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valley-of-the-lost · 3 years

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I don't know if you watched BPA, but.. I have a question, that I don't know if you can answer this, but it's been nagging at me (this is a multi-part ask, this will be a quick rundown): A blog that used to be interested in Barbie claimed that BPA has some racist undertones; this is because, as they claimed, due to the antagonist (who has, as they put it, brown skin) tries to take over the kingdom of a white princess/queen. 1/?- Barbie Multiverse Anon

Okay, so, a quick explanation. This ask has been sitting in my inbox for a few days, and I sincerely apologize to Multiverse Anon for making them wait this long for me to weigh in on this. When I received this ask I was neck-deep in part of an art challenge that wore me out and I had not watched BPA (which I assumed was Barbie Princess Adventure) at the time, and I felt that this was the type of ask that I needed to chew on for a couple days and talk to some people before I was certain of my thoughts on it.

Now, I have done some cursory research, watched Barbie Princess Adventure myself, and bounced it off some of my friends for their take as well. Thus I will attempt to answer this to the best of my ability.

I do agree with the unknown blogger in question that Prince Johan is a brown-skinned character, and that the plot has racist implications due to the combination of this, him being the antagonist, and the fact that his kingdom lost a war to Amelia's prior to the plot to drive his motivation hence why Amelia is taking over the rule of both her own and his kingdom. However, I disagree with them that this is an ongoing theme or that there's a pattern of racist undertones in previous Barbie movies. At least from my own knowledge.

(under a read more because I don’t want to clog people’s dashes, this is not a simple topic to unpack + the movie did some weird things I wanted to explain too)

Before I really delve into the meat of why I take this stance, I want to quickly discuss why I had to even assert that I agreed that Johan is a brown-skinned character as its own point on the off-chance someone else encounters the same initial weird impression I did. You can skip this part if you want, I'll put a triple asterisk where this ends (***).

Prior to watching BPA myself, I did some cursory research on the Barbie Movies wiki, prompted by this ask. I put together that Johan was probably the antagonist that was being referred to, but when I was on his page, his wiki picture was just this.

This was all I had to go off of at this point, because he didn't have a screenshot gallery for me to cross-reference him throughout different points in the movie. So the conclusion I drew at the time was "he just looks like a tan white guy". This impression was reinforced by his light eyes and recycled Ken face model. I cross-referenced this with some friends, and we came to the conclusion that at best he looks racially ambiguous, with no reason to think he was a character of color unless there was other indication about his race in the movie itself.

And then I watched the movie. And changed my mind when I saw what he looked like in these scenes.

Johan looks noticeably darker than he did in his single wiki picture, especially when next to other more obviously white characters like Barbie and Amelia. His skin tone is closer to Alphonso whom I would call a brown character pretty confidently in the same movie (I wanted to minimize comparisons across movies to eliminate the possible different variables that would come with it).

While this might not be as noticeable to other people casually watching the movie, I found this a bit jarring myself because I was focusing on his skin tone in particular due to the subject of the ask and my initial impression from the wiki picture when he was arguably at his lightest in the whole movie, as well as when he was introduced he was at his darkest because it was set at night. Also the way the animation team decided to shade him to convey that its nighttime confused me because he looked a lot darker than I thought someone of what I assumed his skin tone would look. And then the next scene with him and Barbie further confused me, because he suddenly got this reddish undertone that really highlighted their difference in skin color.

(Barbie’s hands are on the left and Johan’s are on the right for sake of direct comparison)

Finally, in his last scenes in the movie, Johan's skin tone is most like that of his wiki picture's. Darker than Barbie's when they stand in the same shot but light enough that he could've passed as a tan white guy. What cemented my confusion is that he still looks like this in the throne room, where he was before when dancing with Barbie so it should reasonably have the same lighting and bring out that reddish undertone, but no he still looks like that. So my final conclusion on him was that since he looks like a brown-skinned character in around 2/3s of his scenes and there's a 2D painting of him in the bg when Barbie and Amelia are kidnapped, that he is indeed a brown-skinned character and the animation department probably fucked up their lighting which messed with how uniform his skin tone looked across scenes. ***

Now that I've explained my process of confusion and then final agreement that Johan is indeed brown-skinned, let's discuss how this compounds with other elements to create a rather unfortunate picture. I'm afraid its a bit worse than Anon described.

First off, the added context of the history between Amelia's kingdom of Floravia and his kingdom of Johanistan. Prior to the movie proper, these two countries fought in a war and Johanistan eventually surrendered to Floravia. The two countries signed a treaty that said that after her coronation, Amelia would rule both Floravia and Johanistan.

There is a severe lack of critical details about the war itself, such as what caused it in the first place, which really works to the film’s disadvantage, since the absence of clarity does little to clear up the questionable implications of what is known about the relationship between Floravia and Johanistan.

