When folks say “Protect Lil Nas X” I want you to understand that this is coming from a deep place in queer culture. One of the prime directives of the queer community is to protect young and recently out queer folks. It comes from a place of understanding that coming out is inherently a traumatic process. Being young and queer in a community where queerness is not accepted is inherently traumatic.
It does not matter if the young queer person is annoying or cringe or wearing rainbows from head to toe and transforming themselves into a walking stereotype. That’s part of the process of reclaiming identity for a LOT of people. Sometimes shoving it in people’s faces is the only way you can get over the instinct to cower and conform. It doesn’t matter if they made some off-color jokes while they work through internalized queerphobia. It doesn’t even matter if you like the young queer person much as a person.
You protect them. Because someone protected you. Or because no one was around to protect you, and you know how much that sucked. You see a young person in a gay bar that looks a little lost or nervous, guess what? That’s your child now. Go help them fix their lip gloss and tell them their body glitter is cute and teach them how to tell if someone is giving them the eye from across the room. You see them getting hassled? Take out those earrings, you’re giving someone a smackdown tonight.
The queer community has been so turned against itself in recent years, we’re forgetting our fucking roots. We’re not here to bitch out queer kids for making mistakes while they figure out who the fuck they are. We’re here to throw bricks at cops.
no offense but don’t sing if you want to live long they have no use for your song you’re dead you’re dead you’re dead. you’re dead and out of this world. you’ll never get a second chance plan all your move in advance stay dead stay dead stay dead. stay dead and out of this world
One thing I love about the Kenobi series is that they are consistently portraying Obi Wan Kenobi as an individual who is just kind. The show demonstrates this so well despite incredible suffering and risk on his part. Goodness in characters is so beautiful and attractive and I am 100 percent here for this.
all those “radiohead listeners are virgin 30 year old men” memes are blatantly incorrect radiohead is a band for 20-something women who believe they can communicate with angels through the microwave
i’ve seen posts for this for mitski and fiona apple but hey… tell me what Your regina spektor song is. the one that gets you hardest, cuts closest to the bone, the special one you hold.
i wanna talk about the dynamic between ed and lucius, because i feel like people tend to either completely brush it off as non-existent, or as lucius only having ed’s attention because lucius is close to stede, and i think that is a huge disservice, as i see the relationship between the two characters as incredibly nuanced. and this is gonna be really freaking long i’m so sorry.
it’s widely accepted that stede is the only person to ever be truly upfront with ed, but while i agree to some extent that stede is true to himself around ed, i think that lucius to a much greater degree is the absolutely only person who fully does not think thée great blackbeard is The Shit. before ed shows up on the revenge lucius does seem to think the mystery about this legend character is enticing, but the second he actually meets ed all of that washes away. he is the one person who continuously stands up to ed, and tells him to treat stede right. lucius sees very quickly (what stede himself doesn’t even see) that the chemistry between ed and stede is growing more romantic, and it is lucius’ instinct to be protective of this captain he didn’t even like about a week or two prior to ed showing up. lucius even showed up on the island with the biggest bitch attitude to hand deliver a breakup box when ed left with calico jack.
and what i see is that ed respects that about lucius. stede actually did try to embellish his own persona in front of ed; trying to seem tougher than he is, trying to impress ed again and again - he might not have changed himself, but he did bend over backwards to make a good impression. but ed saw that lucius didn’t. there was never any doubt where lucius’ loyalty was, and it was with his own captain. and we see ed look to lucius when he is unsure about stede, because he knows the way to a dude’s heart is through his reluctant gay bestie.
then when ed returned from running away from the british navy, lucius is the only person ed opens up to. aside from stede, lucius is the only person ed is truly vulnerable with, and confides to directly. he invites lucius into his blanket fort, he tells lucius about this raw pain that he is feeling, even if he does try to thinly veil it as about someone else.
and this part is the most important to me; i think ed sees in lucius what he wishes he could be himself. lucius is openly gay, and very vocal about his gayness. he doesn’t take on the big responsible roles, because he truly does not want them. he is soft, and kind, and so gentle with people who are in a bad way. he doesn’t put a big thing into making people like him, and he is honest with people around him, and still finding the balance in how to be that in the way the situation requires. he can be mean and vicious, but only when people deserve it. in many ways, he is just like stede. he is also fiercely protective of the people he cares about, and he is definitely down to clown.
which brings me to the last episode. ed goes through this massive transformation of being broken and vulnerable, to having izzy’s words snap him back to his old alter ego of blackbeard. i’ve seen a lot of different reasons for how people sees the scene of ed pushing lucius overboard; that he just snapped, that it was to solidify his newfound edginess, that he always thought lucius was annoying, etc. but i truly, deeply in my soul see lucius as being someone ed has grown to care about, and he couldn’t have that around anymore. ed got rid of stede’s possessions, his crew - it was basically that taylor swift video where she burns all of her ex’s things in a fit of rage. so why didn’t ed just drop lucius off at the island along with the others? because lucius is a physical manifestation of the memory of stede, but also of that inner core of ed that he had buried so deep inside but slowly started letting out from knowing stede. when ed looks at lucius he sees both stede, the man he loves but he believes doesn’t love him back, but also the person he wishes he could be himself. kind, gentle, embracing his feminine side, not caring about who knows he’s gay, and someone who is loyal and protective of the people he loves. by pushing lucius overboard, ed is not only pushing away stede’s memory, he is also trying to kill the part of himself that he had only just started to embrace.
i wanna keep ranting about my love for the relationship between these two, but this is already so long. now i just really fucking hope s2 will fix this, because i need ed and lucius to be best friends and confidants.
I love the Monkees, I love their manufactured early music, I love their experimental later music, I love their stupid show, I love their stupid movie, I love their stupid TV special, I love the Monkees
I just got the part in The Dragon Reborn where Mat (invalid farmer) beats Gawyn and Galad (Swords™) with a quarterstaff and I’ve never felt more blessed
He hits the dumb boys over and over again with a REAL BIG STICK
