media report from chilly Wisconsin

[sasha_feather]

Media report!

Went to a matinee of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" with my friend Rebecca. She noticed this showing had open captions and thought I might like that, and I did! I guess this movie is popular enough to warrant such a showing. It was just us and 2 other people in the theater.

I liked the film a lot, but felt it was too long at 2 hours 41 minutes. I've said it before, they should bring back the intermission. Let me have a bathroom break and get some snacks without missing the movie!

It was very beautiful to watch, and I especially liked that most of the characters in it are Black women.

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I listened to the "Overinvested" podcast about my current fav, Andor.
https://soundcloud.com/overinvestedpodcast/ep-271-andor

I don't know that I learned much from this podcast ep particularly, but it was very nice to hear people enthuse about the show. I disagree with something Gavia Baker-Whitelaw said, a minor point really, but this is often why I find pop culture pod casts frustrating: who is there to listen to me argue? It's too one-sided. I have a lot of opinions about media! So I suppose I'll write it out here. Spoilers for Andor under the cut.


Gavia said something about the Vel/Cinta relationship, and how she was surprised when people didn't pick up on it right away from the "obvious" cues. First of all, people in general aren't doing close readings of media or watching episodes multiple times. The average viewer simply does not do that.

Secondly, and more perhaps to the point, this statement ignores decades of queer erasure by television shows and by the Star Wars franchise in particular. Of course people are going to be surprised and excited when a queer relationship is actually confirmed, and to think otherwise seems really out of tune and oblivious to the queer experience of watching science fiction tv.

It's possible I misunderstood what she meant but it seemed a bit odd from someone who is in fandom.

Comments

[sovay]

Of course people are going to be surprised and excited when a queer relationship is actually confirmed, and to think otherwise seems really out of tune and oblivious to the queer experience of watching science fiction tv.

It wasn't even last year that Our Flag Means Death was accused of queerbaiting in its early stages because it seemed so impossible that the obvious canon m/m relationship was really going to mean it. The culture hasn't shifted that fast. The wariness was well-earned.

[sasha_feather]

Right, exactly! Conversations around queer-baiting and queer erasure are really common in my corner of fandom, which leaves me surprised that this pod caster didn't seem to key into this issue.