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darkfictionjude · 4 months

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Etymology nonnie here!

On the topic of MC's gender. I don't think this is one of the IFs where it was clear the author had an specific gender for the MC while writing the story. I have read some where it was clear the protagonist was written as female/male, and it clashes when you play as anything else.

I say this because I always have played as male. And there wasn't any instance in which I said: "Hmm, this would make more sense if MC was a woman". Now, I do recognize that a female MC can make some themes more evident, powerful, or adds something that otherwise wouldn't be present. For example, Sally's infantilization of MC, his condescension and overprotectiveness gains a different aspect. It can be read as misogynistic, since it would conflate the way Sally conceives and dehumanizes MC with the way women are seen as lesser, and less capable than men. Not that Sally is purposely being misogynistic, but rather than it gets involved with the other issues his relationship with MC has.

It also makes the Orla parallels more obvious, since both her and MC would be the daughters. It would he expected MC was like Orla, that she followed her steps. It makes sense that Prudence tries to mold MC into Orla 2 Electric Boogaloo.

However, that is not to say there isn't things that are interesting or exclusive for male MCs. For instance, it makes Prudence need to make MC a second Orla significantly more abusive and delusional. She is just so disappointed by MC, so disgusted, that she strives to change him into her favorite daughter.

Or, for example, it makes MC more of an anti-Orla. Because now MC is everything Orla isn't. Orla is popular, conventionally beautiful girl, beloved by all, the favorite of her mother, the ideal. While MC is an unsettling boy, hated by most, despised by Prudence, the kind of boy no one wants as a son.

There is also the relationship with Nia. Either a friendship or romantic. Nia's way of understanding feminism, in my opinion (so I may be wrong), holds a very bad overall evaluation of men, and expects them to fail at the bare minimum when it comes to behavior and their actions regarding gender issues. I ignore if Nia believes men can change and evolve from this sorry state (I hope so, otherwise feminism is in a losing battle and it would absolve us men from our wrongdoing). But this belief does provide an interesting conflict to be solved, that adds over the intrigue any relationship MC and Nia already have. Could Nia believe less on a male MC than on a female one? That is an interesting question to ask ourselves.

Now, both male and female MC seem to fail at conforming with the traditional ideals of either gender. Female MC is too detached, too unpolished, too uncaring. While Male MC is not muscular, is not strong (the right way), is stoic for the wrong reasons, doesn't care nor understand sports, etc. So, both also have to confront society by the simple fact they aren't what society demands them to be. Which goes in line with the other present issues MC has, as their mental health and declining social standing (both personal and of their family).

I apologize to non binary folks and their NB MCs. For I cannot think of anything that it isn't obviously unique to them that could be applied to the discussion. Which may come from my own ignorance, as I'm very much a cisgender male (I did explore my identity at one point, and I confirmed it). My redeeming feature is just how gay I am, lol.

Also, unrelated: I have to thank Selfie. I didn't expect the praise and the kind words, and it's appreciated. I think you are cool too, since you usually provide a nice positive energy with your asks. I'm glad you enjoy reading my asks, since I sometimes feel I'm just obnoxious by writing such long ramblings. Or worse, that I'm writing too much but saying too little. Which may be just insecurity from my own part, even if it does not stop me. As long as Jude enjoys it, I'll try to continue. Since I do really love this IF.

Etymology nonnie you really decided to talk to me today huh? 😌

Yeah people have said to me that mc doesn’t really feel like they have a gander in the way think and I feel that’s great. It falls in line in how detached they are to society and thus societal creations. They don’t act like a man nor a woman because they don’t see a reason to and wouldn’t understand why the should to. I’ve read many IFs where I’m like “yeah the MC is clearly a woman”

One of my fears is one day writing an MC that leans too far to one gender despite the reader choosing another gender as apart from flavour text I want all my mcs to have universal thoughts that we all have. I think it has to do with me, as a person while a feminist woman I don’t think like a man nor a woman so it helps to create a protagonist who is gender selectable for their thoughts that don’t pertain to gender but other topics

Speaking of flavour gender text, in one of the routes for who you choose to go talk to that will come up especially sexual harassment women face

It would be interesting to see what Nia thinks of a male mc when you are allowed to talk to her further 😌

#etymology nonnie #analysis #MC:gender #we wretched creatures

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jess-frances-b · 2 years

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Yes, I played another video game. This time a 3D game. Well, sort of, it's based off of the Paper Mario games so the world is 3D but the characters are 2D. It's called The Outbound Ghost, it's quite a recent release, there's a lot to explore and some good music (that I had to figure out how to rip from the files because the soundtrack isn't yet available to buy).

And it has some interesting things. For example, it subverts a few things, the character shown in the logo and stuff who you start out playing isn't the proper protagonist, because the character you play as changes between chapters, and also they start off as someone who doesn't talk onscreen and who you give a name to, but they later do talk onscreen and also it turns out the name you gave them is a name they chose rather than the name they were born with (I can see some people interpreting them as NB since they mentioned leaving town because of discrimination that isn't made fully explicit what it was for). And there's also a part where each scene happens in reverse chronological order so you have to put the pieces together yourself. In the end it's left a bit open-ended but there might be more content in the future that explains things more.

Oh, and there's accessibility settings to make things easier, it makes battles a breeze, and nothing in the overworld can hurt you. My only real complaint is the desert area because of how big it is and how easy it is to get lost there. Oh, and it seems that playing a 3D game causes my computer's fan to be on a lot, I need to find games that are less likely to do that.

#the outbound ghost #yes i figured out how to rip assets from games made with unity #don't know if i can do it with other games though #but i do plan on buying the soundtrack when it comes out because that's what i like to do #games #jess is doing things #spooky or creepy

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tricky-pockets · 2 years

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it was not subtle, nothing in this show is subtle

I'm rewatching Ouran and episode 9 (A Challenge from Lobelia Girls' Academy) is hittin' a LOT different after coming out as transmasc.

(The show's premise is summarized at the end of this post.)*

In episode 9, a group of girls from Lobelia Girls' Academy, visiting for a school event, confront the host club:

"Men are just lowly life forms who don't care about anything other than perpetuating their testosterone-laden image."

We get some expository dialogue:

"St. Lobelia Academy! It is truly a woman's world there! The Zuka Club is a group of strong young maidens who consider women to be superior in every way."

And we're told that they see romantic relationships between women as superior too. There's a shot of their leader, Benio, in a romantic setting with some ladies and rocking a mustache:

They clock Haruhi and proceed to make a huge fuss. They constantly refer to her as a "maiden", and they grab her and exclaim over how smooth her skin is:

They think it's a disgrace that Haruhi is in the host club:

"And to think they're dragging this sweet young girl down with them."

Note: they have never met Haruhi before. Haruhi is kind, but it's a hell of a stretch to say she's sweet.

Without consulting Haruhi, the girls decide:

"Now that we know what's going on, we can't allow this maiden to stay here! We'll prepare her paperwork and have her transferred to Lobelia at once. And we'll welcome her into the Zuka Club!"

Before swanning off, Benio tosses out what seems to be a... racial slur? ?? at one of the boys, referencing the fact that he's half-French.

OKAY. Pausing the recap. This show isn't super explicit about queer shit, nor is it without its faults in that department. But. Haruhi being some flavor of genderqueer is a reading well-supported by the text. She's comfortable in her role as a host and was fine with being perceived as a boy even before then. She uses masculine pronouns when in boymode. Like, it's not outrageous to see some transmasculinity in this story. (It also wouldn't be outrageous to see some nb drag king in this story or to read her as agender.)

And BOY HOWDY, the Lobelia girls are Doing R/adfem Shit. (And yeah, they're cartoonishly exaggerated, but that's the tone of the whole show, come on now.) They spot someone they perceive as female who's presenting as a boy, instantly infantilize her, and grope her because they feel entitled to the parts of her body they see as feminine. They don't accept her relationship to masculinity as it is and try to pressure her to give it up and be a butch lesbian instead.

And, uh. It's played in an exaggerated style, but that's some real shit that actually happens to people.

(to be continued)

*background: a host club is a place where the clientele pay to hang out with handsome men who will entertain and flirt with them. The premise of the anime is a high school host club. Our protagonist, Haruhi, becomes indebted to the club and is taken on as a host. In the first episode, it's revealed that Haruhi isactually female - but she expresses complete indifference as to her gender and/or presentation. She sticks around because it might be fun and the other club members keep her sex a secret. The show's tone is: light-hearted self-aware parody of cheesy high-school anime that's often indistinguishable from cheesy high-school anime.

#transmasc #trans men #transandrophobia #genderqueer #ouran #sam tag 🌌

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tortoisenottortoise · 3 years

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Am I the only one who likes seeing muscular women in media more than muscular men?

Alright so, this one will probably end up much shorter and a little more ranty than I'd like, but this is kind of personal so be fairly warned.

Recently I've seen a few complaints about the new He-Man show and honestly, I fully understand and empathize with them. Whilst I haven't fully seen the show, from what I've viewed I can personally speaking agree (or at the very least understand) where most criticisms come from. I think it's incredibly shitty that the writer basically lied to his audience about how the show would run. Now normally I'd be fine with a twist such as He-man dying, but he's an important part of the show and the way the marketing & merchandising for it was running kind of comes across as him basically using He-Man's name to get people into the show. I also feel like it's fine to view Teela as obnoxious and annoying, nothing about her personality-wise seems likable to me. I also heard a few complaints about Orko's (I think that's his name, don't crucify me) backstory and how his character was handled.Yet as the title suggests one that didn't stick with me was the criticism of Teela and a general trend towards the criticism of women in media as being "masculine".

I've heard over and over that Hollywood representing strong women by giving them masculine traits is a bad thing and yet... I kind of don't get it? It feels odd to say, almost like I'm the dumbest man alive for admitting something which most people on the internet seem to be so sure about, yet I just don't understand where this is coming from. I've seen this thrown at She-hulk, Wonder Woman, Abby, and many other characters, yet when inquired it usually loops back around to, "Yeah they have muscles", and that's about it. This type of criticism in specific seems to overly focus on the appearance of said characters. It's the one critique I just can't get behind and it feels like at best it's a shallow criticism that fails to get its point across, and at worst it's actively demeaning to women who desire to or show masculine traits. But first, let me break this down into sections.

Section 1: Muscles =/= Masculinity (In my opinion at least)

Oh boy, I feel like this is a section that might rustle some feathers, but I'm going to try and explain myself best as possible. I simply do not view muscularity as a feature that is inherent to or should be inherent to men. I'm not going to pretend as if muscular men aren't more saturated in media and art, nor as if they're societally treated as masculine, but one of the reasons I fail to understand this criticism is that I see muscles beyond the horizons as being just a masculine trait.

I believe that muscles should instead be seen as a sign of hard work and determination. As someone who's currently trying (and struggling) to stay healthy and fit, it's much harder than a lot of media portrays it to be. It's a test where you push yourself to the limits, not just for the sake of doing it, but so you can improve as a person. Whenever I go to the gym and see a muscular gal or guy walk by, my immediate thought isn't, "how masculine" or anything like that my thought is, "wow! They worked hard to get like that, I should work hard as well!".

This interpretation tends to feel like it's just simply taking a piss on people who actively work hard to achieve higher levels of strength. Especially when society places and enforces these unrealistic standards onto people. If you don't have a six-quintillion pack nor can bench press a fucking house then you're worthless, of course, that is unless you actually attempt to pursue said standards which in that case you're automatically dismissed as cheating your way to gaining your muscles instead of putting any work in. And that's just for men who often don't have to deal with traditional idiots who are stuck in the year 1950 where I can't walk on the same street as them. My skin crawls when reading tweets from older men talking about how weightlifting women are "ruining their fertility" and I absolutely hate it when people in my life treat these women as if they're mythical creatures from a fairy tale, or when females who have trained to such a degree are simply dismissed as being inferior.

