hey.

ray // i write sometimes. sfw and soft nsfw. // 26 // 18+ only // she/her

[thothirai]

IMPORTANT: READ BEFORE SENDING ANY ASKS

[thothirai]

girls like girls wasn’t bad. it just felt unfulfilling because it didn’t end the way most would hope. the film did its job and showed us a great story. however, just like the half of it, the story didn’t give us any insight or development to other half of the main pairing. sonia, like aster, didn’t get any autonomy or perspective in their own love story. they were a love interest who weren’t given more attention in the narrative. to care about both the leads and their romance, you want to see both their perspectives, but we only get one which messes up the balance. the film was actually well done, but it just sucks that we didn’t get more of who sonia is and what she wants. shots of her at camp and with her friends and family and understanding who she is, would have given a far more fulfilling experience. also, they should’ve kissed on front of sj’s house, showing sonia not caring anymore about what others think because most of them already sensed that coley and sonia had a thing for each other.

but, for a romance, it does suck that one half of the couple is just there to be romantic with or to fight with.

[drops-of-universe]

i be like “never again” and guess what i did? agained

[thothirai]

just got reminded of how OUAT didn’t pair mulan and red together in the end, instead they brought in dorothy to be red’s love interest. i’m gonna say it: they set up a perfectly great pairing with great chemistry and instead brought in another white girl to be her endgame who she had spent one ONE episode with and declared to be her HEA unlike mulan who had far more screen time with her and more grounds for relationship building and then they made mulan help red rescue dorothy???

mulan was right there, already heartbroken once by aurora and appeared to have been opening herself up to red for them to take it all away. like i would’ve loved seeing red have to find the fa family and telling them that about mulan being in an eternal sleep and realizing she was her true love the whole time. BUT they didn’t give us that.

[thothirai]

okay, so i can’t be the only one who thinks that in a sapphic heated rivalry, the two leads need to be like ballerinas, cheerleaders, or figure skaters??

[thothirai]

i think we should push the idea of when watching or reading things and something isn’t 100% accurate, but fits the narrative or what’s going on in a scene, sometimes you gotta take the L. escapism is such a huge part of fiction and i’m not expecting the writers and/or actors to have researched and practiced everything within and inch of its life to have it be the most realistic. sometimes it can be silly. if that ruins the immersion for you or make you want to drop it, that’s also fine. give the feedback and hope the next project will be better.

but, if you want to continue to enjoy something, take that L like a tic tac and keep on diggin’.

[thothirai]

the lack of basic media literacy, literary literacy, and knowledge of storytelling in some takes has me questioning how most people have consumed media their whole lives. like what do you mean you don’t understand why a character that has been written a specific way consistently throughout the whole series or piece and makes decisions that match that characterization as if the writer hasn’t carefully curated everything they say, think, wear, or do. characters are written with purpose and intent. don’t get me wrong some writers forget who their own characters are and wind up changing them anywhere from a little bit to completely to fit whatever narrative is being created, but if a writer is doing their job and doing it well, if a character does something, there’s a reason which will find a resolution in the end. they aren’t just trying to piss you off without a fix. the fix will come, just be patient. you can not understand why a character does something, but if it fits their characterization and gets resolved in a way that makes sense, that’s how storytelling works. we go through the whole process to find the happy ending. the third act break up isn’t added just to piss you off, it’s to create conflict that will always be resolved and bring them back together again. or even that one plot device or plot point that seemed more important for the story as a whole served its purpose earlier on and isn’t needed anymore, so it shouldn’t have been further explained in the ending because fan theories were more interesting. stories are written with purpose, even if they don’t satisfy everything you want doesn’t mean they’re bad or lazy. they were written the way the writer(s) wanted and intended. sometimes going past that isn’t necessary and is also why fan works exists to be an extension of that universe to give it more life and sometimes it’s even better. but, questioning character motivations when they are blatantly obvious to who the character is and not understanding why they made that decision because you wouldn’t have made it personally is going about consuming fiction all wrong.

