Oh yeah, I saw that when it was posted, but since I’d just come home after 12 hours of helping my sister move and graduate, I just went LOL and didn’t bother to respond. And I still won’t, at least not to the post personally. (Post in question is here, because heck no I’m not vague posting about it.)
I also thought a lot of the beginning was fairly accurate. For example, their description of Raoul as being the “white knight” who appeals to Christine’s childhood memories are kind of the point of his character… though on the other hand, the poster is so fixated on the Phantom being the sexual, passionate force that they seem to forget that the Phantom first appeared to Christine, and was appealing to her, because he pretended to be an Angel of Music, aka a being Christine was told stories about by her father. In her childhood. (I feel like this often seems forgotten – both the Phantom and Raoul were initially attractive to Christine because they were both reminders of her happier childhood days.)
The idea that Christine having to choose between a safer, more socially acceptable love and one that is more passionate but also more dangerous is also a running theme of the musical and original book. (Though it always seems to get left out that part of the reason why the Phantom is socially unacceptable is because he’s a frigging stalker, kidnapper, and murderer.) And I can buy that Christine reciprocates the Phantom’s ardor in ‘Point of No Return’, though as rjdaae points out, that argument is flawed because it’s not Christine saying it, it’s Christine as Aminta acting out a part in an opera. And despite the author’s stance that they want Christine to grow and express herself, they do miss that they are using words written for her by her stalker to make their point.
Leroux!Erik: writes Don Juan Triumphant as a metaphor for all of the torment and suffering hes endured through out his life for him to take alone to his grave
Alw!Erik: writes Don Juan Triumphant as a ploy to touch Christine’s boob in front of everyone
i’d like to point out that when i made this post, all of these comments were at the top, but now if you look at the thread they’ve been replaced by completely different comments
so please, for the love of god, look at the source link this thread is a neverending source of entertainment. people have added so much fucking shit since i made this
I was proctoring an exam for a student today while reading these, and I had to stop because I got to this one and almost fucking died
these are making my day
Okay, this one’s killing me:
These ones got me:
Ooohhh noo I can’t breathe and there are literal tears streaming down my face
Have a very, VERY good laugh people
I go to bed, wake up and look at my phone to see 4:00. Freaking out, I think I’ve missed my shift starting at work so I shower and drive like a maniac to work, absentmindedly thinking it’s way too dark and empty in the streets to be 4:00 pm but dismiss that thought in my panic. When I get there and see the library is closed I make a call why, and can’t figure it out. Only after about 5 minutes of sitting in the car I realize that my phone says 4:00 am and not pm, then slowly drive back to my dorm.
it worries me so much that there’s been this (mostly unintentional) culture built up around coming out, to where young lgbt kids are putting themselves in danger at school and at home because they don’t want to “live a lie.” i just want to say, i came out when i was 15 and it created a lot of difficulties in my life that i could have avoided by waiting until i was older. it isolated me socially, it exposed me to homophobia from my parents, my family, my teachers, and my classmates at the most important developmental stages of my own confidence and sense of self… closeted people are not living a lie. closeted people are surviving. don’t let anyone pressure you to come out before you’re ready. don’t put yourself at risk when you don’t have to.
this is really important and applicable in SO MANY other important situations too.
“I identify as A, but my friend says I’m more like B. Who’s right?”
“I express C through D. Is this E?”
The answer will always, always be that you should decide that by yourself.
We get questions at @ask-pride-color-schemes – and not only that, I see many similar questions directed at other blogs – that act like there are people that are the Grand Arbitrers of Identity, that we will be able to figure out Your True Identity and then you’ll be happy with it forever, but it doesn’t work like that.
What we have is experience and resources that may help you when we explain what certain labels mean, or when we try to interpret what you mean and narrow down your search to a few named identities, if what you describe is accurate and if there are accurate words to describe what you are describing.
But we can’t know what your experiences with certain words
are, or if you are omitting something important because of shame/internalized hatred, or if your vocabulary is kind of off and then we think neutrality when you meant between male and female, or we think woman-aligned when you meant feminine.
And we understand that we can’t know for sure what you feel! Or that you may not know how to express how you feel! Or that what you feel may change! And it’s ok if you word questions like absolutes because you didn’t think about what it was implying and not because you expect an “expert answer” that puts all your doubts to rest. But please don’t expect us to know everything that you know/experience.
[If you can’t see it because you are on mobile, there’s a cut here.]
Only you can decide what labels work for you. Even if they make no sense to someone else, if they work for you, you can use them.
If there’s a highly-specific microlabel that accurately describes you, you don’t have to use it. Even if one of the standard labels describe you, you don’t have to call yourself that. You can be a woman who is only attracted to other women and not consider yourself lesbian if you don’t feel comfortable with that term.
You can reclaim slurs if you want to describe yourself with them. You can say ‘this identity term feels like a slur to me so don’t call me that’.
You can change what labels you use if they no longer feel right. You can change them because you were mistaken about what they meant, because you were mistaken about yourself, or because your feelings have changed over time (like switching from straight to heteroflexible because you found that one exception you’re attracted to).
You can use labels to align with a community. I know straight trans guys who still feel a connection to the label of lesbian, because they came out as that first.
Labels serve you, not the other way around. And your labels belong to you. You are responsible for finding the right labels and using them in the right ways, because no one else can tell you what labels you should use.
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 