Obviously, I don't think the people who say this are like that, but whenever I hear this type of critique I can't help but think of the culmination of all these experiences I've gone through. But then again, this might honestly just be because I'm personally attracted to muscular women.

Section 2: Body type diversity

Another reason that I tend to like muscular women in media over muscular men is simply due to the sheer oversaturation of muscular men. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem if anybody likes muscular men. I totally get wanting to shove your face in between some man titties or get inspired by their physiques. In all honesty, almost everything I said earlier can directly apply to men, but one of the reasons I bring up body type diversity is that there tend to be much less muscular women than men. I

f anything, I'd have to say that muscular men are almost treated as the default when it comes to things like superhero comics, movies, video games, anime, etc. In a similar vein, the default for women tends to be slim and curvaceous, you get the drill. Whenever someone who doesn't fit into either body type shows up and isn't treated like a joke/gag or a character to rip on, I can't help but be happy about it. As much as I have no clue wtf is going on with TLOU2, I can appreciate that Abby's portrayal doesn't seem to exist solely as a joke meant to demean women for working out. I'm excited when an anime protagonist is a fat character who can go beyond just being a "fat guy" and is treated the same way a normal person would be.

Regardless of what you think about whatever trait you're criticizing, there's probably someone out there who fits it. If you're not into it or dislike it, then that's fine, but I'd rather have that expressed than it being actively made out as a harmful trope as opposed to just literally another body type that some women have.

Section 3: Muscular women inspire me more

Ok so, we've now blown into a full-on personal experience, buckle up boys, girls, NBs, anything in between, and I feel like I'm forgetting someone so apologies! But yeah, muscular women in media tend to be a lot more inspiring than people seem to give them credit for. This comes down to a mix of both the qualities I outlined earlier in what makes the characters inspiring but also plays into the idea of body diversity.

One of the traits that make amazons seem more inspiring is their inherent rarity/lack of screentime. As I stated earlier, whilst I do enjoy my fair share of man-titties, it kind of gets to a point where it's more depressing than inspiring when all you see is just super-models shoved in your face whenever you walk into a theater. If for every Goku I could find ten other guys who were on the chubbier side then I'd be able to take more from when I see Goku and other characters with his body type, yet it's so saturated that it no longer becomes something to aspire to, but simply the norm. It's not that you can work to become muscular or skinny with hard work and effort, you have to be muscular or skinny unless you want to be deemed a failure. Being chubby often isn't presented as a starting point but just treated as a defect. As someone who spent years battling with my own self-perception, that's just not a good message to get across.

Now, this obviously isn't to say that people can never make muscular characters. After all, it's their story so they can put whatever they want in it. The aim of the game isn't to stop people from making a specific type of character, but to encourage a diverse set of people to make a diverse set of characters. This is the reason why I view muscular women as so inspiring. Instead of coming across as just "the norm" or "the standard" they stand out from the crowd and despite knowing what they have to deal with, are still ready and willing to work out and improve their bodies. They had a goal in mind and set time aside to achieve said goal, that's something I can get behind.

Conclusion:

This will be another short section, but I just wanted to mention it because it caps off my thoughts on this post in general. What originally started as me just not getting the reason why people disliked Teela's design somehow turned into a passionate rant and I'm A) not sure if it fits on this particular subsection of the community, B) scared I'm going to get ripped to pieces, and C) somewhat unsatisfied with all that I said. At the end of the day, this probably won't be seen by too many people, but to those who do see it, I hope you have a wonderful day. I just wanted to talk about something that was near and dear to my heart and hoped that I made it clear why I view things the way I do.

P.S: Can we stop having this double standard where we act like women whose arms show the slightest hint of definition are "unrealistic" whilst men can look like tree trunks and be considered normal and healthy? please and thank you!

#rant post #character rant #please help I'm new to tumblr and a boomer when it comes to tags #tropes #trope discussion

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thoriffix · 4 years

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Can you rec some media with canon queer characters 😌

ofc!! thisll by no means be an exhaustive list but idk what youre looking for specifically so ill break it into categories

my current favs!! if u follow me u know these already lol

the umbrella academy: netflix show abt dysfunctional superpowered siblings reuniting to stop the apocalypse. canon mlm character (pansexual according to his actor) w mlm romance, canon wlw character (lesbian according to someone on the show dont rmr who) w het romance in s1, wlw romance in s2 - this is one of my absolute fav shows at the minute in general its brilliant

the magnus archives: horror podcast abt the head archivist of an institute researching experiences w the supernatural. protagonist is canonically biromantic asexual, in a mlm relationship in s5, and there is another canon bisexual character, as well as (iirc) a canon wlw couple - yall know ive been so into tma lately its so so good, obviously if you dont like horror its not for you but if you do.. 👀

sanders sides: youtube series abt a gay dude working out his emotional problems via personified aspects of his personality. all the characters are gay cuz thas what thomas is baby! - i was hesitant abt putting this cuz thomas is a person not a character lol but if u haven't seen sasi i recommend it its like free therapy but theres songs sometimes

shows!

julie and the phantoms (netflix remake): musical show abt a teen girl rediscovering music after her mothers death w the help of three ghosts who were in a 90s band. canon gay character w a slow burn romance (not yet canon bfs but s2 lets go) - its very cheesy and the musical segments can drag on a bit but its p good overall

lucifer: detective show abt lucifer abandoning his rule of hell to buy a nightclub and beginning to solve murders w the lapd. lucifer is canonically bi/pan, as is his demon pal mazikeen, but queerness rly isnt a focus of the show its more casual rep - that being said its a good show overall, if a little predictable now n then (s1-3 on amazon prime, 4+5 on netflix)

kipo and the age of wonderbeasts: fantasy cartoon set in a future filled w mutant intelligent animals, kipo finds herself lost and has to get home w the help of her friends. canon gay character as one of the mains, canon nb side character - its a rly good cartoon! lots of fun, excellent soundtrack, and the main characters are all poc which is rly nice to see

the dragon prince: cartoon abt two princes and an elf assassin returning a dragon egg to its mother. canon mlm couple, several canon wlw characters, canon nb character - i havent seen the show myself but ive heard very good things abt it!

i am not okay with this: netflix show abt a teen girl discovering she has superpowers and hating it. protag is canon wlw (i THINK shes a lesbian but i havent watched it in a hot sec), developing wlw relationship - ianowt slaps! sad that s2 got cancelled but s1 is real good its a touch spooky and theres a bit of gore/blood so watch out lol

schitt's creek: sitcom abt a rich family who lose all their money and have to move into the motel of a town they bought as a joke. canon pansexual character and canon gay character w one of the sweetest mlm relationships - a rly good witty show w excellent character development for every character!

good omens: show abt a demon and an angel trying to stop the end of the world. every celestial character in it is nonbinary, + crowley and aziraphale have a nonexplicit (ie no on screen pda lol) romance - good omens is such a good queer show none of the characters care abt gender in the slightest lmao, plus the show in general is fantastic (the book is also very good)

movies!

the old guard: a group of immortals fight an organisation that wants to capitalise off their immortality. canon mlm couple - another one i havent seen yet (i will!) but apparently very good

it chapter 2: horror sequel to It, w the main characters returning to derry to defeat pennywise for good. canon gay character in unrequited love - i only say chapter 2 because his queerness isnt referenced at all in the first film, again its big horror and theres no gay romance just gay tragedy but its a good film

love, simon: romcom about a closeted gay teen falling in love w someone over emails. do i even need to state the rep? - honestly if u haven't seen love simon yet what are you even DOING its so good proper fluffy queer romcom, the book (simon vs the homosapiens agenda) is also really good!! so is the sequel (leah on the offbeat) where the protag is a bi girl + it focuses on a wlw romance

the way he looks: brazilian coming of age film abt a blind teen boy falling for the new kid at his school. canon mlm relationship - this doesnt seem to be on (british) netflix anymore so idk where youd find it with subtitles but i rmr liking it a lot!

games!

night in the woods: 2d platformer abt a young woman (well. cat) dropping out of college and coming home to live w her parents + discovering spooky happenings in her hometown. canon mlm couple and i believe the protag is canonically bi? - i will recommend nitw to literally anyone who will listen its one of my all time favourite games, deals w a lot of mental health issues and its absolutely gorgeous w a brilliant soundtrack and rly good dialogue thats witty and serious and realistic (its on steam + switch for sure dk abt other platforms, abt 15 quid i think?)

tell me why: adventure game abt twins returning to their childhood home + findin Secrets. canon trans male character - i havent got around to buying + playing this yet but it looks really good! (its in three chapters + on steam, not sure on price)

other media!

the art of being normal: slice of life novel abt a young trans girl discovering herself. main characters are a trans man and a trans woman. - a good novel! trigger warning for transphobic actions including descriptions of a transphobic attack on the guy, and its certainly not without its faults otherwise, but i thought it was pretty good

the adventure zone: dungeons and dragons podcast by the mcelroy brothers. idk specifics but theres a lot of canon queer characters in it! - i havent listened to taz yet but i know a lot abt it, inc that its good and funny and has plenty of queer rep

theres several more i like that arent listed here but to keep this from getting just ridiculously long ill leave it there :] tried to get a range of genres and medias, hopefully theres something for you in there!

#long post #asks #media rec #queer characters

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heart-forge · 4 years

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you managed to play rf4!! i'm glad the emulator worked—hope all the setting up was worth it for you!! (spoilerish but i love bado so much and the fact that the devs put in an option for you to tell him and it won't ever go anywhere..,, it hurts ;;;;) what's your fav part about the game (mechanics, storylines, etc.)? as a writer/dev yourself, did you take anything away from the game?

Oh it absolutely was, although it’s a bit of a bummer that I can’t get ACNH working (at the moment, anyway: it seems like it’s pretty taxing, but I can try another program). Also Bado is very funny, but he infuriates me purely because I don’t understand what dwarves are. They’re like halfway between a human and an elf and I just don’t get how I’m supposed to tell or what it means. I feel the way you feel about Bado about Porcoline though tbh like Porcoline romance when.

My favourite part is the writing which I’m sure isn’t surprising given me as a person, but this is honestly like one of the most compelling Rune Factories from a variety of perspectives? Like the non-romanceable NPCs are extremely loveable which I find isn’t always true. Someone always tends to fall through the cracks: marriageable NPCs seem to hog all the personality, and then there’s a couple NPCs who don’t have much to do outside of their archetype. Venti was an extremely emotional plot point and I completed the game so quickly that I barely had any time to talk to her (just triggered Memories last night so looking forward to that). NPCs that I would usually ignore like Volkanon or Blossom seem much more alive, and I think that’s in no small part due to 1) how interactive everyone is with each other, and 2) town events that involve me with their lives in ways that don’t matter to the family progression.

And like this is cheesy given the ending, but everyone just seems like they love each other so much. Even Porcoline who’d usually be a kind of tasteless and ugly joke just feels so beloved and silly and sweet, and his ties to Meg, Dylas, and Arthur are so genuine and deeply thought out and reciprocal! I feel like in prior games his relationship with Meg would have been much worse in a variety of ways (whether they make him into a creep or into some kind of territorial relative type that she’s constantly berating), and that relationship would take precedence over Dylas and Arthur altogether. But the throughline of love being the human condition and the ultimate power is like, ultimately cheesy but it also works SO well here.

