paglambing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
paglambing) wrote2022-03-07 02:15 pm
paglambing) wrote2022-03-07 02:15 pm
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queer media round up (february 2022)
what do you mean i'm supposed to be working on two major fics right now hahaha... (soulless) also who said pride month is only in june. pride month is every month if you want it to be 👍🏳️🌈
✱ movies & tv
anyway! i really really liked this film, it felt warm and real to me. i like that they didn’t make gabriel into some sort of “savior” for leo, like he wasn’t there to help leo realize that life was worth living even with his disability or whatever. it portrayed leo’s disability as a normal thing he continued to navigate along with all the growing pains high school brings and i think that’s important! (the scenes of leo being discriminated against made me so unbelievably anxious mostly because i was anticipating it, considering how it was set up at the start of the film... did not get any better once it actually happened mfkgmfgkf so content warning for that) it has an obvious romantic plotline but the underlying messages of leo pushing for his agency was a good touch imo. i also like how the romantic plotline was very subtle like it wasn’t in your face flirting but just... spending so much time with someone else that u don’t realize it + the tension during certain scenes like i really liked how it wasn’t a boys’ love story for the sake of having one. it stayed true to the coming of age genre—wanting to be your own person, wanting to experience romance, realizing you like boys (which wasn’t made out to be a big deal!!! and I liked that it wasn’t!!! barely any homophobic undertones which doesn’t seem realistic for a high school setting but i was SO grateful for it nonetheless), the ugly bumps your friendships go through because you aren’t adept at communicating how you feel yet... idk it just felt so nice and raw to me and the last few minutes of the movie were soooo good i would definitely watch it again
uhhhh content warnings for the film: teenage pregnancy and the usual all-girls’ catholic school homophobia vibe. i’m very familiar with the catholic school homophobia stuff because i went to a catholic school for like 13-ish years and it sucks SO MUCH i never developed internalized homophobia but it was part of what made my high school experience hell... and i think that’s what makes this film hit home.
the movie was equal parts realistic & idealistic for me. parts of the script felt corny/forced, especially some of the parts in filipino, but for the most part i really really enjoyed how funny it was. when i first watched it, the humor is definitely what stuck with me! i think that’s one of the strong points of the film actually! until now i still think about the part where miguel was like “you’re pregnant?” and emma was like “YOU WERE THERE!”
personally, i’m not a fan of the pregnancy subplot for gender dysphoria reasons, but i like how it was handled, especially with how emma’s mom dealt with it + her perspective and how throughout that arc, emma highlighted her own personal autonomy. speaking of emma’s mom, i LOVED mommy amy’s character here omfg the comic relief i desperately needed... i want a mom like that
ok final thoughts on the film because if i keep going i’ll need a separate post: if you’re a non-filipino viewer, the film might cause some culture shock...? a lot of it is driven by the setting (catholic school in the province), so some of the adults and students hold traditional beliefs. also, this is my favorite filipino gl media piece! primarily because it’s relatable, which says a lot about the gl content we have here... the others (webseries, movies) unfortunately don’t resonate with me as much as this one did, so here’s to hoping we get more cute & fun gl content this year!
AHHHHH what the hell it’s so funny! it’s also officially the first gmm bl i’ve watched (i tried watching 2gether and couldn’t get past half of the first ep i’m sorry...) and the sfx are very corny but i thought they added to the charm of the series it just made it a lot funnier to me 😭
as i’m typing this i haven’t finished it (but i’m down to the last 2 episodes!) so no spoilers please... i just want to say that the inkpa is so good i’m actually obsessed with the inkpa p’aof can we get a spin-off or a milklove gl please i am begging you right now. i am not above begging
✱ books/webcomics/manga
second, i actually put off reading this book for a while? my friends would recommend it to me often because i’m lesbian and i relate to gay things a lot and it was up my alley. but i put it off for so long because it sounded really het mfkmskkmf sorry... i mean the first part of the story was pretty het so i’m not completely wrong... anyway! i don’t know how to describe what i feel about this book so i had to read some reviews but generally—it’s a very complex story. i liked that evelyn was a morally grey character, like it was different from some of the novels i’ve read where there was clearly an antagonist’s beliefs vs protagonist’s beliefs thing going on, so it was refreshing for me 👍
there was one part i didn’t particularly like, which was when monique asks evelyn, “so you’re gay?” and evelyn corrects her by saying she’s bisexual, and then monique has this inner monologue that’s like oh i fucked up i shouldn’t have generalized i know what that feels like when people don’t think i’m biracial etc etc like she kinda... made it all about her? instead of immediately apologizing and moving on from her slip-up... i dunno that part really put me off lol...
