#they would have said Harry if they recasted

[camscendants]

The New Descendants Cast

[phoebe-delia]

Fic Claim: Just Take Me Home

Over the last year, it's been difficult for me to write fics longer than 1-2k. I've made it happen, but only rarely, and it's like pulling teeth. I want to be the kind of writer who can churn out a good 20k fic, but I just don't have that kind of stamina; at least not yet.

That said, I am proud of the 4.7k fic this turned out to be. I'm proud of the idea, and of the fact that I think this is one of the few non-drabble fics I've written that isn't based on a song! (Yes the title is from Style by Taylor Swift but the plot is entirely from my brain.)

Featuring: acquaintances to friends to lovers, mutual pining, unfortunate Ministry department acronyms, and a happy ending.

Big big hugs and thank you to @basicallyahedgehog for cheering me on, being the best beta I could ask for, and being my emotional support hedgehog for this and almost everything I write. And a big thank-you as well to the incredible mods of @hd-fan-fair for their patience, kindness, and hard work in running this wonderful fest. Everyone should go see the fantastic works from this year and years past here.

You can read Just Take Me Home here!

Here's an excerpt:

"What's she doing?" Harry asked, gesturing vaguely at where Hermione stood near the bar talking intently to a shimmering... thing in front of her.  

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you must be sloshed if you've already forgotten a conversation from less than a minute ago."

"What conversation?"

"The one we literally just had before Mione went to—oh forget it—she's summoning her Patronus for you."

Harry frowned. "She doesn't need to do that, I'm right here. Mione!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, not noticing Ron wince and step away. "I'm right here!"

Hermione glanced at him from across the bar, her face shifting into something Harry would call equal parts fondness and exasperation. She seemed to sigh, cancel the spell, and recast, her message having been interrupted by Harry's outburst. A few other bar-goers gave him strange looks. Harry flushed, and Ron just clapped him on the shoulder. Hermione was finally successful, and they all watched as the Patronus flew out the window of the bar and into the night.  

"But what's it for?" Harry asked again once the attention died down.

Ron glanced back at him, a smirk playing at his lips. "She's calling DADDIE."

Harry's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "She's calling who now?"

[buffyfan145]

Had some more thoughts about the new LOTR movie "The Hunt for Gollum" and which characters are likely in it besides him. Putting this behind a cut for spoilers, though if you read the books and/or watched the fan film of the same name on YT you'll know a few. That being said I do think they'll expand this with more plots and add more characters both from the movies and the books, also since this is just the first of at least 2 new movies coming. I've also included a fancast here for 2 roles I hope are finally cast for this and weren't in the movies.

First is Aragorn. He's a major part of this and likely will be one of the main characters that carries over into the 2nd of these new films. Highly doubt it'd be a de-aged Viggo so we're likely going to get a younger British actor here. It's hard to fancast since we don't know the age range they'll be looking for, but something tells me it'll be a 30something actor especially with how many of these movies they're planning. Did see a fan suggest that Viggo can play older Aragorn telling this story to his children, so we'd get 2 Aragorns connecting it which I like.

Arwen is next. She wasn't in the story, but we know her and Aragorn's relationship began around the same time. There's been rumors these movies were going to feature younger versions of the characters last year, so this fits too. Plus, they need a female lead and their romance is one of the popular ships. Like above I think they'll cast a younger actress that resembles Liv, but like the fan suggested Liv could also play older Arwen.

If it sticks to the story Gandalf will be in this too as he tasks Aragon with finding Gollum. Now I can see Ian agreeing to having himself de-aged for this but not sure if they need that as I don't think he looks that different. The story is more about Gollum and Aragorn, so he'd be in a few scenes.

Next is Legolas. He's in the story too and would show more about his and Aragorn's friendship. Would be interesting if Orlando would come back too as I think he'd be ok with getting de-aged too but only slightly for him as he just looks a bit older.

Then this could be where we finally get Arwen's twin brothers Elladan and Elrohir!!! 😀 A lot of us always wanted them in the movies and it is strange they were cut out (though some think they are in the background of a few scenes). They're close friends of Aragorn too and easily could assist him in this. This is where my fancast comes in as both Harris Dickinson and George Mackay popped in my head to play them. Both are talented rising British actors, have dark hair and blue eyes, are tall, and I think look like Liv's Arwen, as well as the movies' Elrond, Galadriel, and Celeborn to look related to them. Also, Harris and George get confused for each other a lot (and played the same character as Harris couldn't be in the feature film version of "Femme", which he did the short film, and the recast him with George) and some thought they were brothers. They could just get one of them to play both if they want identical, but some fans think they're fraternal but do still resemble each other so two actors who look alike work too.

Then if Elrond, Galadriel (I'm certain Cate could still play her), Celeborn, or anyone else from the original LOTR movies are in this, or other characters from the books they could also add that weren't like Glorfindel for one.

Finally Sauron. There's a part of this story where Gollum is taken and Sauron himself tortures him to find out where the ring is. Gollum even explains he saw Sauron in full form and that he was missing a finger and spoke to him. So will they get Benedict Cumberbatch back to voice Sauron and/or actually play him in live-action as so far only "Rings of Power" have had an actor playing where you can see his face.

[gellertalbus]

Pray tell, what is the point of rebooting a beloved saga whose last movie was released not even 15 years ago?

The movies are far from perfect in terms of book fidelity (although I still think the first three are absolute gems) and I get that a series of seven seasons would give the books proper justice but the Wizarding World is NOT just about Harry, Ron and Hermione.

There are so many interesting stories, so many things the movies failed or didn’t have time to show. Yes, Tom Riddle, I’m looking at you baby.

Besides, Daniel, Emma and Rupert (as well as many other actors) are so iconic in the collective imagination that a recast is an absolute suicide imo.

This is what I meant when I said I will hunt down HBO if they recast young grindeldore in the Deathly Hallows. Someone said “well Jamie and Toby are too old” duh?! I know they’re too old to play teenagers, I simply meant i can’t and won’t imagine or consider anyone else playing Albus and Gellert.

Also RIP Fantastic Beasts, I guess.

[itwoodbeprefect]

911 season 7 episode 4!! we've arrived!!

the only reason that i understand this long opening section is playing on the bachelor is that i've watched jarvis johnson talk about it before. thank you jarvis johnson.

the i'm taken but he's not scene. buck has a rule. eddie looks confused. hmmm.

fjdkf "hey joey." while watching the previous episode i said buck was bisexual character number 2 this season (after norman) but i may have been wrong. he's number 3, after norman and chimney.

i mean, admittedly i've never seen a single episode of the bachelor firsthand, but it seems to me like they'd LOVE for something like this to happen. nobody got seriously hurt, it's extremely dramatic and big, lots and lots and lots of free press - what could be better for reality tv?

buck is so pumped to be getting the tour!!