But this is genuinely one of the first Rune Factories where I haven’t just straight up forgotten that some NPCs exist or actively disliked anyone (and that’s in a game where one of your neighbours commits treason!), and one of the only ones where I’ve not only gone out of my way to speak to everyone once a day, but I’ve done so because I want to and not watch the numbers tick upwards.

The game mechanics are also very good. I’ve definitely suffered worse for Rune Factory (love you Raguna but also why were you in two games; Kyle, I hate you, and Barrett should have been the protagonist of your game), so it wasn’t the maker or breaker, but also I was just able to turn my female protagonist to use the male sprite after finishing the game (which is why I finished the game in three days) and it’s just so deeply, deeply satisfying in what I’m sure is an unintentional but still much appreciated NB kind of way, as everyone still refers to them as a princess. And like as I was playing I would just list a bunch of things out loud to my sister that had been so deeply improved.

Also, this is one of the only Rune Factory games where I’ve been excited to do the combat. I view boss battles as a necessary evil but like, dungeon seeds? Mini bosses in the woods? Those like gauntlet bosses where you fight twenty giant chickens? Love it! Also big shout out to the difficulty settings, which is why I could beat the game in three days instead of abandoning it altogether.

Overall it’s a very good game in a way I’m used to not getting with Rune Factory. I put up with a lot for the sake of the family storyline, and someone just galaxy brained and expanded the family plot........to include the whole town.

#talkForge #porcoline romance when #Anonymous

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 3 years

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You know I was thinking Of doing a a CYOA that Will function as a type Of Rewrite for Hogwarts Mystery, where The options actually matters More than just giving You extra dialogue.

I'm maybe too ambitious but I Actually Thought Of Relationship Stats (Merula's Relationship being The most difficult to level up to her harsh Personality) and how that would unblock options about The Relationship you hace with The Character, Like just to put an example If You're a total asshole to Ben un The case Of old Ben he would be scared to talk to You and New Ben would bring your past actions to him just to tell you “I'm not that scared Little kid anymore and I don't Fear you” even If MC tries to apologize he would brush it off “You already put me Through All Of This, Is too late for apologizing”

ALSO, if You act distant to Rowan that would be The way They distance from You but Like If you're a Good friend to Them There's no need to distance

ALSO from The customizable options, I was thinking about The whole at Hogwarts could be a type Of test to determine MC's Personality, like The results Of The Personality test from Mystery Dungeon just that It Actually matters for What Options are available and how MC Would act when You're not controlling Them also when it comes to Choose Their House The Houses that Will be available to Choose would be according The Personality assigned to MC

ALSO! trans options, So even If MC is a trans boy/Girl the portraits would Let Them in on their respective dormitories, If MC Is NB or Genderfluid The dormitories Will be randomly Choose, You can Choose Your Pronouns, also if MC Is a Hufflepuff and gets along well with Penny, She Will give Them Potions to deal with dysphoria.

(Going under the cut because I ramble on.)

Dude, I would love it so much if the choices made more of a difference. As much as this always pains me in games, it’s something that I normally go easy on the developers for. Because to tell a linear story, the choices can’t matter. And every difference choice we can make has to be programmed into the game. So I can understand why it might be difficult and time-consuming, I can even understand that it would limit their capacity to tell the story or make things confusing. But damn if I don’t still want it anyway! Having choices makes a video game skyrocket for me, but once the wool is off my eyes, once I notice that they don’t actually make a difference...the thrill is lost and the whole concept just feels cheap.

I love the concept of how the way you treat characters could affect the way they see you and be brought up later. To an extent, this is true in the canon game, but barely. If you say one thing, it will get repeated back to you in bold text later on. But it won’t really make a difference. “New” Ben seems to think you saw his old self as a burden, no matter what choices you made, and there’s nothing you can say to convince him otherwise. The only time choices like these have felt as though they truly mattered in hindsight, was bringing Rowan to the train station or not doing do. Speaking of Rowan...yeah, I’m with you. The whole concept of having a friend that you grow apart from? That’s realistic and I’m here for it! But why...why Rowan, when they were marked for death all along? It’s just not fair.

Creating a personality for your MC would be rather neat! Especially since they are a speaking character, and have lines in every scene. Sure, the choices you input can impact their nature to a degree...but in general, the mild-mannered “everyman” type of personality that they have in general scenes, is their default mood no matter what you do. Since MC talks for us, since they aren’t a silent protagonist, I think it would have been pretty cool if we got to select between five or six different personality “types” that would have their own dialogue sets. Would be a lot more work to program of course, but I think it would be worth it. Same goes for a more immersive overhaul of the Sorting. Though I don’t mind what we got. Restarting your save file used to be such a pain, and involve jumping through so many hoops...that having the Sorting be a quiz or a mini-game would be pretty annoying if you didn’t get the House you want.

Penny. Brewing potions. For MC. To help them. With dysphoria. My good friend you have opened up such a magnificent floodgate of trans headcanons and I shall drown happily in them. Magic is a wonderful thing, and we know human transfiguration is possible. Transfiguring your body to match your gender could totally be done! I also tend to believe that despite the archaic jinx on the dormitories, there are ways around it. Luca isn’t a boy, so they can go into the Girl’s Dormitories. I interpret Rowan as being gender-fluid, so perhaps they can go in on a Girl Day, if that makes sense. If someone was bi-gendered, I feel like a girl trying to enter the dormitory would overrule that a boy was trying to enter at the same time, if that makes sense. Feels the most inclusive. Not that it really matters for the game, since Dormitories don’t play enough of a role for this to come up.

#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #HPHM Jacob's Sibling #Ramblings

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cow-i-guess · 4 years

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About LGBT ships in fandom

If you’re in a fandom that has several lgbt ships with even a little popularity, you’ve probably come across someone that says “you don’t have to make everything gay” and then proceeds to follow it up with several thinly-veiled homophobic comments and logical fallacies.

This is me rebutting them.

“You don’t have to make everything gay”

Actually, yes, we do. When you grow up with media that only ever shows cis-het relationships, it can truly make you feel invalidated. People who say this don’t have an adequate handle on what it’s like to grow up queer. And they fail to take into consideration queerbaiting. A lot of the time we only “make it gay” when there’s subtext in the piece of media.

“Then can I make gay characters straight?”

No, you can’t. There’s a difference between people who are underrepresented headcannoning that X character is part of their minority and a straight person getting pissed off that they made a character gay in a reboot.

One is someone who’s starved for representation trying to find some and the other is a person in privilege refusing to let anyone else have characters in media that are similar to them.

“Think about the children!!!”

This one is just plainly homophobic.

What seven year old child is on tumblr? There’s an age limit and it’s fine for us to assume that most people on here abide it. And if they don’t, it’s not our fault.

Plus, what makes gay relationships or trans people inherently sexual? Nothing. You just haven’t been exposed to it, so you think that it has to be sexual.

“Then go read gay stuff”

Oh wow, I didn’t think of that, thanks!

Seriously though, sometimes we want a story that’s about lesbian superheroes and isn’t just about the hardships of being gay.

Also, I could name like 90% of the YA books with a trans or non-binary in less than a minute (dreadnought is about a trans MC and I Wish You All the Best has a nb protagonist), so it’s not like there’s a well of representation that we’re just refusing to accept.

And even if we do read “gay stuff” I’m betting that the person who says this is also the person that’s against representation in media.

“But it’s not cannon!!1!”

If you think this, say to yourself: what if this was with straight ships? Do you say the same thing when people ship Uraraka and Deku.

You’d say “nooo, that’s different!! there’s evidence!!”

Excuse me, sir (or ma’am or a non-gendered term) Queerbaiting is a thing that exists. Johnlock is basically cannon, but the cowards creators haven’t confirmed it. And I know people are going to discount me because I mentioned Johnlock, but why don’t you go look at one of the scenes that the fandom always talks about. Now, replace Sherlock with a girl. Do you see it now?

Many times creators deliberately do things with people of the same gender that, if heterosexual, would be pretty clearly romantic-coded.

“There’s no evidence.”

Okay, let’s give this person the benefit of the doubt. Let’s say they’re talking about a ship that doesn’t partake in queerbaiting.

Then I say to them: do you say the something about straight ships? No, you don’t.

You don’t treat people that ship Bakugo and Uraraka with the same level of scrutiny that you treat a Drarry shipper. And we all know this is because it’s a dude and a guy.

“It wouldn’t add anything to the story”

Oh, I’m sorry. I must have forgotten the extremely important plot-relevant role that the Sophie-Keefe-Fitz love triangle plays in the story.

Oh wait: there isn’t one.

In writing there’s a thing called subplots (or b-plots). These are separate from the original story, and removing them wouldn’t cause that much of a change. This is what romances are.

People who say this make it seem like straight relationships are integral parts of stories, and lgbt relationships are always shoehorned in for diversity points.

***

Okay, folks.

That was pretty long, but I there’s a lot of ignorant arguments out there that are really dumb once you get down to it.

That’s all I’ve got. Feel free to add on. And sorry about any grammar mistakes.

#lgbt #queer #gay #save for later

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monster-madame · 4 years

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Male Alien x NB Human Reader (! Jax//Caleb) Part 1 (SFW, next parts will be NSFW so don’t get too attached to fluff)

Hello hello!

I’ve been noodling about how other alien cultures treat gender, which then sort of transformed into a story about a non-binary reader having romantic feelings for an alien whose race is a liiiiiittle obsessed with their culture’s binary genders.

And WHAT would it look like if we veered away from a plot focused around gender dysphoria, and we just dived right in? Where the protagonist/main character was comfortable in their body and just did their thing?

Note: Reader is a human AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth).

18+ only, ty! <3

Warnings: Part 1 is fluffy.

You pulled out the systems panel, having to wrench it a little bit at the end to get it off. “Gotchya!” you muttered triumphantly as it revealed the organized wires and tech underneath.

You were a systems engineer on the Europa Space Station. Normally, you spent a good amount of time pouring over blueprints, but for the last week you had been covering for one of your electrical engineers who had broken her hand while boxing.

The “bone knitter” in the med bay was down for repairs, so the engineer was down for the count for another week or so.

The lights in this hallway had been futzing out and flickering, making the human in the hall feel a little freaked out. You were in the residential sector which crews rented for shore leave, and bemused alien crews had watched their human colleagues lose their shit over the “creepy as fuck hallway.”

You chuckled to yourself as you went scrounging through your borrowed toolkit to find a probe to measure the current. The hallway was pretty creepy, so you had stayed after hours to get it fixed. You wouldn’t to walk through a hallway like this to get to your bed at the end of the day, so it didn’t seem fair to expect others to do so. You started fiddling with the wires and tubes, trying to figure out where the power was sputtering out.

You were about a third of the way through diagnostics, when you felt the floor vibrate. Probably a rowdy crew coming home after blowing credits at the bars and clubs at the station. You paid it no mind, your attention caught trying to interpret the diagnostics on an older type of tube you weren’t familiar with.

The rowdy crew got louder. Dang, they were really having a party. The station was definitely never dull, which was why you’d ranked it #1 on your application.

Turning your attention back to the tube, you realized you were stumped. Rolling your eyes, you muttered, “I probably should look the specs on this damn tube up –” and then you were cut off by a crash just around the corner.

“Goddess’s four tits, Jaxon!” cried a rather inebriated voice in Common, probably a Grayleck by the sounds of the accent. “You hold your liquor fine all night and then totally lose it when we’re on our way home.” Various voices chime in, interspersed with laughter and a few crass jokes.

