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buniyaad · 4 months

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Another year, another hundred million things goin on. One thing’s for sure, the years start comin and they don't stop comin 😂😂😂

This year, I didn't go in with any special reading goals. It was only as I was heading towards summer that I found out that one of my favorite comic book superhero teams got a revival. And so, after nearly ten years of not looking at mainstream Big Two books, I finally picked up a DC mainliner a couple of years old. One thing lead to another, and I decided to reread old comics I enjoyed pre-2012, bringing me to the conclusion that motherfuckers did not lie when they said you a Big Two comic book nerd for life no matter how long of a break you take. I was literally reading every other comic book in the world except Big Two for the last ten years, and now I have a spreadsheet tracking when I gotta pick up my 2024 Zods and Lors. It's atrocious. I love it.

I also made my grand return to reading Stephen King books, which I've been off longer than Big Two comics! I, of course, went with the fattest, most interesting one I could find, and that's how I ate The Outsider in less than a week. It was really that good, I highly recommend.

I also read my fair share of popcorn horror written by Grady Hendrix, Darcy Coates, and Paul Tremblay. Got played by the homoerotic lesbianism in another Rachel Harrison that didn't have any real gay. Maybe she enjoys gaslighting me. Continued my adventures with M.R. Carey and Camilla Sten because those motherfucker can write. Read some adapted-by-Hollywood horror novels I've been avoiding for years like Lovecraft Country and Bird Box, both which got sequels I have to read now.

I veered into the weird this year to get more used to the surrealist side of horror. "The Devil Takes You Home," "My Sister, The Serial Killer," and "Tender is the Flesh" did not disappoint. Meta horror like "Curse of the Reaper" was also enjoyable. I also found a book in the tradition of Poppy Z. Brite. "Gone to the See the River Man" was a nasty thriller but one that reads like one fucked up ass poem. Threw in some short stories and novellas. Read one poetry anthology, and opened up sci-fi novels because I wanted to see if my brain could handle googling physics and mathematics every five minutes to see if I could handle books based on real-world science. Turns out I CAN handle physics, geometry, and planetary motion. Read Liu Cixin's "Remembrance of Earth's Past" novels, I guarantee you'll eat multiple hats.

Overall, a wonderful year of reading. I might get laid off from my job, but I still got my library card and my wits.

#2023 reads #2023 reading challenge #reading challenge #bookworm #book hoe #real talk

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aegor-bamfsteel · 2 years

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Which countries would you map to seven kingdoms of Westeros?

My primary area of medieval knowledge is France and England, and Spain to a lesser extent. Fortunately, GRRM admits that as a monolingual English speaker, most of his medieval knowledge comes from English sources (though he admitted to having figurines of Peter the Cruel and Henry Trastamara, which interested me because of the parallels between Daeron II and Daemon Blackfyre). Furthermore, GRRM uses parallels from other countries/cultures (Ned’s daughters get Sanskrit names while his name is pseudo-German, the Parisian Oldtown has the Lighthouse of Alexandria aka Hightower in it) often with no regard to where they came from or how they fit, much like the worldbuilding of his fantasy hero, Robert Howard. Many of the world building elements are more stereotypes or taken from pop culture than reflective of real world history (looking at the Dothraki and the Mongols. GRRM used the Pax Mongolica quote…to describe the north under the Starks). Furthermore, GRRM admits that he also uses “a hint” (or a lot) of his imagination in some worldbuilding, so he wasn’t directly inspired by real life (you could say the same for places inspired by fictional works such as Lovecraft’s or Moorcock’s, such as the island of Leng and the Patrimony of Hyrkoon). All I can do is guess the inspirations and draw parallels if he hasn’t said anything.

The North: a really big Northern England/Southern Scotland, maybe some Icelandic, due to the Wall being inspired by a trip to Hadrian’s wall

The Riverlands: maybe Brittany, a frequently fought over and invaded part of modern North France

The Iron Islands: I wrote a meta on how they are very stereotypical Vikings with some hints of depth; there’s also some Scottish Isles influence

The Vale: maybe Wales, due to the sheep herding and mountains?

