#roswellmarchformeta2021

[lsobelevans]

Horror tropes? In my Roswell, New mexico? It’s more likely than you think!

In this essay I will...

...be mentioning a few horror/thriller movies and while nothing explicitly gory or scary will be shown in this post, those movies definitely contain scenes and themes that can be disturbing/scary/triggering, do your researches if you’ve got doubts!

...be focusing on the Maria and Alex road-trip, from the moment the car breaks down to the last scene with Travis’ twin. I’m probably going to be led to briefly mention the other scenes that are intertwined with this arc (the echo date and the Planet 7 Kyle and Isobel scene, as well as the marlex car drive when I feel like it is relevant). 

...be approaching specific themes that are used in the scenes that compose this little arc and also more general ones like sound, editing, cinematography and color. 

... be reaching a lot. I do not think everything I will be mentioning is 100% thought-out and voluntary (although you never know). But I’m a firm believer that in filmmaking, yes even inside a CW show, the symbolism comes through subconsciously. So like, maybe they didn’t mean to use corn field as a mark for transition, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this symbolism works with the story they’re telling and for the journey the characters are in that moment. Additionally, lighting, decor and costumes are always a choice, just like the camera doesn’t position itself randomly, someone’s behind and thinking of the composition of shots that, even if it’s in a basic way, has meaning.

... be starting chronologically but I’ll also make jumps backward and forward, grasping on themes when they come up. Ok, then, let’s dive in! 

This episode references and uses a lot of the iconic mechanisms of the horror movie genre. Alex and Maria’s comfortable road trip atmosphere, open hearted conversation in the car, breaks at the same time as the car itself breaks. The camera, steady so far, the shots following a well known pattern of shot/counter-shot, becomes more unpredictable and shakier and suddenly we’re out of the car, and bam, large shot. 

From the moment they’re out of the car, you won’t be able to see the horizon. Maria and Alex are stuck in a corn field, and they’re stuck in the frame. 

Then poof, Travis appears out of nowhere, accompanied with a pang of music, frightening us and them. Well, more exactly, it cuts on a shot that we’ve seen before without Travis, now with Travis, which gives us the appearing out of nowhere effect. 

Alex says it best.

Well now they’re stuck with a strange guy with an axe, and in a corn field 😬

Hey, have you seen he’s got an axe??? or do you need a close-up???

Okay, this scene ends there. So, let’s take a break and talk about cornfields. There’s many examples of horror movies making use of a field of corn as a location, famously Children of the Corn (1984), Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1995) Signs (2002), that last one also involving, you guessed it, aliens. 

Screenshots from the Signs trailer.

Corn fields are strongly associated with rurality, especially rural America. More largely, they can represent renewal, fertility or abundance. In the contrary, they can be seen as a very ominous location due to their immensity, a labyrinth in which you can’t see very far away and from which you’ll have trouble coming out. 

Although I’m pretty sure Maria’s chase in the cornfield is more of a reference to The Shining (1980) it reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies Tom à la ferme (2013), in which Tom is basically held hostage in rural Canada. The corn field chase is a turning point, the last of Tom's attempts to escape. 

Cornfields apparently also often imply scarecrows, which are inherently scary in my opinion but we’ll talk about it more later. 

The next scene takes place inside of Travis' cabin. 

The lighting here is pretty low, the light coming from a few small sources, creating a lot of shadows. The main color is a greenish/yellow which can be associated with nature and earth, rurality, dirty, suffocating. If we look at it, the color scheme of the entire road trip is very much following this pattern of browns/yellows/greens because of the cornfield and the color of the characters costumes (the exception being Maria’s truck which is a bright red). In opposition, the scenes that are intertwined are either blue and orange for Max and Liz or a lot of pink/blues/purples for Isobel and Kyle in planet 7 (bi bi bi).

The cabin is messy, supposedly reflecting the state of the owner’s mind. We get a nice close-up on meat + a knife and all of the creepy skins on the walls. Also, it’s noticeable that from this moment on, the camera is shakier, we experience different angles too. 

We are given many visual clues that something is wrong. 

I’m gonna pass on the sound of the sound of the cow parodying a werewolf + the vampire diaries inside joke. 

Btw, if the fact that Travis names his cows -- that he skins for a living -- like human women isn’t enough for you to think mmmm. we are in danger. Well, don’t worry. The cw spells it out for you!!

We know Alex! We got contextual clues!

Right after this, Alex and Maria make another direct reference to being in a horror movie situation. 

ALEX: This is why I don’t like horror films. The gay guy always dies first.

MARIA: ???? 

ALEX: Or... second. Okay, that’s fair. That look, that’s fair. 

I think this bit is interesting, because not only does it denounce an horror movie cliché (the black person of the cast dies first, the queer person is second) but also in this situation I believe it can be see as kind of a callout on the fandom’s behavior that i’m not gonna spell out for you but yeah. Fellow queer people, don’t forget you’re not the only one who is sometimes badly/unfairly represented. 

Moving on. In the next scene, Alex is searching the cabin for clues, and we are also given some about Travis. 

Either he has a twin brother or he’s got a framed picture of himself on his wall. Oh, and he’s military.

Then Travis startles Alex and plays a little bit of banjo, which is a good excuse to stop and talk about music. The show uses a lot of diegetic music aka music that is present in the universe of the story, that the characters can also hear. It justify the use of said music and it ties the audio with the picture.

The banjo already is heard at the very beginning of the arc during a cut from the planet 7 scene to the road trip scene. We get a few notes that indicate a change of scenery and that helps smooth up the transition, and I’m pretty sure it was also supposed to be diegetic music coming from Maria’s radio. The banjo, like the corn field, is super linked with rurality and rural America (again!)

Another reference of the banjo in horror/thriller would be Deliverance (1972).

I can’t not think of this movie when I hear banjo unfortunately. 

The way Travis plays, aggressively bad, and while singing I Think We’re Alone Now, is supposed to make you think about that scene in The Umbrella Academy be quite unsettling, another point for isolation horror. 

So sweet of Travis to attack Alex with a guitar, and then a smol knife, and not with the axe <3. 