You paused in your work, eavesdropping and chuckling to yourself.

“Come on Captain, let’s get you up,” said a low rumbling voice. The group swung around the corner, and you pretended to be engrossed in your work – just in case this Jax being was of a species that would be embarrassed by a rando seeing them get hauled to bed by their crew.

The group of 5 came into your periphery, and you had a few “Hey there’s” thrown your way as you approached. Crews knew to be nice to the engineering teams.

You smiled at their antics, and then you pulled out your com to look up the specs on this misbehaving tube.

“Y’all go ahead,” you heard the Palaxian say to his comrades. “I’ll get our fearless leader to bed.” The other three continued down the hall, weaving a bit as they headed to their own rooms.

“Excuse me,” rumbled the same voice from before, belonging to a more-burly-than-usual Palaxian. “Can I set my friend here? This is his door. He’s passed out, so he won’t vomit in the hall or anything.”

“Sure thing!” you said and moved your bag, looking up at them with a smile. Then your brain fritzed, seeing the two forms.

Oh, shit. This was the crew of the Heliotross, a famous mercenary outfit.

Thankfully, due to a not-so-great childhood, you could control your surprise and facial expressions with the best of them. It would be embarrassing as keff if he realized you were starstruck.

You hurriedly moved all your gear to the side, and the Palaxian put Captain Fucking Jaxon of the Heliotross down besides you.

Being dumped on the floor woke him up, and he blearily rubbed his head. Jax glanced at you, then did a double take.

His left eyebrow perked up, and his posture changed – moving his shoulders to give you his full attention.

You stared at each other for a heartbeat. Two heartbeats.

Oh dear.

“Hello there,” he said, slurring his words a tad. “Aren’t you an intriguing creature?” He looked you up and down, taking in your form. He paused over a few key features, giving you a lingering once over as he flopped his head to rest against the wall. “Care to share your name, as well as any relevant specs on your attractions, predilections or preferences?”

You thought to respond, but your brain was fitzing.

Time slowed. All you could do was drink him in. You realized the holovids didn’t do him justice. Jax was sexy as hell. He definitely had some Greek in his ancestry. Olive skin, curling hair to his shoulders, and a bone structure art students would riot over. His nose had a hook, and he was wearing his trademark shit eating grin.

Luckily, the Palaxian interrupted you. “Jax, the best time to flirt with an intriguing human is NOT when you’re too drunk to stand.”

OMG. Did he just call you intriguing? Was that.a good thing or bad thing? Probably a good thing. Fuck.

“I’m Jerry,” said the Palaxian. “Don’t mind us, I just gotta remember the keffing door code.” He pulled out his comm, scrolling through the notes.

“Take all the time you need, my dear friend,” said Jax, smiling broadly at you and flopping his hand in the general direction of Jerry. “I like it down here just fine.”

"Oh do you?” you boldly asked, finally finding your voice.

Jax smirked at you. Before he could reply, Jerry punched in the doorcode.

“Got it,” Jerry grunted, and the apartment doors slid open. He bent down and swung Jax over his broad shoulder.

Your mouth quirked up.

Jax dangled for a second, groaning. Then, he arched his back to make eye contact with you. “I’ll definitely be seeing you,” he said, just before the apartment doors swished shut.

“Is that so?” you said to the empty hallway.

Once it shut, you started to pack up your gear. You definitely shouldn’t be playing with electronics in your current state, as your blood was rushing to the lower half of your uniform jumpsuit. A clear safety hazard.

You stood up and grabbed your gear, conveniently carrying it low to avoid any second glances.

You needed to get to your rooms, NOW.

I’m excited to share this series with y’all! I’ll be sharing part 2 in a few days, or sooner if folks like it...? <3. Series is 4 parts, and I may do a bonus from Jax’s perspectives bc why not.

Be sure to hit that “Reblog” button. <3333

#monster boyfriend #alien boyfriend #exophillia #monster lover #non-binary reader #sci fi writing #space station #alien x human #nb reader

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wildeoaths · 4 years

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LGBTQ Book & Film Recommendations

Hello! As someone who tries to read widely, it can sometimes be frustrating to find good (well-written, well-made) LGBTQ+ works of literature and film, and mainstream recommendations only go so far. This is my shortlist.

Some caveats: 1) I have only watched/seen some of these, though they have all been well-received.

2) The literature list is primarily focused on adult literary and genre fiction, since that is what I mostly read, and I feel like it’s easier to find queer YA fiction. Cece over at ProblemsOfABookNerd (YT) covers a lot of newer releases and has a YA focus, so you can check her out for more recommendations.

3) There are a ton of good films and good books that either reference or discuss queer theory, LGBTQ history and literary theory. These tend to be more esoteric and academic, and I’m not too familiar with queer theory, so they’ve largely been left off the list. I do agree that they’re important, and reading into LGBTQ-coding is a major practice, but they’re less accessible and I don’t want to make the list too intimidating.

4) I linked to Goodreads and Letterboxd because that’s what I use and I happen to really enjoy the reviews.

Any works that are bolded are popular, or they’re acclaimed and I think they deserve some attention. I’ve done my best to flag potential objections and triggers, but you should definitely do a search of the reviews. DoesTheDogDie is also a good resource. Not all of these will be suitable for younger teenagers; please use your common sense and judgement.

Please feel free to chime in in the replies (not the reblogs) with your recommendations, and I’ll eventually do a reblog with the additions!

BOOKS

> YOUNG ADULT

Don’t @ me asking why your favourite YA novel isn’t on this list. These just happen to be the picks I felt might also appeal to older teens/twentysomethings.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - poetry.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - trans male teen protagonist.

Red, White & Royal Blue

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue

The Raven Boys (and Raven Cycle)

> LITERATURE: GENERAL

This list does skew M/M; more NB, trans and WLW recommendations are welcomed!

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. One of the most acclaimed contemporary LGBTQ novels and you’ve probably heard of it. Will probably make you cry.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Portrait of a middle-aged gay man.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. M/M affair, British student high society; definitely nostalgic for the aristocracy so be aware of the context.

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. It’s somewhat controversial, it’s gay, everyone knows the film at least.

Cronus’ Children / Le Jardin d'Acclimation by Yves Navarre. Winner of the Goncourt prize.

Dancer From The Dance by Andrew Holleran. A young man in the 1970s NYC gay scene. Warning for drugs and sexual references.

Dorian, An Imitation by Will Self. Adaptation of Orscar Wilde’s novel. Warning for sexual content.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Two wlw in the 1980s. Also made into a film; see below.

Gemini by Michel Tournier. The link will tell you more; seems like a very complex read. TW for troubling twin dynamics.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Another iconic M/M work.

Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey. A queer punk reimagining of Peter Pan. Probably one of the more accessible works on this list!

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson. Two teenage boys in 1980s France.

Maurice by E. M. Forster. Landmark work written in 1914. Also made into a film; see below.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. An expansive (and long) novel about the story of Cal, a hermaphrodite, by the author of The Virgin Suicides.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Plays with gender, time and space. Virginia Woolf’s ode to her lover Vita Sackville-West. What more do you want? (also a great film; see below).

Oscar Wilde’s works - The Picture of Dorian Gray would be the place to start. Another member of the classical literary canon.

Saga, vol.1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. Graphic novel; warning for sexual content.

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinburg. An acclaimed work looking at working-class lesbian life and gender identity in pre-Stonewall America.

The Holy Innocents by Gilbert Adair. The basis for Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003). I am hesitant to recommend this because I have not read this, though I have watched the film; the M/M dynamic and LGBTQ themes do not seem to be the primary focus. Warning for sexual content and incestuous dynamics between the twins.

The Animals At Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey. Plays with gothic elements, set during WW2, F/F elements.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham. References Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Probably a good idea to read Virginia Woolf first.

The Immoralist by André Gide. Translated from French.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline MIller. Drawing from the Iliad, focusing on Achilles and Patroclus. Contemporary fantasy that would be a good pick for younger readers.

The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. Gay life pre-AIDS crisis. Apparently contains a fair amount of sexual content.

What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell. A gay man’s coming of age in the American South.

> LITERATURE: WORLD LITERATURE

American and Western experiences are more prominent in LGBTQ works, just due to the way history and the community have developed, and the difficulties of translation. These are English and translated works that specifically foreground the experiences of non-White people living in (often) non-Western societies. I’m not white or American myself and recommendations in this area are especially welcomed.

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. The memoirs and essays of a queer black activist, exploring themes of black LGBTQ experiences and masculinity.

A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian. Female communities and queer female characters in a Bangalore slum. A very new release but already very well received.

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Coming-of-age in post-WW1 Japan. This one’s interesting, because it’s definitely at least somewhat autobiographical. Mishima can be a tough writer, and you should definitely look into his personality and his life when reading his work.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi. A family saga told against the backdrop of Iranian history by a queer Iranian woman. Would recommend going into this knowing at least some of the political and historical context.

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones. A coming-of-age story and memoir from a gay, black man in the American South.

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. Another acclaimed contemporary work about the dynamics of abuse in LGBTQ relationships. Memoir.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Contemporary black British experience, told from the perspectives of 12 diverse narrators.

> POETRY

Crush by Richard Siken. Tumblr loves Richard Siken, worth a read.

Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich.

He’s So Masc by Chris Tse.

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, trans. Anne Carson. The best presentation of Sappho we’re likely to get.

Lord Byron’s works - Selected Poems may be a good starting point. One of the Romantics and part of the classical literary canon.

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. The explicitly lesbian poems are apparently in the les fleurs du mal section.

> MEMOIR & NONFICTION

And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts. An expansive, comprehensive history and exposure of the failures of media and the Reagan administration, written by an investigative journalist. Will probably make you rightfully angry.

How to Survive A Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France. A reminder of the power of community and everyday activism, written by a gay reporter living in NYC during the epidemic.

Indecent Advances: The Hidden History of Murder and Masculinity Before Stonewall by James Polchin. True crime fans, this one’s for you. Sociocultural history constructed from readings of the news and media.

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker. It’s illustrated, it’s written by an academic, it’s an easier introduction to queer theory. I still need to pick up a copy, but it seems like a great jumping-off point with an overview of the academic context.

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen. The stories of LGBTQ people and LGBTQ narratives in the conservative parts of America. A very well received contemporary read.

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. Gender, pregnancy and queer partnership. I’m not familiar with this but it is quite popular.

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan. LGBTQ history of Brooklyn from the nineteenth century to pre-Stonewall.

FILMS

With films it’s difficult because characters are often queercoded and we’re only now seeing films with better rep. This is a shortlist of better-rated films with fairly explicit LGBTQ coding, LGBTQ characters, or made by LGBTQ persons. Bolded films are ones that I think are likely to be more accessible or with wider appeal.

A Single Man (2009) - Colin Firth plays a middle-aged widower.

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013) - A controversial one. Sexual content.

Booksmart (2019) - A pretty well made film about female friendship and being an LGBTQ teen.

Boy Erased (2018) - Warning for conversion therapy.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) - Young AIDS activists in France.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Cowboy gays. This film is pretty famous, do you need more summary? Might make a good triple bill with Idaho and God’s Own Country.

Cabaret (1972) - Liza Minelli. Obvious plug to also look into Vincent Minelli.

Calamity Jane (1953) - There’s a lot that could be said about queer coding in Hollywood golden era studio films, but this is apparently a fun wlw-cowboy westerns-vibes watch. Read the reviews on this one!

Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Please don't debate this film in the notes.

Caravaggio (1986) - Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton are in it. Rather explicit.

