Willow Rosenberg | unfridged

May 17 2017

Weekend Reading List: Atwood, Buffy, Carrie, Disney

Hey kids, it’s been a while! Lots to catch up on:

“No world for us: broken girls and embodied trauma in Porpentine’s Psycho Nymph Exile.” [Autostraddle]
In this film, Broadly’s documentary series explores the witches of Romania.
In a similar vein: “the game developers who are also witches.” [Kotaku]
Tibeb Girls is Ethiopia’s answer to the Power Puff Girls. [Afropunk]
My friend Kai Cheng Thom wrote a beautiful, magic realist queer coming of age novel, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, and amid many, many glowing reviews, here’s one from Autostraddle.
Today’s tearjerker: A tribute to Carrie Fischer
“Stardew Valley gave me and my sister a chance to swoon over girls together for the first time in our gay lives.” [Autostraddle]
Have you seen Get Out? Do that immediately:
- B. Willis on Medium on how black women are the most overlooked characters in the film.
- “What Becky gotta do to get murked: white womanhood in Jordan Peele’s Get Out.” [Very Smart Brothas]
- Intelexual on the character of Rose and America’s legacy of racist white women.
Buffy turned twenty! And everyone’s singing the show’s praises:
- USAToday on the wonder the show provided fans.
- Vulture on the show’s ongoing legacy.
- Vice on how Willow helped kids everywhere come out.
- Hazlitt with a heartfelt roundtable discussion on the show’s emotional resonance.
People have feelings about the new Beauty and the Beast remake:
- “Why I want my son to know that boys can find beauty in a beast, too.” [Washington Post]
- Autostraddle charts Disney’s journey from gay-coded villains, to the textual representation of LeFou.
- But Buzzfeed thinks the film, and company, are receiving too much credit for such a small step forward.
And the new Handmaid’s Tale show has just premiered! It’s pretty amazing:
- Anne Helen Petersen writes about the “radical feminist aesthetic” of the show. [Buzzfeed]
- Autostraddle is thrilled with the adaptation’s additional queerness. Their book club also takes a closer look at the source material.
- “Margaret Atwood on what The Handmaid’s Tale means in the age of Trump.” [The New York Times]
- The New Yorker on how, despite some disappointing cast comments, the show is very much a feminist work.
- “I grew up in a fundamentalist cult—The Handmaid’s Tale was my reality.” [The Establishment]
- ELLE on how the show, in Serena Joy, depicts a modern day anti-feminist by charting their rise from Phyllis Schlafly to Ivanka Trump.
Little White Lies sings the praises of the voice behind that idiosyncratic Twin Peaks ambiance: Julee Cruise.
“Twin Peaks was the most visually striking TV show ever made. And still is.” [Slate]
“How to become a deadly misandrist fairy vampire.” [Austostraddle]
Great British Bake Off alum Ruby Tandoh wrote about her new zine Do What You Want, which explores how queerness and mental health are represented in film. [Little White Lies]
“The casual racism in nerd/gaming communities needs to stop.” [Afropunk]
Pop Culture Detective takes on the “born sexy yesterday” trope so often present in science fiction film.
Black Girl Nerds discusses the American Gods adaptation, depictions of lynching, and the realities of race in America.
Over on Youtube, Jill Bearup has a multi-part series on the history of fanfiction, from its earliest manifestations, to its rise in the Star Trek fandom, all the way to a discussion of the Mary Sue character type.
And lastly, Feminist Frequency’s Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series has, sadly, come to an end. But the last film, a discussion of lady sidekicks, won’t be the last we see of Anita Sarkeesian. The channel is still going strong with the FREQ Show: the first episode tackles Hollywood whitewashing.

