Tumgik
#allegory-buried
secondbeatsongs · 7 months
Note
hey there! your sliced-up songs always bring a smile to my face :) and I thought of a song that might be cool in shreds if you haven't already shredded it--Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears? so sorry if you've already done this one and I missed it, and thanks for the consideration :)
Tumblr media
absolutely! great song!
fun weird fact about this song: my mom knows the guy who did that viral dulcimer cover of it a while back, and I met him once and saw him perform it in concert, and it was great
but also
this man. haunted me for a while. because his name is Ted Yoder, and I happen to know (from being a nerd in general) that "Yoder" is the like...German or Swiss short version of "Theodore"? and with the guy's first name being Ted, a name which is also commonly short for Theodore...
what if he was...Theodore Theodore...
...basically I was convinced that this guy was Moon Moon, and I was determined to find out if I was right. so I stuck around after the concert, and I asked him if his name was short for "Theodore" (fully prepared to tell him my Weird Name Knowledge™ if I was right and he was actually Moon Moon).
but! to my horror and disappointment! it fucking wasn't.
that man's name. his full legal first name. is Ted.
just Ted! it's not short for anything!
that guy's just Ted!
so, in a moment of despair and heartbreak, my dreams were crushed. and I was not to achieve my destiny, and find someone who is actually Moon Moon.
alas. perhaps another time
(but hey, the concert was fun anyway! and Ted's got some pretty good original music too, not just covers. I really like this one)
57 notes · View notes
starry-night-author · 10 months
Note
Hey, awesome person! I just wanted to let you know that you're amazing and I always look forward to seeing you on my dash! Thanks for the awesomeness :D
Share this message with 5 wonderful people you love seeing on your dash :)
AAAAA oh my gosh- thank you!!!!! That means a lot!!!!
5 notes · View notes
lattecodes · 10 months
Note
List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you to get to know your mutuals and followers.
— drinking freshly brewed black coffee
— rainbows!!!! god. i get so absurdly excited when i see a rainbow outside.
— long, quiet walks around my local nature preserve
— cleaning and organizing literally anything. i love doing just about any chore as well lol
— playing animal crossing <3
1 note · View note
awaiting-avalanche · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
child of the stars, bleeding bright
135 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
Allegory of Death, ca. 1600.
16 notes · View notes
theygender · 1 year
Text
Yeah sure growing up abused may have left me with permanent scars on my psychological state that I'm still working to unpack, but on the bright side it gave me the ability to give a thoughtful in depth analysis of Roald Dahl's Matilda and all of its adaptations
#rambling#i love matilda so much. its such an important story to me. its literally just an abused childs power fantasy#where she gets to get back at the people who hurt her and protect other kids and then get a new loving family and everything is alright#my gf and i just watched the movie adaptation of the musical and we have Opinions on it. some good and some bad#so weve been discussing it and analyzing different parts of it#and its kinda nice to get to use my history for something good#to be able to give thoughtful analysis on how the changes they made in this adaptation have changed the allegory for abuse in the story#from the perspective of someone who grew up with that#and to just. have that be normal. my gf knows my history and its not gonna stop the conversation if i say#'this change works well for trunchbull's character bc it makes her seem more like a real life abuser'#'this detail is very subtle but it really captures some tiny part of the experience of growing up with an abuser'#'i dont like this bc it detracts from the narrative of the main character feeling alone and makes it less relatable to abused kids'#'i dont like this because while it IS something that happens under abuse it detracts from the fantasy where the kids all win together'#idk. of course everything that happened to me as a kid was awful and should not have happened but like#for a long time i had this problem where i didnt know how i was ever supposed to be okay about that#like no matter how much therapy i go through it will never UN-happen. it will always still have happened and it will always have been awful#and i couldnt figure out how i was supposed to recover from that besides 'bury it and try your hardest to never ever think about it'#and. i think maybe this is it. yes the abuse i went through was awful. thats kind of the whole thing about abuse#but. its also just a fact of my life. im better NOW. but that will not change what happened then#the abuse was awful. but the fact that i am an abuse survivor is a neutral fact. the same as any other fact from my childhood#its just a fact. a part of my past. and maybe being able to talk about it that way is... good for me#i dont have to break down when i think about it bc im okay now. my partner doesnt need to stop me and express sorrow for me bc im okay now#i can talk about my past in a neutral way and use my life experience to analyze movies#the same way that i used my experience of growing up in arkansas to analyze hollywood hillbillies when we watched it together#theyre both just two facts of my life. and analyzing movies is fun#that woman has no power over me anymore and hasnt for many many years. im okay now#abuse mention#child abuse mention#request to tag
20 notes · View notes
potatoes-tomatoes · 1 year
Text
I’ve been goin thru a steven universe rewatch since last week and… wow. Wow this show is revolutionary for queer voices. It was eye opening seeing everything unfold again.
