and soften himself up (change) if it was for Guillermo’s sake, he’s never been that tender and considerate, ever with Guillermo,

and you could say at that point it could be because they were “equals” as vampires but Nandor knew what he would choose — the focus on his hands when he’s personally dressing guillermo (pride and prejudice hand flex, dont @ me). "don't be nervous we've all been through it" (gentle). "nothing you cannot handle" (encouraging). Making up an intricate ritual so that he wouldn’t feel pressured or stressed or shamed. "you wanna be a human, there's no shame in that". (These vampires clown on EVERYONE) "we're gonna make it happen". "you want me to do it?". "I don't know" "I do". Keeping Guillermo's old or spare glasses in his pocket like it was something he came across while he was destroying Guillermo’s things like some lover scorned and he saved it like it was some keepsake. “I'm sorry, Guillermo. That was the only way for you to figure out what you actually wanted”. The hand on his shoulder to comfort him and the patting. “It was a horrible and hard decision. I think you made the right choice.” (Nandor himself would have killed derek in a heartbeat if it was his decision to return to being a human, but he still spared Guillermo’s feelings because he knows how hard it was for Guillermo. Since when is Nandor considerate about another person’s feelings? Guillermo is special.)

He was so very unexpectedly gentle and he’s never ever been that way and I am still in shock about his honesty and the effort he’s put into helping. This was the biggest gift he could have given Guillermo, not the vampirism, but a way out of it when he didnt want it anymore, a choice. And he wouldnt have done that if he didnt deeply care for Guillermo —

And with that, we’re almost out of the toxicity zone into a yet new dynamic with them, one that isn’t about who’s dominant and who’s submissive, but them finally being able to stand on equal ground, if Guillermo isn’t asking for vampirism from Nandor anymore and isn’t implicitly going back to being his familiar.

If they’re going towards a romantic relationship, this was an important border to cross and a topic finally handled the way it needs to be addressed. The one thing that’s causing a chain of command in their relationship is gone. And anything can happen. Anything.

I don’t believe that line about cleaning up Derek’s body was meant to imply Guillermo was back to being a familiar for Nandor and that we are back to square one. His phrasing was extremely polite — “Now if you wouldn’t mind cleaning up Derek’s corpse before sunrise that would be great”. That’s not an order. Derek is Guillermo’s mess, so he has to handle it himself, it’s like saying “I’ve done all this and I even killed him for you, and the rest is yours to deal with,” — it’s like saying “I cooked, you do the dishes”, and Nandor is giving him space to deal with his decision, hell, he didn’t even tell Guillermo to clean everything else like he normally would, now that would suggest back to the status quo.

Season 5 was fucking HUGE for nandermo and all of guillermo’s dynamics with everyone. It still feels like a fever dream to be honest. They really went and got rid of what was clogging up the progress of their relationship. They’re just. Happening naturally. It’s a slowburn if it’s meant to happen eventually and the writers are being really careful with doing things in the right way for it to not become toxic.

You just gotta have some faith in the team and wait for it.

In conclusion: Yes fucked up relationships are fun. until it’s canon and people are making discourse on the internet about how abusive it really is when it could have been handled better. The ross and rachel-ification of nandermo is the last thing we need.

There’s definitely things I’ve missed because im purely making this post on mobile and it’s not as coherent as I’d like it to be, if I have, please don’t hesitate to tell me.

#nandermo #guillermo de la cruz #nandor the relentless #wwdits meta #wwdits #what we do in the shadows #wwdits s5 #wwdits spoilers #wwdits season 5

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iamadequate1 · 4 months

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More Clownery!

I'm in the mood for some clownery! 🤡 I know nothing about the TV industry beyond the fact that Zaslav really sucks at it, so I can make baseless theories to cheer myself along.

In our clownery, I don't think the strikes have been mentioned a lot? There is this Q3 2023 Earnings Call from WBD with this Zaslav (?) quote:

And while the third quarter subscriber numbers were impacted by one of our lightest original content schedules in years, in part due to the strike constraints that compelled us to delay some releases, as well as a further decline in the overlapping Discovery Plus subscriber base, which we expected and discussed with you.

This was in response to 700k subscriber loss Max had in Q3 2023, and it makes the cancellation of every original show just a headscratcher. WBD is not alone in delaying project releases. The strike is going to have an impact that won't resolve in a few months, and streamers are going to continue to have light original content schedules. (I know I just saw an article about Netflix using almost the exact same quote; I tried to find it, but it was a super depressing "Netflix cancels everything" pool I entered, and I don't need it in my clownery.)

