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atruththatyoudeny · 4 years

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Monthly Reads | July 2020

Happy 28th! As always, my undying love goes out to all the amazing authors this fandom still has. You are all incredible! Thank you for sharing your work with us ♥ Here are all the 21 fics I read and enjoyed this month:

⋙ The Murmur of Yearning | MediaWhore | historical - no smut - arranged marriage past rape/non-con - implied/referenced dubious consent - minor character death - slow burn - 93k Four years ago, Harry Styles was forced into a marriage of convenience to enrich and ally both his and his promised's families. The sudden, and slightly suspicious, death of the Marquess of Haxshire, however, brings great disturbance to Crescentfield Hall and, as his late's husband's closest male relative, Harry unexpectedly finds himself the head of a family he never felt he belonged to. Between a meddling distant cousin hellbent on inserting himself in Harry’s life, his wicked and mistrustful mother-in-law and his late husband’s advisors refusing to help or take him seriously, Harry struggles in the fight to keep what he’s earned and make the Estate finally feel like home. Luckily he doesn’t stand completely alone and finds himself an unlikely ally in Mr Tomlinson, the elusive Land Stewart who has been taking care of the property in the shadows for years. Louis Tomlinson is caring, patient, and unlike everyone else, he doesn’t seem to think Harry committed a murder.

⋙ Donor-Conceived | jaerie | a/b/o - omega/omega - friends to lovers - intersex omegas - pregnancy kink - unplanned pregnancy - fertility issues - miscarriage mentioned - male lactation - lactation kink - 31k When Harry receives the worst news of his life, it's now or never if he wants to carry a child of his own. Without an alpha, it's a daunting idea. But after it's a go, he finds another omega having a child from the same donor and become fast friends. It is only logical that they raise the boys as half brothers, making sure their sons keep up the relationship with the only connection to their anonymous father. It seems like the perfect plan but life doesn't always work out that way.

⋙ Just a touch of your love | anonymous | a/b/o - touch-starved - past abuse - past rape/non-con - miscommunication - anxiety attacks - 12k “What if something happened to you? What would I say to Niall?” “Nothing, he would have to wait to see my corpse on the news like everyone else.” Deadpanned Harry. Louis’ gasp was all the answer he got. Ok, so that might have been a bit too much. With a calmer voice, he said, “It’s really fine. I’ve walked to the tube countless times, I can handle myself. Just go home and tell Niall to stop mothering me.” Louis was finally walking by his side and gave him a sideways glance before talking. “He doesn’t know, does he? Of your, uh, condition.” Harry tensed and his breath became erratic, but he didn’t say a word. Louis continued. “His nose probably hasn’t picked it up, and you’re lucky Liam’s also a beta, but it took me a minute to confirm it. Your scent is gettin’ so…” He seemed to struggle to find a word. He didn’t finish the sentence, but the emotion in his voice made Harry’s tummy churn. -- Or, Harry is a touch starved omega trying to get through it on his own. Louis happens to be the only alpha around to realize it and offers to help.

⋙ We're Not Who We Used To Be | jaerie | trans female character - trans Harry - childhood friends - friends with benefits - transitioning - gender dysphoria - body disphoria gender identity - first time - self-medicating - reference to depression - 7k Louis comes back to his childhood home and sees an old friend who has changed quite a lot since the last time they saw each other.

⋙ Sincerely, Yours | anon | strangers to lovers - military - 25k Prompt:Historical AU where Louis is a soldier on his way to first deployment and Harry is working at a diner. They meet there when Louis is waiting for the bus, Harry tries to cheer Louis up and agrees to write to him while he's deployed because Louis doesn't have anyone else to write to. People kinda make fun of Harry for writing to (and falling for) a virtual stranger but otherwise everything is great until Louis stops writing. AKA travelin' soldier by the Dixie Chicks but gay and with a happy ending.

⋙ Ever Since I Tried Your Way | anon | historical - 1940s - 1950s - farm/ranch - internalized homophobia - hurt/comfort - emotional hurt/comfort - fluff - smut - gender exploration - body worship - 26k Harry had been kissed before, but never like this. He’d shared sweet, curious kisses behind bleachers and in soda shop booths, one or two more daring ones in cars parked on dark suburban streets, but the girls he’d kissed had never filled him with the desperation that erupted from Louis’ touch. He parted his lips and pulled him closer, as though he could breathe Louis straight into his lungs, as if he could swallow him. He wanted to consume Louis the way he consumed the body and blood of Christ. He wanted to place Louis on his tongue and feel him dissolve into a frothy mess of starch and saliva. He wanted to gulp him down until his teeth were stained purple and he was drunk on him. He wanted him in some violent holy way that made his hands shake where they were twisted in Louis’ shirt. In 1949 Harry left his bride at the altar, running away from the only life he'd known. When a kindhearted farmer offers him a ride in his truck and a place to sleep the two find themselves inexplicably drawn together. Isolated on Louis' farm with nobody but a field of dairy cows to intrude, the men are finally able to explore the parts of themselves they've spent their lives hiding away.

⋙ sleeping on our problems | falsegoodnight | a/b/o - college/university - mpreg - friends with benefits - angst - slow burn - hurt/comfort - 67k I’m in love with you, Louis thinks. He feels empty, weighed down by his sadness and the loss of Harry inside him just moments ago before his knot finally went down. There’s moments where he’s sure Harry feels the same. Like now, when he’s gazing down at Louis with so much adoration and tenderness. It’s like they’re both on the cusp of something more, but neither of them ever say a word. His confession is on the tip of his tongue ready to slide out like honey, and yet he remains silent. They both do, looking at each other and recognizing the reluctance mirrored in each other’s eyes. It’s then that Louis realizes they’re both scared. - Or Louis sleeps with Harry and they have more than just catching feelings to worry about.

⋙ in a world alone | falsegoodnight | a/b/o - Swan Lake AU - historical - royalty - magic - curses - friends to lovers - slow burn - mpreg - 51k Harry’s breath catches as the glow grows bigger and bigger until he’s squinting his eyes and blinking at the sudden intense brightness. He closes his eyes, rubbing at them helplessly. When his eyes open again- he gasps, grip loosening on his bow as he gawks at the sight before him. Because the swan is gone. And in its place is the prettiest omega Harry has ever seen. - A Swan Lake AU

⋙ The Baby Whisperer | jacaranda_bloom | strangers to lovers - prior mpreg - neighbours - fluff - smut - kid fic - 19k Harry’s newborn baby is having trouble sleeping and nothing he does seems to work. Tired and alone and at his wits end, Harry is at a loss until a new neighbour arrives to turn his world upside down. OR the one where being neighbourly takes on a whole new meaning.

⋙ was in no hurry, had no worries | defencelouis | strangers to lovers - car accidents - smut - daddy kink - 21k The year is 1999 and Harry can’t stop dedicating songs to Louis on the radio. Or the one where Harry hits Louis with his car.

