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batsarebetterthanpeople · 8 months

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I want to write a meta on Stede Bonnet of Our Flag Means Death and internalized homophobia. A lot of this is going to be a rehash of something I said to an anon back in october of 2022 but I feel like it deserves to be put out without rancid anon takes attached.

Our Flag Means Death as a show is trying to do a deconstruction of toxic masculinity. I feel very comfortable in saying that seeing as David Jenkins had "A lot of what we're taught about what it means to be a man is wrong" and a show about gay men with a thesis like that is necessarily also deconstructing homophobia, even if it doesn't center homophobia, which ofmd does not, it keeps it in just out of frame at all times, because it prefers to center queer joy. However that doesn't mean it's not there and I want to talk about the one place where it exists that I feel like people don't really touch on.

Stede is a character that comes from a background of wealth, of rigid adherence to social norms that he was never able to fully fit into. There are rules for what men do and what women do and those rules must be obeyed and Stede learns this the hard way, by getting tied in a boat and having things thrown at him for picking flowers. By being bullied relentlessly for being soft and weak. Under such conditions you can’t not internalize those rules.

Stede also is very insecure, in episode 2 it's established that he struggles with feelings of inadequacy. A lot of Stede’s guilt comes from his inability to preform the roles of husband and father, roles which were thrust upon him without his consent and stand in opposition to his identity as a gay man, at least in the 1700s. Stede considers himself a coward for his inability to preform these rolls. Stede is unable to forgive himself for being unable to fit into the heterosexual expectations that society as placed on him.

Blackbeard is also a hypermasculine figure. A role that Ed finds himself unable to fit into. That’s why Ed and Stede seem to be in the same place when they first meet. They’re both trying to break out of these rigid boxes that have been forced upon them. Blackbeard is less heterosexual, more specific, but it’s still a distinctly male expectation which is tied up in cultural ideals about masculinity, especially non-white masculinity. And the whole show Izzy, a gender conforming character who seems to go out of his way to talk down to any man he perceives as even a little bit soft, is trying to force Ed into it, and when he tries to imply that Ed isn’t Blackbeard enough he does it by emasculating him

Ed is open, at least when he's made to feel like he's in a safe environment, about not wanting to be blackbeard anymore. Stede suggests retirement and provides him space to experiment with reinventing himself, but at the end of the day Stede doesn't believe him because Stede venerates Blackbeard as one of the most fearsome pirates of all time (something I expect to be a large point of contention between them in the next season). When Ed finally shakes off his captaincy and tries to leave Blackbeard behind for good Stede ends up blaming himself for it, because he perceives Ed's desire to leave a role that is hurting him behind as him being ruined, the same way Stede perceives his own failure as a husband and father as an inherently corrosive thing.

Unpacking Chauncey's speech in season 1 episode 10 and why Stede agrees with it is fundamental here. Gay people have been for centuries been portrayed as corrupting influences trying to convert people to our lifestyle. We've been portrayed as horror villains. Our sex is portrayed as defilement. We're accused of being groomers who want to corrupt others to our way of life, we're accused of recruiting. This is one of the more classic homophobic tropes. So when Chauncy says you're a monster who defiles beautiful things there is venom and oppression behind it. And Stede agrees to it because he does believe himself to have corrupted Ed away from being Blackbeard into being kind of a pansy like Stede. And that he defiled his family by leaving despite it being what he needed to do.

And so his reaction to this is to shove himself back into the closet and try to be Mary's husband again.

I'm not passing moral judgement on Stede, it's just difficult to interpret the show without seeing the subtextual journey of overcoming internalized homophobia that Stede goes on.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta #stede bonnet #internalized homophobia

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suffersinfandom · 2 months

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I’m still thinking about dumb discourse because my brain is broken and guys there’s so much “Ed and Stede are not as queer as Izzy” out there what the heck.

Anyway. I said this in response to a different post:

There are so many ways to be queer and so many kinds of queer experiences. Not everyone is going to see themselves in Ed or Stede, and that's fine. Some people are going to see themselves in Izzy, and that's also fine. What's not fine is asserting that your pet white guy (who, yes, conforms to pirate standards of masculinity better than anyone else on the Revenge) is the only character with a valid queer arc.

But why do some Izzy fans (can we call them Izzy Heads? Izheads? I want a word for that specific flavor of fan) relate only to the queerness in Izzy's story? I can't stop thinking about it.

It seems that at least some people who consider Izzy the best example of queer rep in OFMD do so because they relate to the character. They don’t have a romantic partner or they’re in love with someone who doesn’t feel the same way. They’re disabled and focus on the intersection of disability and queerness. They feel as though they’re outsiders, even in a queer community (or a largely queer fandom like this one). They’re not cis men and they’re not trans in the same way as Jim is, so they don’t see their gender explicitly represented onscreen.

On paper, most of that describes me too. The thing is? I do relate to Stede and Ed and I don’t relate to Izzy at all.

I’m an AFAB nonbinary person who’s physically and mentally disabled. I’m aromantic and asexual with the sliders all set to 100%; I have never so much as dated, and I almost never engage with romantic media because I just don’t get it. I feel like a freak in most circles, like I’m missing a fundamental part of what makes humans human. There isn’t a character in OFMD who shares my specific gender or sexual identity, but Ed and Stede are absolutely queer in ways that are understandable to me and, I think, a lot of other people in this community.

Ed and Stede both grow up and live the first decades of their adult lives in societies that don’t want them to be themselves. Stede can’t love flowers or bright and flashy fashion; he needs to dress down and become a family man. He’s forced to marry a woman he doesn’t love (and who doesn’t love him) and father children to inherit his wealth. Ed can’t fancy a fine fabric or pursue a peaceful life because his world is one that demands cruelty and violence. He has to wrap himself up in leather and layers of myth and legend to survive. They’re both GNC and wearing masks and entirely miserable.

I know -- I think most of us know -- what it’s like to suppress who we are so we can fit in or be who the people around us expect us to be. I think we know what it’s like to be miserable and lonely for ages -- to bury who we really are deeper and deeper until we barely remember who that person is -- right up until we find out that there are people out there who get us. There are places where we can be who we are, or at least experiment a bit and discover ourselves.

Even if we don’t know what it’s like to find a great love like Stede and Ed do, there are parts of their relationship that we understand. I'm sure plenty of us know what it’s like to meet someone who doesn’t ask us to pretend for the first time. We know what it’s like to be on the same silly, stupid wavelength as someone else, and we know how it feels to play with someone who gets us. I think that the friendship that Ed and Stede share, even with the romantic and sexual elements removed, is a distinctly queer one.

So I guess I still don't know why Izheads only relate to his queer experience when Ed and Stede, in my opinion, are both extremely queer even beyond, like, the thing where they're wildly in love.

