Good Things Will Happen 🧿

My unhopeful Stranger Things S5 prediction is that Will will not come out to anyone and there will be no explicit romance. The Duffer Brother’s will just have laid out a bunch of queer subtext (picture Mike having his own conversation with Nancy about how he feels about Will like the teasing conversation they had about El in S1). Then, afterwards in interviews when they ask “so are they gay?” (Y’know the way they did during S4 press tour) they’ll be like “well let’s just say any context you were picking up on was intentional, but it’s up for your interpretation ;)” And then congratulate themselves on their inclusivity. I’m so excited y’all

Me when I don't have time to write: I JUST WANNA WRITE

Me when I do have time to write: I JUST WANNA DIE

It saw me in hot topic and slipped me in their bag

Finish this sentence

I didn’t choose the fandom life…

Since I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Noah Schnapp shipping Byler or saying things like “some of Mike and Will scenes can be interpreted as romantic” (paraphrasing) could turn into queerbait if the ship doesn’t come to fruition, I feel like y’all need to be grounded.

Noah is an actor, not a writer. He is a gay human being and viewer of the show. He is allowed to ship the characters the same way the audience does even if he didn’t know the ending —the way he didn’t when he stated he shipped Mike and Will in S4.

His comments such as “scenes can be interpreted as romantic” are him interpreting the show the way a viewer that enjoys the ship does —he is not god.

And if the ship does not come to fruition the way you’re hoping it does, it was not queerbait on his behalf. He is just enjoying the joy you get from his character’s queerness. And it is definitely not “the worst thing he’s ever done.” He has already done much worse with his responsibility as a young adult in the public eye 🤨🤨🤨

Walking past this on the T hit different ✨ after Phil said he spent 4 years babysitting the kids on AmazingPhil channel

Ik Dan has joked before that Phannies are scholars, and he is absolutely right. In 2021 I wrote a college gender studies final on Dan and Phil real-people queer baiting and whether it can ever be done intentionally.

Here are my favorite excerpts:

“As influencer culture grows, their audiences grow apprehensive of what may pass as in-real-life queerbaiting…In his coming-out video, "Basically, I'm Gay," Youtube celebrity Dan Howell explains the context of his relationship with the other half of the iconic internet duo "Dan and Phil."… he is quick to follow with a statement about his and Phil's preference to keep their personal life "private" for people that share their lives on the internet (Basically, I’m Gay). While respecting Dan and Phil’s reasoning for remaining closeted at the height of their Youtube careers, it is to be acknowledged that the duo profited on the speculative nature of their homosexual behaviors of their online public relationship. Along with Dan Howell's content, which deprecated his insecurities and mental illness, and AmazingPhil which was light and fun, Dan and Phil engaged a massive community of LGBTQ+ through the display of their closeted sexualities which caused constant, inevitable speculation. “

“Dan and Phil’s Youtube personas and scheduled live streams created parasocial relationships between themselves and their audience. A parasocial relationship is defined as the “pseudo-intimacy” developed between an “audience and media personalities,” often taking the role of a good friend (Ramassuen)…Social and physical attraction are shown to have a positive relationship regarding their importance to parasocial relationships (Kurtin). Dan and Phil’s majority demographic, at the time, were teenage girls; fans often labelled themselves based on who they found more attractive: “Dan” or “Phil” girls…Dan and Phil, although promoting a platform where they “took responsibility” for their fans through a parasocial relationship (Green), benefitted from remaining sexually ambiguous as their fan base, it could be argued, was attracted to either member of the pair.”

“Dan and Phil's 2016 USA tour, "The Amazing Tour is Not On Fire,” contained a segment where they enacted fanfiction on stage based on the audience's reaction to pre-scripted scenarios. During the show, Dan and Phil performed two blatantly homoerotic sketches which cut-off before any physical explicitness. In this situation, the duo is relying on the homosexual subtext of their relationship to please their viewership…If Dan and Phil were to kiss as part of their stage show, their fans may have considered it their “coming-out.” "The Amazing Tour is Not On Fire" is just one example where they took advantage of their crowd’s obsession with the nature of their relationship while keeping the door of the closet locked for safety (from their audience and from themselves).”

