Have you seen Project Hail Mary? The main character is heavily aroace-coded. And most of the fandom agrees that he's aroace-coded.
I have, and I absolutely loved it! Neither my spouse or myself really view the main character as aroace, I feel like the setting doesn't have enough elements to let me make that assumption, and it's rarely the creators' intent and somehow I feel intent matters a good amount when it comes to representation... BUT.
I'll be very clear on one thing. As an aroace, Project Hail Mary was one of the best movie experiences I've had in recent years.
Like, a story that has no romance except passing mentions? That centers around a friendship? Where the main characters place the wellbeing of the greater good, of a multitude of people they at large don't know, above everything, because "loving thy neighbor" (in the most non-religious way I can put it, personally at least) is a thing when push comes to shove, as opposed to the usual thing© where the MC just needs to be romantically in love with someone to understand the world is worth saving or whatever? (No but like seriously, the human MC is literally pushed and inspired in life by teaching kids, the literal future of the world, as opposed to being inspired by romantic prospects, how wholesome is that? How weirdly rarely is that represented??) So yeah, a story like that, AND a lot of people loved it? Fuck yeah. That has me ecstatic. Such a good case showing how you don't need the usual tired story beats to make an engaging blockbuster.
(Also I was crying non-stop for basically the whole last third of the movie, just saying)
(Also also, my partner and I may or may not be working on fanart merch for the future, we'll see how that goes)
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