It’s been wonderful experiencing the show with fresh eyes. I started the show, saw the premiere of the show, followed it and finished it while I was still closeted and bigoted. I saw the reveal of Garnet being a fusion, being love, and was initially disgusted and disappointed because I was TAUGHT to be disgusted and disappointed.
The residual bigotry flares up at times… but it’s not me anymore. Well it is, but it’s like.. the MEMORY of me seeing that moment through my old eyes. I do my best to not feel shame, but to understand and forgive myself and enjoy creating a new experience watching SU.
now that I’m (somewhat) open, I’ve been able to enjoy the show and appreciate how much it’s done for queer voices since. I… saw Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding for the first time, I saw it— not with my hands barely covering my eyes. What a triumph that this show inspired others to let queer ppl share their stories, experiences, hopes, fears, love, without shame! Steven Universe isn’t perfection— it’s flawed, beautifully flawed, like the people who made it, the people who watch it, and the characters in it. If the road it paved wasn’t perfect, then all the better for newer voices, newer stories to be like, that limestone thingy in roman rock to reinforce it. To make it better. to make like, longer gay roads! pff shit I think I was trying to be poetic and metaphorical or something, but I hope my point came across. I just have big feelings right now. I didn’t realize what SU did for this lil baby queer. It’s so inspiring
16 notes · View notes
curls-cat · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
behold: blorbo from my brain
8 notes · View notes
silverheartsystem · 1 year
Text
Being the most transgender bitch in the club to My Chemical Romance
2 notes · View notes
chorus-communities · 6 months
Text
I HATE OFMD 2 FINALE. THEY FRIDGED HIS WIFE. THEY JUST FRIDGED IZZY TO GET ED AND STEDE TOGETHER BETTER
0 notes
Text
I wanna try and start a new thing. You can’t see anyone’s followers counts, so I just have a few mutuals that I, based on nothing, assume are just famous. Let’s start a chain to just show people how cool we think they are.
My favourite celebrities are: @when-emma-falls-in-love13 @sugarfoodie @allegory-buried @sharpasanaro and @finleycannotdraw
3K notes · View notes
raptorrobot · 3 months
Text
thinking very normally about the fucking Pronoun Hierarchy lore drop from the dev stream. about how the councillors actively stop referring to gabriel with he/him during the act I intermission, degrading him, seeing him as lesser and not deserving of something of such closeness to god -- and yet the narrative as a whole still continues to use he/him for gabe regardless, even though from a story perspective, that has been taken away from him by the beginning of act II. even after he loses his light and *should* lose that identity alongside it, he doesn't. regardless of what the world thinks of him, he's still him. man. you could bury a sliver of a transgender allegory 10 feet in the ground and brother i'd claw for it through the dirt like a truffle hog
978 notes · View notes
jester-lover · 4 months
Note
Jack howl and whoever you feel, idk, picking fem reader up? Princess carry or leg-wrap-around-torso kind of thing❤ I would scream 😭
Princess Carry
Feat. Jack, Rook, Jade, and Epel
Thank you so much for requesting! I’ve been on such a hiatus, and I’m so glad to be writing again!
CW- fem! Reader, fluff
Tumblr media
Jack
Sweetest boy
Tail is wagging (he will NEVER admit it)
Jack is also a VERY respectful boy and picks you up under the knee and over the shoulder like a princess, making sure you're comfy in his arms
He can hold onto you for a while too, just as long as he doesn’t get too flustered or doesn’t have anything else to do
When he feels romantic (which happens occasionally), he’ll pick you up, drag you away to the closest couch or bed, and just lay on you like a weighted blanket
Rook
Look, I like him as much as the next guy, but this man is most definitely going to do that thing where he pretends to drop you but relents at the last moment
We learned in one of Epel’s vignettes that he’s actually kinda strong, so I assume he won’t have trouble carrying you around
Rook will lift you as a surprise, make some kind of strange hunter allegory, and take you away to listen to his lil poetic rambles
He loves to startle you, and he’ll encourage you to try to surprise him too (it's almost impossible, but okay)
Jade
You are either feeling super protected or really paranoid when he lifts you into his arms
I can never fully understand what Jade’s intentions are….but if he’s your boyfriend, then I guess he’s probably got good intentions?