Carol (2015) - Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are lesbians in 1950s America.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) - Hard to summarise, but one review calls it “lesbian birdman” and it has both Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in it, so consider watching it.

Colette (2018) - About the bi/queer female writer Colette during the belle epoque era. This had Keira Knightley so by all rights Tumblr should love it.

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) - Lesbian love in 1920s/80s? America.

God’s Own Country (2017) - Gay and British.

Happy Together (1997) - By Wong Kar Wai. No further explanation needed.

Heartbeats (2010) - Bi comedy.

Heartstone (2016) - It’s a story about rural Icelandic teenagers.

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015) - Queer teens and religious themes.

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974) - Early Chantal Akerman. Warning for sexual scenes.

Kill Your Darlings (2013) - Ginsberg, Kerouac and the Beat poets.

Love, Simon (2018)

Lovesong (2016) - Lesbian and very soft. Korean-American characters.

Love Songs (2007) - French trio relationship. Louis Garrel continues to give off non-straight vibes.

Mädchen In Uniform (1931) - One of the earliest narrative films to explicitly portray homosexuality. A piece of LGBTQ cinematic history.

Maurice (1987) - Adaptation of the novel.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Heavy gay coding.

Milk (2008) - Biopic of Harvey Milk, openly gay politician. By the same director who made My Own Private Idaho.

Moonlight (2016) - It won the awards for a reason.

My Own Private Idaho (1991) - Another iconic LGBTQ film. River Phoenix.

Mysterious Skin (2004) - Go into this film aware, please. Young actors, themes of prostitution, child ab*se, r***, and a lot of trauma.

Orlando (1992) - An excellent adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, and in my opinion far more accessible. Watch it for the queer sensibilities and fantastic period pieces.

Pariah (2011) - Excellent coming-of-age film about a black lesbian girl in Brooklyn.

Paris is Burning (1990) - LANDMARK DOCUMENTARY piece of LGBTQ history, documenting the African-American and Latine drag and ballroom roots of the NYC queer community.

Persona (1966) - It’s an Ingmar Bergman film so I would recommend knowing what you’re about to get into, but also I can’t describe it because it’s an Ingmar Bergman film.

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) - Cult classic queercoded boarding school girls.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - By Celine Sciamma, who’s rapidly establishing herself in the mainstream as a LGBTQ film director. This is a wlw relationship and the queer themes are reflected in the cinematic techniques used. A crowd pleaser.

Pride (2014) - Pride parades with a British sensibility.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955) - Crowd-pleaser with bi coding and James Dean. The OG version of “you’re tearing me apart!”.

Rocketman (2019) - It’s Elton John.

Rent (2005) - Adaptation of the stage musical. Not the best film from a technical standpoint. I recommend the professionally recorded 2008 closing night performance instead.

Rope (1948) - Hitchcock film.

Sorry Angel (2018) - Loving portraits of gay French men.

Talk To Her (2002) - By Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar.

Tangerine (2015) - About trans sex workers. The actors apparently had a lot of input in the film, which was somehow shot on an iPhone by the same guy who went on to do The Florida Project.

The Duke of Burgundy (2014) - Lesbians in an S&M relationship that’s going stale, sexual content obviously.

The Gay Deceivers (1969) - The reviews are better than me explaining.

The Handmaiden (2016) - Park Chan-wook makes a film about Korean lesbians and is criminally snubbed at the Oscars. Warning for sexual themes and kink.

The Favourite (2018) - Period movie, and lesbian.

Thelma And Louise (1991) - An iconic part of LGBTQ cinematic history. That is all.

The Celluloid Closet (1995) - A look into LGBTQ cinematic history, and the historical contexts we operated in when we’ve snuck our narratives into film.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) - Adaptation of the YA novel.

The Neon Demon (2016) - Apparently based on Elizabeth Bathory, the blood-drinking countess. Very polarising film and rated R.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower (2012) - Book adaptation. It has Ezra Miller in it I guess.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - No explanation needed, queer and transgressive vibes all the way.

They (2017) - Gender identity, teenagers.

Those People (2015) - They’re gay and they’re artists in New York.

Tomboy (2011) - One of the few films I’ve seen dealing with gender identity in children (10 y/o). Celine Sciamma developing her directorial voice.

Tropical Malady (2004) - By Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His is a very particular style so don’t sweat it if you don’t enjoy it.

Vita and Virginia (2018) - Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West biopic

Water Lilies (2007) - Celine Sciamma again! Teenage lesbian coming-of-age.

When Marnie Was There (2014) - A Studio Ghibli film exploring youth, gender and sexuality.

Weekend (2011) - An indie film about young gay love.

Wilde (1997) - It’s a film about Oscar Wilde.

XXY (2007) - About an intersex teenager. Reviews on this are mixed.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Wonder what Diego Luna was doing before Rogue One? This is one of the things. Warning for sexual content.

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amyltia · 4 years

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Emma and her mirrors (Jane Austen)

Emma and her mirrors or vanity and doubles in Emma of Jane Austen

I recently read Emma and I loved it ! I probablly is basics in Emma studies but I was amazed by the number of doubles in it, all enlighnting the character of Emma herself and showing from the beginning of the novel how afraid (?) or at least far from love Emma tries to keep herself.

Harriet : Emma’s inferior and uninentional victim

In Emma you can’t live romance indirectly, or it backfires to you, that whas Emma first lesson. Through Harriet, Emma can display her interest in romance (that’s what matchmaking is about : living romances without actually living them, so it’s safier because she doesn’t need to live her own romances). She repeats that she won’t mary but this matchmaking actually shows that she does have a big interest in romance but doesn’t want to get too near this side of herself (until the end of the novel when she has to face it).

That’s why she feels so much guilt toward Harriet : she used her. When it doesn’t hurt Harriet it is ok but this game of Emma ends up hurting Harriet and it is Emma fault on many levels : she put ideas in her head but more than that she used Harriet as a shield, living romances through a window, only the window got hurt and it showed Emma how unfairly and selfishly she treated Harriet, her tho unintentional, victim however. The catharsis backfired and it hurts with guilt.

More than in romance, Emma makes Harriet and sees her as a double of herself : she educates her and make her feel and think like her. But Emma sees her as a inferioir double of herself : Harriet must set for someone she Emma wouldn’t care for, Mr Elton or Mr Churchill once she Emma is certain that she doesn’t love him - that’s why Harriet saying she loves Mr Knightley is such a shock for Emma, because he is on Emma’s level, not Harriet’s.

Jane Fairfax : Emma’s superior and rival as a heroine

She is Emma’s rival from infancy : compared from their childhood at Emma’s disadvantage in accomplishments. We then learn that Emma always considered Jane as a rival of her unconfessed love for Mr Knightley.

But she is more than that : she is her rival as a heroine. It’s Jane who has all the characteristics of a fairy tale heroine : she is beautiful, kind, talented but poor, her birth circumstances are complicated and she is an orphan (lost her parents and raised by a kind benefactor), just like Cinderella. Indeed, she ends up engaged to the rich and handsome prince (or beast if we go for the Beauty and the Beast pattern) that elevates her status and save her from misery. She is also the one whose love story is told (even secretly) during the most part of the novel, it is to her that most of the things happens directly (note : Emma has a very interesting statut : she chooses to remain a side-character of the romances around her but also by being at the crossroads of all of them and influencing them she is the main protagonist of the novel) ; the final revelation of the long last engagment is very novel-like. This Jane would be deserving and could compete for a fairy tale heroine role, much like Fanny Price’s in Mansflied Park.

Mrs Elton : the worse in Emma

Towards Mrs Elton, Emma feels nothing but disgust. She is an anti-role model for her and a warning of Emma’s own faults. Emma and Mrs Elton have one big point in common : they love to be first. Emma can’t stand Mrs Elton because they want the same thing (this is the scene when Mrs Weston tells Emma that she has to let Mrs Elton lead the dance, instead of Emma - to Emma’s disappointment) and Emma condemns in Mrs Elton what she would condemn in herself too if she saw it, that’s why Emma’s disgust in Mrs Elton is so ironic and funny. Her own pride is speaking because it makes them “rivals” but it also shows that Emma has enough judgment to condmen this fault, at least in others, and knowing her application in imporving herself it shows Emma in a good light too, while also allowing Jane Austen to condemn it indirectly in Emma herself.

Another one is that they love to have protegees : what Emma does with Harriet is not so different than what Mrs Elton does with Jane. They help them and care for them, but with or withtout realizing it, they use their little friend in a very selfish way : to make themselves feel like always the superior and powerful one, in other words because they like to be first. It’s not manipulation because they really do what they think best for their friends and tho a mistake it doesn’t erase the kindness in the act (at least on Emma side). Both Emma and Mrs Elton by insisting on controling Harriet and Jane are not helping at all and it is then all more funny and ironic to see Emma pity Jane who has to endure the constant “help” of Mrs Elton, while this is exactly what Emma herself does with Harriet.

Addendum - When Emma of Jane Austen meets french author La Bruyere and his Characters :

Chapter XII. OF OPINIONS

(72.) The same faults which are dull and unbearable in others are in their right place when we have them; they do not weigh us down, and are hardly felt. One man, speaking of another, draws a terrible likeness of him, and does not in the least imagine that at the same time he is painting himself.

If we could see the faults in other people, and could be brought to acknowledge that we possess the same faults, we would more readily amend them; it is when we are at a right distance from them, and when they appear what they really are, that we dislike them as much as they deserve.

From La Bruyere, The Characters, 1688 - quoted from this translation

Dear Emma is he talking about you ? Though completely unrelated of course, when I read this from La Bruyere I thought of Emma and Mrs Elton. Emma despises Mrs Elton but she doesn’t see that they have a lot in common, and the faults she easily sees in Mrs Elton, she doesn’t see them in herself. NB. I think this quote from La Bruyere could apply to many Jane Austen characters : if I remember Lizzie and Darcy at some point admit that they have some faults in common.

Frank Churchill : the exact double of Emma

He is her true double. They have the same character (open, warm, playful) and the same faults (inconsideration and a little selfishness, but they are aware of it and want to improve themselves) and the same fate (marrying people, I think Emma says it at the end, “better than themselves” and able to guide them in the right path). The two couples, Emma/Mr Knightley and Jane/Frank are exact double with Emma = Frank and Jane = Mr Knightley. (Note : Making Jane a double of Emma and also of Mr Knightley...that’s why even tho mirrors play no part in the novel I called this little essay Emma and her mirrors, because the reflection mecanism gets pretty interwined). Emma herself tells Frank about the “likeness” between them, so Jane Austen emphatizes this mirror relation between the two couples at the end of the novel.

Conclusion v.1

Why so many mirrors ? It’s a real question. We don’t see so many doubles in all the others Austen novels, so why does Jane Austen use so many diffferent mirrors to portray Emma ? It’s the first Jane Austen novel that has me wonder so much about it structure and writing.

