wewithyoursmile

I’m not sure what you’re trying to achieve here. Are you trying to convince me that it’s not a big deal? Maybe you haven’t been here all that long, but plausible deniability is the name of the game. Everything you cite is exactly the reason they both could show up there.

It seems like you don’t understand the lengths to which people (including HL) have gone to keep anyone from seeing the two of them even in the same vicinity.

You certainly don’t have to believe they’re still together, I’ll even give you a pass if you’ve somehow ignored all the evidence and believe they never dated, but if you actually believe the two of them hate each other, you’re a lost cause.

The point of everyone’s excitement is that, for some reason, the two of them being in the same place at the same time was allowed to be public. And that we got a photo of them just feet away from each other. Other than Louis’ performance in 2016, that hasn’t happened outside of One Direction concerts and interviews since Lairport in 2014, IIRC. They’ve been consistently absent from each other’s lives in a way that is so glaringly obvious, it would be funny if it wasn’t so infuriating.

Harry wishing Xander a happy birthday and joking about his age.

saw this on Twitter and just wanted to say that this is how you know it's all bullshit. if all the things that are happening were real we wouldn't know about it, or we would know very little, bc if O was actually trying to be professional and looking for the best for the movie and the actors and everything around it, nothing. would. be. happening.

we would barely see harry and O together, she wouldn't go around wearing his merch, she wouldn't do as much as she can to get as much attention as possible and use harry for it. hell we probably wouldn't even know or would be just now finding out about the fact that they “are together”.

This masterpost belongs to tellmethisisnotlove (@tellmethisisnottumblisnextfuckup) who authorized me to post it. All credits go to her.

The rest of the Masterposts

Masterposts in Docs

ME

OUT

part 1 of this conversation

Twitter forces the compression of information because it’s a short form medium and you are constantly competing for readers’ attention. This results in a heavy reliance on conceptual shortcuts. The most prominent is a good/bad moral dichotomy. It is deeply ingrained in our society in part because it is foundational to some of our most dominant theologies. Understanding moral complexity takes life experience, education, good information, and nuance.

The twitter fandom in particular is an echo chamber of young people with limited life experience and education on a platform that does not provide good information and nuance. It is incredibly susceptible to falling into a black-and-white worldview where you and your friends are “good” and everyone who is different from you is “bad”.

(This oppositional fighting is a very effective and tried-and-true marketing tactic for teenage fans, and I think Harry’s team is particularly guilty of stoking it. The genius of it is that his own rival is another version of himself because the fighting is happening between his own fans.)

So in your twitter bubble right now, the queer fans are the good guys and the cishet fans are the bad guys and the whole thing is built on incredibly reductive discourse. The tides will change and the most important virtue signals will be different in a few months. But the toxic culture will remain until Twitter starts taking the wellbeing of its massive teenage fan userbase seriously, which it probably will not because that is not the most profitable option (unless things change).

So what I’m saying is that the problem isn’t the fans or the current discourse, it is the platform. You can either leave or find healthier ways of engaging with twitter (i have a twitter & it’s very chill tbh because im private and i only follow a few people) but I strongly encourage you to stop spending your time with people online who do not help you grow as a person.

Hi love. I don’t have a lot of energy for this right now, but basically I don’t think people necessarily “blame” the GP for assuming he uses his queerness when it suits him. Personally, I assume the GP hasn’t taken more than a cursory glance at who Harry is. However, its very disappointing that members of the LGBTQ+ community do it because it means they’re ignoring the possibility that he’s closeted, and assuming that just because he’s “rich and famous” he should come out—as if being rich and famous is the only thing anyone needs to feel safe and secure enough to come out.

I don’t think it’s a matter of being more “conscious” of his decisions, but rather that he has somewhat more of a choice over his decisions now. However, those choices are still made within the context of an extremely homophobic world and industry (or industries, if you include Hollywood). I think it’s ignorant (and frankly, disgusting) to say something like “Harry is rich, he doesn’t have to work, so he should just come out”.

