#fuck i overthink
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The Failure of Ted Lasso's Unconventional Politics
SOCIAL CONDITIONING:
According to Brendan Hunt, shippers interested in a second chance, mature-age romance between Ted and Rebecca were being blindly, un-self-reflexively led about by their “social conditioning”. Presumably, however, the writers who wrote Ted returning to his heteronormative family unit – as well as all the viewers who enjoyed this ending and have defended it since – are completely free of social conditioning? No social conditioning is involved in reifying the white heterosexual family unit? No social conditioning is involved in deifying parenthood, fatherhood and patriarchy at the cost of all else? There is no social conditioning involved in a conclusion that values good ole working class Americana while rejecting the big, queer, complicated, multicultural world?
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid):
If the creators wanted to gesture to “Cheers” as a classic American sitcom, then at least learn from its example. This show worked best when it worked with familiar, beloved characters in a familiar, beloved, but confined setting. "Ted Lasso" had a near-perfect first act, doing a simple thing well. But from s2 onward, the show started straying out of bounds. The cast of characters kept expanding and contracting: people were in, people were out, characters were coming and going and changing (what was the point of that whole Zava plotline?). We had multiple workplaces and workplace dramas (grew to like Barbara tho). Episodes got long and unwieldy. Themes got convoluted as the show took a long trip, imo, up its own arse. The folksy wisdom of s1 became grating self-indulgence and cliched “moment” manufacturing.
SUPERFICIAL UNCONVENTIONALITY:
TL employed a familiar 3-part structure but ultimately its supposedly radical, unconventional politics was not reflected in the show’s structure. Since the first act started with Ted's arrival, you could see his departure coming from a mile off. Some folks are acting like returning Ted home constitutes some super brave move by the writers that we've never seen before. But if you want to talk social conditioning expressed through narrative expectation then you really couldn't get anything more conventional than this ending.
We've seen it all before:
Act I: Fish-out-of-Water character arrives and begins winning over a dubious, dysfunctional community
Act II: Bonding, hijinks, missteps, complications and development
Act III: Revelations of growth. Community sadly waves goodbye to teacher they love but no longer need. Cue credits with moving song choice.
It's as cliche, conventional and predictable as it gets. And I could condescendingly accuse every viewer who enjoyed this ending as being blindly and un-self-reflexively led around by their social conditioning. But even if I'm not one of the showrunners who also played a beloved character and who is speaking on a public forum, that would be a pretty fucking shitty move. What I am saying is that the disagreement over this ending speaks to some core ideological differences currently playing out across the globe around patriarchy, feminism, queerness and privilege. There is an opportunity here to examine what we socioculturally view as “good’ and “right” and “happy”. These ideas of good, right and happy are not necessarily benign and will be inevitably reflected in and reproduced by our art.
PATRIARCHY:
In the end, “Ted Lasso” literally chose patriarchy (but what kind is the question). Just because this show was working with a familiar 3-part structure, that doesn't mean it didn't need to justify Ted's inevitable departure. For many people, his son is enough. That's it. End of conversation. Henry trumps all. And yes, this was always going to be the justification used by the series. But I think this disagreement highlights changing attitudes to modern parenting. Everyone agrees that parenting requires sacrifice: large and small, everyday and lifelong. But how much sacrifice is too much?
For some people, this was too much sacrifice. Others seem to think it was Ted's duty to sacrifice for his son his own sense of family and community, his continued health and growth, his professional fulfilment. Imo, he could have shared all of this with him but chose old-school parental sacrifice instead. I consider this kind of sacrifice to be something that culturally we’re coming to recognise as unhealthy, for both parent and child. In reality, parents are more than one thing. Parents have jobs, interests, relationships, needs, limitations and struggles. Parents are people.
In the series, Ted was established as a person: a person with a sad past, a tortured inner world, a strong desire to connect with others and, potentially, a brighter future than his past. From the beginning, his relationship with Michelle was established (and often reinforced) as over, dead, absolutely no route back in. But his relationship with his son was loving and important to him. Of course it was. He’d be a bad man and unlikeable character if it wasn’t. Even so, Henry isn’t a major or fully realised character in this show. We care about him, relate to him through Ted. He matters to us because he matters to Ted. But frankly, we are far more attached to Ted’s other adopted “children”, the relationships we have watched him develop over 3 years, than the relationship we only saw glimpses of. That’s just narrative reality. In reality, yes, Henry would and should be Ted’s first priority. This is only right. In fiction, the team at Richmond should have been the first priority of Jason and the rest of the writing team. They are the ones we want to see and want to see happy and settled.
As many frustrated viewers have stated, it's not Ted's departure that is so disheartening but how it was done. If the TL team wanted to make this choice seem like a healthy one for Ted then they needed to establish other things waiting for him in Kansas: friends, community, employment, fulfillment. As it was, literally nothing tipped the scales in favour of Kansas. There were no romantic, community or larger familial relationships to get back to. Far too much was just left to inference or imagination. Yes, we can assume that Ted has community in Kansas, that he will probably get a great job after his success in Richmond. But all the people and opportunities we would like to infer/imagine will never tip the balance towards Kansas when we consider all we KNOW is already established for him in Richmond. The homeworld and beloved characters of a show will always hold more emotional weight than anything undefined and hypothetical. If viewers were to be happy with Ted’s exit then the writers needed to take the time to lovingly define his future away from the club.
Instead, it seems like a deliberate choice to shut Ted down and perform (and I do mean “perform”) this marvelous sacrifice for his son that so many think is admirable. It’s this shutdown that is so inconsistent and confusing. Because at any time in the hour, Ted could have said to Rebecca, the Diamond Dogs and/or his team:
“Look y'all this ain't the end. We’re family now. I'll be back. I'll show y'all round Kansas anytime you wanna visit. My mom will cook a dinner that will clog your arteries. And every so often, what say we do a long-distance movie night, huh? I'll miss you all but I’ll be watching every game and I can't wait to come back and see you win the whole fucking thing!!”