"i guess that night was the most fun i'd had since getting struck by lightning." "you need to raise your bar, kid." fjdkfd. lines that could have worked word for word in a katherine hepburn/cary grant screwball comedy.

fjdkfjdkfj he's just using getting struck by lightning as a point of reference! "ah." is the right response, i think, tommy.

he could give buck lessons if he wants!! honestly i could quote every line of this conversation as notable and fun. i'm having a ball watching this actually happen with audio, instead of looping chunks of a few seconds. (not that there's anything wrong with looping chunks of a few seconds. i love looping chunks of a few seconds, looping chunks of a few seconds are tumblr's liveblood.)

tommy has "something" (a person) "that" (who) should be arriving right now, actually. fjdkf. early practice for when eddie ends up crashing their date next episode

also, dear god, eddie's giant truck. forgot about that thing.

fjkdf. this poor man, watching his best friend and unknown crush fly off together. admittedly not into the sunset, but to vegas nonetheless

waffles!!! bobby and athena made it through a cruise on a sinking ship and now there's someone breaking into their home making waffles

harryyy. i was just thinking about him during the last episode!

ohhhh. he didn't just shoot up into the sky, that actually is a harry recast. interesting

okay, so apparently (x) marcanthonee reis was "sort of ready to move on". assuming that's true, fair enough - for anyone, but especially for a kid playing a role on tv.

ravi's "who's tommy?" is totally fair, and then he gets rewarded for his patience in being totally excluded from buck and eddie's weird jealous bff conversation by getting sent down a sewer. rough day, man

"both like watching half-naked men pummel each other" is certainly a set of words. it certainly is.

not for nothing, but is eddie blind, or is he just enjoying winding buck up a little, being at the center of some (as he would probably assume) friendship jealousy? because buck is. not being normal about this. at all.

buck thinking he's getting invited to the bar trivia thing and being asked to babysit.... i fully knew that was coming, but it's painfully awkward either way. also, dear god, eddie has already asked his girlfriend to babysit his kid twice this week. hmmmmm.

the AIR QUOTES. had to replay that three times, it's excellent, i adore this. the way he says it is SO good

the little WIGGLE at the second set of air quotes. GOLD

"get this! [star wars opinion]" jfkdfjk. possibly the funniest 911 has ever been

on his fridge! eddie has a day calendar! underatakeoutmenu

IT'S CIRCLED. WHAT DON'T YOU GET, MADDIE.

maddie's "with a little heart around it?" line is exactly as good as it seemed in all the gifs. wonderful, amazing, life-changing stuff

uh oh, harry in trouble!

yeah. so. the woman on this home break-in call absolutely shot her son, didn't she?

she did. we needed a nod to athena's recast son subplot.

that's athena's cop side coming out when she tells her son in a weird roundabout way that people are going to pee on him in jail. if buck and eddie sounded like a classic screwball, this is more tango & cash.

OH. we ARE getting into the athena-is-a-cop part of it.

oh my darling. you are being SO weird about this (affectionate).

insane amazon prime sponsorship just right in the middle of jealous bisexual weight lifting. what is happening

oh my god. oh boy. oh no

i mean, oh YES, but there's just oodles of secondhand embarassment to go around here. love you though buck, go for it, don't let me stop you

chimney innocently asking what that is buck is heartbrokenly cuddling..... and getting roped into this insane musclebound love triangle. poor chimney, you did nothing wrong.

also though. eddie giggling on the phone and fully and blatantly ignoring buck for that entire scene? there's just so much going on here. everyone's in love with tommy and his cool helicopters.

i was genuinely sort of hoping the athena-breaking-the-news part of this woman-shot-her-son case would remain implied. very sad. only misery here.

buck bullshitting his way into pretending this is totally just his attempt to bond with his future brother-in-law is very funny. nice try, my boy

the face of a chimney realizing he's been tricked :(

chimney calling himself a basketball beard...... chimney is cleverer than he even knows, i think.

i saw the post @redgoldblue reblogged pointing this out, but. yeah. that IS a whole montage that's just a very long top gun reference. playing with the boys!!!

also, in light of that...... buck & eddie's infamous "you can have my back any time" was also a top gun reference. (specifically, a reference to "you can be my wingman any time."/"bullshit. you can be mine.", as in, this right here.) we all agree on that, right? i've never seen anyone mention it, but that might just be because i only really see 911 content when it happens across my dash, so. we do agree? because. buck&eddie first bonding moments related to top gun.... buck&tommy arc starting with top gun basketball..... i'm just saying. i am. just saying.

sitting here open-mouthedly indignant that buck dragged chim along and then doesn't even let him play. chimney deserves better even in the middle of a dramatic understandably self-centered sexuality crisis

he bucked that up!! oh my god

big sister maddie is Good. i like that

a few minutes to go in the episode and there's a knock at buck's door! who might that be? maybe he ordered something else off of amazon prime (which is canonically really quick and convenient and you don't even need to sign anything).

the way tommy says "evannn." is so good

the fact that it's the terrible fake mouth static over the radio that got buck's attention is amazing. meet cute: we fly into a hurricane and you badly pretend your radio isn't working when someone tries to talk sense into us

🌈🎉🌈🎉💖

yes 🥺 he is free 🥺

gifs are good and wonderful but there are some things they just can't possibly do justice due to the limitations of the medium and just. seeing buck's quiet wide-eyed response to tommy kissing him and this Big Revelation he's having is definitely one of those things that need to be watched as a full scene with audio. oh gosh

saturday!

just lovely lovely good very sweet stuff! it's nice. but, like, nice - in a wonderful, good, heartwarming sort of way. god. the distance we've come - incredible.

[sundry-whovengerslocked]

"love the art, hate the artist"

okay y'all. y'all. so like, I say this regularly. I made it up. but I think it should be used by everyone.

like, this is a hot take, but it's okay to enjoy something made by a shitty person.

this isn't to say boycotting and cancel culture should be stopped! like, if someone is a shitty person, they should not be paid to be able to continue to be shitty. so yeah, go ahead and pirate shit. wait until media is free and enjoy it then.

but like, I feel like people go so hard when it comes to shitty people that they're essentially killing the arts, and the people who find peace with them. it's just not fair.

examples under the cut

I mean the first and most obvious example would be j.k. rowling. there's SO MUCH discourse surrounding her. but there shouldn't need to be. she's an awful person and a transphobe, and she should be avoided and boycotted. she doesn't deserve any more money. that being said, we can support things in the franchise she's not a part of. we should support fanart and fanfiction involving these beloved characters. we should encourage trans headcanons and embrace the fact that a lot of what makes the Harry Potter universe so great is the fans, not her.

another one is Michael Jackson. he was a pervert and shouldn't be celebrated the way he was and still is. that being said, he made music inspired by black culture and in turn inspired new types of music. so his music, things like the moonwalk, they should be appreciated.

John Barrowman is another good one. he was inappropriate and people have every right to blacklist him. but Jack Harkness? Jack Harkness is a PHENOMENAL character. he stands for omni rep, embracing queerness, and is a well constructed character that parallels and bounces off The Doctor beautifully. and? he can easily be recast. it's literally sci-fi dude, it's not that big a deal. yes Barrowman made a huge impact on the character, but he's not all he is. the writers contributed, too.

Jonathan Majors is a hot topic right now. yes, he should absolutely be blacklisted and removed from the mcu. but that doesn't meant they have to get rid of Kang. he was going to be (and still can be) a widely used character - characters, really - within the marvel universe. they can just recast him. they did it with Bruce Banner, they did it with Rhodey, two major characters in the mcu. they've done it with more I can't think of at the moment. and again, it's technically sci-fi. not to mention that with No Way Home and the Loki variants, they clearly showed that the same character can have different faces/actors.

notable mention: Tom Cruise. Knight and Day was awesome.

so yeah. hate the artist, love the art. it's really not as big a deal as people make it out to be.

