eleanor

i present to you: the ark’s inevitable feature in one of those “girl magazines” i used to read religiously as a kid in the late 00s/early 2010s, because if there isn’t a quiz for random people to find out whether they should date you or not, you have NOT yet made it!!!

this got so fuckin long i’m sorry lol

OK SO: all edits either fell into one of four categories:

taking out tori’s internalised misogyny, especially towards becky

removing some otherwise problematic statements

a more realistic portrayal of mental health

making the story more in line with heartstopper

there were no major changes to the storyline, just to the way it’s told. most changes were single-line changes, with a few exceptions.

the biggest changes were hands down the way becky is viewed. tori in the original text tends to look down on becky for liking boys and parties, and often feels like she’s acting dumber than she is and is very much annoyed by it. in the edits, the main reason tori doesn’t like becky very much is because she’s everything tori wishes she could be: outgoing, sociable, happy. they were once equals, but then becky moved on and became this whole new bright person while tori is still completely lost in life. there’s very little text added to the book (most of it is either removed or single changed), but when it is, it’s almost always in relation to becky and the way tori views her. i guess this is the closest the book gets to actually changing the story. although it is made clear in the end of the original text that at least a part of tori’s dislike for becky (and other girls) does ultimately stem from envy, i don’t think it always reads that way. it mostly just reads as her looking down on other girls for being girly.

the otherwise problematic statements were mostly things like taking out references to celebs that turned out to be massive dicks in the past few years, and changing words like “insane” and “sociopathic” to “weird” and “ridiculous”. same goes for the internalised misogyny, parts where tori talks down or slut-shames other girls are either completely taken out or edited. 

the portrayal of mental illness also ended up changing a lot of the text. a lot of charlie’s illness is less explicit/triggering and more accurate. (i don’t know enough about EDs/charlie’s other mental health issues to say too much about it, though). it still isn’t sugar-coated, though-- solitaire’s dark tone is still VERY much present. it’s just less intentionally terrifying and violent.

some interactions between nick and charlie were also changed, mainly nick’s personality to make it more in line with heartstopper. nothing major, though!

i think solitaire as a book still works with the original text, but i can totally see why alice wanted to edit it, if that makes sense. the edits to the portrayal of mental illness were necessary imo, but as for the rest? teenage girls ARE misogynistic (i sure as hell was!) and teenagers do sometimes use language that’s entirely inappropriate. we ARE dicks, usually. doesn’t mean we have to be, though, and i feel like that’s the main difference between the two texts: post-edit tori sets more of an example than pre-edit tori.

basically: i wasn’t upset by any of the edits! as like... everyone who follows this blog knows solitaire is a story very close to my heart and i enjoyed reading it the best it could be :) i think if 15-year-old me had read this version of the novel, i would have loved it all the same.,and maybe even gained some more insight into the way i viewed other girls. maybe. probably not, i was very stubborn.

Aspec people do not get the opportunity to “opt-out” of this discussion; the things that are dragged through the mud and “discoursed about” are our own lives, terminology, and experiences. This is something allo people need to be acutely aware of, especially before they try to tell us whether or not it matters.

Us existing and being treated with respect is not “discourse”, it’s basic tolerance that should be expected of people. Choosing not to care says more about your opinion on us than you think it does.

Aphobia isn’t just saying nasty things towards us: It’s ignoring our issues, downplaying our community and experiences, and pretending we don’t exist. It’s acting like our issues, which have been dragged out for years by this point, are frivolous and fun topics, and not something that buried our community in fighting, misinformation, and bigotry. It’s acting like whether or not we’re deserving of respect- something we should’ve had since day one- is a debate with no correct answer.

just a random thought i had today haha

and this is how Lister is gonna accidentally out his feelings for Jimmy to the entire internet.