I want to think it has something to do with Izzy's status as a side character and not racism, internalized homophobia, or anything else like that. Characters without fully fleshed-out backgrounds provide opportunities to project whatever we want, you know? If you want to see your specific gender or sexual identity in a character, just grab one with little canon lore and fill in the blanks. Maybe I can be happy with characters who aren't just like me, but I don't expect everyone to be content with that.

What was I even typing about?

Oh, right.

Ed and Stede are super fucking queer. You don't have to relate to them because there are infinite ways to be queer, but you do have to acknowledge that there is nothing heteronormative about their relationship or them as individuals.

#ofmd #me typing things #like no really #i'm just out here typing things #no thesis no plan #gentlebeard #ofmd discourse #edward teach #stede bonnet #breaking news: ace discovers their first OTP #now i even read smut!#(if there's good character work)#(which there usually is with these guys)#queer #< tagging just in case

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skimblyshanks · 2 years

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Coming out of my self-imposed OFMD takes exile to not only again renounce my old take that somehow blew up but particularly to push back against the idea of Izzy specifically wanting Ed at his worst.

Because we actually have canon evidence to the contrary; canon lines and dynamics very strongly leading to a different conclusion.

The only character who might want Ed at his worst is Calico Fuckin Jack.

Calico Jack is the one who reacts with disgust at the idea of Ed being called by his name instead of Blackbeard or Blackie. Jack represents the idea of Piracy as Abuse as a consciously embraced lifestyle.

Izzy is the one who is aghast at anyone other than himself calling Ed by his name. We know that it's because he is acutely aware of what it could do to Ed's reputation; what that would do to Ed's safety. Izzy is someone who has endured and survived Piracy as Abuse, who knows it is Abuse and knows it is dangerous, and is fighting like hell to keep himself and the man he loves safe from being on the receiving end.

Izzy is not against Ed's softness per se; he's moreso against that softness being open. Which makes sense, because in all of his and Ed's experiences thus far, open softness is asking for violence and manipulation. To Izzy, Stede isn't just a Homewrecker, he's luring Ed out into a clearing to be shot at.

Izzy calls Ed by his name. Rarely does he call him "captain" or "blackbeard" when it's just the 2 of them. What he and Ed had is not what Ed and Calico Jack had; there was connection there; there was some level of vulnerability. And as first mate, Izzy wants to protect his captain's vulnerability; as someone p evidently in love with Ed, he also wants to guard this intimacy.

His reaction to Lucius and Black Pete hooking up is, as we should all hopefully realize by now, not one of straught up homophobic disgust. I do think it's in part due to repression, but a lot of it, imo, is that, well. Let's pull up Calico Jack again. From what he says, it's implied that pirate hookups are rather common, and that they rarely if ever involve emotional attachment. But look at how much Izzy bristles when Stede and Ed are affectionate immediately after the years he has spent at Ed's side.

What Izzy and Ed have is, to Izzy, Special. And to be Special it needs to be private. It can't come before maintaining their place in the system. Lucius and Pete have sex when they should be working, and later Lucius states that they don't belong to each other.

To put that in Izzy's perspective, that's 2 men on this crew embracing an ownerless sexual freedom of piracy without the emotional guardedness; they are also pursuing emotional attachment out in the open. And to Izzy, that is dangerous. This crew is going to get themselves killed. And His Captain will be with them.

I've gotten. A lot more attached to Izzy, the more I've sat with the show, bc I know what it's like to internalize an abusive system and focus more on following rules and keeping the ones you love with you on top; to be, to a point, perpetuating the system, but also largely unable to affect change beyond your circle, and to be acutely aware of this.

None of that to dismiss , of course, that Izzy takes it upon himself to do what's best for Ed without Ed's opinion; that he sends Calico Jack to manipulate Ed's vulnerability; to do exactly what he worries will happen, just, this time, to his own ends. Not to dismiss any of it, just to, like, inform it.

Like I said, I renounce that first big meta I did that somehow blew up. It was a very shallow reading of the show and it missed a lot of nuance, especially when it comes to Ed as a man of color whose two defining relationships in the show are with white men who think they know what's best for him.

What draws Ed to Stede is in no small part that Stede doesn't hide his softness; that he has incorporated it into his "pirating style". He balks in the face of the status quo, he has the arrogance to assume he can affect change on this culture of violence and abuse.

And, importantly, it's Ed's decision with stede, more or less. By which I mean, Stede isn't dragging him by his ear and making him mind his p's and q's, cross his t's, and dot his i's; Stede provides him a space to embrace his softer side, encourages him to embrace it and even share it.

And Stede is far from perfect, of course; we get a whole episode to remind us that he is still, all things considered, a cis white landowning man in a very classist, patriarchal, and racist society, and he can slot back into that lifestyle of absolute privilege rather well.

But my feelings on Stede, Ed, and their dynamic is a while other post in and of itself, this is about Izzy, and, to a point, Izzy and Ed.

Izzy, like Ed, can be assumed to already come from a background of violence without being afforded the privilege of wealth and status. Izzy is white, yes, and imo it does impact his dynamics to a point when so many of the pirates we see are BIPOC, but he has presumably never had access to buffers Stede has.

Izzy had to claw his way up to a position of relative safety, and it can be assumed that at least part of that journey was side by side with Edward. And he has taken it on himself to guard both of them, to guard their safety in status, against any and everyone who would use it to their advantage.

If Izzy were truly a cold hearted brute, only out to make Ed the worst version of himself, then why has he stayed at Ed's side through what he reports to be a deteriorating state of mental health? Why do his spats with Ed feel so domestic in their way? Why can't he let Ed go? Why does he view Stede as actively dangerous to Ed's safety, and why is that a consistent motivation for him?

The characters in OFMD are deliciously complex and deep; it's a show that has a lot to say about masculine identity, especially queer masculine identity, with additional intersections, through a setting of piracy. And Idk I just feel awkward when the characters get painted with a broad brush instead of like. Idk. Rotated and examined in the mind fjskfneofj. It's a v character and relationship driven show.

Izzy is a dick, sure. And there are plenty of times where I'm like "izzy that's fucked up." But I will not be convinced that he wasn't doing what he was because he was completely convinced it was the right thing to do for the man he loved. I'm already convinced that it was a very selfish way to go about it, one that disregarded the wishes and feelings of the man he loves, but that was his motivation.

Izzy wants what he thinks is best for Edward. And what he thinks is best for Edward is not The Kraken, in his self destructive, abusive glory; what he thinks is best for Edward is Blackbeard, the fierce and deadly persona to be performed in front of others, so that Edward can be safe and guarded up above the worst of Piracy's violence, with Izzy at his side.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta #our flag means death meta #izzy hands #ofmd izzy

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chuplayswithfire · 2 years

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Do you have OFMD fic recs?

do i have OFMD fic recs?

oh my god, but do i have OFMD fic recs. i am, not, as some might be fooled into thinking, a Normal Person, and as of today I have read through and browsed about 77 pages of the 103 pages worth of Edward x Stede fics over 3k in length that AO3 has to offer.

