On Love, Simon

On Love, Simon

Okay so Love Simon is one of many LGBTQ+ movies I have seen and I can honestly say it wasn’t my taste.

But seeing so many people react with so much happyness and especially young people having a mainstream movie to look at is wonderful.

When I was a teen you had to go and really search for happy LGBTQ+ movies, only Brokeback Mountain was widespread and it doesn’t have a happy ending.

So many LGBTQ+ movies don’t end happyly and you know what it’s amazing to see one that is so popular and spreading and getting seen by teenagers, instead of the many unhappy ones.

Don’t get me wrong there are amazing movies out there that do not feature a happy end and bad ones who do, but growing up I had to search really hard to find something happy (give me all the hurt, as long as there is comfort) and it’s just wonderful to see that that has changes.

So manybe I didn’t like Love, Simon, maybe I thought of all the movies I watched that were way better and did something better than this movie.

But fuck it, I love what this movie does to people and it makes me super happy that people are getting joy out of it. That people are getting more open, that a movie like this exists for teens to just watch and see that maybe the world won#t be all that bad in the end. Screw everything I love how many people this movie made happy!

I love Theon being included in fanarts and storys with the Stark family as much an anybody. Just the way Robb would have wanted it.

But the next person that says that the show did Theon and Ned’s relationship better by saying that Ned was like a father to Theon is going to hear from me.

He was a HOSTAGE!

You can call him his ward all you want. BookTheon said himself that Ned was not a father to him, the few times he acted fatherly towards him, Theon thought of it as worse, because they both (unlike the rest of the Stark family, minus Cat it seems) had a really good understanding of what Theons position in Winterfell meant.

I like Ned but he was never Theon’s father. And as much as a dick Balon was he was Theon’s father. He neglected him and did not give a fuck and saw him as nothing but a dissapointment (like every other familymember that isn’t Asha) but for Theon he was his father.

And Ned treated Theon like you are supposed to treat a highborn hostage. Maybe he let Robb spend too much friend time with Theon, but that’s about it. Everything else (education, good food, rich clothing) is normal hostage treatment we see in Sansa and Cersei just as much.

Don’t get me wrong, Ned is no Cersei, he is never shown to think that Theon owns him anything (even if they didn’t have scenes together, I don’t think Ned is that delusional), whereas Cersei thinks Sansa should be greatful.

But noone sais Sansa sees Cersei as her mother or that she should be greatful for the Lannisters treatment, but Theon should be? Just because the Starks are generally better people than Cersei and Joffrey? No.

Theon was as much a hostage as Sansa was, just for much longer and it did some psychological damage to him that can’t be undone.

Is this Ned’s fault? Also no. Ned didn’t take Theon hostage because he wanted to, it was an outcome from a war Theon was not responsible in any way of. Theon is innocent of his situation as a hostage to the Starks.

And Ned treats him as a highborn hostage. He raises him, feeds him, trains him and would most likely execute him if neccessairy. Would he like it -definitly no, but Ned killed innocent Lady as he was ordered by the king (I know she was a wolf, but still).

So no, Theon Greyjoy hostage of Ned Stark did not see the man as his father.

He saw Balon Greyjoy as his father, may he be a terrible father but to Theon he was his father.

Honestly the only decent father role Theon has is Dagmer anyways. In this essay I will...

Me: Cat is one of my least favourite characters because she always reminds me of my uncles partner who treats his two sons from his ex like shit, only because they aren’t her children.

Someone else: Catelyn Stark is dumb and mean and I hate her 

Me: She is one of the best written characters with a compelling arc and strong motives and one of the best written female characters ever. She is a good balance of good and bad qualities that makes occationally bad choices, but also with a really good cause in mind and a clear motive. She’s do anything to save her children and is one of the best parents in Westeros when it comes to raising decent children. She also has a grat sense of humor.

Me: I love Catelyn Tully Stark because she doesn’t fall into the ‘perfect mother’ archetype. She isn’t just an extention of her children and she has her own arc, yet she also cares for them so deeply. She’s smart, she’s strong, she grabbed a knife with her bare hands to protect her son. She has flaws of course, but that is what makes her so likable and well rounded as a character.

Someone else: Catelyn Stark is dumb and mean and I hate her

Me: On second thought, Catelyn has never done one single thing wrong in her life. Love how perfect she is. Flawless. Her power.