As for Louis, it’s not “weird” that their closets are different. They’ve always been different. “Benefiting” from a closet is a point of view I don’t really share. If you’re in a relationship with someone and your position is “better” than theirs, does that automatically mean you’re a bad partner? I don’t understand that way of thinking. Harry isn’t in charge of Louis’ closet.

It’s naive to assume Harry doesn’t suffer because of what’s happening with Louis—and what exactly do you expect of Harry, anyway? That he martyr himself? That he turn down opportunities and give up his career because “it’s not fair”? How does that help Louis? Don’t you think that making money, becoming successful, and gaining power in the industry they both work in is maybe a little more helpful to both of them?

And this view that Louis is just sitting, shackled in a corner, crying, while Harry is gallivanting around the world is just idiotic. Do you know what goes on behind the scenes? Do you know what negotiating has gone on? Do you know what Harry may have agreed to because doing so helped Louis? No. None of us do. But it’s possible that it happened if you consider that they might be a couple in a strong and healthy relationship. Because that’s how partnerships work.

In this case, it explains why Harry spent a month in Jamaica having a great time recording and partying whilst Louis’ mother was living her final months in a hospital. It also explains why Harry’s successful career has nothing to do with the frustrating situation and career of Louis. Why some of Harry’s friends have said Louis can’t sing or liked posts criticizing him. Why Harry’s is best buddy with people who Louis doesn’t like. After all, most Larry evidence we have since 2013

Suffice to say, Larry is long gone to me.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while and now seems as good a time as any. This fandom talks a lot about the extreme lengths celebrities (and their pr people) will go to to generate buzz, stay relevant, and build the kind of press that their team wants (usually because it will make them A LOT of money). 

In order to really comprehend just how manipulated everything we see in the entertainment industry is, I thought it might be helpful to look at one of the biggest celebrity scandals of the last few years (and the surprising lack of a negative lasting impact it had on the careers of the people involved).

Of course I’m talking about the Kristen Stewart/Robert Pattinson/Rupert Sanders ‘cheating scandal’ (because *quotes Taylor Swift* I was there I remember it all too well)

So, to start, I was in the Twilight fandom from 2008-2010ish (but I lurked up until the release of the final breaking dawn movie). ‘Robsten’ (aka Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s ship name) was basically the ‘elounor’ of the fandom. The ‘nonstens’ were the equivalent to the larries.

FIRST TWILIGHT MOVIE/PRE ROBSTEN (2008-2009)

To give some context, Robsten didn’t actually become a thing until after Twilight had made a MASSIVE DENT in the box office opening weekend.

When the first film was made, it had the budget and expectations of a small indie movie; watch or read interviews with director Catherine Hardwicke and she explicitly says that she viewed filming twilight like an indie film. No one expected it to make as much money as it did. Everyone was stunned. It wasn’t until the cast started going on press tours/the studio promotion push of the movie in the months leading up to the release that people started to get a sense that maybe this was going to be kind of a big deal. 

I went on opening night with my friend and I remember everyone involved in fandom online was begging each other to go see it opening weekend (as many times as possible) because we had to prove that we would make it worth their while to film New Moon. PEOPLE WERE GENUINELY CONCERNED THE MOVIE WOULDN’T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO WARRANT A FOLLOW UP.

Of course, it ended up slaying at the box office and launched Summit Entertainment to new and previously unforeseen heights. And that’s when things started to change.

Prior to Twilight’s release, Kristen and Rob weren’t pushed as anything other than friends and there wasn’t a concerted effort from their team to make them look like they were together (because they weren’t). Kristen was [publicly, at least] dating Michael Angarano [who’d she’d been with since she was 14. They met filming Speak]).

After Twilight dominated the weekend box office and the second movie was greenlit, things started changing - and quickly.