Why have I done this? I really enjoy reading fics. Seeing what the writing community has to offer, enjoying whats available, crying at the things that make me feel the word No crystalize louder in the core of my being when I see takes I can't live with.

As a direct result of this, I currently have over a 180 specifically Ed x Stede OFMD fics in my bookmarks, so in the broadest of terms, generally speaking all of those could be in a rec list. But here's an incomplete list of the OFMD fics I would recommend (and have recommended to my friends). Also none of these will have the exact summary, just my sales pitch on them bc i don't feel like copying out the summaries.

domestic by Ark

the most blissfully domestic fic ever, a take on what could have happened had Stede and Ed left the academy together rather than what happened in canon. It's a long and generous character study on how these two might have adapted to domestic life together, how they flourished, and it nurtures my soul.

Turning Tides by Fyre

A speculative season 2 bringing in just about the entire cast from the first season and introducing new characters, new threats, and reuniting our sappy middle-aged men along the way, this series blew me away with magnificent characterization, stunning use of the characters and plot threads from the first season, and some absolutely fab moments. A speculative season 3 is coming in the future!

An Awfully Big Adventure by trinityofone

I won't spoil the surprise and twists in this tale, but it was a fun and emotional fantasy journey for our characters, and is astoundingly entirely from Izzy's POV, which is usually a thing I unashamedly hate, but here is used to incredibly fascinating effect. I couldn't stop reading this fic from the moment I started. This is post S1 and does have reconciliation/reunion aspects.

Always and Forever by stereobone

ACCIDENTALLY GOT MARRIED FIC, ACCIDENTALLY GOT MARRIED FIC, do I NEED to say more? Post-S1 Stede and Ed wake up married without remembering their reconciliation, things progress from there.

The CafeHouse by WaitingToBeBroken

Coffee shop AU where Ed is a tattoo artist and Stede is determined to figure out his perfect coffee order - because obviously Ed isn't a man to really want a black coffee. I loved this from start to finish, it had me laughing and screaming.

half-agony, half-hope by lyricl

Post Season 1 fic Ed gets his groove back by getting a new pen-pal, going on a journey of self-exploration, picking a first mate who aligns with his management and life goals, and getting his man back. I LOVED this fic, loved Fang and the rest of Ed's crew, and the various OCs who pop in from time to time. Really enjoyed the take on Izzy too which is a big one for me, and also the fact that this author, like me, agrees that Izzy needs to go and find the dom top of his dreams instead of trying to make Ed into that.

guardians of a rare thing by ShowMeAHero

its a 5+1 fic about nice things Stede did for Ed and one nice thing Ed did for Stede and look I am a simple woman, I just want my babygirl Edward Teach to have the best life possible and be spoiled and this fic satisfied that craving so well.

a very good bad thing by seularen

Someone tries to come after Ed while he and Stede are on vacation. Stede Handles It baby. I will actually copy a bit of the summary here to show you why i HAD to read this fic when I first found it, and why everyone else should too:

“Unhand him,” Stede said. “Or what?” “Good point. I can’t say ‘or bleed.’ You’re going to do that already.”

My Saddle's Waiting by dracothelizard

One of the shorter ones on this rec list, this is a nsfw comedy take on the first season, where Ed sees that Stede's hung like a horse in episode 4 and is determined to ride him some of that.

Possibly the only incomplete fic on this list but which I die for every update:

Chiaroscuro by MenaceAnon

featuring one of my favorite genres of OFMD fic, the Mary & Ed friendship dynamic, this fic features Stede crashing back into Mary's life with an injured Ed, and the ways that Ed, Mary, Stede, Doug, and the kids all interact. I love this take on Mary, I love the compassion and humor and care that the author puts into every single word and scene, Ed teaches Mary about tattooing and Mary affirms Ed's nature as an artist, AND, Ed and Stede still haven't made up yet, so we get some delicious conflict there too.

and to finish the list, my favorite fic in the entire fandom which I have rec'd like twice already but will never STOP rec'ing because it WRECKS ME EVERY TIME -

this tired world could change by gangnamstiles

IT HAS EVERYTHING.... EVERYTHING.... i love this fic so fucking much okay?!?!?! Modern AU, miserable business man Stede is drowning in his day to day life when he meets Edward Teach, mechanic, handsome guy, savior who offers him a cigarette (and uh former hitman for Spanish Jackie's mob). They fall in love, but oh boy is there a lot for them to cope with along the way.

I LOVE THIS FIC. I love this fic. I found it about halfway through and screamed through every single update with one of my friends, literally read this fic on the cycling machine at the gym and jumped for every update as soon as they posted because i LOVE this fic so much okay, and now that the author is posting some extras i am living again.

And this is my OFMD Bookmarks on AO3 in case anyone wants more. My bookmarking philosophy is "anything I know I'm going to want to read again, put here"

thank you anon for letting me spend an hour revisiting all these fics I love

#ofmd #our flag means death #blackbonnet #fanfic rec #fanfic recs

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sixstepsaway · 2 years

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hi! been thinking a lot about izzy’s maiming... bit early/too tired for me to put together more clear thoughts on the subject now. but: how do you think the injury will (or will not) impact the next season? specifically, izzy and ed’s relationship, as well as izzy and the crew’s relationship. will things get infected, like with lucius’s finger? what is stede going to think when (or if) he returns? if ed is willing to maim someone like izzy, who he’s ostensibly very close to, or was close to at some point, what does that mean for stede, especially when he and edward have some kind of conflict with each other? do you think it’s likely for stede to brush off izzy’s maiming, simply because he (presumably) doesnt like the guy? especially because it seems like stede fully endorses (or at least romanticizes) violence, as long as it isnt him directly doing the deed?

this got a bit rambling and long and slightly off topic, but would love your thoughts regardless. hope you have a good day/night/etc!

Before I get into this I want to say thanks for the ask, I love having food for thought and this really did get my brain wandering.

So, I think the first thing to address here is the show length itself and what that means for the plot. David Jenkins has said he wants three seasons, presumably at 10 x 30 minute episodes. That's about 15 hours of content total, which is devastating and I would like 1500 hours of OFMD thanks, but we can't always get what we want.

That means that there is a lot less time to develop character and sub-plots in the show than there is in a show that, for example, runs for 7 seasons with 20 episodes each. It's the reason why we don't get to see a lot of Lucius and Pete hooking up and it's shown through the gaze of Izzy's subplot of that episode, it's a good combination, two birds with one stone, and allows for getting through multiple plots without having to sacrifice any of it. Same reason we don't see Frenchie and Wee John agreeing to give up the room before 1x10. Time.

All that said, judging by the fact Izzy is limping and using a cane at the end of 1x10, I don't think the toe is going to be brushed off and forgotten. I think the writers have made a commitment to it and will follow through in whatever way that requires (this is also why I believe Izzy will get more screen time in season 2 - this is a big thing to give to the character to carry, I think he'll take the slot of Jim being the main sub plot, because Jim's sub plot is mostly done (but Jim will still be a big part! It's just that until something new develops there, their plot has been finished? I'm hoping we'll get more of Fang, too, for similar other-characters-had-their-moment reasons)).