He lifts you up like a sack of potatoes and takes you to a more private place whenever he’s feeling particularly affectionate
Whenever Jade feels particularly tired from a long day of working at the lounge, he’ll hold you so that your legs wrap around his torso and he can bury his face in your neck
Epel
Please, please, please let him show you how strong he’s becoming
Epel is so energized, especially after Spelldrive practice, that he has developed a habit of picking you up just to prove to the people around him that he can
If you look closely at his face, you can see his face reddening with what he swears is just exertion
Epel carries you similarly to Jack, princess style, with a hand under your knees and one on your back
(he can carry you for a little bit, but he puts you down earlier than the other boys)
699 notes · View notes
astroboots · 6 months
Note
period sex with soft marc☹️☹️🥺🥺 him being so sweet n praising you😭😭😭😭 hed take such good care of you<3 i need him
Take Care of Me
Tumblr media
CO-WRITTEN WITH @THIRSTWORLDPROBLEMSS
Content: explicit as fuck. Period sex, Marc's competence in overdrive.
Word count: 3k words
ASTROBOOT’S MASTERLIST | THIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS' MASTERLIST |MOON KNIGHT MASTERLIST
Tumblr media
Painful is an understatement.
If you had to describe what your period felt like to an alien who had no understanding of human biology this is how you might describe it:
Imagine a battalion of tiny sumo wrestlers duking it out inside your uterus.
Imagine a never-ending game of tag between a horde of stomp-happy elephants using your stomach as the running ground.
Imagine the two allegories combined, but multiple it with three, and imagine having it every month from the time you're a young adolescent until (if you're lucky and god is merciful) it will end when you're in your fifties.
As you lie in your bed, curled up with a hot water bottle tucked to your lower belly, and whine into your pillow, you are convinced that this is some kind of divine punishment. You must have been bathing in virgin's blood to retain youth in a past life. Because you don't know what else you could've done to deserve this. And if you weren't, then if there is a god in heaven, they had better beg for your forgiveness when you get there.
"Want me to make you a cuppa love?"
You drag your face from where it's buried in the pillow to peek up at Steven's worried face.
Big brown eyes gaze down at you with so much concern, he must think you are on your death bed. He's been taking care of you all day. Pampering, coddling, and fussing over you.
He's been refilling your tea before you have time to even empty the cup. Reheating the hot water bottle every twenty minutes before it even has a chance to drop in temperature.
It's incredibly sweet. But you're so tea-ed out at the moment, you think 90% of your body composition is tea at this point.
"'m good."
He frowns, biting down on his lip, and you can sense his worry from bed. "If you don't want tea maybe some hot chocolate? I can even toast some marshmallows on top and I have a packet of biscuits."
You consider his generous proposal for a second or two.
In all honesty, you feel too sick even for chocolate, but you have a feeling that turning down chocolate will truly make Steven think you're dying and try to call the ambulance. So instead you answer, "that sounds lovely Steven."
His whole face brightens up, and he leaps to his feet and darts towards the kitchen.
You close your eyes to the raucous sound of pots and pans being pulled out. In the background, the sound of something crashing clanks out from the direction of the kitchen. It's followed by Steven's familiar comforting voice cursing "bugger" and "oh no," but you're too tired to check for yourself what's going on, as you drift off to sleep.
Tumblr media
In your dream, you're wrapped in a comforting warmth. There's a gentle pressure on your stomach and limbs that takes all the pain away. Strong and tender, all at once, you want to linger in this sensation forever.
It's not forever, of course. But your nap lasts long enough that you get a bit of respite from the pain. When you wake again, it's to the distinct smell of burnt sugar lingering in the air.
Strong hands traverse over your hips and stomach, kneading at your sore and aching muscles with a perfect pressure that feels like heaven.
He's sitting at the foot of your bed, with a posture so upright, it's almost militant. The man doesn't need to open his mouth with his Chicagoan accent for you to know it's Marc who's sitting next to you right now.
"Where's Steven?" you ask.
"Put him on a time out. Nearly burnt down the place, trying to torch some marshmallows."
You smile at the image Marc is painting for you. That explains the burnt smell.