Ted could have been a model of honest, expressive, emotionally forthcoming, relationship-maintaining masculinity. But nope. Not a word. Just brave male sacrifice. It's straight up patriarchal propaganda. And truth is, fathers sacrifice way less than mothers do in heterosexual parenting relationships. Mothers are generally the ones making those small, everyday sacrifices that our society rarely acknowledges or admires. But I bet this ending makes all those lazy husbands and boyfriends feel real good about themselves. I bet it makes many female partners feel all warm and fuzzy to know that even though their kids’ father won't share half the labour that goes into raising a child, when it comes time for him to perform a massive manly sacrifice for his family, he toootttaaally will. I'm sorry, what were you saying about social conditioning Mr. Hunt?
FATHER GOD or WHITE SAVIOUR?:
Patriarchy needs its Father Gods and its Mother Gods to play certain roles (tho, to paraphrase Angela Carter, both are as silly as each other.) These magical figures materialise at pivotal times then dematerialise when the narrative is over, the pivotal lessons learned. They never themselves learn or alter. Think Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee. These figures are not entirely human, they possess an element of the supernatural. They serve others, serve a higher purpose. Nanny McPhee's appearance changes only as a reflection of her charges’ growth. Mary Poppins – the figure to whom Ted is most likened – learns to care about her kids but she doesn't engage in any self-introspection. Her duty and trajectory remains unchanged. When she arrives at her next job, she will do so exactly the same as she was.
These otherworldly mother deities are not unproblematic feminist figures themselves. But creating a male, fatherhood deity becomes even more problematic when he is white, cis-het and pretty able. Ted arrives to teach all the black and brown lost boys, to unite the disconnected women, liberate the closeted gays and to update the bumbling English gentlemen (there is, I feel, a special relish in these American bros educating their former colonisers on modern manhood). Here, we start to stray into white saviour territory. Frighteningly, this kind of patriarchal demi-god implies that white men are the most progressive figures in a society, they are in the political vanguard, championing the needs of the disconnected and downtrodden. White men are the ultimate source of wisdom, kindness and progress. It represents them as a group as progressive, when in reality the attitudes and politics of this group represent conservative politics and regressive values that impede the progress of every other marginalised group. If we buy this myth about white men, then we are more likely to accept what they say to us from their positions of power and privilege as right, wise, kind and progressive, even when it is the opposite.
So, if you are going to put forward a white man as a model of progressive politics, then you need to embrace unconventionality, not just superficially but down to your bones. “Ted Lasso” tried to structure s2 and s3 differently but just ended up making a mess of allusions and ideologies that did not connect, cohere, develop or conclude. In fact, sometimes they straight-up contradicted. Employing a magical 3-part structure and making a bunch of meaningless allusions to well-known classics does not another classic make. They did not engage with any of these classics (“Cheers”, “Mary Poppins”, “The Wizard of Oz”) in any deep or critical way. Classics may be loved but they are not faultless. If you simply repeat what has already been done, even in celebrated classics, you may just end up repeating mistakes someone already made for you to learn from. TL repeats the central feminist problem of parental deities in “Mary Poppins”, just as it repeats the irreconcilable ending of “The Wizard of Oz”.
LIMINALITY:
Both “The Wizard of Oz” and “Mary Poppins” take us into strange liminal worlds. “Ted Lasso” could be read similarly, except that Ted doesn't take any magic home with him. In fact, he seems to actively forget it, reverting to the Ted he was before leaving. No queerness or feminism follows him home, no traces of the various cultures he's come into contact with. The liminal remain liminal with no indication that these two worlds will communicate or can integrate. The non-white, female, queer and otherwise bizarre are left outside of Ted’s squeaky clean hometown heteronormativity. And I really don’t think I have to explain why that is so deeply irresponsible. Because again, this is a writing choice.
That epilogue at the end was brief but imagine if it included more detail: Ted texting with Rebecca, or facetiming with Roy, Jamie giving Henry advice. They didn't take the time to honour and continue these relationships or integrate these two worlds. They didn't suggest that responsible fatherhood could entail many things, could look different. “Sacrifice,” they said profoundly. “Fatherhood,” they murmured mistily. “Patriarchy” was their final word to which this feminist says, “Bullshit.”
PRIVILEGE:
I only did one film unit at uni but it really doesn't take much to deconstruct the absurdly inconsistent ending of “The Wizard of Oz”. It was 1939, the end of the Great Depression and the start of another devastating world war. People needed to be convinced that their small ramshackle b/w lives surrounded by loved ones were stable, noble even. They already had everything they needed. They didn't need Oz. They didn't need bright futures, big adventures or exciting opportunities. Monochrome Kansas was all a good American should ever hope for. There was danger in difference, safety at home.
Well, here we are in late-stage capitalistic hell, having come through (???) a pandemic and it takes a special sort of privilege to say to an audience: you don't need money or opportunity or community, they won't make your life any better than before. Be happy with the muddy and mundane. Be happy with what you've got. Turn away from larger community, greater knowledge, continued stability, and isolate yourself in a bubble of you and yours. Look, it's not a sweet or familiar narrative conclusion but the truth is, Ted’s, Henry’s and Michelle’s lives would have all been better if they'd relocated to London. Do these dolts have any idea what teachers (in the USA esp) are currently going through? How overworked and underpaid and undervalued these people are? The burnout rates?? Ted didn't have to take the highest salary Rebecca offered but, had the writers been willing to put in the effort, a more unconventional, more modern ending to this series could have been crafted.
