Tag Game: Hopeful Little Queer Shows π
@soypim made my week with a delightful tag game all about hope. No rules really. Just make a list. What shows give you hope?
Revenged Love -> Like only a few hours until the next episode. Right?
Jokes aside (that was not really a joke), this is a tag game I desperately needed. While I try to keep a positive outlook in general, I was a bit in my feels this past week.
Based on the reblog tags for my Revenged Love posts, those feels definitely seeped out. Sorry for making so many of you cry! I am keeping my fingers crossed it was the good kind of crying at least.
Hope is a word that has been weaponized in my past, and it's one of many I'm working to reclaim. So if I shake off all the voices in my head (from the people in my life) that tell me that I find joy in the wrong things, put my efforts in the wrong places, and think the wrong way, then what's left to foster hope? A whole lot. Beauty, peace, contentment, patience, kindness, acceptance...there are so many wonderful things to embrace in life.
Fair warning: I've rewritten this list SO many times in the past couple of days. I've tried to sprinkle as much positive pixie dust on it as I can. But...I'm still in my feels, hope often intertwines with pain for me, and that's likely to show. Thanks to my mutuals who reassured me that was okay and to post it anyways. π«Ά
Hope From Acceptance: See Your Love
I am not deaf, but I have always been moderately hearing impaired. Both my family and my school decided it was best for me to hide it if I could. The sad thing is...they were probably right at the time. I developed workarounds and learned to mask it as much as possible. After all, it was better for people to think I was an arrogant jerk or a space cadet rather than admit I couldn't understand their mumbling. It wasn't until my 30s that I came to accept that my hearing was just a part of me and openly discuss it. So this show? So many aspects of it just felt healing. It gives me hope that maybe the world is moving towards a place where differences are just differences.
Hope From Comfort: My Personal Weatherman
No surprise here. This show has been my companion during every sad spell I've had since it aired. This show gives me all the feels and sexy thrills I love. It also reminds me to question my own feelings and reactions. Am I being an unreliable narrator? Probably. I really think we all are. What would be the other person's perspective? Let me consider that. But in addition to the fun sexiness and reflection it brings, this show comforts me. It shows understanding developing in baby steps. Segasaki and Yoh are two very internal and flawed people, and they are CRAP communicators. But we see them make small and steady progress towards each other. They're trying, and that gives me hope to keep trying too.
Hope From Community: The Heart Killers/When It Rains, It Pours
Either of these shows could've been chosen for their message on having the courage to make the needed changes in your life. But they're on this list because I started my blog writing about them. I've watched BL since 2017 and lurked (certain accounts) on Tumblr for years, but it was only six months ago that I decided to lean in and engage...to speak. And I was blown away by how my words were not only allowed but welcomed at this table. The community engagement during these shows gave me hope that there was a seat available for me. There was a place where I could share some of the thoughts rattling in my brain. I just hadn't been at the right table.
Hope From Contentment: Perfect Propose
I grew up in a family where telling someone "no" was considered selfish and disrespectful. If it was within your abilities to do, you did it. Period. Selflessness and service to others. First and always. This led to a lot of workaholic tendencies. I tried to be the best and all things to all people for a long time. It's always been important for me to find spots of personal joy, but I still burned out. You can only go without sleep for so long before you crash. For me, this show is about discovering what truly matters. Your life really can be yours. Saying "I don't want to" is a perfectly ok reason to make a decision. There's hope in enjoying the small pleasures of life and people by your side.
Hope From Kindness, Peace, and Beauty: Trapped in Osaka
This may seem like an odd choice to some, and it will not be everyone's cup of tea. It's very much mine. This small show incorporates so many things that bring me hope.
Hao Yu is kind, and that matters. It may not change the entire world. But it matters. I place a lot of hope in people being kind.
Chen Xi is struggling - just like Xiaoshuai in Revenged Love or Myungha in Love for Love's Sake. Different causes, same outcome. They all consider suicide. My grandfather ended his own life. My brother struggles with suicidal ideation. When I was a teacher, I had four of my students end their life within the span of a few years. I lost count of the attempts. Any of these stories that show people coming to some level of peace after that level of pain brings me hope. Hope that other people can reach that place too.
And the reason I chose this show instead of any of those others? This fit...
Hope springs from beauty. Let's appreciate beauty when we find it.
Hope From Representation: Two Husbands, One Wife
A fully realized and official throuple. You don't have to have the answers. But to reach for happiness, you must move forward rather than stay paralyzed in the what ifs. This show gives me good feels.
And it gives me hope for the future. I love that we're seeing a wider variety of shows now. If you had described my current watch list to me eight years ago? I would have laughed in your face and said "dream on". I'm living that dream. That's a pretty amazing thing.
Hope has no limits, so if you want to play, consider yourself tagged. Please tag me so I can enjoy your choices. π«Ά
A huge thank you to everyone that tagged me! Seriously, you all are the best! @my-rose-tinted-glasses @dramalove247 @watchthisqqq @thisonelikesaliens
Tagging some folks to play or just to share the joy and the love (thanks Rose for that quote): @babyangelsky @obsessedferalgremlin @hughungrybear @iguessitsjustme @ginnymoonbeam @usertoxicyaoi @bentnotbroken1fanfiction @delesaria-blog @dribs-and-drabbles @befuddledcinnamonroll @troubled-mind @pointlesscandies @poetry-protest-pornography @abstractelysium @slayerkitty