What's the clownery point, though? Streamers have a large gap in original programming that they usually don't. When we talk about other renewal campaigns and try to compare to them, most of those campaigns are not coming directly after an event causing complaints of "light original content schedules." They're in more of need of original content than usual, and there is this show that's in the top 0.2% of demand, a loud fanbase that does effective marketing for free (remember, OFMD wasn't marketed AT ALL and beat MCU and Star Wars shows with S1), untapped international markets and merchandizing opportunities, a strong Gen Z demographic, and strong diverse representation. It's a slam dunk hit in a time that streamers need to pad their schedules. Something has to go terribly wrong for there to be no pick up (and, goodness, in our world do things go terribly wrong often).

Max is a failure of a platform, and "The Numbers" that Bloys was talking about was that Max itself doesn't have resources, methinks. I wonder now is it even going to be a platform in two years. They could have renewed OFMD, got it into production later this year, then needed a year in post, and... would Max even be there? Max as a platform isn't even a year old, and WBD hasn't had hold of HBO for two years yet. Here is a list of Max original programming, and just looking at a list of those things that premiered 2022 or later, the renewal rate is awful. OFMD was its top show (or easy Top 3... which they would release "The Numbers"), and it couldn't survive. They don't make many series, and they can't even support what they do make. Quality of the shows isn't the issue: it's that Max itself is a failure. We saw that funny article about WBD's stock downgrade, and it said that WBD should license Game of Thrones and Friends out, and frankly, if they do that, that's the end of Max as a platform. That's the bulk of their traffic, and people aren't paying an extra $20/mo for background noise reality TV when YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. are right there.

I stand by this 4evah:

#our flag means death #ofmd #save ofmd #adopt our crew #🤡🤡🤡🤡

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depressedstressedlemonzest · 7 months

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Weekly Tag Wednesday! (actually on Wednesday)

It's that time again! Time for another round of Weekly tag Wednesday!! Today is all about music, food and fics!

Thank you @rayrayor @ian-galagher @mybrainismelted @lingy910y @energievie @creepkinginc@jrooc for the tags!

🔤 Name: Lem

🎶 Last song you listened to: La Vie En Rose sung by Emily Watts

🎵 Artist on Spotify giving you the feels : Can't really think of one.

👯‍♂️ Fave Blorbo Moment:

Sidenote when I googled "mickey getting franny a gun I got half shameless half disney results

🍟 Your guilty pleasure snack: Brownie batter. Everything all mixed in, then just not baking it.

🌮 What food are you craving today: charlies. Basically chili cheese fries from this drive thru from my mom's home town called Dairy King. We were able to try them before the place closed, but it's been a few years, and the family's recipe isn't the one the new restaurant has.

📖 Last fanfic tab you opened

If He's The Moon, I'm Eclipsed by Myfavoritesweater

🖌️ Favorite fic project you've created: God that's hard. Maybe The Upside? It's pretty challenging accuracy wise because I want proper disability rep and I have to be careful and consult people with the same abilities and limitations that Ian has.

👩🏼‍🎤 Next tattoo you want (or would consider if you're not a tattoo person): Different pansies and plants representing Good Omens and alpha centuri plus the "To The World" quote. Is the first one I have planned, and an appointment in January (@suzy-queued I keep meaning to update you with the appointment lol)

But since seeing the finale of OFMD I want to get a quote from Izzy, plus something significant botanical wise to fit my theme. But the quote it: It’s about belonging to something when the world has told you you’re nothing. It’s about finding the family to kill for when yours are long dead.

🧐🆓 What's living in your head rent free this week

That this will be my third weekend in a row off and how fucking nice it is and i need to enjoy it because the next weekend is back to work every other. LAAAMe

Tagging @witchboywitchboywitchboy @suzy-queued @scurvgirl @m4ndysk4nkovich @flamingbluepanda and @mikhailoisbaby

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bulkyphrase · 7 months

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Hi there, question for you: do you filter any tags? What are they, if you don't mind sharing? (even just a yes or no answer is helpful if you don't wish to elaborate)

Just FYI, I'm going around and asking this same question to others in the community (so please don't feel targeted or anything like that), but if you wouldn't mind answering this question, I'd be very curious to know your answer!