NIKKI AND KRISTEN’S RELATIONSHIP

For one, Kristen’s incredibly close friendship with co-star Nikki Reed fell apart and suddenly there were ‘inside sources’ claiming that Nikki had been secretly dating Rob but that Kristen had swooped in and stolen him away from her (and that Rob had been pining after Kristen the whole time and was only using Nikki as a substitute).

I don’t know what happened to cause Nikki and Kristen’s fall out, but I seriously doubt it was Rob. In fact, it was speculated (and much more likely) that Nikki and Kristen were seeing each other/hooking up and things went sour. There were a lot of rumours about them at the time and they were filmed kissing (beware - Wellington Camera) in a car. (For added fun,have a stroll through the Nikkistew tag and join me in reminiscing)

CREATE FAKE RELATIONSHIP, RAKE IN BOX OFFICE MONEY

The studio knew that the best way to sell the ~epic romance~ of Bella and Edward was to have their two leads ‘date’ as well. That’s when the epic ‘Robsten’ saga went into overdrive (both with fans and on gossip sites).

And I mean, it worked. The whole reason Twilight as a book series sold so well was because Bella was a blank slate. She had no real personality and served as an empty vessel for fans to project themselves onto [sound familiar? If you’re at all familiar with Elounor, it should]. Fans reading could fill in Bella’s blanks with their own quirks and personality and by extension feel like maybe Edward could love them as much as he loved her.

Robsten worked as an extension of that. Now fans could see that their favourite fictional couple was together in real life. They were invested on every level and it showed in merchandise sales, movie ticket sales, and book sales.

Okay, so now you have the basics. For the next couple of years it was all are they or aren’t they together? speculation in the press about Rob and Kristen (fed by a constant stream of set up pap photos and articles and ‘insiders’ to keep the hungry fun base alert, craving more, and most importantly - completely engaged even during the down time in between shooting movies). This went on for years until the  2012 ‘cheating scandal’.

THE CHEATING SCANDAL

In the summer of 2012 (which was already packed with scandal - the Katie Holmes split from Tom Cruise and subsequent first taste of freedom in like 6 years [scientology still makes my skin crawl], prince Harry’s nudes, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemworth’s engagement shit show), US Weekly posted exclusive photos of Kristen and her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders making out (in broad daylight - sure Jan) and also inside his car. The only problem? She was still with Rob, and Rupert was married to former 90s/early 2000s model Liberty Ross.

This was MASSIVE NEWS that absolutely everyone was talking about. Kristen’s infamous ‘i love him, i love him, i’m so sorry’ went viral and suddenly both actors (and the Twilight movies, which had been waning in popularity compared to the recently released first Hunger Games film) were all anyone could talk about.

Here’s the thing - as we’ve learned from the weed video, things don’t really leak through tabloids anymore. Kristen’s people would have been tipped off before it went to print. They (and the studio) could very easily have bartered an exchange to keep them from being printed (by way of an exclusive at a later date, or even setting up a different but less damaging scandal later on that would still earn them hits but would salvage kristen’s reputation). Just look at the video TMZ held onto for FOUR YEARS of justin bieber being a racist asshole. That would have absolutely skyrocketed their ratings had they released it when they first got a hold of it/when it was actually surprising and relevant. But they didn’t, because they knew they could get other more valuable things out of Justin’s team instead.

Every single person involved in that scandal benefited or got something out of it:

Kristen and Rob: HUGE boost in popularity/press which benefited both of them individually (yes, people were vile towards kristen but they knew it would fade out and the instant boost in popularity was worth it) AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THE DYING OUT TWILIGHT FRANCHISE. The first Hunger Games had come out 4 or 5 months prior to this scandal and had completely stolen Twilight’s thunder. They had to be proactive.

In addition, this scandal planted the seeds for a later ‘break up’ [which, conveniently happened within 2 and a half months of the the last DVD going on sale - note the release date (March 2nd 2013]. If they just broke up as soon as the movies ended without any plausible reason, it would look incredibly obvious and even the diehard robstens would start to question it. By planting the seeds ahead of time, the eventual ~end of Rob and Kristen~ looked far more natural and organic.

