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incarnateirony · 4 years

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Hey dude! Do you have any recommendations for LGBTQ+ movies in the romance genre that have like a happy ending. I really don't care how old they are. I'm feeling the Gay™ hence I need the Gay™. You feel me?

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NONNIE

First sorry for taking so long, not only did I have to timeline this :) but :) my computer :) froze :) after writing like :) 2 pages :) and I had to do it again :)

So anyway let it be said, the LGBT dialogue is one of osmosis and shared growth and awareness. Some of these films will be very poorly dated, but as you (thankfully) mentioned that them being old wasn’t a *problem*, expect a lot of old stuff. Because one of the most important things to have under your belt when talking about the LGBT media representation battle is the actual journey from A to B – be that incrementalization, subtextual inclusion, text-breeching features, outright evocative and groundbreaking films at the time (which is what MOST of this list will be) and an improvement in our dialogue; let us never forget that while tr*nss*xual is considered a slur and transgender is proper, tr*nss*xual was at one point the politically correct way to speak it – things like that breach in our growing understanding of the spectrum of human sexuality.

I *WILL* disclaimer these aren’t all romance, so if you explicitly want romance, google them and take a look if it sounds to appeal, but I’m taking this as a general cinema history plug considering what a confused mess fandom conversation about LGBT history in film or modern text as applicable, accepted or not.

Wonder Bar (1936) (I wouldn’t really call this queer cinema, but if you have the time to watch it too, I think it was the first explicit mention of homosexual engagement even if it was fleetingly brief. You might even call it Last Call style. A blink and you’ll miss it plug that was still decades ahead of its time)

Sylvia Scarlet (1936) (Again, I wouldn’t call this queer cinema, but a lot of the community takes it as the first potential trans representation on TV due to the lead literally swapping gender presentation, even if the presentation is… not what we would modernly call representation IMO)

Un Chant d'Amour (1950) (Worth it for the sheer fact that it pissed off fundies so bad they took it all the way to the US supreme court to get it declared obscene.)

The Children’s Hour (1961) (also known as the 1961 lesson to “don’t be a gossipy, outting bitch”)

Victim (1961) (The first english film to use the word “homosexual” and to focus explicitly on gay sexuality. People might look on it disdainfully from modern lenses, but it really helped progress british understanding of homosexuality)

Scorpio Rising (1964) (Lmao this one deadass got taken to court when it pissed people off and California had to rule that it didn’t count as obscene bc it had social value, worth it for the history if nothing else)

Theorem (1968) (Because who doesn’t wanna watch a 60s flick about a bisexual angel, modern issues and associations be damned)

The Killing of Sister George (1968) (by the makers of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) (…have I had sassy contagonists in RP make a Dean joke off of this more than once, maybe)

Fellini-Satyricon (1969) (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS)

The Boys in the Band (1970) (This… this… this made a lot of fuss. Just remember leather)

Pink Narcissus (1971) (a labor of love shot on someone’s personal camera)

Death in Venice (1971) (This is basically a T&S prequel but whatever, based on a much older book)

Cabaret (1972)

Pink Flamingos (1972) (SHIT’S WILD)

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) (The title doesn’t lie, be warned)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) [god I hope you’ve at least seen this]

Fox and His Friends (1975) (some really hard lessons that are still viable today, that just because someone acknowledges your sexuality doesn’t mean they give a shit about you as a person, and that some will even abuse the knowledge for gain)

The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983) (REALLY interesting history look it up, it’s sort of one of those “drawn from own experience” story short sets)

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) (Documentary)

Desert Hearts (1985) (Pretty much the first film to put lesbianism into a good light as a true focus based on a novel from the sixties)

Parting Glances (1986) (the only film its creator got out before his death from the aids epidemic)

Law of Desire (1987) (two men and a trans woman in a love triangle, kinda ahead of its time)

Maurice (1987) (This one’s really interesting, cuz it was based on a book made about 15 years before it, but the book itself had been written half a century earlier and wasn’t published until after the guy died, he just thought it’d never get published Cuz Gay, so basically it’s based on a story written in like, the 20s finally getting screen time. It has a bittersweet but positive-leaning-ish ending without disregarding the cost that can come with it and even addresses class issues at the same time 100% DO RECOMMEND)

Tongues Untied (1989) (a documentary to give voices to LGBT black men)

Longtime Companion (1990) (This one’s title alone is history, based on a NYT phrasing for how they talked about people’s partners dying, eg longtime companion, during the AIDS epidemic)

Paris Is Burning (1990) (Drag culture and related sexual and gender identity exploration as it intersected with class issues and other privileges explored in a documentary)

The Crying Game (1992)( I should correct this that I guess it’s more, 1992 considered, “SURPRISE, DIL HAS A DILL!” – I guess I really didn’t do that summary justice by modern language and dialogue as much as how people in the 90s were talking about that and that’s a my bad. LIKE. SEE, EVEN I CAN FUCK UP MY LANGUAGE I’M SORRY CAN I BLAME THE STRAIGHTS T_T) #90skidproblems – I guess I should call it a trans film. And this alone tells me I should go watch it again to recode it in my brain modernly rather than like circa de la 2000 understanding.

The Bird Cage (1996) (So you mix drag culture, otherwise heterosexually connected lovebirds, and then realize the girl comes from an alt-rightish house and the guy comes from a Two Dads Home and does cabaret, how to deal with the issues OF this conflict when it’s between you and your happiness, even if the fight isn’t even your own as much as it is that of the person you love. The answer is PROBABLY NOT to dress in drag and pretend to be straight, but what are you going to do? – while played for laughs we’d consider modernly crude, the fact that they even dared to approach this narrative was pretty loud)

The Celluloid Closet (1996) (Ever heard of the Vito Russo test for LGBT representation? This is based on a book by Vito Russo.)