The Westerlands: southern/Middle England, considering how the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion is modeled after the Montfort rebellion

The Reach: Central/Southern France with its emphasis on chivalry, except with Paris included

The Stormlands: Northern Spain, for its frequent clashes with the Reach and Dorne, its stony shores and excellent sailors

Dorne: Southern Spain, due to the conquest and rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, the silk veils, the Tabernas desert, the variety of phenotypes. GRRM has mentioned other countries as influence

Keep in mind that I’m limited by knowledge of other regions, as well as by space (I’m sure if I had enough time, I could go over some of the other details GRRM took from history)

A note about Essos under the cut:

The places of Essos are easier to identify as one culture/region because he doesn’t spend as much time building them (that most of them include what Americans would consider people of color makes his thin sketching that much worse); significant to my interest in ASOIAF is the Kingdom of the Three Daughters; despite some Greek names (and that lazy “gonfaloniere” Fire and Blood included in Lys, which is just an untranslated title for a communal office in Florence), Tyrosh is obviously based on Tyre, Lebanon, which was famed for its dye; Myr is based on Sidon, the oldest of the Phoenician city-states and famed for glass making; and Lys, despite the Rogares being uninspired Diet Medicis, is Cyprus, the Island of Love (it was the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite), a fertile island, that had the most Greek influence of the three due to its proximity. All three were governed by judges aka magisters called shofret, Sidon and Tyre were United for a time, they lived off of trade, and though there were old families the common people also had a voice in government. Further east the cultural comparisons get more obvious, with Magical!Crete as Qarth, Scythians as Sarnori, China as Yi Ti…GRRM’s worldbuilding is not his strong point, but as long as he wasn’t focusing on it (instead of letting it eat up too much of his writing), I could deal and just focus on his interesting characters.

#grrm criticism #ask #parallels #history #opinion #essos #asoiaf #westeros #gif

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dncingthrghlife · 4 years

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I love that Diana gets to be angry at her mother for leaving her behind. I mean, I am a Hippolyta stan always and forever, but Diana deserves her rage from being abandoned while her mother lived out my her wildest fantasies.

#diana freeman #you’re doing great sweetie #you deserve to heal #and #hippolyta freeman #you deserve the universe #but you still fucked up #lovecraft country #they went there #season finale #lovecraft country meta #lovecraft country hbo

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phoukanamedpookie · 4 years

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Why does Ruby fuck William but not even smooch Christina?

Thus far on the show, Ruby and William have had multiple sex scenes, but Ruby and Christina have yet to become physically intimate. Why is that?

It’s certainly not a lack of chemistry. The actresses are clearly making deliberate choices to add an erotic charge to every interaction they have together.

Some point to homophobia, particularly on Ruby’s part (and can we not with the “Black people are more homophobic by default” shit?). While it would explain a lot, especially considering that this story takes place in the 50s, I don’t think it’s that simple.

This is where I have to draw on my personal experience as a queer Black woman to understand what could be going on.

Despite having very strong feelings for women from a very early age, it took me a long time for me to realize I’m a lesbian. In the meantime, I did have sexual encounters with men. The sex part was meh for me, but I liked the experience of being desired, and I liked helping my partners feel good. Long story short, it was easier for me to play around with men because my heart wasn’t in it.

Also, I knew what to expect from my sexual experiences with men. I knew what desire and pleasure were “supposed” to be like and what a “good” sexual encounter entailed. (Ironically, it had everything to do with the man’s desire and pleasure and little, if anything, to do with mine.)

Comparing those feelings and experiences to the feelings I’ve had toward women, I’d be a lot more cautious about getting physically intimate. I simply can’t compartmentalize with women the way I could with men. The feelings I have for women are too deep and strong, and it’s harder for me to bounce back from being hurt. So I have to be very careful about how I express those feelings and to whom.

So, with Ruby I see some of my own experience as a queer Black woman reflected in her. Of course it’s easier to fuck around with William. All Ruby wants or expects out of him are sex and attention. Not to mention, there are already social expectations for Black women and white men fucking each other. Listen to the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar.” Shit ain’t new. That’s why Ruby’s neither shocked nor impressed by William coming onto her at the bar.

But with Christina, it’s different. There’s no script for how that’s supposed to play out, no instruction manual about how to make it work. Queer women aren’t exactly visible in the 50s (even now, our deepest bonds get written off as “gals being pals” so much of the time), let alone a romantic or erotic relationship between a Black woman and a white woman. And on top of that, Christina herself is shady as fuck and has plans involving Ruby’s family. Could you really trust such a person enough to kiss them with your eyes closed?

#ruby baptiste #ruby x christina #lovecraft country meta

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fandom-pardes · 3 years

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Christian normativity and Lovecraft Country

Reposted from my personal blog.