Then we’ve got a traveling zoom-in (or equivalent I’m not sure it isn’t a steady-cam here but the effect is the same) on Maria. This kind of effect can feel a little bit over-the-top and dramatic, in a old genre movie kind of way. It is usually used to bring the audience in, make it feel like you’re evolving in the same universe as the characters (here you’re walking toward Maria). In a scene where you should feel scared, it can be a mean to make you feel more engaged, as well as underlining Maria’s expression, her fear. In my opinion, this is also a way to tell you that from now on, Maria is the main character of this arc, the one that you will be following after the commercial break (that occurs right after) and making it more suspenseful. 

The scene after the break is the start of the corn-field chase. Travis steps out of the cabin, the cuts are faster, many close-shots, some even out of focus, that accelerate the rhythm, and a long fade-in of a new song: a modern, electronic song (Kim Petra’s Close You Eyes) completely in opposition with the acoustic banjo and with the atmosphere of the scene, which makes it strange and makes you think oh, what a weird choice! (at least it did for me lol). The lyrics, however, go very well with the scene. 

I feel it coming on You've got nowhere to run There's no way you'll make it out alive

Yep. 

We find out right after that the music is in fact diegetic but for Isobel and Kyle, it’s another use of music to ease a transition between 2 scenes that are different in every possible way. 

Now, the corn-field chase. As I mentioned before, I believe it’s a direct reference to The Shining’s ending chase scene where Jack Torrance chases his son Danny through a vegetal labyrinth with an axe. 

From the shots to the lighting (from behind or on the side, making the characters look like silhouettes) both scenes are very similar. Also, Travis is styled like Jack Nicholson ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh look, Michael’s here to save the day!

Oh well, guess not. 

Yeah, in this scene, and like we’ve been shown before, Maria is going to be the one that saves everyone. The racist cliché of the black character dying first in a horror movie is reversed, Maria is the last one standing. The scarecrow (that looked conveniently a lot like Maria) is supposed to play in favor of the bad guy, it’s a scary element, creating confusion and unease, but here the character decides to basically take it into her own hands and bend the rules. This character says i’m not that archetype, and she’s going to be using the horror movie tools against itself. 

Lastly, the final horror movie recurring theme that I’m going to talk about is the twin/the double. 

Yes, twins is a spooky tool used in horror movie because their similarities make them unsettling, uncanny. 

There’s also the idea that if one were to replace the other, you wouldn’t be able to tell. The impostor is a very scary concept that Roswell has also dealt with before. 

I can’t be the only one that has been traumatized by that halloween special of the Simpsons where Bart has an evil twin... 

It’s the last twist of the arc, there is a bad!Travis and a good!Travis. The bad one kept the other locked-up somewhere and had taken his place. 

It’s particularly interesting for Roswell that has a history with twins/doppelgänger, and that since the original show. It is a clear instance of in-world foreshadowing here! (howdy)

My conclusion about all this is that the people who worked on 2x06 had a great time building the episode and it shows, while also making it enjoyable to watch and yeah, we love to see it! 

[ober-affen-geil]

Entropy

For Day 4 of @rnmmarchformeta, “Lines”

Begin image description

Gif 1: Flashback to 2008, teen Michael and Alex (out of focus in the foreground) are sitting side by side in the shed. Michael is looking in front of him as he finishes his thought, then looks at Alex with a smile. He says “When I play, my entropy changes.” The word “entropy” is highlighted in yellow.

Gif 2: In the mindscape, closeup on Noah who is talking to Max and Isobel (offscreen). He says “ Destruction is chaos, is entropy, is energy, is power, is victory.” The word “entropy” is highlighted in yellow.

End description

[rnmmarchformeta-archive]

[Image description:

The camera pans slowly across a desk in a home office scattered with books. A person is sitting at the desk (head out of frame) with their hands resting on the surface, writing on a notepad. There are shelves filled with books and a leather easy chair in the background. The text across the center of the gif reads “Roswell, New Mexico March for Meta March 15-19, 2021″.

End description.]

Calling all couch critics!

We are asking you to put on your analyst hat and share your meta thoughts on everyone’s favorite alien drama. The prompts are made with analysis in mind but all contributions are welcome. Tag your posts with #roswellmarchformeta2021 or #rnmmarchformeta2021 in the first five tags and we’ll reblog them here. Or just tag us in the post!

No meta is too small or too long, but we will not be reblogging posts with added commentary so if you want to riff you should create your own. The more the merrier! We will be tagging for triggers, and any post that contains explicit character/ship/creator hate (especially those with slurs or blatant racism/queerphobia) will not be reblogged. 

March 15, Day 1 | Tonight’s theme is: Themes  Theme/trope: What’s a theme that stands out to you? That’s handled well (or not)? Defines an arc? A season? A character? What’s a favorite trope that’s been used? Subverted?

March 16, Day 2 | Strength of character  Character: Who is your favorite minor character and why? Main character? Best antagonist? Protagonist? Which character would you like to see more of (and why)? Which character has had the most development? The best development? In what ways?

March 17, Day 3 | The scenic route  Scene: What scene defines an episode? A character? A ship? What’s your favorite dramatic scene and why? Comedic scene? Romantic scene? What’s an underrated scene, in your opinion? 

March 18, Day 4 | Line please!  Line/moment: What’s a line that stuck with you? Gave a character or situation more clarity? Your favorite line and why? A line that defines a character? A scene? An episode? A line that gave new meaning to a previous scene? A line that hits differently on a rewatch (and why)?

March 19, Day 5 | It’s all in my head Free day/pet crack theory: Explain a plot hole; connect (existing?) dots; invent a conspiracy; justify a headcanon; predict the future; break the fourth wall and talk about shots, angles, lighting, music, locations, or references to other media; explore the road not traveled with scrapped scenes/lines from behind-the-scenes sources; let loose!

Find a list of trigger tags HERE, find a more extensive explanation on non-trigger tags HERE, find reasons your post may not be on the blog HERE, and find suggestions for contributions that do not involve actually writing meta (fics, fanvids, art, playlists, and gifsets) HERE.

[im-the-punk-who]

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@rnmmarchformeta​ Day 1: Tonight’s theme is: Themes

Malex and Music: Tracing a relationship through music used in the show - Part 1

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Given that both Michael and Alex have a personal connection to music, I wanted to go over some of the intricacies of what the music choices and lyrics/stories behind the songs used might tell us about Malex. The music choices in Roswell New Mexico are deliberate and often incredibly pointed. Particularly in the case of Michael and Alex there are elements of their relationship that are not so much underlined as written about only in the lyrical choices that play under their scenes. This choice for me made rewatching the series a lot of fun because as I discovered the lyrics to some of the more obscure song choices I kept discovering new intricacies and motivations for each of their decisions. Below the cut for length.

