aunt josephine: of course these traumatised children will analyse my suicide note and divine my location! that's a normal and reasonable thing to expect!

Why do I think Diana Barry is a lesbian ?

First of all, I'd like to note that I totally understand if anyone disagrees. What will follow is solely my very personal interpretation of Diana's character arc. Also, this only applies to the "Anne with an E" version of the character, I have never seen any other adaptation so I can't speak for it.

Diana is a young girl who's been raised in a rural and conservative environment. Even though her family is rich and gave her an education, the very fact of her living in the countryside has forbidden her have an open perspective on the world. Until Anne arrives in her life, she knows no better than what her family, church and conservative neighbors taught her. Throughout the seasons, her character is developed around the journey she takes to break from that pattern. Step by step, she lifts the veil that was tied before her eyes, proving that despite her "perfect daughter to become perfect spouse" appearance, she is, in fact, different. She's different from what was planned for her, but she's also different from the people of Avonlea. Her perspective and dreams are.

Her difference is already implied at the core of her character. Have you ever noticed how she is the only character (or almost) with a non-christian name ? Now, I know, this is reaching, I promise that I have more solid arguments for later, but hear me out on this one. I could list an enormous enumeration of names from that show that have christian roots (Anne, Matthew, Mary, Sebastian etc.). While this difference is never addressed in AWAE, it is in the first book, by Matthew. I won't have the quote right because I own the books in french so let me resume it. Matthew tells Anne about Diana when she first arrives in Avonlea. Anne gasps because she thinks Diana has a beautiful name. Matthew later on complains on it non being christian and that her parents better have named her Jane or something. She was named that way because the Barrys hosted a professor by the time of her birth. Eventually, they let him name their newborn for some reason. So, he choose "Diana", which is inspired by the roman goddess "Diane". Firstly, I think this can be interpreted as a sign her path isn't traditional education, intended by her parents who wants to send her to Paris but rather an actual education, which she'll choose by attending college. Moreover, we can go further by acknowledging that a named inspired by Diane says a lot too. Diane is the goddess of hunt, and protector of young women (in other words virginity). Diane's entourage was strictly feminine, men weren't allowed. Now, some people assume that Diane and her companions were in fact sapphics. Anyway, Diane is the symbol of independents women who don't require men to live to the fullest.

After some subtext, we now can lean on the actual events of the show.

As we previously established, Diana is, at the beginning of the show, still oblivious of the outside world and as Anne would say, the possibilities. Her very first breakthrough is the first encounter between she and Anne.

Anne is a free-thinker. Her only education she ever had is from the books she read and her own imagination. That makes her this very unique character full of open-mindedness and creativity. This is the first time Diana met someone so different from what she knows.

I'd like to focus on that one scene in the 03x01 episode when Anne makes Diana swear solemnly on their friendship. When Anne first come up with the idea, Diana is firmly closed because she's been taught by her religious background that swearing is a sin. Anne, who has always known the term "swearing" trough literature, proceeds to explain Diana what it means to her, and how beautiful that is.

"Shall we swear we’ll be best friends, for ever and ever ? (...) - Let’s imagine that it’s night time and that this path is a stream. Hold this. Twist your finger around mine (...) I solemnly swear to be faithful to my bosom friend Diana Barry for as long as the sun and the moon shine”

This quote speaks for itself on how magnificent that scene was. Anyway. This moment is immensely important for Diana. It is also for Anne, but from her perspective, she sees it more as an occasion to live in her fantasy world full of poetry. For Diana, it represents the beginning of her change and growth. She opened her mind about something she thought was immoral, only to find out it's actually beautiful. At this moment, we can see in her eyes that she's falling in love. Not necessarily with Anne but with her freedom. This is the realization that she could be way more.

“I could never love anyone as I love you Anne - Wait, you love me ? - Off course I do (...) - I thought you liked me of course, but I’ve never hoped you loved me - I love you devotedly Anne” - (1x5)

Diana directly confess her love for Anne. Of course, it is displayed as a platonic love, and it probably is for Anne, but I just want to slid it in there.

Now, let's dive in, as I call it, the "Party at aunt Joséphine/homophobia" arc. Again, there is this display of the duality between what she's intended to be and what she could be at the beginning, when she meets this famous pianist who recommend her to start a career as a musician. Diana seems almost offended because playing piano other than for recreational purposes was never a possibility for her. Then, she founds herself surrounded by a diversity of people (queer people, independent woman etc.) before learning that her aunt was, in fact, a lesbian. Then the internalized homophobia knocks in and Diana is very upset. She feels kind of betrayed by the truth, to find out that the world is wider than she knew it to be.

This series of events leads to this very emotional scene between Cole and Diana. While Diana stands firmly that same sex relationships are wrong, Cole gives her the most adorable speech. I'll let his words speaks for me :

“If your aunt lived her life feeling something was wrong with her, that she was...broken, defective, or unnatural...then one day, she met someone that made her realize that wasn’t true, there was nothing wrong with her and she was fine. Shouldn’t we be happy for her ? - I think it’s spectacular”

Does that rings any bells ? I'm not gonna over-explaining this. Diana basically discovers that omg gay people exists !!! And that it's not inherently a bad thing.

It is time to dismantle the Jerry allegations.