Happy Together (1997) (Ain’t this shit an ironic name; a mutual narrative, via chinese flick, of hong kong ceding to china and an irrevocably tangled MLM pairing as a giant mirrored metaphor)

Boys Don’t Cry (1999) (one of the most groundbreaking films about trans identity at the time)

Stranger Inside (2001) (As easy as it is to recoil to the idea of “black gays in jail”, the film makers actually went and consulted prisoners and put a great deal of focus into intersectional african american issues that really weren’t around even in straight films at the time)

Transamerica (2005) (While it made a bit of a fuss for not casting an actual trans actor, it was one of the first times a big budget studio really tried to tackle it which really pushed us forward)

Call Me by Your Name (2017) (since I’ve apparently leaned really heavy old cinema throw in a modern one lmaooooo)

Also honorable The Kids Are All Right (2010) mention for the sake of the fucking title alone.

And to any incarnation of “On the Road” by Kerouac, which

Was originally a book

Released a sanitized de-gayed edition because of the times

Later released the full homo manuscript

had a few film adaptations

Was one of Kripke’s founding inspirations for Supernatural once he left behind “Some reporter guy chases stories” and took the formula of Sal and Dean (and tbh later, Carlo) in a beat generation vibe gone modern as we know it today.

Reading both versions of this can actually help some folks currently understand that when you get confused over some shit (WHY IS CARLO SO UPSET? WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE AN UPSET GIRLFRIEND??? WHY IS HE SO JEALOUS AND SAD WHEN DEAN IS AROUND GIRLS???? WE JUST DONT KNOWWWWWWWWWWWWW) it’s because some big money asshat bleached the content, and sometimes, it takes a while for the full script to come out and again, surprise, it’s been GAY, they just didn’t want to OFFEND anybody. *jazz hands*

Now if you wanna go WAY WAY BACK, during 191X years, a bunch of gender role flicks came out like Charley’s Aunt, Mabel’s Blunder and the Florida Enchantment.

Also where is @thecoffeebrain-blog to yell about the necessity of watching Oz, for the next few hours? But no, seriously, just look into the entire LGBT *HISTORY* of Oz.

Beyond that though I’m gonna stop here cuz hi that’s a lot. I really don’t know how much counts as “happy ending” but if I had to give an LGBT cinema rec list, that’s it as a sum. I don’t really have like, a big portfolio of UWU HAPPY ENDING GAYS because 1. there aren’t a lot of those but 2. to me, it’s not about the ending, it’s about the journey. Be that in flick or through culture and history itself.

If you want more happy ending stuff, you definitely have to look at 2010+, but it’s not like we’re in a rich and fertile landscape yet so honestly just googling that would probably serve you better since I don’t explicitly explore romance genre or happy endings to really have a collection. LGBT life is hard and film often reflects that if we’re making genuine statements about it and really representing it, and we’re just now getting to a point of reliably having the chance at a happy ending. That or maybe someone can add like “Explicit happy endings” lists after this that has more experience in that subgenre.

Also, I can’t emphasize ENOUGH to remember what was progressive then is not what is progressive now, and frankly, what some people think is progressive now they’ll probably look back on what they said and feel really fuckin’ embarrassed. See: “It’s not text because by alt right homophobic dialogue, M/M sex isn’t gay if you do the secret handshake” MGTOW kinda crazy ass dialogue or parallel narratives they inspire that encourage self-closeting and denial based on the pure idea that being gay makes you somehow lesser, so It’s Not That. Like. I am. 99% sure. At least half of the people talking in this fandom. Are going to regret that the internet is forever. And maybe hope hosting servers end in the inevitable nuclear war that will annihilate this planet.

Also, edit: Speaking of mistaken dialogues and words aging poorly, I’d like to apologize from the poor description I rendered “The Crying Game” with, but that really goes to show how deep-seated the issue is we can so casually fuck up identifying a trans narrative as SURPRISE DICK IS GAY when we were all absorbing the content like 20+ years ago and HOW HARD it can be to de-code yourself from that kind of programming because here I am, writing a giant assed rep post and fucking it up because my brain hadn’t soaked that movie since Y2K. Guess what, time for me to go watch the Crying Game again.

#lgbtqia #representation #media #cinema history

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bulltruearchive · 5 years

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okay ink ! i’ve only really seen rio in stand by me & the last crusade, but that needs to change. where do i start ?

MICAH OKAY. OKAY !!! i did my best ok. i’d def at least recommend mopi & roe if nothing else !1. my own private idaho. this is, arguably, his best role. it’s the role that people really . . . commend him for, if that makes sense ? he played a gay sex worker at the height of the aids epidemic, & he actually rewrote a lot of his character’s script in order for it to focus on love rather than sex, & it’s beautiful. sad but beautiful. i bully everyone i can into watching mopi, & i am always here to answer the inevitable questions that pop up after someone watches it. i’ve seen it upwards of 50 times & i notice something new each time. it’s definitely a multiple-watches film to really understand it.

2. running on empty. this got rio an oscar nom at 18 for best supporting actor, & he only lost because a fish called wanda came out the same year, & kevin kline won instead. honestly, tough fuckin’ competition. his character in roe is soft & kind-hearted, but he’s carrying a heavy secret, & the sins of his parents weigh heavily on him. it’s a very character driven film rather than plot-driven, but it’s beautiful, & more heart-warming than mopi. i still cry every time, though. someone once said if they want a good cry they load up the last five minutes of the film, & i feel that.

3. dogfight. it’s set during the vietnam war, & rio plays a young marine getting ready to uh, head off & fight. you know, like, dinner for shmucks / le dîner de cons / that iasip episode where charlie & dee get romantically involved with those rich siblings & get invited to a party but it turns out they’re the butt of the joke & only there because of how dumb they are ? it’s kinda like that . . . originally. he & his friends have a competition to invite the ‘ ugliest girls ’ they can to a bar, but obviously he grows a heart, realises he’s fucked up & genuinely feels some Feelings. it’s really good but, like, i say that about p much all his films so.