"How are you feeling," Marc asks. His hand roams from your stomach to the plane of your thighs. It has everything tingle pleasantly inside of you.
"Better," you tell him. "It feels really good when you do that."
His hand stills for a second, eyes drifting to his own hands. "Want me to keep going?"
You barely have to nod before he starts up again. Large hands covering the insides of your thighs as he presses down with just the right amount of strength.
The sensation spikes across your nerves and rides up your spine until the tense knot in your stomach that has been terrorizing you all day unfurls.
You gasp at the sensation, back arching into his touch for more. "There, there, don't stop."
It's maddening how good it feels. Marc knows your body like a map of a continent that he's explored every corner of. His hand drifts ever so slightly, fine-tuning his touch that has your eyes rolling to the back of your head.
It's the relief you've been begging for all day. Each press of his hand erasing the blunt ache that's been digging into your flesh since you woke up this morning.
That large hand of his, smooths over your bare stomach. The sweet warmth of it soothing any leftover pain that is still there until he cups over the soft fabric of your underwear and replaces it with an altogether different ache that has you squirming and squeezing your legs together.
His hand stills. "You want me to stop?"
"No!" you shout, louder than you intended or expected.
You clutch at his wrists to keep them on you. You're pretty sure that if Marc stopped touching you, you'd combust and die from frustration on the stop. Pretty sure that whatever the equivalent of blue balls is for ovaries is about to descend upon you.
"No, I just..." you flounder for a minute, not entirely sure what to say. Face warm as you say try to find the words. You don't know why the thought is so mortifying to you.
"I'm on my period." You manage to mutter out.
Marc cocks his head to the side, one eyebrow raised. He looks genuinely puzzled at what you've just told him. "I know...so?"
"It'll make a mess," you tell him, and you don't know how he's so casual about this. God knows your neat-freak of a boyfriend hates a mess. "I don't want to ick you out".
Ick him out? Why do you sound like a kid on the playground talking about cooties?
There's no worry in Marc's eyes as he observes you. None of the big round doe-like eyes of Steven. His eyes are narrowed, honed in on your face.
"Fuck the mess," he says.
There's a simmering heat in his voice as he says it that makes everything between your legs slick and achy as he leans even closer to you. "I want to make you feel better. You okay with that?"
You nod and the tip of his fingers skirts the edge of your panties before slipping inside. Despite your earlier embarrassment at the idea, your breath stutters with anticipation.
You're so fucking wet. Slick and hot, as his thumb presses down and has sharp electricity crackle down your spine. You find yourself spreading your legs wider for him, and Marc is more than happy to take it as an invitation.
Two fingers slide inside you, filling you perfectly, until you realize you feel a slickness trickle down the heel of Marc's hand.
"Fuck, Marc-- wait, it's--" you squeak in alarm as you feel it drip between your legs. "It's gonna get on the bed."
He doesn't stop, fingers continuing its languid pace on your clit, as he keeps stroking it to the pace of his liking. His mouth is on your neck, hot and humid as he murmurs into your skin.
"You really think a little blood is gonna keep me out of that pretty little pussy? Open up for me baby, let me take care of you."
And god...
You do. Of course you do, you'd do anything Marc asks and wants from you when he speaks to you in that tone and register. Your legs spread even further, tilting into his doting touch as he slides his fingers deeper.
Heat simmer all along the length of your spine, brandishing it with pleasure that has you struggling for breath.
His other hand comes to cup your face, while his fingers are still busy circling and gently strumming at your clit. He makes it seem so effortless as he does it.
There's no hesitation in his movements, two fingers bracketing your clit and he gently slides and teases you there that has that all familiar warmth already furling in your lower abdomen. Insistent and never rushed, you feel his fingers everywhere, until he brushes over something devastatingly good that has your vision go white for a brief moment.
"That's it baby, you're alright. So good for me, you don't have to think about anything else. All I need is for you to feel good. Come on my hand," his voice rasps in your ear.
Smooth and calming. Loving and commanding.
You don't stand a chance.
It's all it takes.
You drown in it, your climax claiming your limbs as the sensation streaks down your legs and wraps around your bones. You shake and jolt in his arms but he holds you there to him, not letting you pull away as you squirm away from the overstimulation and makes you ride the high against the palm of his reassuring hand.
He comforts you through it. All gentle caresses and soothing hushes as he presses his soft lips on your forehead.
"That's my good fucking girl."