Of course, there was a convenient spike in reconciliation rumours and pap photos right before the final bit of merchandise in the franchise was to be released (the Twilight Forever box-set - again note the release date (November 5 2013).

Also, for the record, Kristen never confirmed they were dating. The closest we have for Rob is a quote from the sun (and we all know how dedicated they are to the facts and who would never fabricate a quote)

Rupert Sanders: He was a no name director with a limited body of work. By being involved in a scandal like this, he got exposure both inside and out of the industry. All publicity is good publicity after all. He guaranteed that more people would at the very least pay attention to him (and it gives an instant bump of press to any of his future films by simply name dropping Kristen Stewart).

Liberty Ross: Rupert’s ‘scorned’ wife. So this is where it gets interesting. Liberty was an up and coming successful British supermodel in the 90s and early 2000s (alongside Kate Moss) but she gave up her career to be a wife and mother and moving to LA, choosing instead to let Rupert try his hand at being the breadwinner. Liberty’s name was launched back into the press as a result of the scandal and she had a wave of job offers and renewed public interest. It did wonders for her career. Considering she and Rupert ended up getting divorced shortly after, it’s not reaching to assuming they wanted to get some professional mileage out of their marriage while they still could (and what better way than by agreeing to a cheating scandal with one of the most popular and divisive actresses at the time?)

And of course, the studios benefited massively. Both the Twilight Franchise and Snow White and the Huntsman got a huge bump in publicity, public interest, and sales.

Still not convinced? Why don’t we take a look at the pap agency credited underneath the affair pictures:

I got this picture from US Weekly’s site (the tabloid that had the exclusive and broke the story).

FameFlynet. Look familiar? It should.

This is the same agency that takes almost all of One Directions’ set up AF stunt pictures (from Haylor to Elounor and everything in between).

You HIRE them to take pictures, not the other way around. This scandal was as set up as the strolling-around-Cheshire Haylor pictures.

Need more proof? Just look at the sheer number of times this agency has taken One Direction related pap photos (very often in situations where it’s obvious they wouldn’t have been there unless it was set up/they’d been called in - like the pictures of Eleanor leaving her house post ‘break up’ and Harry and Anne up north leaving a pub.)

KRISTEN AND ALICIA’S GLASS CLOSET

Fast forward to now, and Kristen and her ‘gal pal’ Alicia Cargile are essentially in a glass closet. Any robsten fans she lost during the cheating scandal likely would have left after the twilight series ended anyhow, and by getting to be true to herself she’s totally reinvented her image and gained a lot of fans who didn’t connect with her during the Twilight years or see her appeal.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?

The main takeaway I hope you get from this is that scandals and feuds and romances are set up ALL THE TIME for celebrities. Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn don’t have the luxury of just being open about their lives and doing whatever they want on their own time because they’re worth millions of dollars.

Studios will go to ABSURD LENGTHS to protect their investments and ensure sure they’re making as much money as possible. There’s a reason so many costars of films marketed to teens/young adults are rumoured to be dating (even though they almost never are).

The same applies to record labels and management companies in music. They want your money and they want your undivided attention, and set up ‘scandals’ are the easiest and most lucrative way to go about getting them.

It sucks to watch the boys being forced to engage in shitty stunts. I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t. But the general public also has the memory of a goldfish when it comes to gossip and things will blow over. We know how quickly things in this fandom can change. We just have to stay positive and remember that the idiocy will end eventually.

Extra Reading:

Hollywood’s Most Influential Fake Relationships and Why They Worked

Crushable: Could Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson be Pulling off the most tragically romantic PR stunt ever?

Glamour Magazine Article on Kristen and Alicia Dating

Crushable: 10 Celebrity Fake-Lationships that still crack me up

Entertainment Weekly: The Kristen Stewart Scandal - Why it hurts her image, and helps it