So, now on to answer your questions.

I think the injury will impact the next season, probably as a way of developing Izzy's character somewhat. From what people have been saying, losing a pinkie toe is a much bigger deal than I realized (and, potentially, than Ed realized, as we're not super conscious of our pinkie toes and the effect they have on our gait and our balance and our skillsets).

If I was writing the show, I would have some big raid go wrong in early season 2 while Ed is still in Kraken mode, and I would make Ed watch as Izzy lost a fight because his balance was fucked up and his fighting stances were no longer viable, and it fucked up everything about his excellent fencing abilities, and then I would make it that Ed had to step in and save him and suddenly have the realization of what he did, of what he caused, of how, because of him, Izzy would be dead if Ed hadn't been there to save him at the last moment. Throw in some nice injury for spice too, have Ed sitting over Izzy's bedside as he fought for his life. Parallels. I'd use that to snap Ed out of Kraken mode, rather than Stede. Izzy is what snapped him into it, Izzy should snap him out of it.

But I am not writing the show. I am, instead, probably going to turn that into a fanfic, so keep an eye out for that.

Realistically, I think it'll affect their relationship, yes, because before Izzy could say whatever the fuck he wanted to Ed, you know? In 1x03 when Ed is demanding they invite Stede aboard, Izzy does this adorable little whiny, "Oh, Edward, can't I just send the boys?" and pouts up a storm and Ed is like, "Nooooo Izzy, I want you to handle this," and Izzy is like "Ugh, finEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee" and stompies off in a huff and it's god damn cute and makes me laugh every time because he's so casual with him, even while standing in a sort of military attention stance? And he keeps cutting his gaze over to him like "D: D: D: really? D: really edward? D: really? you do this to me? D:" (I actually think Ed was enjoying fucking with him a little in this scene, teasing him for losing to Stede, teasing him about handling it himself etc. It breaks up the boredom and it's harmless.)

Then, in 1x04, Izzy goes on a real tizzy; he tells Edward he's an insane shell of a man, a twat, he flips him off, he storms away. And Edward... mutters that he needs to deal with the Izzy situation, goes on down there, basically praises him for his abilities and knowledge, talks gently to him (listen to the way he says Izzy's name to get his attention, it's really sweet), is potentially manipulative depending on how much he meant the Kill-Stede plan, which is up for debate in fandom (I think he meant it 100%, though intended to put it off a long time and forget about it like an abandoned knitting project, but I also think he came up with the plan on the fly to keep Izzy with him, which I don't think was necessary really; he only had to ask. He didn't know that though), offers him a ship, says he needs him to stay.

The other part you should focus on is how Izzy responds. He went on a tirade against Edward, a real doozy! If my friends spoke to me like that I'd be pissed for days, and I'm not scary Blackbeard man. But Izzy went on this tirade, called him a twat, flipped him off, and then... does not cringe or flinch. He apologizes (though he doesn't use the word sorry, he does apologize! Not all apologies need the word sorry. He says he regrets what he said and that he didn't mean it and doesn't think those things - that's an apology, and Edward accepts it as such) but he doesn't simper or beg for forgiveness. He doesn't expect to be hit or punished, doesn't expect to be forced off the ship, doesn't anticipate any real blowback, actually. There is no hesitance or distress when Ed comes over. He does not expect puishment.

Now, compare that with 1x10 when he, again, launches on a tirade against Ed which is honestly pretty much similar to the one in 1x04. He says Ed is batshit and fucked up, that he serves Blackbeard not whatever this mess is, and that he's done, in one way or another. The only major difference is the fact he says, "Ed better watch his fucking back," but considering in 1x04 he was flipping him off, calling him a twat and actively quitting, I don't feel like this was more of a threat than his declaration of being done and the middle fingers of rage. He also knew that Ed wasn't going to hurt him over the betrayal that nearly got Stede killed. He got one punch and continued to not flinch or cringe or be worried about further punishment. He knew he was safe. He knew he was right (see: the speech he makes about looking after his captain first and foremost, being loyal to Ed and no one else).

Except in 1x10, Izzy gets punished. Izzy gets really punished. Which is not just jarring because this behavior has been not just tolerated but generally expected from the seems of it (Edward is not shocked that Izzy gets tizzy in 1x04, he's just like, "Yep another day of this! Let it out, pal.") because Izzy gets in tizzies and that's just. izzy's personality. and Ed likes Izzy, so he likes all of him. It's okay.

But suddenly getting punished for that behavior, to the point of permanent maiming? Holy fuck that's a shockwave and a half. There is no freaking way that Izzy is going to feel comfortable or safe speaking his mind to Ed. There's no way there's going to be the little, "Oh, Edward, can't I just send the boys D:", there's no way Izzy will feel okay being his rough-around-the-edges moody self, there's no way he will feel good or comfortable calling Ed on his shit.

(hi yes i just devastated myself, actually)

Which actually puts Ed (and everyone else) in a boatload of danger, because when Izzy calls Ed on his shit he's usually right. Ed even admits it at the end of 1x04: Izzy was right. They would have died right there. They were all expecting to, because Ed fucked it up. Context clues tell me that Izzy has been spinning Ed's plates for a long fucking time, and that by virtue of the flag being so scary people just surrender and how god damn smart and on the money Izzy is, they've been scraping by with their plans panning out without a hitch. Ed is a brilliant strategical mind, but I read him as having ADHD, and you know what ADHDers (especially unmedicated ones) do? We fuck up the details. We make fantastic plans but we mess up the minutiae. And that is where, in situations like these, people like Izzy come in, because he sees the details and makes the necessary adjustments.

In fact, I can cite a proving source: the full moon. Edward knew the way the tides go, that the fog would roll in, he knew when the full moon would be, he knew everything he needed to know for his grand plan to go off perfectly!

...but he forgot it was a leap year.

You know who didn't forget it was a leap year? Izzy Hands. No one else said, "Um, it's not the date you think it is." Izzy did. Izzy spoke up.

If Izzy is no longer comfortable speaking up? Whew. They're in trouble now.

And if Ed notices that Izzy cringes, flinches, is hesitant, loses his brashness, doesn't speak up etc, that could, depending on Ed's mental state, go one way or the other: option A is that it cracks Ed because fuck, this guy has always felt completely comfortable being a twat to Blackbeard himself and now Ed has even broken him? He's even managed to make Izzy terrified of him? Fuck! Option B is that he will get angry. Angry Izzy didn't say, "Boss it's a leap year," and so they ended up in trouble. Angry Izzy didn't pull his weight by questioning the minutiae as he expects him to.

Continuing with your questions: I don't see the toe getting infected. We've been there and done that and the solution to the infection was amputation, so I don't see us going back there. Plus, Lucius's finger was directly related to Buttons having his summer teeth, or whatever it was, which were wooden, iirc, and soaking in the disgusting juices of his mouth, which is why Lucius got an infection in that bite. Edward used very clean-looking scissors, and I imagine Izzy treated the fuck out of the wound.