Here’s something you need to wrap your head around. If you were brought up in an environment dominated by Christian culture, Christian norms have shaped the way you conceptualize how the world works, human nature, ethics, religion (even the term religion is Christian-normative), and so on.

It doesn’t matter if you actively practice or believe. IMO, unless you deliberately and consistently expose yourself to different frameworks, you are generally operating from a Christian lens. That’s just how socialization works.

In the case of media and media criticism, the Christian framework shows up in a deeply puritanical streak where good and evil are not actions and choices, but states of being. When a character does something beneficial, it’s because they are good. If they do something harmful, it’s because they are bad.

It also shows up in the ways that fandom discourse seems preoccupied with whether a character’s thoughts, feelings, or actions are morally justified or not, as opposed to understanding where those thoughts, feelings, and actions come from.

Consider Montrose. He does some horrible stuff in this show, and many viewers were upset by the way the narrative went out of its way to explore where those horrific actions come from rather than condemn him for them. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking, “Of course he does that, considering what his experiences have taught him.” But at the time the show was airing, if I’d expressed that openly, I’d have gotten a lot of, “Why are you trying to justify all the bad things Montrose has done?”

*smh*

In Lovecraft Country, the Christian normativity also shows up in the way it tries to shoehorn the plot (especially the finale) into a typical Good vs. Evil (or God vs. Satan—more on this in a bit) narrative even though the characters themselves are too complex for that. Then the show Goes There with the hamfisted way it links Tic with Jesus, all the way down to his martyred blood being the source of salvation, and Christina with Satan or the Antichrist, a morally corrupt enemy of goodness/God who tempts humans to embrace forbidden knowledge (magic) and forbidden pleasures (non-cishet sex).

(IMO, the show did Christina a disservice by making her the ultimate villain because she’s a lot more fun as a wild card. Also, her character is more akin to the tricksters of myth and folklore than the villains of contemporary media. /tangent)

Then there’s the way that, in the US, the legacy of slavery, and later Jim Crow, is seen as a kind of Original Sin, which the show reinforces rather than challenges. In very simplistic terms, Original Sin means that you are automatically morally corrupt from birth, and nothing you do can undo that except faith in Jesus. In other words, you are born bad and condemned to damnation unless you think, feel, and believe the right thing.

This insinuation of Original Sin is most pronounced with how the narrative frames Christina and how viewers respond to her. I’ve seen a lot of people judge her for having the “wrong” thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes, using that as an argument against her capacity to change and grow. Even the ways she helps and empowers others become automatically suspect because of this “taint.”

*siiiiigh*

Y’all, you have to understand how weird this looks to my Jewish self.

Imagine this rich heiress who kills a bunch of Nazis. She does it for her own reasons that aren’t the least bit altruistic. That’s still fewer Nazis for me to worry about. We can argue about her motives when there are no more Nazis. But for now: Thanks, lady!

But the way some viewers would have it, I’m supposed to be like…

Me: “I know you killed all these Nazis, but do you really care about my people?”

Her: “No.”

Me: “You horrible person! If you don’t care, don’t bother killing any Nazis at all!”

Haha. OK. Sure, Jan.

I’m not gonna go down the rabbit hole of Jewish ethics and moral development, but to summarize Jewish ethics while standing on one foot, the important thing is the Do The Thing. Even though it’s ideal to Do The Thing for the right reasons, whatever it takes to get you to Do The Thing is valid (some conditions about Doing The Other Things apply). Good intentions don’t absolve people of wrongdoing, nor do ulterior motives erase the good that people do.

Furthermore, sin is not a state of being in Jewish tradition. It’s an action or behavior akin to an arrow missing its target. Our job is to fix what we can and try again, failing better until we hit our target.

So Christina crashing her car into truckload of racists matters. Giving Leti enough money to pay for a house matters. Sharing magical secrets with Tic and Ruby matters. Keeping her promise not to harm Leti matters.

Now, if I really wanna get Jewish about this, I’d argue that Christina’s deep yearning for human connection, for family and for love, is what can give her the drive to learn better* and do better. This may strike some with deeply ingrained Christian norms as selfish, or at the very least, self-interested. However, Jewish tradition encourages us to perform mitzvot and other good deeds using both our yetzer hatov (our “good” impulse—think the Freudian** superego) and our yetzer hara (our “evil” impulse—think the Freudian id). Our job is not to suppress or deny the part that wants things for ourselves, but to refine it and channel it toward constructive purposes.

