#and how Netflix she-ra helped me be comfortable with being gay | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bittersweetyrn · 10 months

Text

there's a reason why we have poetry, and not just prose. there's a reason why prose has many genres, why it can be romantic, horrifying, or silly.

there's a reason why we have both television and film. and why genres of those are so varied as well. there's a reason we keep inventing new types of media to tell stories.

there's a reason why some books are turned into movies and others are turned into television. why some books achieve both. there's a reason why Batman started out in comics, then television, then films, then animated television, then video games, and why they keep making more.

there's a reason why a movie adaptation of a book is never exactly the same. why a character wears one color in one, and a different color in the other. there's a reason why the canon of stories gets "confused", because the different forms of media don't line up perfectly.

people have figured out millions of ways to tell stories, and with reboots and sequels and adaptations galore, i think we tend to assume anything that isn't a completely original creation/franchise/IP is a grab for money and attention. and maybe sometimes it is. but we have all these mediums to tell new stories and old stories, and new stories in old ways and old stories in new ways, and it's very much like our different ways of learning.

visual learners vs. hands-on vs. audio learners. we all need different input to learn, and different forms of media can teach us new things about what we like, what we love, who we are, just because it looks a little different. just because we prefer one thing over the other, doesn't mean that either one is less important, especially if someone learns something beautiful about themself or life from one of them.

i'm not sure if this makes a lot of sense, but i find it wonderful that even with recycled plot lines and clichés and too many seasons of whatever tv show, we're always trying to tell something new. always trying to learn something new. and even if nobody likes it, the creator felt compelled to make something because their thoughts were too big for their head.

tl;dr

human creation is wonderful, and i'm even learning to appreciate the existence of stuff that isn't really my cup of tea 💜🌈

#I wrote this very late so my thoughts might be a bit scrambled #thinking about how 80s she-ra isn't all that interesting to me but probably taught a lot of girls to not be ashamed of 'girl stuff'#and how Netflix she-ra helped me be comfortable with being gay #or how Disney is making all these live action versions of animated movies that didn't necessarily need to be made #but Ariel being black is so important #and animators flexing their powerful skills in creating cgi animals/creatures/animated furniture wouldn't be showcased otherwise #long post #positivity #entertainment #ALSO thinking about taz sloane and hurley being gay but more subtle in the podcast but have full-page kissing twice in the graphic novel #the podcast is what I listen to when I want the full story #the graphic novel is what I turn to when I want to look at lovely art and grin at my favorite moments rendered visually #there's a whole communications theory about how we use media differently #uses and gratification theory #I think #but i don't think these thoughts should only be reserved for those who have studied communications and/or are in academic circles #different needs are met through different media and that's fascinating and exciting!!!#wait shit i think there was already an entire episode of my little pony about this #text

4 notes · View notes

wonder-womans-ex · 3 years

Text

Curtain Call

Act One, Scene Three

It takes Sirius almost the whole week to decide whether or not to go back to the seminar. It’s a week filled with highlighting the wrong lines in his new script. It’s a week filled with closing the fridge door on James’s fingers. It’s a week filled with putting salt in his coffee; banging his head against his computer keyboard; and binge-watching all six seasons of Schitt’s Creek.

Finally, on Tuesday, James walks into the living room and drops the cat on his face. “Get up, loser, we’re going shopping.”

Sirius shrieks when Elvendork’s paw digs into his throat. “Was that a Mean Girls reference?”

“Yes. Now get up.”

Only now does Sirius realize he hasn’t left the apartment in six days. He’s almost forgotten how to dress for polite society.

Oh, wait. He’s a university student. He isn’t part of polite society.

But his leather jacket is still draped over the back of the couch where he left it, and his combat boots are still under his bed. He throws on a pair of ripped jeans—cuffed, of course—and a Queen t-shirt, pulling some of his hair back into a bun.

James sighs when he sees him. “Are you ever going to grow out of scrunchies?”

“I’ll grow out of them when you stop giving them to me for my birthday. And Christmas. And Holi. And Diwali. And—”

“I get the point. Touché.”

They bump shoulders good-naturedly, each petting Elvendork and telling her “We’ll be back soon, princess, don’t worry your pretty little ears about it,” and then James pushes him out into the hallway and locks the door of apartment 128 behind them.

“All right,” Sirius says once they’re outside, “Where to?”

James snaps his fingers and shoots a pair of finger guns his way. Sirius smiles, rolls his eyes, and does the same. “Frankie’s!” they exclaim together, James with, admittedly, a great deal more enthusiasm.