[thothirai]

francesca and michaela’s first kiss is going to be an experience. mich finally getting a taste of what she forbade herself from having and the utter heartbreak she’ll feel when it’s over and fran’s chaotic ass finally letting go and taking what’s she’s been wanting and allowing herself a few moments of passion before all the guilt comes crashing down and she fucks off to scotland because….feelings.

[thothirai]

i’m happy that the “tell me something wicked” line is gonna come after john’s death because it already makes it healthier than whatever the fuck was going on in the books and it allows for a more interesting layer of francesca entertaining a conversation about sex and desire that comes from a place of personal pleasure, not societal duty, and trust in michaela and as well as her own self-discovery. like it’s crazy to me that some who prefer the male counterpart saw fran asking him that as friendly banter and not flirting even having these conversations with john present. removing the john of it all, it lets francesca let go of her guilt a bit and explore these feelings for herself and not because of an unsatisfying sex life.

with them, apparently, emotionally cheating from just looking at one another, having this line before their season would’ve opened them up for some of the most tone deaf takes. i can wait for michaela to tell francesca something wicked, whether it progresses to intimacy of any kind or just some heavy flirting. i’m ready.

set the scene: this after they makeup. it’s late and definitely past fran’s bedtime, but she doesn’t want to be out of michaela’s orbit yet. she settles next to her on the floor watching the flames wither behind her or dancing on her face. maybe two glass of something between them and fran can’t help herself. she leans over and quietly says “tell me something wicked…” …maybe as a soft finger tracking its way down michaela’s arm…a shiver and a lip bite and michaela’s a goner willing to share the most sordid details of a woman she’d been with while trying to forget how badly she burns for fran.

[sand-ecandoit]

On francesca and repression:

i don’t know if this will be literal word salad but figured i might as well post in the spirit of franchaela week!

i was thinking about their scenes in season 4 recently and it hit me that i find their dynamic so compelling because they are both characters repressing their core desires which are exposed only by each other. fran is a character that struggles with identifying her emotions, especially ones that are more complex (RELATABLE MY GOD). she’s reserved, rational, and values order and control. while michaela shares some of those traits, what people are first met with is her extroversion, charisma, intelligence, and passion. outside of a shared attraction that fran is not aware of (yet), these traits and her lack of compliance with society’s expectations for womanhood naturally confound fran. however, what she doesn’t understand fully is that they reflect her deepest desire: to be unbound by societal expectations, to have michaela’s self-awareness and confidence, to live life on her own terms. she somewhat acknowledges this in their episode 5 conflict in the study room, but she only understands how it applies to her relationship with john.

consequently, we see fran voicing high society’s expectations throughout season 4, holding onto it as a shield against her confusion, envy, and grief. during michaela’s arrival in episode 4, fran is visibly affronted by michaela driving her own carriage because it is unbecoming for a high society lady. this shields her against her feelings of anticipation and probably attraction, what with her huffing and puffing sjdjwjehdb

in episode 5, she storms into the study telling michaela to get off the floor to not ruin her dress. in episode 7, fran and michaela bicker about how reserved and ceremonial british culture is during the funeral. later, fran yells at michaela and says that her culture essentially treats death like a circus. i find that scene in particular quite interesting because fran is yet again, visibly affronted by michaela’s suggestion, but she also looks defiant and haughty. these more dismissive emotions sheltered her from facing her grief head on, and her feelings of inadequacy, yet again.

i think what’s quite interesting about these scenes is that fran’s lack of understanding for her own emotions means that michaela’s stronger emotional intuition and grounded-ness help her understand and express herself, which, imo, is visually expressed through the motif of fran walking in on michaela sitting on the floor. this is definitely building up to either michaela walking in on fran on processing her emotions on the floor or her joining michaela on the floor, showing fran moving away from societal expectations and trying to fully understand and experience her own emotions. she hasn’t given herself many opportunities to just BE instead of thinking about what’s expected of her. the only scene that we’ve seen fran on the floor is after fully breaking down with her mother and grieving john/the baby that she hoped to have as a reminder of him. mildly off topic, but my bet is this scene will either be their first “tell me something wicked” scene or (for an angsty situation), after michaela recovers from her illness, fran dropping to the floor or crying in relief because she hasn’t lost another one of her favorite people.

