rain-braiding-down

I like space, flowers and poems about rain. I have strong feelings about TV shows littletoaster on AO3.

[astralaeons]

Anyway all I know is Good Omens ended with a nightingale singing in Berkeley Square, two immortal supernatural beings dining at the Ritz together, and a toast "to the world." They chose humanity AND they chose each other.

[rain-braiding-down-a-window-pane]

Angels dining at the Ritz is where it ends for me too.

Although I have decided to incorporate the flashbacks from S2 (Job, gravediggers and 1941 pt.2) into my own personal canon. Then, I'm ignoring the rest ...

[chainofclovers]

on misogynistic discourse in acgas fandom 😅

I tried to exorcise some of my current All Creatures Great and Small thoughts with my poll about the prevalence of slut-shamey discourse in fandoms about historically-set source material versus modern-day source material, and I’m still SUPER interested in how people are responding, but I tbh have a lot more to say. I’ve had a post like this kicking around my brain for a while, and I’ve been worried about coming off like a petty subtweeter and causing people to hate me, but I actually think it’d probably be worse to keep doing my tumblr comment reply thing (interrupting conversations where it might not be welcome), so here goes.

I am truly dismayed by the amount of slut-shaming and misogyny that happens in the ACGAS fandom re: Dorothy. I makes me feel sad and uncomfortable and angry about how quickly we throw women under the bus when they are inconvenient.

I am forty! I have been in fandom for eighteen years! I should not be shocked and surprised by this stuff! And yet I totally still am, probably because I’ve met soooo many really thoughtful people through fandom that I know it’s possible to hold strong opinions, including very negative ones, without resorting to misogynistic characterizations. That gives me hope, and it makes it all the sadder when I see the way misogyny slips into what’s intended to be a specific judgment about a specific character.

I’ve been meaning to write meta about s6 and the Christmas Special for ages, and this post is not exactly that (although I do still plan to do more rewatching and writing more about the show itself)…this is really just about Dorothy and how her character is discussed. For context, I’m a huge Audrey/Siegfried fan, and I want them to get together on the show, and regardless of what happens in canon they’re truly a ship of all time for me and I’ll be happy reading and writing about them for years to come. While there were aspects of the CS that I didn’t love, for the most part I appreciated the deep post-war melancholy and the sadness and the moments of happiness and heart and the muddled mess of emotions and motivations playing out on screen. That doesn’t mean I was cheering about Dorothy’s return, or that I think she and Siegfried are a match made in heaven. The CS is written to retroactively give some weight to Dorothy and Siegfried’s connection that I hadn’t perceived when watching prior episodes, and it felt relatively clear to me that her reintroduction is working as a big bold plot device rather than the type of very gradually organically developed story that's more typical for the way the show is paced. Regardless of how long Dorothy’s return has been in the works in the writers room, the way it was handled clunked a little bit. I totally understand people feeling a lot of very real emotions about that, including really big angry ones, and even if I prefer not to dwell in cycles of angst about plotlines I have no control over, I understand that this is a bread-and-butter element of fandom life for lots of people.

But to call Dorothy a slut, or unforgivably forward, or garish and disgusting and loose?! That is a CHOICE. And to hide behind the “purity” of Audrey’s character while doing it, thereby claiming that Audrey would also be disgusted, is really something too. And please note that I’m not talking about one specific person doing this, or one specific post. It’s in so many comments on so many posts in so many places. I’ve seen comments wishing Dorothy would die, wishing she'd return to the war-torn place she escaped (Malta was bombed heavily during the war and suffered a severe housing crisis post-war), joking about ways she could be gotten rid of, calling her a cheap lookalike of our heroine, claiming she’s unrepentant and sneaky and determined in highly gendered ways.

I get that it's uncomfortable to have one's discourse talked about in posts like this, and for that I’m sorry. But I really do think the misogyny of the language is worth examining for many reasons. Of course Dorothy is a fictional character; her feelings can’t be hurt, and she’s both a person and a device, and her role is to aide in telling a story. But it’s not as if the way women in fiction are treated happens in a vacuum that has no bearing on the misogynistic sentiments that plague our reality.

Maybe if I understood the real motivations, I’d better understand:

Do people who call her a slut personally believe that women who go after what they want in a certain way are simply...sluts? Is that a term or a behavior they ascribe to real women in their real life? So it’s not hypocritical to call Dorothy a slut, just honest?

Is their preference to think about it in a historical context? Social mores around sex and dating have changed a lot, and since sexuality was discussed less openly in the 1940s, maybe the idea is that it follows that Dorothy is a slut because she’s open about her attraction to Siegfried. And since we don’t like Dorothy because she’s the thing currently posing a threat to Audrey and Siegfried’s happiness together, “slut” becomes ammunition against her. She could be openly attracted to Siegfried in 2026, but it’s 1946 and therefore slutty and wrong.

Is this coming from a place of anger on behalf of Audrey, and from a desire for Audrey to remain the paragon of pure womanhood? I’ve seen a lot of readings of the show that state that Dorothy is a terrible friend (even though the CS shows them wrapping up a catch-up conversation about their lives, and Audrey is nothing but welcoming and encouraging until that moment at the very end when she witnesses the kiss and we see her emotions shift into something complicated). Because Audrey is religious, and tends to dress a bit conservatively, and puts other people first, and because fans adore her and for good reason, that means contrasting qualities in a woman are unacceptable. Is it comforting to think of Audrey agreeing with them on the matter of Dorothy’s sluttiness? (I think it would feel pretty out-of-character for Audrey to start going on about “loose women” and their immoral flirting techniques, but maybe that’s just me.)

