#wwdits analysis

[lesbiantism]

Nadja, Autism, & Womanhood (aka, me using the writers woman allergy to project on Nadja)

Ok here’s the highly demanded (by one person) Nadja autism + womanhood analysis. Before I start, I wanna note that I’m a rambly bitch. This whole post is basically me just putting down thoughts and loosely stringing them together. I don’t know if this will be coherent. I have Really Big Thoughts on characters like this but I never know how to really lay it out in a coherent way. So idk maybe none of this will make sense but it does to me so. Autism essay under the cut.

So, I’m a nonbinary autistic person, but I still identify With womanhood. Just not As a woman if that makes sense? Like I Experience womanhood but I don’t Identity with it, not entirely. It’s hard to explain idk. But for me, autism and gender are inextricably linked. I’ve thought a lot on how, when I masked as a young girl, a lot of it was just me over-performing femininity, desperately trying to fit in with other girls but always feeling like I was stumbling through the performance. Reaching out and tripping over my feet.

Women are expected to be a lot of things in society. They can never be too loud, too bold, too impolite, too dominant, too rough. Too much. I was always too much for others. When Nadja told that story about other kids finding her too loud growing up, so her teachers made her sit outside, I identified so much because school was such an isolating thing for me. My voice was something always criticized, and my big emotions, so I learned to quiet myself, to dull myself. I’m unlearning it now, and I think that’s one big reason I’m drawn to Nadja’s character, because she’s so many of the things I learned Not to be, and she makes me want to fully embrace them again. She’s a woman in a way I understand and relate to.

Getting more into Nadja and less about me—I don’t necessarily read Nadja as nonbinary per se, but I do think when it comes to other women, she sees herself as Something Else. (I think there’s something to be said about Nadja doll, as some kind of metaphor for depersonalization or dysphoria or something. I can’t really articulate it but if anyone else has thoughts feel free to). It’s like there’s a wall of glass there between her and other women. She wants to reach out, but that wall is there. But when it starts to slip-which is I think is what was happening with Guide—she puts it back up.

It’s interesting to see her when she actually Tries to reach out to other women. Like this season, being in the human workforce, trying to befriend Lisa, and getting So Excited that this girl liked her stupid banana phone joke that she just did it over and over, completely unaware that she was starting to annoy her. Kind of like how Guide was with her, and maybe that’s part of why she pushes her away. Because there’s a part of Guide she can relate to, that longing in her. It’s like that wall of glass is a mirror now, a mirror into the parts of herself she’s afraid to really look at or evaluate. And the fact that she can relate to another woman is New and scary. I think Nadja comes off as very confident, and that’s definitely true, but I do also think there’s that part of her that’s Afraid, that carries the pain of a lifetime of rejection, that she hides under an armor of stone. The part of her that has go bags made because she’s afraid of being exiled again. That part of her who, in many different ways, has never really felt like she’s had a place to belong.

I also think another thing that’s interesting is her relationship Jenna. How she saw this young girl being pushed around by others, desperate to belong, and she Understood that feeling, so she wanted to take her under her wing and help her find confidence. It’s a different kind of relating than with Guide. Jenna is a vision of herself in the past, but Guide is a reminder that those feelings—that part of her that Cares what others, particularly women, think—are still present in her. And it makes her feel threatened. She can’t look at Guide without having to look at herself.

Idk. Maybe all of this is projection but what is a blorbo if not a canvas for your own issues. I think I’m extremely correct about all of this though.

So yeah! That’s all my thoughts for now. Feel free to add on!

[emmabirb8]

As much as I absolutely adore the Nandermo relationship dynamic, it can be so frustrating sometimes.

Like, Nandor loves Guillermo so so much, but he is too emotionally stunted and repressed to actively show him that in ways that Guillermo can understand, so Guillermo believes he doesn't feel the same way he does. That disconnect becomes even stronger with Nandor's tendency to reject Guillermo's efforts to show him how he feels, especially when he denies Guillermo's attempts for something as simple as a hug every single time. Because of this frustration and because Nandor is often dismissive, aloof, and emotionally closed off, Guillermo lashes out and strains what intimacy they do have, not even realizing how he's hurting his own chances of forming a deeper connection by doing so.

Meanwhile, Nandor does actually express his feelings in LOTS of different instances in his own himbo way, but because Guillermo isn't responding positively to those ways Nandor has found, Nandor is likewise led to believe Guillermo doesn't love him back. (Most everybody has figured this out, but that's why he's held out so long on making Guillermo into a vampire - in Nandor's mind, if Guillermo doesn't love him, he won't stay, but he will stick around if he wants Nandor to sire him.) It's a quintessential version of "the love is requited (very, very requited), they're both just idiots" trope. It's just that the "idiots'' part stems from a total lack of proper communication, both verbal and nonverbal, on both ends.  

