#Might also talk about Cheryl and Fairytales at some point | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ourladyofmaplemurder · 2 months

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Cheryl & The Blues

A lovely friend of mine pointed something out to me this morning. Namely, the "why" of the blue dress in Season 1, which had led me to the meaning of blue for Cheryl.

I had asked for his insights previously, as he is a costume designer who is far more visually inclined than I, but it wasn't until now that I got a response. (He has always been a RiverHater, but it seems he is coming around. Our flock grows. Praise Mother Gaia.) In any case, he pointed out that this dress is an attempt from Cheryl to embody Cinderella.

Here is a quick paraphrase of what he said:

She is is desperately trying to NOT be Cheryl during this dinner. At one point she even says "It's supposed to be Cinderella who ran away from the ball." Thus, the blue dress is here to help her emulate the "trad wife heterosexual Cinderella." By the end of the scene, she goes full Cheryl and snaps on Archie because her charade doesn't work and everyone still thinks she's a chaotic lesbian.

Lots to unpack here, no?

As we know, Cheryl IS red. So, seeing her in blue (and this is blue, despite the fact that it looks sort of green. A nod to envy, perhaps?) is very strange. Blue is Betty's color, and though Betty is NOT the ultimate trad wife heterosexual, she is coded that way. In fact, much of her internal character conflict is about her having to grapple with being "The Girl Next Door".

So, this dress is Cheryl's attempt to be "The Girl Next Door". It seems so simple now that I think about it, but still.

I think it's interesting that Cheryl invokes Cinderella specifically, rather than Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. Snow White would certainly make sense. She's tortured by an evil mother figure and pale as snow, both things that Cheryl could relate to. There's even poison in that story and we all know how much Penelope loves poison. Sleeping Beauty wouldn't really make sense until after Cheryl's Sweet Water River incident, but still. I think it's kind of interesting how many fairytale princesses we could link to Cheryl.

She chooses Cinderella though. Why? Well, Cinderella is also tormented by an evil mother figure, but her most significant moment is being transformed. Cinderella is lifted from the ashes of her wretched life to go to the ball with the help of her fairy godmother in the hopes of winning the heart of the prince. The prince is clearly Archie and there is no Fairy Godmother. Maybe that's why it doesn't work.

In any case, Cheryl is a lot, even for herself, so it makes sense that she would try to suppress her true colors, so to speak, from time to time to satisfy a particular goal. She is aware that she is too much, at least to some degree at any given moment of the series, so yeah. She whips out the blue when she's trying to tone herself down.

(I'm probably making too much of this, but there's something about Cheryl Blossom and fairytales that just clicks in my mind. It reminds me of Blanche DuBois from Streetcar saying, "I don't want realism, I want magic!" I feel like Cheryl would agree with that. )

Also! Another time that Cheryl wears blue? Toni's bachelorette party in Season 6. This is another time that you could argue she is trying to suppress herself in the interest of being a supportive ex. (Also fascinating that Heather is wearing red! A testament to her love for Cheryl, I think. This IS right before they have their big kiss.)

She also wears blue when she comes up with the idea to kill Percival for Toni's wedding present. It's a sort of "show of support", but we all know she does not support this union and desperately wants Toni back so....

This is also likely why the Sister of Quiet Mercy uniforms are blue. They are symbols of repression for Cheryl specifically. (And Betty too, tbh. I think this 'suppression' narrative probably works for Betty too, but I would need to actually go through and check that. So, for now, let's just focus on Cher Cher.)

Now, Cheryl wears blue pretty often in season 7, but that makes sense considering the fact that she has to suppress herself quite a bit due to the nature of the times. But like, look at this:

These are all moments where Cheryl is actively suppressing her true feelings, in this case, the gay ones. However, what's different about these instances, and these costumes, is that the truth is always poking through. The suppression in the 50's is different. She's not trying to suppress herself FROM herself. Not in the long run. The red accents remind us who she truly is and that she is still Cheryl Blossom underneath that trad wife, heterosexual nonsense she's putting on.

All this to say: When Cheryl is wearing blue she is actively suppressing herself! It's consistent!

ADDENDUM:

Where does this analysis place her River Vixen uniform?

As you can see, it is predominantly blue. However, I do not think that it fits into the "suppression narrative" in the same way as her other blue outfits. The River Vixen uniform is blue, but it's also a symbol of the Town and of Cheryl's sense of belonging within her community. Though I do think the red versions of her Vixen attire that she wears in season 5 are symbolic of her truly owning her place in the town as the Coach of the Vixens and also the Blossom Heir, I don't think she's actively suppressing herself as a River Vixen.

Tune in next time for White and, one day, Green. (Also wondering about Pink.......)

Ciao!

#Cheryl Blossom #Riverdale #The Mad Priest of Riverdale Speaks #RiverSermons #Might also talk about Cheryl and Fairytales at some point

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yourjughead · 7 years

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Princess and the Pea

Pairings: ReaderxSweetPea

A/N: she cute also honestly this is my favorite fic name ever.

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“hey honey you lost?”

“Emmm”

“You look pretty lost to me” Fangs began circling, a shark in the water and your guts have just been spilled.

“I'm just looking for my friend-”

“Let me guess, Jughead Jones?” he interrupted you and you nodded. You had agreed to meet Jug outside his trailer after school. He was late as usual and you found yourself wandering around the trailer park, stumbling into a group of Junior Serpents.

“He seems to love dragging Northsiders to us, such a giving boy. New play things are hard to come by” his grin was twisted and it made your blood curdled. You slowly began to back away but were stopped in your tracks with the feeling of a weight against your back.