[descendantofthesparrow]

What is so wrong with the Rise of Red?

mmmmmmmmm alot, its a clear cash grab, which hey its disney, it keep saying its a continuation from the main 3 movies yet its CLEARLY a soft reboot, it looks so cheap even though i know these fucks have some sort of budget to make it look good enough(the jewlrey, the designs in general, everthing looks plastic and fake unlike the main movies where the fakest thing was Ben's crown, i mean they made harry a REAL metal hook!!!! with little designs on it and everything!!), it just feels like it lacks the passion and effort the main 3 movie had, which even if d3 was a shit show-it FELT like lots of passion was put into it from all the actors and the set design and even just the little details of outfits and other stuff, rise of red jsut feels...cheap and theres some stuff that one of my actor friends(ifykyk) said about the casting stuff and other things that also soured the whole thing becuase they were awful and just-werent doing anything right.

it just feels like such an unessecary addition and i really wish they would just say ';'hey! this is a soft reboot!' and honestly THAT would make me complain less but they're trying to make it seem like its a direct continuation somehow even though Uma/china is the only returning cast and the plot feels lazy the costumes are lazy and the fact that they made it seem like dara renee was goign to be chloe at the annoucment thing last/two ish years ago and on the first insta post of it and then suddenly she wasnt chloe anymore and i feel like thats fucking weird as fuck becuase they instead casted a lighter skinned and skinner girl to play chloe and dara was recast/cast as Ursula's sister and im like....thats WEIRD

idk just from teh start d4 wasnt something the franchise needed, it ended with d3/the royal wedding, d3 was okay enough to be closure for the series and feels like an okay enough ending for the francise but they just keep milking it and milking it to the point where its just not fun anymore-rise of red doesnt look fun, we got no behind the scenes, not even from teh actors-unlike d3 where we got a WHOLE production for behind the scenes and just that alone makes me like d3 becuase it looked so fun to make! everyone had so much fun making it! and yet for rise of red-or pocketwatch as it was known-we didnt even know they finished/started filming until we got a random post saying it was a wrap??? like-no bts? no songs? no fun moments with the cast? no teasers?? nothing?????

idk i just-am not excited for this movie and i dont think im gonna watch it, maybe watch a few scenes on youtube and def listens to the songs and look at all the outfit designs, but im not interested in watching this shit show for...whenever it comes out, it just very much feels like not even the production was fun and if the production insnt fun, the movies not gonna be fun.

[random-imagines-blog]

The Secret Place {Sirius Black x BlackWidow!Reader} Part ii

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 4649 Summary: The great Wizarding World War is over, but Sirius notices that the war within you is far from being finished. Notes: Contains murder, blood, darkness of red rooms Sequel to: The Secret Place

No more Voldemort. But that didn’t necessarily mean peace. 

You weren’t thinking about the different Death Eaters who had managed to escape the aurors and were out there, licking their wounds somewhere. You weren’t thinking about the werewolves and the vampires and the giants and the rolls who were always feuding among one another and causing trouble to all mankind. You weren’t even thinking about the day-to-day bad guys - the ones who will steal a purse and then run down the street, or the ones that think paying in small change is hilarious, or the perving gym coach, watching the teenage girls stretch. They were their own brands of evil, yes. But what you were thinking about, what you were always thinking about, was the Red Room. 

Grimmauld Place was one of the most protected residences in Britain, and yet, it always felt like it was not enough. That any day now, one of your former classmates was going to show up, ready to fight you. To drag you back.  

Sirius sensed your anxiety, no matter how well you hid it. He was the only one who had. People like Harry who stopped in often, they thought you were happy. You had a damn good poker face - but Sirius sensed it. Maybe it was the animal in him, the dog, that almost acted as an emotional support animal, and knew when you needed it. But regardless of how much he held you, tried to comfort you, tried to assure you that everything was going to be okay, you remained in that quiet, anxious state. It was getting bad. You wouldn’t tell him what was wrong, but you wandered the house every single night, recasting all of the protective charms. Not even an ant would be able to crawl through the tiniest space in your defenses. And not even a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore would be able to penetrate through. Which made him wonder - what, or who, were you so afraid of that you felt the need for these defenses to go up? A monster, an ex-boyfriend, family member, he just wanted some sort of answer, but you were mum. 

Day by day. You did your usual things. You smiled and laughed and tried to cheer up Harry when he would stop in to visit or would spend the night in the bedroom that Sirius had designated for him. You cooked and you cleaned, and you read books that he would pick up for you or that Hermione would leave laying around. But you went out even less often than before. Only if completely necessary - grocery shopping or the like. You loved Sirius, he felt that love from you every single day, the gratefulness that he had not been killed during the war against Voldemort. You made love to him, you cuddled up to him, you made jokes and laughed at his and yet - that heaviness was always there, encompassing.  

“Hey love,” Sirius said, after you had put down a cup of tea in front of him. Although he was happy with you, this feeling of you hiding something, something this serious, something that you were this afraid of, made him feel inadequate. That you didn’t trust him or have enough faith that he would be able to keep you safe. That’s all that he wanted. For you to feel safe with him. 

“Hmm?” You said, sitting across from him now at the dining room table. Now that this was no longer a house that supported a dozen or so people, he had switched the table to something smaller, more intimate, so that you were able to reach across and take his hand if you wanted to. This is what he wished for now, setting his teaspoon to the side and reaching out. You took his hand, and he relished the warmth, letting your closeness try to reset his equilibrium. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Your eyes darted straight to his as he asked that question. It felt like it came out of the blue. “Nothing. Why?” 

That question seemed so pointless to Sirius. He didn’t answer it, knowing that you would just use those pretty little lies - I’m fine, I haven’t been sleeping well, just a headache - as an excuse. Nothing is wrong, why couldn’t you just trust him with the truth? Why couldn’t you just paint a picture of what was wrong and see if he could fix it up? His frustration was growing, but as always, there wasn’t any point in arguing.  

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Sirius nodded, having a drink of his tea and leaned back in the wooden chair, looking up towards the ceiling. There had to be a way to know. How was he supposed to live his life without knowing what was haunting you? It was like it was haunting him now, some unknowable thing that was always creeping in the shadows, bringing them closer, dragging them over the mood of the couple.  

It was later that night that he came up with a plan. He was having trouble sleeping, his mind going from point to point to point. Where you said you came from - your accent - the way that you stretched and exercised every single day, keeping your body in the best shape possible - the way that you moved like every single motion was designed, practiced, controlled, the few times that he had seen you flinch and immediately go into attack mode. Your past - it was clearly not good. It affected your sleep, causing tossing and turning. Sirius then realized that the key was right there. Your dreams.  

The answer to everything was in your dreams. 

Though tired, he watched your face as your brow furrowed, as sweat beaded along your forehead, as your jaw clenched and your teeth grinded against one another. You never spoke though, as much as he lay there and tried to will you to. To say something, anything that would let him know what was going on with you. But if the dreams weren’t going to come out ... he was simply going to have to go in. 

Sirius Black wasn’t the best with potions. It had been a long time since he had to make one, considering how long he had spent in Azkaban where he wasn’t able to do any sort of magic except for shifting to keep his humanity intact. Some things, like spells, are muscle memory but potions are a lot more difficult, so he had to instill a little help from the cleverest little witch that he had ever known. Hermione Granger.  

He explained the situation in a letter to her. And a week later, an owl came with a vial of a potion. It was a transparent white, almost looking like watered down milk. When he smelled it, it even smelled like that, bringing back memories of Mrs. Potter heating up milk for hot cocoa when he and James were boys. He read the letter from the young witch that offered him good luck, and that you better not find out that she had been the one who made it. Even the witches and wizards who took down Voldemort were wary of your temper.  

All he had to do was put it in both of your drinks that night. It would go well with tea, so as the evening wound down into night, he put the kettle on the stove. You weren’t suspicious over anything, you weren’t watching him make the tea, you were just sitting on the loveseat, reading today’s Quibbler. It actually made him feel guilty, betraying your trust like this. But it was going to be for the best, he told himself. You could only get closer after this.  

He brought you tea in your favorite mug, the potion mixed in. He feels another stab of guilt inside of his stomach as you seem to suspect nothing at all, drinking it as normal. He’s struggling not to stare at you too much, trying to see if the potion is having any weird effect on you. But you sip your tea and read as usual, barely giving him a glance. The two of you lived in this comfortable silence. Sometimes, not a word needed to be said. 

“I think I’ll turn in a bit early,” you said, after your cup was empty. You got up from your favorite comfortable spot and kissed Sirius on the forehead, lips lingering gently.  

