#poc representation

Synopsis: After getting a deadly infection, you die and isekai into the world of Twisted Wonderland, a reverse harem otome game. If that wasn’t enough, you're gifted with every lazy procrastinators worst fear: overbearing famous parents who live vicariously through their kids. Children shows, beauty peagants, clothing brands, commercials. Now, pushed into fame and headlines from young age, can you juggle a secret identity and your school relationships, all while trying to pass your classes?

CH. 1 : Not here yet !

CH. 2 : Not here yet !

CH. 3: Not here yet !

CH. 4: Not here yet !

playlist? Not here yet !

Aesthetic board? Here!

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divider credit: @lunaflorel

Male version? If people want it!

It had EVERYTHING:

- Random kids carrying the flame

- Gays.

- French cancan't

- Furries

- Lady Gaga???

- Craftspeople and public workers

- Bloodshed, cannons and a metal band

- Masked genderless silhouette parkouring their way through the whole mess

- More gays

- Polyamory

- Non-binary dancers and actors

- POC dancers and actors

- Disabled dancers and actors

- Whatever the fuck was going on with those poles

- Lesbian kiss?

- France's most hated rapper singing a song written entirely in slang in front of THE FUCKING INSTITUTE DEDICATED TO THE FRENCH LANGUAGE?

- Her being accompanied by the National Guard orchestra.

- Gays. SO MANY gays.

- MINIONS???

- Hundreds of top quality instruments getting fucked up by the rain.

- Drag queens, opera dancers, fashion designers and...oh, yeah, Alsace.

- National icon Philippe Katherine but make it blue

- 100 years long horse ride

- Damn that armor's looking fine

- Giant balloon ascending to the sky and...just fucking staying there cause they had nowhere to put it

-Did I tell you about the gays?

Holy fuck.

I'm flabbergasted. I'm bamboozled. I'm lying dead on the ground, holding my last breath.

I mean yes, it was funny. Yes, it was strange. Yes, it gave France a super weird reputation.

BUT DO YOU REALISE THAT THE DESIGN COMMITTEE JUST SAW THE RISE OF OUR EXTREME CONSERVATIVE PARTY AND DECIDED TO THROW A MASSIVE "FUCK YOU" AT THEM???

dont get me wrong, i LOVE justice smith. ive watched pretty much everything he’s been in, and “i saw the tv glow” is genuinely one of my favourites. and i have absolutely no problem with them casting a poc. if anything, i think it’s fucking amazing that they’ve cast a poc because whiteness is EVERYWHERE and we desperately need more poc representation.

but like…justice smith isn’t plus sized. and that’s where my issue comes in.

i just wish they had cast a bigger person of colour. because erasing plus sized queer people, and bigger people in general, from these stories is honestly so fucking disappointing. representation isn’t a competition between marginalised groups. you can be happy about getting poc representation AND still be disappointed that plus sized people aren’t being represented. both things can be true at once.

i feel like queer media has progressed so much over the last few years, and genuinely, that’s incredible. we’re getting so much more queer representation than we used to, and i’m really grateful for that. but at the same time…why does it feel like the overwhelming majority of that representation is still skinny, white, conventionally attractive people?

i can barely think of any plus sized queer characters who actually get to just EXIST as queer people rather than being pushed into some specific role. isaac from heartstopper is one of the main examples i can think of, and even then i have complicated feelings about it. isaac is a bigger person and, imo, absolutely not unattractive, but he’s also aromantic/asexual. and obviously there is NOTHING wrong with being aroace. aroace people deserve representation too. that’s not my point at all.

my point is that when the bigger queer character is consistently the one who doesn’t get a romantic storyline, it starts to feel like a pattern.

because why is it that bigger queer people so often end up as the side character, the funny friend, the “relatable” one, or the character who doesn’t get to experience romance or desirability? meanwhile the skinny, conventionally attractive queer characters get to fall in love, be desired, have sex, be the main character, have complicated relationships, etc.

and i see a similar thing in fandom too. peter from the marauders fandom is another example that comes to mind, where he’s very often headcanoned as ace/aro, while the other characters are allowed to have all these romantic and sexual interpretations. obviously fandom can headcanon characters however they want, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with peter being ace/aro, but when you keep seeing bigger characters being assigned identities that remove them from romance while thin characters get to be desirable, it does make me raise an eyebrow.