⋙ Strong Enough | jacaranda_bloom | enemies to lovers - exes to lovers - angst - smut - divorce - 21k “So…” Liam starts, and Louis instantly knows where this is going. He’s actually glad it’s Liam that's dragging the subject out from the shadows and into the light. Louis turns to face him, mirroring his position on the couch and nods, ready for him to continue. Liam takes a deep breath. “Have you spoken to Harry recently?” Five years after Vertigo goes on hiatus, the band comes back together for a benefit concert. Can Louis and Harry work through their complicated past, or are some wounds too deep to be healed?

⋙ What's It Gonna Be? | zeldasayre | high school - 37k Louis looked thoughtful for a moment. “When are you meeting with Clare again?” “Thursday,” Bebe said, looking over at him, the ice clinking in her glass as she stirred it with a long spoon. “Why?” He grinned, narrowing his eyes. He took a long, dramatic pause, sipping his lemonade, and then said, “Scheming.” aka I've watched Shura's "What's It Gonna Be?" music video one too many times. ((Or, Louis and Bebe, best friends since childhood, have crushes on two of the most popular kids in school, and in an attempt to increase their respective chances, Louis befriends Harry Styles, quarterback of the football team, while Bebe befriends Clare Uchima, head cheerleader. Only... the plan... doesn't go exactly as planned.))

⋙ There Goes My Life | anonymous | older larry - colleagues with benefits - mpreg - unplanned pregnancy - smut - lactation kink - 8k Metallic taste in the mouth, check. Aversions to favourite foods, check. Nausea without throwing up, check. A heightened sense of smell, check. Sore and sensitive nipples, check. It had felt as though Harry had been ticking off boxes from his own mental checklist and every new addition brought him closer to an existential crisis. Pregnant. Everything over the last few weeks began to make sense; thoughts he pushed from his mind because he was too busy, and to be honest too scared, to think about. Getting knocked up from a few-night’s-stand was something that happened to teenagers and/or uni students, but certainly not to a forty-year-old Member of Parliament such as himself. *** Or, the one where Harry is single, a Member of Parliament, gets knocked up and has to deal with navigating motherhood in his forties. And Louis? Well, his life is about to change forever as well. This is a tale about colleagues with benefits and the consequences that can come with that.

⋙ Mother I'd Like to * | anonymous | implied mpreg - MILF Harry - 4k “What’s up, dad?” Oliver asks Louis, standing in front of Harry in a way that hides his friends from the view. “Is there something wrong with your mom? Your friends are staring a lot.” Oliver goes beet red at that. He groans and hides his face on his hands. “Oh my god. Oh my god.” --------------------- Written for the prompt: Harry’s and Louis’ son is like 16, so he is hanging out with his friends and his friends are teasing him about how hot his mother (aka harry) is, just like the 1D boys always did with Harry about Anne. The son feels super uncomfortable and Louis is super confused why these little teenagers boys always stare at Harry’s body when he is cooking for them whenever they visit until he finds out they think of Harry as the hottest milf in town (more humor than actual sexual references pls, this is supposed to be more funny than awkwardly sexual :D)

⋙ An Invincible Summer | Brooklyn_Babylon | farm/ranch - historical - 1940s - period-typical homophobia - adoption - minor character death - epilepsy - homophobic language - smut - 44k Never content to stay in one place for long, a few months down south researching for his novel seemed like an idyllic, slow-paced summer to Louis. He wasn't ready for the blistering heat, the backbreaking work of watermelon picking, or how stifling the attitudes in rural Georgia would feel. And he definitely hadn’t anticipated falling in love with the farmer’s son. The summer of 1946 would turn out to be everything worth writing about.

⋙ a trail of honey through it all | faeriestyles | strangers to friends to lovers - mild violence - D/s undertones - 27k The boy in front of him, well really, the man in front of him, was like something out of a confusing wet dream. Built, tall, tan and muscular, his skin glistened with sweat after a long day of working outdoors with his hands. He was wearing a cut up old American football shirt, the bottom hem was torn and the sleeves were cut off to the point where the t-shirt was really just a loose tank top. The shorts he had on had clearly been full length jeans at one point, and were now just crudely cut off above the knee. His white socks were pulled up too high on his calves, and the brown work boots he had on were old as fuck, the leather peeling along the edges of the soles. Curly brown hair stuck out from the edges of his backwards snapback, and there was a smudge of grease wiped along his brow bone. The smattering of hair along his jaw proved that he hadn’t shaved in a week or two, the hair growing in thicker across his upper lip and around his chin. His sinfully bowed mouth was pink and plump, and Louis was suddenly hyper-focused on the way that he chewed at the toothpick stuck between his lips. He looked like he needed a shower. Louis wanted to lick him. Or, the TPH fic we’ve all been waiting for.

⋙ The Recklessness in Water | LarryOn | light angst - smut - 50k Louis Tomlinson is miserable. He's stuck on a family vacation at a lake cabin in New Hampshire when all he wants to do is bemoan his sorry existence and wallow in his sweatpants. As if the humidity and mosquitos weren't bad enough, he becomes the singular target of an obnoxious lifeguard named Harry.

⋙ baby blue | soldouthaz | cowboy AU - famous/not famous - angst - hate to love - enemies to lovers - smut - hurt/comfort - minor violence - 39k Harry Styles takes his time coming out to greet them. Louis only knows what he’s seen on file and what he’s heard them talking about, but he fully lives up to the image he had inside of his head. He saunters down the front steps of the farmhouse in his Levi’s, brown snakeskin boots curving out from underneath the denim Louis’ sure he had specially made. He’s got on a plaid button-down tucked into the jeans because of course he does, curls spilling out from either side of his cowboy hat around his sunglasses and country-tan skin. “Harry Styles,” he drawls, extending a hand to Louis’ manager, “Pleased to meet ya’ll.”

⋙ with no way out and a long way down | we_are_the_same | royalty - soulmates - strangers to lovers - fluff - angst - no smut - emotional hurt/comfort arranged marriage - 31k Prince Harry is ten when he receives his soulmark.

⋙ adjudication | bottomlinsons | royalty - historical - enemies to friends to lovers - enemies to friends - love letters - betrayal - slow burn - light angst - arranged marriage - 75k Harry's been engaged to Princess Charlotte of Ryde for as long as he can remember. He's come to know her, to love her, through the letters she's sent him over the past three years. But when the wedding finally arrives, Harry quickly learns that nothing is as it seems. With his crown and country at stake, Harry must decide who to trust in this strange new land. And the sly Crown Prince of Ryde doesn't seem inclined to make things easy.