“I’ll wash your cup, love,” Sirius said, nodding at you, letting his eyes close with content at the feeling of your kiss. He was struggling to stay awake himself, but he had to in order for the spell to work. You had to fall asleep first - or else you would end up in his dream and the whole plan would become painfully obvious to you.  

“Thanks - see you in the morning,” you said, softly, and made your way to the bedroom that you both shared. He watched your back, his eyes trailing down your body. It was like that saying - hate to say goodbye but love to watch you go? He definitely enjoyed the sight of watching you walk away, getting an eyeful.  

He waited a few more minutes before getting up and picked up both mugs, bringing them to the kitchen and giving them a rinse the muggle way. Chores - something he’d gotten used to doing when Molly Weasley had basically taken over his house. And then he prepared himself mentally - taking a few deep breaths to keep him relaxed, keep the guilt and the jitters at bay. He was nervous, of course. You were brilliant. You might be able to tell that something was up once he appeared in your dream. 

He took a quick swig of Firewhiskey that he kept hidden underneath the sink, hidden among the dishtowels. At least, he thought it was hidden. You probably knew about it and let him have it. He sighed after swallowing the burning liquid, put it back away, and then made his way towards the bedroom, getting comfortable beside you. You were already out like a light, and he nuzzled his nose against your temple, kissing it sweetly. Taking in the smell of your hair. He fell asleep quickly that night too, for once not haunted by his own past - by his dead friend’s faces as soon as he closed his eyes. 

It didn’t feel like a dream. Even his own, though often serious, had something of whimsy to it. This didn’t. Everything was proper, in the right place, more like a film rather than a memory even. He was seeing things through your eyes, and everything was so sharp, in focus. You were handcuffed to a bed and a woman came around and soundlessly unlocked the cuffs. You were watching Snow White with a bunch of other girls, younger girls, barely even teenagers, reciting every word. 

It didn’t seem like any kind of school that Sirius had heard of. He understood boarding schools, considering Hogwarts, but this seemed different. There wasn’t any friendly chatter, there wasn’t any sense of warmth, and even the classes seemed stricter somehow. Like McGonagall times a thousand. And when it finally looked like things were looking up, some sort of sport that he had never heard of maybe - he got the shock of a lifetime. 

You were fighting. This wasn’t some brawl between two people who didn’t like each other. This was teacher-endorsed, actually trying to hurt one another for a grade. What the hell kind of school did you go to? You were punching this girl as if you were a professional boxer, both of you barely over ten years old. Your knuckles were bleeding from the impact, but your face remained stoic, nonchalant. The other girl retaliated with a kick to the stomach, making you back up two steps, but you were right back in there, punching her in the face, the chest. Blood was on the mat now, not just on the two of you. The other girl was down, and you knocked the wind out of her before dragging her up to her knees and wrapping your arms around her head like you were prepared to break her neck.  

But the worst part of it was your face. There was no expression in those eyes that he had come to know. When Sirius had seen people fight like that, there was always anger, some sort of flame inside of them that kept them going, kept them motivated. But you were going on a pure, unemotional drive. Like this was just a History of Magic test that you were doing.  

He was waiting for the teacher to call this off. He was looking at this stern looking woman and anticipating that she would step in at any moment. But all that she did was nod. And to his absolute horror, he heard the sickening crack as you broke the spine of your classmate and let go of her as she fell lifeless onto the mat.  

Sirius started to feel dizzy. He started to feel sick. But he was stuck in this dream now and had to try to compose himself. He thought he had seen the worst that he was ever going to see. He knew you were a killer now - he knew that you had done at least one horrible thing. But this was not the end.  

You were older now. Right in the middle of those teenage years, you didn’t seem to have gone through an awkward phase. Instead, you looked absolutely radiant. You were in the middle of a group of girls your age, dancing elegantly. He had no idea that you could do ballet. When you danced with him, it was always up close, holding one another, perhaps a bit of a waltz. But here you were, less graceful than controlled. One girl stumbled just a little beside you and your instructor called for you all to start again. Through the whole dance. This happened repeatedly. One teeny tiny mistake and you all paid for it until you were absolutely perfect. It must have been hours, but of course in the dream, it only felt like a matter of a couple of minutes. Your toes were bleeding through your shoes. But you dared not let the pain show on your features. The same blank stare that you had shown when you had killed your classmate.  

A girl slipped on the blood on the floor. You were not the only one bleeding. Except she really tripped. Fell. Sprawled onto the ground. It looked as if her leg was broken now, bent at an odd angle, and she was looking right up at you, a spark of helplessness in her expression. You didn’t even look at her. You just started up the dance from the beginning, despite your agony, despite the fact that two women came in and dragged the fallen girl out of the room, despite the mess on the floor. Controlled - you were so damn controlled. 

And then further proof that you were a killer. Two different men. Or at least, he assumed they were men. Both of them wore suits, both of them had heavy thatched bags upon their heads, hiding their identity. One, you shot directly in the heart with a muggle gun, the sudden bang making Sirius jump. And the second - you had your wand pointed directly to the man’s chest and you said the cursed spell. Avada Kedavra.  

But the worst was saved for last. He could handle seeing you hurt others, as horrifying as it was. It all looked like things that you were forced to do in whatever school that you had been put in. It looked like a war, and people were forced to do horrible things in war. Kill or be killed. But now - now he was seeing you hurt. Now he was seeing that control slip for the first time in memory disguised as a dream.  

You were strapped down onto a gurney, clearly put under the body binding spell, since your body wasn’t fighting but your mind clearly was. Your eyes were wandering in every direction, catching onto anyone who walked by with the hopes that they could stop whatever was going to be happening. But no one helped. Everyone looked away from you, leaving you to your fate. Your teeth started to grind together, the only thing that you could do in this state, and your eyes were blinking away tears - not of sadness, but of hatred. Especially towards the strict looking woman who was pushing the gurney through the halls, parading you and what they were about to do to you. 

Sirius did not speak Russian. Hell, he hardly spoke Latin and that was the language that most of the spells were in. He wasn’t the most studious sort, skating through Hogwarts with charm ... and Remus’s help, who was the smartest out of the four of them. So, he didn’t know what any of the symbols that hardly looked like letters meant. He couldn’t understand the signs that were on the walls, or on the final door that you were put through. But he could recognize a medical facility when he saw one.  

A surgery room. Extremely clean, like everywhere else in the school. Sterilized. Although this was a memory, a dream, he could smell the strong scent of rubbing alcohol. The woman who brought you in left and a female surgeon stepped forward, whispering to you in Russian. You spoke back, your angry tone, standing up for yourself, he assumed. Your hospital gown was opened, you weren’t even given anesthetic. There was no spell put upon you to take away your pain. Just restrain you. He could see the pain in your eyes as a cut was made near your belly button, and then he could look no more. Could only turn and look at the wall, his hand over his mouth, running over his fine facial hair, in horror. He knew almost nothing about medical stuff, but he got a good idea of what they were doing. Tubal ligation. 

That made him feel sicker than all of the killing, the blood, the control, combined. Seeing that choice being taken away from you. Seeing you in actual pain was the worst thing that he had ever seen in his life. He wanted out of this now. He started to panic in a way that he hadn’t since he had heard that his best friend was dead, heard that he was being arrested for the murder of another friend. He couldn’t stay in that space anymore, and so he stumbled towards the door, opening it and -- 

He woke up. He was greeted with the darkness of his room, as dawn hadn’t yet come. He instinctively felt for you next to him and was relieved that you were there. That you were coming out of those horrible memories yourself now. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest so that his own sorrowful face wouldn’t be the first thing that you saw.  

Over the next couple of days, you said nothing. You didn’t give away that you knew what he had done. You treat him normally and yet, at the same time, you seem to be closing up. That almost glassy stare that he had seen in the dream, in your memories, is starting to come back and that terrifies him beyond belief. Both wizarding wars that he had been a part of hadn’t scared him as much of the idea of you slipping out from his fingers and becoming whatever that Russian facility had wanted you to become. 