(Author’s note circa 2007:  (rawr xD) I’m focusing specifically on the parts of these songs that play over or in direct correlation to scenes where Michael and Alex are both present. I would love to explore this theme in the wider context of the whole show and how their interactions with other characters might change some of these but...this is already like 6k and that’s just how the peas and carrots cooked. That said I will be referencing other characters and relationships as relevant, particularly, I will be talking at some length about Milexa and the airstream scenes in 2x06. I personally have a favorable reading of the scenes and what they mean for Michael and Alex. I also talk briefly about Milexa in a few other spots - they’ve been marked as ‘Milexa’ or ‘Miluca’ if you wish to skip them, although I don’t know if this will make sense as a whole without them. But, should you wish. Proceed accordingly. <3)

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Posted on AO3 here.

Sedona - Houndstooth (1x01)

The first song we hear in relation to Malex is ‘Sedona’ by Houndstooth. The song plays during the reunion as we see Alex confront Michael about the chemicals found around his airstream. The verse that plays underneath the scene references how, due to its scenic beauty, the town of Sedona was once a highly sought after filming location but had fallen into obscurity when cowboy movies went out of style in the late 70′s.

Similarly, Alex tells Michael that he is ‘wasting his life.’

“Does the macho cowboy swagger thing ever get old for you?”

“Did it get old for you?”

For me, this scene is as much an introduction to the past between these two as their present. Gone but not forgotten, their interactions are a ‘script’ that the two of them play off of. In other words, Michael and Alex don’t so much interact as play off of what the other expects from the other. This becomes especially clear when in 2x05 we learn that Alex has at least once before warned Michael about ‘wasting his life.’

When The Truth Hunts You Down - Sam Tinnesz (1x01)

The next scene is this one, in which we see Alex contemplating an old picture of himself. We then see Michael watching him.

Later, the last line is overlaid with Jesse telling Kyle about the existence of aliens.

The truth about Michael’s alienness is quiet literally hunting them, but so is something about Alex’s past. As we get to know him, we learn just how much his father is interconnected with all of the worst moments in his life and everrything he has buried and tried to run from in order to avoid it. Michael, Roswell itself - Alex ran halfway across the world to try to run away from the trauma of his youth, and yet here he is.

“Nostalgia’s a bitch, huh?”

“You know I thought when I got back from Iraq you would be long gone.”

“Is that what you want?”

“We’re not kids anymore. What I want doesn't matter.” 

We also find out something of the nature of his and Michael’s relationship and that there are clearly still feelings between them - no matter how much Alex is trying to deny it.

Give Me The Night - Des Rocs (1x02)

This is one of my personal faves from the Malex soundtracks. It just *slaps* okay?

Aside from the obvious nod to Michael’s alienness, this song underscores the divide still between Michael and Alex despite the passionate kiss they shared at the reunion. Michael is initially flirtatious and full of swagger - until Alex shuts him down.

The fallacy of Alex’s rebuke and his dismissal of the feelings behind the kiss are underscored by his refusal to even look Michael in the eye as they talk. Even if he tries to deny them, the truth of his feelings hunts and haunts him because he feels he can never act on his own desires. And in turn when presented with the about face, Michael turns bitter as the push-pull is reinitiated. Michael falls back to the script they’ve been rehashing to save his feelings - ‘puts on a show’ as it were, and Alex falls for it hook, line, and sinker. He is still unwilling or unable to see the truth that lies beneath the surface.

“Isn’t there some law about building on a historical site?”

“A historical - oh you mean because the UFO crashed here? Yeah, we’re not supposed to build on Santa’s workshop either.”

For Michael, who at least to me was obviously hoping things would change this time around, this must feel like a bucket of cold water, especially in the face of Liz Ortecho’s knowledge and seeming easy acceptance of the aliens’ existence. While Max might get his happy ending, Michael is left to keep hiding from the person he loves, never being seen and wondering if Alex’s feelings are even real. 

Two Princes - Spin Doctors (1x02) (Miluca)

In rapid fire we have the next three songs as Michael and Alex spend some time at the Wild Pony. This verse plays under the interaction when Alex comes in the bar and spots Michael.

“Though he got kinda hot. In a ‘sex in a truck, smells like a river, never introduce him to your mama’ kind of way.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

My boy. My child. My bluntest instrument in the tool kit. Has no one ever told Alex Manes that saying you hadn’t noticed an objectively hot guy is hot is basically code for ‘I haven’t stopped staring at him since I walked in and my brain is not functioning at a high enough level to mask that fact’? Son, please, this is a drunk Wendy’s.

(Also this is huge foreshadowing for Miluca - Michael and Maria don’t have sex *in* a truck but it’s pretty close, we find out later that Michael/the aliens smell like rain, and she tells him he’s not meeting her mother at one point. The angle of this shot is also, for me at least, a hint that Michael is going to become the object of these two ‘princes’ affections, at some point.)

Anyway this is basically poking fun at Alex Manes, repressed disaster, for having no clue what love is and trying to express his affection through like, everything except anything anyone would understand as romantic love. (And we will see this in the flashbacks as well as present day - that Alex mostly uses his station or advantages as a way to show the people he loves he loves them, rather than using words. When he offers Michael the shed, brings him the guitar, uses his military connections to find out about Michel’s mom, hacks into Maria’s computer...listen I got more.) But that isn’t enough, as we’re learning. If only there were some way Alex could also learn that lesson.

And seriously, “This one said he wants to buy you rockets?”

How’s It Going To Be? - Stephen Edwards (1x02)

“Is there really nobody in this world that you wouldn’t risk everything to save? Sad.”

Oh Isobel, if only you knew.

So, aside from returning the kiss Michael initiated at the reunion, Alex has soundly rejected every advance Michael has made for a relationship. Despite that Michael seems to have been harboring some hope that things might be different not that Alex is back more permanently. But now with Isobel bringing into question what he’s willing to sacrifice, I think he might be realizing that toll has been extremely steep already.

(Also truly obsessed with how both Alex and Michael have positioned themselves so that they can casually glance over at each other without arousing suspicion. *Boys*. It’s not that complicated what is this middle school?)

