jackie🍎

El fuego

shawngela + necessary roughness

adding onto this with the main example I was looking for !!! Cory is in this red puffer jacket with a scarf and gloves while Shawn has layers built up before his…. I think it’s subtle and shows their styles but also the difference in what they can afford for the winter like. Buying something new or repurposing

however. this is all conjecture. shane doesn’t mention his japanese heritage a scant one (1) time in the long game because of a purposeful assimilationist narrative — it’s because reid is not interested in exploring this aspect of his identity. shane is comparatively raceless in the book itself, although the actual nature of his story is still transparently impacted by how reid herself perceives race. ilya only mentions russia during arguments with shane, but otherwise does not seem to feel any particularly complex feelings about having no significant relationships with other russian players. while reid has been lauded for incorporating russian culture into ilya’s character, the storytelling remains relatively shallow. despite ilya’s desperation to leave russia permanently, ilya’s passport is not mentioned a single time in the long game. the absence of how shane and ilya’s identities might reasonably drive their relationship issues, miscommunications, and personal challenges is stark. why include race and immigration and cultural identity as elements of these characters if you refuse to consider how these elements would impact their actions? or at the very least, why try to prescribe intentionality and complexity for decisions that seem to exist solely as window dressing?