Every Blow She Dealt Him Was Sweeter Than A Kiss

every blow she dealt him was sweeter than a kiss

Y'all have seen this, now spin the wheel

Reblog because reblogs are cool and for bigger sample size, thx!

the funeral (a grotesque display of two queens’ grief, forced on them against their will) being interjected by images of aegon beating blood into a bloody ruin says something about how women’s grief is exploited and paraded around as a virtue while male grief is only allowed to exist in conjunction with violence.

female sorrow is expected to be public, dignified, and even noble, it serves as a symbol of quiet strength and resilience. otto uses it as a tool to gain sympathy for their cause. notice how he forced alicent and helaena into it, while he allowed aegon not to participate. wouldn‘t the king being at the funeral send a powerful message? yes, it would. but otto looks at aegon with contempt, the other councilmen and alicent do not know what to do with his tears. the realm cannot be allowed to see the king grieve. not like this.

male grief is denied its own space and validity unless it manifests in aggressive or destructive acts. aegon realizes this to some degree too— he lashes out publicly by killing the rat catchers. he shows his grief by being violent, by spilling blood.

the toxicity of it all is very effectively shown at the end when aegon is crying by himself. did he retreat there to be alone and finally let it all out? his mother is either letting him have that moment alone or she’s deeply uncomfortable with it and chooses to leave. no matter what motivated alicent in acting the way she did— the moment still reveals how male vulnerability is something people fear. it shows that even the most human expressions of pain are not acceptable for some.

For the purposes of this poll, major recurring characters are recurring characters who interact directly and routinely with the main cast but who are not the subjects of the plotlines being followed in s6.

main character edition

what i love very much about buffy as a show is it seems like you cant say "they shouldve been at the club" because they were, critically, at the club literally all the time. however, despite this, and i can't emphasize this enough, oh my god, they shouldve been at the club. especially buffy herself. no one shouldve been at the club more. and she WAS. however, in the ways that are important, she also was not