Not that I'm surprised they took the easy road to glory. All indications from the beginning of s3 suggested that this would be the rather predictable conclusion. Indications do not, however, constitute development. This team had the opportunity to write a new ending to an old story, one that incorporated queer, feminist and anti-capitalist values. One that defined a different, new version of patriarchy. They didn't even think to. In their white boi hubris, they just assumed that they and tradition knew best. Considering how many viewers would be struggling right now for food, housing, employment and opportunity, an ending in which Ted turns down an opportunity like this hits a false, rather virtue-signally note. Literally, nobody would have come out worse. Everybody would have benefitted from Ted staying in Richmond. Which means this decision was made purely to manufacture a “moment” that celebrates patriarchy.
ANTICAPITALISM: There’s a reason they had Rebecca offer Ted the biggest salary in his industry. They wanted to make it NotAboutTheMoney! Ted doesn’t say so (doesn’t say anything) but, because this narrative idea is so fucking familiar, we can assume the thoughts behind his oh-so-sage expression are: “Well, shucks now, boss, I rightly do appreciate the kindly offer but that there kid o’ mine is more important to me than any cash you could put in my silly lil handy-hands.” Good Lord. The cringe is real. I really, really can’t with this mighty, manly silence and sacrifice. My problem isn’t that Ted values his son over money (not that it has to be a choice because that money could benefit Henry and his mother, who is owed a heck of a lot of child support esp since she’s been raising their son solo for 3 years). Again, that is how it should be. My problem is that the show actively established Richmond as an anticapitalist landscape, then suddenly at the eleventh hour, tried to walk that back and imply it was actually a capitalistic landscape (in contrast to homey ole Kansas).
Capitalism teaches us to sniff at money. We've been told by the monied and privileged that it won't buy happiness. (This is of course, utter bullshit because money can buy you a hell of a lot of wellbeing, security and opportunity). At the beginning of the series, Rebecca Welton stands for this principle. And by the end, she has found a way to use her extreme wealth and privilege in an ethical way. She gives it away. She supports others. She lets Sam out of a promotional contract, she funds Keeley’s business, she sells half the club to fans. The most obvious example of Rebecca’s anticapitalist politics is her confrontation with all the richy riches who want to take soccer away from the people. Here, she becomes an anticapitalist leader, one who has been positively influenced by the anticapitalistic politics of The Lasso Way.
The Lasso Way is anticapitalistic in that it stresses that winning isn’t everything. You try but you try together. You play hard, not in order to beat the other guy, but to be the best (player, teammate, man) you can be. There are no individual stars, only collaborative team players. You give due credit to others, the team, the support staff. The club functions well when it functions as a unit. Over the course of the series, it becomes a commune that protects and nurtures its citizens. A socialist haven that values people over profits, prizes and meaningless acquisition. The Greyhounds don’t want to win the league for the money or the top spot. Winning the whole fucking thing is an expression of their regard for each other, the game and the new, kinder ethos they all now live by.
Because they spent 3 years establishing all of this (during a time when we really needed to hear it), there is something v disingenuous about them then having Rebecca offer to go to extremes to pay Ted more money than any man should have. It is not consistent with the show’s themes, the ethos of the club, Rebecca’s attitude or what she knows of Ted. She knows it’s not about the money for Ted. It never was. It’s an act of desperation on her part, but why did they need to make her ridiculous, desperate, so inept in this moment? Hannah plays it beautifully but I can’t help but feel this is part of them diminishing Richmond, (re)casting it as excessively capitalistic in relation to Kansas so that they can turn Ted’s decision into a simple Money < Son choice. Because if it is a Money < Son choice then he has no dilemma. There is no other choice. He goes home to his son. The problem is, they’ve just spent 3 years proving that it is not a simple Money < Son dilemma. Money was never actually part of this equation. Ted left to give Michelle space, to find himself, to find a new life and community, to extend himself beyond what he knew as normal. As such, there is now far more than just money for Ted in Richmond (which tbf, Rebecca also points out, but I still think this point stands).
The other major problem is that, here in the real world, middle-class America (which btw does not exist) is far from being a haven of peace and prosperity comparable to nowhere in the world. This is a lazy cliché than any amount of travel should quickly disabuse you of. And yet in Kansas, we are supposed to believe, despite everything happening in America (referenced by Henry in ep 3.01), Ted will find community, opportunity and stability. To pull off this ending, they needed to establish a Kansas unlike the one currently in existence. This is what they did with Richmond. The UK is no better than the US currently, but they nevertheless established an ideal society, one with values very contrary to the world we now live in. Is it any wonder that people saw the desertion of this world as a rejection of feminist, queer and anticapitalist values? Right now, more than ever, people want to believe in a society that isn't all about triumph, success, competition, acquisition, individualism and aggression. They want to believe in a society that emphasises community, values people, shares wealth, offers opportunity, encourages difference, improves lives and moves onward, forward, in circumspect but ethical steps. These themes were all there in the series. They just weren't utilised when it came time to shape its conclusion.