I'd be more concerned about Izzy getting food poisoning, actually.

I feel like Stede, too, could go one of two ways, and I'm hoping it'll be a sub-third option. One way is he's horrified because what the fuck ed, and that's one of the things that makes Ed realize he's gone way too far. The other way is he's like, "Meh, it's Izzy, Izzy deserves worse," because...? I don't actually know? Izzy did nothing wrong in 1x02 lmao, he bought the hostages fairly, and Stede stole them off him, and then in 1x03 Stede was just, weirdly aggressive towards him in Spanish Jackie's bar?

(My feeling that will likely never be confirmed or denied in canon is that I feel like there was an attraction and Stede didn't know what the fuck to do with that now he was in a situation where that could actually be explored and so he lashed out (which also made handling his attraction to Edward later easier; he'd already done the frightened lashing at Izzy, so Edward got the acceptance).)

But either way, Stede was just. oddly aggro against Izzy from the beginning. Izzy did fuck all to Stede, and was in fact actively fucked over by Stede (and his buddies, one of which broke Ivan's nose? Poor Ivan???) and yet it's Stede who's like "Ed, do you know this guy? He's a real dick!"

(That could be a product of a small slice of poor writing? Eg, the writer knew Izzy was characterized as a dick and thusly Stede did too? But I don't really buy that. And I prefer my "Hot pirate, oh fuck" reasoning for Stede's weird amount of aggro when he's so placid towards pretty much everyone else, even the woman with a knife to his nose.)

(Nonny, you thought your ask was long, wait until you get this response LMAO)

My hope is that Stede doesn't really need to think much about it at all? Here's how I would like to see it go (though not word-for-word because this is garbage. I mean the vibes):

Stede: I love you and I want to be with you Edward: Stede, you don't want that, I'm a monster. Stede: You're not a monster. Edward: I marooned our crew on a desert island to die. Stede: They're fine! I scooped 'em up! No worries there. Edward: I killed Lucius. Stede: Oh, no, he's fine! Fang tackled him the second we came aboard, so you might have missed him, but no he clutched onto one of my beefier books and used it as a raft and we found him on the way here! Edward: I CUT OFF IZZY'S TOE!!!!!!!!!! Stede:

Stede: Did he deserve it? Edward: Edward: Edward, devastated, his voice cracking: No.

"Did he deserve it?" feels like something Stede would ask. And it feels like that kind of question might be what makes Ed realize that no, Izzy did not deserve it.

(This may be getting written into one of my fics too lmao)

Point being, Stede's opinion on the toe might not matter all that much, but rather what Ed feels Stede might think about it and how it makes him question his own actions might matter more instead.

Further into your questions: Ed being willing to maim Izzy says buckets about how he's willing to treat people he loves (in whatever way) if they get on the wrong side of him, and Ed absolutely has to make peace with and set that aside before he can be with Stede!

Izzy was a dick but Stede abandoned him. There is no fucking way that Ed isn't misdirecting his rage at Stede towards the closest person he can take it out on: Izzy. It's Stede that he wanted to maim, because Stede maimed him. But Stede is gone. There's no closure, no absolution, no figuring it out. Stede just upped and left and so Edward was left with grief, and then rage, which got pointed at Izzy, the crew and Stede's items.

I think I said this in another meta, actually, but Ed needs to learn restraint when he's angry before he gets into a lover's spat with Stede. So far they haven't had any actual fights, and people do fight, especially when they inhabit close quarters with no escape for long periods of time (look at how many relationships dissolved during the pandemic, and how domestic abuse cases went up) and if this is how Ed reacts to someone chewing him out for honestly quite valid reasons and being a bit of a dick?

Stede's in actual danger.

Which I think is also why some people act like Izzy deserved it, brought it on himself and that Ed wasn't actually doing it, Izzy manipulated him into it: then they don't have to admit that right now, in the frame of mind and mental instability that Ed is showing? Ed is a danger to Stede. That needs work before they can be in an intimate relationship, imo.

I think if Stede's feelings on Izzy's toe are approached, he will brush it off, yeah. I think that's one of his character flaws (Izzy is a dick so he will not care what happened to him, rip my steddyhands/gentlehands heart when s2 comes), that he doesn't really care much about what violence is done to people he deems as deserving or, simply, does not care about.

I think the biggest conflict will come more from Ed having willfully killed Lucius, whether Lucius survives or not (and I hope that he does survive, but I also hope that the majority of the cast don't know that for a good chunk of time, because I want that reality to be addressed: Ed made the choice to kill Lucius. There will have to be consequences for that, especially considering how fond Stede is of Lucius, how fond everyone is of Lucius, and how Buttons isn't...the same close kind of character? Stede and Buttons are not as close as Stede and Lucius, but when Calico Jack killed Buttons' bird companion and devastated him, Stede acted immediately in Buttons' defense. I want that to be a precursor to how he acts about Lucius).

This is so long holy shit, I hope you enjoy the read. Also halfway through I knocked something on my keyboard and thankfully it didn't delete my post but I did nearly leave it as "inse3e3ebility" instead of instability.

#i write essays now #izzy hands meta #ofmd #ofmd meta #izzy hands #our flag means death #ask #anonymous #edward teach #edward teach meta #stede bonnet #stede bonnet meta

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moonlady101 · 7 months

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OFDMD S2 SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay so since I've been gone for so long there are quite a lot of things I want to post, from ancient history to my experience of living alone. But the first thing I want to talk about is about something that happened on this website quite recently and made me really mad.

I fell in love with the tv show of our flag means death from episode one, because it's the first show that is completely and absolutely inclusive without that being the whole plot... it does not brag about it, it does not force it and it is utterly unapologetic. For me this is the right way to go because this isn't about labeling people, this isn't about explaining, this is (and I will steal my dad's words to define it) an ode to freedom and love; and that's what makes the show for me so great.

And then we get to this year, we get to the end of season two and more specifically to the response of the fandom to said ending. I swear that the first time I saw a post saying that the ending was bad I started to wonder if they had been watching a different show. But it's actually fine, I mean, I may have enjoyed every minute of the episode while someone else hated it, opinion is subjective and everyone is free to express their own.

The post below the one I have just mentioned was the one that made my blood boil, because the person who wrote it didn't just gave their opinion, they straightforward started to attack the director, the writers and the entire show just because they didn't like a character death. And I will say this one and a thousand times, no matter how invested you are in a show, how much you like it and feel a part of it; no matter how involved with the fandom the cast and crew of said show get: the plot and character ALWAYS belong to their creator. That doesn't mean that you cannot imagine alternative storylines or complain about something you didn't like, that is fine; but saying that the creator of a story had NO RIGHT to kill a character, that is not okay. It's just as ridiculous as saying that an artist painted something wrong; it's absurd and in this case it shows that this people do not respect anyone working on OFMD.

