25 March 2015-31 March 2015
Notices
If you have meta to submit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
Androids, and Cyborgs, and Robots, OH MY!: Jared Hill (blog) - "That being the case, what do all of these films about AI tell us about this current point in time? Simply put, we are terrified of what our own inventions can potentially become."
topic:movies, topic:robots
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Satan is Literally a Dark Wizard: pantydragon (blog) - "While in Tolkien's case, Sauron was a metaphor for industrialization, and in the case of children's books, morality is artificially externalized and simplified for the sake of young readers, the Christian reading of Satan is-as far as many active faith communities are concerned-neither metaphorical nor exaggerated. Satan is literally a dark wizard."
topic:religion, topic:villains
Ethnic Superhero Season, of What Michelle Rodriguez Can Teach Us About Believability: Squid, Inc. (blog) - "But first, let's address the premise itself. Are all of these superheroes, "originally" white, whose races are being changed, being stolen?"
topic:race, topic:superheroes
Magical Mondays: Storytelling and Animal Transformations: porluciernagas (blog) - "However, some of these properties gloss over the actual "transformation" part of an animal transformation, and I think the way the animal transformation is handled can add a lot to a story."
topic:magic
The Romance of the Closet: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "The Edge of Impropriety and Orphan Black both reflect a world in which LGBT people are more accepted, and more visible, than in the past. But that has not banished the LGBT experience as a fictional metaphor or trope."
topic:lgbt, fandom:literature, topic:romance, fandom:orphanblack
ICFA 36: Fantasy, theory, and arguing: Benjamin J. Robertson (blog) - "The Fantasy division, in my humble opinion, seems to suffer from an inferiority complex stemming from the lack of regard that fantasy, as an object of study, has within the academy generally and within the study of fantastika specifically, vis-a-vis science fiction."
topic:fantasy, topic:academia
ICFA 36 paper: Here at the end of all things: An Archaeology of Return: Benjamin J. Robertson (blog) - "Here is my paper from this year's International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, on the problem of ending in fantasy and John Clute's conception of return."
topic:fantasy, fandom:literature
4 Misconceptions About Fanfiction: Justine Manzano (blog) - "So, I feel the need to clear up some of the misconceptions that have sprung up about fanfiction, by discussing a series of topics in the community."
topic:fanfic
From Shaman to Equinox: The Challenges and Failures of Indigenous Representation in Superhero Comics: James Leask (blog) - "Questions about representation have been a growing subject of discussion in comics over the past few years. But the discussions rarely seem to include indigenous people, and I rarely get an answer to my question, even if I can guess at it."
fandom:comics, topic:representation, topic:superheroes
Feminist Frequency's Positive Female Characters in Video Games, "The Scythian": Kristin (blog) - "Although I have been advocating for positive examples of female game characters in Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, I'm uncertain about the value of separating the two series into "good" and "bad" versions."
topic:criticism, topic:femalecharacter, fandom:gaming
Note: The video this article is about is linked under the specific fandom: Sword & Sworcery.
Why are shows with despicable people in the lead so hot these days?:various authors (forum) - "Basically I seem to be one of the few people who prefer a badly written show with characters I like over a "well written" show with characters I hate."
topic:canon, topic:writing
Specific Fandoms
The 100
The 100: marina (DW) - "I have, however been watching The 100, because I'm very weak for scifi shows, no matter how shitty, and this show is apparently right on the edge where on the one hand I roll my eyes through most of each episode (don't care about the parents' plot, don't care about the romantic plots, ESPECIALLY don't care about the love triangles, don't care about basically every white dude character, don't care for the standard issue CW racism) but on the other there's enough interesting stuff in there to make me keep watching (all the women! the mother-daughter relationships! the sometimes interesting/bold choices that are more "Lord of the Flies" than "Lost"! Bellamy!)"
fandom:the100
A US show does Israeli politics,,, weirdly accurately: marina (DW) - "In the second half of the first season, The 100, which as of the S1 finale is definitely the best scifi show currently airing, in my opinion (which is partially a comment on how few awesome scifi shows are around currently), has done such a stellar job of creating a metaphor/representation of current Israeli politics (and specifically the latest election results in Israel)"
fandom:the100, topic:politics
Cinderella
Embracing Exaggeration: A Review of Cinderella: Sarah Shoker (blog) - "Cinderella is a stark contrast to 'edgy' television drenched in grit and grimdark-inspired fantasy novels."
fandom:cinderella
Community/Moonlighting
How Moonlighting Laid Groundwork for Community: Greg Cwik (blog) - "But the show to which it's most indebted, one it has (to my knowledge) yet to directly acknowledge, is Glenn Gordon Caron's Moonlighting - the show that did meta before meta was cool."