I realize it may allow to condemn Emma without actually be condamning her but why ? Also it may be because she isn’t a very active character, she is very peaceful actually, so it allows Jane Austen to keep her out of troubles and make her a homie girl, while showing the contours/edges of her character by using more novel-like characters. Because it seems to me that while she speaks and think in a very novel-like way (she “fancies” a loot, like with the gypsies/Harriet/Frank) she is not the most novel-like character of Jane Austen : not much happens directly to her (it is arguable because some things do, like Mr Elton proposal, and Mr Knightey’s but during the whole Frank Churhill arc she is really a side-character in his secret and untold story - it’s like there is a hidden novel in the novel, and this configuration makes me wonder about Emma’s statut as a heroine). [to complete]

Please if I said something absolutely wrong do not hesitate to tell me

#emma woodhouse #emma #emma meta #jane fairfax #jane austen #jane austen meta #knightley #la bruyere #french author #characters

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vroenis · 4 years

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When The Best You Can Do Is Shoot A Gun

The Animal Crossing / Doom Eternal Covid19 launch coincidentally seems to be related to this discussion, even tho I’d say Doom Eternal has an excellent combat system and isn’t really relevant to what I’m going to bring up. I don’t have a problem with shooty-shooty, I have purchased, played and will continue to purchase and play plenty of video games that engage with firearm violence. There are plenty of discussions about how intelligent, consenting adults can do this without any problems and I won’t retread them here. Doom is simple game themed vaguely around demons; demons bad, player protagonist good, good player shoot bad demons - OK you got it, apply an incredible movement system into that and enjoy.

What I want to discuss involves of-course that pesky word and idea nuance, which annoys the shit out of more people these days, for its applications and misapplications - fingers-crossed I don’t fuck it up, but first I want to bring up Ubisoft and systems, so now’s as good a place as any for a stolen picture from the internet.

As far as concept art goes, that’s actually very representative of the final product in-game.

Ubisoft appear to have a long-term open-world tech development objective. I believe at some point very soon, these individual objectives will converge into one single middleware product with a mandate to producce retail licenses that combine what each of these individual franchises have been testing and achieving in isolation, those being;

Ghost Recon Wildlands and Breakpoint: 3rd person Load-On-Demand

The Division: 3rd Person Cover and interactivity

Assassin’s Creed: Environmental mapping and interactivity

Starlink: Scaling Load-On-Demand

Far Cry: First Person implementation of various combinations of above

I’ll put it another way;

Ghost Recon: Load everything

The Division: stick to everything

Assassin’s Creed: climb everything

Starlink: scale everything

Far Cry: do it in first person perspective

It looks like all of these games are running in Ubisoft in-house proprietary engines. Ghost Recon and Assassin’s Creed are running in Anvil, developed for the very first Assassin’s game and in which the Prince of Persia 2008 and Forgotten Sands also ran in. Oddly, (Rainbow Six) Seige, Steep (lol) and For Honor are also running in Anvil.

Both Division games and Starlink are running in Snowdrop and this appears to be due to The Division having come from Massive Entertainment. I’ll be honest, from the perspective of a consumer (read: punter) and someone with extremely minimal 3rd-hand development experience, The Division looks far more impressive than both the Ghost Recon and Assasin’s games, and former Massive brand and art director Rodrigo Cortes has said of the engine that it was design to “do things better not bigger” and I think it shows. Anyway, it was still developed with Ubisoft so as I understand it, they own it. Massive is a Ubisoft subsidiary, their studio based in Sweden.

Far Cry is going to be a little different, being a little older and having its roots slightly before... what shall we call this mess... the cynical age? The microtransaciton age? Anyway. The first game used the CryEngine developed by Crytek. At some point, Ubisoft seemed to develop an offshoot of the engine called Dunia because the CryEngine was licensed and clearly lucrative, I think. I’m not entirely sure, but Dunia does appear to remain in-house and under the auspices of Ubisoft Montreal. Where am I going with all this?

Starlink was “toys to life” a-la Skylanders but way too late, combined with No Man’s Sky-lite, but the game itself other than being overstuffed with Ubisoft copy-and-paste template-quests is an excellent proof of concept.

I do need to say that in general, I don’t have any particular affinity for Ubisoft. So I am yes, absolutely fascinated with something I do think is happening as far as tech goes and now I’m writing about it in this piece, and yes you can tell I’ve played and even enjoyed some of the games they’ve produced and published, but there’s a lot not to like about many of their practices, the least of which is the overbearing sense of cynicism pervasive in many of their games.

I played Far Cry 3 long after it released and got perhaps 20% thru the campaign before giving up entirely. For starters, nothing about how it controlled felt right and I appreciate that’s purely a personal preference. Being a Battlefield player, there’s something about DICE’s sense of locomotion that is perfect to me, even tho it varies from title to title from Bad Company 2 all the way to V most recently. Other things about Far Cry bother me tho - if there’s wildlife around, it always attacks the player, guaranteed. Everything about this game seems to be designed to force the player into engagement, to provide you with materials to collect, craft or sell, but also to run you short of ammunition to either scrounge for more or have to buy it because *surprise* - it prompts you to purchase ammunition for real-world money. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Fuck off. I uninstalled the game immediately. I can deal with ridiculous AI with magical aim and irrational scripting. I can deal with absurd narrative for the sake of reading (and roasting later), but the entire package culminating in purchasing more ammunition was otherworldly, it was truly bizarre. To this day, I don’t understand what world Ubisoft inhabits that this is something that makes sense to anyone in management or marketing, and yet there it is and there are consumers that not only accept it but embrace it. No doubt there are metrics from the mobile industry that support it and dear lord the capitalist apocalypse is upon us.

What will Ubisoft do when they can merge these technologies? They definitely want to and likely already have in-house, they just need the engine to run client-side for the Consumer. You and I and Inside Gaming are all laughing it up at Stadia right now, but we’re at the wrong end of the business. For Ubisoft, they can ignore the faltering at the start, it’s the long-term they focus on. The pittance Google are losing now, even if they end-up shuttering the project will be meaningless if they end-up getting the hardware to work, even if the end-result is the hardware sitting in a box in the consumer’s home in 10 years. Sure, that’s a long loop, but the journey still doesn’t matter, only the eventual ROI.

If this piece hasn’t gotten boring for you yet, it’s about to because you’re probably excited for what Ubisoft will do with this impending technological power and development and I rally am not. What will Ubisoft do with it? Probably just more Assassin’s Creed, except you’ll be able to snap to cover and have a fully mapped country. Probably more The Division, but you’ll have a fully mapped city that you can also climb on the outside of buildings and then enter them without any loading. Probably more Far Cry but with bigger maps and more interactivity and less loading. The next generation of consumer hardware consoles from Microsoft and Sony are upon us and as much as PC enthusiasts hate to admit it, the consumer market is largely gated by the generational hardware stepping of these platforms. That may change after this era depending on how Google, Amazon and indeed Microsoft and Sony go with cloud computing, but for the moment the status-quo will remain as alternative products develop. Bear in mind with Covid19, climate change and the general sustainability and ethical standards of working and living being under growing scrutiny the world over, things are changing more each day, our technology development may change in ways we don’t expect so who even knows what’s in store for the future.

So What Do I Actually Want?

Good question. NB: before you ask, Animal Crossing isn’t my thing. I played it years ago on Gamecube. It’s cute, it’s fine. I’ve no interest in it. I’m writing this note in retrospect because I realise you may say “Just play Animal Crossing or The Sims but hopefully I can illustrate by neither of those games is what I’m after, nor do I just want to build a house in something like No Man’s Sky and fill it with crap. Let’s see if I get there... A few weeks ago I wrote about how the best thing Naughty Dog did with Uncharted 4 was Elena and Nathan’s domestic spaces. I did purchase The Division 2 on the cheap a couple of weeks ago and I’ll be honest, there’s a lot about it that I’m enjoying quite a bit. For a start, visually it’s stunning. The art team have done an excellent job of both filling the world with immense detail, but also making every area of Washington unique and distinct which is a huge feat given the total space covered. Thus far, I’ve spent a whole lot of time just walking around and gathering resources, in part just to sightsee and explore without any particular objective in mind. After a while, I got the impression that the map was a bit flat, but the more you explore, the more you find places where you get verticality, and then doing missions always adds verticality and variety in environmental and art design, it’s a marvel to see.

Apologies to James and Thomas (above) for ripping these images, but I’m glad your names are in frame so you have direct credit - outstanding work. The art in this game is without question its strongest element.

And that’s just the thing - The Division is an interesting game in that what I enjoy most is the sense of walking around exploring, gather resources and helping people. I’m not here on an anti-violence kick - I play Battlefield, I actually don’t mind the shooting in The Division, it’s fine, whatever, I’m not going to justify that. What I’m saying is that it gets boring.

THERE ARE A LOT OF GAMES ABOUT SHOOTING.

Like... a lot. More than enough. There will always be a lot of games about shooting and that’s fine. I think I’ll always play them. Hey, I even play games about shooting *in very specific ways* - it’s not like I don’t care about the shooting, I’m playing The Division with only a bullpup DMR and shotgun combo, plus I’m trying to use my sidearm when traversing the streets as much as possible so don’t at me, I’m in the game.

But we seem to mostly get high detail assets in games with guns because shooty games get all the money. I get it - shooty games get all the sales because we as gamers like to play them - sure, I’m one of them, but I didn’t buy The Division until it was under AUD$30 because gotdam the shooting is so boring and even now yes, it really do be just more boring shooting, just like it’s boring in Uncharted, just like it’s boring in Ghost Recon (my goooooood so boring), just like it is in Destiny, and the umpteenth shooty mcshooty game. I’m getting too old for this.

Uncharted 4 had an opportunity to do something more and it almost did. For many players, it probably achieved enough of what I was after by those two visits to the Fisher and North residences but I wanted so much more of that. I want to see Sully’s house or houses, more of his life. I want to know where Chloe’s life is at. I want to know of their lives and emotional engagements outside of the frankly stupid narrative I have no interest in because it’s clearly stupid and an excuse for running and jumping that other games have since done better. If Uncharted as a whole was a subtext for character, then by the fourth game, the focus should have been the characters that carried the series thru to the end - no disrespect to Tom Baker - not the heretofore unrevealed older brother.

For Years I Didn’t Know “Walking Simulator” Was A Pejorative

I think this is why I replayed and continue to replay Dear Ester so much. I remember laughing my ass off at YouTubers making videos about how it wasn’t a game and that it didn’t have objectives. Yet there were still threads and might still be on reddit or Discord wherever gamers congregate these days - about “virtual tourism” and “just chillin’ in place x because it’s so awesome” etc. It’s fine, each generation will rediscover virtual tourism again and again and we can’t denigrate anyone for doing so, it’s certainly nothing we invented given it comes from literature and oral tradition before that, but it’s remarkable that there’s this resistance to experiences crafted purely for the purposes of being immersed in them.

I adore Dear Ester and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. Absolutely loved What Remains Of Edith Finch and only if you have already played Edith Finch, because it’s full of spoilers but also its own spoiler warnings, I heartily recommend Joseph Anderson’s outstanding video The Villain of Edith Finch. It’s a 53 minute watch so I won’t embed it, and he has a certain style of presentation that won’t gel with everyone, nor do I always agree with everything he says which should go without saying but at some point folks, you have to stop pursuing art, criticism and media that just wholly aligns with your own views. That said, I generally do find most of what he says agreeable, innit. Anyway he’s great and the video is great.

While Dear Esther is more surreal and Rapture and Edith Finch are in part slightly more fantastical than the real-life settings of Uncharted 4′s home and Division’s post-apocalyptic cities, they all visually represent dense, very human object-rich spaces that to me are quite interesting to explore. Dear Esther might be a little more rooted in nature but its human elements tie-in to its narrative in an extremely interesting way. Each game offers different levels of interaction, some that serve the narrative directly, some as subtexts and others quite mildly in the periphery.

I’m sorry if I’m repeating myself but I remember seeing a promo for Battlefield Hardline coming off the back of Battlefield 4 and the ridiculous marketing phrase “levolution” - the term they coined for large-scale environmental destruction (please take the keys away from the marketing department). I remember seeing video footage of a large construction crane falling in a level and thinking

“All this intelligence, all this tech, and this is what we do with it? Is this all we can achieve? This is it?”