4. i love you to death. a dark comedy based on a true story, rio actually filmed this with kevin kline the year after kevin won best supporting actor for afcw. devo is a quiet, pacifistic hippie who is absolutely in love with his boss’ wife, & honestly, this movie is worth watching for some of rio’s reactions tbh. i do have a favourite reaction of his in the film, & maybe i’ll gif it some day ; it makes me laugh literally every time. also, keanu is in this !!

5. the thing called love. rio’s last completed film. he plays james, a sullen singer-songwriter in nashville trying to make it big. but he isn’t the main character – his love interest is. it’s worth the watch because rio sings in it, & he actually wrote some of his songs in the film himself. you can hear them here.6. sneakers. a hacker film he did right after mopi for ‘ something light-hearted ’. it’s worth watching just for his character tbh ; carl is a fuckin blast & i love him. you can see my pinboard for him here.this isn’t really in a specific order, because i kept going no wait what about — !! but these are the ones i’d recommend most ?? then there’s explorers ( his first feature ), silent tongue, the mosquito coast, a night in the life of jimmy reardon, & dark blood which was released in 2012 because he died before filming finished. also i think it’s worth noting that he REALLY wanted to be in dead poets society as neil perry, but wasn’t cast because they wanted someone lesser known, & had mentioned interest in wanting to play jim in a movie adaptation of the basketball diaries ( he had the book ). his favourite movie was also terry gilliam’s brazil, if that means anything, either.

#silverawayyy #ooc ans.#long post /

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the-disgruntled-vc · 5 years

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VC Theory: What if Daniel had AIDS?

I was in a miserable mood when I got together with my now ex-coworker-- yes that same co-worker-- and we decided after a long week of being sad over adult related issues; we would go to see Bohemian Rhapsody at the theater.

In retrospect this was a dumb idea. The point of us going out was to *not* be sad. We’re both queer PoC born in NYC during the 80s: we know good and well what happens to Freddie Mercury. Yet there we were telling each other “shit I think I’m going to cry. this was a bad idea” then aggressively wiping away tears and shaking our head when we failed to keep it together. lol

Overall it was a good movie. If it hadn’t ended the way that it did we would have left the theater very sad.

But it got me thinking about a headcanon that has kind of floated around in my head for years: What if Daniel Molloy was actually dying of AIDS?!

It sounds crazy, I know, but It’s very possible if you consider the context.

Lemme explain:

According to Armand, Daniel is already dying by the time Lestat’s concert comes about, and would be dead within 5 days if he isn't turned. We’re never given an exact cause as to what is causing him to die. There is some vague reference about alcohol destroying his body but the way that that Daniel is described as becoming extremely thin, losing touch with reality, etc.. also sounds like symptoms that could be exhibited by someone dying of an AIDs related illness:

Daniel is in his early thirties here. Way too young to be dying of cirrhosis of the liver. Typically that takes decades to develop. It’s also fairly reversible in someone so young. So it makes little sense to me that he would just die in 5 days so suddenly like Armand says.

But do you know what was the leading cause of death of men under the age of 30 in New York City during the 80s and early 90s? -- AIDS.

I think this theory is better supported by the historical context of the Daniel/Armand chapters. They lived in many places but Anne specifically focuses on their time in New York City. It’s during that passage that she also mentions how Armand would frequently force Daniel to have sex with random men and women.

Conceivably, this is how he could have contracted AIDS. New York City was an epicenter of AIDS particularly in the nightlife scene. And Armand being a vampire was ALL UP IN THAT NIGHTLIFE SCENE. Armand is mentioned as dragging him to many art and music shows. No one really knew what AIDS was at that time. There was no test for it, no understanding of how it was spread. It was all conjecture! Carriers of the HIV virus often didn’t exhibit symptoms until many years after the fact and so probably didn’t feel the need to use condoms during sexual encounters.

I know this a very sensitive subject and one Anne understandably would want to avoid to bringing up during her writings. I’ve read that she denies vampires being a metaphor for AIDS, which some people have asked-- but I think it inconceivable that she wasn’t at least thinking of these things considering the time period that this book was published.

This is just a theory. I’m not saying this is at all what Anne had in mind for Daniel. Her own Mother passed away due to alcohol related liver failure so that could have been her reference. Who knows?

This might sound fucked up... but I would like to see it portrayed this way in the upcoming HULU adaptation. Just cause...it was a very big deal here. We have a memorial in place of where St. Vincent's Hospital once stood. The Hospital where most of the AIDS patients spent their last days during height of the epidemic. It was a very sad reality and it still is. Daniel’s story would also have more of an emotional impact for viewers than if he was just some guy drinking himself to death.

If anyone is interested in reading here’s an article discussing St.Vincent’s Hospital and a timeline of the AIDS epidemic in New York City >>> https://www.out.com/news-commentary/2010/08/17/st-vincents-remembered

I saw it once when I was a teenager before they tore it down to build luxury condos. Which is still crazy for me to think about. The building itself was a historic landmark and should have been preserved, but this happens a lot here. :/

I, um, am gonna go watch something happy now...