Amelia’s kingdom is the one that took over Johan’s initially, since they won the war and Johanistan would be ruled by Floravia’s queen, with the implication being that she’d depose Johan’s family, the original ruling family. While the lack of details makes it so it can’t quite be said that Floravia is colonizing Johanistan, it also means that it can’t be said that Floravia is not colonizing Johanistan. What is known about the war is very broadly reminiscent of tactics white people have used to colonize other countries, such as using a war to depose the original royal family for the colonizer’s own gain (the US colonizing Hawaii by staging a coup against their ruling family because the white plantation owners got mad) and putting the other country in a disadvantageous position with a treaty (Opium Wars). This would probably just be viewed as normal Kingdom vs. Kingdom politics if... well Johan wasn’t a character of color.

Combined with viewing this movie through the lens of real-life racial biases (which people are predisposed to do because we're inherently based in reality), the likely conclusion drawn is that this white ruler (Amelia) is effectively ousting a character of color (Johan) and his family out of power and force-assimilating his country, and there's simply not enough clarity about previous events before the movie takes place to dispel it sufficiently.

This also poisons the plot proper because Johan's motivation is to take advantage of the law that the rule of both kingdoms falls to him if Amelia doesn't show up to coronation and regain rule of his own kingdom and Floravia as a nice plus. The intention was probably to show him as greedy for wanting lone rule of Floravia and Johanistan, taken together, it honestly comes across as the movie villianizing a character of color because he wants to regain sovereignty of his own kingdom from a white ruler. Its completely understandable that Amelia wouldn't want to lose her own kingdom especially coming off of war, but also her kingdom is also the one ousting out the previous royal family of Johanistan without giving any good reason why they can't compromise.

The effect would be somewhat mitigated if another character of color had a similarly prominent role as Johan on the side of Barbie, but there's really not. The closest I'd argue would be Alphonso, but he doesn't have equal plot relevance. This does, in my opinion, make Barbie Princess Adventure's plot give off racist vibes like that unknown blogger said. But I do not agree with them that there's a "pattern" of racist undertones in other Barbie movies.

Due to the lack of details of what exactly they meant by a "pattern" of racist undertones, I am assuming they mean a consistent pattern of racism across the movies, for example the movies consistently dipping into anti-Asian sentiments with their villains, or their plots inherently having racist vibes woven into them like I just talked about in BPA.

Despite the Barbie movies occasionally dipping into offensive territory, in my personal experience I have not observed a pattern of racist undertones or consistent racism targeting a specific group. I acknowledge that I could fully be wrong and a lot of things could have slipped past my notice, especially since I have not seen all the movies, but from the ones I have seen I have not observed a pattern with regards to this. However, I will point out the offensive/iffy things in the movies that I know of, with varying degrees of detail depending on how much I can remember. This is by no means a full compendium of all the problematic stuff Barbie films have touched on but these are the ones I am aware of at present.

Barbie of Swan Lake - Antisemitism. There was a TikTok on this somewhere that discussed this more in detail that I can't find but will link if I do, but what I do remember was Rothbart was given an extremely large nose which is reminiscent of the "Jewish nose" ethnic stereotype. Also there was something about his name and Tchaikovsky himself being antisemitic and those views being reflected in his ballet. I don't remember all the details I'm sorry and google wasn't giving me much.

Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper - Antisemitism. Preminger hits a couple of antisemitic stereotypes in the movie, such as having a noticeably larger, hooked nose compared to the other male characters which is reminiscent of the ethnic stereotype of the "Jewish nose" and being greedy and corrupt (literally mining every singe piece of gold out of the mines) which is a stereotype of Jewish people. His name is also of Jewish origin which by itself wouldn’t be a necessarily suspicious thing but combined with those other tropes it does add up.

Barbie Diaries - Tia, a black woman and also the only one with curly hair in the cast, making an iffy comment about "getting the tangles out of her hair". POC with different hair textures have gotten a lot of racist shit for their hair so even though this is a small oneoff comment seeing Tia talk about her hair like this in a negative manner rubbed some of my friends with curly hair wrong.

Barbie in a Mermaid Tale 2 - Polynesian racism. Another friend of mine who is Hawaiian brought this up in Mermaid Tale 2, when Merliah and co decided to have a luau (which is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast usually accompanied by entertainment) in Australia. My friend found it a bit iffy they were doing this when most everyone is white, but what they found worse was when poi was being served in the luau. Poi is a traditional Polynesian dish, but in the movie they claimed it was an Australian and Hawaiian dish, which its not, there’s no Australia in its origin. And then there was a "gag" where the people eating the poi were gagging on it, so essentially this movie was making a joke out of another culture's aesthetics and food.

Barbie Princess Adventure - Reread the above text.