third, i... still don’t know what to feel about this book. it was A LOT, and while the wlw storyline was intriguing to me and i so desperately wanted them to have a happy ending because i could relate to some of the couple’s struggles, it kind of fell a bit flat? might be because of how the main love interest was written, since she wasn’t exactly the most loveable character (is there even an adult character here that is automatically loveable? i mean that in a positive way, i swear...)
overall, it was a pretty interesting read. it definitely captured my attention considering i read it in a few days, and i’ve had a non-fanfic reading slump for the longest time so that’s saying a lot. i have yet to process the story so maybe i’ll come back and edit this, who knows
also! i liked that the bl-ness of it wasn't too in-your-face and it really focused on the main leads' development and relationship to each other. and i liked that the subplots were crucial to their character arcs (particularly gu ze's) and not just for the sake of having a subplot, yknow? it could've easily been approached in a melodrama way but it wasn't and i'm glad it panned out that way!
i'd also like to mention that the author described finishing the manhua as "having post-nut clarity" and i think that gives a good preview of the humor you'd find in the manhua LMAO
that's all for my feb media round up! i actually had more i wanted to watch/read but i knew i wasn't going to finish them all in time... 😭 the month goes by so fast, it's scary... a bit more hopeful for march, though! fingers crossed i finally get some fics posted on ao3 & consume more good media. i hope the rest of the month goes by smoothly and wonderfully for everyone ❤️
- the way he looks (2014)
anyway! i really really liked this film, it felt warm and real to me. i like that they didn’t make gabriel into some sort of “savior” for leo, like he wasn’t there to help leo realize that life was worth living even with his disability or whatever. it portrayed leo’s disability as a normal thing he continued to navigate along with all the growing pains high school brings and i think that’s important! (the scenes of leo being discriminated against made me so unbelievably anxious mostly because i was anticipating it, considering how it was set up at the start of the film... did not get any better once it actually happened mfkgmfgkf so content warning for that) it has an obvious romantic plotline but the underlying messages of leo pushing for his agency was a good touch imo. i also like how the romantic plotline was very subtle like it wasn’t in your face flirting but just... spending so much time with someone else that u don’t realize it + the tension during certain scenes like i really liked how it wasn’t a boys’ love story for the sake of having one. it stayed true to the coming of age genre—wanting to be your own person, wanting to experience romance, realizing you like boys (which wasn’t made out to be a big deal!!! and I liked that it wasn’t!!! barely any homophobic undertones which doesn’t seem realistic for a high school setting but i was SO grateful for it nonetheless), the ugly bumps your friendships go through because you aren’t adept at communicating how you feel yet... idk it just felt so nice and raw to me and the last few minutes of the movie were soooo good i would definitely watch it again
- billie and emma (2018)
uhhhh content warnings for the film: teenage pregnancy and the usual all-girls’ catholic school homophobia vibe. i’m very familiar with the catholic school homophobia stuff because i went to a catholic school for like 13-ish years and it sucks SO MUCH i never developed internalized homophobia but it was part of what made my high school experience hell... and i think that’s what makes this film hit home.
the movie was equal parts realistic & idealistic for me. parts of the script felt corny/forced, especially some of the parts in filipino, but for the most part i really really enjoyed how funny it was. when i first watched it, the humor is definitely what stuck with me! i think that’s one of the strong points of the film actually! until now i still think about the part where miguel was like “you’re pregnant?” and emma was like “YOU WERE THERE!”