#the vampire chronicles #daniel molloy #VC Theory #queen of the damned #life #headcanon #VC TV #poor daniel just gets dragged into this mess #Vampire Chronicles Television Series #The Vampire Armand #VC quotes

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narotahm · 6 years

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We are not alright

I get a weekly email from a religious order that I have done volunteer work for in the past. This is a countryside monastery, where the sisters and brothers work together to farm the land, provide for their neighbors, and provide overseas assistance for children of AIDS epidemics, wars, and famines. The emails tend to be gentle musings of the goings on at the farm, history lessons about feast days, and calls for hands to help harvest. Today I got an email that left me speechless. Please read this all the way through, and realize that these words are those of the gentlest monks I know, uninterested in stirring up unnecessary conflict:

Dear Friends, In recent weeks we have received a very large amount of correspondence. Two questions that continually come up are, what is the moral responsibility of people in these troubled times and what does the rest of the world think about what is going on in the US? We asked some friends in Europe about the latter question. One of them sent us a recent column appearing in The Irish Times. Fintan O’Toole is a respected author and journalist whose writing appears in a number of publications including the New York Review of Books. We have been urged to forward this on to you. It is a disturbing piece but I hope you will read it through and realize this is not a partisan issue but something that concerns all Americans. Sister Julie Fintan O'Toole wrote this yesterday in The Irish Times: “To grasp what is going on in the world right now, we need to reflect on two things. One is that we are in a phase of trial runs. The other is that what is being trialled is fascism – a word that should be used carefully but not shirked when it is so clearly on the horizon. Forget “post-fascist” – what we are living with is pre-fascism. … (Donald Trump) has an acute understanding of one thing: test marketing. He created himself in the gossip pages of the New York tabloids, where celebrity is manufactured by planting outrageous stories that you can later confirm or deny depending on how they go down. And he recreated himself in reality TV where the storylines can be adjusted according to the ratings. Put something out there, pull it back, adjust, go again. Fascism doesn’t arise suddenly in an existing democracy. It is not easy to get people to give up their ideas of freedom and civility. You have to do trial runs that, if they are done well, serve two purposes. They get people used to something they may initially recoil from; and they allow you to refine and calibrate. This is what is happening now and we would be fools not to see it. One of the basic tools of fascism is the rigging of elections – we’ve seen that trialled in the election of Trump, in the Brexit referendum and (less successfully) in the French presidential elections. Another is the generation of tribal identities, the division of society into mutually exclusive polarities. Fascism does not need a majority – it typically comes to power with about forty percent support and then uses control and intimidation to consolidate that power. So it doesn’t matter if most people hate you, as long as your forty percent is fanatically committed. That’s been tested out too. And fascism of course needs a propaganda machine so effective that it creates for its followers a universe of “alternative facts” impervious to unwanted realities. Again, the testing for this is very far advanced. But when you’ve done all this, there is a crucial next step, usually the trickiest of all. You have to undermine moral boundaries, inure people to the acceptance of acts of extreme cruelty. Like hounds, people have to be blooded. They have to be given the taste for savagery. Fascism does this by building up the sense of threat from a despised out-group. This allows the members of that group to be dehumanised. Once that has been achieved, you can gradually up the ante, working through the stages from breaking windows to extermination. People have to be given the taste for savagery. Fascism does this by building up the sense of threat from a despised out-group. It is this next step that is being test-marketed now. It is being done in Italy by the far-right leader and minister for the interior Matteo Salvini. How would it go down if we turn away boatloads of refugees? Let’s do a screening of the rough-cut of registering all the Roma and see what buttons the audience will press. And it has been trialled by Trump: let’s see how my fans feel about crying babies in cages. I wonder how it will go down with Rupert Murdoch. To see, as most commentary has done, the deliberate traumatisation of migrant children as a “mistake” by Trump is culpable naivety. It is a trial run – and the trial has been a huge success. Trump’s claim last week that immigrants “infest” the US is a test-marketing of whether his fans are ready for the next step-up in language, which is of course “vermin”. And the generation of images of toddlers being dragged from their parents is a test of whether those words can be turned into sounds and pictures. It was always an experiment – it ended (but only in part) because the results were in. And the results are quite satisfactory. There is good news on two fronts. First, Rupert Murdoch is happy with it – his Fox News mouthpieces outdid themselves in barbaric crassness: making animal noises at the mention of a Down syndrome child, describing crying children as actors. They went the whole swinish hog: even the brown babies are liars. Those sobs of anguish are typical of the manipulative behaviour of the strangers coming to infest us – should we not fear a race whose very infants can be so devious? Second, the hardcore fans loved it: Fifty-eight percent of Republicans are in favour of this brutality. Trump’s overall approval ratings are up to 42.5 per cent. This is greatly encouraging for the pre-fascist agenda. The blooding process has begun within the democratic world. The muscles that the propaganda machines need for defending the indefensible are being toned up. Millions and millions of Europeans and Americans are learning to think the unthinkable. So what if those black people drown in the sea? So what if those brown toddlers are scarred for life? They have already, in their minds, crossed the boundaries of morality. They are, like Macbeth, “yet but young in deed”. But the tests will be refined, the results analysed, the methods perfected, the messages sharpened. And then the deeds can follow." Let us protect our freedom with all our democratic power, and continue to be brave with everything we must face.”

#resist #fuck trump #this is america

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hogwartswelcomesyou · 6 years

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It (2017) Sorting

Hi there guys! I (Mod Star, from Hufflepuff) saw this movie a couple weekends ago, and I adored it, so I thought I’d sort the Losers Club and Pennywise!

Now, I KNOW there is a second movie coming out later, and the kids may ‘change’ as they get older, and Pennywise isn’t It’s true form, and all that, but the kids are about the right age at 13 or so to be sorted at Hogwarts, so even when the second film comes out, it won’t matter. The sorting hat never makes mistakes anyway, does it?

After you’ve read my sorting (and you’ve seen the movie, hopefully), tell me, who is your favourite of the Losers? And what did you think of my sort? Do you agree or disagree with where I put any of the kids or It?

My personal favourite of the Losers is Bev, with Eddie, Bill or Richie coming a close second!

(I’ve put the sorting under a cut, so you can choose to read it or not, and because it is a long-ish post.)

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR IT, WHICH UNFORTUNATELY CONTAINS SOME MENTIONS OF PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE. I HAVE CHOSEN GIFS THAT DON’T HAVE ANY BLOOD OR ABUSE MENTIONED OR DEPICTED, HOWEVER.