Audrey encourages Dorothy and Siegfried to pursue romance with each other. Dorothy makes herself available for socializing. Then she returns home until Siegfried calls her and asks her out. She accepts the invitation and meets him at the named location. They have a brief exchange, then kiss under the mistletoe, a plant that—in ‘40s culture and today—serves as a symbolic excuse to kiss. It’s all pretty tame. But even if the show had really taken a turn and we saw Dorothy exposing her lingerie, or making directly sexual comments about the pleasure she could bring Siegfried if he’d just relax, etc. etc., I’d still feel just as dismissive of the characterizations of her as an overly forward slutty woman. Because it just feels like we should be so incredibly far past this idea that a woman who’s comfortable with her own desires, and trying to make things happen for herself, deserves to be name-called and punished.

One of my biggest hopes for the next two seasons of ACGAS is that Audrey—generous, caring, nonjudgmental yet opinionated, kind yet firm Audrey—starts to more deeply examine what she desires, and starts to make things happen for herself. She’s survived so much, and she deserves to feel good and to prioritize satisfying her desires. If that involves wrestling with complicated feelings for a man who’s entangled with another woman, I certainly hope fans don’t slut-shame her for navigating her feelings anyway. And in the meantime, I think this fandom would be a much safer place for women if we could distinguish between “I really hate this plot and I really despise Dorothy and I wish this hadn’t happened” (fair enough) from attempts to justify that hatred as being about an "inappropriate" display of sexuality. Then again, maybe those justifications aren't a stretch at all—just a reminder that lots of people still think of certain women as sluts. That feels sad too, but I guess I can live with the honesty of it.

(Comments/shares/tags/thoughts extremely welcome, whether or not you agree. But please keep it civil. ❤️)

[rain-braiding-down-a-window-pane]

This is a pretty big factor in why I've withdrawn from the ACGAS fandom. And while I'm certainly not thrilled with the storyline, I'm far less impressed with the rampant misogyny from some quarters of the fandom. It's made me very uncomfortable.

Thank you for verbalising this @chainofclovers.

[nick-nellson]

Hot Fuzz (2007) dir. Edgar Wright

[sobloodywhat]

Reaction gif - ACGAS s6

[rain-braiding-down-a-window-pane]

Well.

The Nativity was cute.

That's about all I have to say about that.

[simplybybea]

I finished Siegfried Farnon's yellow cardigan with time to spare and not only that but I dressed up AS Siegfried to wear it in honour of the Christmas Special!

It's been so much fun making this jumper and I absolutely adore it, its so cosy and warm and yet I am not overheating and it is utterly marvellous!

I started this on the 1st November and I am honestly so thrilled that I have managed to get it finished in time for the Christmas Special as I dreamed!

Next up on Darrowby knits- I have already started both Dorothy's white Darrowby Fair jumper AND in tandem I have started Audrey's burgundy cable cardigan - but in red because it arrived a lot brighter red than anticipated!

[snowrosestudio]

Here’s a hedgehog embroidery I finished this week for a friend 🦔 🪡

I hadn’t embroidered for a while so this was a nice little piece to get back into it. I’m hoping to make many larger embroidery projects this summer though 🤞

[spockvarietyhour]

[iamthecutestofborg]

This is what happens to characters when you write an AU fanfic

[edgar-allan-possum]

Off goes Riker, to the coffee shop.

[easyvirgin-deactivated20160413]

happy Thursday the 20th

[askjennaflorida]

I’d have to wait months or even years for another chance to reblog this, so why the fuck not?

[mx-mythical-deactivated20260319]

next days you can reblog this on a Thursday the 20th

August 2015

October 2016

April 2017

July 2017

September 2018

December 2018

June 2019

February 2020

August 2020

You know, just in case you wanted to set your queue for the next 6 years

[itsquietinsantafe2]

TODAY

[captain-of-the-historicfuture]

Since it’s now August 20, 2020… The next days you can reblog this on a Thursday the 20th:

May 2021

January 2022

October 2022

April 2023

July 2023

June 2024

February 2025

March 2025

November 2025

August 2026

If you wanted to set your queue for the next six years.

[rain-braiding-down-a-window-pane]

Happy My Car Passed Its MOT Today Day

[rain-braiding-down-a-window-pane]

Happy Why Is My Car Making a Weird Rattling Noise Today Day

[blessicablimpson]

Anastasia Trusova — “Through The Walls”, 2020

Acrylic on linen (70 x 70 cm)

[taylornprice]

shells

[lonelyvampx]

Anastasia Trusova

[embroiderycrafts]

I tried out a new stitch and I'm obsessed! by phoenixtaloh on reddit.

[embroiderycrafts]

Made this for my friend’s Winnie the Pooh themed nursery! by PracticeFlat on reddit.

[demigodofhoolemere]

I think it’s time for Bill Pullman to fess up about whatever cloning machine he used to create Lewis

Some gifs of Bill that I genuinely could have believed were Lewis if I didn’t know…

(X, X, X, X, X, X)

[cherish--these--times]

I feel bloody lucky to follow Siegfried and Audrey's journey in real time, week after week. It's a love story for the ages. The true slow-burn treatment that long series of novels are made of, all rooted in the realism of the time. Nuanced characters with flaws and quirks.

And the fact that it's between people who are not 16 to 20 years old, roughened by life, who will end up happy together in full knowledge of one another, good and bad--well....

Maybe I'm weird but it makes me emotional. S'too rare. It's pure, it's truthful. It's too beautiful for words.

[only-cat-memes]

[skorgu]

[samirant]

[pressdbtwnpages]

[lindseyanna]

[bethanyactually]

[zoi-no-miko]

[intoxicatingimmediacy]