⋙ Something to Prove | trysomecats | a/b/o - enemies to lovers - mpreg - smut - 9k Louis is the first and only omega to work at Red Valley Medical Center. Despite being more than qualified, he still faces prejudice for his career choice everyday. From patients refusing his treatment to condescending alpha doctors intervening with his work, practicing medicine in Boston is more challenging than Louis had ever thought it would be.

#fic rec #28th appreciation #monthly reads #monthly fic rec #my reads #larry fics #completed fics

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gaylorswiftvibes · 4 years

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I am caffeinated and quarantined and ready to lay out all of my thoughts as to why Taylor has yet to come out, the obstacles that will have to be addressed before she comes out, and therefore create a timeline as to when she will come out and what that will look like. I don’t know about all of you, but I find myself constantly questioning why this is all happening. Why has Taylor not come out yet? Why does she purposefully leave so many clues if she doesn't want to come out yet? Does she enjoy making us feel insane like the sick masochist that she is? Why has it felt like she’s about to come out several times but then she backtracks? What’s complicating this process? How long will we have to wait? Over the years, Taylor has enjoyed watching other people attempt to piece together the story about her love life and understand who and what she writes about. However, when she comes out I do think she will want to set the record straight (ha) in as many ways as possible without damaging her reputation or the reputation of anyone with whom she has had any sort of relationship. However, before she can come out, she will need to be in an optimal situation with her masters, the best timing possible for maximum impact and best optics, and Karlie's reputation/life to not be destroyed in the process.

This MANIFESTO of a blog post does presume several things.

Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss are both either bi or gay and both desire to come out publicly at some point.

They had a relationship.

They are likely still together. If not, they are still friends who care about the wellbeing of the other person and they are also in communication about koincidences.

If they are together, they purposefully made their relationship private to protect both of them (mainly Karlie) and have more control over their public narratives after kissgate and significant public speculation that their "friendship" was something more.

Karlie's relationship with JK is fake. Their marriage is not legal and there is likely a contract that provides prescriptive guidance for how she publicly portrays and discusses their relationship. This contract was likely made to provide Karlie with career opportunities and to provide JK with a beard- I do not believe that it is directly financial but it could be as well.

It’s clear that Taylor first started wanting to come out after she had already reached incredible success. It is unclear how this timeline occurred. Was she already out to herself and her family before her career even began? Did she originally intend to remain publicly closeted for her entire career? Did she go through a period of denial about her sexuality? I think the closest thing to answers we have to questions like these are clues within her music. I do believe her motifs of blue, darkness, shade, and secrecy mainly lead back to being closeted while her motifs of gold, sun, daylight, and public affection reference being out and proud. Interpret what you will from her writing and the timeline of her albums. To me, this does point to Taylor originally wanting to remain intensely closeted (hence beards and their massive publicity and the potential for some of those relationships to have been “real”, although this is a conversation for another day), later on wanting to remain quite secretive about her relationships with women, and most recently yearning to not be secretive any longer. It seems like her music points to wanting to come out- so why hasn’t it happened yet?

She knows that coming out is going to generate attention and sales. It would make the most sense that she wants to own her masters at the same time that she comes out. This is a major factor of why we're still waiting and will likely be waiting until the rerecordings come out or she makes a deal to get ownership of the masters. The clues along the way are a way to maintain some level of authenticity, to create buzz, and to create The Story that will undoubtedly one day be highly scrutinized and publicized. I do believe that The Story (as I will be referring to it) has been in the works for quite some time and that Taylor does plan to shed light on it at the time that she comes out. The Story will include as much truth as possible about her relationships. After Miss Americana came out and Lana Wilson insinuated that there is more of her story to tell, I do think it is possible that she will release another documentary alongside her coming out. However, this is pure speculation and an extremely biased view as I personally believe that would be very sexy and cool of her.

Part of this marketing scheme does come off as distasteful, but I do think it's less about her wanting more money and more about her wanting SB to not profit off of this or have any control or say in the message that she wants to communicate. Ultimately, a large piece of this unknown timeline will be revealed before or in November 2020. If they haven't made a deal for Taylor’s ownership by then, I assume she will publicly reveal if she is rerecording and potentially begin to promote her rerecordings. Worth noting, it is my belief that if there is follow through with the rerecordings that they will be copycat records intended to sound as identical as possible. I am hopeful for the "original" versions to come to light one day (I want her midnights and she never loved me deserve premium recordings), but I don't think it would make much financial sense to release these instead of the copycats (we can hope for alongside, but it doesn't seem too likely). At the end of the day, the masters situation will resolve one way or another by the rerecording date.

We should also generally be aware of timing. Taylor is going to want to create maximum distance between her and any direct negativity before she comes out along with any other major events (pandemics, elections, big news stories, etc.). This is definitely the point I will harp on the least, but something to keep in mind if something happens that harms her public image down the line (please god not again). I’ve considered that she may want to keep her coming out to “use” when she starts to get less popular or when society stops “tolerating her being successful”, but I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. I do believe that it will coincide with an album release just because that would be sickening.

This is not to say that once the optimal situation for her masters is obtained, Taylor has no other reason to not come out. It doesn't matter whether she and Karlie are currently still together, The Story includes Karlie in an undeniable way since it is clear that they were in a relationship for a few years at the minimum. I really don't think Taylor would want to come out without being able to address their relationship. However, the narrative would completely depend on if they are still together or not. If they are no longer together, that may be more incentive to consider a possibility of her coming out without addressing Karlie. Since I personally believe they are still together, I will be addressing the potential narratives for Karlie from that perspective.

One option to consider beforehand is the storyline that Karlie and Taylor were close friends but never together. They each have their own relationships that eventually end for unrelated reasons (meaning eventual JK divorce and oatmilk disappearance), then they rekindle their "friendship" and "start" a relationship around the time that Taylor comes out. I don't like this idea because it, in essence, defeats the purpose of The Story. If this is the time to come clean, be vulnerable, be honest, this is a significant lie to keep. And at the end of the day, the truth is in Taylor's discography. The albums point to a secret relationship, not just pining for a friend or whatever that storyline is.

The way I see it, once The Story is laid out, the two major narrative avenues are decided by claiming whether the Karlie JK relationship was real or not. If the choice is made to support its legitimacy, they could spin this relationship in a number of ways.

