A Star Danced...

...and under that was I born. Ramblings about Shakespeare, Doctor Who, theatre, sewing, tv, society, pretty liberal views and my really cute puppy. I also write for Persephone Magazine and do social media consulting. I have a British husband and an unhealthy relationship with parenthesis.

[captainswanandclintasha]

Being a shipper in the Marvel fandom be like:

Shipping Clintasha

Comics: 🥰married🥰

MCU:

Shipping Rogue & Gambit

Comics: 🥰married🥰

MCU:

[beansoup3000]

You know what's so devastating to me about "God that I were a man"? It's the way that in this situation, Beatrice is not exceptional. In the first acts, she appears to be exempt from the gender roles that everyone around her complies with: she has avoided marriage so far, and she has license to playfully criticize and reject being "over-master'd with a piece of valiant dust" (2.2.55-56). She even suggests to Hero that she claim some agency over her engagement: "it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy, and say, 'father, as it please you.' But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say, 'father, as it please me'" (2.1.48-51). Beatrice has carved out an existence for herself that everyone else tolerates; her wit allows her to live outside of people's expectations of womanhood.

But Beatrice is not exempt from being a woman. When it actually matters, when Hero is disgraced by powerful men with no regard for her wellbeing or humanity, Beatrice can't do anything about it. And "God that I were a man" is so painful because it reminds us--and Benedick--that no matter how transcendent Beatrice appears to be, she is still constrained by her role in Messina's society. Back in act one and act two, the reason that she was allowed to poke fun at men wasn't that she couldn't be stopped; it was that it didn't matter. She has no actual power to change the order of things, and so her verbal sparring is not a threat.

(An aside: I think that Benedick is taken aback by "God that I were a man" because this has never really occurred to him. He sees Beatrice as his intellectual equal, and he has watched her carve out space for herself effectively (they know each other of old). In the 2011 production with David Tennant, the costuming and acting choices show how Benedick starts actively performing masculinity only when he accepts Beatrice's request to kill Claudio--when he has to "be a man for [Beatrice's] sake" (4.1.314). In the first acts, he wears tight clothes, a crop top, and a miniskirt. From the wedding on, he wears his military uniform and then a suit. His body language also changes; he abandons physical comedy, stands tall, and emotes less when he speaks to Claudio and Don Pedro. He wields his masculinity as a weapon because he now realizes it's a weapon that Beatrice cannot wield herself.)

The crashing realization of Beatrice's limits is so devastating to me because it's so familiar. I can only speak from experiences I've had, but as a queer woman I know that tolerance is different than empowerment. That having grown up evading dating and romance with made-up excuses to hide my queerness, having realized the extent of the misogyny in an organization I cared about and having grappled with how that misogyny prevented me from effecting change, being allowed to exist is not the same as being able to participate, to make things different. God, that I were a man. I would eat his heart in the marketplace.

[dramamath]

[galahads-hart]

Some mornings I wake up and Much Ado About Nothing becomes the sole focus of my mind and I am once again angry that Beatrice was not allowed to just go and cut Claudio's balls off while Benedict held her coat.

Fuck with my cousin and find out.⚔️🍆

[geminni5]

Found this on pinterest had to put it here

Tradwives need to realize the seriousness of the shit they are getting themselves into.

The society isn't all that kind to women.

[bucca2]

op I'm very sorry but I can't just let this go by in the tags

[lesbianhallieparker]

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

[ftmtftm]

I'm begging other trans people to read an ounce of Black Feminist or Decolonialist Feminist writing. I'm on my hands and knees and begging you. I promise you, I promise you, there is so much more to Feminist theory than anything you have picked up from White/Radical/Pop/Liberal Feminism I promise you. Read There Is No Hierarchy Of Oppressions By Audre Lorde. I have a link to the PDF right here you can read it for free. Take my hand I can't do this alone (thanks glass beach). Peace And Love On Planet Earth.

[montereybayaquarium]

Let’s start our day with a biiiig stretch and join our wonderful Aquarist Christy as they  open up the Aquarium. ☀️💙

[thebreakfastgenie]

Voting for Democrats is the "leaving the house, getting some exercise, and drinking more water is good for your mental health" of societal change. Everyone keeps telling you to do it, worst of all your mom keeps telling you to do it, and it's not a magical cure-all, but it actually works and rotting in your room shitposting does not help in either scenario.

[oppositionresearch]

Also like mental health, voting doesn't solve the whole problem! But if you aren't doing this bare minimum thing, the other tools you have aren't going to work as well as they should either. If you get medicine and continue rotting in your room shitposting, you will probably still be miserable. If you get a union at work but don't vote for politicians who support unions, the union won't be able to advocate for its members as effectively and work will still be miserable.

[mikkeneko]

Voting is maintenance. It's like doing the dishes or cleaning the leaves out of the gutters. You're never going to get to a point where you are Done and Never Have To Do It Again (alas,) because time will continue to pass and you will continue to eat meals and the trees will continue to drop leaves into your gutters and right wingers will continue to submit bad bills to every session of congress.

You'll never be done with maintenance. But if you don't do that maintenance, your situation can and definitely will get Worse

[foxofninetales]

[amaditalks]

If you don’t want fascists making decisions for you and the people you care about, doing your part to limit the number of fascists in roles of power isn’t just basic, it should be screamingly obvious.

[nat-20s]

[obiwan]

[theladyinsilver]

[medievalthymes]

hot girl summer is OUT eat his heart in the marketplace autumn is IN

[so-true-jestie]

she's just not that into you. Much Ado About Nothing, act 2 scene 3.

[so-true-jestie]

so we agree, we all go nuts over how Benedick is the only one who believes Beatrice. but listen i've figured out why it's such a big deal. Benedick's choice to believe Beatrice goes against the flow of the entire play. it's not just a critical moment for them, but for the audience too.

to see this we have to look at how the idea of proof and belief crops up throughout MAAN. ("Prove that ever I lose more blood...", "Prove you that any man...", "... what was true and very full of proof.") basically: you want me to believe something? prove it. is there evidence of this other thing? yup, that makes it unquestionably true.

fair enough, right? but ironic in the context of MAAN, when you consider that all the "truths" in the play, with their accompanying "proofs", are fabricated. Beatrice wasn't almost sick for Benedick, and Benedick certainly wasn't in a consumption for her. neither was Hero a contaminated stale. yet these titular "nothings" are key drivers of the plot. why? because people thought they were "somethings". why? there appeared to be proof.

which is why it's so staggering that Benedick believes Hero's innocence — the crucial, the only, truth — without proof. in fact, all the evidence speaks against it. this turns the play on its head, because Benedick's choice is the exact opposite of the unspoken rule that everyone else follows: he disbelieves what seems to be backed up by evidence, and believes what has no proof at all. he actually does this on his own ("I do believe your fair cousin is wronged"), but what solidifies this belief to the point that it drives action is his respect for Beatrice's good judgement.

although this doesn't end up mattering in practical terms, it does symbolically mark the turning point of the plot. and the fact that Benedick trusts Beatrice's seemingly unfounded judgement over someone else's proof, effectively opposing the subliminal messaging in the play, speaks volumes of how highly he holds her in regard.

yes it's romantic because Benedick alone stands by her against everyone else. but it's more than that. he literally subverts the play itself.

[lastseenleaving]

US vs UK Covers

[lglights-is-hiding]

Why are the UK covers so much better? 😵