“From video titles such as “Giving the People What They Want,” which features a thumbnail of Dan holding Phil’s shoulders and smiling widely, “What Dan and Phil Text Each Other,” and “Taste Our Rainbows,” there are numerous examples of the duo intentionally teasing their homosexuality and showcasing their emotional closeness. On the topic of queerbaiting, Crystal Abidin says“ Vlogs in which not-(yet)-out Influencers display 'homosocial tactility' (Morris and Anderson [26], 1201) and overt discursive intimacies with same-sex Influencers are sometimes deliberate attempts to fan viewer speculations about an Influencer's sexuality”(Abidin)…fans scrutinized the often suggestive way the pair would look at each other which they dubbed “Heart-eyes Howell” and “Love-eyes Lester.” Inevitably, opportunities to engage in speculation of the nature of the pair’s relationship increased the overall attention Dan and Phil were receiving toward their Youtube content.”

“While it may or may not be deliberate, the pair was certainly aware of the advantages of all the queer speculation brought to their careers. In Dan’s 2016 “Diss Track,” a song about his flaws, he says “the only reason you get views is because you’re another white guy that people ship with his friend because they think it’s [cute]”…In this case, Dan is making unintentional, but self-aware gains from teasing his sexuality through self-deprication while also shutting down the possibility of a romance with his roommate, Phil.”

“I LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience mental health hardships as well as loneliness at a young age…In a livestream in the early 2010s, Phil accuses Dan’s fans of being dark as opposed to his which love suns and lions. In response, Dan accurately explains that they are the same fans, but that they particularly express themselves more openly with him. There is an argument to be made that Dan and Phil’s audience strongly consisting of LGBTQ+ youth is a result of their open expression of their other attributes - awkwardness, anxiety, introvertedness, and depression, rather than specifically their queerness. Their friendship is what links the pair together and adds excitement for the audience.”

“Dan Howell’s coming-out video is a 45 minute docu-short which tells a vulnerable story of his history with bullying, the word gay, and his sexual orientation on the internet…[In the video, Dan] disapproves of “aggressive speculating” or “forced outing” for the purpose of entertainment, as there could be infinite, valid reasons why an assumed LGBTQ+ person is not out (Basically, I’m Gay)…sharing the story of a difficult journey with his queerness and intimacies with his internet partner on supports the argument that Dan and Phil could not be “queerbaiting,” as queerbaiting is taking deliberate actions to draw-in LGBT+ audiences while safeguarding from homophobia. Any of their actions that may be perceived as queerbaiting was an accidental and inevitable result of the true nature of Dan and Phil’s relationship and online content they created that happened to resonate with young queer people at the time.”

“Reflecting their young gay audience, it took time for Dan and Phil to grow comfortable with their sexual orientations…The pairing of Dan and Phil on-screen inevitably —as if it were a consequence for existing as queer men online in a trial period— “queer-baited,” in an untraditional context, the audience as the content is homoerotic without the disclosure of sexual orientation that the duo ultimately benefitted from to their knowledge.”

Does it bother anyone else that  Draco spent his whole sixth year repairing the vanishing cabinet??? The deatheaters could have used a portkey to get into Hogwarts. Portkeys are underrated,  there is no place in the book that says there’s a barrier around Hogwarts that prevents portkey travel. What about floo powder power?  It would have been a year of sneaking around and a suspicious Potter avoided, excluding the trying to kill Dumbledore part. 

Me trying to talk to new people

When I read TABINOF for the first time, I read The Urge and The Hand side-by-side and genuinely wondered whether Dan had an unrequited love. I WORRIED. Like all the videos analyzing the gay shit they did was being finally debunked as one-sided by Dan’s vampire love confession and Straight Phil sliding into the goofiest mpreg using words like “homeslice.”

But yea, the people still waiting for the “hard launch” as if The Urge wasn’t the hardest-soft gay that ever flashed its titties in our faces then went to hide away again under the comfort of the black anime t-shirts in the straighty straight straight closet. Y’all are just spoiled now.