They could choose to portray it as on again off again. This would leave a partial timeline open for a relationship with Taylor. They could cite infinite believable reasons for the JK relationship being this way (K*shner/Tr*mp family issues, distance issues, typical relationship issues, etc.). This narrative allows Karlie to not be portrayed as a cheater, JK to not be portrayed as a horrible person that would put a vulnerable 19-year-old at the start of her career in a long-term bearding contract, allows JK’s sexuality to not be questioned, and allows their relationship’s authenticity to go unquestioned. I do think this is the most likely narrative if it is chosen to portray Karlie and JK’s relationship as legitimate even after it ends. After all, Karlie has already stated publicly that they have “been through a lot together” and that “it hasn’t been easy” and they met it 2012 when it was “a different world” (WWHL, January 2020). They could also take the tangential route that they were not exclusive at the beginning of their relationship, but I am not sure when it was definitively publicly confirmed that they were together; although it is confirmed that they met in 2012, they could emphasize that they were friends at first or not exclusive. They were interacting with each other online on a routine basis by 2013. This included them liking each other’s posts, posting pictures of one another, posting the same picture, or posting in the same location (many of these have been proven to be latergrams and don’t seem like natural relationship posting, but that’s beside the point). In June 2015, Karlie posted a photo of them together with a caption wishing him a happy birthday and thanking him for “three years of love and laughs”. However, there was still speculation in the comments at the time over whether they were a couple or close friends. Their engagement was announced in 2018, so there is potential to create a storyline in which JK and Karlie were just friends since 2012, Taylor and Karlie dated, then JK and Karlie dated and married, JK and Karlie divorced, and then Taylor and Karlie got back together. I don’t think this is likely but I think it is worth considering since in hindsight the announcement of their relationship seems to have been kept purposefully vague, specifically when it comes to timeline. Maybe that was intended to keep their maximum options open when considering their likely eventual separation narrative.

They could choose to portray Karlie as someone who cheated on her relationship with JK with Taylor. I do not think this is a likely option as it would damage Karlie’s reputation, although they could attempt to make a sympathetic appeal. Karlie has been "with" JK since she was 19, and I don't think they would purposefully promote the narrative that she cheated on the man that she later married. As I am racking my brain for all possible options, I suppose they could make an appeal that they had an open or polyamorous relationship, but that would be low-key insane considering their largely girl-next-door personas. But hey, you cannot say that I am not thorough and thinking outside the bun.

They could choose the narrative that their relationship was partially authentic and partially inauthentic. They could use the storyline that they “fell out of love” (ha) but chose to remain close friends and not go public with their break up. This is highly unlikely because their “marriage” occurred after her and Taylor were so publicly close. There is also no clear motive for doing this other than bearding so it does call into question JK’s sexuality.

They could also choose to reveal the JK Karlie relationship as fake. However, this would put JK in a difficult position and it’s almost unimaginable that he would be okay with it. I think there is an extremely unlikely possibility that he would want to publicly come out and create some sort of best-friends-mutually-bearding-without-any-contract-narrative.

So, what are the other options? Well, she could tell (what I believe to be) the truth. She signed a contract in order to boost her modeling career, her marriage wasn't legally legitimate, and they never had an actual relationship. It certainly makes her choices and The Story make sense, but it would have endless ramifications. We have no way of knowing what the contract terms look like. It makes JK look like a terrible person, it puts his sexuality into question, and it makes Karlie look inauthentic (even though she has done a great job of mostly separating him from her public persona). I would genuinely not want to make an enemy out of a Kushner for fear of the safety of myself and my loved ones. It's a scary thing to make an enemy of someone who has so much power that they are virtually above the law. However, if there's anything we learned from the sale of the masters or the call, it's that publicity and public perception changes the options that are on the table. If Karlie and Taylor come out with the full (what I believe to be) truth, the world might see them in the way that most of us see them. Karlie was young, and was taken advantage of, and trapped into something she did not want. They were both struggling with and deciding if/how/when to come out publicly. Taylor was dealing with intense public scrutiny and the sale of her masters. They had no options to be honest about their relationship publicly. This option makes everything known, including their fear of the revenge JK and others might take against them, financially or otherwise. This results in anything they do in revenge receiving public backlash. If we're being honest here, this is my favorite narrative option purely because it's not a narrative; it's the truth. At the end of the day, we all love Taylor and her music and therefore want to know her and understand her on a deeper level. We all want the BRILLIANCE of her closeted writing to be properly admired for what it is. I think we all also want Taylor to feel loved and understood for who she truly is and what she's truly been through. Part of this is going to happen through being as honest as possible.

There is also the issue of oatmilk. Since she has literally never confirmed that they are actually dating (other than the sarcastic “she asked my boyfriend”, and the NME kiss (?)), she could take the route that they were always just friends. From this, should could take credit for the purposeful bearding, say that she just let it happen and let the media interpret their friendship that way and it didn’t bother her, or blame the media for spreading misinformation (which would be annoying because she clearly encouraged it). She could also break them up and legitimize their relationship, but that obviously takes away from the authenticity of her music and story. Either way, I feel like getting rid of oatmilk will be the easiest part of this process.

IN CONCLUSION, there are still many important issues to consider when we wonder why Taylor hasn’t come out yet and we shouldn’t use our impatience as reasoning to say that she is not gay. I believe that all of these issues would have to align or resolve in some way before she comes out. With any luck, it will be with TS8. However, the major wild card to consider is Karlie’s relationship with JK. We truly have no idea what this contract looks like, especially after the predicted end date last year was acknowledged by Karlie (instagram freedom post, seven long years tweet) and then still continued. We can hope that the public separation has been outlined in her renewal or that she would be safe in an exposé process, but nothing is certain. Ultimately, we all want the both of them to be happy and feel loved and appreciated for who they truly are, and to have control over the narrative they want.

Fuckin hell this is way too long but feel free to DM me with any questions because I clearly have too much time on my hands!! Peace and blessings

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oathkeeper-of-tarth · 5 years

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Some “Swordsmithing For Beginners And Experts” replies!

Tumblr really doesn’t seem to want me to reply to post and reblog comments, but here are some long overdue ones, as best as I could manage. Thank you all so much! As I’ve said before, this fic was kind of a big deal for me personally for a variety of reasons, so engagement with it really makes me happy - especially since, in my experience anyway, Bismuth-centric and Bismuth-heavy content tends to overall get a somewhat lower amount of activity.

tymp3st replied:

Ahhhhhhhh This was great, just Pearl and Bismuth and the huge divide between what was and what can be. That distance between them when Bismuth was brought back again and how quickly they start patching it up again. This is so sweet.

The distance and the patching up was something I really wanted to have work in that last big segment, so I’m really glad to hear this. These two and their relationship steeped in a shared complicated and often burdensome but also valued history is something I really love, and loved exploring here, and I especially loved giving them that promise of a future, they deserve it so much.

dontmindmeoverherejustreblogging replied:

That’s gay!! And incredible

Thank you! I am glad I was able to accomplish both.

@earthsgayestdefender replied:

#OATHHHH AAAA #IM CRY8NG AND I LOVE YOU AND I LOVE THIS SO SI SO MUCH #EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN A BISPEARL FIC

#iLL LEAVE MORE COMMEBTS IN AO3 TOMORROW BC ITS 1 AM BUT NO REGRETS READING THIS

You left me a whole entire novel and hit the AO3 comment character limit twice, I love you, bless. I still need to go through the whole thing and reply properly, bit by bit, because it’s an absolute GIFT and a fic writer’s dream, but I have to highlight:

Agreed. Co-signed. Valid.