Maybe my sample size isn’t big enough but I’m not seeing a pattern or a trend here, which in my opinion would be a larger cause for concern because for these movies their issues are largely contained to their specific movie, and a pattern would be indication of a wider problem. Maybe you see a pattern I don’t, that would be completely valid.

Now, do I think this means you can’t enjoy Barbie Princess Adventure? No, I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I said that because I still enjoy some of the Barbie movies I listed above that I just said also have problematic elements (Swan Lake and Princess and the Pauper specifically). But I do think it is good to at the very least be aware of it, hear it out, keep it in mind. At the same time I understand why people would be turned off by this topic because they’re here to have fun riding the serotonin of childhood nostalgia and not delve into discourse.

But I hope I answered your question to your satisfaction Multiverse Anon! I’m going to go take a nap now I’m tired 😭.

#ask of the lost #barbie #barbie princess adventure #tw discussion of racism

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sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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1998 Film Munkustrap Rewatch Part Two

These are taking longer than than previous rewatches, because way too much is happening. In terms of stage/screentime, Munkustrap is basically the main character.

Anyway...Grizabella!

So, after patiently waiting for Tugger to stop causing a ruckus so that they can move on with the nights activities, Tugger’s interruption is itself interrupted by Grizabella. Misto approaches her to find out who this lady is and what she’s doing here. Grizabella, possibly recognizing him, reaches out to touch Misto, who just waits to see what will happen. What happens is that Munkustrap jumps down from his perch on the tire to get between the two. Misto still has no idea what the fuck is going on.

Munkustrap continues to stare down Grizabella, treated her like she could’ve hurt a member of the tribe just by saying hi.

When Jemima steps up, Munkustrap doesn’t have time to do more than give her a Disapproving Stare before Skimbledad steps in.

Same with Electra and Jenny. If anything, it happens even faster.

When Demeter considers touching Grizabella, Munkustrap Glares Disapprovingly, but he makes no move to stop her. He’s never the one to stop anyone from touching Grizabella. He’s Not Mad Just Disappointed at anyone who tries, but he doesn’t stop them. With the kittens, he leaves it to the other Responsible Adults. In the case of Misto, he wasn’t actually trying to touch her and Munkustrap saw himself as shielding him, not stopping him from misbehaving. I think Munkustrap knows that Grizabella isn’t actually a threat. Perhaps it took a moment for him to recognize her in the condition she’s in.

Compared to the anger, disgust, and even fear you see from some of the other cats, Munkustrap often looks at Grizabella with a sort of weary, “I really don’t want to deal with this right now” expression. Like with Demeter and Bomba, there’s something personal there, but it’s not something he really wants to go into.

When Grizabella starts singing, she addresses Munkustrap first, possibly just because he’s in charge, but she seems to have some reason to want to confront him. Then, two more kittens crawl forward and Jellylorum runs after them. When Grizabella sees this, she turns on her.

When Jellylorum gets away, Grizabella appears to go after Cassandra next. Cassandra treats her with a milder version of the contempt Bombalurina has for her. Munkustrap gives Cassandra a Disapproving Stare. Disapproving Stares aren’t just for those who reach out to Grizabella. He doesn’t seem to want anyone to be mean to her either. He just doesn’t want any of this to be happening.

When Demeter takes over the song, Munkustrap, to me at least, looks a bit guilty as well as weary. He Just Doesn’t Want To Deal With This Right Now.

When Bomba joins in, like with Misto and Demeter, Munkustrap copies her attitude. He’s not normally a follower type, but it’s easier to feel anger than whatever else he might be feeling.

To begin lightening the mood, Munkustrap, Jenny, and Electra, hiding in the Leg Tent, look like a family of three here. Electra looks to Munkustrap more than to any other tom and to Jenny more than any other queen. She might actually be their kitten.

Time for Bustopher Jones! Munkustrap gives a respectful salute.

And Bustopher actually returns it! He rarely ever returns any of the gestures of respect the others give him, but Munkustrap’s the protector of the tribe, so he just might be sufficiently important.

But then he shoos him away and he’s like :(

Bustopher wants to go somewhere in the direction of the orchestra pit. Misto senses Impending Doom. I took this picture entirely because Etcetera’s little salute is adorable.

No one’s falling into the orchestra pit today.

After Misto pulls on Bustopher’s tail and then falls over backwards when he actually looks at him, Bustopher is a bit concerned. Munkustrap reassures him that Misto’s just Like That sometimes. Also, if Bustopher’s visits weren’t so rare, maybe he wouldn’t get worked up so much...

Munkustrap allows Misto to direct not just the kittens, but many of the adults, himself included. He lets him take charge for a bit. Bustopher’s his dad after all, and if Misto wants to spend a few seconds walking behind him past a neat line of other men like royals walk by rows of well-behaved subjects, Munkustrap’s not going to stop him. He knows what it’s like to be the son of a very powerful man who isn’t around very often.