I think that’s about it.

Happy Hanukkah!

*Moral development through learning and study is a hallmark of Jewish ethics. No one is born knowing right from wrong. It has to be taught and cultivated.

**Freud was Jewish, BTW.

#lovecraft country meta #fandom meta #cultural christianity #christina braithwhite #montrose freeman

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deliciousmeta · 4 years

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“Lovecraft Country” and the messiness of Black humanity

There’s something about Lovecraft Country that non-Black viewers seem to have trouble wrapping their heads around. I’m going to try to clear that up.

But first, some context.

Way back when there was Oscar buzz for The Help, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer had an interview with Tavis Smiley.

The interview turned toward the representation of Black women in Hollywood, particularly as domestic workers. In response, Davis said a few things that really stood out to me:

“That very mind-set that you have and that a lot of African-Americans have is absolutely destroying the black artist. The black artist cannot live in a revisionist place. The black artist can only tell the truth about humanity, and humanity is messy. People are messy.”

“We as African-American artists are more concerned with image and message and not execution, which is why every time you see your images they’ve been watered down to the point where they where they are not realistic at all. It’s like all of our humanity has been washed out.”

“It [the movie industry] wears me out on a different level because for me there aren’t enough multifaceted roles for women who look like me. [...] Right, see, a balance, where I’m not just always dignified, I know everything, I see everything, I’m just this straight-backed Black woman/friend/all-knowing-seeing/whatever. […] my whole thing is: do I always have to be noble? […] I’m saying that as an artist you’ve gotta see the mess. [...] it’s gotta be a mixture, a multifaceted mixture of human emotions, and not all of it is gonna be pretty. We’re not gonna win, we’re not gonna be heroes, y’know, OK?”

I share these because they touch on what I think trips up a lot of non-Black people when viewing this show. The show itself is an exploration of Black humanity in the context of Lovecraftian horror. What non-Black viewers seem to think it is, however, is a Lovecraftian horror story that happens to have Black main characters because diversity.

If you’re watching this show as an exploration of Black humanity, the messiness and ugliness of these characters will probably be less jarring than if you come at it thinking this show exists primarily to emulate Lovecraftian horror, showcase diversity, or teach non-Black people about racism via fiction.

If you put Black humanity first, Lovecraft Country is a radically different viewing experience. It opens up one’s understanding of the narrative in a way that’s a lot more layered, nuanced, and complex. It allows for deeper conversations about race, gender, sexuality, trauma, abuse, oppression, violence, liberation, self-actualization, etc.

But you have to see Black people as people first.

#lovecraft country meta #lovecraft country

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sleepynegress · 14 days

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Your post about Loustat paralleling Ruby and Christina makes so much sense. I haven’t rewatched lovecraft in a while though what specifically would you say makes them relate?

Whew! Where to start. I feel I probably need to play catch up for Ruby/Christina's dynamic on Lovecraft Country because that's probably the one fewer people who follow me are familiar with so... This is Ruby and Christina:

Ruby is a rock/blues singer in the 1950's Chicago, and like our man Louis, she has done most of the work holding up her family. Also, like Louis, a lot of the challenges she faces are deeply racist, and because of her gender full of misogynoir as well, more than today because of the past setting of the story... Her shade and body type also come into play when compared to what her sister, who is lighter-skinned and thin could get away with in life. Christina is the daughter of the leader of a centuries-old white male-dominated magical cult, in which she is clearly the most talented in wielding magic but she has no say-so and cannot inherit the same privileges because of sexism, something that is *always* intersected with racism which that cult has deeply ingrained traditions in. Despite it all, these two fall in love. The biggest similarities I see in Christina and Lestat are...

both... are not just white but white-white blonde hair blue-eyes.

have a measure of self-loathing because of some trauma devolved from whiteness (Lestat stalked and tortured and piled into a bunch corpsed reflections of himself) and (Christina always considered a "protected" possession beneath white men and not an equal because of her gender)

are powerful supernatural beings, a wizard (I just feel that's the more likely adjective over witch for her) and a vampire

are narcissists

woo and manipulate, seduce, their partners into being with them, by lending their own privilege to give them protection or higher status, via whiteness

both are desperate to connect with their Black partner in ways that are impossible because of innate privilege deferential w/in the times they live and their own psychological shortcomings - Lestat opening the relationship and Christina going through the pain of a "lynching" to try to understand Ruby's day-to-day fear

are ultimately toxic to their partner and all other healthier relationships they have - Ruby's family especially Leti and Louis' family, most importantly Claudia

genuinely love their partner but just don't have the capacity or ability due to past traumas, narcissism, and that huge gulf in empathy for their very different lives.