@ohtakudesu replied:

#Bispearl #HI I LOVE THIS AND AM DECEASED #spent the last few hours on the bispearl discord reeling over this fic #I don't even read fics that often but op this is fucking great #thank you for my life and my soul #added ten years to my life just now op

Speaking of other platforms... you bet I saved those discord comments into a doc for easier access for cheer-up reading during crappy days. THANK.

@jeejyboard replied:

#bispearl #it's good fic brent #this shit kills me like how much yearning can you fit into one tiny little wispy lesbian #bismuth is a little more explicable but still it's a stretch

Jeej my pal my bro your comments never fail to kill me.

@alliealliealcomfree replied:

# this is amazing! # i love how these two interact #and the mixed feelings about Rose #and the history between them #Bismuth and Pearl are so cute together

I will have you know that “mixed feelings about Rose” is the title of my hot new mix(hahah)tape, check it out.

(There is no mixtape, I’m sorry, only the sound of my tears.)

When that Dove short came out with the “I value our history” bit I just about ascended.

@nacrepearl replied:

#wow i LOVE BISMUTH AND PEARL #thanks oath for this life giving word meal

Bispearl content isn’t super abundant and I’m a great proponent of MAKE IT YOURSELF so I had to. I just had to. It took me a while but I did it, and I am glad I did. And I’m really glad you liked it.

@ajora replied:

#this is absolutely lovely to read all-together #and you know me I'm always down for examining Rose's effects on everyone around her #otp otp otp #ALSO: I was hardly suffering jsyk #ALSO: I do like the section naming scheme

I’m glad to hear it holds up as a whole even after me sending it to you rather piecemeal over the past few... who even knows how long. The section naming is legit one of my favourite things about the fic personally, hah, I am proud of it to a rather silly extent.

@starsailorstories replied:

Not only is this that sweet, sweet Bispearl/Bismuth being loved and appreciated content, I'd like to present you with your lifetime achievement award for contributions to the field of gem hurt-comfort

Also: THE SECTION TITLES????? THE WORDPLAY????? I'M HOPPING UP AND DOWN

Not done gushing, I love the way you write Bismuth dialogue, it's so like...brisk and jaunty with just the right edge to it but always coming from that gooey center of the team place. I love it I love her

I am extremely honoured by that award, especially coming from you!

And yes! It’s a BISMUTH fic we need to have that proper wordplay as well as horribly cheesy puns in there! And as a BISPEARL fic it is absolutely necessary to include communicating concepts via relating them to swords and the making thereof. It’s the rules.

Bismuth, I feel, has a very distinct voice AND attitude AND way of expressing herself in general, even as we haven’t yet had the chance to spend as much time with her as some other characters, and getting it down right was very important to me. And there’s stuff like her being noticeably less literal than other Gems, and more prone to using both Gem and human idioms (and as evidenced by her pep talk to Steven in Legs, savvy enough to be able to switch between them at will). Speaking of pep talks, she’s an absolute master there and I love her. I believe Ian JQ said that “gooey center of the team” line on the Bismuth podcast ep and I am forever grateful to him.

Also just. Here, a random moment I just thought of that got me all feelsy. Look at her lovingly and longingly looking out at her friends and waiting to be reunited with them. That really tiny smile. I love her.

And this moment that breaks my heart into tiny pieces, when she was convinced she’d blown her second chance and that the people she so loves and who she was prepared to go to such great lengths for don’t want her around anymore:

Nng. Just. So much about her is related to loyalty and community and mutual support and she is so full of love and goopy feelings, while at the same time absolutely being loud and brash and a damn legit fighter and passionate revolutionary, with a definite edge and a large well of (absolutely righteous imo) anger, and she will destroy you if you endanger what she stands for and who she stands with. And the damn “she chooses to build up people instead of building palaces” metaphor that I shall continue to put into everything Bismuth-related I produce as long as I live. I love that. I love her so much.

Aaaaanyway, moving on from that little digression, I’m also flattered by the displays of faith in me, like seeing a reblog tagged with (cheers @altostratusplunge, whom tumblr now won’t let me tag, great):

#i havent read it #will read afyer rebloggimg #but i trust you as a writer and i bet this is gonna be so Good

Trust is a rare and precious commodity and I will have you know I am touched.

Once again, a great big thank you to everyone!

#people are SO NICE i am so floored sometimes #oathkeeper replies to things #oathkeeper writes things #long post #steven universe #fanfiction #bismuth #i NEED to make an ''uppercut an upper crust'' poster for myself btw #you know for motivational purposes

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gimmeanaplease-blog · 5 years

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From Glass Slippers to the Glass Ceiling: 15 Ways Disney has Improved in the Face of our Cultural Shift

Disney has had a long and complicated history with being outdated. Sexism and racism plague the older movies. However, in the past decade it’s been clear that with the shift of public views Disney has been making a run to catch up with the times.

1. Disney’s First African American Princess

Disney’s shift into the new culture all began with their first African American princess. Tiana began as a hard working woman who simply wanted to achieve her dream of owning her own restaurant in New Orleans. With an upbeat attitude and more than a few bumps in the road she meets her prince, falls in love, and defeats the evil witch doctor.

Tiana remains, however, as hardworking as she started out when pursuing her dream. Even when she marries Prince Naveen she doesn’t use her newfound privilege to get her restaurant. Rather she uses the money she’d earned from years working as a waitress in a cafe as well as the allies she’s met along her journey to buy the abandoned building which she envisions as her future restaurant. With her new husband she renovates the place and opens the door to her new life.

2. Breaking Their Own Rules

Merida was Disney’s next great leap into Disney breaking their mold of the standard princess. Merida was messy, ungraceful, and she hated having to act “like a princess”. She’d much rather stuff her face with food, sport her unruly natural hair, and go shooting archery in the woods. Throughout the movie she participates in activities that her mother initially deems unfit for a princess.

In the ultimate act of defiance of the movie, Merida takes off her headwear containing her hair, rips her dress for mobility, and shoots three arrows into their marks in a competition men were engaging in to become her fiance. She obliterates her competition and shows that her hand in marriage isn’t to be won.

3. A Strong Independent Woman

In the past Disney has had heroines that don’t need a man to save them. From Belle to Mulan we saw princesses who saved the day all on their own. Yet time after time we saw they always ended up with their man in the end. Along comes Brave, a story of a young Scottish princess to be betrothed by her family. Merida, however, loathes the concept and in her own act of rebellion she deems that she will be competing for her own hand.