Bill Denbrough: Ravenclaw

Bill, the leader of the Losers Club with a stutter is shown to be a relatively smart kid, but it’s his deductive reasoning that puts him into Ravenclaw, like working out using pipes that Georgie could have been at the Barrons, then the sewers and he is also very willing to believe that It is a real thing, showing his creativity and willingness to understand things that seem absolutely insane to everyone else. In that way, he’s like Luna Lovegood. Bill’s fear is his dead brother Georgie, and it manifests in his own basement, where Pennywise uses a puppet of him that gradually rots, before drowning the puppet. He also knows that the only way to get rid of It is to no longer be afraid, but it isn’t a natural thing for him, as he is a normally very easily anxious and scared person, which makes Gryffindor a poor fit for him. If it weren’t for the possibility of finding Georgie or who hurt him, he would have never gone into the house, or sewer, and he is the person who comforts Richie that the Wanted Poster isn’t real, showing his slight detachment from fear.

Ben Hanscom: Ravenclaw

Ben is the first of the kids to recognize that It’s killings are every 27 years, and that the people in Derry disappear 6 times the national average, and he has dedicated his room to working out the numbers and is the key person piecing it all together. He isn’t particularly witty, but his intellect is what would gain him entry to Ravenclaw house, along with his desire to do something good for the world. Many Ravenclaws try to use their intelligence to do something good for humanity with it, and Ben is no exception. Ben’s fear is the history of Derry, which manifests as a headless kid, the same one who was pictured in the library book he was reading. He’s not necessarily scared of it happening to him, but knowing the dark history of his current home is a bit of a scary thing to have under his belt.

Beverly Marsh: Hufflepuff

Bev is possibly the most tragic of the Losers Club, as her loyalty to her father is the strongest thing she knows, regardless of the fact he sexually and physically abuses her. She can see he’s hurtful, but she doesn’t know what to do, nor does she have the heart to do anything. And really, her fear that It manipulates is possibly the most meaningful. She isn’t scared of zombies, or clowns or anything really, but she is scared of maturing, growing up, being tied to her father forever and bleeding (yes, her menstrual cycle), which had It attack her with the hair she cut off and washed down the drain and cover her and the bathroom with blood. When she becomes a member of the Losers Club, her loyalty slowly shifts over the course of the film to be more towards them than her father, and it takes one final straw for her to cut ties with him, and she is the glue holding the Losers Club together. She just wants to be fair, kind and loyal to the people she cares about, even if it is destroying her mentally. While she could be a decent fit for Gryffindor as she does stab Pennywise through the head in the Wellhouse, it was only because her friends were in danger, not because she wanted to, and she does prefer to take a sideline in the later battle until the last minute.

Richie Tozier: Gryffindor

Richie, the loudest member of the Losers Club has a fear of clowns and suffers from neglect, hence why he is so loud, so he isn’t forgotten. He is one of the 3 who ventures into the abandoned house to find It, and tends to be able to control his fear, except for when he sees the Missing Poster with all of his details on it, and he starts panicking and crying, which shows a fear of many Gryffindors; he doesn’t want to be lost to time or forgotten by anyone. He is also the one to initiate the fight at the creek with Henry and his gang of goons, and like a Gryffindor, he swears, can be a little (okay, a LOT) inappropriate and is unabashedly himself. When nobody else wants to go into the House, including himself, he volunteers anyway, showing his true grit and nerve.

Stan Uris: Ravenclaw

Ravenclaw is a very broad house that takes anyone from the Luna Lovegoods who will believe in just about anything, and then those who use logic to decide something can’t possibly be real. Stan is a Ravenclaw who finds it harder to believe in something he can’t prove, as It seems to be in everyone’s head, and manifesting in real life, rather than a real thing that EVERYONE sees, and the fact that’s It shifts It’s form makes it even more unlikely. To Stan, wouldn’t It have a consistent form that EVERYONE sees, not something different every time? His fear is the disappointment of his father, seeing he is the Rabbi’s son, and the painting shows that he is scared of things he doesn’t understand and shouldn’t exist, like creepy women from paintings and a mysterious entity that scares, harms and kills children and adults. To Stan, if It exists, literally anything can, which is the scariest thing of all.

Mike Hanlon: Hufflepuff

Mike just wants Derry to be safe. He also wants his friends to stay safe, and he has such compassion that he won’t kill sheep, even though it’s his job and his grandfather wants him to do it. The only reason he harms Henry Bowers is because he was going to kill his friends, with whom his loyalty lies. He tends to run from danger, and his bullies, but he is scared of fire and what has happened to his now dead family, as Pennywise creates a fire behind a door, with the cries of Mike’s family. He works hard at his job (though he hates it), and is also a big proponent of justice. Hufflepuff would be a great fit for Mike, even though Ravenclaw does come a close second.

Eddie Kaspbrak: Slytherin

Eddie is another interesting member of the Losers Club, being that he is an INSANE hypochondriac thanks to his mother with possession issues and her use of meds and made up illnesses to control Eddie. His biggest fear is illness and disease, which It manifests as a Leper, but his belief in his diseases shows a very strong sense of preservation of self. He is shown being petrified of all sorts of diseases, like his asthma, allergies and the current AIDS epidemic, talking about how someone he knows ‘got it from touching a dirty pole on the subway’. Eddie is also determined to make sure It dies, and with luck, suffers at the hands of himself and his friends, as he is determined It won’t harm anyone else. He’s also a little dry in his humour, like many real life Snakes can be, and the loyalty to ONLY his inner circle is what keeps him safe. He values fraternity, and sticking to a group as well, though he won’t voluntarily go into the abandoned house, but he’ll do it because he drew the straw.

