In uksies, Spot Conlon is referred to exclusively with they/them pronouns ie:
“When I get there, there was Spot and all their cronies…”
“You seen Spot Conlon right, what did they say?”
“Sure we seen ‘em.” “Yeah them and about 20 of their gang.”
Now one might believe this is a choice on the directors part to keep the surprise of the Brooklyn newsies being girls, but in actuality this is showcasing a non-binary Spot Conlon, ruler of Brooklyn. In this essay, I will—
if you’ve been following me for a while, you know i absolutely hate dwvey being seen as the “mom” friend of the group. there’s a lot wrong about it- david is too new to the group to ever be seen as a maternal figure, for instance- but it is so so SO prevalent in fics, particularly those taking inspiration from livesies.
but west endsies is smashing that trope to bits and let me talk about why.
as we know i have not seen west endsies but. BUT. from what i have heard and how it has been explained to me….. davey is no longer giving mom friend energy to the extent that ben fank unknowingly gave, because ryan plays him so weird and quirky as the show goes on. and i am just calling that an absolute WIN for jacnation
like i dont think ben fank intended to play him as mom-friendy, i think most of that is misconstrued by fanon seeing davey in a way he’s not intended to be seen, but from what i’ve heard about ryan’s performance, he’s way too awkward and shaking-like-a-leaf-ish to be seen as the “””mother””” of the newsies and i am so fucking HAPPY about it
bc even ryan himself said that as the show goes on, he starts playing davey weirder and weirder and you can see that This davey is just another teenager who wants friends and gets them in the form of brotherhood. this davey knows what the right thing is, and he does it, no matter how reluctant he may be. he’s not scared, per se, but he’s just iffy on the whole thing until he gets his stride in act II.
i think @jack-kellys put it best when they said:
now bear in mind again i bave not seen the production but just based on everything ive heard about this davey. this is the conclusion ive come to and as an AMFD (anti-mom-friend-davey) supporter, it is what is keeping me going in these trying times
When Albert first joined the newsies he was a loose cannon. They were all rowdy, they're teenage boys after all, but Albert was more than boisterous, he was angry.
He was angry to the point that the others were somewhat scared when one of the littles approached him complaining that he couldn't sleep. They expected him to be brushed off at best, shoved off at worst. Nobody expected Al to pick him up, hoist him over his shoulder until he squealed with laughter and haul him off for a bedtime story.
Jack, showing Davey and Les around: And this is Racetrack. He can fix your wounds, sew your clothes, cook, somewhat clean, dance, play the harmonica and the spoons...
Jack: He's sort of like our "jack-of-all-trades".
Crutchie, under his breath: More like jackass-of-all-trades.