Through a convoluted plot involving bears and family drama at its finest, Merida finds herself at the epicenter of having to repair her broken relationship with her mother. The central conflict isn’t her engagement to a man she just met, it was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. Even at the end of the movie when we’re expecting the stereotypical happily ever after, Merida remains single. “There are no intimate evenings, sparkling jewelry, dazzling gowns (Merida, in fact, hates her formalwear), sweet gestures or smart give-and-take dialogue that foreshadow a final, emotional kiss. The suitors are simply buffoons, not fit to brush Merida’s flowing red hair, much less match up with her archery skills” (Zakarin, 2012). To add onto the quote from The Hollywood Reporter, Brave didn’t even star any men that weren’t Merida’s family. She was the first true Disney princess to end up without a man at the end of her movie.

4. Prince Smarming

During the climax of Disney’s biggest hit in years we’re expecting a Prince Charming saves the day moment. Anna is about to succumb to a frozen heart so a collective breath holds as Prince Hans leans in to deliver True Love’s Kiss in order to reverse the curse. Then through a head spinning twist, we find out that Hans had been our villain all along.

In Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist she details the trials of “Prince Charming”, “The man in most fairy tales, Prince Charming in all his iterations, really isn’t that interesting. In most fairy tales, he is blandly attractive and rarely seems to demonstrate much personality, taste, or intelligence. We’re supposed to believe this is totally fine because he is Prince Charming. His charm is supposedly enough” (Gay, 2014). The writers of frozen use this subconscious ideal of what audiences expect of Prince Charming to disguise his true intentions. In reality Hans wants the kingdom and is willing to kill both princesses in order to achieve a spot on the throne.

5. Maleficent and the Me Too Movement

Maleficent is a movie that came out in 2014 depicting the villain of the same name’s side of the famous story Sleeping Beauty. Starring Angelina Jolie, Maleficent is a tragic hero of sorts as when she was young, she fell for her best friend - and future king - Stefan. Stephan’s father, however, had sent his son off to kill Maleficent as she is the queen of the faeries and keeping him from conquering the land. To prove he’s killed Maleficent, Stephan must deliver her wings to his father. Unable to bring himself to kill her, Stephan gives her a sleeping potion while they are together and cuts off her wings in her sleep.

Sound familiar? That is because this scene is meant to depict a rape scene. Writer Linda Woolverton talked openly about the scene with the press, “I had done some research, and the biggest surprise is that she’s a fairy, not a witch. I’ve always wanted to do a dark fairy story. Then I watched that scene where she curses the baby, and I’m thinking “well if she’s a fairy, where are her wings?” Suddenly it was “boom. Lightbulb. Oh! It’s the wings!” Then I worked backward from there to create the Stefan relationship” (Krischer, 2014). The portrayal of the scene is vastly important to culture as only 3 years later, the Me Too movement brought to light the ever present normalization of sexual harassment and assault that women face every year. The fact that an action is so prevalent in society that it has an allusion in a Disney movie is both heartbreaking and incredibly telling.

6. Queer Eye for the Bad Guy

Disney has had a long history of queer coding their villains. The most basic definition of queer coding is using giving characteristics, behaviors, and actions to their characters so that the audience may read them as gay. Often these are stereotypes such as the Lefou's flamboyance, Hades’ sass, or Ursula’s likeness to a drag queen. Now Disney attempted through their movie to depict a gay character in it’s live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. However it seems their belief of depicting a gay character is turning Lefou’s flamboyance from a 7/10 to a 12/10. There was even a brief scene of him dancing with a man but if you blink you could miss it. Rani Barker describes how this act is harmful to the LGBT+ community, “The problem, as queer people, is this continues to treat our stories, our yearnings, and our experiences as unspeakable. Something to be whispered, scrutinized and doubted. Keeps it closeted right in front of our faces” (Barker, 2016). It feels like a spit in the face for the first “gay character” in Disney to be such an obvious trove of stereotypes.

All is not lost for Disney’s representation in the LGBT+ community though. Andi Mack, a television show on the Disney Channel features a character that has openly admitted that he is gay and actually approached an arc where he had to come out to his friends. He is not a throwaway character either, he is one of the main characters on the show. Hopefully this character on the small screen will pave the way for proper representation on the big one.

7. Zootopia’s Depiction of Race Relations

Zootopia on the surface appears to be the classic Disney talking animal movie on the surface but underneath the detailed animation and so many puns is an actually complicated statement on race relations. The animals of Zootopia are divided into two types, “predator” and “prey”. As the plot develops Judy, a rabbit cop, and Nick, a civilian fox, discover that there are a series of attacks developing where predators are suddenly “going savage”. As Judy took the lead in the case, she must be the one to talk at the press conference despite them still not knowing the true cause. Chaos ensued as an all out battle broke out between predators and prey.

Not very subtle huh? Charles Pulliam-Moore describes how this scene in particular applies to our society today, “As much as the scene is grounded in the world of Zootopia, it's shot through with elements of many of the real-world police-run press conferences that have followed in the wake of the dozens of high-profile shooting of black people in recent years. Though Judy admits that the ZPD doesn't know the specific details of the case, reporters focus on the few problematic soundbites she feeds them while taking in visuals of rabid, muzzled animals that the police have detained” (Pulliam-Moore, 2016). Both in the movie and in real life it’s media that digs into certain words and forces a fear fueled narrative to cause prejudice in people’s day to day life. Though Zootopia doesn’t quite rise to the ranks in favor of a child’s story happily ever after, it was bold of Disney to try to scale that height in the first place.

8. Realistic Bodies for Women (Finally!)

The proportions for female bodies in Disney has been a rough ride for decades. Since the release of the first princess movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Disney has long regulated the eurocentric ideals of beauty with large eyes, full lips, and a ridiculously tiny waist. Momentarily it seemed like we’d seen a shift via Nani Pelekai in the 2002 movie Lilo and Stitch. Nani defied the Disney standards of beauty with a large nose, a darker skin tone, and even a more realistic stomach. Yet as the next princess movies rolled around, they resorted right back to their usual bullshit.

The tide shifted yet again in 2016 with the release of another Hawaiian based film, Moana. Unlike Lilo and Stitch, Moana was a titular film for the company as it was it’s next big “princess movie” after their big hit Frozen. Moana was the soon to be chief of her tribe and she sported everything the princesses of the past hadn’t. Moana had wild hair, a darker complexion, realistic muscle tone for the activities she participated in (climbing and sailing), and much more realistic proportions. Moana brings forth a body type that much more girls see when they look in the mirror than those looking at Ariel or Jasmine.

9. The Importance of Female Solidarity in Feminism

Yet another climax of a film yields an entirely different result. This time the movie we focus in on is Moana. She and the demigod Maui have traveled across the ocean to return the Heart of Te Fiti. They are stopped by a lava monster Te Kā. When all seems lost Moana discovers that not only is Te Fiti missing but Te Kā is not who she appears to be at all.

