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cuddlytogas · 2 months

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So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :(#I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

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fudgecake-charlie · 5 months

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In no way canon to secret life whatsoever, i just wanted to draw a background in aggie and felt self indulgent

cropped ver:

#secret life smp #slsmp #desert duo #grian #goodtimeswithscar #what can i say. i'm insane about them right now #the wheelchair is so not accurate (the seat is too short) BUT i had a fun time referencing this e-trike wheelchair so idm lol #aggie.io my beloved <3 #no close ups— too small to put real detail into the characters but its ok i've already put around three hours into this thing somehow #art out the oven #edit: added a cropped version actually i was lying /lh not a closeup but still

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taiistired · 2 months

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i need you more than anything

#taevi.png #life series #scott smajor #jimmy solidarity #solidarity gaming #flower husbands #dangthatsalongname #trafficshipping #so guess who watched scott's and jimmy's 3rd life and is now insane about jimmy's death and the impact it had on scott #it's so interesting about scott's grief in 3l especially in the moments when he learns jimmy is dead and how he chooses to express it #i'm still thinking about that afterlife scene and how it's so deeply intergal to scott's character #everyone say thank you to bree for getting me into fh i will never view them the same again #taevi have a consistent scott design challenge instant fail #blood tw #blood cw

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introspectivememories · 3 months

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too many of you guys think nico is the loser and not lewis for letting the divorce go on for so long. like they're both losers about each other. emotionally constipated idiots who can't talk about their toxic homoerotic friendship that imploded on itself like 8 years ago and are now making it everyone else's problem. yeah nico's on television or in beer gardens talking about lewis all the time but like every other month some reporter is like "lewis, what's your favorite moment in your career?" and lewis no hesitation is like "oh man, karting, y'know? everything was simpler then" and then spends another six months skirting around nico's name. like this whole thing they're doing in the media isn't some kinda extended foreplay for them. they're both still pressing on the bruise to make sure it's still there!!! every few months, they're literally just asking on public television, does it still hurt for you like it does for me? and like clockwork, someone will release new information about them or one of them will say something about each other (in my heart, he's still my best friend/yes... and teammate) and the answer will remain the same, yes, of course, always.

#lewis is unarguably more famous than nico. like i feel like this a fact. and yet every other day nico is in the press saying some crazy shit #about lewis. if i was famous i woulda shut that shit down soo long ago. my ex-bf is in the press talkin bout me constantly??? that feels #like such bad pr and yet!!! lewis has not done anything. why? cause he likes it!!! cause they've never moved on from the 1st moment they #broke each other's hearts. like this is genuinely insane.#im always so nervous to post my thoughts on brocedes cause so many of you were here b4 me and have a better understanding on them #and like being a wrong is like a death sentence to me but still please tell me if i got them completely wrong #i have a lot of thoughts on lewis and his reluctance to talk about nico... most of them being that one quote from emma #if i loved you less i might be able to talk about it more #ok obligatory disclaimer: a lot of this is hyperbole. i don't think that they're asking lewis that ? every other month #but there are like at least 5 interviews where he talks about karting like they're his most precious memories #so make of that what you will #and obv i don't know these people but as someone who's brain chemistry has been permanently changed by them #i think i'm allowed to not only project onto them but also make stupid little posts analyzing them #anyway yeah #f1 #lewis hamilton #nico rosberg #brocedes

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strrwbrrryjam · 2 months

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"we need more complex female characters," you guys can't handle molly o'shea, mary gillis, abigail roberts, sadie adler, tilly jackson, marybeth gaskill, karen jones or susan grimshaw.

#karen tilly and marybeth dont get it as much people are usually quite kind or just completely forget about them #but they are included too. with susan molly mary sadie or abigail they get the worst treatment #being called either a bitch whiny mean asking too much emotional etc #i can understand why people can't handle susan. sometimes i can't handle susan #when i see her sometimes interact with the girls or remember the fact that she killed molly i'm genuinely disgusted but she's more than tha #there are layers to her. she's like dutch yet people still like him and try their damnedest to defend him #people might be surprised by sadie being included too but god the hate that she gets from mostly men for being 'overconfident' is insane #you have complex female characters yet you refuse to either give them a thought or completely disregard them as one negative quality #and refuse to recognize that they are just as complex as the men in this game #treat them as such #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 molly o'shea #molly o'shea #rdr2 susan grimshaw #susan grimshaw #rdr2 sadie adler #sadie adler #rdr2 abigail roberts #abigail roberts #rdr2 mary gillis #mary gillis #rdr2 tilly jackson #tilly jackson #rdr2 karen jones #karen jones #rdr2 mary beth gaskill #mary beth gaskill #rdr2 van der linde gang #van der linde gang

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liauditore · 5 days

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how many belts and buckles does she need someone save me.