We know that Michael doesn’t like having to keep secrets, and again I have to wonder if he’s regretting not telling Alex he’s an alien, or wondering how that conversation would have gone.

From the previous scenes we can tell something in their relationship is coming to a head - maybe Michael is hoping it’s that he can finally stop keeping secrets from Alex and show Alex who he really is - that Alex will stop misreading him. That Alex will change.

But there is also the expectation that if that happens, Alex will likely leave again. Not just because that’s what Alex’s trauma makes him do, but also because that is how Michael frames all of his relationships. As ‘until you leaves’. He is shown to have a habit of catastrophizing because he doesn’t believe himself to ‘belong’ anywhere(HA) and this is one of those times we’re shown that.

Come With Me - Gold Star (1x02)

“Home can be a person.”

And here we have Alex “thinking about who he was” as Maria closes up the bar. Given where this scene leads with him and Michael, I think the rest of the lyrics to the song are incredibly poignant.

Tell me what were you dreaming? Tell me who were you trying to reach? Gimme something real to believe in Or gimme a reason to leave So i left her standing under shining stars in the Silver moonlight by old Borough Hall - whoever you are

We know that after this evening Alex attempts to rekindle his relationship with Michael, still thinking about who he was, and maybe for the first time trying not to run from what he wants. He’ll be unsuccessful this time, but it’s the first clue that Alex is attempting to break a pattern that has held him in place for ten years.

While he may have been misreading Michael’s stunted growth, we’re starting to see Alex contemplate change in himself. This is the start of Alex’s two season long journey to break out of the fortress he’s built around himself. To ‘put his weapons down’ in an effort to be with Michael.

(She lets her guard down on her way back//to close her eyes and fall asleep - “It was late....I was tired.”)

God of Wine - Third Eye Blind

So clearly the writers were like ‘how can we hurt Milo specifically’ because these lyrics are *so good* as we hear malex talk about the way they view their relationship for the first time in the show.

The music starts just as Michael picks up the old photographs, first of the pod squad, then of himself and Alex playing guitars in the desert. As he packs up the airstream to move it off Foster’s Ranch, Michael is also thinking about the past.

Throughout the series, we’re given a bunch of musical lines about how Michael and Alex can’t go back to what they were, that they have to move forward. And it’s true - as we’ll see over and over again the dynamic they’ve had has been incredibly unhealthy for both of them. But they also cannot avoid the other’s orbit. And when Alex comes to talk to Michael it’s the first time we see him actually decide to initiate - to try and take what he himself wants, rather than waiting or hiding from it. But it is also very much Alex falling back into the ‘madness that holds a truth he can’t erase’ of Michael’s really, very, super, incredibly obvious feelings for him. Our boy is not subtle.

But Alex is still hunted by the past - before we know his history we assume that when Alex references ‘who he was before he went to war’ he means Iraq. But Alex’s war is his father. As much as combat can absolutely be a traumatizing experience, for Alex I never really read that as his main source. As he’ll tell Forrest later - “My PTSD triggers are a little more complicated”.

And so when he tells Michael he’s been thinking about who he was “before he went to war” for me that’s more a callback to who he was before Jesse found the two of them in the toolshed. “When this started.”

As Michael tells him “From where I stand nothing’s changed”  the words “I know, I know, I know” repeat in the background because WE KNOW. We all know, except Alex.

“And that’s a problem for me, Guerin.”

And the siren’s song that is your madness

“Because every time you look at me, I’m seventeen all over again.”

holds a truth I can’t erase

“- and I forget that the last ten years even happened. And then you look away and I remember all over again. And it almost kills me every time.”

All alone on your face

“I never look away. Not really.”

For Michael this is basically confirmation of what he’s been realizing over the last few days - that Alex has been totally misreading him and that yes, Michael, you’re going to have to use your words on this one. 

To which we see Alex’s brain 404-blue-screen for a minute as he realizes what Michael means. Which I personally really appreciate.

And especially since we’ve just learned that a lyric of this song was written on Rosa’s hand the night she died, I can’t believe it’s a coincidence in this being the song that plays underneath this scene - where Alex says he was thinking about who he was before. Everything changed that day for everyone - including Michael and Alex. Michael had gained a terrible secret he couldn’t share, that meant he changed his whole life and started needing to hide and lie and act out, and Alex - not knowing the truth - assumed that it was Michael’s way of trying to push him away and end the relationship. Which leads to the decades long miscommunication of Alex seeing Michael do that over and over again.

For the last ten years, Alex has been seeing Michael as the boy who looks away, then looks back. A Michael whose focus shifts to and away from him and who he sees as wasting his life; directionless and aimless. But as he realizes what Michael is saying he has to recalibrate everything he’s thought their relationship is.

This is possibly the first time Alex has realized that his view of Michael has been wrong. That he really doesn’t know Michael at all.

And we know this interaction has a profound impact on Alex in terms of how he views their relationship. I feel like this is one of those things that becomes a mantra for Alex, later down the line. He repeats it to Michael at Caulfield, and in his song as well, “You never looked away, now I won’t look away” to express his commitment to breaking down the walls he has built up for himself. 

Even though we know the relationship is doomed at this point, it’s the first time a stone falls from the walls Alex has built around himself in a decade.

Here - Chance Peña - 1x03 (Alternate title: “Home”)

Okay I would like to petition to make it illegal to have unreleased songs in episodes, Chance Peña help a bitch out. I had to watch a *fish show* to hear the full lyrics because they’re edited in the show! ( I will also note the next lyric is ‘goodbye, my dear’ which. rude.)

Anyway, we’re given these lyrics as Michael wakes up to seeing Alex has stayed the night. I took the editing, with the previous song choices, to be a reaffirmation of this being something new to Alex, but not necessarily to Michael. Michael knows what he wants from a relationship with Alex - even if he’s put the hope aside from time to time the want is always clear.

For Alex though, a relationship with Michael is something that scares him because of his fear that it can be taken away. (”I just thought that I could be happy, and not be afraid that if I loved anything my dad would destroy it.”) He is trying to make it work - “drawing near” to Michael - but he knows that in order to do that he is going to need to be uncomfortable. To face the fears that have held him back and kept him in comfortable limbo for so long.