See, these bitches are so intensely in love with each other, but they haven't quite figured out that they speak different languages when it comes to attempting to express that love. And I don't just mean that they utilize different love languages either (though Nandor tends to gravitate toward gift giving while Guillermo goes for acts of service). Both of them have actually expressed some form of each of the five love languages to each other at different points through the series. No, what I mean is that, being as repressed as they are, they each are at a point where they need direct, explicit, and blatantly obvious signals from the other to truly believe the love is requited. Buuuttt neither has yet found what those signals should be, partially because they each struggle with verbalizing their feelings (esp to each other's faces) and partially because they each require different signals to really get it. 

Nandor focuses on gift giving and taking action, such as saving Guillermo's life on multiple occasions and trying to make him more happy/comfortable in his role as familiar and bodyguard in various ways. And for someone so repressed and hesitant, that's great! He's at least developed some techniques over the years of showing how he feels. However, in order to convey those feelings to Guillermo clearly, he needs to be more emotionally vulnerable with him and express himself through words as well as actions. Stating his feelings directly is key for Guillermo in particular - it's been shown/implied at least a couple of times when they've had arguments that Guillermo would prefer Nandor be up front and direct about what he's thinking and feeling. And obviously, another important step would be for Nandor to stop his habit of rejecting Guillermo's advances and allow him to follow through on attempts to show his affection (such as through hugging - damn it Nandor, let Guillermo fucking hug you). 

On the other hand, Guillermo focuses on acts of service as well as taking action, such as becoming a vampire slayer in order to keep Nandor safe despite the fact he loves vampires. The problem with Guillermo's expressions is that for the most part, Nandor doesn't perceive his service and actions as indications of love. Nandor thinks Guillermo is only fulfilling his familiar and bodyguard duties and doesn't know or understand the full extent of how above and beyond Guillermo has always gone for his sake out of devotion and love. So for Guillermo to really get it through Nandor's head that he loves him, he needs to make a point to do activities with Nandor outside of his working hours as a familiar/bodyguard, and verbally say that he wants to spend time with him as a "friend" and not just go through the motions of his usual duties. This way, Nandor will (hopefully) understand that Guillermo values their time together and wants to be around him even outside of performing as a servant. And ofc, he ALSO needs to be more emotionally vulnerable and talk more openly with Nandor.

I'm obviously not a therapist, but I think this would fix them. At the very least, it would finally set them in the right direction of realizing and accepting their love for each other and doing something about it. Preferably in the form of Guillermo railing Nandor against that snazzy new bar of his until they both see stars. 💖💖💖

[fictionalmenmistress]

I said before, that it felt like a courtship, for a familiar and a master, perhaps that was what it originally was meant to be. But for them it feels so clearly that way. And then I realized how like... being turned by another master is like having your virginity taken while being in a long courtship relationship with the love of your life... and Nandor always puts it off and says hes waiting for the right moment or perfect moment and to leave him alone about asking and asking, and thats what Guillermo wants and he got it with someone else who would give it to him easily, no strings attatched, so he could finally have what to him was the only thing he wanted... was to be a vampire... and like... Nandor's devastation is going to be like finding out the love of your life you didnt realize was the love of your life, who promised their first time to you alone, and you were obsessed with making it "perfect" and waiting for the right moment... and then he had it already. Like... see this from a Vampire perspective. Do you see? Do you understand? Thats why the weight of it is so heavy to them. This... holds so much significance.

Fucking obliterated.

it's there in the back of my mind all season

[anney-baker]

WWDITS Parallels | S02E08 x S03E08 Part I

[sbocconichilista]

"But just like Jordan said, it's about being the right fit. And maybe that's what we were. Or weren't."

(WWDITS S6EP4 SPOILERS)

I love this scene. I love seeing Guillermo proving himself at work not just in front of his colleagues, but also with the ones he knows (Nandor in this case), and that's so much more difficult.

Even though this isn't (and i'm gonna make a pretty much obvious statement here) about work. It's about them. It's about Nandor not being able to give Guillermo what he wants. It's about Guillermo not being able to give Nandor what he wants. It's about them not being able to completely commit to one another ("Nandor couldn't make me a vampire, and I can't make him a janitor"). And I know well this is a comedy, that it's not that deep, that this will probably end up in dust and mean nothing, but still I like to imagine that there's a subtle layer about this that suggests a change in the relationship between Nandor and Guillermo.