This "romance" takes place at the very fateful moment of Diana character arc, when she have to choose between 2 futures. The one her parents decided, and the one she truly wants, alongside with aunt Jo and Anne.

First thing about teenagers who plans to go against their parents for the first time, is that they'll try to experience rebellious acts in a smaller scale, to know how it feels. This is exactly what Diana did with Jerry. He is the closest boy she knows while being the only one her parents don't know about. She wants to feel forbidden love, but, she soon finds out that she doesn't feel anything for Jerry. There is no passion, she is not intellectually triggered with him neither. After realizing that, she ditch him pretty rudely. She knows she was wrong from the beginning and that all this just wasn't for her.

Finally, Diana reaches the acceptation of who she is by the end of the third season. She knows what she wants and got to finally attend to Queen's college after secretly taking the exams.

This represents her embracing being different. She choose to go against traditional ways. She choose to get an education, despite the remonstrances from her family. This is the end of her journey to find herself and the beginning of a new one where she can fully be herself.

I see this development as a really accurate parallel with the lesbian experience. Of course, you're free to see it as it is stated in the show. I just want to share :)

I doubt anyone read this until the end but, if any of you have a good fanfic about Diana finding a girl in college, I'm open lol.

rushed edit but i just had the epiphany of my life

a thing i noticed while rewatching asoue.

ok so. there's this consistent theme of count olaf not being able to work with other villains, right? and that was always implied to be because he's bad at teamwork (a traditional bad guy trait), and just kind of left at that.

BUT. HERE'S THE THING:

olaf being bad at teamwork makes perfect sense for his character. he's extremely self-centered, and never really had that "other people exist in the same way as me" realization that most people go through during their childhood. in other words, he completely lacks any sense of sonder, which is why he won't hesitate to leave someone the second they deviate from his plan.

but ohh no, that's not all.

see, another thing i noticed is that the reoccuring reason for other villains ditching olaf/olaf ditching other villains is a lack of understanding.

esmé and olaf never worked well together, because their motives were so different; esmé just wanted her sugar bowl back, meanwhile what olaf was seeking was much more complex: both a material good (the baudelaire fortune), but also a symbolic, indirect revenge on beatrice baudelaire for her involvement in his father's death. the reason the two couldn't work together was because they couldn't understand each other's perspectives.

it's even more interesting of a pattern when it comes to olaf and carmelita: in my head, it seems like olaf genuinely was reminded of a younger version of himself at first, but got irritated when she was too much like a younger version of himself (no experiance of the real word, spoiled rotten), from before his father died. in other words, a version of himself that was still in that place of privilege that he'd lost with his father. so olaf wasn't just annoyed with carmelita's entitlement, her presence and personality reminded him of what he'd lost and how that loss had changed him.

overall, i think a lot of olaf's actions have this theme of not having a lot, or having lost a lot. his house, his outfits, all of it indicates that at this point in his life, he's at his lowest. his dad's status implies he grew up in a place of privilege, but his life quickly went downhill afterwards.

i think that that's, to some degree, the reason he hates displays of wealth or wellness so much. even on a moral basis: he openly criticizes members of vfd for their perceived moral pureness or goody two shoes attitudes, because he sees it as dishonest. he's seen the bad side of vfd, and no longer has any sympathy for the "good" side. but beyond that, i think he envies their morality, since it's something he never had despite being raised the same way.

i also think that maybe olaf feels like he was never given a fair chance to do the right thing, since he was approached by the man with the beard but no hair and the woman with the hair but no beard right after his father's death, when he was emotionally vulnerable and easy to manipulate. he thinks that this means that he had no real choice, and is therefore not responsible for his actions.

but vfd members that have been through similar tragedies (the snicket siblings, larry, monty, josephine, etc) and still continue to do the right thing constantly remind olaf that the problem is his own nature (irresponsible, emotional, irrational, morally bankrupt) making him easy to manipulate, not just the circumstances of his life. their very existance proves that he had just as much of a fair chance as anyone else; that's why he hates them so much. he doesn't want to be responsible for his actions.

uhhh this got very off-track, and turned into me just analyzing count olaf's character, but oh well-

Love is a tricky thing , sometimes it feels like an undeniable force that hits you between the eyes and doesnt let up

Other times its palpable, questionable, its truth hidden in and amongst external obstacles and internal circumstances that have formed who you are, what you expect in the world and how you can accept love

Oh to say the least its complicated

I think Diana panicked so badly when she found out Aunt Jo was a lesbian because she had feelings for Anne she wasn’t willing so accept because they shouldn’t be real, and seeing that they could completely crumbled her idea of life

Aunt josephines house

the older i get, the more i find aunt josephine to be relatable, and i think that's something i should talk to a doctor about actually

Anne and Aunt Josephine ended up being really slow friends. 💜💕

the intergenerational queer joy anne with an e is serving today has me ready to fucking cry holy shit

Remember this photo of Josephine and Gertrude in Anne with an E?

It's actually a photograph of Lily Elsie and Adrienne Augarde:

Drawing a character for pride everyday, day 6: Cole and Aunt Josephine from Anne With an E - MLM & WLW [Canon]

Fun fact Anne with an E has my favourite coming out scene in like anything. We love WLW and MLM solidarity and inter generational friendships! Seriously go watch Anne with an E if you haven’t already, the fact that it got cancelled is a crime