I’m also going to flail about how, while RNM has the song listed as ‘Here’, the producer of the other show(Battlefish) identified the song as ‘Home’. I hope I don’t have to yell at y’all, other Roswell New Mexico fans, about how often that word has snuck up on me and knifed me in the back regarding malex. Especially since Alex *is* currently - well, here. With his home. Kill me please it would be kinder.

But then of course we see the old insecurities pop up again as Isobel arrives. Even if he is trying - Alex is nowhere near ready to jump out of the closet yet.

Fast Aint Good Enough - Inkwell Echo (1x06)

I debated adding this one because it’s a little bit reachy, but I thought it was significant in that even when they were seventeen, the thing Alex is ‘afraid of’ is his feelings for Michael - not necessarily of being gay but of what people like Kyle and his father do with information like that.

Wish I’d found the words when we were seventeen-

Kyle asks

“What are you so afraid of?”

-just as Alex catches sight of Michael.

(“I wanted to be the kind of person who won battles. It felt good.”)

Aside from Alex’s general need to protect Michael in any and all situations, I feel like the lyrics of this song - about the singer’s attempt to leave an abusive relationship - underscore that even before the toolshed, Alex was fighting. Even before the toolshed, he has been fighting to this cycle he is trapped in.

While he and Michael build their relationship he starts thinking seriously about leaving and not just surviving but he will ultimately choose to trap himself for years in order to hide his love for Michael.

Like so many gay kids, Alex is fighting a system that deems him guilty of sin - and takes his fighting back as a sign of his guilt. And in order to actually be able to love Michael, he is going to have to figure out how to put down the weapons and the hurt and break the cycle.

First Day Of My Life - Bright Eyes (1x06)

Are they serious right now I swear to god.

So obviously, we’ve got the origins for everything we’re told about Michael and Alex’s lives changing based on their feelings for each other in like two and a half verses of song. Forget the entire second season we have everything we need right here.

“It was the first time I liked our hometown, though.”

-

“Alex made me believe there was a place for me here.”

We know that for both of them this is really a moment of self discovery as much as it is a discovery about each other. 

For Michael in particular, who doesn’t know why he’s here or who he really is, and who previously had no plans besides leaving the planet, this is the moment that he realizes what he wants - to be with Alex.

And for Alex, to me, this moment is a brief glimpse into what his life could be like. We don’t have any confirmation if Michael is his first kiss with a boy or not, but we do know that this moment is significant in that it’s the first that makes Roswell feel like a place he enjoys being.

And as he is realizing that, the lyrics echo it -

But I realized that I need you // And I wondered if I could come home

(Screeching from the background: WOULD YOU COME HOME)

But of course, as the song says, these things take forever because...well....

(It’s because Alex is dumb. My poor dumb emotionally stunted child. Please go to therapy.)

In essence, this is the moment that sets Michael and Alex on their entwined path. The path that Alex will have to fight to get back to - the path Michael will lose faith in before he later starts to regain the hope that it exists. I also like to think about the link between the last lines:

Remember the time you drove all night // Just to meet me in the morning?

and the line from ‘Would You Come Home’

Would you meet me in the middle // Could we both stop keeping score?

I like to think about the parallel here, about meeting people where they’re at, and the love and care and effort it takes to be willing to drive all night to meet someone. Listen a bitch is soft and gay don’t look at me.

You Can’t Love Me - Novi & Tyler Blackburn (1x12)

(*Whispers and rocks back and forth* this is fine it’s all fine)

Once again we have a song whose lyrics give us a tailor made road map to Malex, and will pop up later in ‘Would You Come Home’. We’ve already seen the implosion of the way Michael and Alex have been orbiting each other for a decade, but now that Alex knows the truth, he actually has the ability to understand Michael in ways he hasn’t been able to before. (Something we’ll see later in Season 2 when he talks with Maria.)

And because of that, we see the true beginning of the journey of Michael and Alex back to one another in a healthier way.

But part of that journey is going to be realizing that what they’ve been doing and the way they have loved each other in the past isn’t sustainable - and maybe isn’t even the way they want to love each other.

“They’re my family, Alex!”

“Alright, maybe! But you are mine. I don’t look away, Guerin.”

“No. We’ve been holding onto this thing. And it’s gotten us nowhere. Just let it go.”

Even though the words are said in anger, there is some truth to what Michael says. Their relationship so far hasn’t been a good one. Where Alex is trying to repeat the words that Michael said to him that made such an impact on him, Michael is (well, a, trying to save his dumb boyfriend from getting flambayed) using the opportunity to reveal how little faith he has in their relationship. To say that no, this doesn’t feel like love.

But as much as the song lyrics are about loving someone who isn’t good for you, they’re also about changing and growing, and about a commitment to be better.

(Sound familiar? Brb, I’m gonna go jump off a cliff.)

Love is messy, and especially for Michael and Alex, love has always been something that hurts. “Home is where the hurt is” - and a really important part of their journey is realizing that, and realizing there is a different way of loving each other.

Additionally for Alex, this is when he starts to realize the full extent of his family’s involvement in hunting and hurting Michael’s family. It isn’t just his dad - his entire family line has been involved in this since before Alex was born. And still is. This is really where he starts realizing the roots of the guilt and shame he’s going to have to deal with in order to be anything to Michael - not even a partner but a friend.

This is the first step in that journey. Not just the commitment that yes - I want to build a home for you - but that first, I don’t know, maybe I need to put down these weapons and pick up a different set of tools?

ON TO SEASON TWO

[bisexualaliennerds]

Max Evans || Grragh!

Fandom: Roswell, New Mexico (2019)

Music: Overture by East Village Opera Company

Characters: Max Evans, Isobel Evans, Liz Ortecho, Rosa Ortecho, Michael Guerin, Wyatt Long

Content notes: CW: Violence, CW: Death

Summary: Max’s powers are the most dramatic at times.

RNM March For Meta 2021: Day 2 - Strength of Character

[bealittleimprobable]

Jesse's Cane Is Red. or: Am I Reading Too Much Into Things?

So, this is the post that actually got me onto Tumblr. I can’t remember what number rewatch we were on when I went “Hey, his cane is red”, but it’s been bugging me ever since. (If I’m totally wrong and this is how it works in America... well, see final paragraph!)

So for my contribution to @rnmmarchformeta​‘s Day 5, It’s All In My Head (crack theories), I give you:

Jesse's cane is red.

Hospital canes are silver/grey - plain metal, usually adjustable height so they can work for as many people as possible, mass-produced and generic.