#ted lasso#ted lasso finale#ted x rebecca#jason sudeikis#brendan hunt#istg i'm done#i'm a ridiculous person#long post#did anyone read this?#fuck i overthink#dumb show#rebecca welton#rebecca welton deserved better#feminist queer anticapitalist rant#i'm here to tell you that if you like ted lasso you're probly a socialist
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I have to get these out quick before side order releases
#my art#splatoon#side order#off the hook#dedf1sh#splatoon pearl#splatoon marina#splatoon acht#pearlina#marinacht#<- arent i so fucking smart#i think pearl can be a liitttlle insecure. as a treat. for me#she did also just randomly take off once without even telling marina so??? girl you have this coming#its her penance for winning final fest ok#shes really just overthinking anyway dsbhjfdfs#suggestive#<- just in case lol#edit: i put suggestive in bcuz i was thinking of achts hand and not. the octos doggystylin it in the middle of the goddamn post. am i stupid
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7x10 // How Mac Got Fat
↳ Charlie & Dennis + getting high together
#iasip#it's always sunny in philadelphia#dennis reynolds#charlie kelly#charden#dennis looks....... positively lovestruck#ada's gifs#ada speaks#the continuity errors between shots in these scenes is so funny to me but i only noticed bc ive spent two hours on this gifset#anyway. in my expert opinion#this is far from the first time den's come to charlie like this#i can see this happening frequently in high school especially considering their drug of choice here is inhalants#x2 when know how charlie's relationship with them was in hs#the fact that dennis leaves his room to 'be alone' and then goes to paddy's to get high with charlie#to me indicates he doesn't *want* to be alone with his thoughts like this#when he's already overthinking and self conscious#i think contrasting this scene w mac & dee barging into his room earlier is interesting#because while mac & dee reacted with immediate disgust and asked what the fuck happened to his face#charlie's just like why is your face shiny. then repeatedly makes it clear he doesnt care about anything beyond the basics#ok cool. chemical peel caused it. no i don't want to hear why you decided to get one.#and honestly i think dennis was counting on that reaction. charlie doesn't give a shit. he's down to hang out and he doesn't ask questions.#they both want an immediate out from the pressure they both feel and most definitely do Not want to talk about it <3#stuff it down with some.......... turpentine
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before may kills me with more twst updates i need to get this out of my system
i refuse to end this month without (making an attempt to) giving jamil’s luxe couture justice
#i highkey dont know how to feel about this gang#he looks slightly off????#ah fuck it we ball#[—#twst#twisted wonderland#twst art#twst jp#twst jp spoilers#jamil viper#tapis rouge#★'-my-art#—]#also i traced over his signature like a dumbass instead of looking for whatever the font it is#but that got me overthinking about how he writes even though it's probably just a font 😭
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A "MK is Related to the Underworld Somehow. Probably." List With Commentary (And I Consider it Evidence for EAMK)
(1x08 Skeleton Key)
(LIKE CAN I PLEASE HAVE AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS SCENE. CAN I PLEASE HAVE AN EXPLANATION??? WHAT. WHY. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN GIVE HIM THE KEY IN THE FIRST PLACE.)
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(1x08 Skeleton Key)
(Idiot boy putting the skeleton key in his ear.)
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(2x03 Pig Pong Panic)
(MK + Bones. Never a good sign)
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(2x05 Minor Scale)
(Is this perhaps just LBD trying to take control of MK? Maybe. Is it also really weird how her powers interact with MK in general? For sure!)
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(2x06 Game on)
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(2x07 Shadow Play)
(Number one: The Lady Bone Demon wasn't here to provoke this, number two: MK using "blue vision" to see his friend's fate inside the lantern is equally strange!)
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(2x09 72 Transformations)
(Again, could very well be LBD trying to take control of MK here—however, it doesn't seem like she's trying to do much of anything to MK in this scene, as she's focused on spider queen. So it weirds me out and goes into this post!)
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(3x03 Smartie Kid)
(So, if the stuff in s2 was LBD affecting MK then I get it. BUT THEN WHY HAVE MORE BLUE EYES IN S3 AFTER LBD HAS ALREADY "TAKEN" MK'S POWERS AND THE STAFF. Genuinely want to know what this was meant to imply.)
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(3x12 The Corrupted King)
(LBD HAS ALREADY POSSESSED WUKONG HERE. Wukong and the Mech alone was spreading her too thin. She certainly wasn't attempting to posses MK here—so what was happening?)
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(4x01 Familiar Tales)
(The scroll ink touches MK not once, but twice this episode and it doesn't ensnare MK. The scroll touches Monkey King once and this is what happens to him: )
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(4x02 Familiar Tales)
(The scroll's ink emanates from MK, which I thought was crazy at first BUT IT THEN HAPPENS AGAIN IN 4x11)
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(4x03 The Great Tang Man)
(Soooo we see a vision of an all inked up MK, then we see the stone cracking, then we see a shot of the curse from 4x02, and THEN MK turns Tang Sanzang's golden power blue, a color associated with both LBD and the underworld in general. HM.)
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(4x06 Show Me the Monster)
(There's no hair flip so it's not MK, so it would make me think that this is an ink version of SWK next to the stone. It's weird so I'm including it!)
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(4x06 Show Me the Monster)
(So. Ink blotting out the sun, something MK/SWK are often associated with, and then pouring out of the cracked stone, which we just learned MK was born from. And then the curse takes MK's form. I'm tripping over my own conspiracy board here.)
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MK: "You're not my friend—you're NOT me!"
Curse MK: "Sure I am! I'm your best friend, well, closest at least! I know more about you than you'll even admit—to yourself, or to others."
(4x07 Pitiful Creatures)
(The curse claiming it's a part of MK is weird! The curse looking like MK in it's most weakened state is also weird! It's all weird!)
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(4x08 The Brotherhood)
(Absolutely no reason for a weird teal smudge to be there, and yet)
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(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)
(BOOM. SCROLL EMANATING FROM MK AGAIN.)
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(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)
(The broken memories flickering in the scroll are very similar to the way MK flickers in and out of monkey form: )
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(4x13 Rip and Tear)
(Scroll ink touches MK again and he does not become imprisoned inside it again. The scroll at the very least has no affect on the boy)
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And I think for now that wraps up this post!
