While I'm still mentally screaming about the My Policeman red carpet look I also wanna point out a possible intentional difference between the Don't Worry Darling and MP looks for both the press conference and red carpet.
DWD press conference (left) vs MP press conference (right), basically here the why i think he might be comparing the two if you will through outfits: the jackets are the same but in another color. And the same goes for the red carpet looks. It's pretty simple lol, but lemme explain... Remember he (and Lambert) have done so before, at the 2021 Grammy's for instance, where Lambert explained they went for "polar opposite" looks while keeping the same silhouette, and here I think something similar has been done again. (that's also what got me started on that fking color negatives bs but this isn't about that but it's part of the post so there's that) Pretty much the story is in the difference between the two, the one helps puts emphasis on the significance of the other.
Details:
DWD:
white jacket
blue nails
blue bandana scarf covering bananadicknecklace
bird ring
MP:
same jacket but black
green nails
pearls yes absolutely and dicklace on full display
peace ring
shoe model he wears at his shows
hair more his regular style
It very well could be they just didn't have much time for the MP look but basically I'm seeing details added that are much more him, much more comfortable, more harry for MP in many ways.
BUT NOW THE IMPORTANT ONE THE RED CARPET LOOKS
DWD (left) and MP (right):
Again The Same Jacket But One Is Blue And One Is Green.
DWD:
again blue nails
again bird ring
blue suit
it's all blue just like the press conference outfit
accessories: sunglasses, and I guess a shirt with pointy ends we count as an accessory bc the green goblin didnt need one.
the details make the suit look more stiff if that's the word
My Policeman
again green nails
again peace ring
same! jacket! green suit
no shirt. he naked. he bare. he babey. he all out. he-
BIGASS FKIN GREEN ASS LILY FLOWER BLAAP GREEN FUCKING-
accessories: purse, GREEN. CARNATION. APPRECAITION BIGASS FLOWER I THINK YOU SHOULD WEAR BIG GREEN FLOWERS
and here the accessoires, everything about it, brings down the squareness of the jacket? again. words idk fashion. But it's having opposite effects is the point. one makes you relaxed the other not so much
So I mean find symbolism in this the way you want to, I'm seeing a look for DWD that looks like a policeman. It looks to me like he's found a way (for himself) to put on display how he's both. DWD = work, like Tom is the policeman, and THEN there's MP, something he's passionate about, and we see the second, the green outfit, as displayed pretty much embodying a green carnation (symbolizing queerness, esp mlm), paralleling Tom who loves a man. Basically, the green carnation look is appropriate and related to the MP premiere, to his character in the movie, but by taking the look of a policeman out of that situation, and into the DWD premiere, he's added that layer of him. And not just that, also incorporating those classic (peace ring, blue+green) details we we've grown to understand symbolise his relationship with some lad dude yk.
IN SHORT: LOVE THIS GENIUS:
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btw this might be me swinging a bat at a hornets nest but like. absolutely none of my disappointment from the tl finale comes from ship baiting or any relationships that didn’t happen (though to be clear, i think the tedbecca fake outs were meanspirited and served no narrative purpose - in noted contrast to the season's earlier jamiekeeley fakeouts, for example, which were explicitly there to demonstrate jamie's growth + maturity)
tedpendant is a really fun concept for me, and i LOVE the characterisation + thematic potential there!
but as someone who personally resonated with a lot of ted’s struggles, the idea that ted could leave richmond so… seamlessly, for lack of a better word, really doesn’t sit right with me. the thesis of the shows entire first season - assuming it can be said to have only one - was about how everyone needs the love and support of a community, whether that comes in the flavour of someone who hypes u tf up or someone who will relentlessly call u on ur shit (or, as happened quite frequently, both!).
rebecca, roy, jamie are the clearest examples as the characters with the most screentime: they were all deeply isolated and disconnected from the people around them, and that was making them miserable. the connections they made with the team, the vulnerability they finally allowed themselves to express (the ghost banishing ceremony comes to mind!), and them going on to want *more* out of their life are what made their arcs about *progression* rather than *regression*. without that clear theme of compassion + community inspiring positive growth in everyone who encounters it, there is, frankly, no season one.