Totally agree that Theon wasn't treated like a foster kid, and lived with the traumatizing threat of getting murdered for shit he has no control over. Totally disagree that is in any way comparable to Sansa's treatment at Lannister hands. She was literally tortured in front of the court. Repeatedly. Theon's situation is more akin to Dany's child hostages.

I think you can generally compare anything, just how much of it is the same is different.

I was refearing to Cersei thinking that Sansa should be greatful of how Cersei treated her, not Joffrey who tortured her in front of the court, specifically Cersei who was horrible to Sansa on a psychological level but from an outside perspective did everything a person in her position (aka feed her, cloth her etc.) should have done.

That Joffrey tortured Sansa is not acceptable even by Westerosi standarts.

I actually think that Cersei and Ned / Sansa and Theons position as a hostage is quiet comparable, but in the way that Ned handles it a lot more professionally and might I say better.

They both get all they need on a physical level, they spend time with their prisoners children and even come to like them to some degree (apart from Joffrey and Jon), they get educated and spend their time going what other people in their class do.

These points are all met, but the execution itself is different and Ned and Cersei’s reactions to it are different for the person in danger that does not change their position of powerlessness at all, because it is out of their reach to do something about their position.

I agree that Theon’s position is more like Dany’s cupbearers, but Dany is shown to have zero interest in killing them, wheras Robert would have definitly ordered Theon’s execution. But in terms of position/naming it is more alike. Aka hostage becomes ward and hostage becomes cupbearer.

Your post about Theon's Position in Winterfell was absolutely brilliant and I couldn't agree more. But what do you think is the reason for this misconception by so many fans. The books make it very clear. And if I remember correctly there where 3 dialogs just in season one about Theon position as an hostage. And credit where credit is due, I think those where quite good. So it really confuses me why so many fans (especially show fans) seem to misunderstand Theon's situation.

Well there is a scene with Ramsay in season 3 episode 4 where Theon literally sais "My real father lost his head at king's landing.", which tells us 2 things.

1. The showrunners have no idea about Theon Greyjoy and Ned Stark.

2. The showrunners also have no idea that being a hostage for 10 years does psychological damage to you.

I could make a really long list of characters they screwed up by just leaving so much out that the only thing left about them is the shell of their plot without having their core character traits even being there anymore, but in this case it shows so well.

Why would someone say that the man who held them prisoner for a decade is their “real father”? I get it, Ned is a great and interesting character but that doesn’t make him the best person in the world but as the seasons went on, the showrunners decided that whenever someone talked about him he became better person by modern standarts, instead of a decent person by Westeros standarts.

They  changed pretty much everything about the conversation he had with Arya in season 1, when Arya talked about it in season 8 (aka Ned is now pro Arya taking on “masculin traits” for some reason).

And that season 3 scene just shows that really well. There’s a lot more where they screwed Theon up, but at least we had the fantastic Alfie Allen playing him to make up for that.

#And they made all the morally grey characters super nice and sympathetic.

Just noticed it now. ijustdontknowwhatimdoing hid the truest part about all of it in the tags. Or like most characters are morally grey, but in GoT they are suddently not anymore?

Your post about Theon's Position in Winterfell was absolutely brilliant and I couldn't agree more. But what do you think is the reason for this misconception by so many fans. The books make it very clear. And if I remember correctly there where 3 dialogs just in season one about Theon position as an hostage. And credit where credit is due, I think those where quite good. So it really confuses me why so many fans (especially show fans) seem to misunderstand Theon's situation.

Well there is a scene with Ramsay in season 3 episode 4 where Theon literally sais "My real father lost his head at king's landing.", which tells us 2 things.

1. The showrunners have no idea about Theon Greyjoy and Ned Stark.

2. The showrunners also have no idea that being a hostage for 10 years does psychological damage to you.

I could make a really long list of characters they screwed up by just leaving so much out that the only thing left about them is the shell of their plot without having their core character traits even being there anymore, but in this case it shows so well.

Why would someone say that the man who held them prisoner for a decade is their “real father”? I get it, Ned is a great and interesting character but that doesn’t make him the best person in the world but as the seasons went on, the showrunners decided that whenever someone talked about him he became better person by modern standarts, instead of a decent person by Westeros standarts.

They  changed pretty much everything about the conversation he had with Arya in season 1, when Arya talked about it in season 8 (aka Ned is now pro Arya taking on “masculin traits” for some reason).

And that season 3 scene just shows that really well. There’s a lot more where they screwed Theon up, but at least we had the fantastic Alfie Allen playing him to make up for that.