Frankie’s is their comfort space. It’s everyone at Glenrow University’s comfort space, really, but James and Sirius are the ones with the table that’s practically reserved for them and the waiters who all know what they mean when they order their ‘regular’—a root beer for Sirius, a Diet Pepsi for James (he’s not trying to cut back on sugar; he just prefers it) and a large fries to split between them.

In fact, when Sirius pushes the door open and the bell rings, the woman at the till looks up. “Sirius!” she says. “James! The regular, then?”

James grins. “Thanks, Marlene.”

(See? Their comfort space.)

They slide, one after the other, into booth four, and immediately James leans back and crosses his arms.

“So,” he says. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Sure.”

Sirius glares at him. “I swear, it’s nothing.”

For this, he gets one slow, practised eyebrow raise. “Sirius, you have eaten practically nothing but instant ramen since last Wednesday. You did not so much as touch the container of my mum’s curry that was in the fridge. You have not uploaded a single video of Elvendork to Instagram. There is decidedly something wrong.”

“Fine!” Sirius slumps forward onto the table, head in his hands. “Everything’s wrong.”

“Everything?”

“Shut up. Almost everything. My entire damn love life, anyway.”

“Remus?”

Of course James knows about Remus—they tell each other everything. Sometimes a little too much, actually, like when James was dating Regulus. Sirius had had no desire to know what it was like to kiss his little brother then, and he has no desire to know now.

Unfortunately, Sirius rarely gets what he wants.

Case in point: their food comes before he has the chance to say anything more, and when he tries to squirt ketchup over the fries (yes over; anyone who pours out a little puddle and dips is a heathen (cough, James, cough)) most of it gets on his jeans instead.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath, and grabs a napkin.

By the time he looks up again, ketchup mostly removed from his clothing, James has drained his Diet Pepsi and is already halfway through the fries to boot.

“Hey, hey,” he says. “Those are mine. Back off.”

James laughs, stealing another fry before grabbing the salt shaker and pouring some out into his palm. Sirius grabs two fries, both with a healthy dollop of ketchup, and stuffs them into his mouth. He practically moans out loud, which sends James into fits of laughter.

He can’t help it. The fries at Frankie’s are literal heaven, and this is the first time since the term started he’s gone more than two days without them.

“So,” he says once he’s devoured enough that he can’t make fun of James anymore. “You obviously brought me here for a reason. What is it?”

“Do I need a reason to eat Frankie’s fries?”

“You have a point.”

Still, however good the french fries may be, James definitely has a reason for bringing him here. It almost definitely has something to do with interrogating him on every life decision he’s made in his entire life since last Wednesday.

And, indeed, when James finally speaks, it’s to say, “What happened? Are you okay?”

“No. I’m not okay.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Really?”

He is hit with a sudden desire to hug his friend. People talk about soulmates like they’re always romantic, but they’re not—he and James are proof enough of that. They know each other better than they know themselves, sometimes, and they always know each other better than anyone else. James (well, and Regulus) is the only person Sirius ever told about Remus.

“I saw him.”

“You… saw him?”

“Yeah. At a course I went to—remember? The one Fischer made me go to.”

“Ah yes. The one that’s supposed to improve your acting skills.”

“Shut up. Well, he’s teaching it.”

James twiddles his finger in a ‘rewind’ motion. “Wait. I thought that class was taught by alumni. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Yeah.”

“But Remus is our age. That’s what you said when the two of you started dating, anyway.”

With a roll of his eyes, Sirius tells him, “Not everyone took three gap years, dumbass.”

“Oh. Right.”

Sometimes, even Sirius forgets that most of the people they go to school with are nineteen, not twenty-two. Maybe it’s because he and James still act like they’re eleven.

“That’s weird that he’s at Glenrow. I always thought he lived in, like, Toronto, or something.”

Sirius shrugs. “Well, he doesn’t.”

“Think about it, though. That girl’s phone number? The tumblr thing? And now this? The universe keeps throwing you two together, Padfoot.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes the universe is wrong.”

There’s a long pause, and Sirius thinks he’s finally managed to say something so profound James is left speechless. But it is not so.

“Mood,” James says, and they both burst out laughing.

***

They end up slumped together on the couch at nine that night, scrolling through Netflix. Every so often, one of them will suggest something, only for the other to quickly veto it.

“Queen’s Gambit looks good.”

“Seen it. Three times. Remember?”