During the Macavity scare, Munkustrap does his Stance™ while Alonzo secures the perimeter.

Then he does a really cool jump.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer really shouldn’t have just dropped their bags of stolen property on the floor. Munkustrap and Alonzo handle the situation as if it happened all the time, because it definitely happens all the time.

I mentioned during the Misto rewatch that Jellylorum sort of glares at him after he notices that Old Deuteronomy’s nearby. It’s not his job to make that call. But, Munkustrap smiles and seems to try to get Jelly to dismiss it. He knows Misto well enough to know that he’s capable of these sorts of things and he’s not about to discourage his gifts.

Still, Munkustrap waits for the Psychic Twins, older and more professional Supernatural Cats, to confirm.

Electra seeks more cuddles from her dad while Munkustrap tries to work things out with Jellylorum. Misto patiently waits for Munk’s approval before doing anything.

Since he was the first to notice Old Deuteronomy coming, Munkustrap gives Misto the job of going to get him. Despite Jellylorum’s initial Disapproving stare, he’s done a Good Job.

Munkustrap knows that it’s very important to pay attention to Victoria while referencing any other Victoria. If you don’t, she has an existential crisis. No one knows why this is, but it’s best not to trigger it if it can be avoided.

Tugger starts singing. We haven’t seen him since Grizabella showed up and I don’t think Munkustrap expecting him to join in.

But, unlike with most Unexpected Tugger Interruptions, Tugger is being respectful and just wants to sing about how great Old Deuteronomy is, just like Munkustrap was already doing. Munkustrap looks slightly relieved.

Also, the duet here is one of my favorite musical moments in the show.

This screenshot here is one that I think sums up Munkustrap’s character. He’s the leader, at the front of the crowd, but he loves his family. He’s surrounded by kittens, smiling down at them. While Tugger keeps his distance from the group, despite loving their attention, Munkustrap is always right there with the others, guiding the kittens and assisting the elders.

And here’s a bit of family reunion. Despite being The Firstborn Son, Munkustrap lets the kittens flock to Old Deuteronomy first before assisting the old man in reaching his throne.

#cats 1998 #munkustrap #grizabella #munkustrap is electra's dad #bustopher jones #mr mistoffelees #munk lets misto live his dreams #jellylorum needs to chill #old deuteronomy #rum tum tugger #family feels

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killerqueenmachine · 5 years

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Gonna take me to the Oscars or nah? - PART 1

Pairing: Joe Mazzello x Reader, Gwilym Lee x Reader Words: Too many (2900+)

Prompt: None Summary: In a few bold seconds you decide to send Joe Mazzello a DM on instagram. To your surprise he replies and suddenly you are meeting up. The meeting doesn't completely turn out how you had imagined, but in a fortune turn of events you end up meeting Gwilym Lee as well. The two of you hit it of as if you were soulmates - and maybe you just so turn out to be.

Warnings: None

Note: In this fic 'reader' is taller than Joe Mazzello, yet shorter than Gwilym Lee, which means somewhere between 175cm (5'9) and 188 cm (6'2). Everything written in cursive is a text/something written. __________________

The blue light from your smartphone lit up your face, as you mindlessly scrolled through Instagram, as you had done so often before. Gentle tones of Queen music filled your small room and you tapped your foot to the beat of the music, while your Instagram adventure continued on. A swift notification popped up on your screen - Joe Mazzello had posted a new picture on Instagram. Quickly you followed the notification which lead you to his page and a wonderful picture of him, Ben Hardy and Gwilym Lee fabulously posing in front of a L’Oréal wall. You heard yourself softly laugh as you liked the picture. Those three men owned your heart and soul and you were completely fine with it.

In a moment of sudden bravery, you went to your direct messages. You had written to Joe before, but he had never answered you, thus making your 'conversation' fill up with sweet nothings and jokes, that you had sent to him.

So, are you gonna take me to the Oscars or nah?

You hit sent and shut down the app within a few seconds. You didn't think he would answer you - he hadn't done that before, so why start now?

This time, it turned out to be different. You didn't even get to put your phone away before it buzzed with an Instagram notification. Joe had replied to your message. You felt your heart pounding harder than ever and your breath got caught in your throat. The blood rushed to your cheeks - and you hadn't even opened the message yet. You quickly snapped a screenshot to remember this glorious moment forever.

Well sure. Dress code is long dress and high heels.

You stared at his message in disbelief. Your jaw dropped slightly, and you couldn't stop blinking. It felt as if the whole world had stopped rotating.

Uh... Are you serious?

Your hands were shaky, and you could barely think straight. He couldn't be serious. He simply couldn't be. It was just a joke - right? You couldn't go to the Oscars.

Yes, why not? I don't have a +1 yet and since you asked, I might as well bring you. Unless you don't want to?