Through the haze of your bliss, you reach for him. One finger hooking onto his belt to drag him closer.
You're too out of it to fully register what you're doing or properly express what you want. All you know is you want more of him. More of Marc. More of his sturdy firm weight on you. The warmth of his skin pressed against you. Of him, inside you.
"Want my cock baby?"
You nod, and much like before, Marc immediately complies.
He always does. Never does deny you of anything.
One hand comes to the front of his jeans, and you don't have to wait long for him as he pulls himself free of his jeans. Cock hard, and jutting up proudly that has you salivating at the sight of it.
Gripping his cock in one hand, Marc kneels over you, notching the fat tip against your entrance. The moment you feel him, you forget about any shred of hesitation you had just moments earlier about making a mess.
Because right now you don't care if you ruin Steven's sheets and leave a crime scene behind you. Every single thought in your mind has been replaced by the overarching need to have this man inside you.
He leans over, arms bracketing you in as he presses into you, stretching you, inch by perfect, beautiful, fucking, inch that has you seeing stars even in the daylight.
You feel him everywhere, every slow thrust and cant of his hips pressed so deeply into you, you're not sure you can breathe. You cling to every inch of him, legs wrapped around his waist, not wanting to let go but not sure you can take more of him either.
Full, you feel so fucking full.
"Too much?" Marc asks, eyes examining you, making sure you're alright.
You don't know how to answer him. It is a lot. So much, with all of him, every perfect inch of him filling you to capacity. It's too much and yet you want all of it and more. Want more and want him to never stop. So you tell him exactly that.
"No. Don't stop, don't stop," you beg. "Keep fucking me, please."
One big, warm hand settles low on your stomach, before it wanders, brushing teasingly through your folds and oh-so-gently over and around your clit until you think you might scream.
You bite down on your lip, worried that if you actually do scream, he'll stop out of worry. You squeeze your eyes tightly shut, trying to calm yourself but it only makes it all the more intense.
Behind closed eyes, the pleasure surges through your chest, and you can feel every careful and calculated movement that Marc makes as he slowly drags his cock out of you, until only the fat head rests inside you. Then he pushes back inside again, just as slow and it has tears stinging your eyes.
Slow and thorough. Deep and controlled. He's murmuring in your ear the whole time, his voice low and rough.
"Relax for me baby," he tells you, "I'm gonna take care of you like I always do. Fill your pretty pussy with my cock until you feel all better, okay?"
Better doesn't begin to describe it. You feel good. Feel so good you're overripe with pleasure that seems to be bursting along the seam of your skin.
The hand on your stomach, presses and holds you in place as you start to squirm against him to goad his fingers to where you need them.
But even when he complies, giving you what you like he always does, zeroing in on your clit, his caresses stay light and gentle. His thumb barely brushes over you, as he keeps the pace agonizingly slow and soft that have you shivering and shaking in his arms.
The taunting pleasure builds ever so slowly in your core. The light and teasing touches too much and not enough all at once, and your oversensitive, overwrought cunt clenches and flex endlessly, squeezing down around the thickness Marc’s cock.
You can feel his body jerk over yours each time, and you revel in the soft grunts and gasps you’re driving from him, because surely, surely now he’ll let go and fuck you fast and hard until you're crying.
But he still doesn’t. Doesn't lose control. Just presses gentle kisses to your shoulder, murmuring over and over again. "It’s okay, I got you, Going to make you feel so good".
He says it like a promise. As if he isn't already doing exactly that. He's making you feel so fucking good. So good that you can hardly stand it. So good that you're writhing in his arms, clutching and clawing at his arm and hand and wrist, not sure if you're trying to push him away or pull him closer. But it doesn't matter, he might as well be a stone statue for all the hope you have of moving him anywhere he doesn't want to you be yet.
You can feel the all too familiar tension in his body. Those strong thick thighs as hard as iron between yours. You swear you can feel the furious pounding of his heart where you're pressed back against his chest. Or maybe that's your own pulse pounding loud and frantic in your ears, but it doesn't matter, because you know he's close too.
"Fuck you feel so good," he murmurs into your skin and if you didn't know better you'd think he sounded shaky.
The pleasure builds, streaking up your torso in little lightning bolt pulses that tighten your nipples to achingly hard little points and steal the breath from your lungs.
The heat of Marc's body against you is unbearable, his hot breath and lips sliding over your shoulder, your neck, the curve of your jaw, and all the while, his fingers, those clever, competent fingers keep up their slow, ruinous circling, driving you higher inch by devastating inch.
