Let's Do Paperwork Together

Adult • he/him • mostly cape comics but also gender & media analysis • main: @bees-with-swords • Occasionally mature content/discussion of mature subjects • DMs always open! • I post bad takes after midnight • AO3

[bombusbombus]

Idk why new people are following me but there's 2 ground rules to remember:

1. My opinions are stupid so you should ignore them and form your own opinions instead

2. My opinions are soooooooooo good and actually I'm the only one who gets it. Ok?

[bombusbombus]

Tell me more about booster and gender!! If you were adapting booster’s story what would you write?

You've come to me with this ask at the Worst Possible Time. I will not be referencing any panels. I am sick. I have work tomorrow. It's getting late and my beans haven't finished cooking. But I have to answer this ask right now though or I'll forget about it forever.

The short answer is that Booster Gold failed at one masculine archetype (football player) and then went on to fail at another masculine archetype (superhero). He tries to fulfil a masculine role by dating women (and all of relationships are treated like jokes). His story is one of trying and painfully failing to conform to the patriarchy, emphasising the ways that capitalism shapes the ways we understand what a "man" really is. See: his PR. His advertisements. His corporatization. See also, the way he insists on providing for his family (his need to be the Man Of The House) and how it ultimately loses him access to other forms of masculinity. It's a no-win situation.

And okay. His origin/solo is a condemnation of the way that young men are harmed by unattainable goals of the patriarchy. But then this character who is fundamentally averse to gender roles goes on to apparently experience a joyous status quo for the first time by hanging out with his male best friend (who also fails at many masculine gender roles, but plays it better than Booster does). And that relationship (and the found family attached to it) redirects his life until he finds more important purpose than adherence to superficial (gendered) roles...?

And like. That's basically his themes!!! His other themes include being so intensely sad about his best friend's death that he engages in some Orphean timeloop bullshit in the name of love. Which doesn't exactly offer fertile ground for heterosexual adaptations.

So if you want to adapt it as something heartfelt and sincere, you need to read some Judith Butler and start using the term "performance" at least once every sentence, and the entire goddamn story of Booster Gold will be a deconstruction of masculinity and a meditation on the healing power of found family and strong homosocial bonds. And NGL even if that kind of story wasn't actually explicitly queer? It breaks with gender norms strongly enough that a story like that is functionally queer by the standards of what mainstream Hollywood can stomach.

Most superhero tv shows and movies have a very specific (male) audience in mind, and a deconstruction of masculine hero archetypes is simply not something that I think they think would do well. Which is a shame because it would be a good story.

[ialreadyboughtthedream]

[verysharpfish]

they keep putting romance in everything. and it isn't even well written romance. they don't even write it well.

[wonderstruck]

If you see this you’re legally obligated to reblog and tag with the book you’re currently reading

[bombusbombus]

I'm fucked cause like. I'm a guy who has spent most of my life in women-dominated spaces. And then I try to write stories and they come out as stories about men in women-dominated spaces. And then I'm like damn... This is misogynist isn't it... I'm centering a man in a women's space...

[fyresfly]

before you are six different arguments. which do you insert yourself into?

previous

[wups-up]

Me and my color coded friendgroup are gonna beat your ass

[bombusbombus]

The issue with adapting Booster Gold's origin or story in the modern day is that if you want even an iota of sincere themes you need to tackle the Gender of his whole situation. And DC does Not want to look too hard at Gender. So every greenlit adaptation of Booster is destined to be insincere, and every sincere adaptation which builds on the original themes is going to be too queer and messy to be greenlit

[bombusbombus]

Everyone except me is wrong about The Character

[bombusbombus]

And my beloved mutual who fills a sort of "scheming advisor" role in my opinions about The Character

[bombusbombus]

Everyone except me is wrong about The Character

[zai-doodles]

doodles doodles

started as a bunch of chibi supermans and then got out of hand....

idk if ill finish these ever so u get them as they r

[ochiody]

day 3: promise/this is where my heart is

[mothcub]

Do it for them.

[dumpstoievski]

the hero's journey themed blowjob

[tim-official]

waving my freak flag at half mast to indicate there has been a pervert tragedy

[nongunktional]

if youve ever written a fight scene longer than like 300 words you'll have quickly discovered that there's a finite number of words to describe a Hit and 90% of your brainpower and wordhippo searches will be dedicated to squeezing out new ones

[nongunktional]

i think have to is a strong word but carry on i guess

[minovskyy]

you have to.