#I mean I like drama

[cuddlytogas]

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

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

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

What is the difference between this and this?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[royalarchivist]

For those who missed it, here’s Phil slam-dunking Quackity’s face into his birthday cake LMFAO, I love their friendship dynamic

#Quackity #Philza #TinaKitten #Phil #IRL #Tina looks so HORRIFIED I'm losing it #also don't cause any drama over this Phil and Q are friends Phil didn't do this to be mean or anything #and quite frankly it looks like Quackity was prepared for it #The way Phil literally rubbed his face in it Im LOSING it #this was so frickin funny I was dying #Happy Birthday Quackity! #The Mariachi band playing that after he got dunked was SO funny #the way the hat fell perfectly on the cake was too funny #Tina

[waterghostype]

crusty kid

#baby lloyd would totally be all over capitalistic free to play hiearchal roleplay simulation websites #ninjago #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd #dude i LOVED animal jam it was my life #i rmb the day i got membership the world was revolutionary… then i stopped playing #now im old enough to pay for my own membership #but being a senior high student also means i cant play animal jam #it’s so weird to think im now the age of all the ytbers i used to watch #animal jam drama was truly something else #anyways i love this little shitbaby lloyd #hes so stupid i love him #cant wait for him to experience the horrors #when i first watched ninjago i was confused why lloyd was a baby bc i thought that lloyd was everyone’s fav prettyboy #i initially thought lloyd was totally loyal to evilman garmadon and started off as an actual formidable enemy #though now i want to make an au like that #aphid’s ninjashits

[laniidae-passerine]

Our Flag Means Death Season 2 Episodes 6 + 7 Reductress Headlines

#I love this silly show and the gay drama. it’s like I’m right back there. in secondary school #also the Jim/Olu/Archie dance was so cute but WHAT was roach doing in the back #man was LIVING #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd headlines #reductress #reductress headlines #gentlebeard #blackbonnet #edward teach #ed teach #blackbeard #stede bonnet #izzy hands #stizzy #ned low #jim jimenez #oluwande boodhari #archie ofmd #tealoranges #zheng yi sao #prince ricky #lucius spriggs #black pete #lupete #wee john feeney #roach ofmd #fang ofmd

[cyanastrologist]

❌ Ned Fulmer was fired for cheating

✔️ Ned Fulmer was fired for tarnishing his own brand, and becoming a liability to the company.

#hannah.txt #try guys #ned fulmer #try guys drama #it wasnt the cheating itself that got ned fired #he got fired for having a workplace relationship with a subordinate #which opens the company up to lawsuits about favoritism and unfair treatment #ibr this is what you get for monetizing your relationships #do yall really think ned would be facing this much backlash if he hadn't based his entire persona around being The Wife Guy(tm) #i mean he'd still get some hate for sure but this man literally built his whole brand around loving his wife #like literally worshipping the ground she walked on #only to be caught cheating on said wife. not a good look my dude #i have no sympathy for ned and alex they both suck

[inkskinned]

so one time i got bit by a brown recluse which is one of the only types of spider in my area that's actually dangerous and at first i didn't know what had happened to me, only that it was nasty. the swelling wasn't going down and the wound started to get ugly. i don't want to like get into the details because that's gross but it got to the point 2 weeks later that i was worried enough to go to the doctor, which i hate doing.

i am not afraid of spiders but other people are so i'd been covering it with this big ole square bandage (i needed more landscape coverage than a simple bandaid) and sat in the university medical waiting room, kicking my heels and playing BOTW. the nurse who admitted me was like, oh, we have got to get Tom to cover this one. she wrote spider bite under my ticket.

i waited in the near-empty building for like an hour and then nurse tom shows up in spiderman scrubs, out of breath. "sorry," he says, "i saw - your slip - and I had," he heaves in a breath, "to run home and. get. these scrubs. i literally. ran. felt like a job. for. spiderman."

i laugh. he puts his hands on his knees, thumbs-ups at me. fishes a pamphlet out from under his clipboard that basically says spiders can be scary but you don't need to be scared, there's very few dangerous spiders in new england. "honestly," he wheezes, "we probably don't need to get you into an exam room. just..." he waves his hand at the pamphlet, "read that."

i look down at my arm. then back at him in his scrubs. and then down at my arm. i like that he made an effort to make a joke, but now it does not feel like a good joke, because they are mistaking my calm for a lack of injury. "can i. like. at least show you the bite?"

he gives me kind of a weird look, which is fair, but then says. "if. i mean, if you have to."

i peel the bandage off. his face goes green.