It/Pennywise the Dancing Clown: Slytherin

Pennywise lives for the fear. It deliberately antagonizes and scares children to somehow make them a more tasty meal, which involves learning and manipulating their fear, and manifesting as the worst possible version of it, like a Leper, blood, a rotting Georgie, dead ancestors and of course, clowns. It is like a Dementor in that way, but unfortunately, saying ‘Riddikulus’ won’t get rid of It. Like the typical evil Slytherin like Voldemort, Grindlewald and Umbridge, It also has a strong sense of self-preservation, running when It is stabbed in the head by Bev, or when the Losers Club almost kills It towards the end of the film, retreating deep into the sewers. It’s ability to turn into whatever cares a person is also incredibly resourceful, as It knows one thing won’t work for all, and It hides in abandoned building and sewers to avoid detection. Voldemort would love It, but Salazar certainly wouldn’t have. I imagine Salazar would have actually been ashamed of a Slytherin who LIVES to scare and harm and kill others.

-Star

#it 2017 #pennywise #pennywise the dancing clown #bill denbrough #georgie denbrough #youll float too #beverly marsh #richie tozier #mike hanlon #eddie kasprak #stan uris #ben hanscom #sorting #the houses queue #the houses four #star speaks

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qqueenofhades · 7 years

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Queer History Friday: Inverting the paradigm of ‘progress’

Right, so. You can thank @extasiswings for the fact that this is definitely a Thing; I don’t know for how long, but it’s definitely a Thing, thus spake Zarathustra. Anyway, one of the things we’re going to talk about today is the ‘myth of progress,’ which you have probably come across before. It posits that history and human existence are structured teleologically, or that rather, they function in a system that moves toward an end or goal, and that in the case of history, it only ever moves from “less enlightened (tm)” to “more enlightened (tm)” ways of doing things. We are smarter than the people in the past, simply by nature of living after them, and whatever they did or believed, it’s inferior to our way of doing/believing things in the present.

/extended fart noise from offstage

Yeah. We’re gonna put that one in the “Nosirree Bob” bin.

Anyway, last week, one of the things I talked about was the original Latin in the passage about one of Richard the Lionheart’s rebukes for unorthodox sexuality being Hella Gay. Well, I am now back to talk about (among other things) more Gay Latin, this time in the case of the etymology of the word “contubernium.” In its original essence, the word means the basic unit of the Roman army, a group of ten men. “Contubernales” shared a tent in the field, or barracks when at home, and ten groups of contubernales made a “century,” or a hundred men, from which we get the word “centurion” for its commander.

However, the other meanings of the word “contubernium” in classic Latin texts are a little more interesting, and you will see a bit of it in the links above. But in short, aside from “[male] military companionship” (since the Roman military, like the Roman world, was exclusively and culturally male), it also means “marriage, concubinage, slave marriage, lower-status marriage” and generally has connotations of on-the-DL sexual behavior. But it moreover means those bound by intimate ties of friendship, close romantic association, or the like; someone with whom you are living (and bedding) together within all senses of the word.

This seems like the opportune moment to mention that Roman culture, literature, and society was... Really Hella Gay.

Roman society almost unanimously assumed that adult males would be capable of, if not interested in, sexual relations with both sexes. It is extremely difficult to convey to the modern audiences the absolute indifference of most Latin authors as to the question of gender. Catullus writes of two male friends enamored of a Veronese brother and sister: “Caelius is crazy about Aufilenus and Quintius about Aufilena, the flower of Veronese youths -- the former for the brother, the latter for the sister.” [...] Many homosexual relationships were permanent and exclusive. Among the lower classes informal unions like those of Giton and Encolpius may have predominated, but marriages between males or between females were legal and familiar among the upper classes. Even under the Republic, Cicero regarded Curio’s relationship with another man as a marriage, and by the time of the early Empire references to gay marriage had become commonplace. [...]

Nero married two men in succession, both in public ceremonies with the rituals appropriate to legal marriage. At least one of these unions was recognized by Greeks and Romans, and the spouse was accorded the honors of an empress. (Suetonius reports a popular joke of the day to the effect that if Nero’s father had married that sort of wife, the world would be a happier place.) (pp. 73-74)

This is from Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell, which is still a landmark book in the field and has been since it was published in 1980. It’s difficult to overstate how completely radical this book was (and in some ways, still is). Boswell was only 33 when he published it, a distinguished Yale professor of history, and it is a massive piece of work that involved him personally consulting and extensively translating sources in Persian, Greek, Latin, French, and more. He was also writing a comprehensive history of ancient and medieval homosexuality at a time where he had to defend using the word “gay” in a scholarly publication, and spend extensive time refuting the “homosexuality is completely unnatural and perverted” thesis. 1980 was also the beginning of awareness of the AIDS crisis, and Boswell himself died of AIDS at the age of 47 in 1994. Today, when LGBT rights are, if not universally accepted, at least a mainstream and high-visibility political position, it’s difficult to overstate the level of fear and loathing that existed just 30-odd years ago. This is basically equivalent to Boswell saying that terrorists and plague-mongers had always existed in history, furthermore were not wrong to do so, and that they had a right to live their lives as much as anyone else.

You may have heard of Ruth Coker Burks, the “cemetery angel” of Arkansas in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS epidemic, when it was still called GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency). If not, read her story. Fair warning: you will cry. A lot.

The point is this: one only has to compare the attitude toward homosexuality in ancient Rome, and the attitude toward homosexuality in 1980s America (and hell, 2000s America), to think that the progress theory starts sounding awfully suspect. Of course, like any society, Rome had its own weird mores, hypocrisies, and hangups about sexuality (it was especially focused on the distinction between passive/active and free/slave, rather than gender) and of course, one of the reasons homosexuality was so accepted was because women had comparatively no social prestige, agency, or public respect at all. (You should also check out Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, published in 1996.) Ancient Rome was a world entirely structured around men, and the right of men to have whatever kind of public or private (Roman-cultural, Roman-legal) existence they pleased, and the prevalence of homosexuality is in part a response to that.