#hermitaday #geminitay fanart #geminitay #hermitcraft fanart #hermitblr #my art #gem #tubby u were so right about long unkempt hair suiting gem she feels so in her element #i still draw her in the braid pre-secret life for reasons I haven't quite figured out. I'm sure it's thematically significant somehow #anyway ohh my god this skin is so detailed help #joe hills was in a TSHIRT #gem this time ft. her freckles that I have forgotten to draw every other time #in my heart she's always had them #as much as pirates smp was not my thing the au potential is so awesome #and unfortunately this gem skin specifically sends me down an insanity spiral that I don't like the look of #idk I like to think she's a bounty hunter. her outfit is cobbled together from past kills like trophies #hence the multiple belts and mismatched stuff #including the shawl thing that i like to think was ripped to pieces and then she'd sewn back together #realised after i finished drawing that this kind of comes with the implication she either killed scott or someone else from house denholm #cus the blue coat thing really does look like what he wore but. shrugs.#anyway yeah that aside woo season 10 gem!!!!!#i hope joel murders her again

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noxious-fennec · 7 months

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Hands are too shaky these days

#this is old art from july that i never got around to posting. think of it as a surprise treat :)#i wish i had the energy or the creative drive to draw more them i am still insane about them but idk idk #drawing things that are at least canon adjacent is taxing. idk. would you guys like if i went off the hook with it?#oh btw dw bout me guys I'm alright and when i say stuff like this^^^ im not like forcing myself to draw or anything #I've got a healthy relationship with these stuff i like to think. nust helps when there's extra motivation #anyway you didn’t ask for this rant uhhhh loss of fine motor skill post revival (re: disability) my beloved #hope you're doing swell and that you enjoy <3 #dsmp fanart #cwilbur #cquackity #my art #ctntduo #fennec.art

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eyes-of-nine · 1 year

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truly what a guy

#malevolent #malevolent podcast #arthur lester #arthur malevolent #john doe #john malevolent #my art #ahfdgfghsdd i have so many important things to do but these two have overtaken all of my waking thoughts so i'm fucked to say the least #adgfd i just wanna talk about them with someone but no one i know has the energy for that 12h long infodump #straight up today was my first truly no work day in a few weeks and what did i do? spent half the day figuring out how i want to draw arthur #still not sure if this the direction i wanna take his design in but somehow along the process he ended up as like my ideal look on masc days #tbh i don't have the time to unpack whatever that says about me ywy #john's design is very much still a first draft but i can't think about it too much or i might just actually go insane #this podcast makes me unwell(affectionate)#the universe is so evil for not letting me just draw them all day long ywy #in an ideal world it would be no diploma no uni applications only malevolent #.....i'm gonna stop with the rambling now #so yeah go listen to malevolent

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juha-art · 5 months

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a redraw of this comic from last year, here's to another year of being sad about these two

#the adventure zone #taz balance #the adventure zone balance #taako tacco #lucretia taz #taz lucretia #taz fanart #taz #the zone cast #juha-art #comics #haven't drawn something taz related in a while but i'm still insane about them #wishing all the taz enjoyers a good year <3

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morethanwonderful · 3 months

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Sorry but I cannot stop thinking about DirkJake in the epilogues. Not even them during the actual body of the epilogues, but everything that's implied about their relationship over the seven years between them winning the game and John's choice.

Like, Dirk and Jake dated for five months and broke up when they were sixteen years old. And ever since then, for the past seven years, they have apparently been caught in this bizarre on and off situationship. Dirk is so bitter about Jake in Meat, and we never even get told what happened between them directly. We just get little hints and gestures toward what went down.