The biggest similarities between Louis and Ruby are.. that they are broken by racism and the responsibilities of existing and maintaining for others while they are invisible in their plight. Both are uniquely beautifully human, vulnerable beyond what any other people in their lives "see" and that makes them both entrancing and vulnerable to the Lestat and Christina.

These are both queer interracial dynamics that take a really empathic and honest eye to render well, especially in this day and age. Both of these cultural spaces are riddled with discomfort, judgment, and fear, which mostly lead to dishonest depictions; and self-censoring, but they have subverted that for the most part.

Both I would say have been exceptionally well done and if really looked at critically beyond the chemistry and romance, I do think some interesting wider sociological conclusions/implications could be gathered from them. I think that's in part because of the freedom of the genre space. When it's supernatural or fantastical in some way, often the heavier issues are rendered more honestly. I'd absolutely love to read a dissertation really breaking it down.

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lais-a-ramos · 4 years

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ok, this one is kind of a hard topic, and i appologize in advance for any mistakes i make or not being articulate enough

all the concearns over ppl in fandom hyping the only prominent white character, christina, in lovecraft country instead of the black characters are valid and the critique is definitely important, once it's common for ppl in fandom to either erase the half of a couple that is a BIPOC or to deny a canon cis het biracial ship to hype up a fanon white wlw ship and other problematic stuff plenty of times in LGBTQ+ fandom spaces.

but i also think we can't dismiss the entirety of the ship only bc the same LGBTQ+ fans are back at it again with their problematic behaviour, especially bc of its significance for black women and feminine-aligned nb folks who feel attraction to woman/feminine-aligned nbs -- lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, biromantic, panromantic etc.

for what i've seen so far, this ship is very important for black women and female-aligned nbs bc finally we have a dark-skinned black woman, who is also fat, to be treated with absolute respect and consideration and be passionately desired in a way that is not some kind of secret fetish or played for laughs, treated as being as worthy of being courted and romanced as her light-skinned and skinny half-sister.

christina respects ruby's choice and agency for most of the time -- i think the exception may be that first time ruby transformed into hillary;

she immediately explains to ruby her plans and intentions whenever ruby questions her behaviour and demands answers, including ruby in her plans when even ruby's loved ones keep secrets from her; she gives her all these baths and caresses her so softly, literally bathing her with affection and desire; she woos her with vows of devotion; and even tried to understand what ruby said when she asked her to try to understand her pain -- albeit in a fucked up way that only a privileged and sheltered girl raised in an enviroment in which magic is real and present in ppl's daily lives possibly could.

christina overall acknowledges that ruby is a woman with her own emotions, motivations, hopes, dreams, wants, needs and desires, and that's something y'all should keep in mind because i'll return to that later.

overall, these things i described are actually the basic that a person should do for the one they call their lover, and in no way erase the fact that christina is willing to kill innocent ppl to accomplish her goals of self-protection, nor turn these things acceptable from a moral standpoint.

but it's not the kind of treatment black women and feminine-aligned nbs receive, neither in fiction or in real life, by the way.

there are specific forms of misogyny that black women and female-aligned nbs face in which we are read as aggressive or animalistic, oversezualized or stripped from our sexuality and have our femininity denied if we don't check the boxes of what society deems acceptable.

there's this interview wumni mosaku gave for elle magazine U.S. in which she discusses her personal experiences with this problem, and how these eurocentric standards of femininity forced her to act in an overtly nice manner as a way to make sure ppl will treat her kindly instead of with suspicion and assuming she is aggressive.

that is because of the ways race and gender intersect creating a very complex scenario when it comes to definitions, experiences and stereotypes of femininity.

white women are overall treated with an authomatic presumption of innocence, as delicate and frail flowers who must be protected at all costs, especially if they are from upper classes -- that is something that is actually held against low-income white women, who are expected to adhere to certain standards to have their femininity acknowledged.

but, as we can see by that moment in episode 1x05, "strange case", when ruby as hillary is escorted by the policemen to her supposed husband who is actually christina shapeshifted , and, actually, by christina's entire motivations and characterization, that very same presumption of innocence is one of the sources of their oppression, because they are infantilized and stripped of their agency in favor of the men in their lives -- husbands, brothers, fathers etc --, being stopped and/or forbidden to do things cis het men usually get to and are expected to do.