Was this a joke? He had to be joking. You threw your phone on your bed, refusing to believe what was happening. It was supposed to be a joke! Not that you didn't want to go to the Oscars, you definitely did! And then with Joe - that was a dream come true. It was too good to be true.

If you're serious, call me. Here's my number.

You typed in your phone number and less than two minutes after, your phone rang. For some reason you couldn't bring yourself to answering. A loud scream erupted from your core - it was all too much. He had to be joking. You cleared your throat and swiped to answer the incoming call.

"Hello?" you said trying to hide the nervousness that unfortunately was way to present in your voice.

"This is Joe?" the voice in the phone said.

"Is this… Is this a joke or something? What is going on?". A nervous laughter escaped your lips, before you anxiously bit down on your bottom lip, while you twirled a rouge strand of hair between your fingers.

"Uh. No. Not really. I mean it might be a little much and I'm really sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable? But. I just thought that since you asked it could be fun to actually... You know. Meet you and bring you and have some fun? Even though I don't… know... You- You know what, you might be right, this is a little strange" he rambled on.

"No... No-no. If you're actually serious I'd love to go. Please"

You shared a few seconds of silence, before Joe cleared his throat.

"Alright then. Let's do it. Do you think we could meet up before the show? Preferably as quickly as possible" He said as you heard him scramble with some paper.

"I've got nothing but time, uh... But money might be a bigger problem for me" you shyly admitted, not exactly knowing what you had gotten yourself into.

"No worries, I'll come to you. How about this weekend? Friday 'til Monday, then we'll really have time to get to know each other?"

You nodded, fully knowing that he couldn't see you.

"Yes - sure. That sounds really great, oh my God. Uh... Yes. Yes, this weekend is good." you were fumbling with your words not knowing what to say.

"Great, uh.. Wonderful. Text me your address, I'll fly out on Friday, we can talk details later then - I have to go. Okay? It was really nice talking to you, can't wait to see... Uh... See where this end." You heard him nervously laugh.

"Yes.. Okay. Great I'll.. Do that. See you, Joe" you laughed in return and hung up on the call.

As if your whole body had turned to Jell-O you fell backwards onto your bed and stared into the roof, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Your whole body buzzed, adrenalin was pumping through your veins and you felt tears creeping up in the corners of your eyes. What had you gotten yourself into?

_______________ Friday afternoon

Joe had just texted you, that he had landed at the airport and you had been there for the past hour, ready to pick him up. It was absolutely nerve wrecking. You had never felt anything like this before. Just for the heck of it you had made a little sign that said "Joe Mazzello" - just like those cab drivers that were there to pick up a variety of people, which you thought was mighty funny and you hoped that he felt the same. As he came through the doors with all of the other people from the same plane, your face lit up with excitement. A wide smile appeared on his lips when he spotted you and your homemade sign.

"I guess you're (Y/N)"

His tone of voice was friendly, which made you instantly comfortable around him. You did a quick, yet awkward bow and laughed softly before you nodded.

"Guilty as charged. Nice you meet you"

_____________ Later that day

A sweet smell of curry filled your tiny flat. You had tried your absolute hardest to create some fancy curry dinner that Joe had told you, that he wanted. You were more than happy to oblige his every order at this point - not that he actually gave you any orders. While you vigorously stirred the pot, you heard Joe humming behind you.

"Smells really nice"

He gently placed his hand on your shoulder, and you turned your head his way, coyly sending him a smile, which he quickly returned to you.

"Thank you, I hope it tastes good too"

You shared a moment of silence before Joe sighed lightly.

"You're really tall... You know that?"

He laughed before leaning against your kitchen counter and folding his arms over his chest. You hadn't really thought about the height difference between the two of you, but now that he mentioned it, you realized that you actually were taller than him. You laughed in response to his statement, not really knowing what else to do.

"Uh... Yeah. I've been told"

You turned off your stove, faced Joe and rested your hand on your hip. You had only really known him for three hours, but the two of you seemed to have some sort of connection. In your imagination, you had hoped that sparks would fly, that you guys would be soulmates, getting married and having children within the first year of knowing each other. But now, once you had actually met him, talked to him and spend time with him all your feelings towards him were completely platonic. If you had to be completely honest with yourself, you really enjoyed it too. Something about him made you feel safe and wanted. He listened to you in a way no man had ever done before and if he'd let you, you were sure the two of you could become the greatest of friends.

Something about Joe suddenly seemed off. Not necessary in a bad way, but he seemed different. Nervous almost.

"I... This might be a long shot, but I think it'll look strange with us on the red carpet... You know, you being taller than me and all that" Joe started, fetching his phone from his back pocket. You felt your heart sink all the way to the bottom of your stomach. Of course, it was too good to be true. Why would he ever bring a regular person like you to something as crazy as the Oscars. Before you could say anything, he continued.