Nonetheless, let us take that notion of “progress,” the idea that humanity only ever moves from “less enlightened” to “more enlightened,” and let us once more fart at it for good measure. Let us also recognize that queerness, its expression, and construction has -- as noted -- existed since the beginning of human history, that Rome’s successors were much less tolerant of it than it was, and it’s the successors’ particular tradition which has, unfortunately, shaped a lot of ours.

#history #ancient history #queer history #queer history friday

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pen-masta · 7 years

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Duly Noted Part 6

1 2 3 4 5 6

There’s a loud banging sound that fills the air. Joy moans and tries to ignore the annoying nuisance of a noise. But it wont stop, it almost sounds like someone is calling her name in the mix of the rhythmic banging.

“Go away,” she whines and buries her head deeper into the crook of her arm.

“Jo-jo come on wake up,” Castel’s deep voice calls through the wooden door.

“No. Never. Let me sleep forever,” Joy mumbles trying to hold on to her last shred of slumber.

Castel sighs and runs his hand over the top of the door frame. Finding the spare key, he unlocks her bedroom door and walks in.

“J-bird?” He asks concerned.

He walks in seeing the room is a complete mess! Joy isn’t the most organized person, but her room has always been sort of organized chaos. But this? There are papers and school books all over the room, as well as empty chip bags and coffee mugs. Her bed is a mess, but she’s not in it. Instead Joy is hunched over curled up on her desk in front of her laptop, her head cushioned by her open math textbook.

He frowns deeply and walks up behind Joy.

“Joy?” He shakes her shoulder gently earning him an exhausted whimper out of Joy. He smiles a little, “Come on Joy it’s noon.”

She groans and slowly sits up, her body is completely stiff--falling asleep at her desk was not the best decision to make. She rubs her eyes and leans back to look up at Castel.

“Hey Cassie,” she smiles tiredly.

He grins sweetly, “Hey Jo-jo.”

“What’s up?”

“Well I thought you had died or fallen down a well,” he chuckles, “I’ve been texting and callin’ ya all day.”

“What?” She asks and digs through the pile of crumpled up papers and textbooks until she finds her phone. The screen shines reading several missed calls and texts from her dork-a-doo wanting to hang out and asking if she was alright.

Her cheeks turn a bright pink and she smiles sheepishly, “Oops sorry C-bear.”

He smiles, “No big deal I just was worried something was wrong. I’m used to hearing that little chime immediately after I text you.” He looks around the room, “What happened in here? Did you stay up all night?”

Joy yawns and stretches, “Yeah I was trying to get some work done.”

“Did you accomplish anything?” He asks and plops onto her bed.

Joy glances at the page and a half of gobbledy goop she has written for her essay. It’s supposed to be five pages! She’s only finished half of her English homework, a fourth of her science, and she hasn’t even begun to attempt her math. Not to mention the history test that’s tomorrow, she fell asleep studying the material. Ugh! This is bad!

She forces a smile, “Sorta.”

His smile falters. If she was struggling with her homework why didn’t she call him? He’s always helped her when the work became overwhelming. Well he has kind of been pushing her away. Even before the epidemic in the cafeteria now that he’s thinking about. He was sinking into a dark whole of self-pity long before that humiliating day, and he wasn’t exactly the friendliest to her. Several days that he wanted to be alone, or shutdown any offer she made to hang out. Wow he didn’t realize how much of a jerk he’s been to her. His best friend...his only friend. No wonder she didn’t reach out to him for help.

He feels like a grade A heel. He rubs the back of his neck trying his hardest to internalize his self-hatred.

“Well,” he smiles weakly, “not gonna lie Jo-jo you look awful.”

She snorts and shakes her head, “That’s exactly what every girl is dying to hear smooth moves Casanova.”

He chuckles sheepishly, “I just mean you need to actually sleep. How long were you up for?”

She shrugs and runs her fingers through her messy hair, “I don’t know dude...I think the last time I saw was seven.”

He rolls his eyes and gets off of the bed, “How about this you sleep and I’ll take care of some of this work.”

Joy smiles at him, “Thanks Cassie but I can’t have you doing my work. Plus we’ve got that history test tomorrow I’ve got to study for it.”

Castel spins her chair around, “I’ll get you a sick day and you can study all day tomorrow.” He smiles, “When I get home from school I’ll come over and quiz you.”

She blinks feeling tears welling up in her eyes, “You’d do that for me?”

He nods and smiles sweetly, “Of course I would J-bird.”

She’s so tired, she’s so stressed, she’s absolutely drained. Cassie is not only offering her a way out of her work, but also sleep and an extra day to prepare for a test he’s been prepared for since last week. She wants to cry! He’s so sweet and caring, she doesn’t deserve to be friends with him.

“But there’s so much to do Cassie I,” she rubs her eyes, “I wouldn’t feel right about letting you do it all.”

He sighs and takes her laptop and textbooks off of her desk.

“How about I’ll stay here and do the work to help you out and you sleep. Whenever you feel rested enough you can take over whatever I haven’t done. Deal?”

She sighs and stretches her arms above her head, “Sleep sounds so superb right about now.”

“What do you say Mrs. Stubborn?” He grins.

She smiles and nods, “Deal.”

He chuckles and watches her stumble over to her bed. He takes her seat at the desk as she collapses on her bed. Joy hums with satisfaction snuggling into her pillow as she pulls her blanket up over her shoulder. She peeks out at Castel to see him gathering up all of her papers and textbooks.

“Hey dork-asaurus-rex,” she calls in a sleepy voice.

“What’s up Jo-jo?” He asks from his seat at the desk.

“Come work over here,” she says and rolls onto her side.

“Why?”

“You feel really far away,” she whines. “The least I can do is keep you company.”

He snickers and turns around to look at her, “Jo-jo you’re gonna be asleep.”

“So what? If you’re over here it’s kind of like I’m still keeping you company,” she pouts.

He smiles and shakes his head gathering the work. Making himself comfortable next to her bed, he piles all the books and papers on the floor.

“Happy now?” He smiles at her over his shoulder.