personally, i’m not a fan of the pregnancy subplot for gender dysphoria reasons, but i like how it was handled, especially with how emma’s mom dealt with it + her perspective and how throughout that arc, emma highlighted her own personal autonomy. speaking of emma’s mom, i LOVED mommy amy’s character here omfg the comic relief i desperately needed... i want a mom like that
ok final thoughts on the film because if i keep going i’ll need a separate post: if you’re a non-filipino viewer, the film might cause some culture shock...? a lot of it is driven by the setting (catholic school in the province), so some of the adults and students hold traditional beliefs. also, this is my favorite filipino gl media piece! primarily because it’s relatable, which says a lot about the gl content we have here... the others (webseries, movies) unfortunately don’t resonate with me as much as this one did, so here’s to hoping we get more cute & fun gl content this year!
- bad buddy (2021)
AHHHHH what the hell it’s so funny! it’s also officially the first gmm bl i’ve watched (i tried watching 2gether and couldn’t get past half of the first ep i’m sorry...) and the sfx are very corny but i thought they added to the charm of the series it just made it a lot funnier to me 😭
as i’m typing this i haven’t finished it (but i’m down to the last 2 episodes!) so no spoilers please... i just want to say that the inkpa is so good i’m actually obsessed with the inkpa p’aof can we get a spin-off or a milklove gl please i am begging you right now. i am not above begging
✱ books/webcomics/manga
- the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid
second, i actually put off reading this book for a while? my friends would recommend it to me often because i’m lesbian and i relate to gay things a lot and it was up my alley. but i put it off for so long because it sounded really het mfkmskkmf sorry... i mean the first part of the story was pretty het so i’m not completely wrong... anyway! i don’t know how to describe what i feel about this book so i had to read some reviews but generally—it’s a very complex story. i liked that evelyn was a morally grey character, like it was different from some of the novels i’ve read where there was clearly an antagonist’s beliefs vs protagonist’s beliefs thing going on, so it was refreshing for me 👍
there was one part i didn’t particularly like, which was when monique asks evelyn, “so you’re gay?” and evelyn corrects her by saying she’s bisexual, and then monique has this inner monologue that’s like oh i fucked up i shouldn’t have generalized i know what that feels like when people don’t think i’m biracial etc etc like she kinda... made it all about her? instead of immediately apologizing and moving on from her slip-up... i dunno that part really put me off lol...
third, i... still don’t know what to feel about this book. it was A LOT, and while the wlw storyline was intriguing to me and i so desperately wanted them to have a happy ending because i could relate to some of the couple’s struggles, it kind of fell a bit flat? might be because of how the main love interest was written, since she wasn’t exactly the most loveable character (is there even an adult character here that is automatically loveable? i mean that in a positive way, i swear...)
overall, it was a pretty interesting read. it definitely captured my attention considering i read it in a few days, and i’ve had a non-fanfic reading slump for the longest time so that’s saying a lot. i have yet to process the story so maybe i’ll come back and edit this, who knows
- check, please! by ngozi ukazu
- the story about you x me by wangcaideju
also! i liked that the bl-ness of it wasn't too in-your-face and it really focused on the main leads' development and relationship to each other. and i liked that the subplots were crucial to their character arcs (particularly gu ze's) and not just for the sake of having a subplot, yknow? it could've easily been approached in a melodrama way but it wasn't and i'm glad it panned out that way!
i'd also like to mention that the author described finishing the manhua as "having post-nut clarity" and i think that gives a good preview of the humor you'd find in the manhua LMAO
that's all for my feb media round up! i actually had more i wanted to watch/read but i knew i wasn't going to finish them all in time... 😭 the month goes by so fast, it's scary... a bit more hopeful for march, though! fingers crossed i finally get some fics posted on ao3 & consume more good media. i hope the rest of the month goes by smoothly and wonderfully for everyone ❤️