"But... If you don't mind... And he doesn't mind… I think I have a solution at hand"

You raised your eyebrows and placed your hands on your hips, anticipating what he had to say.

"Alright. My dear friend Gwilym doesn't have a +1 either... And he's taller than me and taller than you too, so maybe... You could go with him and I could... I don't know, bring my mother or something. You don't have to if you don't want, but I can try and call him up to see what he says?"

Your eyes widened at the proposal. Joe could've easily just said that he wouldn't be bringing you anyways, it's not like he owed you. You were at a complete loss of words, who would've thought that he would be willing to go through this much for you?

"Uh... Yeah? Sure, that sounds really wonderful. I can't believe you would do all that for me" you shyly laughed before squeezing his shoulder as a way of showing your appreciation.

"It's no biggie, really! I think the two of you would be a wonderful match, actually. You seem... Like you would get along really easy."

Joe sent you a reassuring smile before clicking Gwilym's name on his phone. The silence was more uncomfortable this time than it had been any other time it had crept upon you. What if Gwilym said no? What if he said yes?! Up until this point you had kept your celebrity crush on Gwilym a secret but just the thought of meeting him - and possibly even being his date to something as huge as the Oscars made your heart skip a beat.

"Hey Gwil, It's Joe. Listen, you remember I talked about this girl on Instagram who'd asked me to take her to the Oscars? Yeah. I'm at her place right now and I just learned that she is taller than me and I'm not sure my ego would survive standing next to her on the red carpet. She's really sweet and I think the two of you would be a great pair, if you still need a +1?"

You tried your hardest to hear what Gwilym said in the other end of the phone, but you couldn't hear anything but mumbling. Instead you tried to read Joes facial expressions, but he wasn't really giving anything away either.

"Yes! Great. What an absolute lad you are. I'm sure she's up for it." Joe raised his eyebrows and nodded playfully in your direction.

"I'll text you the address. See you tomorrow, buddy"

The confusion must've been beaming out of your eyes. Joe just laughed, sent a quick text and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Guess who's got herself a new date to the Oscars?"

Your jaw dropped and you felt your knees get weak. He couldn't actually be serious, right?

"Are you kidding me? Is that…"

You didn't even get to finish your sentence before you were cut off by Joes mesmerizing laugh.

"Gwilym is coming here tomorrow to meet you. He said that he would love to take you and in return he'd find me another date too"

"Here?! He's coming here?"

"Uh... Yeah. I thought that would be alright with you?"

The panic that had just built up in your body subsided as you took a deep breath. You were meeting Gwilym, right here, in the comfort of your own flat, while your new friend Joe was with you. You had to be dreaming right? This couldn't possibly be real.

"No, yeah. It's alright. I think I just... Panicked for a bit there. Sorry about that.. Are you sure this is real life?"

"Nope.. It's just fantasy"

You rolled your eyes before the both of you burst into laughter. This was without a doubt going to become one of your favourite friendships ever. Joe was the nicest, funniest and best guy you had ever met.

"Nice one, Mr. Mercury. Let's eat, yeah?"

_____________ The next day

Last night had been an absolute dream. You and Joe had been lounging on your couch for hours, laughing, watching stupid YouTube videos and eating your own weight in candy. You couldn't quite figure out why but for some reason it felt like the two of you had known each other forever. You had been cuddled up against him for parts of the evening and it felt like the most natural thing in the whole world, which confused you quite a bit even though you wholeheartedly enjoyed it.

Your mind was running wild today. Having spent most of the morning alone, you had had plenty of time to think about how you were going to act, once Gwilym came. You had taken your sweet time showering, making tea, dancing in your towel and then finally getting ready, wanting to give the best first-hand impression you had ever given in your life.

"Good morning Joe" you hummed when you finally found your way to your kitchen were Joe was currently sitting, enjoying himself a cup of coffee while mindlessly scrolling on his phone.

"Morning, girl" he answered without moving his eyes away from his phone.

"You already forgot my name, Mazzello?" you retorted while folding your arms across your chest.

"Never would (Y/N), just trying out nicknames for you" he laughed.

You returned the laughter and poured yourself a new cup of tea.

"You look really good today! Done a little extra to impress the new man?" Joe laughed taking another sip of his coffee.

"By new man, do you mean you or Gwilym?" You playfully asked, not even arguing that you had taken a little extra time to make sure you looked your absolute best. Joe didn't answer your questing, he just nodded slowly raising his brows with a sly smile plastered on his face.

"Oh, and Gwilym is on his way. He'll be here in.." Joe glanced at his watch "10 minutes.. Or so"

The mere thought of Gwilym being in your flat made your heart flutter. That man was going to be the end of you, you were sure. The whole thought of the Oscars had completely vanished from your mind, the only thing that actually mattered right now, was meeting Gwilym - and becoming friends with Joe. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Joe put his phone down on the table and empty his cup, getting up from his chair and walking towards you.