It is Moana who realizes that Te Fiti and Te Kā are one in the same. Valentina Boré remarks on the importance of solidarity in feminism perfectly reflects Moana’s thoughts as she returns her heart “If we don’t try to understand what our other fellow feminists have gone through, how can we really make a change for anyone at all” (Boré, 2015). She makes the connection that Te Fiti had her heart stolen from her by Maui and thus lost herself. Through Moana’s kindness and comfort for another woman, she is able to save her island.

10. Real Portrayals of Diverse Cultures

Moana and Coco are two of the most recent additions to Disney’s animated movies. Both contain great amounts of respect towards the given culture shown. It is clear that a great amount of research went into both of these films, including featuring songs in the native languages. In Moana the song “We Know the Way” features a large portion in the Tokelauan language while a lot of the songs featured in Coco are Spanish.

Coco, especially is a feat to be admired. Director Lee Unkrich early expressed concern of rejection as he, himself, is not hispanic or even latino. However, to combat this Unkrich and producers opened the film to Latino cultural consultants for criticism and the ability to toss around ideas to better improve the film. This was met with initial outrage by the company since, for the longest time, production was meant to be kept under tight wraps. Producer Darla K. Anderson commented in an interview, “We don’t normally open up the doors to let people in to see our early screenings. But we really wanted their voice and their notes and to make sure we got all the details correct” (Ugwu, 2017). To go against traditions in order to assure that they got the movie correct shows true care and love for their story and what it will mean for other people.

11. The Voices of Coco are All Latinx

Coco was a movie unlike any before it. The Pixar film depicted a Mexican story of a young boy Miguel getting trapped in the land of the dead when he tried to connect with his estranged ancestor who shared his love for music. Coco was based around the holiday Dia de los Muertos and surrounded an entirely Mexican family.

What sets Coco apart from other films of Disney’s past is it’s determination to have an entirely latinx cast. Everyone from the lead Miguel to the featured character of Frida Kahlo to unnamed correction officers are played by latinx actors. Even Princess and the Frog, who had a mostly colored set of characters as well didn’t mimic this action.

12. What Makes a Princess?

Disney, like many other industries, has poked fun at itself more than once. This typically involves a playfully jab at character’s affinity to burst into song. Tangled and Moana alike have teased the song filled musicals but none have been so ruthless to Disney’s archetype of a princess as Wreck It Ralph 2.

Vanellope stumbles upon a trailer full of all the princesses we are familiar with, claiming that she is a princess as well. Naturally, they have to question her. In detailing the scene writers describe, “As the princess encounter evolved, the writers played off the fact that not only do Disney princesses often get kidnapped, but that they are forever gazing into “important waters.” (In their attention to detail, one princess fan at the studio noted to Ribon that Mulan does not look into a puddle, but rather a horse trough. Robin’s enthusiastic response: “Even better!”) The scene also skewers the reliance on a lumbering hunk to solve a damsel’s thorny problem” (Cavna, 2018). While Disney is only making these jokes in jest of their past and how each of the princesses have something in common, it’s nice to see that they’re acknowledging Disney’s untold rules of what makes you a princess. It takes Vanellope affirming that people say her problems were all solved because of a man for the princesses to accept her as so. Ironically, this is the one point that connects all of the princesses together.

13. Stories About Mental Health

Outside of physical representation Disney has created a rich environment for representation for mental health as well. Inside Out was a movie that told the story of physical manifestations of a girl’s emotions having to deal with making her happy after a cross country move takes her away from familiar surroundings and friends. Throughout the movie it shows clear depictions of Riley, the girl who houses the emotions, experiencing what many people can recognize as depression.

The standout of them all seems to be a Disney creation that isn’t even a full length film. Before every movie Disney airs a Pixar short. This separate story can hold just as much emotion as a full length movie but sometimes the message can be missed completely based on racism alone. Before Incredibles 2, a short called Bao aired. Bao featured an Asian Woman who became the mother of a dumpling that came to life. However, as the dumpling grew older he became more dismissive of the mother while she became more desperate to hold onto her dumpling child. At the climax as the dumpling tries to leave she eats him. Now, any person with half a mind can recognize this as a metaphor for empty nest syndrome. This is a feeling of loneliness and depression that a parent may feel when their child leaves the home. It is revealed at the end that she was reflecting on her relationship with her human son after all. Given, she did not actually eat her son but more than likely got into a nasty fight to push him away.

Yet, some people simply didn’t get it. Rather than recognizing the story as a mother and son fighting and coming together once more; people saw a dumpling and a woman with Asian features and completely shut down. The thing is, they could’ve told this story with any race of mother and son and food of their given area. “Our cultural signifiers might be different, but basic human emotions are an experience that spans all of us as humans on this planet” (Jitchotvisut, 2018). Any mother who cares for their child would experience empty nest syndrome but the creators of Bao chose to make this character Asian and they didn’t need a reason to do so either.

14. Putting a Woman in Charge

After John Lasseter was asked to step down amid accusations of misconduct a new head of Disney Animation was needed and there was only one man for the job, a woman. By the end of 2018, Jennifer Lee would become the new Head of Disney Animation. Only joining in 2011, Lee quickly gained wins under her belt such as being a co-director for Frozen, being a co-writer for Wreck It Ralph, and being a key component to Zooptopia.

Lee marks a change from Disney’s initial brand of vapid misogyny and truly shows how the brand has taken a turn for the better. In response to her promotion she replies, “My hope is to support the incredible talent we have, find new voices, and work together to tell original stories. The great films of Disney Animation — the films I loved as a kid and my daughter has grown up loving — are magical, timeless, and full of heart, and it is our goal to create films that carry on and grow this 95-year legacy for future generations” (Berger, 2018). We should be able to look forwards to seeing these new groundbreaking stories with a woman at the lead of the studio.

15. Using Their Other Brands to Reinforce this New Image

Along the years the empire that is Disney has bought out many other companies. The cultural shift has created a wave that rippled these industries as well. Star Wars and Marvel alike have seen a move towards the society Disney began reflecting in 2009.

Star Wars revived after 10 years of remaining dormant with an all new story with a female at its center. Not only that but 3 of the other new heroes are all people of color: Finn played by John Boyega is an African American man, Poe Dameron played by Oscar Issac is Guatemalan, and Rose Tico is played by Kelly Marie Tran is a Vietnamese woman.

Marvel’s shift took more time but isn’t any less prevalent. Perhaps the most apparent is the bold move to have an almost entirely African American cast for the 2018 film, Black Panther. With a world of research on the culture backing the project the film broke records and earned Marvel it’s first Oscar.

Disney backing these projects reflect it’s turning tide and the world is more than supportive.

Sources

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journalofmastery-blog · 6 years

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Mastery Journal Article Analysis

Mastery Journal

Topic Overview

The following research is directed towards the Advocacy GDC track. The goal of this research is to find ways to increase player inclusivity in gaming, specifically women.