Tagged Afropunk, American Gods, Anita Sarkeesian, Anne Helen Petersen, Autostraddle, B. Willis, Beauty and the Beast, Black Girl Nerds, Black Panther, Broadly, Buffering the Vampire Slayer, Buffy, Buzzfeed, Carrie Fisher, Disney, Do What You Want, Donald Trump, ELLE, Feminist Frequency, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, Get Out, Hazlitt, Intelexual, Jill Bearup, Julee Cruise, Kai Cheng Thom, Kotaku, Little White Lies, Margaret Atwood, Medium, New York Times, Pop Culture Detective, Porpentine, Psycho Nymph Exile, Ruby Tandoh, Slate, Star Wars, Stardew Valley, Ta-Nehisi Coates, the Establishment, The Handmaid's Tale, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Tibeb Girls, Twin Peaks, USAToday, Very Smart Brothas, Vice, Vulture, Washington Post, Willow Rosenberg

Jun 19 2014

What Would Dark Willow Do, Part 2

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Dark Willow would turn all Russian cinema into hard core gay bondage porn.
Dark Willow would leave all UK immigration workers in a labyrinthine, Kafkaesque, bureaucratic mind-prison forever.
Dark Willow would dump all soccer hooligans, naked, in the middle of Pride.
Death by stoning? Sounds like a party.
Dark Willow would find the bastards to attacked two trans* women in the subway, beating them and stripping them, along with all the people who watched and did nothing (and cheered), and recreate the scene exactly for them, because it’s horrifying enough on its own.
Dark Willow would start a reverse Spanish inquisition, complete with terrified members of the Catholic church and sadistic lesbian satanists.
Dark Willow would drown asshole Texas judges in a sea of placenta and birth certificates.
Dark Willow would make Straight Conversion Therapy a thing.
Dark Willow would make Rick Perry addicted to all the things.
Soul-crushing life in prison sentences for everyone.
Acid baths for everyone.

Tagged Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Willow, Willow Rosenberg

Mar 28 2014

Weekend Reading List: Ghibli girls and warrior women

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The Learned Fangirl discusses Hayao Miyazaki’s female characters and what, exactly, makes them so great.
Game designer Elizabeth Sampat was part of a panel at this year’s Game Developers Conference, and she said some really great things about the industry, its culture, and the need to recruit more and different women. [Polygon]
“Sex sells” is an idea propagated particularly furiously in games, but recent titles like Shadowrun Returns and Pathfinder are showing that inclusiveness and success are not mutually exclusive. (And it’s making me really excited for my future Pathfinder forays.) [Feministing]
If you love the Hawkeye Initiative, you’ll love this collection of male comic book heroes drawn in some of the most infamous female poses. [Comic Book Resources]
Comic Book Resources also has an amazing two part interview with Marvel and DC writer and artist Phil Jimenez, in which he discusses Wonder Woman’s sexuality, the creation of Trevor Barnes, Jimenez’s own role as a gay, Latino creator, and comic book depictions of the Harlem Renaissance.
Medium has an incredibly detailed and in-depth takedown of Frozen and how it’s not, contrary to current opinion, as groundbreaking as you’d think.
Though Buffy‘s Willow never did identify as bisexual or queer, Autostraddle makes a convincing and heartfelt case for reading her character’s sexuality as fluid.
19th century novelists sorted into their respective Hogwarts house. [The Toast]
Speaking of 19th century novelists, Mark Gatiss has hinted that there might be an upcoming Jane Austen-themed Doctor Who episode. So now it has to happen. [Doctor Who TV]
Artist Sean Ng created a Let’s Draw Lady Knights! randomizer, meant to inspire more creative ways of portraying women warriors. Here’s a collection of Ng’s own contributions, but there are many more!

Tagged Autostraddle, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Comic Book Resources, DC, Doctor Who, Elizabeth Sampat, Feministing, Frozen, Game Developers Conference, Harry Potter, Hawkeye Initiative, Hayao Miyazaki, Hogwarts, Jane Austen, Mark Gatiss, Marvel, Medium, Pathfinder, Phil Jimenez, Polygon, Sean Ng, Shadowrun Returns, Stuio Ghibli, The Learned Fangirl, The Toast, Trevor Barnes, Willow Rosenberg, Wonder Woman

Feb 26 2014

2 Comments

Errant thoughts

WWDWD: What Would Dark Willow Do?