You can't breathe anymore, can't see, can't think to the point you're pretty sure you can't feel your feet. Do you even have feet anymore? The only thing that's grounding you is the security of Marc's arms wrapped around you, the quiet cadence of his voice, whispering low and soft and still oh so sweet in your ear.
It's too much. Everything in you winding higher and tighter, filling you so full of pleasure that you swear you'll burst, but somehow still you don't. Can't. You need–
You clutch at Marc, gasp out a garbled sound that might be his name. You want to tell him that you can't stand it, that you need more, need all of him, everything that he has to give, but you've lost the ability to speak.
Instead, your body tells him for you, your cunt squeezing down around him, and refusing to let go. All of you drawn tight, tighter, tightest.
There's a breathless, "Oh. Baby. Fuck." in your ear, and Marc's hips jerk against you. Just once, the tiniest upward hitch. But it's enough. It's more than enough.
The unbearable, blissful tension holding your body hostage shatters, and wave after wave of unparalleled rapture roll though you, sharp and sweet and endless. The breath you didn't think you had left leaves you in a loud keening cry, that's echoed by a low, pained groan, and you can feel Marc's cock swell and pulse as he spills inside you, unable to resist the calling of your body's climax.
You ride out your orgasms together, your hips grinding needily into his, his fingers gripped harshly into your flesh, until the seemingly endless pleasure finally releases you both from its grip and you collapse back against Marc's solid bulk.
The arms around you relax, his clean hand smoothing over your belly and thighs. His voice hoarse and low, but still so, so syrupy sweet and gentle as he reassures you that you're okay, that he's got you, that he'll always be there when you need him.
You're boneless against him. Arms lying limply by your side on the damp mattress. Every bit of tension wrung out of you, like an old flannel that been wetted and twisted dry one too may times; worn out, but warm and cozy and relaxed.
"Feeling any better?" Marc asks eventually, arms tightening ever-so-subtly around you.
You don't have it in you to answer him with words, but you manage a small, contented giggle, snuggling back further into his embrace and tilting your head back to nuzzle his jaw.
That seems to be enough for him. He cranes his neck to press a soft kiss to your lips, then settles back, and the two of you stay there, cuddled together, warm and content and sated.
Content... just so fucking content, except...
Content is an understatement to what you're feeling wrapped in Marc's arms like this.
If you had to describe what your period felt like to an alien who had no understanding of human emotions this is how you might describe it:
Imagine snow falling outside and you are wrapped up safely in a heavy blanket around your tired limbs.
Imagine the smell of freshly made pancakes and coffee brewing (just the way you like it) in the morning after a hangover.
Imagine all of that combined and it still wouldn't even begin to do it any justice.
Tumblr media
A/N: Thank you nonny for this ask, literally when you sent it I was having the period from actual hell and was in tears and wailing and crying in bed. This was a really nice escape to write this oneshot with TWP.
995 notes · View notes
eddiezpaghetti · 3 months
Text
It has come to my attention that SOME OF YOU who read my last Byler post remain UNCONVINCED. So I'm gonna tack onto it this:
I'm older than fucking God and air, and I've been out and proud since 2007. Yes, I know what homophobia is, and yes, I know what queerbaiting is. I know about Supernatural and Teen Wolf and Sherlock and blahdyblahdyblah. No new ground is being covered here. I thought I made that clear in the original post, but, clearly, I did not.
I am aware of queerbaiting and homophobia, and I'm still wholeheartedly certain in Byler being canon anyway.
Okay, so there are three types of relationship I want to discuss when it comes to queerbaiting. They're all, like, "queer relationships that could have happened, but didn't".
First off, queer-coding. This isn't really a thing so much anymore, but it still crops up every once in a while. I'd argue it probably happens most with male-male relationships in family shows these days. First example that comes to mind is Mr. Smiley and Mr. Frowny from Steven Universe. You can't make a relationship canon because some shitty overhead bastard overhead said no, so you get as close as you can without compromising the show. Can't make someone gay? Well, now their comedy routine is a blatant allegory for a romantic relationship. Boom-shaka-laka. This is something I don't see being a problem with regards to Stranger Things, but I want it to be there as contrast, a demonstration of one of many things queerbaiting is not. However, one could argue that, thus far, Will Byers is, canonically, queer-coded. It's pretty fucking heavily implied in the show, and the creators have confirmed it, and you're gonna be able to see it if you're not FUCKING BLIND, but word of god is not technically canon which means that interviews don't technically make something canon, blahdyblahdyblahdyblah, technicalities, Robin has been explicitly stated in the text to be queer while Will has, thus far, not, outside of good ol' Show-Don't-Tell. Of course, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell that that's going to change by the end of Season 5, but, hey, for what it's worth, I'm throwing this out there.
