Tatiana Maslany wearing a shirt that says ‘SUPPORT TRANS FUTURES’ on it to promote She-Hulk for Marvel Studios and Disney, and therefore forcing them to have that on their social medias for the world to see, including who knows how many queer kids and their guardians, is fucking awesome and I thank her for that.
That new Andrew Garfield television show ‘Under The Banner Of Heaven’ is v good and each episode is a really great length and feels satisfying and has great pacing and each episode feels like it ends in a satisfying place so each episode feels full and purposeful and intentional as to why it ends when it does, not just narriatively, but also technically speaking, like almost like a full movie where it’s like “yes of course it ends there” without telegraphing it in really obvious ways the way that with a lot of media you can tell when it’s about to end, and it’s overall really well made and entertaining to watch and it makes me glad that you don’t feel the NEED to binge it because of the way that it’s made makes it feel ok to stop after each episode, which is also really refreshing in a space where most video media rn feels like it encourages audiences to continue binge watching and press play on the next thing and the next thing, be it television shows, movies, online video content, etc. and having a show that’s made in 2022 that provides ample space to stop after each episode, while not feeling over-stuffed or like you have to stop to digest everything, but more like there is space to stop if you want to, is very welcome rn.
Having said that I want to watch the next episode rn like immediately. Not because the show was created to encourage binge-watching it, but because that’s such a great and well made show rn that, comparitively, watching other media that’s being released publicly at the same time as ‘Under The Banner Of Heaven’ is being released rn in 2022, it feels like I’ve been eating chocolate for a week and rn I really want some fruit.
Randomly thinking about how in Year 10 in my high school, my English teacher, who I think was the head of the English department at our school, decided to give every student in our class new names, and only referred to us by those new names for pretty much that entire year, and that apparently she claimed to do that with all of her classes but I had never heard of that before? Like surely if a teacher is re-assigning peoples names for every single class that she taught each year, people would talk about that more? She literally refused to call us by our own actual names and would only refer to us by the names that she gave us, which she said were often inspired by classic literature, although we didn’t read any of the books that she apparently got that inspiration from. It wasn’t instant, either, like for some people it took weeks for her to assign them a name. Anyway the name that she assigned me was Tatiana and apparently it means queen or something, and my friend got assigned the name Regina, and everybody made fun of it because of Mean Girls and called her Regina George but her actual birth name is Ashleigh.
Buffy Summers, and various other strong hand-to-hand fighters in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, wearing lots of leather jackets and leather pants not only because it looks cool and sexy, but also because out of all of the commonly available fabrics nowadays, and especially in the late 90’s and early ‘00’s, leather’s not a bad choice in regards to body armour. Especially if you’re not doing Spider-Man style quick-changes, and wearing it as clothes even when not fighting or patrolling, particularly if you hang out and often end up fighting in or around a nightclub, like The Bronze. Also, it looks cool.
Watch me write out a whole dissertation on that tbh.
Notice how most, if not all, of the characters that aren’t expected to be great at hand-to-hand combat rarely wear much leather, especially long leather coats that cover much of their bodies.
Willow Rosenberg, who absolutely can be a threat when she wants to be, rarely wears much leather, and she’s an extremely powerful witch, but not very skilled in physical combat. In fact, 1 of the only times that Willow wears leather is in Season 3, episode 1, when she’s patrolling without Buffy, and knows that she’s likely to have to physically fight at some point. Otherwise, Willow’s clothes are often much more likely to have softer materials, often fuzzy ones. 1 of the only other times that Willow wears a lot of leather would be Vampire Willow, who we never see utilise magic, and who seems a lot more comfortable with physical violence than non-vampire Willow. Even when Willow is at her most powerful with magic, she rarely wears leather.
Another interesting thing that I’d like to note, is that denim also would be pretty decent body armour under those sorts of conditions, and would likely be a lot cheaper than leather, and you know who wears a lot of denim and leather? Faith Lehane, who is by no means rich, and who also has been known to steal when she notices something useful but expensive that she wants.
I think that 1 of the best examples of that theory is Spike. Spike’s clothes arguably change the least and have the least amount of variety in the Buffyverse, however at almost all of Spike’s most vulnerable moments, and almost never at any other time, do we see Spike without a leather jacket on, specifically his leather coat, however there are a few times when he wears other leather jackets. When Spike sings to Buffy in Once More With Feeling, when he’s stuck and tied up with The Scoobies in Season 4, pretty much the entirety of Season 7. When Spike’s very specifically not being a fighter, often when he’s literally unable to be, often those are the rare times when we get to see Spike without a leather jacket on.
While other strong hand-to-hand fighters do wear other things besides only leather, and aren’t as strict about that as Spike seems to be, it’s definitely evident that those characters, like Buffy and Angel, are consistently more likely to wear it, and wear more of it, and in fact, it’s often associated with them, unlike others, like Xander, Tara, Oz, Anya, Dawn, etc. .