But that's not just me, is it? Guillermo knows it too. That this is gonna end being about them two and not just about work. He says it just before going to fire Nandor: "...just like Jordan said, it's about being the right fit. And maybe that's what we were. Or weren't." And when Nandor says he's proud of him, that Jordan is right for seeing all Guillermo's qualities, it's because now he aknowledges them too. Nandor knows how special Guillermo is, and for how much his pride wants him to prove himself as superior, as a Master, as a fierce warrior, he can't lie to himself anymore: Guillermo is better than him. And he made Nandor better too.

Guillermo keeps talking about work, that "we, as a company, have to let someone go", but he knows it's not just that. It's him who has to let Nandor go. He tried hard to protect Nandor's feelings and ego, and not just now: he has been Nandor's shield for so long. Now he has to reject him, to push him back. Now he's the sword who stabs him. And this time it's not about a stupid fight, it's not something that will end there and be gone in the next episode. This seems so much more solemn.

Although, this is not the end of it, it's just Guillermo stepping back. This time is Nandor who reaches for Guillermo's hand to shake it (and i mean he LITERALLY does it, no metaphor). Now it's him who has to do a step towards Guillermo.

(Honestly I have so much more to say about this specific scene, but I don't want this ending up being too long, so that's it for now)

[styrofauxm]

also that he did always mean to turn guillermo. That stings. It always felt like an empty promise, but no.

guys I'm not doing well this is supposed to be a damn comedy show

[emmabirb8]

@mollyscribbles

My theory is that Evie Russell broke up with Colin Robinson for the same reason that he hides his interesting traits from people; because otherwise it could kill her. Maybe being with Colin makes her feel too close to happiness and that is something she can't afford to feel, because it would make it harder to feel sorry for herself therefore it would be harder to make anyone else feel sorry for her, maybe she's bound to have a sad life just as Colin is bound to be boring. Idk i'm just fascinated by the energy vampire lore and i've been thinking about the way Evie broke up with Colin ever since the campaign episode, like there was something inherently tragic about that scene and about energy vampires' existence in general. I also think about Colin's season 2 quote, "I don't live to drain, I drain to live" and I'm not sure that's entirely true. Maybe vampirism is indeed a curse, no matter what kind of vampire you are.

[lililovesthings]

Seriously though WHAT IF Aziraphale mourned Crowley when he fell?!?! Like this...

What if Ed is still mourning Stede and he doesn't know that he's coming for him?!?!

I am also aware I now need to watch What We Do in the Shadows...does this involve a broken heart too????

[belladonna413]

It was always strange to see James Somerton's videos, as he could jump from an astute and well-thought point to the wildest bad takes, so it did explain a lot to learn about his plagiarism and the extent of it. Yesterday, I had joked with some mutuals in the Good Omens fandom about the odds he just read Tumblr metas straight off his phone in his video "Neil Gaiman and the Queering of Fantasy." (I have not seen the video yet - I didn't care to see someone take such a bored tone when talking about media I am so passionate about.)

But the more I think about his plagiarism, the angrier I get. I am passionate about queer media analysis - growing up in an extremely conservative home, that media was the only community available to me. I realized just how upset I was at not being able to know the people he stole from, and to have a chance to properly appreciate their work.

Does anyone know whether people are compiling lists of the writers he has stolen from?

I'm trying to see if I can find any myself, and I will share whatever I am able to find.

[biblicalhorror]

Has anyone addressed the fact that laszlo and nadja had matching hair highlights AGAIN in the finale but this time they were blue

[house-of-chemical-wolves]

Friendly reminder that just because a popular queer ship didn't start making out on screen after a grand confession of romantic love doesn't mean you got queerbaited.

[leporidaecervinae]

so ever since s2 there have been this HUGE moments between exclusively Nandor and Guillermo where they are totally alone together (fight before the 'trip that wasn't', fight when Nandor tells Guillermo to take his 'better offer', fight where Guillermo holds a stake to Nandor's throat, you get my drift) and that is something that only these two characters get.

throughout the entire show's run. most other characters have at least 2 other perspectives all clamoring for run time in front of the cameras. (bar a few instances here and there) but not Nandor and not Guillermo. Strange, that. The entire emotional arc of these two is played out on screen in full, lurid detail. No other character gets that moment except Colin and Laszlo when Colin has forgotten his childhood and that devastates Laszlo.