The worst of all this to me is that part of the fandom did not learn anything from the whole freedom message that this show sends; instead they choose to act like a child who didn't get the present they wanted and attack other people who have probably put a lot of effort in making something which is meant to be liked or not. I also want to add that Izzy was my favourite character this season, and I believe that his character development was fantastic; I read that his death was disrespectful; sure, that's exactly why they decide to bury him right next to their new home, that's why everyone had the most devastating expression when he died and I'm sure that's the reason why Ed says "You're my only family". I think that people need to learn to watch a show without expecting it to go the way they want. The best thing about all media is exactly that!

Just to finish this, I want to talk just for a brief second about something, because tomorrow is the fifth of November and I'm a former Supernatural fan. I did get mad with the ending of that show, but before I start to look like a hyppocrite, let me explain. I watched Supernatural at a very low point in my life and it really helped me go through some hard times by allowing me for 45 minutes to be a part of something else (that's the magic of stories after all); I did cosplays, I forced my best friend to watch it and talked to my parents about it even if they got barely anything. I did notice the show getting a bit worse on its last seasons (which is completely understandable giving its lenght), but I still watched every single episode because it wasn't actually all that bad. And then the ending came, and I had to watch in utter horror how things that made absolutely no sense to the plot happened one after the other. It wasn't because they killed Cas, it was all about how they did it. To me it felt like it didn't make sense, and, in the end, even the actor were a little mad about how their characters were treated. I felt angry because it was terrible to watch and, even though I rarely use this tag it was definitely a "bury your gays" case; I'm not entirely sure it was queerbaiting (Dean clearly loved Cas, but love comes in many ways), and to me it would have made so much more sense if Cas had stayed or had at least some more time to talk to Dean, despite they ending up together or not. That ending did make me exit the fandom, because it was disappointing and I DID NOT LIKE IT. It is entirely up to a creator to do whatever they want, but that doesn't mean that after watching a show you can't write your own ending (I want to personally thank all the fanfiction writers responsible for alternative endings and fix -it stories).

So there's that, this is my opinion about all the response to the ending of OFMD season two, if you would like to add something or have a different opinion you are absolutely free to do so in the comments, but please be respectful, as I think I have been on this post.

See you on the next one! (it will be shorter, I promise)

Ourania

#ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #opinion #media criticism #fanfiction #spoilers #destiel #supernatural

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gentlebeards · 7 months

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yiour osdd!ed post is like a brilliant light in the darknjess of the ofmd tag thank you for being so correct and wise

you’re welcome ☺️

honestly though, there’s such a lack of (good) disorder/mental illness headcanons in the fandom, which is a real shame, considering all the potential we have going on.

i really love thinking about stede and edward unmasking around each other, ed letting his alters/parts come out to play and stede loving every single one of them. i haven’t really decided how many he has + the specifics of how he interacts with them, or if he even considers them to be separate from himself in the first place. trauma + putting on a facade to stay alive would definitely mix things up in his headspace, and navigating that is so difficult/confusing!

also! having a dissociative identity AND autism/adhd is a wild combination, and i feel like edward is at his happiest when he’s in a safe space to be all three without fear. he can let his younger parts play, dress up how he/they please, and stim to his hearts content with Soft Fabrics. meeting stede brought out said younger/happier part (imo!) and his genuine confusion over izzy’s negative reaction makes sense in that context. the poor guy was like “yippee! yay!! hello!” and immediately shot down for being too “different”

i know you’re not supposed to take his whole “kid at heart” thing literally, but including it in my headcanon is so fun? there’s also the “negative” parts who come out to protect him when shit goes down, stepping forward to lash out and shield him + depending on the situation, he either retreats into an enclosed safe area (blanket forts) or protects himself with force. prosecutors deserve recognition, and i don’t feel comfortable demonizing them, even for a headcanon.

you can also play around with pronouns, too!!! + his gender expression. i’ll have to think about which pronouns his parts/alters use, or if their gender changes at all, but it’s very interesting to Ponder.

#edward teach #our flag means death #ofmd #pirate posting #thank you again! you gave me an excuse to talk about this 🥺#i hope my insane ramblings make sense to you. haha

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sunnibits · 2 years

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y’all asked for my Izzy Hands thoughts here you fuckin go >:) it got a wee bit long sorry

here’s some ‘meta’ that was living in my head rent free about Izzy’s role as Blackbeard’s designated killer and other stuff. some of it is probably bullshit <3

HELLO not to be overly dramatic about Izzy Hands on this good day but. I think a lot about how Ed tells Stede that he’s never actually killed people directly. And like, we can debate how true that is - particularly because honestly, Ed doesn’t seem to have any hesitation when it comes to killing people except for the case of Stede - but taking that as legitimate, he also mentions that he always ‘outsources the big job’. Now, I’ve already seen it pointed out by other people that the person who usually takes this job instead of Ed is Izzy - but, god, the implications of that are making me insane, I need to think about that more…

Because like yeah, it’s obviously not exclusively Izzy that’s doing all the killing, considering Ed has his whole crew and everything. And of course Ed is fine with maiming (love a good maim). But because I am of course crazy about Izzy Hands, I think about how Izzy is elevated above the rest of the crew. Yes, the whole crew is probably fine with doing all of Ed’s killing, but Izzy is Blackbeard’s first mate. His right hand man, his immediate second. By the time we start the show, it almost seems like Izzy is representing Blackbeard at this point - it’s kind of implied in other moments that Ed doesn’t even really get that involved in too much fighting anymore (they just see the flag and run away), and even in the third episode we see Izzy go to invite Stede to the ship on Blackbeard’s behalf. Ed specifically wants him to handle that personally, presumably because Izzy is the closest to Blackbeard. He doesn’t even feel the need to tell Stede who his boss is, because it’s just implied with his own title (but it course, Stede doesn’t know that). I know it’s reaching a bit, but I’m really into this concept of Izzy Hands as like, the primary representative of Blackbeard at this point. He’s Blackbeard’s right hand - and he does the murdering bit.

Because, of course, Izzy is heartless enough for it. As Izzy would see it, Ed is soft hearted. He doesn’t want to kill, but he wants to maintain this terrifying image, so Izzy does it for him. We even see this directly play out in The Art of Fuckery - Ed has to kill Stede. Ed doesn’t want to kill Stede. Izzy, very quickly, volunteers to do it. He’s not even shaming Ed for it, he’s just offering his service. Which like, a little off topic, but that actually ties perfectly into this whole rambling I sent to my friend about the idea of Izzy killing Stede as an act of service. His comparison of Stede to a dog is what really gets my brain churning - because they directly compare killing Stede to putting down a dog, and that’s not an act that is made out of hate. It’s something you don’t want to do, but you do it out of mercy, and you try to get it over quick. (Of course, Ed literally didn’t have to kill Stede, but the way that he saw it and Izzy saw it, it was this inevitable thing he couldn’t avoid it anymore). So by offering to kill Stede, obviously there’s a little bit of personal satisfaction because Izzy hates Stede, but it’s not just that for Izzy. At the heart, it’s an act of service. He’s saying ‘here, I’ll take the gun, you look away’. And in the end, when Ed can’t go through with it, Izzy takes initiative. (‘You’re not doing this - I am’). He’s so sure that this is what Ed needs, and obviously it’s not - (and obviously, like I said, duh Izzy is a bitch and he just wants to kill Stede BUT-) but hey, it’s not unreasonable for him to think that, considering even though he protests at first, Ed doesn’t even try to stop the duel once Stede accepts! He doesn’t intervene, he just sits by and lets Izzy do his job, even though it hurts, because that’s what he’s always done.

