Putting on the gayest lenses I have and annotating gifs of The Sentinel (TV Series, 1996-1999) S1E1 'The Switchman'
Part 0/9
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9
(alternatively, for moblie users: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9)
HULLO
Since hardly anyone posts about the sentinel on tumblr I've annotated a gifset of S1E1 The Switchman with the gayest thoughts I have about it in the hopes it drives some other people insane as well.
This post has no actual gifs in it (horror, I've lied, clickbait, etc. etc.), but contains context and explanations if you've never heard of the show and want some of that.
Also big thanks to Becky for transcribing the pilot back in 1999. I could not hear half of what these guys were saying lol.
Brief context! The Sentinel is an episodic detective buddy-cop show centred around two guys-- Jim Elison (cop) and Blair Sandburg (anthropologist grad student)-- who are partners (oh my god they were partners) that go around solving mysteries and catching bad guys. More info on Fanlore here.
Don't want to spoil anything but the main premise on the show apart from the great banter and the fact that they were roommates (oh my god they were roommates), and very touchy with each other (hence the 27 gifs I have set up just for S1E1 help me), is the idea of Jim being a Sentinel.
That is to say, the guy (after being part of a tribe in Peru in the jungle, long story, watch ep1) has super senses which help him in his detective work, but they are difficult to control and Blair, who happens to be an expert in sentinels, subsequently ends up helping Jim in, essentially, training his senses (and tagging along through his escapades) (hence, becomes a guide of sorts for Jim).
Cue great opportunities to balance out the pairing, gives Jim a chance to rely on Blair, etc. etc.. The opportunity for shipping gets jucier when you start incorporating the sort of spiritual nature the Sentinel (and their guide) has as members of the tribe into it (don't want to spoil anything, feel free to ask though and I can talk about what I know), which has been inspiration for many soul mate aus, bonding aus and fate-driven aus, that sort of thing.
As a disclaimer, I don't know much about tribes, indigenous cultures, or their religions, or spiritual matters, and although the sentinel tv series is closely tied to a presumably fictional tribe in Peru (more discussion about it here), I don't know whether it is a good representation of tribal and/or indigenous culture or their beliefs (probably not), and most if not all of my knowledge surrounding visions, and spiritual planes, like that which Jim seems to keep finding himself in, and tribal obligations, roles and responsibilities and such, is from the show and fandom (fanfics and discussion threads and the like). If anyone does find whatever I say to be inappropriate or offensive, please let me know.
For anyone who has heard of the Sentinel/Guide trope, congrats! I do believe this show has one of the oldest iterations of it in fandom history people can find. Although in the show itself it is mentioned that the idea comes from a monograph of Sir Richard Francis Burton (British explorer, b.1821-d.1890), I do believe such a monograph is fictional, though I haven't researched the subject fully.
(More threads/discussion about the trope here, here and here :D)
In the sentinel (tv series), I believe Blair is the only so-called 'Guide' we come across, and for all intents and purposes does not have any sort of supernatural power. He's just some guy who knows a lot about this stuff, and thus can 'guide' Jim by helping him control his senses. That being said, he perhaps have a sort of spiritual responsibility, as is mentioned in S3E1 'Warriors' (spoilers :D), though it is not mentioned to a great degree.
For tumblrinas who have not encountered the Sentinel/Guide trope, welcome! See the above links to people who can explain it much better than I. Essentially, fandom has taken the above descriptions of Sentinels and Guides and have run away with it in a variety of ways, particularly in transforming the role of Guides.
I think a fun example of this is the Sentinel/Guide aus I've been seeing crop up in danmei (chinese bl novels). Let me know if you'd like to hear more about that. I am raring to go. (There's a list of about 16 different danmei with the trope here, for any fans like me who eat that uppp.)
(For Sherlock Holmes fans interested in the Sentinel/Guide trope, a GREAT get-yourself-into-it is Observations on Sentinels and Guides in Victorian London by RyuuzaKochou, a The Sentinel/Sherlock Holmes (rdj) crossover AU fanfic which features a more omegaversey, sentinels and guides are known au take on the trope.)