You made the meals, you tidied up, you ran your errands and you read a lot. You corresponded with friends, you dutifully kissed Sirius on the cheek before you made your way to bed. But you didn’t look Sirius in the eyes anymore, and you didn’t cook anything that needed a lot of concentration, and your letters were all shorter than usual and you didn’t enjoy your late-night tea with him anymore. You stayed in bed longer.  

Sirius Black couldn’t live like this any longer. 

Instead of letting it be a quiet dinner while the two of you sit there and listen to the silence, he spoke up. “I - was in your dream the other night. I saw everything.”  

You sipped slowly at your tea, putting the mug down next to your fork, your plate half finished. You took a slow inhale through your nose, and as it came out of your mouth, it was shaky. Your shoulders started to tremble. All that it took was him mentioning the dream, and you were starting to spiral. His eyes went wide, and his hand reached out towards your shoulder, settling on it, trying to make it calm down. Trying to make you calm down. But instead, you angrily brushed him off of you, as if he was a piece of lint. It took everything in him to tell himself that you were going through something that he could never understand, and that hopefully you weren’t mad at him, just the situation. 

“How could you...” You started to say, but you broke apart before you could finish your sentence. Your hands went in front of your face, and Sirius assumed it was to try to hide your vulnerability. You never let him see you cry. You never let anyone see you cry.  

“I - had to,” Sirius said, putting his hand on you again, and this time, you didn’t brush him off. “I had to know what was going on, so that I could find a way to help. You’ve been so distant lately, love, and I just wanted to bring you back to me.” 

You wiped your eyes, your cheeks splotchy, skin puffy, the whites of your eyes were red. “N-no, that’s - not what I meant,” you said, your voice hoarse already. Lower in tone. Vulnerable. You weren’t as put together as you usually were. You weren’t holding everything in anymore, and - though you looked exposed to the world right now, he thought that you had never looked more beautiful. “I meant - how could you still be here?” 

This question made him dumbfounded. He moved his chair in closer to yours, the squeaking overtaking any sound that you were making. It would have been humorous under any other occasion. “Where else would I be?” 

“Anywhere. Far from here? I knew you were in my dream Sirius; I saw you there. I saw you in my memories. I was just - waiting for you to leave-” 

His confusion was evident, and he didn’t try to hide it. Not even when you looked over at him. But now, he was also feeling the hurt of your words. They cut through him like a knife as he read into what it was that you were saying. “You want me to go? You want me to leave you?” He asked, his hurt turning into anger, as it did with most men. “All because I wanted to find out what was wrong? No, y/n, this is my house, and I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Will you just let me finish?” You sighed, taking a deep and wary breath. “I was waiting for you to leave because how can you stand to be around me, knowing what I did? I know exactly what you saw, and all of it was real, Sirius. Every kill that you saw me do, every exercise in control, and -” This was when you really started to feel overwhelmed, and you couldn’t even lift your hands to your face to hide it, they were shaking too hard. “The surgery... Sirius, how can you love me after seeing all of that? How can you sleep next to me and now be repulsed? How-" 

Sirius reached to you with the back of his hand, lightly caressing it against your cheeks, making your mouth close again. It was such a soft and reassuring feeling, those tattooed fingers. No longer with the dirty and broken nails due to all the good care that you gave him, the help you gave him when you first met back in Hogsmeade. 

“It’s easy. It’s the easiest thing in the world to love you. And it’s not things that you have done, my love, it’s things that you were put through. I know you. I see you every day, and I see how this haunts you, but it isn’t you.” 

Tears were pouring down your face at an exponential rate, and he was catching them with his fingers on your cheek. “You really - you really still love me?” 

“More than ever,” Sirius admired your face as he said this. You showed more emotion now than you did in the memories, save for when you were being carted off to the surgical room. This showed that you were not the person that they had made you be. Not entirely. 

“I love you too,” You whispered. It was rare that you said it, even though you felt it through every bit of your being. You’ve been taught for so long, had it drilled into you, that emotions were a weakness, and should only be shown for manipulation purposes. But you were defenseless to this feeling right now. “I love you so much, I - I was so scared that you were going to leave me, to think that I’m a monster.” 

“Only in the mornings before you had your tea,” Sirius said, getting just the slightest chuckle out of you. He continued to hold his hand against your face, even when he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss onto your lips. You breathed in the scent of his shampoo, his mustache lightly tickling the skin above your lip, and you deepened it, ready to do more than tell, but to show.  

Your love. Your appreciation. Your gratitude. Your fears. Your desperation. 

They all showed as you moved in closer to Sirius, rounding the table to sit in his lap and just have him hold you for a couple of minutes, lips never leaving one another's. He was more than happy to do so, a thumb rubbing against your hip, holding you safely and securely. 

After a couple of minutes, you leaned your forehead up against his, looking down at the thin space between you. “That’s not the only reason I’m afraid, Sirius. I deserted them. I couldn’t take it anymore. And there’s no way they’re just letting it go, no matter how much time has passed. I know they’re looking for me and I’m terrified that any day they’re going to show up and -” Your breath hitched in your throat, and he held you a little closer. 

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said, his soothing voice tinged with seriousness. “And I’m not going to let anything happen to me either - I know that’s what you’re about to argue. You’ve been brilliant in keeping them from knowing your location so far, and we’ll keep managing. You’re not in this alone. We take care of each other, remember?” 

You nodded, and he felt relieved at that. No arguing, no buts, no ifs, no conditions. You were just accepting it now, and you even looked alleviated by his words. Like the weight of the world had just been taken off your shoulders. 

“I love you,” you said, again, for the third time tonight - which was probably your new record.  

“I love you too,” he replied, and knew that he would never, ever be sick of hearing, or saying, those words. 

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Judging from the fb movies, the new hp series is gonna be trash. The old movies had jk as just a consultant and they worked fine, but when given full control over the writing and directing, the fb movies were full of a lot of questionable and bad decisions, such as having Queenie join the bad guys or making Voldemort’s snake into a human woman. After the lovely Katherine Waterson dared to criticize the transphobic comments of jk, she ended up with a glorified cameo in the third film, which is especially ridiculous considering she played the main character’s love interest and had larger roles in the first 2 films. That’s setting up a pretty toxic environment for child actors to work in because it’s unlikely these kids are going to agree with her as they get older and start to form their own opinions. In addition, there’s the stupid idea that the original child actors somehow owe jk. If anything, she owes them. If the movies weren’t as successful as they were, there’d be no theme park money, no video game money, and not as many kids reading the books today.

This is one reason why I worry about the kid actors in this reboot. Next to the fact that they'll have to deal with getting hate from various people who don't ever seem to learn to stop going after kid actors in movies or shows or from butthurt Harry Potter stans (I get being mad your favorite movie's are being rebooted, but dear god leave the kids out of it), they also have terf queen's easily hurt ego to deal with.

I am being serious when I say this: it wouldn't surprise me if it's in their contracts they cannot comment on JK Rowling or her tweets unless they wanna risk their careers, given how Hollywood can treat adult actors if the adult's do something the people heading the film/show don't like, let alone kid actors. Like generally wouldn't be surprising if JK demands a recast mid-show cause one of the golden trio actors disagreed with JK.

And don't get me started on that, "They owe JK their careers, they should be quiet out of respect to her!" bullshit. They owe her NOTHING as they would have been fine without the Harry Potter films. If anything, its like you said, she owes them.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Taylor Swift ‘snubbed invite’ to appear on Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast

Reports claim Meghan wrote a personal letter asking her to appear on the Archetypes show but the singer declined through a representative

Victoria Ward 24 June 2023

Taylor Swift snubbed an invitation to appear on the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast and the couple left Netflix and Spotify executives “underwhelmed” by their lack of productivity and ideas, it has been claimed.