in spite of this paradox, white women still have a privilege when compared to black women, because they're are still seen as ppl that belong to the world of affections and are worthy of receiving love, care and concearn for their wellbeing.

but that is not the case with black women.

usually, we are reserved two roles: one that revolves around being hypersexualized for men's consumption, both white and black alike; and the other, in which we are seen as "beasts of burden", carrying the weight in terms of work, emotions and so on, being expected to be desensitized to experiences and problems that no human would be expected to. sometimes, these two roles actually cross paths.

here in brazil, black activism and academics have been calling it "solidão da mulher negra", "the loneliness of black woman", and i think it's a very pertinent and powerful way to describe it.

and, that is the thing, when you're a black woman or feminine-aligned nb that doesn't fit into this role of being sexualized, you can feel this loneliness go a step further, because all that is left for you is that beast of burden part.

you end up not only being cast aside and abandoned by cis het white men and black men alike if you're attracted to men, but, overall, everyone in your social circle, including family, relatives and friends, expect you to be this source of strength and carry weights and resist to things ALL. THE. TIME.

and, guess what type of women and feminine-aligned nbs usually don't fit into this role of being sexualized????

the ones that are dark-skinned, fat, bulky, or any combination of these.

it's a combination of colorism, fatphobia, misogynoir and other factors that come to play, really.

one can check a few boxes, or check them all.

i myself don't check the "dark-skinned" box because, as a biracial women, i have light-skin privilege -- even though my skin is not as light as jurnee smollett's, who plays ruby's half-sister letitia "leti" lewis. but i sure have dealt with the consequences of not having the right body type for my whole life. i've been one of the "fat kids" for all my teen years, and, even now that i lost weight because of health issues, i'm still bulky and with large shoulders, feet and hands bigger than what is expected for women, and for most of my life i've felt in a similar way than what wumni mosaku describes on that elle magazine interview i mentioned earlier.

now, ruby literally checks ALL. THE. FUCKING. BOXES.

while we haven't seen much of her past, for the tidbits we got we can imagine that she had to be the responsible one in her family, being the older child, and basically raise her two siblings while their mom neglected them.

and we can see that, while the producers and writers changed a lot of her characterization from the source material -- in the part of the book i am right now, she has yet to show up, but the way she's described she seems more domestic and the shrinking violet type like show!hippolyta at the begining -- she is still seen as someone respected in her community and a source of strength -- e.g. being trusted to take care of dee.

and that clearly takes a toll on her, because everyone in-universe seems to expect her to be this mammy type or a role model, "a credit to the race" -- which is kind of ironic, given that it seems the audience seem to expect this of her as well.

and she puts all this pressure on herself because of it, and, while she is a woman with a very active sexual life, she seems overall very unsatisfied and repressed.

interrupted, as ruby herself perfectly put.

everyone seems to expect something of her at home, and not only all of her goals in the professional realm seem to be frustrated by social structures of oppression, but even her relationship goals as well, given that most of the men that she gets involved with, whether they are black or white, seem to believe they have the right to abandon her and treat her like trash because she doesn't feel a thing and is "strong" enough.

and that is where christina comes in.

now, it's true that the character that's pointed by many as a representation of white feminism surely is problematic in many ways, including her "colorblind" approach to racial issues, which is a particular form of racism that comes from an indifference towards social issues that steem from the privilege of not having to worry about said racial issues because one's not affected by them.

but, inspite of this colorblindness, or precisely because of it, christina sees ruby not for the roles she plays in other ppl's lives, but as the woman with her own emotions, motivations, hopes, dreams, wants, needs and desires that she is (see??? i told y'all to keep that in mind because it would be useful later).

some of these things might not be politically correct, like wondering what would it be like to be white and not have to deal with all the bullshit she has to.

some of these things might be dowright immoral and unethical, like the revenge fantasy she made come true against that abusive, sexual harasser and possibily rapist that was the guy from the department store that appeared in episode 1x05.

but, they are what makes ruby, well, ruby.

they are what makes her human, what humanizes her.

and christina accepts all of it, all that makes ruby who she is.

like the av club review for episode 9 pointed out, the two women are actually not that different when it comes to motivations: the stakes might be different for them because christina is protected by her whiteness and wealth, but both of them want the same thing in the end -- to not feel interrupted by the social restraints that bind them.