Abracadabrabitches

Dark Willow would make the Olympic torch blow up in Putin’s face.
Dark Willow would make hateful picket signs bludgeon the Westboro Baptist Church to death.
Dark Willow would make Arizona legislators sit in a dark room, watching the same Leave it to Beaver episode on loop for all eternity, Clockwork Orange-style, since they like the 1950s so much.
Dark Willow would put all claustrophobic bigots in closets for years, see how they like it.
Dark Willow would deny any involvement in the mysterious disappearances of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the entire Red Pepper editorial board.
Dark Willow would bury Cecil Chao in 6,500,000,000 pennies.
Dark Willow would cross over to the Firefly universe, find Jayne, and shoot him with Vera.
Dark Willow would reanimate Cece MacDonald‘s attacker, just to flay him. (Staying on brand, you know?)
Dark Willow would shove a microphone down Rush Limbaugh’s throat. Or a basketball. She’s not picky.
Dark Willow would stick her hands into her laptop, track down hacker douchebags, and short their circuits.

Tagged Arizona, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cece MacDonald, Cecil Chao, Dark Willow, Firefly, Jayne, Olympic Games, Red Pepper, Rush Limbaugh, Uganda, Westboro Baptist Church, Willow Rosenberg, Yoweri Museveni

Oct 09 2013

1 Comment

BAMFiles

BAMFiles: Tara Maclay

Taramylove

It was really hard to pick someone for the second BAMFile, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer seemed like an excellent place to choose from. There are, of course, a lot of great characters on that show (and many will likely be included in this series), but I thought I’d use this opportunity to spotlight someone who never really got enough credit: Tara Maclay.

Tara was an amazing, though underrated, character. She was good, honest, and intensely in love with Willow (so much so that we unfortunately never really got a fully fleshed-out Tara-centric storyline). Though I mostly love Tara and Willow as a unit (#tallow4ever), and I am obsessed with the very 90s witchcraft-as-a-metaphor-for-lesbianism thing that they were a part of, Tara stood out individually. She somehow managed to deal with adversity, in the form of extreme shyness and a manipulative, abusive family, while never doubting herself, her sexuality, or her magical abilities, and was instrumental in starting Willow down the path of witchcraft (for better or for worse).

ultimatecuties

Tara is the group’s conscience, and there’s a reason that when Buffy has prophetic dreams, they manifest as a warning from Tara. Tara’s also the only one who truly notices how badly Buffy is readjusting to the world after her second death. She’s so incorruptible that, in season seven, when The First Evil was taking the shape of the gang’s dead loved ones, actress Amber Benson wouldn’t reprise her role. She’s the only member of the group who never flirted with evil, and she showed that strength could be a quiet, compassionate thing, in a nice contrast to Buffy’s beat-em-up style.

Of course, it wouldn’t be possible to talk about Tara without mentioning her importance as one half of the first lead lesbian couple on television. Though she and Willow didn’t kiss until the show’s fifth season (and were only shown in sexual situations after the show had switched networks), the effect of having two well-adjusted women in love with each other was unmistakably positive. In Benson’s own words:

“I thought I was on some science fiction show. I had no clue I was going to have some sort of impact on a whole group of people… Alyson and I would get letters, and you don’t realize the impact you’re making until you really start thinking about it. When kids come up and say, ‘I didn’t kill myself because of Buffy and your relationship,’ it blows your mind. It wasn’t about two women making out. It was about two women who fell in love with each other and happened, just happened, to have the same genitalia.”

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Say it with me now: “Awwwwwwwwww.”

Basically, this whole post is one big excuse for listening to this on repeat:

Tagged Amber Benson, Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tara Maclay, The First Evil, Willow Rosenberg, witchcraft

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