If you do answer, please consider tagging your reply "#filtered tags ask" for convenience, and if you're inclined to copy/paste this ask into others' ask boxes, it'd be much appreciated 🙏

I do filter tags! I filter a bunch of tags, actually:

#amber heard #anti endgame #anti endgame steve #anti mcu wanda maximoff #anti peggy #anti peggy carter #anti st*ggy #anti steggy #anti steve rodgers #anti steve rogers #anti team cap #anti wanda maximoff #anti wandavision #avengers incorrect quotes #barry #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #call of duty #chris evans x reader #dark!steve x reader #dark!steve x you #dead poets society #dps #house md #howard stark x reader #hydra husbands #incorrect marvel quotes #incorrect mcu quotes #incorrect quotes #johnny depp #jonny depp #kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #Kiseki: Dear to me #loki x reader #lucifer #mcu incorrect quotes #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x you #natasha x reader #not a rating #ofmd #pro tony stark #reader insert #rwrb #rwrb spoilers #starker #steve rodgers x reader #steve rogers critical #steve rogers x black!reader #steve rogers x fem!reader #steve rogers x male reader #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x reader fluff #steve rogers x stark!reader #steve rogers x you #steve x reader #this is a captain carter hate blog sorry #tony stark defense squad #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x you

These are a mix of tags I actively don't want to see anywhere (e.g. anti steve rogers), popular stuff I don't mind but am tired of seeing on my dash (e.g. ofmd), and tags that I'm willing to see from trusted people but not the general tumblr population (e.g. anti endgame, or pro tony stark). Plus the never ending quest to keep tag search and browse results from being clogged with a bunch of super long x reader fics.

#filtered tags ask #ask

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lamardeuse · 1 year

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2022 writing review

1. Number of works posted to AO3: 10 (8 fics plus 2 vids)

2. Word count posted for the year: 59,553 (not a lot compared to some but in terms of the last few years it’s one of my higher word counts, and the highest one since 2012)

3. Fandoms I wrote for: 9-1-1, Merlin, Our Flag Means Death

4. Pairings: Buck/Eddie, Merlin/Arthur, Lucy Donato/OFC, Ed/Stede

5. Story with the most:

kudos: Bajo Fuerte Como Ron

bookmarks & comment threads: Forest for the Trees

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): eh, I don’t know about “proud” but I was pleased with among the rusted hulls of years, which was such fun because I was able to get back to writing about both London and Merlin again. It was also gratifying to hear from people that it had hit the mark for them in terms of the emotional notes because it covered some pretty heavy topics and I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten the mix right.

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): again, I don’t really think of it in terms of being “proud” of fanworks - I’m just happy I managed to write as much I did, and each story or vid has elements I enjoyed.

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: this one that I got yesterday, I mean holy fuck. And this one from the recipient of the Merlin fic was pretty damn amazing too.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: the last month I haven’t been all that motivated to write, but I’m hoping to get some more 911 fic written before 6B airs in March.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: basically, there’s always a point (if I’m lucky) in every fic where the characters take over and it feels like they’re writing it - I don’t know where a particular line or idea comes from as I’m writing it. It’s weird, but interestingly those are the lines or ideas that often get quoted back to me by people. There were times in Forest for the Trees, for example, which I was trying to write in Buck’s voice in the description as well as the dialogue, where I swear that I was channeling him - for instance, I have no idea where the Shape of Water comparison came from. It’s when I know I’m on the right track.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: probably the whole of the getting-together scene in The Art of Wifery - I was trying to write Ed POV and get Stede’s voice right and I felt like that whole scene really built and flowed naturally, so I was pleased with it. One excerpt:

When he's standing right behind Stede, Ed sees him close his eyes. There's a fine tremor in Stede's shoulders as he takes a deep breath in through his nose.

“What's wrong?”

Stede opens his eyes again, and this time the light catches a shine in them that wasn't there before. “Nothing. For the first time in my life, I think I can honestly say nothing is wrong.”

“Stede –”

“And you know, I don't care if you want me to wear a dress for the rest of my bloody life, if it makes you look at me like that – if it makes you –”

“Jesus, Stede, it's not about the dress.”

Stede's reflection raises an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, so it's a little bit about the dress,” Ed admits. “But not the way you think.”

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: Just getting back into writing semi-regularly in the last couple of years (and vidding this year) has been such a joy, 911 and OFMD have been a gift.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: Not a freaking clue. I do want to try to write something longer again, I guess, and push myself to get back to writing an actual plot of some complexity.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc): there is SO MUCH great meta in 911 fandom from people like @yramesoruniverse and it’s really helped me to see the characters and the buck/eddie relationship in particular from so many different angles. You’re all amazing and I adore your energy, your enthusiasm and your big brains.