That’s how I feel about this emerging technology. Somewhere out there (on YouTube, to be fair), there’s all this footage buried of the Beyond Good And Evil sequel that to everyone’s knowledge is still in development. I’d put my money on that being the first project built in Ubisoft’s convergence engine that they hope successfully implements everything that each of these games executes individually. I know the BG&E fans are frothing for it and when I saw those early demos, what I interpret of the tech did blow me away, but from an experience perspective, I did still think the same thing...

“Is this it?”

Because of-course, a huge part of the new game is going to be combat. I just - don’t - care. When I think about what was lacking in Uncharted 4, what I wanted more of, it was intimacy. What didn’t I like about the conversation and resolution between Elena and Nathan? About the tours of their homes, the little time spent playing as Cassie, the few insights into Sully as a character, the absence of Chloe who was such a great contrast to Nathan, Elena and Sully all-together... it was intimacy. Yea oroight, so I don’t exactly mean the type of real-life intimacy between lovers, do I - that much is clear. But if I don’t mean shooty because there’s enough of that, and I’m leaning into domestic detail and emotional exploration and reflections of that in objects, spaces and interactivity, then that’s what I mean.

Tho I’m loath to bring it up, I feel like in the worst possible way, David Cage is right on the periphery of this discussion (and for that reason, I ain’t tagging him or his games in this entry, get fucked). He has the most vague notion of trying to ground his games in the intimacy of human experience, so he tries to tie human locomotion and objects to the digital representations of interactivity. If we take those as perhaps the worst possible examples and then come back to some really good examples in Uncharted 4 so I can stop whipping it - I maintain that the house tours are strengths and the high-points of the game, and then look at something like The Division and consider opportunities for more complex interactivity centred around helping people and emotional engagement, I feel like that’s what I’m after.

Which is impossible, right? No-one’s going to make a game even a quarter of the scope of The Division, with all that amazing dynamic lighting, with all those awesome textures and mapped objects, animations, rigged character models, complex scripting and AI, interactivity, load-on-demand tech and full voice-talented support, just to be a game about exploring, sightseeing, meeting and learning about people and helping them? Because who would play that?

I would, for a start.

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noxstellacaelum · 5 years

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Female Protagonists Deserve Their Stories

Believe me, I get it. I am not the target audience for shows like Shadowhunters, Veronica Mars, or GoT. I am far, far removed from ship wars, cons, and the overall social media craziness that seems to animate fandom culture for shows like these. These shows -- particularly Shadowunters -- are really just guilty pleasures for me. With bonus points b/c they are sci fi/supernatural/fantasy/action & adventure genre pieces with strong female protagonists. That’s all. Just a genre that I love. Nothing life-changing.

So why, months later, am I still so pissed off about GoT S8, Shadowhunters 3B and the &*%& Shadowhunters finale, and basically all of Veronica Mars S4? Especially when the writers/ show runners behind these projects -- and huge chunks of the fandom -- really, really don’t give a shit about what someone in my demographic thinks.

Fundamentally, I am pissed off because each of these shows destroyed the narrative arcs of their female characters. And, because the showrunners -- a bunch of middle-aged dudes -- should have known better.

This post focuses on Shadowhunters. And I am writing it just for me. I appreciate and understand that others may disagree.

Ok, let’s just acknowledge the demographically engineered pulpy charms of Shadowhunters (TV) up front. The cast were (and still are, obviously) uniformly gorgeous; the casting was racially diverse (YAY!!!); each season features lots of angst-y love triangles, break-ups and make-ups (Oh, the drama :-)); and, the show deliberately centered LGBTQIA relationships, especially Malec (again, YAY!!!)

So, what’s my problem, when there is so much to like about the show’s stated desire to be inclusive and diverse? Especially when I believe that representation matters, particularly in genre projects like Shadowhunters, which historically have tended to lack diversity with respect to race and sexual/gender identity.

My problem is that somewhere along the line, the Shadowhunters showrunners decided that to tell the story they wanted to tell, they had to eviscerate the narrative arcs of Clary, and by extension, Jace.

To understand why the decision to sideline Clary (and Jace) is so frustrating, it helps to know a bit about the TV show’s source material. (Spoilers follow) SHTV is based on The Mortal Instruments, a six-book series written by Cassie Clare. Clary is the protagonist of TMI: Clare has described TMI as a “girl power” story, and she has made it clear that in TMI, she wanted to tell a story where a girl saves the world. She’s even clapped back at those who would question whether Clary is worthy of heroine status. Last year, in the Thule section of Queen of Air and Darkness, Clare showed us an AU where Clary doesn’t save the world (and is instead killed by Lilith, the mother of demons). It’s a hellscape: Clary’s evil brother Jonathan controls everyone and everything; angelic power no longer works; and anyone who tries to resist Jonathan is hunted, killed, “endarked” (turned into a soulless, murderous soldier), or otherwise enspelled. All of our other heroes are dead or enthralled. Realizing that he was turning into a demon, Magnus begged Alec to kill him (which Alec does, before committing suicide). And Clary’s love Jace? Devastated by Clary’s death, and enspelled by Jonathan, Jace becomes twisted and evil.

In addition to the Thule AU, Clare has written more generally about right of female creators to own their own work (on a Tumblr blog post). And, she has used other series in the shadowhunter world to center other characters and relationships (e.g., the Malec series currently underway); to interrogate gender roles (e.g., the Julian and Emma pairing in TDA); and to explore relationships and identities other than the Clary/Jace pairing (e.g. the polyamorous Christina/Mark/Kieran relationship in TDA). Why does all of this matter for SHTV? Well, Clare wrote TMI, and she made Clary the protagonist. So the fact that Clary is the protagonist of TMI was not some ancillary or inconvenient matter for SHTV. It was and is at the center of the books upon which SHTV is based, and as to which the show has IP rights.

[NB: This is not to suggest that Clare prefers Clary and Jace to other characters or other ships, or that other characters aren’t also heroic or ship-worthy -- they are, they are just not the protagonists of TMI. And, SHTV is still based on TMI.]

[NB2: And, I absolutely don’t mean to suggest that the show had to be a transcription of the books, or that only Clary and Jace should have gotten screen time. I am affirmatively HAPPY that the show gave rich story lines to other characters -- especially Simon, Magnus and Alec.]

With that background in mind, why do I think that Season 3B and the finale destroyed the Clary and Jace characters? Well -- and I know this sounds snarky -- let’s look at the parade of plotholes, the random redistribution of plot points, Clary’s loss of agency, the and general sidelining of the Clary and Jace characters and their heroism. (Again, spoilers to follow). I leave the memory wipe to last here, because I still can’t believe that anyone thought destroying three seasons of character development was a good idea.

1. Evil Clary story line: In the books, Jace is twinned with Jonathan. This makes narrative sense: Jace and Jonathan are “brothers” of a sort, having both been raised by Valentine, and Jace’s vulnerability to Jonathan (and Lilith) is rooted in childhood trauma of abuse and neglect that Jace endured at the hands of Valentine.

In the show, however, Clary is twinned with Jonathan. From the start, Clary’s ability to resist the rune is tied to her proximity to Jace. In fact, as 3B progresses, Clary becomes increasingly unhinged and violent any time she is physically separated from Jace. Eventually, when she is blasted behind a wall while on mission (and thus physically separated from Jace), she succumbs entirely. All of a sudden we have dark Clary, taking a walk on the wild side with the murderous brother who kidnapped her and nearly killed Jace just a few short weeks ago in show time. Dark Clary joining forces to burn down the world that she loved, and that she repeatedly saved. Really??? And then, when Jace and the others finally manage to free her from twinning rune, we see Clary saying that she WANTED to help Jonathan with his murderous rampage. And, we hear Jace saying that the call of blood was too hard for Clary to resist. Again, really??? The girl who killed her father, called upon an angel to bring her boyfriend back to life, survived the death of her mother, and who was nearly killed by her possessed boyfriend is somehow unable to resist the call of her Morgenstern blood? What about Clary’s agency? Her strength? Her love for Jace and her chosen family? Her identity as a shadowhunter? Enthralled book Jace at least still loves Clary, and has a scene where he temporarily breaks free of the twinning rune, and makes it clear to Jonathan that he hates him, and that he is being controlled. But Clary says she wanted to help her brother, and that it’s her fault for being unable to resist her “blood.” While team evil might have been fun -- and probably was a blast for the actors to play -- it didn’t make narrative sense to me. Not the biggest sin, and to each his own. But not for me.

2. Heavenly fire storyline: In the book, Jace is filled w/ heavenly fire. Clary eventually figures out how to get the heavenly fire from Jace into her weapon (heosphoros), which she uses to kill Jonathan. In the show, Izzy gets the entire heavenly fire storyline. Again, why??? For one thing, the scene in which Clary and Izzy fight (and Izzy ends up with the heavenly fire after being struck by shrapnel) -- while cool -- made no sense to me. Book Izzy is a formidable warrior. Show Izzy is disarmed by Clary (who has been training to be a shadowhunter for, like, 5 minutes at the time of their battle). Also, why does Izzy get the heavenly fire from a few bits of shrapnel, but Clary is totally fine after being STABBED by the sword? More generally, other than giving Izzy more to do, what was the thinking behind taking away this story arc from Clary and Jace? And, for making Jace basically a potted plant in 3B? (In contrast to book Jace — who was key to the good guys’ victory— show Jace is made to basically stand there: Show Alec, Izzy, Magnus, and Simon get literally every single heroic plot point in the finale — remember that we’re Lightwoods moment, sans Jace (the adoptive brother)?? — while Jace is relegated to crying or supporting Clary.)

3. The Jace character: While this post is principally about Clary, I can’t help but note that the show did everything possible to isolate Jace and make him incompetent and unlikable.

- Book Jace comes across as arrogant and as a wise ass, but Clary and Alec see the arrogance for what it is -- a coping mechanism/ PTSD following a childhood full of trauma at the hands of Valentine. Through his relationship with Clary, Jace learns that he is worthy of being loved, and that he can love without destroying. And, Jace’s parabatai bond is a source of strength and joy for both Alec and Jace. Show Jace gets none of this. 3B kept Clary and Jace apart from each other much of the time (what w/ Evil Clary preferring to help her murderous brother burn down the world). 3B also effectively eliminated the parabatai bond: Alec is entirely focused on his relationship with Magnus, and he is impatient with a clearly suicidal Jace. You can count on one hand the number of minutes that Alec and Jace are on screen together in 3B.

- Book Jace becomes (with Clary) head of the NY institute, having rejected and fought against bigoted members of the cohort. I appreciate that this likely could not be shown b/c the show does not have the rights to TDA, but this does not explain why the show made Jace so incompetent as head of the NY institute. Show Jace gets the job only because of nepotism (Herondale blood). Show Jace is on board with the downworlder registry. Show Jace is so incompetent that he abdicates in favor of Alec after about a day. None of this made any sense.