#sincerely think MK is related to the underworld/is some sort of fucked up memory based creature#''Now I will undo the memories of this world'' hmm. Will you LBD? AND IF MK WAS YOUR ORIGINAL POWER SOURCE—I'M JUST SAYING#getting this post out before the tdp s5 trailer which I know will ruin me#Look I know the red string is strong here. But that's okay.#Sometimes you just gotta throw shit at a wall and see what sticks.#Let's play the game of ''am I noticing purposeful details'' or ''am I just overthinking it''#The game I play everyday#BUT. This would all play into eamk (eldritch abomination MK) let me tell you#And now he's like. A weird power soup with both SWK's powers and whatever other powers from the underworld/scroll#lmk#lmk MK#lego monkie kid#monkie kid#lmk theory#eamk theory
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this is timbern immediately after first kiss:
and then this is them 3 hours later:
#bernard 'insecurity issues' dowd is definitely a 'LETS FUCKING GOOOO' guy for all of 3 hours#before the realization that he's dating tim drake Wayne (tm) sets in#and tim 'nothing good ever happens to me' drake is definitely i will overthink this for 3 hours straight#before the realization that he just kissed the hottest guy he knows sets in#i am so Normal about them#tim drake#bernard dowd#timbern#dc#this is all canon btw#ik bc i was the fly on the wall when they kissed for the first time
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Welcome to the next edition of Jen's meta ramblings
I have watched the movie at least once a day since it came out and I kid you not, I see something new every time. The fact that this is Matthew López's first directoral debut is just... I'm in awe. And you can tell how much he loves the story because of the way things like this are set up and played out
In the novel, Henry and Alex are skinny dipping in the lake at night, and so I absolutely got the change in both time of day and also attire. But let's talk about that little island shall we?
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea
Every single one of us is not meant to be alone, without connection and without a link to someone else. We are parts of a whole and if we lose that... well. It's not good.
Henry is on that island, our prince who belongs to Britain and Henry Fox who thinks he has to belong to himself. The prince is forced into status and circumstance, of appearances and mindless ribbon cuttings. When he does something that means something - like the trip to the cancer ward - then he doesn't do it with cameras. I'd argue he's not the prince there, he's Henry Fox. The man who lost his father to cancer.
But this is not that meta.
Henry has shut himself off, shut himself away. He doesn't date the people he's interested in, he doesn't live his truth (and for very good and valid reasons). He has decided that while Prince Henry belongs to Britain, Henry Fox is an island.
And look who is swimming up to that island. Look who is coming out to Henry, having realised the night before that oh yeah, I do feel forever about him and so Alex swims out to that island.
And the first thing he does? He makes Henry laugh. He is silly and fun and the complete antithesis of the composed and collected Prince of Wales. And then he joins Henry, on his island.
This gorgeous overhead shot shows us that Alex is putting himself on Henry's right (protocol or his good side?) but he's also in the centre of the island. He's not on the edge of it. In the metaphor of Henry Fox's island, Alex is putting himself at the heart of it all. RIght before he lays out his heart to Henry.
The shot that broke our hearts too, along with Henry's. Because we can see the shore in the background now. We're reminded that islands are not - they cannot be fully independent. People cannot be islands and even though Alex is literally and metaphorically planting himself at Henry's side, Henry knows that this island he's formed for himself in his heart and his sense of self cannot stand if Alex is there. If Alex is with him then he is no longer an island. Henry Fox will not belong to himself and the sense of protection and self-preservation we see coming out in the Storming of Kensington is under threat.
So he bails.
The island is submerged, like the mythical Atlantis, because how do you render land useless? Drown it. How do you deal with water? Drain it away. He abandons his island and flees back to the only other space he has left - Kensington Palace - in an attempt to regroup. He drains his life of Alex and what he brings. He has to return to being the Prince of Wales because Henry Fox got too close. Because Henry Fox realised he was being loved by a man who would literally swim out to where he is.
Moment of appreciation for the shot. Matthew, you have a fucking talent and I cannot wait to see what else you do. Because our #imtaller boy looks so small here. So lost. When else have we seen someone look so small and lost?
Oh. Yeah.
When he's curling in on himself in an almost last-ditch attempt to protect himself and his boundaries from what is coming. You can see that he's no longer dry, that Alex's "shower time" has changed him. Alex brought laughter and love and water onto his island and Henry has just realised what this means. This isn't a visitor's visa. This is immigration.
Which is what makes THIS so much more. Back to our boy, drenched from the storm, plaintively asking Henry to talk to him.
Because yes, the Storming of Kensington happens during an actual storm, but by now you know I overead into everything... so once again we have Alex "swimming" out to Henry. He's dived right in and gone are the jokes, gone is the humour. He is here and he is asking to be let in and daring Henry to send him away.
This is Alex, serious and in love and following Henry to whatever landmass he is setting foot on. Henry is trying to be an island and Alex is out here going, "I'll just build another boat you fucker". A true 'ship if you will. He swam out to an island on a lake, he flew to a tiny island across an ocean. He is standing at Henry's borders and he isn't launching an offensive. He's just saying that if Henry wants to be cut off from everything then he needs to do the cutting himself.
Prince Henry felt like he belonged to Britain, Henry Fox felt like he had to belong to himself, and Alex turned up and went "nope. Mine now". (Insert additional historical quip about the English being colonised for once.) But there is still some truth in that: the Prince is part of England, and we should all belong to ourselves even in relationships. Henry just learns that the different parts of him can co-exist. Bit like how water and land can co-exist without one destroying the other.
Henry is Alex's North Star but he's also his solid ground. Insert quip about Alex colonising Henry and claiming him for his own, planting of flag, your innuendo of choice goes here. Pyramus wished there wasn't a wall - Alex straight up scaled Henry's.
There's a divergence between Prince Henry and Henry Fox, but at the heart of them both there's Henry. And this is the man that Alex sees, this is the man that Alex loves. Alex swims out to the island for Henry Fox, Alex pushes through the rain for Prince Henry. Alex holds steady in the storm of talking with King James/Queen Mary and the public.
And it started with Alex literally making his way out to Henry on an island: be that England for the Royal Wedding, a pontoon island on a lake, or knocking down Henry's walls.
To this moment. Which is very hard to grab a screenshot of, but Alex asks Henry to "take a walk" with him. This time it's Henry going to/with Alex. The fact that he's there is one thing (and a rant rather than a meta) but at this point they have each other. They belong to each other. Where one of them goes, the other one follows. Independent, together, co-existing.