my personal favourite scene from season one comes right after michelle walks away from ted, when they’ve agreed to get divorced. ted sits down on the bench looking gutted, and a little shell shocked - and beard sits down with him. hands him the drink, and they sit there together. silent, but together. to me, that scene is an implicit promise from the episode, to the audience: ‘it’ll be okay. it’s going to be hard, but ted isn’t alone, and his friends won’t leave him behind.’
it also makes it clear to the audience that ted isn’t the saintly-giver-of-grace who needs nothing in return, as one might assume on first brush, but rather that he’s Also struggling with his own shit (as is everyone, always, in real life!) and he has something he needs from the people around him too.
and looking at the text of s3, and the conclusion to his arc in the finale, i just don’t believe that he got it. he wasn’t just sad that he was leaving (which would be understandable!), he was completely closed off. unresponsive to the people around him reaching out, borderline confused as to why they were trying so hard!
(side note, while i completely respect the read of ted and trents last interaction being rather rude + ooc on ted’s part, i personally read a different motive into it. for me, it was more like… he didn’t understand where trents enthusiasm was coming from? like, he read that as trent being too invested in what other people think of him, and responded in a way that he hoped would emphasise that ted doesn’t *need* to laugh at everything trent wrote, bc trent Already Knows that he’s done something really cool and kickass, and he shouldn’t value anyone else’s reactions above that. basically, based on his demeanour in the episode, i genuinely don’t think it would’ve even occurred to him that trent was more invested in HIS reaction than he would’ve been with anyone else.)
again, looking purely at the text, the show had already established that ted has really strong depressive + avoidant tendencies, as well as panic attacks (largely triggered by his fear of not being ‘good enough’ in various roles, ie: a father). we saw one area he was able to calm HIMSELF abt these fears (worry for henry, which is a Hell of a choice considering the ending…), but in literally every other heightened moment, he had to rely on his support system to help him make the choices that he WANTED to make, rather than ones inspired by avoidance and fear (ie: confronting michelle abt jake, talking to his mum abt why she was visiting + his dads death).
and to be clear, this is a GOOD THING! we’re not supposed to go through life alone, no matter how bad OR well we’re doing. rebecca and keeleys friendship isn’t worth less for all the scenes where they’re both in good places. if anything, the opposite is true - it’s lovely that they both have someone who want to celebrate the achievements in their life!
and fuck it, we’re sure as hell not supposed to go through life with exactly one (1) person whom we expect to fulfill ALL of our emotional needs at all times either! like, im sure i don’t need to labour my point here, but tying everything to one (1) person in ur life doesn’t make u any less isolated than if u were going it completely alone, whether it’s a family member, a friend, or a partner. i won’t pretend to know the first thing abt what it’s like to be a parent, but i don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that no parent would be at their best if they had absolutely no support/camaraderie/general love provided to them from Anyone other than their child.
so when ted is SPECIFICALLY shown to be in a bad place, over and over again (did he come to terms w his fear to be close to henry overnight???????), and then removed from his community? of COURSE the audience is left feeling unsettled, and like the rug has been pulled out from under them. there was no time in this finale dedicated to how ted would still be in contact with anyone from richmond. no promises of visits, or phone calls - fuck, nothing about emails!! according to the text, we might as well assume this is a clean break (and the maybe-dream-sequence does Fuck All to assure us otherwise. if ted doesn’t go to beards wedding, what WOULD he go to????). and since the show has ALSO completely failed to give us even an IMPLICATION of who/what ted’s support system would be in kansas, there’s… a reasonable argument to be made that this is It for ted. that, after two seasons doing NOTHING but attesting otherwise, the audience is supposed to suddenly believe that ted can (and SHOULD!) pull himself up by his bootstraps, and cope entirely on his own.
that, to me, is a betrayal of the show’s premise. we were promised a show about how, no matter how dark things may get, none of the characters would be left to struggle alone. and then they ended the show with ted alone.
i don’t know. i guess if i had to give this post a tldr; if anyone has any gen fic/meta/Literally Anything in the pipeline, i would absolutely love to be tagged/directed towards it. i’ll be endeavouring to write something myself, as well, but it might take a while before i can return to my WIP, lol.
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