It just makes me wonder even more about how many times this has happened between them… Like, I wouldn’t be surprised if this exact thing has happened before! Ed gets attached to people, he falls in too deep, and Izzy has to carry out the kill. And Ed goes back to being Blackbeard, and Izzy goes back to being his right hand man. Maybe Ed cries alone in his room, but Izzy just ignores it, and stands outside the door until he’s done. He tells everyone that the captain is fine, and protects his reputation, and stands in for Blackbeard, like he’s always done. (Just like he does in the finale).

Basically, what I’m saying, if you want to be really poetic; Izzy is the one who gets his hands bloody just so Ed can keep his (mostly) clean. That’s what Izzy Hands does, and that’s probably why Ed needs him and keeps him around!

Gosh, which is just making my brain go off the rails AGAIN because that’s probably why Izzy is so shocked when things change! When Ed refuses to kill Stede, and he just lets Izzy go. Izzy’s like, what the fuck! You need me! You can’t be Blackbeard without me! But that’s just the thing. Because Ed doesn’t want to be Blackbeard anymore. Leaving Blackbeard behind, and not killing anymore, means leaving Izzy behind. He doesn’t need him anymore, he doesn’t need this gritty evil guy to do his evil things for him, and Izzy can’t believe that. (And oh boy, I have a whole fucking thing in my head about Izzy wanting to be needed, but I’m trying really hard to keep that separate because this is already too long). Even in fucking Episode 9! After Ed has literally given him up by just letting him be banished from the Revenge, Izzy still comes back to him and expects Ed to accept him! Hell, he didn’t even need to go to Spanish Jackie’s, but he’s still trying to execute the plan! He’s so fucking deep in denial that Ed has changed! He arranges for Stede Bonnet to be dead, and he arranges to get Ed out, he even says to Ed that this is a quick, humane way to do it!!! Oh my god!! He’s still just offering to put down his dog!! He’s still just trying to make it easy for Ed! He’s not even considering the possibility that maybe Ed has moved on, because Izzy can’t move on, he is going to push until the last minute to make things go back to the way they are. But damn if he isn’t going to try to make it gentle for Ed.

Izzy Hands has fully accepted his role as Ed’s tool to kill, he gladly makes himself into a monster for him, to protect his soft little heart: But then Ed just… gives it up. So all of that was for nothing - all of the killing, all of the years protecting Ed’s reputation, this whole identity that Izzy has constructed around Blackbeard and serving as his right hand man. Ed can leave Izzy behind when he wants to, but Izzy is literally nothing without Blackbeard. He’s just an angry, bitter little man with lots and lots of blood on his hands.

#i wasn’t even gonna put that last bit in but I was literally talking about this with my mom AND SHE SAID THE EXACT SAME THING #SHE BROUGHT UP A LOT OF THE SAME POINTS I MENTIONED I LOVE HER LMAO #EVEN MADE CONNECTIONS TO ANOTHER MOVIE AND PULLED QUOTES SHE WAS SO SERIOUS ABOUT LETTING ME RAMBLE #izzy hands #israel hands #ofmd #our flag means death #besties this got so long and off topic…#i swear I was trying to focus #THIS ISNT EVEN THE META I WAS SPECIFICALLY THINKING AB WRITING EARLIER #I KINDA GOT INTO IT BUT THATS A WHOLE ‘NOTHER THING #anyways yes. talked ab this w my mom and she was so great #she reached like the same points about Izzy doing all that for nothing - Ed discarding Izzy when he discards the image of blackbeard -#also the idea of Izzy’s identity being so tied up with Blackbeard that he’s nothing without it #also!!! she added a helpful point that it’s kind of implied that Stede will die eventually just from being a bad pirate #which I wasn’t even thinking about but that rlly makes it make more sense why Ed and Izzy treat his death like something unavoidable #she also brought up the question of who Izzy was before he worked for Blackbeard and ‘what he sacrificed to become that person’#engaging in my Izzy meta… she’s the real one

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uselessheretic · 2 years

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i think the thing that irritates me about izzy ofmd hate is that you don't have to like izzy? you don't. he's an unpleasant little man who does bad things and as an antagonist is very easy (and fun) to hate. you can gleefully cheer for him to be tossed overboard s2 that is okay!

i am bothered though by the push for other people to not engage with his character. like i made one joke post about izzy's perspective that was still making fun of him, and someone sent me hate messages saying i was racist and supported homophobia and that i should get my teeth kicked in (which is VERY funny considering i'm gay and black and this was sent by a white fan)

less extreme than that though is people consistently talking about how he's not that deep, that interpreting him as queer is homophobic, and that fans trying to analyze him are trying to redeem a flat white villain instead of engaging with other characters. which... you can engage with multiple characters to be clear. you can. there isn't a limit to how many dick jokes one can make about a cast at any given point in time. also analyzing izzy means analyzing ed like you need to understand izzy if you want to understand ed.

but also it's just not true to call him flat? if you say "izzy's in love with ed and acting out because of jealousy" then people say you're reading too far into it. but this is something that is supported in the text of the show and by the creator. i don't understand how "ed and izzy is its own love story and izzy is a spurned wife and izzy is in love with ed but their relationship is very toxic" could be any more clear. wanting to read more into him isn't grasping at fake straws either, he was written that way to be complicated where david jenkins has said that izzy's the character to pay attention to on a rewatch because there's more to him at first glance.

like this is literally canon. i cannot stress enough that izzy being in love with ed and izzy being a complex character worth analyzing is just canon and the creator specifically pointed to him as a character to focus more on

he's LITERALLY in love with ed this isn't reaching this isn't "it's not that deep" and he's not generically evil without anything else to him. this is a textual, canon reading of their relationship explicitly stated by the creator several times

and i guess i'm just? confused then on how we keep going back to a pushback against analyzing the actual show and character. it doesnt absolve izzy of his actions, but it does make him more interesting. if you think about it, izzy's character doesn't make a lot of sense if you read him as having his motivations based solely in a homophobic desire to keep blackbeard masc especially when you don't actually see much pushback from him in show of ed being too feminine or whatever. he kicks him when he's down in episode 10, but i stfg it's so much more interesting if you just pay attention to what actually spurns that on because the "you're blackbeard not ed" as a running theme thru the show is SO interesting when you realize that izzy primarily calls him ed and edward, but he hates it when others do it. like ugh sir you are so toxic and possessive lmaooo

you don't need to like him, but what's the point in trying to force others into flattening his character? where again, you can dislike him. you can even dislike him loudly and on your own blog. but it's weird for people to go out of their way and get mad at other people for engaging with the content or stating facts about the character that are literally canon.

