Spockvarietyhour

RTD has his faults but to create something explicitly and vehemently pro-trans rights is genuinely fucking vital right now

what the fuck. hey why are yall classifying WTNV as "ancient problematic media" because people liked it in 2013. am i not FUCKING allowed to like things if they're not from 2018 or later. i refuse to forget about it just because the new-age tumblr gays replaced it with the penis archives or whatever. fuck you

Not to be like "ah how quickly internet communities forget their roots" but ah how quickly internet communities forget their roots...

People forget that the reason wtnv became so popular on 2013 tumblr is that it was openly and explicitly queer from day one. That just... didn't really happen in media in the early 2010s. This was peak superwholock years, where the queerbait of johnlock and destiel were legitimately considered good representation in some circles. Night Vale really broke completely away from that mold and a lot of young, queer fans flocked to it because of that.

I've seen similar things happen with The Legend of Korra, where people today will say "they're just holding hands it's not that big of a deal, why is everyone freaking out" about the finale, but when it aired back in 2014, having word of god confirmation that the protagonist of a popular kids show was in a same sex relationship was unheard of. It was a massive step forward. LOK doesn't really compare to Steven Universe and She-Ra on terms of on-screen queer rep but it aired in a different time and a different culture of LGBTQ+ acceptance.

We absolutely can and should criticize media, even if it was groundbreaking in the past. No piece of work should be exempt from evaluation. All art is ultimately telling you something, and also, no work is ever purely unproblematic. To assume there is a state one can reach of being entirely unproblematic is to assume there is a point where we, as people and activists as well pieces of art, can stop trying to be better. Wtnv, since we're talking about it, has been criticised by some (myself included) for having some ableist pieces (probably unintentional as they're in contrast to some very upfront and center anti-ableist messages, but nonetheless they're there) and for a lack of explicity and clarity in it's racial representation.

But to lump wtnv in with superwholock as a "cringe 2013 fandom" is to ignore and belittle it's incredibly political themes and open criticism of the surveillance/police state(s) and the United States government, as well as the fact that it was groundbreaking queer rep made by actual queer people.

TLDR:

WTNV was the first piece of media I’d ever consumed with openly gay main characters. It was the first thing to tell me “hey, this doesn’t have to only be in your headcanons”

WTNV, along with being really well written especially for the time (the early 2010s weren’t great for this sort of thing), was unapologetically, unabashedly gay.

For anyone who’s never listened to it, the narrator (who is either male or male-presenting or something along those lines) clearly and openly states his romantic attraction to another male character within the first six minutes

There wasn’t a single popular homophobic trope in any of the episodes as far as my memory goes. Their relationship was never a joke, never a comedy, and was extremely stable.

Hey! Uh, WTNV is still going! And though it's never going to be without issues (see above about how we will always be bettering ourselves) it has and will continue to change and adapt and try it's hardest to have diversity and yeah, leftist messages.

There are canon they/them only characters and it's not brought up as an issue! It's the first show I saw that had characters use only they/them, much less without it being some Big Deal and criticized by a least one character.

And although race for most characters is left ambiguous for the fans (which has caused it's own problems in the past but now has artists diversifying their headcanons) there are canon latine and SEA characters explicitly and many are assumed canon POC in some respect.

The cast itself is also quite diverse and they make efforts in their casting all the time.

No mention of Christianity (though their are angels) but characters who are Muslim and Jewish exist!

There's lots of rep of how trauma impacts a person for years to come and a whole thing about how a character in a wheelchair doesn't need to be 'fixed'.

The gay protag couple? Married with a kid.

Y'all want canon wlw? Got it! And canon bi characters too.

There's so many messages which are anticapitalism, critical of gun control arguments, surveillance states, unfair justice systems, incompetent and dangerous police forces, incompetent government etc you name it there's a parody or criticism of it. As it progresses it tackles modern and relevant topics still.

It also tackles issues like trauma, balancing work and home, sexuality and religion, growing older, being forgotten, family dynamics including alternative families, racial appropriation*, ableism, relationship issues, the importance of community etc

Are these issues portrayed perfectly? No, because nothing is perfect. *Do they sometimes get really misunderstood by listeners and non-listeners alike? Sure.

But WTNV is an evolving piece of art that came out swinging and hasn't stopped. Please, give it a chance.

Also, 'problematic' isn't the same as 'offensive' or 'irredeemable'. All media is problematic or soon will be as we progress. Your power is the ability to understand or critically assess how and why and what they really mean and the impact they're having overall. Being overly negative is going to run you absolutely dry of art and media which brings you joy and actually tries to be something.

Awwwwwwwww they have a kid now????

Memory from years ago resurfacing just to smack u in the face before returning to the ether

I never imagined so much stuff was crammed into every section of corridor on the USS Enterprise!  (Mr. Scott’s Guide to the Enterprise by Lora Johnson, 1987)

why Star Trek is great: ALL of the aus are canon

#there must be a coffee shop au somewhere in there too (via demonicvulcan)

@