Anyway. I'm sure there will be more bullshit ramblings and metas at some point. Follow me if you want more of that (but be warned: blank and empty blogs are blocked on sight) because we are not islands in this metaphorical storm of life. Let us swim out to one another, dry off with one another, and live a life with broken down borders and walls.
ETA: I now have another name to add to the thanks. Stephen Goldblatt, from the bottom of my soul, thank you
#sorry this one rambles#a lot#and I'm still not sure it fully expresses what I want it to#but I have a lot of thoughts about repressed and isolated Henry#and the use of water as a metaphor in this film#right up to the point where we have a shot of the fucking Seine before they make love#water is life and terrifying - it is beautiful and deadly#and Henry tried to exist by himself in the middle of all of that#all on his own#until Alex braved it all for him#overthinking jen is overthinking#jen is on her bullshit again#firstprince#red white and royal blue#alex claremont diaz#henry fox mountchristen windsor#prince henry of wales#rwrb#rwrb movie#otp: history huh
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Currently trying to understand and pinpoint Ron "Slider" Kerner. Who are you Slider... what are your motivations... what are your goals... what is your favourite colour... why are you in the navy...
if anyone has any concrete thoughts about slider... please share them with me... who is this man... do you think he listens to nickelback? or does he think Metallica is the greatest band of all time?
#seriously tho#like i've thought about him obviously#but not to the same extent that i've considered ice and mav (like trying to understand their motivations)#i think he's a november scorpio (which isn't very helpful...) slider does not give a fuck about astrology#he expresses his masculinity in a very intense way (like all the characters do) (“so is my johnson” line)#and he's protective of Ice (“that's mr.iceman to you” and arm around ice's shoulder all the time)#but these traits all exist with being attached to something or something else (the navy and Ice)#so like... who is he.... outside of these people and things..#am i accidently reducing a complex character cuz of my own lack of understanding/similarities with him (my biggest fear)#idk am i overthinking this? yes probably#HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP!#top gun 1986#top gun#ron slider kerner#slider#new challenge: stopthatfool get out of the tags (impossible)
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so like we know that seam Knows Things. tangential to what the secret bosses know right. just without the Brain Breaking right. they seem to know that You can’t hear them and clarifies that their name is pronounced shawm, because it’s spelled seam. and if you have known me for any period of time you know sweet cap’n cakes are My Favorite Deltarune Characters. now Thus Far capn and sweet havent said anything indicative of Knowing Things, but kk says this when this bit of the menu pulls up
why can he see that part of the menu. why does he acknowledge that it’s in his face. and.
their four second song that they perform for you(just linking the video instead of embedding it bc it’s at 8:43. this “version” is not on the deltarune ost and I couldn’t find any isolated video of Just their performance) It Is Literally Just the mtt resort bed lump music, which is called “cool beat”.
youtube
why do they have music that was from undertale. music that was environmental in undertale, no one In-Universe made it. and then preceding this. scc have their Own Song, called “cool beat”.
youtube
they have two “cool beat”s. why are they claiming an environmental song from the Other Universe as their own and then calling one of their actually original songs by the stolen song’s title.
#‘you’re overthinking this’ POINTING AT YOU ACCUSINGLY no the FUCK i am not#deltarune#scc#words from the monarch#also why i think k_k is pronounced cay cay bc if it were cake ithink he would’ve said so#if it were meant to be pronounced in a way Contrary to what you would reasonably assume based on letters alone He Would Have#He Would Have Said So#Because Seam Does
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LONDON THOR AND DEREK LUH AS JORDAN LI IN GEN V
#genvsource#gen v#genvedit#jordan li#theboysedit#usertoph#usermargaret#london thor#chaoticroad#tvgifs#tvedit#*#i am so critical and overthink every single thing#so im just going to post this as it is before i drive myself even more crazy#yay jordan!!!!#wanted to make one more about their use of the word fuck but i didnt have it in me
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okay so like, this episode especially is when the fruity four physical space/touching barrier really breaks and i love it and there’s so many parallels between steddie & ronance and i NEVER EVEN NOTICED this last gif moment…EDDIE’S HAND ON STEVE’S SHOULDER AND THEN AS SOON AS HE REALISES/STEVE LOOKS AT HIM HE PULLS AWAY AND YOU CAN SEE IT IN HIS FACE HE’S LIKE SHIT BUT STEVE KEEPS LOOKING AT HIM LIKE HE FORGOT THEY JUST MANAGED TO COMMUNICATE W THE OTHERS I CANT—
#bless you gif creators 🙏🏻 we love you#i can’t take this#please#they deserved so much more#just one kiss duffers#ik eddie was overthinking this#and so was steve but like in opposite ways#eddie was like oh god i fucked up#and steve was like wait i should have made a move#steddie#steve x eddie#gayer things#ronance#steve harrington#eddie munson#stranger things#st4
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#house md#gregory house#james wilson#hilson#screencap#s07e16 “Out of the Chute”#god hes so desperate to live together again#what a bitch#“the light has left my huge apartment i bought for us when you moved out ”#<- emotionally and visually btw#s6 - brightly lit in most scenes -> s7 - pretty dim when house visits -> s8 - depression time! lights are rarely on and set at night#this fucking show wont leave my head im overthinking the apartment symbolism girl#because of vaguely related scene#might scrub through the screencaps and make this its own post and recycle tags lmao
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Buddie being definitely and completely platonic and heterosexual totally not flirting at all no tension whatsoever
#911#911edit#911hiatus2023#911 abc#911 fox#my edit#buddie#buddieedit#911 on fox#eddie diaz#evan buckley#otp: you don't need to pretend with me#usercam#<- cam did wonders for the quality of my gifs <3#anyway i had funny thought bubbles to add all around#but i started to overthinking it and then i reached gif ten and went i cant do this#but i had already colored and cut and subtitled everything so you get this longass post anyway#thanks#long post#im fucking so hard with this coloring on buck#ugh#someone give me a heterosexual explanation please#911verse
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Complicated - Ghost/Soap [FIC]
[AN: I don't usually write fics and this definitely won't become a trend, but I had a major brainworm today and had to get it down on the page.