These scenes are picked purposefully for the most emotional impact. These close up shots and threads of cinematographic moments are played very closely in line with the dramatic climaxes of every plot beat, of every arc.

So what is stranger still is that in the climax of season 5, Guillermo was alone together with all of the vampires in his motel room, but these pieces were interrupted by a variety of things. Nadja going off to fuck the couple next door, Colin conducting an exit interview that Guillermo cuts off, Laszlo getting distracted by porn). This never happens with Nandor—everything is played out to its' maximum effect.

In season 6 we, yet again, get another private moment between these two. With Nadja pulling Nandor into the room to discuss privately why the cameras are always watching them, it comes through from a voyeur's perspective. Through a window, obscured through a filmy pane of glass. On the outside looking in. (Hitchcock reference, very nice).

With the end of the Sleep Hypnosis ep; it is unbounded. There is utterly unfettered access to their deepest feelings on display, even if they are distorted by the hypnosis. Several close up shots, that inch closer throughout the runtime of the scene, display a deepening connection of emotion, of a realisation, of a reckoning; especially with regards to Nandor who has his senses for this scene, even if he is playing a bit for the benefit of sleep-hypnotised Guillermo. Even if he is playing it up for his own selfish want for Guillermo to remain bright-eyed and in awe of his power as a vampire.

Even though he knows it is not to be. Even though he will not further corrupt his familiar-turned-bodyguard-turned-former friend. He has come to make peace with his feelings for Guillermo. Has realised them in their entirety. Now the question remains of who will break their silence first?

[emmabirb8]

It is REALLY getting me that Guillermo is actively choosing this.

Because narratively speaking, I get it. I understand why Guillermo feels like he has to "say goodbye" to his mother and essentially leave his old human life behind as he transitions into a vampire. It's symbolic and metaphorical and literal all at once and makes for a very interesting plot point while also giving us a great look into the psyche of his character.

But logically? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Logically, it would be relatively easy for him to figure out a way that works to have the best of both worlds if he wanted. For one thing, there's always hypnosis to fall back on if things really went down the tubes, but besides that, Guillermo is a MASTER MANIPULATOR. We know this. We have seen this. All he would really have to do is choose his actions very carefully and deliberately, and he'd be fine.

He could simply just make sure he visited at night, find clever ways to pretend he eats human food, strategically avoid mirrors, wear special protective layers that would allow him to display a crucifix if he wanted... etc etc.

Or better yet, he could just come clean about being a vampire, at least to his mother! It was clear from Pine Barrens last season that Silvia especially would accept Guillermo no matter what and would (at least eventually) be cool with the idea of vampires existing anyway. She was most definitely the least fazed when he initially revealed the truth to his family before Nadja hypnotized away the vampire-related bits. His Abuelita and extended family members would potentially be another story, but his mamá would handle it well, I think. (And if he was worried about her slipping up at any time, he could hypnotize away the urge and ability to tell anyone else the truth! It'd be that simple!)

But Guillermo is choosing this path.

He is choosing to shed his old life, his human life, because he has decided that no matter how much he loves his human family, his desire to live freely with his found family as his full authentic self with absolutely NO hangups or threads to hold him back (what he believes would hold him back) is more important.

And unfortunately, the process of coming to that final decision has cost him his relationship with his mother, who, I would say, is the most important non supernatural person in his entire life. His selfishness, self-centeredness, and pure unbridled obsession with and devotion to his vampire family and to Nandor in particular has essentially destroyed the ties that he could have kept to Silvia. It may have started as a subconscious thing, but at this point, there's no denying that he has made his choice.

It's an agonizing kind of choice, but he has convinced himself it's what he has to do.

And GOD if that isn't just the most deliciously interesting plunge into Guillermo's thought processes and rationalization the show has ever taken.

[mylateralinterest]

Guessing what song is in which scene (Theories)

The Descendants: The Rise of Red tracklist titles have been revealed. So I thought it would be fun to guess what song is in which scene. Please note this is just me guessing and there is a good chance I am incorrect.

Red

* I feel like this scene is the introduction to Red's character. So it makes sense that the movie introduces her with her own song

* There's also a scene of Red smashing vases so I think the song would go with that scene.

So This Is Love

* I couldn't find a scene in the trailer where I could find Cinderella and Prince Charming interacting.

* This song could also be an album only with no scene in the movie. But I hope that's not the case.

Love Ain't It

* This scene could either be for 'Love Ain't It' or 'Life Is Sweeter (Reprise)'

* The Queen is in the center while there's seems to be choreography happening around her.

Fight of Our Lives

* I think the song would be literal as Red and Chloe are actually fighting.