something that i really hope they address next season is how unintentionally fucked up it is that john said that its more likely for a woman to conceive when she pinnacles. as much as we talk about fran being sexually repressed and desperate for a pinnacle (bc yes, of course she is), her primary motivation for achieving one this season was continuing the kilmartin line. she has never really considered sex for pleasure and pinnacles as something enjoyable outside of reproduction. she thought it was necessary for her to pinnacle to fulfill her “wifely duties,” which means she GENUINELY thinks that she’s broken and that its all her fault that john died without having a child. add the fact that her entire family just pops out babies like it’s nothing?! that is such a massive burden for fran to carry alone and i’m sure she’s internalised it so deeply.

i want michaela to comfort fran and let her know that pinnacles do not affect conception and that it’s not her fault. whether it happens during their first sex scene or during an intimate conversation on the floor by the fireplace, i feel like it will be so integral to fran letting go of any guilt she feels toward john and becoming more accepting of her love and attraction to michaela.

overall, i think what the show’s building up toward is francesca learning to love (and maybe succumbing) to michaela’s uncontrollable and impulsive nature and maybe even embracing her own impulses and freedom from societal pressures. this doesn’t mean that fran will change her personality by any means. she’s always been sarcastic, witty, passionate, and relatively confident, but she doesn’t fully know how to listen to herself. she is disconnected from the full range of her emotions, which leads her to crave control and order so she at least understands those things. but michaela challenges that control and her desire to have it because she trusts and admires michaela more than she lets on. being with michaela allows her to just BE without any expectations, live in the moment, and be more spontaneous.

what are everyone else’s thoughts? hope i’m not too off base djjdjjdd

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

not to be a joyless hag but I've started seeing genderbent "yuri" shipping Markiplier and Ryan Gosling and I can't help but think of someone I recently I unfollowed for posting that they have an easier time caring about genderbent versions of boy characters than regular fictional women

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

and I'm also building some connections to that post I made about reading books by Black women (you know the one) and the people who would respond by saying something akin to "joke's on you, I only read fanfic 😜" as if that were some kind of clever loophole and not a demonstration of the exact thing I was talking about

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

like yes fandom is about fun or whatever but idk man at what point has your desire for no thoughts head empty uncritical consumption left you splashing around in something that's been blended down to an indistinguishable goo for the sake of avoiding anything remotely challenging. with the thing that's "challenging" here being. you know. giving a shit about women and Black people and like frankly anyone but your shippable white men (and honorary Markiplier).

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

don't make me tap the five year old teen vogue article, etc

Who Actually Gets to “Escape” Into Fandom?

All experiences of escapism are not created equally.

[dinogahyun]

all of the excuses people have for not giving a shit about female characters are blown out of the water by the way that kpop fandoms treat male idols vs female idols.

people will she/her male idols, call them lesbians, make international women's day edits for *cis men,* but ask them why they don't care about girl groups and they call *you* misogynistic for harassing boy group fans just because they're women, as if that exempts them from being misogynistic.

they'll make the same excuses they do for female characters for female idols. that they have no personality and are boring in variety shows (not unlike how people claim female characters are all badly written), that the music all sounds the same and the concepts are all either too cute or too sexy (not unlike how people will either say f/f is for the male gaze but somehow also too "pure" depending on what mood they're in), that they are exposed to too much misogyny in real life and need an escape by...being parasocially attached to men? looking at ao3 tags, the discrepancy of who gets rpf is the exact same as that of fictional characters. twice is one of the most popular kpop girl groups of all time, and has the most tagged fics on ao3 out of any kpop gg with around 13,000 works. stray kids, who debuted 2 years after them under the same company, has over 80,000. Even some less popular boy groups outnumber twice's works by thousands.

people saying they can't care about female characters because "they're badly written" doesn't make sense, because if that were the case, then why do people feel the exact same way about real life celebrities who have hundreds of hours of interviews, behind the scenes content, and variety shows?