#izzy hands #ofmd

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lizluzz · 2 years

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Okay, I've watched some reaction videos to ofmd (yes, I'm at that sad stage of hyperfixation, what can I do), specifically two reactions by straight guys, and I'm fascinated.

I know how important this series is for a lot of queer people, cause, well, I watched it, and also my best friend, and I'm also on tumblr. Seeing yourself represented on screen, having your story treated with love and respect, all that. But only after watching those people react am I starting to understand how important it is in general. It's also very interesting to me seeing their realization about the way the queerness in the show progresses vs. the usual tumblr user realization. Let me try to put this into words .

Let's start with Jim. While me and basically everyone I know immediately picked up on Jim saying 'I don't know' when asked if they're a girl now, deciding to stick with Jim, and being referred to as 'they', both guys doing the reactions did not. They thought until much later in the series that it was a classic 'girl who hides her identity to blend in', and kept referring to them as 'her'. But, and that's the important part, the moment they were clued in they stopped. They both learned about using proper pronouns and one of them even about the term non-binary because they watched the series. And it's not the language that's the real important issue here, imo, it's them understanding about the range of gender roles and respecting that. Because of this show.

Let's move on to Luscious/Black Pete. When it was first revealed, they were both surprised, as, I believe, most of us. That was the point, I think. Black Pete was presented as the most 'masculine straight guy' (aside from Izzy), and the show worked hard on deconstructing that. But despite not being immediately delighted to actually see queer people on screen like probably all of us, the sweet interaction brought them aboard pretty quickly. One of them got invested in the relationship almost immediately, and was very taken by the finger stuff at the end of episode 6. The other one took a while, but he accepted it and moved on without a fuss.

Now to the main pairing, of course - Stede/Ed. That was fascinating. One of them started to clue in on the moonlight scene, where I believe people were supposed to start seeing that there was something romantic going on. He was a bit weirded out, but definitely kept seeing all the obvious clues and talking about it in the next episodes. The second one (the one who was already very invested in Luscious/Pete), when on episode 6, kept commenting on Stede's immaculate appearance, until suddenly he went: 'Wait... he dresses well, loves theater, loves silk... Is he gay?' which was a bit hilarious. But also, really is the way straight people might look at this. This also made him start wondering about the Stede/Ed relationship, and interestingly, he said that it's maybe not so far fetched, because we already have one gay couple aboard. Cause that's part of how normalizing queer relationships work! The more you see of them, the more you open to accept they are an option!

There was an interesting contrast here with what I saw a lot of queer people saying at the time (before ep 7 came out). There was an opinion that because we got Luscious/Pete we're not getting Stede/Ed. Cause there's no way they'll do two gay couples! We got our representation and we should be glad with that! But that's just our past experiences and disappointments talking. For straight people who don't usually engage in queer discourse, it's the opposite. It signals - here is a place where queer relationships are an option!

By the time we got to the kiss, they were both fully on board, and they were both absolutely devastated by the, well, devastating events that followed. They both wanted a good ending for our guys as much as any of us. Because they were swept up by the story. Because it was treated so normally and with such care that it didn't matter it was queer. It was a good and wholesome love story, and who wouldn't want a good ending for that?

It's worth mentioning that both of them were also very interested in Blackbeard's story and his struggle with toxic masculinity, which is not less important for cis straight guys to experience.

So, this was super long, but:

Tl;dr: I knew theoretically how important it is to show queer people in the context of a story that is not explicitly about queerness, and to show a variety of queer people and queer relationships, but seeing in front of my own eyes and in almost real time how that helps with normalizing queerness, made me extremely happy and emotional.

#our flag means death #analyzing reaction videos in depth is definitely the most unhinged thing I did in fandom #it was just so interesting to see!#also I know those are just two guys and guys that do reaction vids so its not a representation of society or something #but its something #lizluz

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ephemeral-fae · 2 years

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Just finished my third watch through of Our Flag Means Death and also was rewatching The Good Place today and something struck me about why I love both these shows so much and their central message. In the final episode of OFMD, we see both Ed and Stede attempt to go back to who they were before they met each other, and we see them both become much much worse version of themselves. In a similar sense, in Good Place, every time the four’s memory gets wiped, we see all the progress they’ve made be erased.

When Stede goes back to Mary, it’s to try and finally become who he thinks the world wants him to be. A good, supportive husband, who helps raise his kids and look out for his wife, even if he doesn’t feel the love he’s supposed to for them. And he resents them for it. He resents the whole world and himself for it. And finding Mary and the kids so displeased by his return only serves to make him resent everything more. He’s doing his job, so why does everyone still hate him? And he gets worse. He drinks too much, he tries to shove the glories of his pirate life on anyone who will listen, he crashes Mary’s showcase and threatens Doug. And this is way different from the Stede we’ve seen for the rest of the show so far. This isn’t the Stede who reads bedtime stories to the crew and offered up his library to them and paid them fair wages. This isn’t the Stede who tucked a piece of silk into Ed’s shirt under moonlight and told him he was lovely. This is Stede in a situation he hates, surrounded by people who hate and resent him for one reason or another.

The same goes for Ed. Izzy reminds him that who he was before Stede is who he’s supposed to be, and Ed realizes that that’s what the world wants him to be. The world wants him to be history’s greatest, most fearsome and bloodthirsty pirate. And he decides that if that’s what they want then that’s what they’re going to get. He makes Izzy eat his own toe, he throws Lucius overboard, he erases every trace of Stede and ditches all the members of the crew except for the ones he deems useful. And he hates it. We see him cry about it, cry about Stede, and we watch the mask of who he’s supposed to be slip to show who he is. The Ed who played along with Stede��s adventure, who gave up killing and was content to fold socks in the royal army. This is Ed in a situation he hates, driven by someone who wants him to be one specific thing so they can use him for it.

This is the two of them without love and acceptance. And it harkens so strongly back to the Good Place’s message of People grow when they get external Love and support and how can we hold it against them when they don’t? (I forget who originally said that but if I find it I’ll tag them). Without love and support, and stuck in situations we hate, we become the worst versions of ourselves. It’s not stated explicitly in OFMD, but it’s patently clear in the actions of Ed and Stede with each other and their crew versus apart, and I really hope season 2 explores this more.

Anyways that’s all, thanks.

#our flag means death #ofmd #edward teach #blackbeard #stede bonnet #mary bonnet #the gentleman pirate #izzy hands #the good place #media analysis #its finals season which means arsyn gets too attached to a particular show #this semester we present our flag means death

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