- Book Jace is all-in w/ Clary from the beginning. He has one encounter w. Aline, but that’s presented as being as much about Aline’s confirmation of her sexual identity as it is about Jace in turmoil. (I know some people object to CC’s writing of Aline, but again, it’s her story.) But even if the showrunners felt that the Jace/Aline hook-up was “problematic” -- and I get that some fans feel that way -- why did the show choose to do some weird male version of slut-shaming of Jace? There is the Jace encounter with Maia. (To be clear, this was shitty to the Maia character, too. She hooks up with a drunk rebounding Jace, whom she had just tried to kill. behind a bar.) And, the comments about Jace, Kaelie and book club. Everyone keeps talking on the show about how Jace sleeps around, and they judge him for it, when, in reality, Jace is pretty darn faithful to his relationship with Clary from the moment they meet. Simon, Clary, Alec, Magnus, and Izzy all have more sexual encounters (and in the case of Simon and Izzy, more partners) vs. show Jace. And no one calls Simon or Clary slutty. No one decides that Alec is unworthy b/c he lies to Magnus. And no one decides Magnus is unworthy or slutty or not devoted to Alec because he’s had many sexual partners in the past.

- As noted elsewhere, the show isolated and shamed a clearly depressed and suicidal Jace in 3B. He’s shown devastated and alone in 3B when he thinks Clary is dead in the “Lost Without You” montage: Alec (his parabatai) and Magnus are busy comforting each other; Maia is comforting Simon; Mayrse is nowhere to be found. Same thing after Jace almost gets himself killed on the mission involving the Seelie: Alec yells at him and tells him to suck it up; Mayrse once again is absent; and only Izzy checks in. Then, in the flash forward, Alec, Magnus, Izzy, Luke, Mayrse, and Maia all seem entirely unconcerned with Jace’s state of mind. Once again, he’s told to suck it up and move on.

4. Female characters/ sexuality generally on the show: So much could be written about the show’s treatment of its female characters generally. Book Izzy is strong and fierce, and yes, body and sex positive. Show Izzy is all over the map. S1 captures Izzy’s sass, but she’s treated like slutty eye candy sometimes. S2 and S3 Izzy has more depth, but less sass. Tell me again why she had to be a drug addict? Or, why she gets disarmed by Clary (who had a couple of months of training at that point in show time) in the finale? Or why she alone (vs. Mayre or Alec) is sent to check on a clearly suicidal Jace? To be clear, I loved the Jace/ Izzy bond, but why does the show let Alec and Mayrse off the hook w/ regard to Jace’s mental health, and leave Izzy w/ caretaking duties? And Mayrse, who seems to exist in season 3 solely for the purpose of being punished — and then being redeemed — for her S1 homophobia. She becomes “captain of the Malec ship” after being deruned, and then is shown caring for Alec when Magnus is in Edom, and nurturing the Malec relationship. But, she vacations in Brazil in the finale with zero regard for her grief-stricken, suicidal adoptive son? And then there is Maia. Why does she hook up with Jace against a wall behind a bar? And what’s with the forgiving her abuser storyline? And Clary. Believe me, nothing made me happier than the show’s decision to make reasonably short work of the incest story line. But to have Clary literally jump into bed with Simon, her bff? Immediately after learning --falsely, as it turns out -- that Jace was her sibling? Was that Clary’s first sexual encounter? Was is not weird to suddenly start sleeping with your friend (who you turned into the vampire, and who can walk in the daylight b/c he drank your ex-boyfriend/ now you think your sibling’s blood)? I know the books present Jace, Clary and Simon as a love triangle — YA, after all — but book Clary wrestles w/ her feelings for Simon. I get that aging them up on the show — which I liked — would have changed the dynamic around these relationships and the characters’ sex lives, but the handling of the Climon story line was so clumsy. And, in any event, why is S2 Clary snarky about Jace’s sexual past (the book club comments)? And in 3B, why does dark Clary manipulate — or worse — a basically roofied Jace at the club?

5. The Memory Wipe: OH.MY.GOD. I CANNOT EVEN CONVEY THE DEPTHS OF MY DISLIKE FOR THIS TROPE OF A PLOT POINT. In the book, Simon volunteers to give Asmodeus his memories, thus saving Magnus (and everyone else). Once again, this makes narrative sense -- Simon never wanted to be a vampire, and he (unlike Magnus) could survive the loss of his memories, and even return to mundane life. And, after Simon gives up his memories, his friends NEVER give up on him. Clary, Izzy, and the others watch him, they reach out to him, and eventually, with Magnus’s help, they reconnect with him. Magnus even says that stealing Simon’s memories was a little bit “fascist.”

Show Clary has it much, much worse. Let’s remember how it played out in the finale:

- Jonathan goes on a murderous rampage. Clary saves the world using her rune power, killing her last living relative, knowing she would be stripped of the Sight and her memories.

- Notwithstanding Jonathan’s mass slaughter and Clary’s sacrifice, the MOST IMPORTANT THING is that Magnus and Alec have decided to get married at the institute the very next day, after dating for about three months on-and-off in show time.

- And so we have much of the finale devoted to the wedding. We see everyone smiling and happy (despite the slaughter of shadowhunters around the world the day before and Jonathan’s death at Clary’s hands). We see Clary in a very revealing dress sobbing as she dances with her boyfriend and her runes are obviously disappearing -- but no one notices. We see Jace letting a sobbing Clary walk out the door.

- And then we see Clary alone, sobbing on the street in a revealing party dress, in the cold, with no memories, no I.D., no best friend, no love of her life, no money, no home (burned down in season 1), no mother (killed by Alec), no father figure. Nothing. I get that sacrifice is a shadowhunter virtue, but the trope of a memory wipe (I see you, Chuck) is SO far from canon, and so inconsistent with how Clare wrapped up the Clary (and Jace stories). Zero emotional logic.

- Then, to make matters worse, we jump ahead one year, and no one gives a shit about Clary or Jace or their sacrifice at all. Alec and Magnus are living their best life mixing cocktails in Alicante (leaving Alec’s clearly devastated and suicidal parabatai to just figure things out, I guess). Maryse (Jace’s adoptive mother) and Luke (Clary’s father figure) are vacationing in Brazil, seemingly more concerned about the humidity than they are about Clary or Jace; Izzy and Simon are loving life together at the NY institute (so much for Clary and Izzy as parabatai, or Simon and Clary’s friendship); and Simon tells a grieving, suicidal Jace -- the same Jace who almost killed himself a couple of weeks prior in show time -- to stop checking on Clary and to move on. Apparently, Simon thought that Maia’s naming a salad after Clary was enough. So much for Jace’s mental health. So much for Clary and Simon’s friendship (and in the books, their eventual parabatai bond).

- But, we we did get closure for the lizard/ Lorenzo; Underhill’s first name; and an update on Raphael. All of these developments were apparently more important than honoring Clary’s narrative arc, her chosen identify as a shadowhunter, her relationship with Jace, and her chosen family.

None of it made any sense.

1. Why would the angels strip Clary of the Sight when she used her rune power to SAVE THE DAMN WORLD? After all, let’s see who gets to keep the Sight/ memories in the showrunners’ telling: Valentine (insane, imprisoned an angel, killed downworlders and shadowhunters ); Jonathan (murderous, insane); Alec (killed Clary’s mother while possessed); Izzy (also possessed); Jace (killed his grandmother and mundanes while possessed, threw Clary off a roof, almost killed Alec); Jocelyn (almost killed Jace, circle member); Aldertree (despite getting Izzy addicted to drugs and torturing downworlders). The list goes on. But Clary’s invention of runes to stop her insane brother from destroying the world incurs the wrath of the angels?

2. The showrunners would have us believe that Clary lost the Sight (and her memories) because the angels were spiteful. How does this fit with Cassie Clare’s conception of angels AT ALL? They are completely unconcerned with human emotions in the books. And, why would only Clary suffer this fate when, as noted above, there are shadowhunters who did terrible things for entirely selfish or otherwise awful reasons?

3. In what world would Jace not notice his girlfriend’s runes disappearing? In what world would he ever let his sobbing, de-runed girlfriend -- whom he just got back from the twinning rune/possession/killing her last living relative -- walk out the door alone?

4. For a show so concerned about representation, what about Jace’s story as a survivor of childhood abuse and trauma? What about Jace’s near suicide earlier in 3B? Why does everyone in Jace’s life (specifically Alec after the Seelie mission and Simon in the finale) tell Jace to suck it up and move on when he is clearly depressed and suicidal? What about the show’s depiction of the relationship between Jace and his adoptive family? What message does the finale send about who was — and was not — a member of the Lightwood family when Mayrse and Alec either ignore Jace or yell at him when he is grieving and suicidal? So much for family. And, what about Clary’s mental health, after the showrunners stripped her of her friends, family, chosen family, memories, identity, home, and love?

And then, after all of this, the showrunners made things worse by talking up how important the wedding was for them, even as they made it clear they didn’t care about the resolution of the Clary, Jace and Clace story lines.

- The show runners misidentified the supposedly spiteful angel who I guess would have been the big bad in Season 4 in press coverage of the finale.

- They said they didn’t know where the Clary, Jace and Clace story was heading, and that “fan fiction” would figure it out.

- They talked about how difficult and important the seating chart was for the wedding, and about how they had tried to get every character, no matter how minor, back for the “reception” scene. And they spent precious time in the finale showing us party scenes involving ancillary non-canon characters (Underhill, Lorenzo) vs. coming up with a coherent resolution to the protagonist’s story.

- They engaged only with Malec content on social media, and talked endlessly how the show was a “love letter” to fans, and ignored less favorable fan reaction involving the Clary and Jace characters.

- Same drill for the writers, BTW. A young female writer for the show (who supposedly was the book stan in the writers’ room) has been on social media explaining how great it was Clary’s story line came “full circle” in finale. She’s now heading to a con with the show runners, having studiously ignored questions about the show’s treatment of Clary and Jace. (I get why she would do this — work, and all — but still.)

- To the extent the showrunners, producers, and writers have addressed Clary and Jace at all in press coverage of the finale, they have argued that the memory wipe was no harm/no foul b/c the final scene suggests that love conquers all. First, we knew that -- we are talking about a pulpy YA novel, after all. Second, if the last scene sends the message that love conquers all, it’s because Kat M. and Dom S., the performers, imbued that scene with more depth and emotion than the writing deserved. Finally, the love conquers narrative ignores the fact that Clary and Jace earned their character arcs as INDIVIDUALS, not just as half of a ship. Clary deserved her identity, her chosen family, and her love. Jace deserved his hard-won happiness with himself, and in his relationship with Clary (and in his relationships with Alec and Izzy). I personally didn’t want a wedding -- I don’t think anyone should get married after a few months of mostly unsuccessful dating. I did, however, want to see these characters enjoying their hard-won happiness vs. a dystopian future for two characters only, w/ a rom com meet cute tacked on at the end.

Fundamentally, the showrunners made SHTV into a fan service-, ship war- driven series of plotpoints in 3B and the finale. There are lots of potential reasons for this: Maybe they preferred the Malec storyline, and thought that playing to Malec fans might help the show get picked up (or maybe get a Malec spinoff approved); maybe they thought that punishing Jace and sidelining Clary might please some segments of the SHTV fandom; maybe they bought into the idea that the books are “problematic” and need to be fixed, or that dislike of certain performers justifies trashing the character. Whatever. The end result is the same: For me, they lost the narrative thread of the characters, and the emotional logic of the stories. They fed into a stupid ship war and a stupid book vs. show war. And, they played into scarcity, as if honoring Malec required tearing down Clace.

At the end of the day, the show runners’ decision to wipe Clary’s memory broke the show for me. No matter how much I love Malec, and no matter how amazing the last scene was (and how lovely the performances were in that scene), I will always believe that Clary and Jace deserved better.

And so I want to say to the showrunners and writers: NEXT TIME, LET YOUR PROTAGONIST HAVE HER STORY. SHE EARNED IT. (And FFS be tiny bit humble when there is source material :-).

#shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #shtv #clary #jace #clace #cassie clare #cassandra clare #tmi

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