You probably don't need all of that context to enjoy the low quality gifs I have made lol, but just in case people were curious and weren't going to watch the show for themselves it is here.
I feel like people don’t give the Cornetto Trilogy enough credit for its female characters. They’re all very clearly written as women and even though, like the male characters, they’re written as certain stereotypes they still feel so real.
Even in Hot Fuzz when the majority of the cast is male you fucking remember realistically happily slutty Doris who has a harem of men at her beck and call. She could have been a male fantasy but she’s so aggressively in charge of her own sexuality you never hear male viewers sexualize her. It’s magical.
I didn’t even realize that Shaun of The Dead set the tone for me until I watched the movie again a few nights ago.
At 1:27 there’s a random scene where the only people helping Shaun are the female characters. They don’t make any real point of it but we get it. Liz and Dianne know Shaun is slightly stronger than them so they hand him the “spear” but they act as a team. Extra material on the DVD even revealed that Shaun, Liz and Dianne were the only characters who survived to the end (Dianne got away and hid in a tree apparently).
Women are in general far more capable and helpful in the movie and Shaun himself is the most “feminine coded” of the male characters. You’ll never see a male protagonist more honest about his emotions and more willing to be visibly vulnerable than Shaun I can tell you that much.
And in The World’s End we have Sam who has her own agency and doesn’t exist to be a price to be won by the main character Gary at the end of the movie, try as he might. She will help and save him and let him help and save her, yes, but the movie makes it very clear that doesn’t mean he has any right to her. She wants Steven and there’s nothing Gary can do about that.
The movies aren’t feminist masterpieces but together Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg writes some amazing female characters.
Side note; men also act a certain way around women in these movies that I can’t quite put my finger on. They don’t treat women as brilliant goddess or anything and can be downright inappropriate but there’s also a certain respect that feels unusual in movies? When Liz grabs Ed in Shaun of The Dead he doesn’t push her away or grab her back. He just sorta shakes her off without touching her in a “fuck off but I have zero interest in hurting you” way. I really don’t know how to explain it. There’s an understanding that “yes we are stronger than women so we can hurt them unintentionally but we know they’re our equals in both good and bad so there’s no reason to take advantage of that and women have had to learn to get the upper hand in other ways so strength doesn’t mean an automatic win anyway”. Just the way Shaun and Ed approach the girl in the garden before they know she’s a zombie. They’re afraid of her but not really and yet a little scared anyway. It’s…different.
Stratt having Grace is like the opposite of scary dog privilege where instead of needing him to be more intimidating, she actually needs him to lower people's guard down
"Kill them with kindness" Nah, fuck that, CRICKET BAT 🏏 🏏🏏🏏*SMACK* 🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏*SMACK*🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏*SMACK*🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏*SMACK*🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏*SMACK*🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏*SMACK*🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏
I've always liked how Gundam pulls the "some people are just special in these ways from birth" card but instead of it being "which makes them cooler than everyone else" it's immediately "which gives them different ways to be exploited"
shoutout to the woman from my high school martial arts class who liked to get me in joint locks and then joke about how I was easy to catch. you cannot comprehend how psychosexually formative that was for me
imagine, if you will, having an adolescent half-crush on someone way older than you, which is also confusingly blurred up with admiration of them as a role model. now imagine that you and that person are in a social environment where it is acceptable to (platonically, consensually) choke someone. I think I was very normal about it considering the circumstances
she would demonstrate takedowns on her husband (also in the class, and who was not a small man) before we got to try them and the first time I saw her twist him around and down onto the floor like it was easy my entire abdomen clenched
I cannot stress enough how eager this guy was to be manhandled (womanhandled?) and flipped around by his wife. he was her de facto guinea pig whenever she got to teach and I never saw him unenthusiastic about it. he'd set himself up for a joint lock fully smiling. the other adults in the class occasionally teased him about it (being so quick to let your wife put you in a submission hold tends to raise a few eyebrows), and I always kind of wanted to defend him but what would I have said? like, don't worry. I won't judge you. I also like being pinned down by your wife
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