Relevant content tags: miscommunication, mutual pining, ghost being an idiot, angst angst ANGST IF THIS DOESN'T HURT THEN I DIDN'T DO A GOOD ENOUGH JOB.]
ghostsoap but where simon, hurt by a history of shitty relationships and the residual trauma of watching his father destroy his mother, sabotages his own relationship with soap out of fear, terrified by how strongly he feels for the man.
--
He ends it just as it's supposed to start.
It's a mistake from the beginning, a culmination of adrenaline running high after a job well done, just the slightest buzz of alcohol and Johnny's voice in his ear the entire night. It has him running hot, running stupid, but all he can think of in the moment is how good it feels to kiss Soap so hard it hurts. They tumble into Soap's room in a mess of limbs and he shoves Soap down onto his bed, gets his mouth on him, his hand on him and the sounds he makes, fuck, the feeling of his hands in his hair as he presses his teeth into the curve of his ass-
it's so good that it's heady, makes him more delirious than a fully stocked bar could and he's stuck in the haze of Johnny, Johnny, Johnny and it's only when he hears how he moan his name ("Si, oh fuck - Simon!) as he cums that he realises-
-he loves him.
the realisation opens up a pit in his stomach. it's like someone just dropped him into an ice bath and suddenly he's seeing this in all it's naked, horrifying glory. how he's in his own sergeant's bed, how Soap is petting at his face, almost sleepily, dazed, sated, smiling at him like he's hung the fucking moon and stars and fuck. Fuck.
Ghost shoots to his feet so fast it's almost comical, methodically striding over to where he discarded his clothes when he stumbled into the room (when he wasn't thinking) to drag on his pants, his shirt, his fucking mask (goddamnit). Soap watches him from the bed, his eyebrows lifted in a half-amused half-confused quirk.
"Where you off to?"
"Back to my room."
"Y'know, most people like to linger after they do the deed. Bask in the afterglow."
Soap stands to cross the room and Ghost almost swears. He can't find his boots.
"You have done this before, right L.T?" Soap says it to tease, but a hint of sincerity creeps in, a tentative olive branch in face of whatever thing he must think Ghost is doing.
"I'm not a blushing virgin if that's what you're asking."
"It's not. I'm asking about your history."
Ghost freezes. The pit in his stomach widens into a black fucking hole.
"...I have one."
Soap whistles. Ghost, having finally caught sight of his remaining boot, yanks it on almost fast enough to tear through the sole.
"That bad huh? What happened?"
"Things got complicated."
"And this - this isn't complicated?" Soap asks with a smile. Ghost stares at him for a moment, as the dawning reality of his situation sinks its claws into him. It is. God, it might just be the most complicated things have ever been for him. Fucking hell.
Ghost turns away, does up his laces and gets to his feet.
"Not yet."
"Yet? What's that supposed to mean?" A hint of defensiveness is starting to creep into Soap's voice. Ghost needs to get out of here before that hint burrows under his skin and convinces him to do something idiotic, like get back into bed with the (still naked) man who he just realised he's in too deep with.
"Nothing. See you topside." is all he says as he takes a step towards the door, and then suddenly Soap is there, blocking his view and his stride with a hand on his chest.
"Simon, what's wrong? You're...something's up." he says, and the clench of his heart at the sound of his concern has Ghost gritting his teeth.
"What, because I don't want to spend the night?"
"The fuck?" Soap laughs out, almost incredulous. "I didn't say that, I j-just -" he stutters, Ghost's mind almost coos and he wants to rip that voice out of his head and suffocate it under a pillow. "What is wrong with you? We fuck once and now I'm chopped liver?"
Johnny stares at him, a crease deepening between his eyebrows, a slight lift to his lips like he's wanting this to be a joke, something in passing, not what he's beginning to understand it is. And the fear, the anger, at Johnny for making him feel this way, for overcomplicating things, at himself for letting him in - it spills out like something poisonous in Ghost's throat, black and putrid and smelling like his father's breath on his worst nights.
Ghost fixes him with a glare.
"Is it really so impossible for you to understand this meant more to you than it did to me, Sergeant?"
He regrets the words the moment they leave his mouth but they're out there. Hanging in the air, frozen. Soap stares at him, unmoving.
"...What?" he says in a rasp like in that moment he's giving him a chance to take it back. But Ghost's throat is closed up with something thick and the moment passes and Johnny's expression shutters, eyes blinking, his lips curling up into a wry mirthless grin. He shakes his head at the floor, a hollow laugh jerking out of his chest.
"Alright then," he mutters almost too quiet to hear and then he looks back up at Ghost and the smile falls. "Get out."
"Soap-"
"Get the fuck out."
Ghost is more or less shoved into the corridor and the door slams behind him with a jarring finality. The silence that falls afterwards feels emptier somehow and for a second, he considers going back inside. Knocking at the door, begging Johnny to let him in, apologising, saying it was all a mistake. Saying that he loved him.
But he doesn't. He hasn't got the parts to do this right. He knows that. His father knew it. Every relationship he's ever had knew it, knew there wasn't enough material to build anything in the pit that was Simon Riley. Staying, giving either of them hope, letting this thing fester into something he'd have to watch die one day -
- this was a mercy. Soap would find someone better. He'd understand in the end.
Simon walks back to his room.
--
Inside, Soap waits until he can't hear Ghost's footsteps anymore before he slides down the length of the door and digs the heels of his palms into his eyes. His stupid, burning eyes.
"Stupid," he hisses quietly to himself. "You stupid, fucking idiot."
