thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

[Image ID: a black and white typography edit that reads "the homosexual and the transsexual must always seek to liberate the other for they fight the same fight." in black boxes. in the center of the image is a cat affectionately rubbing it's face against a large fluffy dog that is laying down. the entire image is textured to look aged and photocopied. /End ID]

click for quality (instagram) (as a sticker) (prints)

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Lots of people have covid right now. Here are precautions you should take:

Go get your new vaccine (the one that came out this fall) if you haven't already!!!!

Wear a mask again. This should be at least KN-95, N-95, or KF-94 level quality, not a cloth or surgical mask. Leave the cloth masks behind in 2020 please.

Try to reduce the number and size of gatherings you're going to.

If you're organizing a gathering, please put precautions in place, such as requiring masking or moving the event outdoors if you can.

If you have covid, quarantine until you test negative.

If you have symptoms or have been exposed to covid, reduce your exposure to others (or avoid it entirely if you can), let the people you're around know, and double mask.

For the record -- I'm someone who had pretty much abandoned most covid precautions over the past year. Stopped masking. Only tested if symptomatic. Went to all kinds of gatherings. I've shifted to consistent masking indoors at this point.

tl;dr: Put covid back on your radar, get back into covid-precaution mode.

Posted 12/24/23

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Warrior Nun (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva Additional Tags: Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Renaissance setting (sort of), No beta we die like a french girl getting crushed by the english language Summary:

“I could have asked for a portrait,” Beatrice eventually confessed, voice quiet. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Camila glancing at her. “Why didn’t you?” “Because if I had, it would have meant that I care about what she looks like. About who she is.” A hand settled on the crook of her elbow, and she glimpsed at Camila. “I’m sure she’s a lovely woman,” Camila said with the softest smile. “It doesn’t matter,” Beatrice replied. Then, after a while, she murmured, “But let’s hope so.” She was, after all, about to spend the rest of her life with her.

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Please sign this petition to #SaveWillow

Please sign this petition to #SaveRiseOfThePinkLadies

Willow started releasing episodes weekly in November, and at the end of May it was removed from Disney+. It no longer exists to stream legally. We are campaigning to bring back the show to legal streaming, but also to get the volume 2 and 3 Disney+ and Lucasfilm promised us. Willow is a sequel to the original 1988 movie of the same name, and perfectly keeps the same energy and feeling of the original. Willow is a fun but dramatic diverse fantasy and had an amazing main lesbian couple (with swords!). One of those lesbians is the first official lesbian Disney Princess!

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies starting releasing weekly episodes in April, and in late June it was announced that Parmount+ was not only cancelling the show but removing it from their platform on June 30. Paramount+ at least is willing to sell the show to a new platform, we are currently campaigning for another platform to purchase the show. ROTPL is a prequel to the original Grease movies, and tells the origin of the Pink Ladies gang. It's got fun and drama and it's a musical! It has a diverse cast of characters, and includes a lesbian romance (they're thespians for all the theatre nerds out there).

If you like sapphic stories in television, even if you didn't like the shows or haven't watched them, please consider signing the petitions to help us out, and use the official hashtags #SaveWillow and #SaveRiseOfThePinkLadies on all platforms (especially Twitter) to help boost awareness about our wonderful shows. And if you like musical lesbians, go stream "Crushing Me", "Merely Players" and "All In" from the Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies soundtrack.

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

tumblr being all adults nowadays is so funny because my mutuals are either unemployed chainsmokers or Ezra, Bioengineering PHD Candidate at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

RB for the largest sample size this site has ever seen

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Simon Sir what the fuck is this what does it meannnnn

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

SCOTUS is on the shittiest roll this week. Affirmative Action gone, you can reserve the right to refuse service to us dirty queers, and for some goddamn reason student loan forgiveness is "unconstitutional"

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

All my Willow friends on Twitter! Go and start posting with the hashtags #Willow #SaveWillow and #RenewWillow and post over and over!

We need EVERYONE on board. We need to be trending and loud for this to even make a dent. If Warrior Nun can do it, we can do it too. Or we can at least go out fighting. We can’t give up yet!

Remember hashtags on every post and post as often as you can.

Bonus: Go and submit content requests on any streaming service websites you can but especially Disney+ since I don’t know how their content rights work at the moment and they might be the only one? Go and comment on all their posts too!

Let’s #SaveWillow!

“Come on, we need you up here.”

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

All my Willow friends on Twitter! Go and start posting with the hashtags #Willow #SaveWillow and #RenewWillow and post over and over!

We need EVERYONE on board. We need to be trending and loud for this to even make a dent. If Warrior Nun can do it, we can do it too. Or we can at least go out fighting. We can’t give up yet!

Remember hashtags on every post and post as often as you can.

Bonus: Go and submit content requests on any streaming service websites you can but especially Disney+ since I don’t know how their content rights work at the moment and they might be the only one? Go and comment on all their posts too!

Let’s #SaveWillow!

“Come on, we need you up here.”

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

What I want to have is Nadia’s social life, what I actually have is Alan’s

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Dying all over again over what a good job Jade and Kit’s introduction scene does at setting up pretty much everything about their characters, arcs and relationships. The choreography, the setting, the acting is all immaculate

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

So Arizona launched an “education hotline” that allows “concerned parents” to report “””critical race theory””” and other things like ~gender identity~ being taught in the classroom

It would be a shame if the number and email were spread to bad actors looking to prank call the AZ Department of Education

602-771-3500 or empower @ azed .gov 🤡

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Just so we're all on the same page with the writer's strike.

If during the strike, it's announced about AI generated shows. We are not watching them. Not even out of curiosity. Let them fail every AI generated show they try make.

The human voice can not be replaced by AI. Don't let them try.

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

I want to say that with trans folk now being at risk of the fucking death sentence in Florida....

The time for community is Now. The time to start planning and organizing how to get our rights back is NOW. bring it up at your local LGBT craft events or book club or support group or whatever. Tell your friends. Spread the word. And maybe see which ones will have the safety and resources you'll need should a Lavender Hunt happen in your area.

And on the scarier end of reality....

This is fucking terrifying. Lots of people are at risk. Personally, I'm terrified this rhetoric will spread much like Trumpism did. I'm scared for my gf and I'm fucking scared for myself because we know historically that it isn't just trans folk on HRT or drag performers that they go after.

And you have every right to do whatever you need to protect yourself.

I'm not going to shame folks who quit HRT, who take the rainbows out of their bio, the people who start saying partner instead of revealing a gender, or anyone else taking a few steps towards the safety that the closet provides. WE shouldn't.

I fucking love you. And we'll be okay as long as we're together, okay?

We keep us safe

[thelittlelesbianwatchessomeshit]

Executive dysfunction is basically going “Okay one two three go. And now. Aaaaaaannnnnnnd we’re goinnnnng now.” for like three hours before the thing happens