The production of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast was fraught with difficulties over securing the right guests and the Duchess often asking for late changes, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a wide-ranging analysis of the couple’s careers since settling in California, the newspaper suggested that their big dream of wowing Hollywood with their star power and royal connections had been undermined by a lack of substance.

It revealed that Archewell employees and associates had admitted the company often lacked direction, and that the royal couple “at times seem surprised by the work required to finish entertainment projects.”

It added: “Most potential initiatives, they said, follow a similar route: Big idea, subpar execution.”

It is alleged that Meghan wrote a personal letter to Taylor Swift, asking her to appear on Archetypes, but that the singer declined, through a representative.

The production of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast, which has now been dropped by Spotify was fraught with difficulties

“Harry, in particular, struggled to land on an idea,” the newspaper added of their Spotify deal.

The couple have had multiple ideas rejected by Netflix, which is said to be unlikely to renew its deal when it expires in 2025.

They were also hampered by a recent, post-pandemic downturn in the industry that has led to widespread cost-cutting and restructuring.

Spotify recently laid off 200 people, including many audio engineers, and is said to be revamping its approach to podcasting.

Other proposed projects by the Duke and Duchess are said to have included a sitcom likened to the hit show Emily in Paris, “but about a man”, and a family-friendly show about gay characters that felt similar to the popular coming-of-age drama Heartstopper. Netflix is said to have turned down both.

The couple are reportedly developing a show for Netflix called Bad Manners, based on the Miss Havisham character in Great Expectations.

The Duke and Duchess also had multiple ideas rejected by Netflix CREDIT: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

It is described as a prequel to the Charles Dickens novel that recasts the lonely spinster as a strong woman living in a patriarchal society. It is not known whether it has been commissioned by Netflix.

Despite following a path forged by Barack and Michelle Obama, who have been hugely productive and successful, the Sussexes appear to have failed to live up to the mark.

Netflix executives are said to have grumbled about Archewell’s output, fearing that their six-part Harry & Meghan documentary released in December was all they had to offer.

The couple announced earlier this month that their $20 million Spotify deal had come to a premature end, having produced just one series of Meghan’s 12-part Archetypes podcast and a short “holiday special.”

A joint statement said: “Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”

A source close to the couple told the Telegraph that it was proving “tough” for the couple to move forwards with Netflix projects in development due to a Hollywood writers’ strike, which has brought much of US film and TV production to a crashing halt.

Their multi-year Netflix deal, rumoured to be worth $100 million, was announced with much fanfare in September 2020, with the streaming service predicting that the couple’s programmes would provide its “most exciting and most viewed” content the following year.

But the only show the couple have so far produced was their six-part eponymous docuseries.

Heart of Invictus, a behind-the-scenes documentary following competitors as they prepared for the 2022 Invictus Games, was announced in April 2021 and slated for release the following spring.

But that too has not yet seen the light of day, although Netflix insists it will be launched this summer.

An Archewell spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal: “New companies often make changes in their start-up phase, both with people and strategy, and we are no exception. We’re more equipped, focused and energised than ever before.”

She said the company recently hired a new head of scripted content, actress and producer Tracy Ryerson.

A Netflix spokeswoman said Harry & Meghan was its biggest documentary debut. “We’ll continue to work together on a number of projects,” she added.

[wishingicouldfly]

Harry Styles is a Mermaid

Disclaimer: I am sure I’m not the first to report and share these links and images. I thought people would find this interesting, so I’m sharing my foray down this rabbit hole. I’d welcome any additional links or thoughts related to Mermaids and the LGBTQ community.

If you know anyone that should be credited for pictures here, let me know. None of them belong to me.

***

In November 2014, Harry Styles had the image of a mermaid tattooed on his left forearm. The bare-chested siren joined multitudes of other nautical themed tattoos that litter his body. 

A few days after the new tat appeared, he responded to a question at a meet and greet. 

“I am a Mermaid,” he said. 

I started the research on this post when I saw the gif with his quote about being a mermaid. Rest below the cut.

Harry Styles’ Mermaid Tattoo — The Real Reason Behind His New Ink – Hollywood Life 

I’m not going to tell you why he said he’s a mermaid. I don’t know what it means to him. I have no idea. Maybe he simply likes mermaids. Maybe he feels like it matches the themes of his and Louis’ other nautical tattoos. I can't pretend to know.

“Mermaid” as a theme, though, has a decades long association with the LGBTQ community. And I think that’s interesting in light of the imagery that Harry himself has shared and seems to connect to.

Like, that time he wore a shirt with a famous line from The Little Mermaid.

Or in 2019, when he dressed as Ariel for a Saturday Night Live photoshoot.

Did Harry Styles REALLY say 'I am a mermaid'? Truth behind viral photo and his Ariel look for 'SNL' | MEAWW 

Or his his whole video for Music for a Sushi Restaurant: 

I’ve seen the Little Mermaid probably dozens of times. My child and I watched it a lot when she was growing up. And while I always knew it was an allegory for being different, I didn’t think about the deeper meaning as it relates to the LGBTQ community until more recently.

According to this article from the Smithsonian, 

The central story of The Little Mermaid is, of course, 16-year-old Ariel’s identity crisis. She feels constrained by her patriarchal mer-society and senses she doesn’t belong. She yearns for another world, apart from her own, where she can be free from the limits of her rigid culture and conservative family. Her body is under the water, but her heart and mind are on land with people. She leads a double life. She is, essentially, “in the closet” (as symbolized by her “cavern”—or closet—of human artifacts, where the character-building song “Part of Your World” takes place).

Source: 'The Little Mermaid' Was Way More Subversive Than You Realized | Arts & Culture| Smithsonian Magazine  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/little-mermaid-was-way-more-subversive-you-realized-180973464/

The Disney version was written by writer-producer-lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. 

The character of Ursula, though, is the real LGBTQ icon. “Conceived by Ashman, Ursula is based on the famous cross-dressing performer Divine, who was associated with the openly gay filmmaker John Waters. As scholar Laura Sells explained in a 1995 anthology of essays, Ursula’s “Poor Unfortunate Souls” song is essentially a drag show instructing the naive mermaid on how to attract Prince Eric (who is conspicuously uninterested in Ariel and most content at sea with his all-male crew and manservant Grimsby). “In Ursula’s drag scene,” Sells wrote, “Ariel learns that gender is performance; Ursula doesn’t simply symbolize woman, she performs woman.” (same source as above).

A gay man in 1980s America, Ashman had personal experience with the culture wars over “family values” and gay rights. The “Reagan Revolution” marked the arrival of the long-brewing marriage of the Republican Party with conservative Christians and included a platform that was unfriendly to gay rights, to say the least. President Reagan ignored the AIDS epidemic that swept the nation (refusing to appropriate any federal funds for research or treatment), and Republicans in general claimed the “gay plague” was God’s punishment for homosexuality. Ashman saw the film as an opportunity to advance a social message through the medium of “family entertainment.” The last thing Americans would expect from Disney was a critique of patriarchy, but sure enough, Ashman’s The Little Mermaid is a gutsy film about gender and identity—a far cry from the staid Disney catalog. (same source).

Anyone who was around in 2015 knows about RBB/SBB. But if you didn’t, the Rainbow Bears (RBB/SBB, largely assumed to be created and curated by Harry and Louis) mentioned Divine on December 1, 2015. Just after they posted about her, Harry tweeted a lyric that alluded to Divine. See below. 

Credit to @SkepticalLarrie

There’s a whole other rabbit hole you can go down about John Waters (openly gay film director) and Divine and Pink Flamingos (Pink Flamingos: A Queer Beginner’s Guide to Family, Style and Not Giving a Sh*t | by Joe Corr | Medium. https://mandysweats.medium.com/pink-flamingos-a-queer-beginners-guide-to-family-style-and-not-giving-a-sh-t-fa9aa3e6c96f

Here’s another article that talks about The Little Mermaid being important to the LGBT community.