“I don’t, but okay.”

“Nailed It?”

“I’m too depressed to laugh right now.”

“Miraculous Ladybug?”

“Fuck off, that was once.”

They finally settle on She-Ra, “because it’s gay,” and before their third episode is finished they’ve already reached the bottom of the bowl of popcorn. They have no use for the rest; Peter was the only one of them who didn’t mind the uncooked kernels, and Peter is not here.

Sirius protests when James stands up—he is not fond of being unceremoniously dumped from James’s lap to the floor—but he smiles when his friend returns with ice cream. (Vanilla, of course, because plain and simple is the best.) (Definitely not because they can’t afford anything else.)

When he leans back to check the clock, Sirius’s neck strains. He blinks at the time—1:04 in the morning—and wonders where did the time go? Unfortunately, he can’t move, because James is asleep on his shoulder and Elvendork is asleep on his feet. James he would have no problem waking, but to disturb the cat would be to commit a crime that stronger men than he cower at the thought of committing.

So, stifling a yawn and feeling his eyes droop, Sirius falls asleep.

He dreams of hazel-gold eyes and soft brown hair and being left on read.

#wolfstar #sirius black #remus lupin #james potter #muggle au #university au #breakup fic #remus x sirius #no editing we die like men #another one??? I'm on a roll here aren't I

25 notes · View notes

lay4decolonisation-blog · 5 years

Text

She-Ra: Princesses of Power (2018) and the Representation that I Want

**CONTENT WARNING: ABUSE, VIOLENCE**

When I heard She-Ra was back and GAY, I had to jump straight or not so straight into it. The amazing characterisation and themes of the show fit the modern audience perfectly. She-Ra: Princesses of Power (SPOP) did what Voltron: Legendary Defender wish it did. RIP.

The SPOP series was written by Noelle Stevenson, and produced by Dreamworks. Season 1 aired on the 13th November 2018 via Netflix.

There’s two things I want to discuss, so I’ll split this up into sections: visual character design & complex characterisation.

Visual Character Design

80’s She-Ra

2018 She-Ra

She-Ra is the hero alter ego of Princess Adora, who transforms when she calls forth “For the Honour of Grayskull!” with The Sword of Protection.

When I saw the visuals for the series and the new outfit for She-Ra I nearly screamed. It was perfect. I will always prefer Marvel cinematic movie adaptations on the basis that women wear full body armour, and not a skirt. So it was natural for me to fall in love with the shorts, flowy skirt, useful boots and 80’s influenced shoulder flares on She-Ra’s new threads.

She looked PRACTICAL, and totally badass. I see no male gaze in the update. She-Ra isn’t wearing heels, or red lipstick, her dress doesn’t look like it’s about to give her a nip slip, and her hair still flows like golden threads in the wind!

Notice how I just used the ‘Male Gaze’. The Male Gaze is essentially a patriarchal control of representation of women and/or other genders in media, and can be applicable to historical documentation (Mulvey 1989). Ponterotto (2016) describes it expands on the media’s control of feminine bodies as:

“The invisibility of women has been accompanied in an extraordinarily inversely proportionate manner by the visual display of her physical appearance, of her body as material object, to be observed, judged, valued, appreciated, rejected, modified and essentially commodified, for socially-constructed purposes. From a feminist point of view, this purpose can be claimed to be essentially male pleasure, concomitant social benchmarking and commercial profit.” (134)

From the ‘controversy’ from predominantly male audiences on the release of She-Ra’s costume it’s obvious that it’s doing its job (Lenton 2018); with men reacting with things like:

“The character designs for this show are god awful. She-Ra looks too much like a man.” MECCA_Studios @ twitter

“if you're trying to make your girls look like boys for your show then you are not actually fighting for equality you're proving that men is the superior gender and taken more seriously than a beautiful women, you're only helping sexism not fighting it” - iamconsumer @ twitter

I wanna acknowledge this was mainly white, cishet males reacting to a show that is predominantly AIMED AT YOUNG GIRLS. SPOP’s visual design of She-Ra was so key in getting this show right. She is a woman icon for young girls growing up and seeing her on screen wearing a non-sexual costume whilst being feminine, strong and beautiful will mean something for them growing up. Women/Feminine peoples can look at the screen and say “I’m She-Ra!” and not have to feel like they have to look good for male gaze to do that.

People Of Colour (POC) Representation

Bow, Mermista, Frosta, Netossa and Catra’s - along with ethnically ambiguous characters - redesign was kind of glossed over with the amount of objections about the Queer and Feminist arguments going around.