Alrighty, Thingamajingama Number Two: "Oops, I accidentally made the greatest love story known to man." AKA, a genuine, honest-to-goodness mistake. Unfortunately, we do live in a heteronormative society. Sometimes people who don't think about being gay much write a friendship that's incredibly compelling and don't even consider the possibility that it could have been read as romantic. Something something Top Gun something. This is, again, not queerbaiting. This is Steddie, this is Ronance, this is Elmax, this is your favorite flavor of non-canon ship this week, this is not Byler. The creators know DAMN well what they're doing. They've talked about it. We know this. Nothing new here.
Which brings us to the topic of discussion here. Actual queerbaiting. This usually starts out as an "accidental greatest love story", and then reacts to fan response. And when I say "reacts", I mean like a goddamn chemical reaction. Like bleach and ammonia, bitch. It's noxious and it's gonna kick your fucking ass without mercy. This is when a creator is like, "Hey, let's get our queer audience invested, but we're not actually going to give them what they want because our straight audience isn't here for that/we personally think it's gross/we don't give enough of a shit to want to research a goddamn thing to write a real gay character," blah blah blah whatever excuse they want to come up with this time.
And when you think "queerbaiting", I want you to think "bullying". Because that's what it is. It's lucrative bullying, like beating us up and taking our lunch money, but it's bullying all the same. And it's a real goddamn thing, even if people misuse the word a lot, often when they mean one of the two above, sometimes when they mean "bury your gays", which is another homophobic thing entirely that I'm not going to get into here. Queerbaiting is the thing we're focused on, and it's real, and it's bullying. And here's the reason I want you to think of it as bullying:
They
Think
It's
Funny.
They are actively making fun of us.
That's why Dean had the "Cas, get out of my ass," line in Supernatural. It's why the "Do you like boys?" line happened in Teen Wolf. It's why "Lie with me, Watson," happened in the RDJ Sherlock Holmes movies. Because "It's just a joke, mate." "It was just a prank, bro." "You didn't really think it would happen, did you?" "You should see your face."
So here's probably the biggest reason I don't think it's specifically queerbaiting in this specific instance of Will Byers and Mike Wheeler.
Stranger Things has never, not once, made a gay joke. Ever.
Every single time queerness comes up, it's dead serious.
Lonnie calls Will a fag, and the show is not at all reluctant to show what a goddamn horrible person he is. And when Hopper latches onto that, it's not as "Hahah, is he gay, though?" It's because he's trying to determine a potential motive for Will's disappearance, and even if someone had interpreted it as a joke, Joyce immediately has a line that functions as snapping her fingers in front of the audience's face and yelling "FOCUS" when she says "He's MISSING." Basically outright saying "This isn't funny!"
Troy calls him a fairy, along with targeting Lucas and Dustin for their skin color and disability respectively, and Mike gets damn near murderous. Troy is portrayed as a goddamn monster and the show portrays it as justice when El makes him piss his pants and later breaks his arm.
Steve calls Jonathan "queer" as a slur and gets the shit beat out of him for it.
Billy's father is revealed to be homophobic and abusive in the same breath.
Mike says "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" and we're shown how devastated Will is and Mike immediately follows him to beg for forgiveness.
There is a joke in Robin's coming-out scene, but it's not at Robin's expense. It's at Steve's. Specifically for being heteronormative.
Jonathan has multiple scenes where he's trying so hard to tell Will that he's always going to love him as he is, whether he's gay or not, without pressuring him to come out before he's ready.
Even when there's a little bit of ribbing at Robin's expense, it's always because she's an awkward nerd who's nervous around pretty girls, just the same as Lucas and Dustin are teased when they both first develop crushes on Max, and even then, even then, it always comes as a package deal where they make fun of Steve's girl problems at the same time.
Stranger Things is an emphatically pro-gay show. It may not be the core point of the show the way it is in, say, Our Flag Means Death, but there is nothing less than respect for its queer characters. Its queer characters are always taken completely seriously. No one is making fun of us. They never have. That's why I have serious doubts that this is queerbaiting. It would come completely out of left field for the bullying to start in Stranger Things' final season.
