(ramble month 15-16)

[ever_neutral]

Quickly quickly because PEOPLE INSIST ON EXISTING IRL:

[5 fave gender-fuckery characters; for upupa-epops]I'm interpreting "gender fuckery" broadly fyi. It's not that the following characters TOTALLY UPEND gender norms but that certain elements of their presentation subvert what one usually would expect. In alphabetical order b/c that's the way I roll

Comments

[youcallitwinter]

LISTEN, LET ME LOVE YOU. I AM FEELING BAD THAT WE HAVE SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON AND I'M MIA. YOU AND ELEONORE ARE THE WORST TBQH, AND I NEED TO LISTEN TO THAT PLAYLIST YESTERDAY OMG also listen, I mucho appreciate that it's an audio playlist, because my first intro to any music HAS to be audio for me, the audio-visual round and my mad love for it comes later after I have been audio-ed, it is a thing.

ALSO, I HAVE NOT SEEN THE HEIRS FINALE :\\\\\\\\\\ But dude, I saw the 19th episode and Ki-ae/Hee-nam = MOTHERFUCKING OTP (I just had a total 6-year-old giggly moment at my own use of motherfucking right here, um). Like, this show did lots of things and lots of interesting character and relationships EXCEPT THE OTP but that is one kind of relationship that I literally cannot remember ever having seen being given space in anything I've ever seen. I mean bromances are par for the course, every kind of media has now caught on that bromances work 4 every1 for some reason, but to have two middle-aged women bro-ing it out IN THE BEST WAYS

[ever_neutral]

SHE'S ALIVE

also listen, I mucho appreciate that it's an audio playlist, because my first intro to any music HAS to be audio for me, the audio-visual round and my mad love for it comes later after I have been audio-ed, it is a thing.

I knew it.

I'd advise saving the playlist later as aggressive retro dance-pop isn't conducive to exam studying (are your exams still a thing???) BUT ONCE YOU DO, YOU MUST REPORT TO ME YOUR IMPRESSIONS. (NAMELY: DO YOU LOVE TRACK 11 OR DO YOU NOT LOVE TRACK 11 BECAUSE ELEONORE AND I HAD AN EXPLOSIVE BATTLE OVER WHICH BALLAD TO INCLUDE. WORDS WERE SAID.) (I WON, OBVIOUSLY.)

(I just had a total 6-year-old giggly moment at my own use of motherfucking right here, um).
Never change

[red_satin_doll]

it means a lot to me that Buffy didn't have to be masculinised in order to be the hero of the story. Her strength was in silly womanly things like emotions. And regardless of how you feel about the finale being PROBLEMATIC, I think we should all agree that taking an axe to everything the Council of Patriarchs stood for was in itself to be endorsed.

Oh my YES. My friend Kendra finally watched WTTH/The harvest (at my frequent urgings), loved Buffy immediately and specifically remarked on the fact that she knew what nail polish was in vogue that season, and being able to slay vamps.

The thing that surprises me is when people in fandom Buffy described as "too masculine" because she's "angry/bitchy/mean to Spike/rescues Spike (so which is it? damned if she does and damned if she doesn't.) But one of my pet peeves is when people take an interesting, complex character and reduce them to a single characteristic, which happens in every fandom I've seen to both male and female characters.

[ever_neutral]

\o/ Good on your Kendra, she may continue.

Ha, the gender fuckery in Buffy/Spike is one of my favorite things about them too. (And it's not just Spike -- she was also always rescuing Angel and Riley too). Buffy is compelling because she is a mix of both "masculine" and "feminine", the end.

[red_satin_doll]

Kendra is an amazing woman btw; half my age and she's one of my heros and role models in so many ways. And I know she's going to love Spike; he's right up her alley re: the sorts of male protagonists she often writes.

(And it's not just Spike -- she was also always rescuing Angel and Riley too)

I love the parallels in the way she "rescues" and cares for all three of her men when they are wounded in or over their hearts: the matching imagery is gorgeous because it says so much about Buffy as "the Hand" in terms of caregiver as well as warrior (again the mix of masculine/feminine); and as their "Heart". And which of them in the end is best able to accept her and what she has to offer without feeling "unmanned": "more than" rather than "less".

[pocochina]

(1) Yes, excellent gender-fuck list! I like that *some* of them are emotional basket-cases and some aren't, WHAT A CONCEPT OMG.

(2) ANNE ♥

[ever_neutral]

(1) lol, glad you approve.
(2) ANNE INDEED ♥

[eowyn_315]

I APPROVE OF THESE CHOICES. Formative bitch, indeed.

[ever_neutral]

Happy to get the other Eowyn's seal of approval. ;)

[woobloo]

WHAT A GOOD

[ever_neutral]

:D

Buffy. THE PLAY BETWEEN MASCULINE AND FEMININE YES YES. Like, she is ~blonde and likes ~boys and ~shopping and beyond that, she identifies so strongly as "just a girl." And yet she so often acts the masculine role esp. with her relationships and she definitely embodies the angsty action hero trope (in the best way possible) and ugh. She's just... the legitimate best ok.

Preeeeeach. The ~angsty action hero~ trope is possibly my favorite part?? Sorry not sorry but I eat up all the brooding about being the ~chosen one because the fact that EVERYTHING IS ABOUT THIS TINY BLONDE SUPERHERO in itself is fuckery to the max.

Now I'm curious about these other books that were more formative. SOME BOOKS THEY MUST HAVE BEEN.

And really, has there ever been a more romantic moment then the bashing of a slate over a bemused teenage boy's head? *stars in eyes*

Surely not. OTP.

JO MARCH!!!!!!!!! ;________;