"oh," he says.

"yeah, man."

"a... spider bit you?" his voice is high and tight and trembling. he backs up a few steps.

"i think a brown recluse," i offer. "i know it's nasty, sorry."

"excuse me for a moment." he looks over to the administering nurse on the other side of the small room. "i need to find someone else to take care of you."

the administering nurse smiles over to us with a degree of pleasure that is almost salivating. for a moment, like a window opening, i am briefly aware of what must be a psychic message floating amongst the in-between. her jaguar teeth all say this is like a party for me and i know exactly what i'm doing.

"oh no, tom," she says, grinning. "i gave her to you specifically."

#this is a real thing that happened #i then waited in an exam room for another hour until a doctor was similarly dismissive until he saw it #and then just gave me antibacterial cream which didn't help the swelling lol #it went away on its own like 4 weeks later #but that's like not the fun part of this story #i was just like. suddenly in the middle of someone else's work drama and GIRL #btw found this extremely funny #edit in the tags: oh ! i thought they were native to NE !!! ???? omg #i mean a real doctor really saw the wound and said ''brown recluse'' so i assumed he was right i never googled it #i lived on a mattress on the floor in a house of people who were always travelling #so like i guess it could have been ANY spider??? #omg..... #the way this rocked my whole world

[miusato]

Yeah but what if they're some oddly high budget cartoon from the 00s???

#atlus adds gradients to the animation to launder money kind of budget i mean lol #something like an angsty teenage drama cartoon that gets cancelled after 1 season and the ending was a cliffhanger #only for it to gain notoriety in the late 10s and fans begged them to bring them back #and then season 2 came out decades later and Shinji and Minako are dating for like 5 eps only to break up #like thats outrageous there's no such things as that kind of series happening ahaha #anyway this is like a reference for me i figure out how to draw them to fit my style more #now I have to figure out Aki and the rest of the gang lol #and then in 10 months you will see me recreating my fav scenes as if they aired on cartoon network or something lol #asukart #persona 3 #persona 3 reload #shinjiro aragaki #kotone shiomi #minako arisato #shinjiham #foolmoon #persona 3 portable #persona 3 femc

[rythyme]

alpha/alpha isn't even a canonized AO3 tag yet and Pit Babe The Series is already out here like "there's a special kind of alpha that can get other alphas pregnant 😜"

#''i can't believe we live in a world where live action shows do fanfic tropes—'' nah. it's worse than that. #we live in a world where live action tv shows come up with kinks and tropes that ao3 hasn't even thought of yet #and by ''worse'' i mean ''better'' if you're an enjoyer of unhinged media experiences like i am #pit babe #pit babe the series #thai drama #lgbt drama #omegaverse #theo.txt #100 #500

[starstriix]

i love gen 2 girls and i love drawing ponies,, so i put em together

I’ve also ponified the gen 2 boys!!

Also, here’s a post with explanation of the species choices and cutie mark designs if you’re interested!

#total drama #tdroti #total drama fan art #td jo #td zoey #td dakota #td staci #td dawn #td anne maria #dakota’s cutie mark was meant to be a camera but i just didn’t like how it looked on her #i actually put thought into some of these cutie marks so they have a meaning #gen 2 girls my beloved #i’m so sorry u didnt get the love u deserved in canon #except zoey but like a lot of her character was just liking mike so #mlp #tdi fanart #revenge is magic

[gunsatthaphan]

"I'm not afraid."