and that is what draws them to each other and feel attracted to each other, even though they might not understand quite well what to be queer means to them, or even avoided/repressed the question altogether as they grew up.

they are two points that seem opposite, and might as well be in some ways, but belong to the same axis that is gender and sexuality.

their relationship is incredibly complex and layered because of all these intersecctions.

ruby and christina's relationship is all about revealing different parts of yourself to the other and peeling each other's layers (sorry for the pun, but, it was just there lol), and, because of this, it's no wonder that it's seen as more romantic than, say, tic and leti's relationship, that seems to be playing out like plenty of cis heterosexual relationships, moving too fast because of the passion involved and what society expects, without the two of them being able to truly proccess and decide what they want, something that will defintely get more complicated now there's a baby on the way.

everything is so raw between ruby and christina, quite literally (it's one ot the things i love the most about all the gory scenes between them, it's a very clever way of using a fantastical setting to highlight these metaphors and symbolism).

with all of this, it shouldn't be a surprise that many sapphic black women and feminine-aligned nbs relate so much to ruby and got so attached to this relationship.

it's not because they endorse the problematic stuff christina or ruby have done -- although, well, to be fair, in a show that draws inspiration from pulp fiction magazines, particularly horror and detective/mystery stories, all characters are expected to be problematic and do fucked up things.

it's because queer black women and feminine-aligned nbs, regardless of whether they check only a few of the boxes i mentioned before or check all of them, can relate to this feeling of loneliness that the producers and writers portrayed so well with ruby -- but also with hippolyta, and dee too.

and for relating to these feelings, they relate to this relationship between ruby and christina.

and it's kind of hard to know what's gonna happen next in the show and the future of this ship

hell, even know whether the show is gonna be renewed or not.

but this should be a lesson for the future, on this fandom and others, to try and consider the perspectives of LGBTQ+ black ppl in these spaces, because, when you don't do that, you're basically reproducing, in a space we should be safe to have fun, the same oppression and silencing we deal on a daily basis

#lovecraft country #ruby baptiste #christina braithwhite #ruby x christina #lgbtq #lgbtqiap+#black women #black representation #character analysis #character meta #meta

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queenaryastark · 4 years

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The way Lovecraft Country uses not only the mythos of Lovecraft, but various works of popular culture in general to inspire each episode is my favorite aspect of the series. The last episode, Strange Case, literally has Ruby exploring Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with herself as Jekyll and Hillary, the alternate identity she turns into by drinking a potion, as Hyde. Not only does the world respond to her completely differently when she has the appearance of a white woman, but other sides of herself are allowed to come out as well with the way she treats Tamara, a black employee she is now in a position of authority over.

But it goes even further than that obvious parallel of physical transformation. Ruby’s new manager, Paul, is seen as a respectable man. When Ruby asks her white female co-workers if he’s ever crossed the line with them, they literally laugh out loud at the idea of it. He’s too clean-cut and proper.... until Ruby sees him making unwanted advances on Tamara. Paul easily changes into a predator who has to be physically fought off from forcing himself on his black employee. But the part of that scene that stands out most to me wasn’t the attempted assault, but the moment afterward as we saw him physically compose himself and become the earnestly upbeat man we knew before with a smile on his face as he rejoined his white female employees, who he would never cross the line with... unless they initiated it.

Paul’s transformation from earnest good guy to sexual predator to earnest good guy might not be as bloody and form changing as Ruby’s transformation into Hillary, but he fits the theme of Jekyll and Hyde far better than she does. He has a violent side he wants to indulge, while maintaining his respectable outer exterior. That makes the episode all the more satisfying when Ruby weaponizes both the Hillary persona and her true self to get revenge on him for Tamara.

#ruby baptiste #lovecraft country #text post #my meta

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bandydear · 4 years

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The Interesting Use of Christina in Episode 8

So, I’ve been marinading in my thoughts about this week’s episode, and boy was it a doozy.

Not to be like, one of those white people who only focuses on the white character in a show with a mostly black cast, but I am continually fascinated with the use of Christina/William as a character and what she consistently provides/represents within the narrative.

As a character she represents White Privilege, and it is something the character wields and is aware of. Something refreshing about her is that she does not play down or deny her privilege, she often weaponizes it. Sometimes she does this in the favour of the other characters. A literal White Knight, protecting Tic, Leti, and George in the pilot, then again being called to for protection THREE TIMES in episode 8. And then again in the trailer for episode 9.

