My Passions and Thoughts

This blog is dedicated to all the great women (and some men) who actually do something different in their lives forcing us to think about ourselves and our actions. ----

[mypassionsandthoughtsinnetwork]

Does anyone know if Bradley James is dating Katherine McNamara?

[celeb-as-fuck]

Know anything abou Bradley James? // Well he's made some homophobic, misogynistic and racist comments/jokes back when I was into Merlin. But it's been a hot minute since then so I don't know if he's grown since then. I'd like to think he has.

[mypassionsandthoughtsinnetwork]

Does anyone know anything?

[irresistible-revolution]

years later and i’m slowly parsing out the many-layered racism in the merlin fandom towards guinevere as portrayed by angel coulby. of course there’s the usual overzealous slash shippers who resent any female character they see as “coming between” the not at all canonically gay (white) male faves they’re shipping. of course there’s the blandly racist “guinevere is supposed to be blonde and white and and and” haters who just can’t wrap their heads around a legendary female character being played by a black woman. but there’s also a more insidious kind of racism that stemmed from fans who never spouted hateful rhetoric but disguised their racism in comments like “her character is all over the place” and “she and arthur don’t have chemistry” and “i just can’t relate to her” when what they’re really struggling with is that guinevere was written as a character that’s normally exclusively the province of white femininity. she’s beautiful, but humble and unaware of the effect of her beauty and person on people around her. she’s dutiful and kind, but speaks up for what she believes in, even at great cost to herself. she’s feminine and graceful and poised, but she also feels desire and longing, and occasionally those feelings overcome her composure and she expresses them towards arthur. she falls in love with arthur but never asks him to risk his life or his kingdom for her, instead seeing and understanding the bigger picture of keeping camelot safe. and all of this is conveyed even through the precious little screentime she’s given, because angel coulby is a brilliant actress and portrays her character’s vibrant inner life effortlessly in just a few sentences. 

but (white) viewers simply cannot wrap their brains around a black female character who’s disempowered within the fictional world she occupies, yet holds emotional power over a main character - especially a white male main. they just can’t understand a black woman who exceeds the tropes they’re used to (especially in genre media): Loyal Best Friend, Sassy Cheerleader, Righteous Champion for Justice, Hypersexual Lover Coming Between White Hero and his True White Love, or Asexual Voice of Reason. white fans just absolutely couldn’t fathom a black female character daring to have layers and humanity and desire and beauty and love and strength and softness in the complex way they imagine and develop white characters who have far less growth and nuance onscreen. the relationship between arthur and merlin literally never changes from sarcasm, throwing things, deception and ribald physical humor - and yet fandom imbues this dynamic with richness and layers and depth that they imagine it must have, because it’s between two white people. 

and so because guinevere evaded the tropes that both showrunners and fandom use to trap and degrade women of color characters, and because the m*erthur fans were coddled and baited to the very end by showrunners (as large white fandoms always are) these fans interpret her within the framework of whatever racist trope they find easiest to claim. guinevere calls arthur out? she’s stepping out of place, and it’s not realistic. guinevere stays quiet for the sake of duty? she doesn’t really love arthur, it’s not consistent. guinevere impulsively kisses or expresses desire towards arthur in some way? whoa whoa, that’s way too slutty, and out of character. and and and. it continues. fandom cannot bear seeing black women as fully human, so they chop and screw the bits that suit their needs and insist their interpretation is right. it’s not racist you see, they’re just pointing out facts. the racism pre-empts interpretation, so that no matter how well the character is written and portrayed, people see what they want to and are used to seeing, over and over again.

[angelcoulby]

Angel Coulby in Albion (2020) dir. Rupert Goold

[angelcoulby]

happy 40th birthday to angel coulby ♡

[caroline88things]

Bradley James being insanely adorable on his instagram live 🥰

[tvshowscouples]

couples tv shows

Reblog if you are Team Arwen

If you love Arthur&Gwen (Merlin) and you want reblog or like,this is the link of my reblog couples :)

thank you!

[mypassionsandthoughtsinnetwork]

does anyone know where we can find these audios from "Are you having a draftt" transcribed? My first language is not English and this makes it very difficult for me to understand conversations.

[sircolinmorgan]

I promise you that when I am king things will be different. We can be together.

I will count the days until then.

[lfc-unbelievables]

“Stevie! Stevie G mate! I’m a Liverpool lad mate, can I have a photo please, can I have a photo?” He’s trying to get away but the Liverpool accent draws him back in. This photo, on Stevie’s face is a look of duty. On my face is a look of sheepishness, and that’s because in the photo is an elbow belonging to Robbie Keane, who I have have just seen, and as we were talking not much longer than an hour ago there was no trace in my accent that says I’m from the Merseyside area, and now he’s just heard me do a very bad Merseyside impression… The moral of this story is that I should have known that Steven Gerrard would never walk alone. [x]

[mypassionsandthoughtsinnetwork]

when does he talk about the story??

[samtpfoteundhasenfuss]

[samtpfoteundhasenfuss]

[the--pendragons]

The Pendragons’ Monthly Challenge: May!

Welcome Arwen followers to our new Monthly Challenge, where each month we will have a theme and people are encouraged to create fanworks based on the theme. The purpose of these challenges is to create more fanworks and love for Arwen in the fandom. 

For May, the theme is Fluff. 

Now, here are the rules/guidelines:

All fanworks are welcomed (i.e. graphics, gif sets, fan fic, fan art, fan vids, pod fics etc)

All works must be based on the theme Fluff. Basically we want cute, romantic Arwen. 

There is no word limit or restrictions, anything you make/write is welcomed.

Make sure to use any trigger/warnings when posting any fanworks. 

While this is a challenge focused on Arwen, other characters and pairings are welcome as long as they don’t infringe on Arwen. 

People participate throughout the month of May by posting their works (or links to their works from other sites) on their blog and tagging it ‘the pendragons monthly challenge’ or by submitting them to us . The deadline is 31st of May Midnight in your timezone. 

Got any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us! 

[manicrussiansoul]

in the red flannel

i’ve never seen this before - Bradley in the plaid shirt!

[katiemcgrath]

if ya got it; flaunt it

[elanchana]

Yet more Gwenthur musings?

Disclaimer: Absolutely no ship hate intended. (Also I’m not putting this under a cut because hopefully it won’t be too long or spoil too much.)

I was thinking about all the ship wars in the Merlin fandom the other day, and yet again I was coming up with more and more ways to justify Gwenthur. This one popped into my head. You might have heard it before, but I just thought of it too.

More than anything, the key word of the whole Merlin plot is “destiny”. Once you’ve heard something from a source of destiny, it’s only a matter of time before it comes to pass, and normally you hearing it has a direct effect (that whole self-fulfilling prophecy thing). A ton of the relationships in Merlin come from destiny. Merlin and Arthur being so close? Destiny. Morgana and Mordred being allies? Destiny. Merlin and Morgana being mortal enemies? Destiny. Yes of course their feelings are genuine, but there’s been something else driving them together.

But destiny doesn’t say anything about Guinevere. That’s another reason why Arthur and Gwen’s love is so special - because they decided to be together completely on their own. Destiny didn’t say anything about them except once, in Morgana’s dream, and that was when their relationship had already formed. So they drove themselves together. This also applies, by the way, to Gwen and Lancelot… if only the love triangle plot was stronger. Ah well.

[devonsarchive]

I just got in the lift at Russel Square with Angel Coulby and her family and I promise I’m trying not to lose my mind.

[mypassionsandthoughtsinnetwork]

family???? You mean that Angel Coulby was with husband and sons ???