So here’s some of my babies:

Bow 80s

Bow 2018

Mermista 80s

Mermista 2018

Catra 80s

Catra 2018

Frosta 80s

Frosta 2018

Bow stood out to me alot because I empathize alot for my dark skinned brother’s who don’t have any or many examples of good representation on screen that explores queer identity, gender performativity, body image and positive masculinity that is casual and fun. (I speak of course from an Indigenous background, but a lot of my community look at the African-American community on TV for dark bodies representation.) Imagine a young dark skinned boy watching Bow being fun loving, supportive, gentle, obsessed with crop tops, hanging out with girls and embodying positive masculinity, then using as a mold to treat their sisters, mums and cousins. Incredible.

SPOP centers ethnic looking characters amazingly with their characterisation. Having POC on screens breaks out of normalizing whiteness, and de-centers it as the default way of being (Scharrer & Ramasubramanian 2015). People might argue that fantasy worlds don’t overlap with real worlds because race mightn’t exist in the fantasy world, but when you’re a ethnic kid growing up watching/ reading white bodies being superheroes and warriors and People of Colour don’t exist you have no representation, or worse POC are negatively stereotyped. Representation is IMPORTANT. Representation is the ability to control the way the world perceives a group of people, or yourself - white people often struggle understanding this because whiteness as an identity is invisible by normalization (hooks 1992, Dyer 1997). It can be compared to men as ungendered compared to women, or non-cis and queer people with heteronormativity. So it can only be visible when colour is involved, and depending on whether it’s good or bad POC representation it can create racial stereotypes (Brigham 1971, Nosek 2007).

LGBTQIA+ Visual Representation

I feel like you can find a lot of this, but not any by me!

I will start with Scorpia cause she’s such a dear.

JUST LOOK AT HER.

Everyone is screaming ‘butch lesbian’ little to know that she is a total femme (anyone can fight me on this). Her open attraction towards Catra was loud, unapologetic and was super ultra normal. Despite her giant crab claws, I just want her to hold me gently. I think it’s another good example of different body types. Like it’s not just an exterior what makes a woman a woman or a good person a good person. Before I die of thirst, let’s move on to my Bow’s dads.

OH MY GAWD. Bow resembles Lance and George so much. Like the perfect little mix between their two personalities UGH. Both very different individuals who share a common obsession with history. Two gay Black dudes just be out here owning the biggest collection of ancient artifacts, studying the classics and raising 13 kids like wojefdikewajfaij

Lance out here rocking dreads and the glasses with sandals *bathump* and George with his little moustache and fancy hair. They go on like a normal couple picking on one another and knowing each other’s personalities, caring about their son and reflecting on their parenting when they realize they messed up instead of blaming their kid for not understanding them okmfoerngfa

Sorry, my heart nearly went into cardiac arrest thinking about them.

I won’t miss the exceptional drop of them telling Bow their disappointed that he had to hide a part of himself because he was afraid of what they’d think of him or do. I remember that feeling….*glances at my physical wooden closet*

SPINNERELLA AND NETOSSA.

Netossa is the only character (I’m pretty sure) who was originally dark skinned in the 80s She Ra - she also had no powers.

Now rocking up with powers and gf, she is out here living her best life. Look at them. Just look at my babies. They swapped chokers, like wow, what a lesbian power move. Plus sized, buff queer women rocking their femininity being loyal and totally badass. Their actual appearances on screen are limited but impactful as they are seen as people seem to question more what the heck they do in the Rebellion rather than their queer relationship.

Complex Characterisation

Let’s start with Shadow Weaver’s relationship with Catra and Adora.

Starting off at Mystacor as Light Spinner, she a teacher and getting one of her students, Micah, to perform a spell that conjured evil magic - The Spell of Obtainment - ultimately decided her path as Shadow Weaver. She became an abusive, manipulative and self righteous authoritative figure to Catra and Adora.

Shadow Weaver is an abuser. Abuse works differently in each situation but is defined by White Ribbon Australia in categories of: Physical, Financial, Emotional, Verbal, Social, Sexual, Stalking, Spiritual, Image based, Dowry and Elderly Abuse.

