comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated and do more than likes
a/n: a three year hiatus is crazy work and I know that but iโm hella inspired rn so donโt even worry about it. also thereโs nothing for my man rn and I have to feed yโall
warnings: fem!reader (ish), lowkey yearning, fluff, just a man acting like a man, daddy issues </3
word count: 300-ish
Snotlout who swears he isnโt into you and has eyes for others on Berk, but his actions say otherwise
Snotlout who shows off during training, but especially when youโre looking in his direction. He needs you to make sure heโs fit to impress the girls watching.
He canโt let you know that heโs into you. Pining after someone is looked down upon, as stated by his father. A real man attracts a partner. And flaunting himself is one way to do so.
Snotlout who is scared of coming on too strong, and so he sends mixed signals.
He will walk you back to your house without hesitation; because thatโs what a man does. While he knows you would be fine on your own, heโs adamant. Really itโs the least he could do, and why not spend more time with his friend?
Snotlout who values your opinion like you hung the stars and moon in the sky, thatโs why he asks you for opinions on girls.
He tells you about his endeavors and times spent with suitors. The girls who swoon, the ones who gave him a little extra in the marketplace that afternoon, and everyone heโs turned down. Heโs too busy for them, and itโs not like theyโd understand what itโs like to be a real viking. You do, right? Thatโs why he needs someone similar to you, like Astrid.
Snotlout who is just looking out for you because the guys youโre dating are absolute duds.
He has known you long enough to know what you need in a partner. These โmenโ youโre wasting time with arenโt that. Youโre so much smarter and cooler than they could ever fathom being. Also, youโre too pretty for them. He did tell you that you look pretty, especially when youโre headed for a date, right?
Snotlout who really just needs a push in the right direction.
I am thinking about the comparison of babygirl vs pillion. I think one of the primary differences here is that babygirl believes in its own sexiness. And it is aiming to be sexy in a way that pillion is not. And it is sexier. But I think the way it achieves this is through lending its dom zero characterization which was a big problem I had with that film.
Pillionโs Ray is a LOSER. he says he is discreet but that makes no sense because all of his friends are gay leather daddy bikers and all he does is gay leather daddy biker kink shit. His apartment is barren and empty and has no indication of any rich inner life, itโs like an airbnb. He has a tiny piano facing a wall and some books and thatโs it. Thereโs no art anywhere in his apartment, nothing that would expose him as anything other than an Intellectual.
But he has ELLEN WENDY ROSIE tatted on his chest. his top 3 favorite female talk show hosts. He is a FAGGOT! And it is inscribed on his body but no one is allowed to ask about it. โNo.โ
The thing is, Colin is obviously the loser here, right. From the first frame thatโs how he is portrayed. Colin is abject, heโs a freak, heโs pathetic and desperately lonely, he lives at home. But Colin is surrounded by family who love him and we see these brief scenes of his coworkers liking him. He has this vibrant home life and parents who support him unconditionally. And what is he actually doing in these opening scenes that are so cringeworthy? Heโs doing his hobby that heโs very talented at and that he loves to do. And itโs framed completely different when we see him doing it once more at the end. Who cares how other people see it? Colin doesnโt care if people think he looks stupid in his barbershop quartet. He doesnโt care if anyone actually puts change in his bucket. Heโs doing it because he knows enough about himself to know what he loves.
What the fuck does Ray know about himself? When does he experience joy? Biking is his hobby but I donโt know if he even likes it. Colin is the one we see experiencing a transcendental moment of joy when he steals Rayโs bike and rides it for himself!
Throughout the film, various characters comment on how hot Ray is and how crazy it is that heโs with a guy like Colin. Because Ray is portrayed by Alexander Skargard and Colin is portrayed by Dudley Dursley, and because of the way Colin is framed for most of the film, obviously we understand this sentiment. But in the end we realize that Ray has fucking nothing going for him. That is why he can only handle a relationship if he controls every aspect of it, all the time.
Giving a partner the reins means vulnerability. Vulnerability means exposing the fundamental emptiness of his life. The threat of that exposure is so terrifying to him that he flees the fucking country rather than face it.
Colinโs mother asks, several times, what โdiscreetโ actually means. (She never gets her answer, of course.) I think this is key to a central theme of this film. What does discreet actually mean? In the gay community we understand this to mean on the DL, in the closet, maybe having a wife and kids, a separate life. But when Ray says heโs discreet, he means something different.
Ray doesnโt have a separate life. Ray is discreet because he has no life.
Heโs gay. Heโs autistic. His special interest is hockey. Heโs waisan. Heโs a bottom. He speaks French. He wears reading glasses. He doesnโt listen to music. He has an eating disorder. His favorite drink is ginger ale. Heโs a sub. He has beautiful freckles. Heโs canonically the hottest man in the NHL. He tried really hard and heโs really sorry but he just canโt help it. I love him so much itโs gonna make me puke
itโs crazy how when youโre 11 you think wow nationalism is the root of all evil and war is despicable and religion is the opiate of the masses and misogyny is everywhere and climate change is our most dire threat. and you start to grow up and you think well surely it will become more nuanced to me, surely there must be a reason adults arent breaking down wailing in the streets due to the cruelty of this world. and then you become an adult and you think wow nationalism is the root of all evil and war is despicable and religion is the opiate of the masses and misogyny is everywhere and climate change is our most dire threat
there's this phenomenon i've noticed on youtube which i dub "man math" which is when men STEM-ify hobbies/activities/art forms in order to make them more masculine. it's very noticeable in the cooking video sphere where there's an endless stream of videos made by men along the lines of "the SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN best way to cook an egg" (and dgmw, i watch them and find them helpful, but the observation stands), but i notice it also in the way men approach ceramics (a lot of focus on mold-making and slip-casting to perfection, basically reinventing one man mass-production rather than play and discovery), tailoring/sewing/knitting/textile art, gardening and other nature-oriented hobbies, interior decor, furniture making and woodworking, journaling/planning/productivity, even drawing and painting, there's always some man math angle to it that although interesting it often strikes me as some sort of overcompensation to move away from the inherent vulnerability that comes with art making and once you notice it it's literally everywhere
