Spuffy is what happens when you play Russian roulette with your audience and lose

I have a barely formed meta concept in my head about "the gambit gambit" being in play here. Trope named after X-Men's Gambit character, to describe the propensity of misogynistic male writers to lash out at female audiences for daring to like a male character misogynistic men can't project themselves onto, by trying to spitefully render the character unlikable.

Their attempts to render the character rarely work because those attempts are predicated on the assumption that emasculation is the key to rendering the character unlovable. Naturally this manifests as queercoding and has the opposite effect.

I’m glad someone pointed this out because yes!! Honestly, it goes even beyond emasculation--they do everything in their power to break down whatever mystique and coolness Spike ever had. I am convinced this is why Spike’s backstory is that his whole persona was fake and he was actually an upper-class Victorian poet. He cries openly, he stops winning fights, he’s effectively completely disempowered for the entire run of the show. And you will see in a lot of Gen spaces, like the reddit or certain facebook groups, that this method of “making Spike unlikable” did work on some people.

Often the take that “Spike was only good in s2″ is floated in these spaces. And I don’t want to generalize but.......... this is a take I see almost exclusively from Dudebro types. Straight dudes who think Angel is the epitome of cool or who don’t get all the hate Riley gets. But all this did was make Spike not appealing as a male power fantasy, and Spike’s female fanbase couldn’t care less about that.

They didn’t like that Spike was a good fighter, that he’d killed Slayers and had a rockstar swagger. They liked that as soon as Dru walks into the room in School Hard, he drops his routine and rushes to dote on her. They liked his softness and devotion and the contrast it has with his persona.

The misogynistic male writers never thought to discard that part of his character because they already thought it was a pathetic, unappealing trait.

Keep seeing posts in solidarity with the WGA strike that say things like “no one cares about your favorite shows” and “fuck your tv show. I hope it gets canceled” and while I understand and agree with the underlying sentiment, which is clearly “Real people are more important than fictional ones, you dipshit” I don’t like the framing because, well, it feels shitty to dismiss the importance of the work made by the workers we’re trying to defend.

No one cares about your favorite shows more than the writers do.

No one understands the power and importance of tv and film more than the writers who created them.

No one loves tv, movies, games, and stories more than the people who fought tooth and nail in an incredibly competitive and underpaid profession for the chance to be part of it.

They know it’s important. They know it changes lives. They know it can be more than just a story, more than just a bit of entertainment. They’ve loved and respected this medium, continue to love and respect this medium, more than you ever will.

The person who wants a show to get canceled the least is the writer who poured their everything into making it good.

TV and movies are great, actually, and you are not wrong to be invested and care about them. That’s what the writers gave you. That’s what the writers wanted when they wrote it. That’s why they wrote it.

Which is why we respect them when they make the call that this strike and its demands are worth risking it.

The people on that picket line do not want their shows canceled. They want to keep writing them. They can’t, not under the current conditions.

So we accept the risk with them and support them.

But I don’t want to berate the power and importance of their work, the value they put into it and the love they have for it, in the same breath that I am defending their strike. Worthy shows will likely get canceled or derailed and that will be a tragedy worth mourning. The writers know that better than anyone.

So when they say something else is even more important, we listen. And when your favorite show gets ruined, you make sure your fully justified anger and grief is pointed in the right direction - at the CEOs who killed it.

"What if my favourite show is delayed due to writers strike?"

With respect, no one cares about your favourite tv shows.

This is about real people fighting for their real livelihoods, for their futures.

I cannot articulate sufficiently how unimportant the production of some tv show or other is.

I see what you mean but actually, no, the production of TV shows *is* important in this context. The fact that there are shows whose audiences are unable to watch them is a big part of what gives the WGA a leg to stand on. If it weren't important, there would be no point in striking, because there wouldn't be an audience waiting for what comes from those writers. But there is, and that does matter.

So if your favourite show is delayed? Complain to the network that their unwillingness to negotiate fairly with the WGA and pay their creatives properly is pissing you off as a viewer.

Thank you! I am so sick of people saying not to get upset about shows being delayed or cancelled when people getting upset is the whole reason a strike could work. If everyone just pretends everything's fine, then the network just won't care. If fans are angry, the network might listen.

It took an annoying amount of looking through the reblogs to find takes I actually agree with, because the OP is...not it.