* I'm also guessing that this is happening before they time travel.

Life Is Sweeter

* This song features the Descendants cast so with all the dancing it made think of this scene

* However, this scene could also be Shuffle Of Love because Bridget seems to be the main focus.

Perfect Revenge

* In the trailer we see the villains dancing in what looks like a lair.

* All the villains are together so it makes the most sense.

Shuttle Of Love

* Not sure what scene this song could be featured in.

* Could be the scene that I guessed was for 'Life Is Sweeter'

Get Your Hands Dirty

* I have no idea where the song could be in the movie.

* This scene will most likely be a duet between Chloe and the past Cinderella.

Life Is Sweeter (Reprise)

* Both Red and The Queen of Hearts seem to be singing.

* This scene could also be Love Ain't It.

Bad Reputation

* I believe this is an album only song because it's a cover.

* Or it's a song played during the credits of the movie.

[perseidlion]

What We Do in the Shadows Finale Thoughts

Some people found the ending unsatisfying, but that was the whole point.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

I've been seeing some takes that express disappointment in the finale of WWDITS. Honestly, it ended exactly how I imagined it would. One day, the documentary crew just leaves and we are left with the impression that they're just going to keep on in the exact same pattern they've always been stuck in. And that's exactly what happened.

The point is they are stagnant. They don't grow, change, or move forward in any significant way. That is the tragedy of these characters. Eternal life at a standstill. Growth is for the living.

Anyone expecting them to make significant change didn't really get the central tragic irony at the heart of the show. They even made pointed jokes about how no ending they could have would satisfy everyone - mainly because it would not be true to these characters to have them grow in any significant way.

Guillermo also proves he's one of them, vampire or no, because he ultimately ends up sticking around despite being confronted with the reality of a stagnant existence. He can't break away from them, and they are incapable of real change. They are the people who he loves dearly, but they are an anchor around his neck that he can't remove no matter how hard he tries. Getting stuck at Canon Capital with a new asshole master just proved that Guillermo is as stuck in his pattern as the rest of them.

I see people who legitimately expected Guillermo and Nandor to get together as a couple. The show knew people wanted it as well, which is why there was the Newhart style false ending. It poked fun at the idea of them living in some kind of domestic bliss because honestly, that is not who they are and not who they are to each other.

With Nandermo, I do think people are projecting the inherent homoeroticism of a familiar/master relationship with a real core of romance between them. Personally, I have never understood why people were convinced their ship would be canon. I am an old school fandom type. I love shipping. I totally get why people would take it that way in fic. But canon? I honestly never believed the show was building toward romance.

So I think that shoehorning a romance arc into the last season would've been weird. I can understand why people would disagree with me on this but I don't think they ever promised romance between them in any significant way.

Besides, Nandor took what, 15 years to see Guillermo as an equal friend? Vampires learn and grow incredibly slowly. It'd probably take longer than Guillermo's lifetime for it to ever even occur to Nandor that Guillermo could be a romantic partner.

And frankly, I don't think Guillermo is secretly in love with Nandor. Devoted to an unhealthy, co-dependent degree? Absolutely. In romantic love? No, I don't believe so.

In the end, What We Do in the Shadows is like Seinfeld. They're all pretty bad people who are mired in their own shit and struggle to make even the most incremental of changes.

And that's why we love them.

[quillyfied]

Hmm. Nandor is reading a book about “transactional analysis.” I don’t know what that is.

“Transactional analysis practice is based upon mutual contracting for change. Transactional analysts view people as capable of deciding what they want for their lives.”

“It helps people find more effective ways to communicate. It can help eliminate unhelpful thoughts, feelings, and actions. It can help people take responsibility for their thoughts and actions.”

Also, the Wikipedia page for the book itself. Which is pretty dense and difficult for me to fully grasp, but what I’m picking up is that there are three states of mind (Parent, or social modeling; Child, or emotional impulse; and Adult, or experienced independence) that have to work together to make a functional person and letting this happen in various combinations helps people navigate transactions, or social challenges and interactions.

The book is also apparently a stand-in for pop psychology and general mockery thereof.

…huh. So. What I’m picking up…is that Nandor still hasn’t left his self-help era, but is trying hard to make his own decisions and live his life how he wants, not how past expectation has taught him he should want his life to be…right as Guillermo is going through another stage of hiding himself and his own actions and impulses that he is told will have dire consequences both for himself and for Nandor.

Or Nandor is going through a phony positivity phase right as Guillermo is about to drop a bomb on him for once.

Hmm.