She nods, “Yup, yup.”

“Good,” he says and opens her science textbook. “Now go to sleep.”

“Yes DAD,” she teases and sticks her tongue out.

He chuckles and starts to answer the questions on her science worksheet. Joy smiles as she drifts off into a sleep she never wants to wake from.

==================

It’s about four in the afternoon and Castel is just about with all of Joy’s homework. He closes her math textbook and stacks the worksheet neatly on top of the tower of textbooks. He stretches his arms above his head and cracks his knuckles as he skims over the pages he’s written for her essay. Of the two of them homework has always come easier to him and his high IQ allows him to solve for X, skim for answers, calculate chemical equations, and write with ease. This ability has always left him plenty of time to aid Joy in any area she was struggling in.

Perhaps it’s a little dishonest in their academics, but he doesn’t mind helper her out in times of desperation such as this. He glances back over his shoulder at her. He smiles seeing she’s still sound asleep curled up under her big fluffy rainbow poke-a-dotted comforter. He sighs and saves the document before closing it out. Her background picture smacks him in the face in the minute the document disappears.

It’s a picture of them. He’s got his arm around her shoulders in a loose headlock while she holds up a peace sign taking the selfie. Both of them smiling and laughing. Behind them a corner of their lime green tent can be seen as well as the valley that hangs down from their spot on the mountain side.

A smile curls his lips as his eyes dance over the blown up, slightly pixelated photo. He remembers when they took that picture. It was this past fall on their annual camping trip. For a long time the camping trip was something both of their families shared, but soon her sisters moved out as well as his brothers/ That left them and their parents, and the six of them made the trip together several times. But this past year their folks were busy with work and just really tired, so they allowed the two teens to venture off on their own.

That was one of the best trips they’ve ever had. Bundled up in their flannel shirts, blue jeans, and boots they left early in the morning before the sun even rose and they stopped for coffee on their way up the mountain. She teased him about his lumberjack’s hat just like she always did, and he teased her about her black beanie just like he always did--an unspoken tradition he supposes.

Once they reached the parking lot of the park they grabbed their gear and hiked into the woods. He loves hiking especially with Joy, she loves letting nature know she’s there. They sang Disney songs and songs from Musicals all the way until she found a spot she liked. The day was spent struggling to pitch their tent and start a fire followed by semi-cooked hot dogs over the fire. The nights were cold in the tent and they had slept as close as they could to stay warm. During the day they’d hike and bird watch, climb trees and skip rocks, they’d fish and talk and never really catch anything because of all their talking. She’d wake him up early to watch the sunrise and they’d stay up late to watch the sunset and star gaze. It was the most amazing camping trip of all their camping trips.

He let her pick the spot because of the two of them Joy had a better eye for scenery and art and all that stuff. She picked a spot that jutted out from the mountain that hung over the valley; plenty of room for their tent and supplies. Trees and flowers and all kinds of wildlife. She said that it was the perfect spot because it had a beautiful view.

He chuckles at the picture of them together, of her. A beautiful view indeed, he thinks to himself. He shakes his head clearing his thoughts. Yeah it was a great trip with his best friend and nothing more. He sighs and leans back against the bed. He runs his hand through his hair and slides his hand down his face. He wants to let her sleep for as long as she can, but he’s starting to get bored. How could he kill some time while she sleeps?

A little thought pops into his head.

A grin breaks on his face as he pulls up safari on her laptop and logs into his email. Maybe mystery girl has respond. Although he’d prefer to meet her face to face he’d be lying if he said all of this anonymous secret admirer bizz doesn’t have him a little excited. It’s certainly brought a bit of interest and curiosity into his life. He eagerly opens the new email from his secret admirer and he reads over her words slowly trying to take in everything she’s so painstakingly written.

When he’s done reading the email he slumps back against the bed. He’s a little taken back by her responses to his questions. Clearly who ever mystery girl is she is into the arts--wanting to see Robin Williams and that Plato quote about music gives it away. But she’s not an airhead that’s for sure as well. Who just knows Plato quotes off the top of their heads? And that fact about Hendy Lamarr, woof! He only knows one other person that knows that fact and she’s sleeping behind him. So this girl has got a brain in her head which is awesome, she’s not some flaky giggling valley girl who’s just floating through life.

She also sounds kind of down to earth as well. The honesty and logic behind the judgement of a book? Come on! And she caught on to his metaphor about judging people, she’s smart! And then that thing about making people laugh? She sounds so sweet and caring, man he’s never met this girl and yet he feels like he’s known her for forever. She didn’t think it was weird that he asked her questions and she retaliated! This is awesome!

Careful Cubs, he tells himself, don’t get caught up in your emotions. It looks too good to be true, stay on guard.

He skims over the email again.

We do have a few classes together–specifically our German, Math, and Science classes.

Well that’s where he’ll start, he’ll go through all those classes and narrow down the girls in those groups. Then he’ll try to figure out who the girl is behind the emails. His eyes continue reading...his golden eyes according to his admirer. Your eyes sparkle and shine like the stars and like the stars your eyes are full of a millions of possibilities. He can feel the heat rising in his face as he reads the beautiful words she’s written to him...about him. It’s really strange having someone talk about him so highly, and so kindly. He really doesn’t do well with compliments and always shy's away from accepting them...but she’s making it really hard to reject her sweet words.

He sighs and runs his hand down his red, hot face. He reads over mystery girl’s questions again. Well he can really only answer one of the four questions right now, he’ll have to really think about the other ones.

“Whatcha doing?”

The voice causes him to literally jump and he whips around to look at Joy. She smiles from inside her bundle of a blanket cocoon. She giggles as he runs his fingers through his mass of unruly curls.

“Jumpy today aren’t we dork-a-do?” She teases.

“Yeah, yeah,” he smiles and logs out of his email.

“So what were you doing?”

“Just checking my email,” he sighs and closes her laptop. “You sleep well?”

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