Jesse's cane is a dark red metal adjustable one with a crutch handle. It's a good option for general everyday use, for helping with unsteady balance or supporting a moderate amount of weight.

You can get a wide range of canes now, especially if you look online. Everything from plain black folding metal types to carved rare wood. Pharmacies tend to carry a handful - you won't get a huge number of choices but there'll be a few plain colours and one in a floral pattern that looks like Grandma's couch.

Now, having a non-standard cane doesn't mean Jesse is faking. I have a red cane (and black, green, and brown) because if you're using them on a long term daily basis it's nice to have some options. But there's a pretty short amount of time between the scenes in the hospital and the scenes in the bunker. And while Jesse is a proud man, I just don't see him going "I can't live with this ugly thing a minute longer" and going out of his way to buy a different cane if he had a functional one to hand.

Which means the hospital must sent him home without one. Our first clue that something isn't quite adding up there.

The level of unsteadiness he was showing in front of Alex would warrant being given some kind of support, if only for short term where they work out what kind of function/capability he has now. But... that's in front of Alex. We don't see how he's behaving in front of the doctors but my guess is that while he might have played some things up, the genuine doctors (excluding anyone under his influence) had a more realistic picture of where he was. So they sent him home without a cane, and when Jesse needed to fake being disabled to get sympathy from his disabled son, he went out and bought one.

Or... it means that the props department went "We need an adjustable men's cane in a dark colour that will show up well on screen. Run down to Rite-Aid and see what they have in stock."

I don't know what level of knowledge/experience people on Roswell, New Mexico have with mobility aids (As I understand it they did consultations for Alex, but that's a different specific situation). I've had to explain a lot of things to people over the years because they'd just never really thought about it - and didn't know enough to know there was a gap in their knowledge. So I have no idea if this is a very clever, subtle piece of foreshadowing, or complete happenstance that no-one else even has noticed because it's just a cane.

And unless something comes up on Twitter or a panel, I never will know. That's the frustrating thing with analysing a show or movie - sometimes the smallest things can be very deliberate and intention, and sometimes, they're just what happened to be available that day.  And as a viewer, we have no way to know. But it's fun to guess.

Thank you to @myrmidryad for the pictures below.

[Image description: A white man with a military haircut sitting on edge of a hospital bed, in hospital gown. He is holding a red walking stick. Another man is just visible at edge of screen]

[Image description: Same man, now in casual clothes, sitting at a table in a military bunker. There is alcohol, pills, papers, and a walking stick on the table.]

[rnmevents]

Click on the dates to be taken to an events announcement + prompts, if they’ve been released. Click on the tags to be taken directly to the tumblr tag search.

This calendar will be pinned and updated with all the upcoming and ongoing events happening around the RNM fandom as the information becomes available. Past events can be found below the ‘read more’ below.

Looking for a schedule by month? Check out the Google Doc here

Questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out!

Submit information regarding an event to be added to the list here!

PAST 2021 EVENTS:

RNM Comment Bingo

January 3rd - January 17th

Winners announced by January 24th

FAQ & Submit completed bingo card HERE

Winning Bingo Cards

Winning Bingo Prizes

Tags: #rnmbingo21

Malex Cupid

February 12th - 14th

AO3 Collection

Tags: #malexcupid21

Malex Remix

Sign-ups: Feb 12th - 26th

Remixes Due: April 28th

AO3 Collection Revealed: April 29th - May 2nd

Tag: #malexremix

RNM Fanfic Remix

Sign-ups: February 21st - 28th

Remixes Due: May 3rd

AO3 Collection Revealed: May 7th

Tag: #rnmremix21

March for Meta

March 15th - 19th

Alternative Prompt List | Trigger Warning List

Tags: #roswellmarchformeta2021 #rnmmarchformeta2021

Kyle Valenti Week

April 19th - 25th

Tags: #kyleweek21 #kyleappreciation21

Time After Time: Alternate Era AU Event

June 4th - 6th

Tags: #alternaroswell2021

RNM Heat Weekend

June 25th - 27th

Tags: #rnmheatweekend21 #rnmheat21

RNM D&D Weekend Warriors

July 9th - 11th

Tags: #rnmweekendwarriors2021

RNM After Dark

August 6th - 8th

Tags: #rnmafterdark2021

Maria DeLuca Weekend

August 27th - 29th

Tags: #mariaweekend2021 #mariadelucaweekend2021

RNM Create Week

August 30th - Sept 5th

Tags: #rnmcreate21

Alex Manes Week

October 25th - 30th

Tags: #alexappreciation21 #alexweek21

RIP Roswell

October 29th - 31st

Tags: #riproswell

Roswell New Mexico Week

November 8th - 14th

Tags: #rnmweek21 #roswellweek21

Science Bros Week

November 29th - December 3rd

Tags: #sciencebrosweek

RNM Big Bang

Author Sign-ups: July 15th - August 14th

Artists Sign-ups: August 7th - 30th

Event FAQs & Schedule

Posting Begins: December 3rd

Malex Santa

Posting Dates: December 1st - 12th

Malex Week

December 13th - 19th

Tags: #malex21 #malexweek21

Updated: 12/1/21

[larenoz]

Why We Need to Murder the Love Triangle Trope Dead

————————————————————————-

Day 1 | Tonight’s theme is: Themes

For @rnmmarchformeta

————————————————————————-

Firstly, because they are almost never actual triangles (they are usually V’s) and they are always presented in such binary terms. The person at the point of the V (cause its almost always a V not a triangle*) is expected to choose one or the other person in the group as if this is the only option?

(* I would be very pleasantly surprised if they did an actual love triangle where everyone in actually liked a different person or some other non-linear configuration).

No one ever seems to question that assumption or even acknowledge that there’s a different option. The only option seems to be the one where everyone looses out or is disappointed in some way.

Why is polyamory never even considered?

Polyam also provides the opportunity to present and examine a multiplicity of relationship dynamics and types - not just romantic/sexual relationships.

In the show we are given a glimpse of that with Maria, Michael and Alex. That the non-sexual but still intimate relationship between Maria and Alex was still an important one and that if examined and treated seriously it may have been a wonderful example of this type of platonic, meaningful relationship. The same would apply if wanting to present and explore asexual or aromantic characters.