The emotional, verbal, social and I’m going to add economical (instead for Financial) abuse she inflicted on Adora and Catra made them stick together as companions through the hardships. Adora upon realizing the Horde’s actions and motives rejects and calls out Shadow Weaver’s abuse. Catra, on the other hand, looks for something like approval from Shadow Weaver. Catra grew up neglected and constantly compared to Adora in her duties to the Horde by Shadow Weaver, so when Adora left a shift happened in Catra. Adora was her main source of comfort and sense of safety in Shadow Weaver’s irract attitude towards her. Adora was her constant feeling of affection and comfort, when she went against the very codes that kept them together their entire lives - Catra was betrayed. Finally, maybe she could get the parental approval she was seeking from Shadow Weaver she never got when Adora was around. Also looking for validation of her moral that has been cause her actions other than rage and sadness that Adora had left her alone. Catra sort out her Abuser’s approval because that’s the only way she knew how to get validity and self assurance of her identity as a member of the Horde - all she ever knew.

Catra feels alone and like she can’t depend on anyone, and because she knows how that feels she was also able to emotionally manipulate Entrapta into join the Horde. It’s a consistent cycle of isolation that stemmed from one person’s influence.

The thing that differs Adora and Catra, was more Adora being given opportunities to lead and step up where Catra was always on the side. Adora gained leadership skills and an emotional capacity where she was able to trust others and trust herself. This ultimately allowed her to do the right thing and join the Rebellion. Catra on the other hand had to quickly use her head and be more aware of things other than herself which made her falter in the leadership role of Shadow Weaver, but that is her coping mechanism of isolating herself and having to immerse herself with other people and the world to take action.

Adora’s culture shock between the way the Princesses live and the way it was in the Horde only shows how she’s been manipulated through learning the knowledge and behaviours that were enforced on her in the Horde. Princesses aren’t evil. The Horde is evil.

Adora’s role of She Ra has put a lot of pressure on her, and she is fighting her own self.

What happened with Adora was she was specifically chosen because she’s had the experiences she’s had. She knows what it's like in the Horde. How their systems work. What type of people and kids are there. She knows all of that to use to win the war. She’s not gonna break into it, but out of it.

When Adora breaks out of the Horde’s learning, and the truth telling begins the walls will crumble and there will be internal upset. There’s a good and evil battle going on inside of each character. Adora wants to protect her friends and do the right thing, but sometimes those two things aren’t the same thing.

Another character I wanna bring up is Glimmer. Glimmer has been fighting to fight. She’s having to fight a struggle in her internal kingdoms. She’s been trying to tell the truth to the other Kingdoms and unite the Kingdoms so they can beat the Horde and save everything they love. She needed to stand up to her mother, the other Princesses, and herself. She is so damn strong and I love her so much omg.

When Bow went to the ball with Perfuma and she was upset, this was because she was afraid Bow would leave her. She’s been isolated also by her mother into doing Princess things that don’t actually have a big impact, but Bow has been consistent in her life and training to be a leader. When he left her side, she was scared that she was going to be isolated again. She knew it was irrational, but that kind of stuff just happens. Sometimes our feelings don’t always make sense to us at first, and we have to look somewhere else to understand what we’re feeling right then and there. But the besties will prevail.

The other thing I didn’t touch on earlier, but will now is age. The Princesses age from around 11-18 (?). The thing about having young people saving the world is really where we’re at. Kids are rioting in the streets trying to get big corporations led by greedy bastards who want resources and exploit people to stop, and save their entire world - yeah, you know I’m talking about situations like the climate strike. We will learn from our elders mistakes and do it right.

We shouldn’t give up because our parents did. We will be the ones to win, just like Glimmer, Adora, Bow and the gang.

Representation isn’t a debate - it’s a necessity.

Thanks for reading babes.

Reference List

Dyer, Richard. (1997) ‘The Matter of Whiteness’ in White, London: Routledge.

Brigham, John C. "Ethnic stereotypes." Psychological bulletin76.1 (1971): 15.

Nosek, Brian A., et al. "Pervasiveness and correlates of implicit attitudes and stereotypes." European Review of Social Psychology 18.1 (2007): 36-88.

Bell, Hooks. "The oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators." Black Looks: Race and Representation (1992): 115-131.

Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. In Visual and other pleasures (pp. 14-26). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Ponterotto, D. (2016). Resisting the male gaze: feminist responses to the" normatization" of the female body in Western culture. Journal of International Women's Studies, 17(1), 133-151.

Scharrer, E., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2015). Intervening in the media's influence on stereotypes of race and ethnicity: The role of media literacy education. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 171-185.

https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/understand-domestic-violence/types-of-abuse/

2 notes · View notes