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: way too much hahaha - and the freaky thing is sometimes I don’t pick up on it until afer I’ve written it.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Don’t get butthurt if you’re called out on something you’ve written that’s caused harm. Writing it in the first place doesn’t necessarily make you a dickhead, but crying about it and getting your friends to defend your honour against marginalized people who are giving you free advice on how to do better? That definitely makes you a dickhead. Apologize, fix it and apply what you’ve learned in the future. Learn to separate yourself from your work a little bit - criticism of a fic is not criticism of you personally.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: Oh god, there’s a buddie AU I want to write but it will take Work and I’m trying to motivate myself to get started on it.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: Anyone and everyone!

#my stuff

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schmirius · 2 years

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I really do miss fic headers from 10, 20 years ago so much

the average header length I've been seeing lately as I go through OFMD fic (being written furiously this summer -- and I love and appreciate being part of a currently airing canon having fun during a hiatus) has been something like *300 words*

100 words of tags -- the relationships & characters; plus the freeform tags which besides being self-deprecating asides also seem to feature every possible vaguely upsetting topic which the fic may contain, various sex acts, etc

100 words quoted from the story itself

and then the word -OR- followed by 100 words where the author explains the premise or lets you know where the plot will be going.

I want to stress that I've been reading many of these stories and loving them

I also want to stress how much more tedious this is than "Harry/Draco, explicit. Draco doesn't take losing the Quidditch match very well." "100k, COMPLETE. Voldemort's back and... teaching Defence? This is going to be a very bad sixth year. Harry/Draco, Remus/Sirius, Dumbledore being a bastard. Updates weekly." "Draco pauses in front of an unfamiliar door – has that always been there? Angst. PG."

I really don't need that much information, lmao. I'm already on the site and I already searched the starring pairing, I'm gonna read the fic

#the summaries are longer than a single mobile phone screen even after the ao3 skin that trims down the visible tags

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jaskierx · 3 months

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personally idgaf what randos on twitter will think because it's the same strawman of the first time - people can spend their income however they want and it doesn't make them bad peopleTM, plus yeah, other campaigns had multiple billboards outside the US, no it's not a uniquely evil ofmd invention - the true question is WHO organized this so badly. and like i even think i saw one of the first people to come up with the suggestion and they were in complete good faith so literally what is this group thinking with not taking feedback

absolutely, i don't have an issue with people spending their money how they want, but i DO have an issue with people bungling a campaign and getting people to donate money for something that will have a shockingly low return on investment

they didn't shop around for different quotes. they didn't check the location on street view. they clearly didn't speak to anybody who is familiar with london. they just listened to the first advertising guy they found, took everything he said at face value, and happily let him rinse them for all they're worth

and we still don't know whose name the kofi is in. it's madness

#asks #anon

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fresne999 · 2 years

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Let's Talk about Mary (OFMD Meta)

"It’s not quite that Our Flag refuses the traditionally gendered themes and archetypes of our myths and legends – the feminised repression of justified aggression and the toxically masculine imperative to “engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation”, as American author and social activist bell hooks put it, so “that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves”. It’s more that the writers have rightfully restored both of those themes within the same characters so that, regardless of gender or sexuality, they can claim their birthright to the full register of the human emotional experience."

This quote from the linked article gets at something I've been trying to articulate for a bit about OFMD.

Let's just start out with gender is a social construct. What it means to be a man or a woman comes to us from a complex historical and cultural soup. That we're living with a binary itself is like the carrot (where the default is "all men are created equal" and "where no man has gone before" aka men are the default) serves as a base for the soup. If "Grosse Pointe Blank" is to believed, carrots are not a boring base.

And while it's actually not really possible to talk about how gender is constructed in the US (OFMD is a US made show) without going into the intersectionality of all the various other -isms/intersections (plus fighting communism for reasons), but I'm trying to keep this shortish.

Okay, OFMD. Diverse cast. Mostly men, because piracy. Jim, breaking that binary. Spanish Jackie, queen of her domain (though it is a republic) - at some point I'll write something about her, and let's talk about Mary.

Before the show, we see how Mary has also internalized the unhealthy paradigms assigned to her by what society says a upper/middle class woman should do / be like.

It's this paradigm where repressing emotions still happens. Those emotions are your own in the service of others. Instead you're supposed to take all your emotional tools and put them to the use of the nuclear family unit. Do all the emotional labor. Be cooperative. Passive. Gentle. Submissive.