We do care about our favorite shows. It’s very much okay to care about our favorite shows. THAT’S THE POINT. That’s why the people writing these shows we love should have fair wages and a future, because they’re creating something we care about, that matters to us, that deserves to be respected and treated as the art it is, being made by talented, heavily underpaid people.

the way erik looks at charles (intensely) - for @jerottblyth

WHOOPS MY BRAIN

Ok I want to say something controversial

But you are responsible for your own safe spaces. You can block tags, block words, block people.

“But i thought fandom was supposed to be a safe space” —yeah you have to curate it.

Unfortunately one persons’s safe space may be another persons’ trigger. That’s ok. Simply block them, block the tag, block the word etc. They can do the same for you.

Maybe I’m just out of touch, but I’ve been around since the days of “don’t like, don’t read” and that’s a good philosophy. If it squicks you, scroll past. If it causes you anxiety or upset, block! Plenty of people are responsive if you ask them to tag an upsetting trigger. And if they’re dicks about it, block em.

Since different people have different needs, one person’s safe space will be another’s Trauma Central.

I don’t know who said it first, but “I need to be able to express my anger without shame” and “I need to be away from yelling and loud noises” are both valid needs people can have for a safe space that really aren’t compatible with each other.

So are “I need to process my trauma” and “I need to not meet any trauma.”

Or “I want a safe space to tell/read the stories that speak to me” and “those stories are distressing to me.”

Insisting that your needs are the only needs anyone should have is not a safe space, it’s its own act of violence.

You don’t get to make others homeless to make the universe your personal safe space.

no seriously, tell me where you're from and if you read asterix and obelix as a kid because I thought those comics were universal

there's something so funny about 10 people in a row reblogging this saying they're from India and loved them as a kid, and then one person from India reblogging with a rant about westerners assuming their experiences are universal and "of course i dont know them"

"Go ahead, choose your Howl."

I just found out that I never posted them here, but my Instagram account was disabled, so why not? Hope you guys like it!

It was a nervous start… 

(Source)

the way erik looks at charles (intensely) - for @jerottblyth

WHOOPS MY BRAIN

i'm sorry we've fallen out touch it's just that i've been in a very bad spot mentally (2011-present)

not to be a pessimist on the main blog, but i struggle with the fact that even the most radical leftists i know have almost all gone back to life as usual without wearing masks in public. people who I've sat in community with and talked about changing the world, just to see them not change a tiny aspect of their life to protect vulnerable people.

yes, we've been structurally failed on every level of this pandemic. and also yes, i can't take someone seriously in their ideals and morals if wearing a goddamn mask in public was too much for them. i could rant about this more but I'll just get upset lol.

please wear a mask if you've stopped doing so.

people in the notes who want to try justifying why they stopped wearing masks: this post isn't the place for you to do that, babes. it is straight up unethical not to wear a mask in closed, public quarters, and if it makes you feel bad to hear that, well. sorry. deal with those feelings on your own time.

i know shame doesn't work as a motivator and i am truly not trying to shame anyone. at the same time, there's a special kind of horror i feel at the fact that we've been told by experts that masking can help to save lives, especially the lives of disabled folks, and most people collectively have shrugged and gone "ehhhh no thanks. you see, it's slightly inconvenient for me."

wear a fucking mask, please.

HEARTBREAKING: Poor girl has to get out of the soft warm bed even though she is so so so so comfy

with ℒℴѵℯ

reblog to give warm bread to your mutuals

i don’t want to go to work i want to do all the things i only want to do when i don’t have the free time to do them

no longer at work and with plenty of time to kill

Hey 18 - 29 year olds,

THANK YOU! You made a difference. You may not see the overwhelming, immediate, desirable results. Please do not be discouraged. But you stopped more really horrible things from happening. Times are hard. So many people are struggling. But you showed up! Please keep showing up. Please become leaders. Please keep voting in EVERY ELECTION. You are a huge generation full of love, light, equality, and determination to see justice for marginalized people. Use your voices, lead, and VOTE😺💗🌸

What you have done is prevent fascism from spreading unchecked. It may not feel like much, it may feel like you’re shoveling shit from a sitting position (so much of politics feels like that), but I promise you, I PROMISE YOU:

Showing up like this, in a giant bloc, is how Republicans managed to go from “we disagree but we’re sane” to absolute unfettered madness in the space of 40 years. They pushed the Overton window so, so far right.

Keep showing up. Because that is how we push it back left, and make all those things we want—universal healthcare and housing assistance and trans equality and disability rights—HAPPEN.

Y’all did good. Y’all did so, so good. Thank you. Now please, please—keep it up. It’s a long fight and feels endless. But you just showed IT CAN BE WON.