In fact, there are multiple times when Buffy is about to go into a big fight knowingly, and specifically wears leather. For example, when Buffy goes to fight Faith in Graduation Day Part 1, and she then takes off her leather jacket when she decides to let Angel feed off of her, and then wears more leather again to fight The Mayor in Graduation Day Part 2.
Also, to add on a little cherry on top of that, already, The Trio in Season 6 are rarely, if ever, shown to wear leather, and they’re explicitly and obviously not physical fighters, and Riley Finn, and the rest of The Initiative rarely, if ever, wear leather, and are also explicitly and clearly not as good fighters as Buffy, other Slayers, and other magical, mystical, and supernatural beings.
Part of being a good fighter is staying alive, and minimalising the likelihood of injury. As far as cool and fashionable body armour goes, leather, and to some extent, denim, aren’t bad options.
Buffy Summers, and various other strong hand-to-hand fighters in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, wearing lots of leather jackets and leather pants not only because it looks cool and sexy, but also because out of all of the commonly available fabrics nowadays, and especially in the late 90’s and early ‘00’s, leather’s not a bad choice in regards to body armour. Especially if you’re not doing Spider-Man style quick-changes, and wearing it as clothes even when not fighting or patrolling, particularly if you hang out and often end up fighting in or around a nightclub, like The Bronze. Also, it looks cool.
People in the U.S.A. constantly having to fight for the right to acknowledge diversity and bigotry in various settings, particularly school settings, is wild on many levels, and some of the arguments from conservatives are absolutely ridiculous.
I was just reminded of the fact that in Year 6, my class and I read a book about a refugee girl actively fleeing her home country with her family, hiding from people who could kill her, travelling by boat to Australia and being detained for months, hearing about other refugee’s suicides and contemplating how that felt from a kid’s perspective, and trying and waiting to be allowed to live freely. It’s a beautiful book. We, a group of roughly 11-12 year olds, were prescribed to read and discuss.
Granted, I am Australian, and that Primary School that I went to is in Sydney. I know that there have been attempts, sometimes successful, at censoring what kids are taught about here in Australia too, and many other places around the world besides the U.S.A. , for example this year (2022) there have already been multiple attempts by a single school in Queensland to force students, staff, and parents and guardians of students to sign a contract that says that that school can expel or fire anybody for displaying gender-nonconformity, “homosexual acts”, or for being transgender. By no means am I trying to imply that bigoted policies, legislature, or practices are only located in 1 place.
What I am saying, is that as somebody who was in a Primary School where we actively discussed topics that some people may shy away from discussing with young people, I can say that I genuinely think that reading that book and discussing it and the real-world things that real people have to live through, made for a much more empathetic, compassionate, emotionally-intelligent, and educated group of kids, who definitely would benefit from that experience.
Providing an educational, open-minded, and compassionate space for young people to explore new and potentially uncomfortable or controversial things is extremely important and beneficial. Part of school-based education is emotional, and teaching about compassion, empathy, and respect for yourself and other people, and other points of view and experiences, is a part of that.
Multiple comic book writers have confirmed Deadpool’s queerness, including Gail Simone, who wrote various Deadpool comic books for 12 years.
Image: Screenshot of a tweet posted by Gail Simone which states “I always thought of Deadpool as pansexual anyway.”.
Also, although it wasn’t explicit enough for some within then 1st 2 Deadpool movies, the promotion for the 1st Deadpool movie was explicit in Wade Wilson’s sexuality.
Image: Collider interview with Ryan Reynolds and Director and co-writer Tim Miller where they both confirm Deadpool’s sexuality, with Tim Miller specifically saying “Pansexual! I want that quoted. Pansexual Deadpool.”.
Image: A cover of ‘The Guardian’ magazine with a photo of Deadpool with his thumb up and a large speech bubble that reads “HEY, WANNA READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT A FOUL-MOUTHED, PANSEXUAL ASSASSIN?” on it.
Deadpool has openly flirted with characters of multiple genders in the comics, possibly most famously Spider-Man and Thor, Cable, was in a relationship with Copycat, who is a shapeshifter and has shown attraction to her regardless of what form she takes, and has also been in a long-term relationship with Marvel Comics’ character of Death, which although might use she/her pronouns, I hardly think would classify as cis.
Images: Deadpool telling Thor that he finds him very attractive and then feeling embarrassed, Deadpool’s ‘Free Pass’ list of people that he’s allowed to sleep with while in a relationship, with Spider-Man being on that list, Deadpool calling Rob Lowe his “dream boy”, Deadpool saying that he’s “oddly aroused” while being pinned by Kingpin, Deadpool describing some traits that he finds attractive, all of which are gender neutral, such as round features and a specific zodiac sign, Deadpool kissing Copycat while she’s in the form of a cisgender man, and telling her how beautiful she is, Deadpool and Spider-Man tied up together, and Deadpool trying not to be turned on.