--
The next day they're called into a briefing and run into each other in the hall. It's tense. Ghost stares down at the circles under Soap's eyes, how those baby blues widen then flatten into something (colder, his thoughts unhelpfully supply) simpler.
"Sergeant," Ghost says in acknowledgement. Business like always. They've always worked well together. After this passes, after Soap...recovers from whatever shit got into his head that Simon fucking Riley was worth any part of him -
"Lieutenant."
Soap's eyes flick away, forward, and he brushes past him into the briefing room, leaving Ghost standing out in the hallway. 'Lieutenant'. It's his title, there shouldn't be anymore to it. But -
"Let's get ourselves a win yeah, L.T?"
There's something tight in his chest. Ghost clenches his jaw.
When he walks inside the room, Soap is far over on the right side, sitting next to Gaz, chatting animatedly. He doesn't pause when Ghost walks past, doesn't even look as he settles into his seat. Price shoots him a glance from the front. Ghost stares resolutely ahead.
--
"What the fuck did you do, Simon? Shit in his breakfast?" Price levels an accusatory stare his way once they're alone in his office and instinctively, Ghost bristles. And then the look on Soap's face last night comes back to him, the rasp of his "...What?". That last chance he didn't take.
He deflates, and pours himself a glass of the whiskey sitting on top of his captain's desk.
"I ended something before it could start."
Price's eyes soften, almost imperceptibly.
"Oh, son. You didn't."
"It's for both our sakes," Ghost says with a finality, and downs the glass in one go.
#[insert angel emoji]#simon is so fucked up emotionally#im sorry for hurting both him and johnny in this#not really#but also i do think ghost would be his own worst enemy in this sort of situation#motherfucker would overthink the shit out of a relationship#anyway feel free to continue this if y'all feel like it#my writing frenzy ended where the fic ended and i dont think writing a continuation is in the cards for a while#ghostsoap#fic#angst#simon ghost riley#john soap mactavish#giragi writes
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Dunno if this is weird to say but I LOVE how much Extremely Intense And Gay friendship art you make? I don't really see a lot of people pointing out that sometimes romantic and platonic are really blurred in dynamics let alone see people writing for those? And it's really cool to see them in your art and shit. Sometimes you're also in love with your best friend and best friend with your partner and you date your best friend or you call your lover your best friend and it's just. Not a strictly divided thing! It's fun to see those dynamics actually shown in something and Danganronpa has SO many relationships that Aren't strictly platonic or romantic or familial. Sometimes love is just Weird and uncategorized and you can't put a label on it!
i don't think it's weird at all, I'm happy to hear it 🥰 idk what to say that I haven't gushed before, but generally I think relationships are as diverse as the people in them and that's something to celebrate! (And I'm a lot happier thinking this way)
#Ultimately I think it's a soup of so many different factors#At the core I am a huge overthinker and trying to define any of it made me throw the whole binary out the window lol#If you can't make it make sense then FUCK IT it's just one of those soups.#not an art
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BotW Link Being a Quiet (and Sleepy) Drunk
(A/N:) Playing TotK and immediately my soul is being recaptured by Linky Winky
(Edit:) This draft is almost a year old! I started it the day TotK came out, lol
Contains: GN!Reader, could be interpreted as either botw or totk link, him being CUTE
Word Count: 474
Link's face pressed into the crook of your neck, having migrated a bit since he'd put his head on your shoulder earlier in the evening.
You smiled and lightly stroked his hair, which earned you a hum--the vibrations of which you could feel in your neck.
It wasn't like Link wasn't affectionate, he was incredibly affectionate when he's certain it's not unwanted. However, even with your constant prompting and encouragement for him to be more open with his displays of affection, he still always kept a respectful distance when you were around others.
You didn't take it personally, you knew it was just the way he was; and a part of you liked that his affection was reserved for just the two of you--that you were the only one who got to see him like that.
Still, that wasn't to say that you didn't like when Link was more open about his love for you, which was something often brought out by inebriation.
He's a quiet drunk, just as he is sober, and one might not think he's affected much at all by the alcohol, but you can tell.
You can see how his eyes linger on you for longer than usual, notice the clinginess that usually comes with him being in that state. And one thing that you loved was how he became more vocal.
Yes, he was a quiet drunk, but less quiet than when he is sober; and you relish in his soft sighs and hums as he nuzzles into your neck, unbothered by the presence of the others.
Zelda smiled at the sight of you two, but the others didn't seem to take notice. Sidon and Yunobo were in deep conversation, while Riju was idly talking about jewelry to Zelda.
Link wrapped an arm around your waist, hand settling on your hip. He seemed intent on keeping his face in your neck, and you recalled him once telling you that you always smelled good.
"Hmm..." Link sighed, squeezing your hip. You continued to stroke his hair.
Even though he became more daring when he was drunk, he'd still never touch you in a sexual way in even a semi-public context. You knew he just wanted to be closer to you. (Sometimes you wondered in amusement, if Link would attach himself to you, given the opportunity.)
Link looked sleepier than anything, and you brushed gently along his ears, coming to a decision.
"Everyone, it's been amazing to meet with you all and catch up, but I think it's about time we turn in for the night." You smiled, helping Link up, who neglected to let go of you. Whether due to trouble keeping upright or simply a desire to touch you, you didn't know.
Not that it really mattered. All you were worried about now was getting your boy to bed.
#link x reader#(not pictured: me struggling for far too long about what Riju would hypothetically be talking about)#my first thought was feminism but i was like no that's too on the nose#what gerudo woman wouldn't have majorly feminist ideals#i'll admit jewelry wasn't much better but...wtv#i'm overthinking it#i also feel like this flows weird but fuck it we ball#hope yall like this old drabble#botw x reader#totk x reader#botw link x reader#totk link x reader#loz x reader#loz link x reader
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