How The Little Mermaid Found A Place In The Hearts Of LGBTQ Fans | HuffPost UK Entertainment (huffingtonpost.co.uk) 

There was a lot of speculation about Harry being potentially cast as Prince Eric in a live action version of the Little Mermaid. I’m not sure how serious those rumors were, but I can imagine based on all of this research, that he might have found the Prince wasn’t the character he related to most.

Harry Styles fans upset over 'Little Mermaid' reports | CNN https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/14/entertainment/harry-styles-little-mermaid-trnd/index.html

To go even further down the rabbit hole, go all the way back to the original story. The Hans Christian Anderson version has a tragic ending, that doesn’t end with the mermaid happily ever with the prince. There is some speculation that the story was an allegory for an unrequited love that Anderson had toward a straight acquaintance.

The Little Mermaid Is Really About Unrequited Gay Love | by Tamara Mitrofanova | Lessons from History | Medium 

I also want to point out that Mermaids is a UK based charity organization, that “supports transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and young people until their 20th birthday, as well as their families and professionals involved in their care.” About Mermaids - Mermaids (mermaidsuk.org.uk) https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/about-us/

All of this could be coincident to the true purpose behind what Harry’s tattoo means to him. We will likely never know its exact meaning to him. 

But as time passes, and we see Harry waving various LGBTQ flags and hinting at being in the community himself, I think it might bear remembering that he said he WAS a mermaid. And I think that’s beautiful, Harry.

[queerticulate]

Don’t Worry Darling Spoilers

ShSo after lapping up all of the recent drama about Don’t Worry Darling, I went to see the actual movie.

Because everything about the promotion of the film and everything that has been surfacing about how it was made was so unprofessional, I expected a terrible movie. When I checked out the trailer I was actually intrigued - it was giving me a mix between Black Swan and Strange Angel. Still went to see it with the expectation of laughing at a train wreck... but I actually enjoyed it!

Here’s some of my thoughts (i’m trying to keep it spoiler light):

It’s promoted wrong: it’s a mindfuck movie. In fact, it could have been released under the name of Christopher Nolan and it might have gotten a lot of praise (if there hadn’t been so much bad press). Central to it the plot is gendered abuse. Why on earth the director - Olivia Wilde - is promoting it as a feminist movie and making ‘female pleasure’ such a strong talking point baffles me. See: gendered abuse. By the end of the story, I would qualify the sex that takes place as rape. If Olivia really believes what she says, that’s creepy as fuck.

There is some really disturbing imagery in the movie. Main themes are losing your mind, abuse, self-harm and gaslighting. Some of the scenes are graphic. Don’t go in unprepared just because you want to see a cute movie with Harry Styles (which it won’t be anyway).

Casting & Harry Styles: I think recasting Shia LaBeouf was a good choice, considering his real life and what’s been in the press about that. I think that would have left a viewer who knows that very uncomfortable at the end of the movie. Considering what the reviews have been saying about Harry’s acting, I expected him to be completely cringe all the time. He was actually okay in my opinion.

Chris Pine: This was the first time I’ve seen Chris Pine play a bad guy. It was an experience. I’ve followed this guy since Star Trek and I have a soft spot for him. Seeing him, successfully, play the sort of person that freaks me out was an experience.

Themes & Similar media: My original instinct that it would have somewhat similar vibes as Black Swan and Strange Angel were right. It also seems to take some elements from Hannibal, Upload, and The Truman Show. The way that the neighborhood is set up, in part stylistically, reminded me of the start of Fall Out III (the videogame) and say Tim Burton’s movies such as Edward Scissorhands. I liked these aspects. It might also have found some inspiration in the Handmaid’s Tale, but it can’t even hold a candle to that in a million years (which sometimes is also good, bc the Handmaid’s Tale is traumatizing AF in how hardcore it showcases certain premises).

Directorial criticisms: I tried to look really critically and there is some negative stuff to be said about Olivia Wilde as a director, but I don’t think it goes beyond flaws that can be pointed out in most movies. Several times the music felt a bit off for the scene. I didn’t like the camera angles often. Some scenes felt like there was a specific point to them, but the execution wasn’t quite it yet and sometimes thus came across a bit awkward. When I mentioned Hannibal, I specifically think they tried to recreate the flashing scary dream-like cutscenes and haunting music as part of the journey of a character losing their mind, but it was a poor copy (which is sad). 

Plot & directorial criticisms: The final plot is, in my opinion, really really cool. And it had a plottwist I didn’t see coming. I was intrigued enough with how it unfolded to really want to follow the movie closely. But the above-point does show up here too in the sense that the ideas where there, but sometimes I needed to make some stuff up in my head to make it work. Some of the stuff that bugged me sort of seemed to be explained in the end, sort of. The weak spot for me was that Alice’s reactions seemed overstated for what we as the viewer saw as the cause of them. The things that were odd that she found out about, did not support the questions she consequently raised and the distress she had about it. The speed and intensity with which she lost her mind also didn‘t feel justified. Maybe the point was that she knew more than she thought the whole time and we as the viewers knew, and maybe we were supposed to notice this as odd as a clue. Maybe some of what happened can be chalked up to a sort of glitches in the matrix. It didn’t ruin the movie either way, and I don’t hate extending upon what we see onscreen in my head, but I do think the movie might have been stronger with a bit more exposition/build-up on some things on screen.

I am very mad that they got Dita von Teese to star in this, doing her signature performance, and we barely got to see it because it was intercut with so much of Alice’s trauma memories/nightmarescape scenes. Full offense!

Ending: I am sad the movie ended right at the moment where Alice fully grasped what was going on. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of her dealing with the aftermath. I think that would have made a stronger emotional journey for the viewer.

World-building: I must admit I am really fascinated with the premise/world-building of the movie, and there are so many aspects of it that I would have enjoyed knowing more about. I’m sort of sad it wasn’t told in a TV format so there would have been room. I’m very curious about the creation of the Victory Project and Frank’s character motivations. I am also very curious about Shelley’s position in all of it. I am curious about the struggles that would come with maintaining the situation around Alice (which also raises the question about how time works for the Victory Project). I also would have loved to know more about the stories of the other residents - it could have some very powerful tales about gendered violence (e.g. think of the implications of the character who was referred to as ‘always pregnant’). I am also interested in beyond the domestic aspect, how much of the world-building is set up in such a way as to fulfill specific power fantasies for the men. Does Jack get a big promotion and the opportunity to dance in front of everyone, because that is what he desires? Also, to how much beyond the domestic trad!wife fantasy is the Victory Project intended to cater? What would happen if a guy applied who doesn’t want to bring a wife, maybe someone who just thinks the aesthetic is really neat? What happens if a gay man applied who wants to bring a husband?

Overall, I liked the movie. The premise / plot was great, the execution okay. I do think that if it hadn’t been tanked so hard by a bad rep created by all the negative things that have surfaced about its production and the horrible promotion of it, it might have done well. I think most of the flaws it displays tie to lack of experience or talent from the director. But I also do think that there is a chance it wouldn’t have been judged as harshly if it had been directed by a man.