[thothirai]

OKAY, but a shot of francesca and michaela in bed…fran’s back to the camera and michaela’s hands gripping and making her muscles flex????

[thothirai]

i still think it’s crazy that people who watch bridgerton (whether they’ve read or know anything about the books), should have noticed how it’s an anthological ensemble series with different season leads, saw francesca only in b plots (meant to reintroduce her and set up her story), and thought that john was her endgame, her love story was finished, and got her due amount of screen time without ever getting her own season. like what???

[thothirai]

okay, i know people want eloise and benedict being besties with michaela and i,too, would love their dynamic.

but, i kinda hope they keep colin as the main bridgerton to be friends with michaela. colin tells mich to marry francesca in the book and they are so similarly coded. like two travel nerds who love to experience life and the world outside of their high society bubble. also, they are simps for their wives, like colin telling mich that she shouldn’t wait too long to tell fran she loves her because he knows what it feels like to almost lose the love of your life. he regrets not realizing sooner how much he loved pen and wasted so much time. so, as a future brother in law, he wants michaela to take the plunge and tell francesca how she feels and how much she wants to be with her.

i want the whole bridgerton family to love her the way fran will. like hyacinth and gregory loving mich and thanking her for pulling fran a little out of her comfort zone

[lesbfranchaela]

i would like to take a moment to bring up some back appreciation and project my love for backs onto franchaela.. i need to see francesca kissing all up and down michaela’s back. that would be good food for me

[thothirai]

okay, but hannah’s back is amazing, so i, too, need this. for the sensuality and to gawk at the dancer muscles i know she has

[thothirai]

hindsight being 20/20 really fucks me up because when i say i doubted myself about fran and mich being the leads for season 5 despite the foreshadowing being so obvious. like eloise and penelope setting fran up to state that she would never get married again, but eloise is down to attend more weddings??? instead people got angry at pen for implying a second marriage “too soon after john” even though fran’s actual story is just that, after mourning, she does eventually try to marry again.

BUT the real punch in the face for me was realizing michaela’s carriage scene is the first moment the show frames her from her own perspective instead of solely through francesca. they did not have to show michaela leaving. they could’ve kept all the emotional weight on fran, being devastated that she left without notice. fran not even noticing the maid leaving because she’s so confused. instead, however, the show deliberately centers the fact that fran is completely shattered by michaela leaving after promising she would stay. the parallel of fran’s shock and michaela’s guilt showing them both emotionally affected set up what’s to come. with the emotional twist of fran losing both john and then immediately michaela too, she may not have died, but she left a void where she should be. the show makes a point of michaela choosing to leave anyway, despite knowing what she means to fran. (that’s gonna set up the best kind of angst for fran worrying that mich won’t always be there, which isn’t true, but it’s a fear nonetheless)

yes, i know the reason is connected to fran. obviously. she’s in love with her. but that’s different from how the show had previously used her character. before this, michaela mostly existed within fran’s emotional orbit. even scenes like her crying in the hallway or reacting to fran screaming after finding john are still framed through francesca’s arc. the carriage scene shifts that. for the first time, the narrative pauses to follow what michaela is choosing to do with her grief and feelings, not just how fran experiences them. and honestly, that tracks with how bridgerton structures future leads. kate and sophie only have their seasons to be seen and then become a unit with their bridgerton spouse later on. penelope is the exception because lady whistledown gave her that space, plus she’s eloise’s best friend and the yearning for colin had to be set up. so, until the romance actually begins, michaela is still “john’s cousin” within the story structure right now, even if she’s fran’s endgame. but, come s5, she’ll be sharing the spotlight.

so when i see comments about the show giving michaela scenes that function for her own arc and from her own POV rather than solely fran’s perspective, it reminded me that that was her first scene without francesca involved, hinting at the start of her personal narrative.

it really was all right there.

[bladeebjork]

funniest part about rewatching early tlok is how asami’s dad got mad at her for dating a firebender, whole time her soulmate is the mf avatar master of all elements