#pit babe #pit babe the series #pit babe ep11 #alanjeff #alan x jeff #sailubpon #sailub hemmawich #pon thanapon #thai bl #bl drama #WHY IS THIS SO STINKING CUTE PLEASE #they had such a nice pacing like thats how it should be imo #they started slow and had a really good buildup #if I say I'm into slowburn this is the slowburn I mean lmao #i love them ur honor 🥺 #the hearts snapping together 😩 me and who tbh #now can S&P please get their own show after this because the chemistry is chemistrying like its never chemistried before #oof #not me forgetting that charlie and babe exist when they're on screen dkjhgfd #theyre the main couple now sorry sweeties

[edenfenixblogs]

Well Drawfee is officially no longer safe media for me :(

Karina liked multiple tweets conflating a PSA for antisemitism with Israeli propaganda and claiming that Israel planned its assault to coincide with the superbowl…

Julia liked posts claiming that the war isn’t a war. Nobody has liked anything about antisemitism or even acknowledging Jews are in danger right now.

TBH I’m devastated.

I have Drawfee art all over my home. I was actually gonna become a patron this year. I’d literally been saving to make it feasible. This is crushing. I feel sick.

#leftist antisemitism #antisemitism #drawfee #heartbroken #debated putting this in the Drawfee tag or not #but ultimately I think it’s important #I don’t wanna start fandom drama or Discourse TM #I just want there to be a record of how their silence on antisemitism #and liking of conspiratorial tweets #is affecting a very fragile community #and Nathan being Jewish doesn’t change this for me #his Jewishness does not shield me from his coworkers antisemitism #even though I wanna believe that antisemitism is unintentional #and I’m so happy for Nathan if he feels supported by his friends and coworkers #he obviously knows them better than I ever will #and I’m not calling in Jews to take sides over this or anything #I’m happy that Nathan doesn’t seem to be affected by this #it must mean he has a wonderful support system and that his friends and coworkers are better #at showing their support irl than they are online #and that is important and valid #but it doesn’t change how it affects Jews like me who only experience them through a screen #and do not have a support system #they don’t owe me anything #I don’t expect anything from any of them #but I also cannot deny that I am harmed #by the fact that they didn’t acknowledge the conflict until it affected people who aren’t Jewish #and have still not acknowledged that it affects people who are Jewish #and I especially cannot handle Karina’s clear support for the idea that a Super Bowl PSA for antisemitism prevention #is somehow a sinister Israeli plot and not evidence of the terrible time that Jews like me are having rn #I feel like I lost a friend tbh

[tomurakii]

I like bloodweave. Okay. But I DON'T like the version of them in fanfic where Astarion is a dick and Gale is like. Whining and pleading for him to be emotionally vulnerable (or just. Nice to him) prior to the relationship being established. Because that is just not accurate. Gale needs the player to express interest in him during his weave-teaching scene before he even considers hitting on them properly. Gale is entirely resigned to his fate and needs someone else to pull him away from it. Gale only starts being sweet and romantic and devoted after you accept his love confession and give him hope for the future. Gale says fuck all and then slinks away to cry privately if you break up with him.

Like he isn't chasing after people lmao. He isn't dropping to his knees and crying about anything much less this dickhead he met a week ago. He is overwhelmingly passive about literally everything personal to him up to and including his own death (provided there are no casualties/there is a good reason) until after the player expresses that they care about him. Astarion is not doing that in any of these fics.

Like Gale is friendly and a dork and doesn't wanna get murdered but he fully has a suicide plan. He thought the artefacts would help him survive but he didn't believe he'd ever truly live again. If Gale confessed and Astarion said/did like one (1) mean thing afterward Gale's romance is closed off forever. He's wandering into the forest to cry. He's killing himself immediately. His fragile ego and self worth can't take it. You have to understand that when we joke about him being pathetic it's not bc he's like. Sopping wet and chasing people down and begging for a scrap of attention. It's because he craves affection but would literally rather die than ask or even hope for it until someone else forces that hope back into his serotonin-deficient tadpole brain.

