8 years of me going "wow the experiences that trans women describe about growing up in a prison of masculinity and feeling drawn to femininity despite how forbidden it feels to like it openly are so intensely relatable. i guess i don't feel a strong relationship to masculinity myself but i'm not like, you know, trans or something. im okay with being a man." before i realized it btw
maybe if people didn't call me cis+. maybe if i'd seen more transfem enbies have their transness taken seriously instead of being written off as "basically men". maybe if i didn't see transfem enbies treat themselves as basically men and strangers to transness. maybe if i saw more transfem enbies period. i don't know.
she had to choose to be a girl in the end, not in a moment where she felt pressured, not in a monent where turning back into a boy would be too awkward, not being forced to make the choice by anyone else. she chose to keep being a girl in a moment where she felt happy to have the life she has right now and wanted to continue it. she has a will not just to live but to continue being happy, transfem wish fulfilment complete
it feels kinda fitting that this scene comes at a bathhouse, somewhere that's undoubtedly very charged for transfemininity. she risked being outed and chose not to give up on girlhood anyways
she had to choose to be a girl in the end, not in a moment where she felt pressured, not in a monent where turning back into a boy would be too awkward, not being forced to make the choice by anyone else. she chose to keep being a girl in a moment where she felt happy to have the life she has right now and wanted to continue it. she has a will not just to live but to continue being happy, transfem wish fulfilment complete
it feels kinda fitting that this scene comes at a bathhouse, somewhere that's undoubtedly very charged for transfemininity. she risked being outed and chose not to give up on girlhood anyways
she had to choose to be a girl in the end, not in a moment where she felt pressured, not in a monent where turning back into a boy would be too awkward, not being forced to make the choice by anyone else. she chose to keep being a girl in a moment where she felt happy to have the life she has right now and wanted to continue it. she has a will not just to live but to continue being happy, transfem wish fulfilment complete
i’m sorry but if you think “we” (american progressive spaces, let alone americans at large) had some sort of tangible reconciliation with the specter of the scary trans woman in media then you are more naive than any 21 year old on the fucking planet. that did not fucking happen. people are still defending rhps and silence of the lambs with their dying breath and refusing to acknowledge the transmisogyny at the center of these works. shut the fuck up and think for five seconds before making some snarky put down
TikTok is a fundamentally evil app however the reason i use it is because you occasionally stumble across gems like the Chinese power transformer manufacturer who posts kawaii edits of their power transformers
ngl kinda hate that "this has been discussed extensively you're just 21" tweet cos it was directed at a trans woman who was getting dogpiled for saying that the "dangerous man in a dress" horror trope is shitty
she was born in 2005, the right wing culture war against trans people has been going on for half her life, if she independently arrives at a correct take then how is that something worth mocking?? you got flowers sprouting through concrete, water them dumbass
Here are a list of similar works of art including shows, video games and more, note that some of these will include violence and deal with heavy subject matters and will be marked accordingly, "*" for some amount of violence equal to or a little greater than TADC, nothing worse than showing some blood, "**" is for things that deal with heavy themes such as sexual assault or contain some amount of gore or some kind of sexually explicit material, if you have any interest in them I suggest reading up on them if you suspect you might not be comfortable with this.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream**
Book
Video game
Radio Drama
This one gets cited the most as one of Digital Circus' main inspirations. It is a story about an advanced planet-wide AI torturing the last few humans on earth. The radio drama is a significantly shortened version I am not familiar with, and the video game has a possible alternate ending that differs from the book. I was first introduced to it through the critical lets play done by youtuber PlagueofGripes though whether it holds up after so many years remains to be seen.
Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure
The Amazing Digital Circus' second primary inspiration, a beautifully animated children's film. The plot may seem simplistic but I assure the watch is worth it. There will likely be a lot of moments where you notice Gooseworx lifted a lot of concepts and made a lot of references to this in earlier episodes. I think more subtly it had somewhat of an impact on the voice direction throughout the series.
Misfits in Toyland**
A webcomic by @zal-cryptid heavily inspired by a segment of the Rankin-Bass "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Rain Deer" re-contextualizing the island of misfit toys as a place where people wake up having been turned into playthings ironically paralleling the sins they committed in life, delivered there by krampus. It has over a hundred entries and in the link above I have done the favor of having it take readers to the first page of chapters. It has a lot of slow-burn queer themes.
