Guys. Bumbleby. I love it. I try to avoid talking about it on here, but I’m not gonna deny I adore it. But bees, guys, I’m seeing trends in the fanworks and posts (not Canon) that have been wearing on me for a while.
This is likely going to be controversial, and even some users here I like and respect are guilty of some of these things. But it’s bothering me enough that I gotta get it off my chest.
I do not see how one can praise a ship for the equality of the partners but reduce one to a satellite or “yes man” of the other. And that’s a lot of what I see in fanworks. Yang either isn’t really a character or she isn’t Yang. She’s Blake’s satellite. She has no motivation other than being gay for Blake and being her sidekick.
A lot of these fics and art take agency from her. She’s reacting, never acting. There’s writing about her being “strong” but only as an informed trait so that she can be written as the one needing saving, both physically and emotionally.
And that’s not how it is in Canon. It wasn’t Blake’s idea to tell Robyn. Blake wasn’t happy with Ironwood’s plans and choices and she voiced her reservations about bringing Robyn in, and her thoughts on doing the right thing in general. Yang saw those reservations and thought about them, trusting her partner’s judgement, then she suggested they tell Robyn the truth. It was not a situation of “Blake has an idea and Yang nods and goes with it”, it was an open and honest discussion about their viewpoints to understand one another (like a healthy couple), trusting one another’s judgement, and then implementing a plan that came from that understanding. But now I’m literally seeing posts gush about “Yang followed Blake’s plan, what a supportive girlfriend.” And that’s all it ever seems to be. Yang’s the supportive girlfriend, not an equal character in her own right.
Then there’s this boom in writing Yang as intelligent, recognizing the evidence from the Beacon arc of how well she did in school. Which would be great. But it’s often never anything more than a single superficial comment in Blake’s thoughts or dialogue and throughout much or the rest of many stories she never really gets to show that intelligence, leaving it as an informed trait.
And that’s not getting into the creepy power dynamic that’s started showing up. After Yang’s discussion with Weiss in V5, there was a huge influx of head canons of Yang as a submissive mess. And I’m not gonna go into where I stand on who’s the one who leads or not, but I will say that it is almost overwhelming in how often it’s written as if it’s some new idea going against the grain and making some big unique take. When everyone and their grandma writes it the same way, it’s not a subversion. It’s just another drop in the bucket.
But the creepy power dynamic that’s arisen from this surge is what’s concerning. It’s become less flirting and more like a competition of power. But one that’s written as horribly lopsided and humiliating for the loser. The whole “please step on me” thing isn’t supposed to be literal. And don’t get me started on the post I just saw of someone detailing Blake literally knocking Yang’s teeth out and Yang saying it was an honor. What the actual fuck?
I’m gonna link @xyxyz1112′s post because I think they said it best. Especially in their tags. (Hopefully they’re okay with that.)
Don’t get me wrong a dapper scene or a few is fine. It's great even (I saw a gentlewoman Blake idea that was awesome). But that shouldn’t be the entire relationship, or even most of it. Give it some back and forth, some light jokes, ridiculous shenanigans or fluffy domestic inter-play. An equal relationship is supposed to be just that, equal. In canon there is equal back and forth and nuance in when they’re smooth and when they get flustered (which both have done in equal measure). Shouldn’t fanworks reflect that?
Especially with all that nasty stuff on AO3 when searching for Bumbleby. Like, wtf?
vaporwave
areudirty
kianamaiart
dededos
janainaart
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
dailybridgerton