#i feel like u can tell when a bloodweave fic is written by an astarion stan vs a gale stan lol #because the astarion stans are just using gale as a vessel for like. their sopping wet meow meow #who screams and cries until astarion becomes emotionally vulnerable with them #which gale would not do. realistic bloodweave is astarion tries to fuck him in act 1 and he refuses because of the orb #and then astarion is like “boo what the fuck. change of plans” and gale is like “okay” and they never speak of it again lol #anyway #please god the gale characterisation in this place. half of you make him the soppiest most pathetic loser and the other half make him evil #he's not ACTUALLY a loser. when i joke about it the reason its funny is because its not true #hes just a regular guy with depression lol. hes not out here debasing himself begging for some old twink to care abt him #bg3 #gale dekarios #bloodweave #gale of waterdeep #does this make sense. i havent slept #i just mean that if you want gale to be sappy he needs to have like. prior assurance that his feelings are reciprocated #because if he doesnt have that and astarion is a dick to him he WILL just give up on the relationship #like hes not hunting people down after they deliberately upset him. i see so many fics where they create tension by lime #*like #having astarion openly fuck someone else after establishing a sort-of relationship with gale. for the drama #like hey. gale fully dumps you if you do that in game!! you have no way to convince him not to. he will dump astarion for that permanently

[buggachat]

"augh, this [media] sucks. it's all about shipping"

romance is a genre, harold

#this is the funniest thing that i keep seeing #im hardly mad at it honestly it's just funny at this point #like sometimes i'll see people criticize shows that used to be plot-based that in later seasons turned into just romantic drama #and i get that can be frustrating. but if a show has been ''about shipping'' since the pilot then maybe it's just the genre #this is like the funniest and most mundane version of dead dove #imagine explaining to a boomer or something that a show sucks because ''it's about shipping'' and then having to define shipping for them #and they look at you and say ''you... you mean like.... a romcom?''. how would you recover from that. what would you say

[izloveshorses]

like. imagine being a Normal Citizen in a galaxy far far away during revenge of the sith. like. you're scrolling on your holonet and not only has the chancelor been promoted to emperor (hello??), a senator (you follow fan pages of her for fashion inspo) has DIED suddenly AND it's revealed she was PREGNANT !!!!!!?? the whole time??? but who was the father?? was she married?? how did she die??? as far as you know she was young and healthy and unmarried, so like?? the girls and their speculations and their memes would've been insane on the holonet dashboard that week fr

#star wars #padme amidala #rots #revenge of the sith #anidala #like what was that news cycle like #did they try to cover up the fact that she was secretly pregnant #did they ever speculate about What Happened #i mean. we know what happened. #but the normies on coruscant?? what a WILD time #and i doubt it was ever resolved #so the girls never got closure to That story #which is a shame bc they would've loved the drama of the former queen/senator secretly marrying a jedi knight sworn to celibacy :/ #and the drama of said jedi knight vowing to kill for her #sigh

[furylad]

how is the ofmd fandom coping with the fact that Izzy Enjoyers were right about literally everything and the first three eps are just The Izzy Hands Show? I've peeked at Izzy hate blogs and have been amused that it seems like they're just pretending none of those scenes happened and are just latching onto the one Stede/Ed scene while ignoring. literally everything we just saw

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #I just can't help but notice the lack of the usual suspects whining about Izzy in the tags hmmmmmmmmmm curious #it's almost like none of you can say shit now #and you're just going to pretend the last year of fandom toxicity and people making shit up just didn't happen #a lot of you owe Izzy fandom an apology lol #especially the big names who have been dragging on this drama for years #and split the fandom in half over it #but apparently we're just going to act like none of this happened and not acknowledge we were wrong cool

[petergabrielyuri]

i remember when people would say that stede would be really mad at ed for leaving his crew to die on a tiny island but i guess that is not going to be the case at all because he's saying "i don't care what any of you say, he's actually a good guy" right to the faces of the people he stranded lmao

#like he does not gaf at all he's so in love #literally could not care less #i really dont think theres gonna be any drama over the crew abandonment and lucius thing #like stede really cant devote mental space to that when he could be thinking about ed and how much he loves him #i also think that stede will not remember who izzy is when they meet again... #izzy will be like “mr bonnet... i'd thought i'd seen the last of you you little twat” #and stede will be like “....who are you again??” #and izzy will be so mad he implodes on the spot #my post #our flag means death #ofmd season 2 #ofmd spoilers