Popee The Performer*
Another more minor influence on TADC, Popee the Performer is a violent and surreal CG anime that lacks any spoken dialogue. It mostly involves slapstick antics between the titular Popee and the purple wolf Kedamono, which devolves into shockingly bloody and destructive scenes.
Immercenary**
MyAbandonware.com Dump
No-Commentary Longplay
A high-concept oldhead FPS RPG taking place in a simulation called Perfect that mankind has been collectively trapped within, with the player given the goal to defeat the entity keeping them all trapped here. Makes heavy use of FMV graphics as was the style for the time, and likely to be a bit jank and obtuse, but the surreal depictions of living in a computer simulation I think will be to TADC fans' likings.
INTERLOPER**
A video web series/ARG exploring an alternate history of Valve's Source engine (Half Life, Team Fortress 2, Garry's Mod, etc.,) as something far deeper and interconnected than it appears, surrounding a central entity that moves around inside of it. I know "Source game ARG with spooky entity in it" is going to evoke some feelings but I think this series has a lot more to say and more going on as well as being a complete work in an anthology rather than something like serverblight or the living ragdoll ARGs. Give it a chance.
Five Characters in Search of an Exit
An extremely on-the-nose title, an episode of The Twilight Zone where a homeless man, a ballerina, a bagpiper, a clown and a major of the U.S. army with no memories of their past inhabit a sheer metal cylinder and swing between wondering where they are and trying to escape it. Like most episodes of the show this one has a big twist I won't spoil here.
Smile for Me
An easy to pick up controls-lite first person adventure game by Limbolane, the team behind Great God Grove. The premise is not so much tied to tadc as the presentation, with it also being focused on its cast and character writing with themes of coping with mental health issues. The player is a mute flower-loving individual who has come to Dr. Habit's Habitat, a place where people of all kinds come to be cured of their woes that only seem to be exacerbated by their situations and surroundings with no way to leave and a sleeping gas-enforced curfew. Like many people I was first introduced to this game from Snapcube's let's play of it way back when. Though there is nothing more than rare moments of cartoonish violence in this game, if you have a fear of scenarios involving teeth or any bad experiences involving mental institutions or alcoholism, you may find some of its content off-putting or disturbing.
Berry Bury Berry*
A deceptively simple game in the vein of something like cookie clicker with puzzle elements where the player throws berries into a hole. In the background of all this is an unfolding plot about a children's TV program called Ms. Rainbow's Garden and the disappearance of its producer. The host character, Ms. Rainbow, watching and reacting to the player's actions as the game continues and the facade of the world starts to fall apart. It has four different endings.
They Dream of Shapeless Bodies**
A series of soliloquies about the artist's relationship to sexuality and the body after a long period of living in isolation. Each soliloquy is accompanied by a surreal interactive scene for its duration. It is not like a traditional game where there are objectives or points, just a scene for the player to witness and interact with as they follow along.
NiGHTS: Into Dreams
This is very very much a heavily biased surface-level "You'll like the vibe" recommendation. A personal favorite for the sega saturn, its pc port is unfortunately no longer available for purchase legally, but hopefully you come across it some other way. A surreal game where you play as nonbinary icon NiGHTS, flying through the world of a child's dreams. Hard to get a grasp on the gameplay at first but once you do its a fun and easy-going time.
The Beginner's Guide
A narrative game made by Davey Wreden of Stanley Parable fame where a fictional narrator takes you through the various unfinished or avant garde game design projects made by one of his colleagues while trying to extrapolate their meaning. Surreal digital scenery paired with themes of agency, dependency and grief.
Broken Reality
A first person vaporwave themed adventure game taking place in an immersive version of the internet that satirizes mid-2000s internet culture with a tech company narrative not unlike what someone might see in Hypnospace Outlaw. It has a sequel on the way in in just a few weeks as well.
Puzzle and Sling: Boredom Killers
A mixed media student film that made some noise on the internet for a bit. It is framed as a children's educational program where the hosts are self-aware, agitated and conflicted about their place in the world or how helpful the programming actually is to children. It sounds like there might be more on the way sometime but what is there is good.
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