We know that Dirk and Jake were hooking up at some point over the past seven years. We don't even know whether they actually tried again at a relationship at some point or if they just had sex a couple of times, but we know it was something. We know it was enough for Dirk to consider himself heartbroken over. We know that Jake has apparently spent his young adulthood having ridiculous amounts of sex with ridiculous numbers of people, which means there probably wasn't any long-term monogamy. (Not that people in committed relationships can't agree to also have sex with other people, but we both know Dirk Strider is too possessive for that). We know that Dirk continued to be overbearing enough that what Jake wants most (when not mind-controlled) is to feel as independent from Dirk as possible.

And like, the implications about the dynamic when they are together, christ. Dirk narrates in Jake's head about the last time they "didn't hook up," which "didn't happen," and the way he says it makes me certain that "this didn't happen" is a Jake line that Dirk's bitter about. Dirk also, after the last time they hooked up, swore to never enter Jake's house again. Out loud, dramatically, to Jake. Worst of all, there's one line in Dirk's villain monologue toward the end of Meat that implies he's faked and/or played up being suicidal before just as a ploy to get in Jake's pants.

Hell, in Candy, Jane straight-up calls them codependent. She's not exactly an objective arbiter, but still.

Jake and Dirk's dynamic in that seven year gap is so fascinatingly dysfunctional and bizarre. They can't stand each other they're never even dating they're obsessed with each other they're having messy sex on the regular they're "friends" they're breaking up all the time. They do an incredibly sweaty and homoerotic wrestling TV show together five nights a week. They're celebrities. Jake has the most famous dick in the troll kingdom and Dirk barely leaves his workshop. I want to study them.

#in my heart I still think Jake is aro (tho not ace)#and Dirk is. well #Dirk is not capable of doing anything casually #ESPECIALLY not a relationship lmao #I'm obsessed with them #homestuck #dirkjake #dirkjake tag #homestuckposting #this isn't even meta I'm just listing canon facts about them bc they make me feel insane

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punkkrat · 2 years

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Cat cafe au I came up w my friend

#yoshiden #yoshida hirofumi #denji hayakawa #chainsaw man #csm #my art #worry not! I'm still insane about them #nayuta

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akai-anna · 4 months

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project "i'm totally normal about this guy and his wardrobe"

a work in progress

#detective conan #kudou shinichi #the detective gremlin #manga #the outfit saga #yeah like i'm obsessed with his outfits #if i go down in history as the Outfit Person for kudou shinichi i'll be happy #just a sneak peek of the project bc... god he has so many outfits #and i'm insane for wanting to do them #and also other characters too... bc i care about them too. like ran. and the elementary squad. and heiji and kazuha.#next reread is going to be slow but it'll be worth it #my stuff #detco posting #detco reading #also note bc now i'm more awake: i'M still working on the... composition? display?#i'M not 100% satisfied with it still looking for that CLICK in my brain that says THAT'S IT #but well. THIS IS A START

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avatar-aaang · 12 days

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Crystal is such a fantastic character bc shes missing her memories and one of the first things she does is try to be mean to Charles, who is just so delighted by her anyway, and when she realizes that she might have been disliked before, she kinda of just starts over.

and she starts off being by being so kind by demanding they help a girl half way around the world, and they oblige. and then! she wipes the girl's memory of the house so she'll never have to suffer the nightmares the way Crystal does.

she's working through some shit, but every time she comes out the other side having tried to be a better person and trying to help her friends and correct mistakes.

and when she finds out who she is? she is horrified by what she sees and wants nothing more than to get away from that. and she still thinks she's a horrible person bc of what she's done and how her parents react to her calling them. she doesn't realize that you're not your past actions, and just bc she was awful then does not mean she has to continue to be that way.

she wants away from charles and edwin and niko bc she doesn't want them to know her like that. even tho they've never known her like that, and they never will, bc Crystal has changed so much as her time as an amnesiac and she is constantly trying to be a better person.

anyway stan Crystal, she wants to be kind, and her journey from being a bitch to being That Bitch is so fantastic, I can't wait to see what she does next

#personal #dead boy detectives #hashtag sorry i keep wanting to analyze everything but i'm on my third rewatch now and i just keep thinking about Them (the beloveds)#like this show is so good and it's really driving me insane #i haven't had a fixation in a minute so i'm just riding this out #crystal palace is so fascinating to me like. she definitely still can be mean but it usually has a purpose #bc she's tired of everyone else being stupid lol #and also being a teenager will do that to you #source: i was a teenager once. that shit was stupid af

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