"You seem.. Nervous?" he asked, gently patting your shoulder.

"Uh.. I'm alright. Just.. A little freaked out about meeting so many new people in such a short amount of time." you explained, softly shrugging. You couldn't just tell him how nervous you actually were about meeting Gwilym, that would just be downright creepy. Right?

The doorbell rang, making all the hairs on your body rise. Your whole body visibly stiffened which made Joe chuckle.

"Don't you worry - he's a great guy. Nothing to be afraid of" Joe laughed, gently rubbing you back to calm you down.

You just shook your head with a hearty sigh and headed to your front door, slowly opening it. Gwilym was right there, in front of you, looking like a Greek God. He looked like.. You couldn't even describe it. His long blue trench coat was open, relieving his grey sweater and a pair of black trousers. His brown leather brogue shoes matched the big leather bag he had in his hand. Mentally your jaw dropped but physically you just sent him a soft smile and extended your hand to shake his.

"Hi! Uh.. I'm (Y/N) - Welcome to my.. Uh.. My place" you stumbled over your words as Gwilym shook your hand. His hands were soft and warm, just how you had imagined it.

"Thank you so much, it's really nice to be here" Gwilym politely said, before he made his way into your flat, dropping his bag by the door. Joe emerged from the kitchen, giving his friend a close hug.

The three of you spend the rest of the day together. Joe and Gwilym apparently had a lot they needed to catch up on and you tried you best to be a great hostess, while also getting to know both of the men. You couldn't quite describe exactly what was going on between Gwilym and you - maybe it was just something that you imagined, but it surely felt like something was there. The lingering touches, the soft smiles, the playful winks. It could just be your imagination, but it felt like something great was going to happen.

#my work #fanfic #fan fiction #gwilym lee x reader #gwilym lee fanfiction #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello fanfiction

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sharethisgemwithme · 7 years

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“Adventures in Light Distortion” instant reaction

[Written on January 8-9. I was blind to this episode and the whole remainder of the Bomb, with the exception of tiny leaks and Youtube screenshots. Comments related to those spoilers are footnotes, marked with [#].]

Oh man, what a title. You see, the emphasis makes all the difference. Is it light distortion, as in little itty-bitty lies? After the previous episode, what further lies would we be telling? Or is there really the chance the gems are going to tell half-truths to Dr. and Mr. M and bring *Connie* along on this mission?!? Please oh please. Or, since the gems are light constructs, is it light distortion, as in the bending of light rays and such. And "Adventures in"... as in plural? I mean, obviously, the gems are going to chase after Blue Diamond. Are we going right to Homeworld? Are we doing this, for real? 'Cause sign me the hell up. Now, the gems have a ship, and I am 99% sure Pearl knows how to fly it because Pearl knows how to fix, operate, drive, or fly anything she damn well wants to, so we're about to find out just what it's like when the Ruby ship goes zoooooom [1]. I don't remember which is third, "Gem Heist" or "The Zoo", but whenever we meet up with Greg again (presumably at the zoo), are there other types of aliens there? Are there other gems? [2]

I'm spacing out the episodes, not chomping them all down at once, to give myself time to think about them. However, only the first episode remains available on VOD, so I'm watching tonight's via DailyMotion (the first place I saw that has the entire episode available in one video). So timestamps are those of the DM video, which has the intro begin at 0:09. As always, though, I’m watching straight through with no pauses or rewinds.

0:09 - Time to find a way. 0:32 - Hilary and Lauren tonight. (they fixed the title card, this was a Raven & Paul episode) 0:42 - Aww, no more Amethyst ponytail. 0:49 - Oh man, Pearl's losing her shit quickly. 0:59 - "Turn into a chair. I need to sit down." Wow. 1:17 - "That might be it." The zoo. Oh boy. 1:31 - Steven's like "are you fucking kidding me? a human zoo." 1:45 - Digging this music btw. 2:03 - Pearl going cross-eyed. 2:19 - "We're not coming back without Greg." That didn't sound as intimidating as I expected. 2:35 - They already flew on this, it should be OK. 2:55 - Aww. "Protect Beach City." 3:09 - "Bending reality." 3:26 - Lapis looks utterly thrilled about protecting BC. 3:42 - We're just totally handwaving all the oxygen issues. 3:53 - "Space turbulence"? Oh come on. 4:12 - WHAT ARE THEY ALL DOING IN THE SAME PLACE? 4:19 - "We should really do something about them." Ya think? 4:35 - It doesn't work that way. BTW, Greg's 40. Note to self. 5:03 - That doesn't sound good. 5:14 - NOT A GOOD DECISION, STEVEN. Maybe brace yourself before someone else hits the button. 5:35 - LOLOLOLOLOLO OH BOY. 5:50 - Oh my god, this is like almost chibi-size. 6:06 - "In what way is this funny?" EVERY WAY. 6:30 - I guess that makes sense. 6:41 - But they shouldn't all be the same size, so that's not really gonna work. 7:04 - I guess we're gonna spend the whole episode en route. 7:13 - STOP JUST MASHING BUTTONS, DUDE. 7:26 - Oh good, a big red X. That's never a bad sign. 7:31 - OH THAT'S NOT A BAD SIGN AT ALL. They just poofed? 8:07 - You might wanna get out of warp speed now. 8:31 - You can do it! 8:55 - Oh boy. Don't do this to yourself, Steve-o. 9:14 - Don't you goddamn dare do this "future vision" thing to me, here. 9:40 - HEALING TEARS? streaming back towards the gems. 10:23 - I guess, uhh, that makes sense. "Don't think too much about it." Don't worry, I won't. 11:04 - Time for stuff to happen! Next time... 11:20 - So is this Homeworld? Or are we still not quite there?