Journal Entry

The area of research that will be explored over the next few months focus primarily on inclusivity namely how to increase inclusivity in gaming for women. Currently, women 18 and older make up a larger segment of the population playing games then boys under 18 (Electronic Software Association, 2017). That’s a massive paradigm shift from how it was years ago, and although we as a culture have come a long way to normalizing women’s engagement with video games. More work still needs to be done to create a more inclusive environment towards women in the world of gaming. As more women engage with video games, the more important it will become to create more diverse and inclusive games to support this burgeoning audience. In doing so, there is a greater chance of audience retention, which ultimately is good for consumers and the creators. The main focus of this month was to investigate actionable ways of creating inclusivity within a game’s narrative structure and within a game’s design. Kathrine Cross’s evaluation of the “Immoral Women” was a complex and robust evaluation of morally complex and flawed female characters (Cross, 2016). Tyler Hutchison, the game director behind Dream Daddy, went into detail discussing ways to create more inclusivity in low to medium budget games (Hutchison, 2018). Within the Design Production Track, the hope would be to introduce some of these techniques and ideas to help designers and developers create games that welcome new audience and ultimately make their games more successful.

Article 1

The following information comes from Kathrine Cross’s 2016 GDC talk titled “Immoral Women: And Why Your Game Needs More of Them” (Cross, 2016).

Design

The talk focuses mainly around this idea, “Neither saints nor whores, but human.” These words build the foundation of Cross’s argument for a more morally nuanced portrayals of women in video games. The “Immoral Women” being a complex, complicated and ultimately a more human portrayal of female characters, which speaks to the humanity within women instead of archetypal tropes.

Results

Cross cites numerous games as she attempts to pull some of the best example of what she calls the “Immoral Women” from games over the past few years. The argument goes that these “Immoral Women” get a deep level of characterization and in doing so become fully realized human beings. The reflection that saints and demons can be found within us all, and this dichotomy and balance between these two forces is where interesting and deeply human character dwell. Beyond all of this when stories are told of the “Immoral Women” they can be deeply reflective especially for women as it can show who they may become, who they may have been or who they may yearn to be. One of the prime example Cross draws upon is Madam from the game Remember Me. Cross talks at great length about the complexity of the final boss fight in the game against Madam and how the essence of the battle is an expression of the character. Ultimately, though Cross laments even though the game’s character are interesting they fall short in expressing the full length and breadth of what is possible as they never presented a clear argument for the why of their actions. Cross points out the value of developing a character’s ethos and defining the why in order to create more compelling and whole characters.

Strengths

Cross is an expert in her field, she has been published numerous times in different publications including Gamasutra. Her being a speaker at the Game Developers Conference already gives a large amount of credibility to her as a speaker.

Limitations

Cross is expressing one way of creating more compelling female characters but by no way is it the only way of creating more compelling characters. Beyond that, Cross uses a very small sample size of games from which she draws her conclusions from.

Conclusion

The beauty of creating “Immoral Women” characters is the ability to draw in a female audience that sees the character as a reflection of themselves instead of just being a projection. As someone who has as strong interest in narrative and character the tools given by Cross help to design more realized and three-dimensional character which can only help to improve the quality of one’s game, as well as help immerse audience members within it.

Article 2

The following information comes from Tyler J Hutchison’s 2018 GDC talk titled “'Dream Daddy': How Game Grumps Created Player Inclusivity and You Can Too” (Hutchison, 2018).

Design

Hutchison uses his game Dream Daddy, as the primary example of how to create inclusivity in games. The game Dream Daddy is a dating simulator in which players play as a homosexual man trying to romance his very own Daddy. The goal of Dream Daddy was to create a highly inclusive game and Hutchison and his writer’s staff were able to accomplish this while also creating a profitable game.

Results

Hutchison lays out 6 points which can increase the diversity within games. Point zero as he calls it, or the obvious point is to simply tell more diverse stories. He claims that all developers should be working to tell more diverse stories and build more inclusive games. The next point according to Hutchison is to have some form of character creation, as players are much more diverse than anything any designer can come up with. Using a diversity of body types, skin tones and hair types can create a character that helps players feel represented without going over budget and over scope. The second point is to create diverse teams of people to work on the game. Hutchison talks about how one of the consulates for the script of Dream Daddy a gay musician who liked the game so much that he went home and wrote the theme song for the game. This story highlights not only how synergy is possible with highly diverse teams but also how when games are diverse and speak to underrepresented audience how impact they can be to those members of that audience. Point three in the talk is titled the devil is in the details, in this section Hutchison discusses how simple it was to remove gendered pronouns in his game. It was a very low-cost effort which greatly increased the inclusivity of his game, he argues that there’s no reason why other studios shouldn’t adopt similar methods to reduce the amount of gendered terminology. An example of this is the phrase “Ladies and Gentlemen” can be switched to something like “Our Treasured Guests”. It’s a small change but one that can help to make people feel more included in a game world. The fifth point of the talks about how mistakes will be made while trying to strive for inclusivity. And the final point was the impact when games are more inclusive, in this section he showed tweets from players of Dream Daddy and their moved reactions when playing a game that feature people they could identify within it.

Strengths

As a designer who hopes to create games that make players feel included this talk hit on a lot of low budget tips and advice that can help create highly inclusive games without breaking the bank which is fantastic. The author comes from a place of knowledge as he was one of the creative forces behind a game which one of its pillars was inclusivity. Not only was the game striving to be inclusive it also was incredible popular.

Limitations

One of the limitations to this talk is brought up right at the very beginning by the Hutchison. He acknowledges that his advice may not scale to larger triple A games and works best for smaller to mid-level games. Another limitation to the talk is that the majority of examples of increasing diversity come from his specific experience with his game, Dream Daddy. While this doesn’t invalidate the information, it is important to acknowledge the pool of information the speaker is pulling from.

Conclusion

Hutchison in this talk make a compelling argument for inclusivity in gaming, he showed that with some consideration and a bit of work it is possible to serve unrepresented segments of the population and not over scope one’s game in the process. While the sample of knowledge Hutchison pulls from is simple his own in relationship to the game he created, it is still a fantastic case study of the ways inclusion can help bring underserved and unrepresented markets to gaming.

References

Cross, K. (2016). Immoral Women: And Why Your Game Needs More of Them. Retrieved July

29, 2018, from https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023584/Immoral-Women-And-Why-Your

Electronic Software Association. (2017). 2017 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data – Essential

Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry. Retrieved July 29, 2018, fromhttp://www.theesa.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/06/!EF2017_Design_FinalDigital.pdf

Hutchison, T. J. (2018). 'Dream Daddy': How Game Grumps Created Player Inclusivity and YouCan Too. Retrieved July 29, 2018, from https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024938/-Dream-Daddy-How-Game

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