fandom:community, fandom:moonlighting
CSI: Cyber
A Series of Tubes: 'CSI: Cyber' Review: Steven Lloyd Wilson (blog) - "I'd say that it's terrible, but that's an insult to the adjective. It achieves levels of ignorance normally reserved for congressional committees, chickens born without heads, and the children of celebrities."
fandom:csi
Daredevil
Review: 'Daredevil' Is Unlike Anything Marvel Has Ever Done: Kevin Fitzpatrick (blog) - "Marvel's Daredevil occupies the bizarre paradox of feeling completely unique, and uniquely familiar at the same time."
fandom:daredevil
Deadpool
The New Deadpool Movie Might be More Inclusive Than You Think: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "Yeah, though many of Deadpool's comics are wacky and hilarious, he has a lot more depth than many people give him credit for. So let's talk about this and how, if done well, Deadpool could make for a really fantastic movie, not just by comic book movie standards but by intersectional feminist standards."
fandom:marvelcomics, fandom:mcu, warning:rape, warning:childabuse
Doctor Who
An Unlikable Doctor: whovianfeminism (tumblr) - "The deliberate promotion of the new Doctor as more unlikable than his previous two incarnations raises an intriguing question: Could a woman portray the Doctor the same way Peter Capaldi portrays the Doctor? And would the show's producers have been able to promote the show the same way if a woman was taking over the role?"
fandom:doctorwho
The Changing Style of Doctor Who XI: The Dark Doctor: daniel-saunders (LJ) - "As noted in the previous article, Andrew Cartmel had arrived as script editor at a time when Doctor Who was in crisis."
fandom:doctorwho
Dragon Age
Troubling Heteronormativity with Alistair and Cullen:imadra_blue (DW) - "The Dragon Age canon tells us Alistair and Cullen are heterosexual, so--
--wait. Hold up. Let's examine that before we go any further. Does canon actually tell us that?"
fandom:dragonage, topic:sexuality
Gravity Falls
Theory #8091b: haikujitsu (tumblr) - "I was looking at the journal pages, and here's something interesting."
fandom:gravityfalls
Green Fairy
A Look at Green Fairy, the Pinnacle of Furry Genre Fiction: Matt Healy (blog) - "I figured the best place to start would be to read the best furry fiction available. I asked around on Twitter and got a strong recommendation for Green Fairy, by Kyell Gold."
fandom:literature, topic:furries
The Hunger Games
The Psychology of Inspirational Women: Katniss Everdeen: Dr Janina Scarlet (blog) - "Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, who volunteers to take her sister's place in the monstrous Hunger Games, is a hero and a legend. After going through some of the most horrific events imaginable, Katniss attempts to end her own life. What caused her to try to commit suicide? Does Katniss suffer from a mental health disorder? What stops her from dying and what gives her a reason to live?"
fandom:thehungergames
Mockingjay Part 1 Misses Opportunities for Rich Metatextual Interplay with PTSD justira (DW) - "The story - the book - is, at its core, part social commentary and part inspection of PTSD. But the film adaptation lacked the boldness to pull a full genre shift, or make up for Collins's shortcomings as a writer."
fandom:thehungergames
Insidious
Insidious Without Sin: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "The main problem with Insidious is that it has no sinners."
fandom:insidious
Jem and the Holograms
Femslash Friday: On the Promise of Canonical Kimber/Stormer: Jessica Doyle (blog) - "One night not long ago I was reading online, which I often do, and I ended up reading an interview in The Advocate about an brand-new comic-book series, which I don't often do."
fandom:jemandtheholograms, topic:femslash
Last Man on Earth
Phil Miller and Male Entitlement: brigidkeely (blog) - "This is an example of the same male entitlement that gives rise to the Nice Guys who have nothing to offer save feigned respect and kindness with an ulterior motive, and who deride and berate the women (usually better looking, with better jobs and social skills) who don't appreciate their greatness and refuse to fuck/date/marry them."
fandom:lastmanonearth
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: It's All Political: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "This lesson argues that no piece of literature is devoid of political bias, because every author has a personal political preference that is likely to present itself in that author's works. Likewise, every person who has ever had a hand in creating a Zelda game has left his or her political footprint on it, it's just a matter of spotting the tracks."
fandom:legendofzelda
Zelda Dungeon Talks: Which Game has the Best Character Development?: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "In a series that's been running for as long as The Legend of Zelda has, there are always going to be some minor characters that end up swept by the way-side; but Zelda usually does a pretty good job of making its characters memorable."