And I am totally convinced the Liz, Max and Kyle would be able to make a polyam relationship work. All three have demonstrated a healthy attitude towards casual sex, there’s a high level of mutual respect (even if Max and Kyle got off to a rocky start, by the end Season 2, their Hardy Boys adventures were amazing), and a long lasting commitment and deep level of trust. But instead, because “love triangle”/binary choices only, poor Kyle, gets left out in the cold.

The whole thing made even more ridiculous by many of the people involved being aliens!! Who knows what their cultural default for romantic/family organisation looks like. Like Michael said:

(source: darlingnotso)

A show about aliens is the perfect opportunity to explore these types of cultural issues. This type of narrative has been a staple of sci-fi for years. In the case of Roswell, New Mexico, the mythos has already established a spectrum of sexuality amongst the aliens and that relationships with three people in them are important.

This would also tie in with the canon mythos of there needing to be three, that certain relationships are not complete if there aren’t the three people necessary in them to make them work.

And finally, presenting an alternative perspective or inversion of the love triangle trope would also show the that there are other, better ways of creating drama and conflict. And that you can have interesting relationships that don’t revolve around drama and conflict.

A benefit of the “there needs to be three” and having polyam as a cultural norm would have been it would have allowed us to kill the love triangle dead.

Instead we got a one off threesome and another love triangle that was resolved by having someone shortchanged.

Unfortunately, the love triangle as a trope survives to fight another day.

(source: @ober-affen-geil)

[larenoz]

There Has To Be Three

------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 19, Day 5 | It’s all in my head

For @rnmmarchformeta

------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the very beginnings of the show, symbolism related to the number three has been present.

The most obvious example of this is the mysterious symbol seen throughout the show. We see it displayed in the town lights when the power returns after Max causes the blackout. It has recurred so often in their lives that both Max and Michael have it tattooed on their bodies.

It is initially described in terms of being a beacon. In 1.09 Songs About Texas, Max sees the symbol on the flyer for the Indigenous faith healer, Arizona. It’s here that Max learns about the way the symbol mysteriously forms near certain people, and its link to the silent woman on the reservation.

We later learn that in addition to its role as a beacon, the symbol is used as a lock. It is the Pod Squad placing their hands on their respective circle on the symbol that unlocks Mr Jones’ cell.

And again, we see the number three associated with a lock and key on the box used to house Tripp’s diary left to Patricia.

But is the power of the design intrinsic or is it what the design represents?

Does the symbol in fact represent an important cultural or biological concept for the race of aliens to which Max, Isobel, and Michael belong? Join me dear readers on my journey into the “aliens need to be in groups of three to form stable relationships and be happy” head canon.

Could it be possible that the aliens only function successfully when they form relationships, be they romantic, sexual, platonic, sibling etc when it contains three people?

We see many different groupings of people, that don’t seem to work properly until they are together or that when fractured, bad things happen.

Pod squad - Iz, Michael, Max

Science Bros - Liz, Michael, Kyle

Family - Liz, Rosa, Arturo

Family - Liz, Rosa, Kyle

Friends - Liz, Maria, Alex

Barn Crew - Nora, Louise, Roy

The Parents - Mimi, Jim, Jesse

Manes Men - Alex, Flint, Greg

In 2.05 we are given an answer by Max:

“The thing is, there has to be three. Okay. There’s always three. Until the end.”

“Cause it’s all broken without three.”

This is confirmation from canon that at least for the Pod Squad, three is the magic number.

The question then becomes was Max talking only about their specific situation or is it indicative of the wider cultural/biological alien imperative?

In terms of the Pod Squad, even though they are together physically, emotionally they are distant. The events surrounding Rosa’s death break the trust within the group and the closeness they had before that event is lost. It’s only once those secrets are out in the open and they begin to repair their relationship as a group, that they each start to heal their other relationships as individuals. Obviously, there are other events impacting their individual circumstances but the point holds.

Could this within its full cultural manifestation be that triads are the norm for the aliens? And that the 2.06 threesome is them unwittingly falling into the cultural norms of Michael’s society?

Does the threesome between Maria, Alex and Michael happen because they were already the most likely (basically people who are all outsiders in some way and therefore already breaking societal norms) to be open to unconventional relationship structures and therefore more open to acting on the drive towards a triadic group?

Like for Kaliz, Kyle provides that balance, cause Max isn’t great at setting boundaries with Liz.

And even with Alex, Maria and Liz, their friendship was broken until they all came back together.

Even in non-romantic/sexual situations the characters tend to work better in groups of three. It isn’t until Kyle, Liz and Michael all start working together that they start making headway on healing Max and it’s only when they all contribute something equally (Liz regrowing the heart, Michael making the pacemaker and Kyle conducting the surgery) that they finally succeed.

I like that alien culture isn’t just a replication or mirror of our world. And that the differences provide a lens for us to examine our own cultural defaults. - eg monogamy,(which historically hasn’t always been the default even in the West). Canon has explicitly questioned the assumption that the aliens experience sexuality in the same way as humans. Michael says in 1.11 Champagne Supernova:

“Oh, we are literally aliens, and you're gonna hold me to some outdated binary of sexuality?”

And Isobel in 2.07 Como La Flor:

“I mean, what does an alien care about human gender constructs?”

It isn’t such a stretch to suggest that how their society structures its intimate and familial relationships is also different than humans? If aliens aren’t monosexual by default, it’s highly possible they aren’t monogamous by default either.

While allegory plays an important part in the storytelling of the show, I wish that they would also take advantage of their sci-fi setting to explore other aspects of the aliens' culture. Use the sci-fi genre to explore how they are different as much as how they are the same as humans. The story so far has given us so many elements that could be used as a what-if starting point for exploring different possible experiences. For example, how The Expanse has shown that as humanity expands into space different distinct culture develop. In the show, we see the exploration of a polyamous Belter family that Drummer finds herself in - the #PolyamBelterFam

Realistically, we aren’t going to see this. Even though hey even went as far as having portraying a canon threesome but stopped short of fully exploring the potential of this event by giving us a fully realised polyamorous relationship.

Nevertheless, I don't think we've seen the last of the "three" symbolism and it's going to be interesting to see if it gets developed further.

[bealittleimprobable]

Roswell, New Mexico fanmix.

My first fanmix in years! For @rnmmarchformeta - Day 2, Character.