“Feel a bit astray Princess?” You turned to the source of the voice you recognised as Sweet Peas. You two had had a view encounters before. He was totally infatuated with you and you were close to feeling the same about him. He looked you up and down and liked all that he saw as usual.

“I'm just looking for Jughead” Sweet Pea pursed his lips to you before Jugheads voice came to the rescue.

“Hey YN what are you doing over here?”

“emm you said we were going to study…”

“Oh yeah…”

“Sounds like he forgot all about you Princess” you looked at the ground, biting your lip, unbeknownst to you that it was driving Sweet Pea a little crazy in doing so.

“No no I didn't yn we can-”

“-We can all hang out Princess?” Sweet pea interrupted Jughead.

“That's okay, I'm just going to go” you threw Jughead a look before pushing through the group, arms folded, head down away from the gang.

“We're in an awful rush Princess aren't we?” Sweet Pea jogged to catch up. You felt slightly hurt that Jughead hadn't been the one to follow you instead.

“Stop calling me that” you dug your hands deeper into your sides, the dim light of the park and his presence alone made you on edge.

“Oh have I displeased her majesty?” He went to put his arm around you but you caught it in it's motion, twisting it back on itself causing him to wince. You released pressure with a jerk at seeing the slight pain you caused him. Your pace quickened.

“Okay, do not touch the Princess, got it” his huge stride caught up with you outside your car easily, a grin painted on his face.

“Look I don't want any trouble”

“Ah yes because this is the South Side and I'm a Serpent so I must want trouble right?” His grin grew as you ran your tongue across your teeth. You went to open your car door but he closed it again instantly with one hand, giving you a fright. Sweet Pea closed the gap between you and your lower back pressed against the car, you were stuck between the two.

“Come on Princess, take a walk on the wild side” he tilted his head closer to yours, a devilish smirk grew as ever. Your faces were mere millimeters apart, he could almost feel your heartbeat quicken with the shrinking distance.

“Don't touch the Princess” you returned the smirk pushing him back from you.

“Now who is causing trouble your Majesty” you winked, slipping into the car and driving off into dusk.

You spent the following week thinking about your encounter with the Serpent. It was driving you crazy and you kept it to yourself. It was different to how he usually would address you, more intent in his words. You thought this was what Sweet Pea had wanted, to torture you and so elected to force it out of your mind.

Jughead had waited till Friday to try and rearrange a study date with his best friend.

You pulled up outside the trailer park, Friday night settling in. You decided to text him to come out and meet you to avoid running into anyone. You wound down the window, sounded the horn once or twice before firing the text.

You exhaled your frustration loudly, throwing your head against the rest, squeezing your eyes shut.

“He's just not that into you Princess, time to move on” your eyes flew open and landed on Sweet Pea leaning against the entrance of the park, sporting his trademark jacket and smirk to match. He pushed his back from the chain metal and sauntered over.

“Ohh that's rough” he replied to reading the texts after taking the phone from your hand which you promptly snatched it back.

“Well I have to go..”

“Back to the castle?”

“Why do you think I live in a castle?”

“All Northsiders do, you can't help it Princess, comes with the privilege”

“Get in the car”

“Oh help I'm being abducted by a Northsider” he mimicked before jumping into the seat next to you. You drove across the bridge back to the Northside and you could almost feel Sweet Pea tense next to you. You dragged the car around the corners with speed, feeling the gearbox wear and tear with every turn.

“What's wrong Sweets? Uncomfortable?” You laughed.

“Don't call me Sweets”

“Don't call me princess” he scoffed at your reply. You finally stopped driving when you reached the top of the hillside to a look out point.

“I thought it was the dodgey gang member who was supposed to lead the girl next door to the woods to be murdered”

“Eh, switch it up a bit” ye sat in the car looking down at Riverdale moulding together, north and south were one.

“That's where I live there” you pointed to a row of houses, neatly lining the road below.

“Huh, of course the storybook girl lives on storybook lane” he scoffed.

“It's just me and my brother” you barely whispered and he raised an eyebrow.

“Mom ran out on us and dad...dad never really recovered...thats all im going to say about him” you didn't break eye contact with the row of seemingly perfect houses.

“Next door is Archie, he comes from divorced parents, not an amicable divorce might I add... Across from us is Betty, her family is crazier than a box of spiders, sister ran away from it...her boyfriend is the guy who was murdered...over there is where Kevin lives, his parents aren't together, he doesn't talk about his mom but it's only because it's bad between them emmm Cheryl Blossom lives over there, need I say more about her…” you pointed out the houses of your friends as you went, Sweet Pea tentatively listening.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“So maybe you'll stop calling me Princess, there's nothing fairytale about this place”

“You want to leave Princess?”

“More and more every passing day Sweets”

“Me too” he waited a moment before weighing in and his reply caught you off guard.

“Not happy being a Serpent?”

“I mean I am, they're my family and they'd kill me for even thinking like this….or talking to you but-” he stopped to looked down at his feet. You enjoyed seeing him slightly more vulnerable, he was less mouthy. You put your hand on his and looked at him reassuringly. The unfamiliar feeling of support was confusing for Sweet Pea and I think you knew it.

“-its just no life for a kid, I want to take my kids away from Riverdale...I mean I want to teach them about their Serpent roots and I want them to proud of it all of course but that doesn't mean I want them to live it…”

“Careful Sweets you almost seemed human there” you smirked and he chuckled softly.

“It is really adorable you think about those things though…”

“Please don't think of me as adorable, I'd rather you just keep calling me Sweets” he laughed and you returned the same, leaning into him, still holding his hand.

“We'll get out some day Princess….but right now we should probably get back...people might actually think you abducted me” he attempted a smile. This was a new feeling you felt for the world weary boy.

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Much love Xx

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