INSTANT REACTION - So it was the distortion of light we were dealing with, and honestly that was the kind of... not quite body horror, but body manipulation certainly that we would expect from a Paul & Raven episode, not a Hilary & Lauren. [N.B. I read several days later that this was in fact actually a Paul/Raven episode, and the title card was incorrect, so that makes sense] I'm a little embarrassed that the idea of Peridot and/or Lapis coming along never even occurred to me, but they were written out of the arc anyway. Steven's conversation with Connie was pretty curious, though. I wonder what she was saying on the other end of the line, but I really think she wanted to come along (as much of an absolutely terrible idea as that would probably be). We got a little more conclusive timeline. Greg would be turning 110 in 70 years, ergo he's 40 now, so he was 26 when Steven was born. Since he's "known the gems since [he] was 22", that means he spent about four years courting Rose. I know that I said "healing tears" above, and I am realizing now after the fact that Steven doesn't have healing tears, but rather healing spit. However, there really did seem to be SOMETHING there in him crying about making all these mistakes, and his tears streaming to the back of the ship. I could've sworn some landed on the gems. Obviously, since I've only watched the episode once, and in real time, I can't be sure about that (or if any of the gems were actually cracked as Steven feared, but I doubt that). At 9:14, I was briefly afraid that, with Steven monologuing how he's made so many mistakes and why couldn't he just trust Garnet's warning and now he's lost everyone, we were going to have a future-vision fake-out and reset back to the stairs outside the beach house, 4 minutes into "Dream". I would've been fucking PISSED if that had happened (side note: I've read a number of fan theories/jokes about how the last scene of the whole series is going to be Rose asking Garnet whether she should go to some concert on the beach, and that the entire series has been Garnet's future vision of what will happen if she does. It's cute, but entirely violates what little we do know about future vision), because it would've wiped away an entire episode, taken away Steven's agency to make his own decisions, and just been a fucking hack move. I'm glad that wasn't the case. I've said in the past that realistic astrophyics was never a strong point of this show, starting from the illogical gravity in "Laser Light Cannon", but I'm STILL peeved at the stereotypical asteroid belt (and though I'm amused at the trio of Rubies--I saw the first one was Navy, didn't catch who the other two were--there's no way they should all be together). That said, I appreciated the metaphorical dropkick they delivered to faster-than-light travel ("Don't think too much about it.")

SECOND WATCH THOUGHTS: Pearl's side-eye at "Back when I still served... Homeworld." WHAT ARE YOU HIDING, WOMAN? Seriously, Connie had some plan to go with Steven, or at least to do something. It's a longshot, but I'm calling it now: we are going to hear from Connie somehow before this arc is over. Pudgy, ruby-shaped Pearl is adorable. I see the really huge setting on the Roaming Eye showed up on the slot-machine-looking display as ♦ ♦ ♦ OK, doesn't seem to be any structural issues for the gems at any point while warping. That whole segment is really trippy though. As someone with minor eye issues that occasionally lead to double vision when my eyes are out of focus, it was really disconcerting. I feel like Steven's monologue is one part addressed-to-kids "Hey, when stuff around you is going poorly, you can make some rash and desperate decisions, but please don't think the original stuff is also your fault" and one part actual plot set-up, but I can't make out what it is. Whoops on the Rubies; the first one was Doc, followed by Army and Navy. That leaves Leggy somewhere off in the distance.

[1] - one of the screencaps Youtube spoiled for me was titled "Traveling faster than the speed of light" or something like that, so, yeah I'm pretty sure we'll get to see that. [2] - via tumblr posts that didn't get immediately hidden, or the tags that remained, I know there are a bunch more gems to meet. I'm still hopeful that at least a few of the Youtube screencaps were fanart, but... we'll see.

#steven universe #instant reaction #su liveblog #adventures in light distortion #out of this world #su spoilers

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