I haven’t covered everyone, these are just songs that jumped out at me for specific characters/combinations.

[Content notes: Zombie is heavily about war/violence.]

Fanmix is on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7MCRc85gsTWoX87HpWR5Uj

Maria

Ashes To Ashes - Anna Bergendahl (Lyrics)

"Like a beacon in the night". "Coming through as my own hero again" This  song jumped out at me for Maria. It's such a hopeful song and the imagery suits her style. It's about standing out on your own and while I want to see Maria with more support and structure in Season 3, I think it fits with where we've seen her.

Rosa

Choose To Be Me - Sunset Avenue (Lyrics)

"I was raised by this town / To believe the words they put inside me"

This one is very much about breaking out of a small town mold to be yourself. It's rough, but there's hope in it, and that's about where I see Rosa being right now. "Choose to be me, to be free, to be my way.”

Screaming Bloody Murder - Sum 41 (Lyrics)

"God's got a plan for me / Well I'm gonna tell you one thing / I don't got the patience, or the time!"The last song was for the good days, this is for the rougher ones. It's such a teenage, rage-against-the-world song but I like the stubbornness in it for Rosa.

The Manes Men.

Zombie (Acoustic version) - The Cranberries. (Lyrics)

I know they used this in the show for Mimi's vanishing but it's the one single soundtrack choice I disagree with. The song is about war being handed down from father to son over and over for all the wrong reasons. That's Alex and his family.

Zombie - Bad Wolves (Lyrics)

As above but they change the line "With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns" to "With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their drones", updating it to the 21st Century. Different technology, different generation, same war.

Michael

Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen (Lyrics)

"I was tryin' to find my way home / But all I heard was a drone" "I was spinnin' 'round a dead dial / Just another lost number in a file"

...Don't make me copy out the whole thing here. This is young Michael, sneaking out to Foster's Ranch and watching the skies for a sign, older Michael building his own space ship and wrangling science to try make the connection, and teenage Michael in between playing the guitar to quiet his mind.

Michael/Alex

Tomorrow - Mika (Lyrics)

From "Consequences won't be easy / From here, every road leads to regret" to "But if this ain't what you wanted / Then why'd you even come here? It's two a.m." Michael really doesn't have a vintage Benz, but for me this catches the back and forth, push and pull we've seen between Michael and Alex - making a step forward then fleeing. "But this is a mess worth fighting for".

Wire To Wire - Razorlight - (Lyrics)

"What is love but the strangest of feelings? / A sin you swallow for the rest of your life?" "On our bodies we share the same scar."

(Excuse the pronouns in the song, but I've had this one down for them from the early days. So just go with it.)

I feel like this one goes with Alex's song from the finale - "How do you love in a house without feelings?" There's a lot of pain in it, but it's still asking the question, which is better than giving up.

[rnmmarchformeta-archive]

[Image description:

The camera pans across a person in a business suit giving a presentation to a seated audience (head out of frame). They are standing next to a poster board propped up on an easel and they hold a collapsible metal pointer in their hands. They are gesturing as they speak. The text across the center of the gif reads “Roswell, New Mexico March for Meta March 15-19, 2021″.

End description.]

Want to participate but written meta isn’t your style? Fear not! While the prompts were created with meta in mind we will accept contributions of any medium! Here are some suggestions to work off of; feel free to use them or to riff on them. We will reblog them along with the written metas on the day of each prompt.

Gifset - Repeated line or word - A scene you think is underrated (tell us why!) - Favorite character relationship - Repeated character trait - Favorite dialog exchange (tell us why!) - Lyric set using a song from the show - A reoccurring color or image

Fanvid - Set a scene to different music - Put two characters together that don’t usually appear on screen - Pick a favorite song used in the show and show how YOU would use it - Compilation video: every time X happens - Spotlight stunts or special effects - Feature your favorite minor character - Show us a character’s development condensed in one place

Fic - Expand a scene you wanted to see more of - Write canon scenes from the POV of a minor character or OC - Fill in a flashback that isn’t shown on screen - Write a character study based around a line in the show - Give us a major character’s thoughts/inner dialog during a canon scene - Write about what a minor character does when they are NOT onscreen - Describe a plot point/storyline from the POV of the room it is happening in, fly on the wall style

Art - Put a character in the costume/setting that you feel best represents who they are - Show us your favorite minor character (tell us why!) - Give us a canon scene that was discussed but never shown - Put characters together that don’t usually appear together - Show us what the characters do off-screen in their free time, slice of life style -  Make something inspired by a song used in the show - The characters have habits, give us a character doing your favorite of theirs

Playlist - Make a list of songs *from the show* that are focused around a character or pairing (or location) - Give us songs YOU think a certain character would listen to - Put a list together with songs centered around a theme in the show - Show us what’s on the jukebox at the Crashdown (and what time period) - Spell out a line from the show with song titles - Give us what was playing at the prom in 2008 - Design a list around a song that is mentioned, but not played, in the show

[rnmmarchformeta-archive]

[Image description:

A person sits in a chair on an outdoor patio, casually dressed (face out of frame). One sweatpant leg is tied off where their right leg ends slightly below the knee. They have headphones in, and they are writing in a journal that is open on their lap. The text across the center of the gif reads “Roswell, New Mexico March for Meta March 15-19, 2021″.

End description.]

Reminder that the Roswell “March for Meta” event is coming this March! We are asking you to put on your analyst hat and share your meta thoughts on everyone’s favorite alien drama. No meta is too small or too long, but we will not be reblogging posts with added commentary so if you want to riff you should create your own. The more the merrier! We will be tagging for triggers, and any post that contains explicit character/ship/creator hate (especially those with slurs or blatant racism/queerphobia) will not be reblogged. 

Remember to use the tag in the first five tags (#roswellmarchformeta2021 or #rnmmarchformeta2021), or tag the blog in the post so we can find it!

Find the prompts HERE and find suggestions for non-written meta contributions HERE.

[rnmmarchformeta-archive]

Meta 2021 Wrap Up

Thanks to all the meta-ers who participated this year! Stick around and keep meta-ing, hopefully we will see you next year!

[rnmmarchformeta-archive]

PSA for meta-ers

Had a hard time finding the brain to meta? Life get in the way? Just didn’t have the time or inclination during the week? No worries! This blog will be reblogging posts for the event through this Sunday, March 21. After that, meta on your own merit, but do still meta!