Begging Christina for protection goes hand in hand with the source of fear and anxiety in this episode: the lynching of Emmett Till.

(I’m just now realizing the brilliance in the decision to make Christina a queer genderfluid character, because the dynamics of race, sex, and sexuality can all be addressed with just one character. Misha’s mind. Anyway.)

Tic asks for a protection spell trading what edge he had to Christina for it. Leti does the same, asking directly for protection for Tic, then accepting her own Mark of Cain instead. They give every magical advantage they have to the White Devil because they are fucking terrified for their lives and for the life of a black boy. Their son. (All while neglecting the very real and in-danger black girl they were supposed to be protecting, Dee.)

Tic and Leti are circling the same subject: Tic’s mortality, and the sense that he has a limited time to get his affairs in his order, or else cheat a predestined death--likely at the very hands of the woman he’s asking for help from. Emmett’s death is a memento mori that the cast are all trying to escape (or running towards) for the whole episode. Dee is hunted by demons after the death of her best friends, Montrose says he’s been waiting for death his whole life, Ji-Ah is a very angel of death herself.

Between Tic and Leti, Ruby went directly to Christina after Emmett’s open casket in need of comfort and safety. Safety openly provided when the neighbour starts harassing her. Safety she tries to put on with the potion, but has it literally stripped from her by what appears to be a combination of her own internal rejection, and William’s nails.

The need for protection comes up directly, after, in the conversation between Ruby and Christina. After bathing and changing clothes from their visceral sex scene, Ruby calls Christina out for feeling safe and removed from Emmett Till’s carnage. And, this is where the use of Christina as White Privilege personified comes up textually again.

When Christina says she does not care about Emmett Till, she is not only an honest representation of white apathy of black injustice, she’s a liberal one. Christina says, “I do not care about Emmett Till, or Roy Byrant, or JW Milam who will never be brought to justice.” There is no denial of the crime committed or attempt to victim blame. She acknowledges the act of evil done, just that it does not affect her. (Christina is Get Out evil, not Django Unchained evil)

This scene itself is profound and in a way, why Ruby and Christina are the more interesting pairing than Tic and Leti. (More interesting, not better or more wholesome, don’t come after me) Because it’s a conversation any couple with a power difference needs to have. You cannot understand my pain. Every difference that Christina has that gave her a higher understanding than being born a straight white man (being a queer woman) Ruby has in addition to being black. Christina can never understand what Ruby is going through. Instead, she’s honest, and she listens to what Ruby has to say. (Is the bar so low? Is this profound or immersion breaking levels of commentary? I have no idea, I’m just buying whatever it is Misha’s selling.)

So, after three black people come asking the white devil for protection, what does the white devil do? She removes her own protection and kills herself like Emmett Till. The narrative uses Christina the same way the characters do. Christina being lynched like Emmett forces the white viewers to witness the horror (and as horrific as this is, it’s still not as bad as what happened to that little boy) without subjecting a black actor, or a black audience to it.

I cannot understand your pain. But, I will try, because you asked. Because I love you.

I’ve seen people calling Christina a sociopath. I think that’s giving her too much and too little credit. Christina has feelings. She’s just white. All of the performative emoting stripped bare. White privilege on display. No crocodile tears. But, she does care about some things. If Ruby had asked her, “Do you care that I’m in pain?” Christina would have said, “Yes.”

This is why she pays some men to kill her like Emmett Till with no audience but her murderers. (In the podcast they bring up that it would have been a better instance of direct action if she’d paid black people to kill her similarly, and I think that would’ve just created more unnecessary trouble for the black community. No matter how cathartic.) To see what terror had Tic, Leti, and Ruby all running to her for help. And, because Ruby told her she wanted her to feel Ruby’s pain. Christina, who is the literal embodiment of White Privilege because not only is she a white person, but an invulnerable white wizard, takes a moment to feel vulnerability--and that’s part of what makes her so interesting. She says, earlier in the episode, that God is both Heaven and Hell. So, she tastes hell on her pursuit of divinity. She is the white devil, but better the devil you know, y’know? It’s not Lancaster they’re all lining up to ask for help.

She’s both a narrative tool for the black characters’ protection, and textually, a person they go to for help. And, with Lancaster eaten by the shoggoth, there’s no one else poised to be the Big Bad. It’s like if Gandalf was the final boss.

#lovecraft country #christina braithwhite #lc meta and analysis #long post #christina x ruby

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