and maybe it’s just me, idk. but my gut is telling me that a lot of queer media is still being made with a very specific audience in mind. the kind of audience that comments “thank you computa” under every queer man’s post and treats queer people like they’re some aesthetic or fandom accessory. like, queer enough to feel progressive, but still conventionally attractive enough to be palatable.

and THAT’S what bothers me.

i don’t want less poc representation. i don’t want less aroace representation. i don’t want less queer representation. i want MORE. i want bigger queer people to be allowed to be protagonists and love interests and hot and messy and desirable and complicated and fucking human. i want fat queer characters who get to fall in love AND fat queer characters who don’t. i want them to have the same range of stories that skinny queer characters already get.

because representation shouldn’t just be about putting a marginalised identity on screen. it’s also about who gets to be seen as desirable, who gets to be the protagonist, who gets to have a love story, and who gets to exist without their body becoming the reason they’re pushed to the side.

that’s all i’m saying.

It was a risk making Bridgerton into a show a risk that Shonda took. The books came out over 2 decades ago. No one else tried to turn it into a film/series adaptation. Just by reading the books, anyone would know Bridgerton would require a HIGH budget. No one else would risk losing tons of money for a show they did not know would be successful. The costuming of season 1 alone would be around $80,000. One episode would have a cost of at least 5 million dollars.

Without the show, many people, including myself, would not know how talented and versatile many of the actors and actresses of Bridgerton are. From learning to waltz to learning to play the piano, these artists have put so much work into the show, and it sucks to see how ungrateful people can be. The actors put so much work into the show. They learn new skills, they stay on set for long hours, they try clear up their schedule to commit to the show but of course they can't include every single person in every episode there wouldn't be enough time and it would take even longer to shoot.

I've said this many times before, but Bridgerton is a Netflix show. Not Disney, not Amazon, not Hulu, etc. Each episode is ±40 minutes for a reason. Each season has only 8 episodes for a reason. This most likely will never change. With an episode being ±40 minutes, that means each season has a total of around 320 minutes. Thats 320 minutes where majority of the time MUST focus on the main leads and must still have side plots to either contribute to the story, to entertain those who find the main story boring and to build up to future seasons.

Next, the complaint about how the various official Bridgerton/Shondaland pages work is its own department. Shonda doesn't run either account. It's run by the marketing, communications, and public relations departments. With the Bridgerton account specifically, it is not at all run by Shonda, Jess or Tom.

Tom, Julie Anne, Tricia, etc. are directors. They direct episodes, which also need to be approved by Shondaland AND Netflix. Jess and Chris are screenwriters whose scripts must also be approved by Shondaland AND Netflix. They can not copy the books word for word because the books were a product of their time. People enjoyed the fact that the show focuses on the female gaze rather than the male. Each season focused more on the female lead rather than the male lead. People also won't like the men if they were book accurate because, again, the books were a product of their time.

If the show was accurate to the books, we would NOT have made it to season 3. People who felt represented by Penelope won't NOT feel representation by a book accurate Penelope because she loses weight, and then her love story begins. We've had enough of women having to lose weight to find love. It felt amazing to watch season 3 and know that Penelope did not have to change her physical appearance for men to love her. People of color would NOT feel represented by any of the characters in the show. Kate (and Edwina and Mary) was a refreshing representation of South Asians. Even South Asian actors feel they were first accurately represented in Bridgerton. Having elegant, graceful women of colour characters who did not constantly have to struggle was a beautiful experience that I personally hadn't seen in years. Having Sophie as a Cinderella inspired character was exciting to see. Especially one who is graceful and kind despite horrible situations but importantly one who is smart, educated and knows her worth. Having Michaela, who is a feminine queer black woman, and who isn't a bitch (no offense Monet de haan & Santana Lopez) be a main leads in the upcoming season is representation I don't think I've ever seen before. Especially when that woman is nobility. Having disabled characters who's disabilities do not define them. Having deaf representation by including characters communicating in sign language casually because it is just another language. Having Hazel be a maid who isn't treated differently and is seen managing tasks just as any other. Representation matters. But realistically, we would not have that without Shondaland.