So it's not at all likely to be queerbaiting because queerness is taken completely seriously. The creators have talked about Will's queerness, at least, so it's not an accident. And queer-coding would be silly to expect from this show when it's already on its final season. Like, what is Netflix gonna do? Cancel it? Not to mention all the explicit queerness that's in there already. And no one's gonna "What about the children?" a show that's had sex scenes in it since the first season.
There's no fakeout here. It's gonna happen. Breathe.
262 notes · View notes
adarkrainbow · 6 months
Text
Since I am on the topic of these people that get a lot of criticism for their take on fairytales but still deserve to be kept around due to their influence, I want to briefly evoke Bruno Bettelheim's book "The Uses of Enchantment", known in France as "Psychanalysis of fairytales".
Tumblr media
Note that I will not speak of the book itself or the reception of the book in English-speaking countries, but I want to talk about its reception in France and an impact it had on France. Today, numerous elements of the book have been debunked or criticized, coupled with many people misunderstanding the intentions of Bettelheim or misinforming about the context of the book or how it had to be read. As a result, today there is a tendency to crap on this book or laugh about it when we talk about fairytales analysis. However this book had a great importance in France when it came to "save" fairytales.
Tumblr media
Before going into the general, as a brief piece of personal experience - which isn't exclusive to me, as others also shared this. This book actually was what got me into the analysis and study of fairytale. Or rather, when I read it as a pre-teen, it made me discover that... fairytales could have depths. Fairytales could have hidden meanings behind being simple children stories. It made me consider how these stories could be taken and reinterpreted as so many allegories and metaphors, it opened my eyes to a certain visceral, psychic, social aspect of these tales, and without this book I certainly would not have been into fairytales as I am today.
Not that this book is the ultimate resource of fairytale analysis - and the entire process of a psychological reading of fairytales is someting that exists but should not be taken into account when trying to explain them (fairytales being the produce of the encounter between literature and folklore). However, this book stayed a door-opening key for me, outdated maybe, overthinking stuff I guess, but that at least allowed me to glimpse into the "great beyond" behind these stories.
Tumblr media
And now for my actual point... How Bettelheim's book saved fairytales in France. This is something I learned when studying the life and work of Pierre Gripari - in a book called "Pierre Gripari, un passeur d'écritures" by Inna Saranovska.
When Bettelheim's book reached France in the late 70s, fairytales were in a bad spot when it came to cultural authorities. Already fairytales had been reduced in people's mind to simple, naive children stories only good for making American cartoons (cough cough, Disney). But those of Perrault were still evoked and studied in schools (little schools for little children) because it was part of the heritage of France, of French culture, and the evolution of French literatue...
However what happened in the 70s? The very serious project of just burying fairytales was brought forward. The talks by politics and school authorities were simple: let us stop teaching fairytales to children in school, let's remove fairytales from school libraries, we do not have any use for them anymore, let them be forgotten. On one side, as I said, there was a discredit due to them being seen as silly children story, and thus no real pedagogic or "useful" chilren literature. But on the other side, there were very concrete and serious political business involved - fairytales were seen as antithetic, and opposed, to the principles of the modern Republic of France. Fairytales were seen as backward antiquities that went against what a great democratic nation should be. For example, people really did took issue in the fact that fairytales depicted monarchies, with kings as absolute authorities, and where a happy ending meant to end up prince or princess. For them, it was literaly teaching children to favor and idealize monarchy when they should rather learn about democracies and republics, and while it might seem silly today, it was serious back then and what almost led to the complete erasure of fairytales from school programs.
But then came Bettelheim's book. A book which proved to these folks that fairytales could be of a deep, psychological, social use to children. A book which taught these authorities to see beyond the "silliness" of these children stories or the "backward social message", and which told them how these stories could contain and express the deep fears, the secret desires of children, and help them grow up and deal with familial, social relationships. The book was a best-seller in France, and it completely changed the higher-ups opinion, and convinced tem fairytales should indeed be maintained in school - because fairytales were now "serious" due to being part of the very serious and praised domains of psychology and psychanalysis (which was all the fad and rage in the second half of the 20th century France).
And as such - no matter what you might say about the book's uality today - it can still be thanked for actually "saving" fairytales in France.
Tumblr media
242 notes · View notes