There's Mary. Sometimes, saying she's happy with her life. Sometimes admitting she's unhappy too. Trying to reach out to Stede, who's Father chopped off the head of a goose and told him from the get-go he's failing at the work of a man, because of toxic masculinity. But we're talking about Mary and toxic femininity.

Mary is supposed to make the best of things, because we only have one life to live. Never mind she's clutching a glass of wine to hold it together.

She and Stede don't play with the children together, even further they don't talk to the children together. That whole scene at the table could be read as Stede being an unreliable narrator, but I'm going to take it.

When Mary is talking to Alma about her favorite horse, Stede tries to enter the conversation and gets shut down, because this is Mary's time to talk to the children. He's supposed to be over there reading his book / sitting behind his newspaper, performing his assigned role.

That she responds by redirecting to talk of a favorite pig, when I suspect she knows that Stede has body image issues related to weight (and the only person in the narrative that appears to do so) and makes that comment deliberately. I'm not dissing Mary. I love the character, but it's also true that when you repress the ability to talk directly, and everything in your life is supposed to be, "How may I help you," then a very real and understandable anger and toxicity can leak out in other ways.

It's passive aggression, because active aggression isn't an option, but frank discussion isn't allowed either. So subtle digs and the weaponization of kindness.

We don't see servants in the home, but given what pre-show Mary is wearing, it's very unlikely that Mary cooks or cleans.

Now, part of the reason there are no servants displayed is because the OFMD writers have gotten themselves into a…look Historical-Stede owned a plantation, he enslaved people, so did Historical-Mary. So, choices have been made that this is not the case, which makes some analysis errr…complicated.

But they could have implied Downton Abbey and didn't.

Instead, all we see is the nuclear family with a male breadwinner & stay at home housewife. I.e., a myth created following WWII/during the cold war. See also fighting communism by showing the power of the western economies. Women (well, white women because racism) don't have to work and they like it, now have a martini.

This ignores women's labor in several ways. It means that maintaining a house and childcare isn't characterized as work, because it's free. It also ignores that throughout history, women have worked plenty. Not just factories or farm labor. Women literally made the goods that served as money before there was money: fabric, worked beads, etc.

Because Mary is framed with a nuclear family rather than as the lady of the manor, I think we're meant to interpret her as a member of the (white) middle class, down to the way she clutches her glass of wine and asks "Little Boy Blue/Man on the Moon" Stede to play with his children.

Married, Mary and Stede sleep together, but alone in their bed. Pre-show Mary is like the wife in every Middle/Working Class family oriented sitcom. She provides all the emotional support. Does all the background work. The viewer is left to wonder what about her needs. Her desires. Her dreams.

No wonder Stede leaving is a pressure valve relief for everyone.

Pre-show Mary is constantly presented in clothes that are stiff. Corseted. A bit complicated. She also wouldn't have been able to put them on herself, but again nuclear family. What she is wearing literally keeps her from breathing.

Ep10 Mary is wearing slightly modern-ish bohemian clothing. No corset. She can slouch comfortably if she wants. Tweeds. Buttons down the front so she can dress herself. A little black neck tie (but loose) that parallels the ones that the men wear. She's carving out a space as a widow. With other women. Thanks Ep10, let's pass the Bechdel test.

Then he's back. Great. But Mary, having had the freedom to decide what she wants and how she wants it has let go of her repression of justified aggression. The forgive every fault, just keep trying, toxic niceness.

There's a moment where she could have gone back to passive aggression over the breakfast table. Stede is certainly setting up (for character reasons of his own) that script, and she's having none of it.

She's joyfully screwed her lover. She's having an art show, and yeah, she's down for some attempted murder. She's Clytemnestra without the ax (and okay daughter's sacrifice), but has an emotional support network. She isn't caretaking. She's not handling Stede's emotional needs. She's done with that. She's got a newspaper and she knows how to read it.

Which is great, because it's what they both needed to do in the first place. To clearly, frankly, but not unkindly, say, "This isn't working." After that, it's breakfast in bed from her lover and an offer of getting out of her way from her husband.

Now, because we don't know where the money comes from, there's still this weird colonialism vibe of leaving the funds for Mary & kid, but fine. Mary's had one art exhibit, and is off to a vibrant career as an artist.

Come on S2, because I'd like to see if there's more to that story.

#our flag means death #OFMD #ofmd meta #mary bonnet #toxic femininity

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