[buffyfan145]

I still need to see the "Hunger Games" prequel movie "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" but just saw this article talking about if they make a prequel movie about Haymitch, which has been rumored, who should play him. They included two of my current favorite actors who kind of resemble each other anyway: Drew Starkey and Harris Dickinson!!! 😀 I can see both of them playing the role and even more since both just recently did movies having blonde hair ("The Other Zoey" and "The Iron Claw"), and Harris doing a Texas accent where Woody's from (and both of them being in "Triangle of Sadness"). I know they said a book would likely come out first but would be awesome if this happens.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Interest in Gaylor seems to be on the rise after Taylor’s breakup, and some fans are speculating she might be preparing to CO (as what identity is another question - like with Harry there is debate over her label). Obviously Taylor has had many confirmed BFs, but I wonder if she were to CO (and I’m doubtful of that at least near term but am not the most informed) it would be simpler for her than Harry bc many of the men she’s been linked to have had speculation about their own sexuality. Harry, Tom, Jake, Joe…

However, I don’t think it’s wrong to think a key part of Taylor’s success has been her ability to make fans feel connected to her life through the her songwriting which includes referencing specific men (the red scarf, the stitches, the london boy, and so on). If she were to CO does she lose fan trust? Maybe not as some already interpret her lyrics through a queer lens and understand the concept of “stunt” songs (and she has many songs not necessarily about her or romance at all). Like you said just publicly dating a person of the same sex without giving a specific label would be the slow burn way for Harry or Taylor to CO as gay (if one or both identify that way) without completely canceling out past public relationships. Society does sadly seem to be moving backwards in some areas but there does seem to be more understanding sexuality is not a checkbox, fixed state for everyone.

I definitely don't think that the fact that there are rumours about many of the men Taylor has dated makes it simpler for her to come out. I think one of the complications of coming out, after you've publicly been linked with another celebrity, is ensuring that they are not outted to.

For Taylor, I don't think this is as much of a problem as it used to be. Joe Jonas and Jake Gyllenhaal may have sex with men, but Sophie and Joe's relationship is pretty persuasive, as is the collective impact of Red Taylor's version on Jake's image and life. But I definitely don't think it makes it any easier.

In terms of coming out, I do think that if Taylor has been attracted to women and she wanted to share that, she could probably do quite an amazing job of retelling her story so that people experienced it as an expansion of what she had already shared. It is her super power. See how people are so quickly recasting her and Joe's relationship.

Emotions around shame and having to keep stuff secret are very relatable - I think Taylor could write about being confused about her feelings, feeling like she had to hide them, and even revealing specific songs are about women in a way that brought people in. It also helps that Scott Borchetta sits there as a very easy villain who would only need to be gestured at.

I don't think it's useful to understand publicly dating someone of the same sex as a slow burn way of coming out. It's coming out - it's just coming out in a different way. Coming out does not have to mean revealing all previous relationships were fake (and it doesn't mean that all previous relationships were fake) and I think it's really useful to distinguish between the two. At the moment, celebrities just don't reveal previous relationships are fake, unless they happened years before. I think it's useful to take that as a starting point, rather than assuming coming out involves revealing previous relationships are fake.

[tameimpala222]

Ok, more vault track lyrics analysis!

I think Suburban Legends was written at the same time as Midnights. It sounds and feels like an outtake from that album. Parts of it almost feel like a sequel to “Question…?” I suspect that song was written after they saw each other at the 2021 Grammys. What if Suburban Legends continues that story? The “high school gymnasium” is actually the LA Convention Center where the Grammys were held. Maybe in the past she had fantasized that they would somehow work things out and surprise everyone at the Grammys (the “high school reunion” of their industry) by arriving together. But instead, here he is winning his very first Grammy, and she’s so proud of him but all she can do is applaud from her seat. He once told her that they would get back together, but now he really is just a chapter in her old diaries—lyrics that she can revisit in songs about old relationships. But in person they’re stuck making brief, awkward conversation. How heartbreaking. It’s somewhat similar to what he says in Two Ghosts, but while that song has a sense of finality to it (and I believe it’s the last song he wrote about her), for her there’s more of a feeling of “what if?” I truly don’t believe that she thinks they’re going to get back together now, but I think seeing him brought up a lot of feelings for her.

Oh, also recasting their relationship as a high school storyline also fits in with what she did in the Betty/August/Cardigan story. (I don’t think it’s quite as simple as James=Harry, but I think she drew from a lot of elements of her relationship with him to create that story.)

Thoughts? I know you think he wrote more songs about her after Two Ghosts, so you might disagree with some of what I said above…

👀

Thoughts? I have no thoughts… but I like your analysis so I’m putting it up here without commentary!

[fantastic-artemis]

So I made these two posts about my mostly ungrounded fear that they are going to make Beelzebub go full fem woman in season 2 and @riicky-ye responded with some good points. So now I’m gonna write y’all a whole essay on why I am So Fearful that the possible Beelzebub/Gabriel romance combined with a new actress portraying Beelzebub is a recipe to ignore or erase the wonderful nonbinary/genderfluid aspect of Bee’s character

So this was riicky-ye’s response: 

So first of this is fascinating. I had no idea this movie existed and its a different direction than I was going in my posts but I can also definitely see this as a possibility too, where Bee experiences more parts of the human world, maybe aspects of friendship and love with Gabriel or others that they previously had no concept of and it manifests, through writing and costume and directing choices, as “oh, they’re happier now, let’s make them a little less harried and frayed at the edges, let’s make them more attractive conventionally and show their happiness through that” and it just results in a very conventionally attractive feminine Beelzebub. And that would be disappointing in of itself. 

But. 

My personal fear has more to do with what is considered attractive and desirable by normal societal, and especially entertainment industry, standards. I am worried that they will feminize Beelzebub in an effort to make them worthy of being desired by Gabriel.

This fear first came about when I found out a new actress was coming in to replace Anna Maxwell Martin. And I know this wasn’t a deliberate decision, AMM just couldn’t do it and they had to choose someone else or not have a Beelzebub this season and I am very happy they went with a recast in light of that, because everything about season 2 SCREAMS for Beelzebub’s involvement. However. Shelley Conn makes me nervous because she just looks so much more traditionally feminine than AMM. And it is absolutely not fair to Conn or AMM that I feel that way, their respective performances do not hinge on their facial features and Conn could very well blow it out of the park but I can’t help it. I can just see the directors leaning into a new pretty Beelzebub because that’s what directors do when there is a woman on screen, and Conn is very beautiful. (And so is AMM, but in a different and less conventionally feminine way that imo screamed Beelzebub and I will miss it greatly). 

And this fear, however unfounded, just got me thinking. What if they run with it. You can see in the first few promo images of Bee in hell, where the demons look more demony and gross, that they are basically identical to the AMM character design. But in others, like the BTS photo, they look more feminine. And that’s not even a bad thing!! I don’t even dislike it, I would love to see Bee run the whole gender spectrum, but I don’t trust it in the hands of Amazon lmao. 

Because what if they run with it! They’ve said that the new actress will be explained away somehow, probably with an accidental discorporation, but what if that’s an excuse to make Beelzebub a woman now. What if they make them more feminine on purpose, and what if the new corporation is used as a catalyst in some way for the B/G relationship because now Gabriel notices them in a romantic light, now that they’re more feminine. Even with the memory loss in mind, I’m still wary of the showrunners feminizing Bee because they think its a requirement for them to be worthy of romantic attention. 

And look. I’m projecting. I’ve been having a lot of Gender Thoughts about myself recently and I’ve latched onto Beelzebub for my representation of what I would like my own gender to be, this towing the line between masculine and feminine and playing with it. And to see Beelzebub be desired by someone as they are, and by someone like Gabriel no less (the epitome of Some Guy, not noticeably queer and pretty much fitting in with the idea of a straight cis man, even if he isn’t technically either of those things) would be super affirming. it would make me feel worthy of love and desirability, too. The thought of them changing Beelzebub’s more gender neutral presentation (i.e. dressing them up for the ball like in my second post) would be so fucking sad. 

And like I said I am blowing this way fucking out of proportion. There is no evidence that this will happen like, at all. And I’m not one to put neilman on a pedestal, but I do think he understands why this would not be the way to go. Nevertheless, I do not trust media when it comes to queer characters and the fear persists. Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.