fandom:legendofzelda
The Librarians
Here's Why You Should Be Watching The Librarians: Kris Smith (blog) - "The first season of The Librarians is over, but with it just renewed for a second season, is it worth your time to catch up on? Heck. Yes."
fandom:thelibrarians
Lost
The Lost Will and Testament of Javier Grillo-Marxuach: Javier Grillo-Marxuach (blog) - "If you are reading this, it might be because you asked me how it all began and I sent you here."
fandom:lost
Miranda
Miranda, performance and online audiences: ingerlisekbore (blog) - "I am currently working on a study of online audience engagement with screen comedy, and have just completed three case studies that examine evaluations of sitcoms. One of these case studies focused on discussions of Miranda (BBC2/1, 2009-2015) on the discussion board of a popular British media and entertainment site."
fandom:miranda
My Little Pony
My Little Pony - All About the Comics: Fangirl Chat (podcast) - "On this episode Teresa Delgado is joined by Bobby Curnow of IDW Publishing to discuss all things from the world of My Little Pony comics."
fandom:mylittlepony
One Direction
"Legends ! Aha x" or, The Myth of One Direction: Corbin (blog) - "Yet despite all their grubbing and fuckery, despite the maddening certainty that they are five twenty-something monster boys alive in the world, One Direction retain an aura of magic and power and unknowability that eclipses reason."
fandom:onedirection
'Til I Change My Luck: "Fireproof": Aly (blog) - ""Fireproof" is a lot of things to a lot of people. It was the first thing we heard of off FOUR, One Direction's most recent album, and for me it was like coming home, somehow. It was good and right and real, it felt like the sun breaking through clouds."
fandom:onedirection
Pretty Woman
What 'Pretty Woman' says about sex, money, and how we view women: Anna Pulley (blog) - "But for all its Cinderella escapism and happy endings (pun intended), Pretty Woman is the Fifty Shades of Grey of its generation, reinforcing the dominant narrative around woman as property and sexual object and grossly misrepresenting how sex workers are portrayed."
fandom:prettywoman
The Robe
The Robe: My Own Personal Non-Denominational Jesus: aelarsen (blog) - "It's Holy Week, so I figured I would take a break from Salem's witch trials and tackle one of those old Hollywood Biblical epics. I settled on The Robe (1953, dir. Howard Koster), mostly because I'd never seen it before."
fandom:therobe, topic:history, topic:religion
Runaways
Why I'm Not Too Excited About the New Runaways: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "Have you ever read a series of books with several main characters you love and then all of a sudden a new book in that series is introduced, but it's with entirely new characters that you never met before and know nothing about?"
fandom:marvelcomics
Salem
Salem: Who's Real and Who's Not: aelarsen (blog) - "As I mentioned last time, WGN's Salem show is based on historical reality a bit the way that surumi is based on crab legs. There's so much wrong with the main characters that I decided they needed a whole post to themselves."
fandom:salem, topic:history
Salem: Let's Look at What Actually Happened: aelarsen (blog) - "Today, I'm going to lay out the problem with the series' chronology. So, as usual, I'm going to lay out what actually happened, and then look at the series' version of those events."
fandom:salem, topic:history
Scandal
Scandal Chat: Season 4, Episode 16: TLF Editors (blog) - "VO: I don't know if it's something with our network or what here - this episode also was bumped later thanks to the WIAA high school basketball tournaments - but I'm suddenly plunged into a fight between Leo and Abby, probably regarding sex, because on this show, it's either sex or politics."
fandom:scandal, warning:spoilers
Sheena: Queen of the Jungle
Re-View: Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, The Marvel Movie Nobody Remembers: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "he female-focused property predated Wonder Woman both in print (1937) and on TV (1955-56) as an attempt to capitalize on the serialized Tarzan films MGM produced. But this is one of the most bizarre, '80s-fantasy, post-Beastmaster movies."
fandom:sheena
A Song of Ice and Fire
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Catelyn III, ACOK: Steven Attewell (blog) - "I must admit to a certain apprehension in writing about Catelyn III, because I consider it to be *the* central chapter of A Clash of Kings."
fandom:asoiaf
Episode 378 - ASOIAF Cohosted with Miles Schneiderman and Steven Attewell: UNspoiled! (podcast) - "It's time for your next dose of ASOIAF, and today we are going to be talking about some people that we all know and love, namely the Mad King Aerys."
fandom:asoiaf
Crazy fan theories of the day: Johnny (blog) - "Today's question of the day: What is the craziest fan theory that you hope will come true by the end of A Song of Ice and Fire?"
fandom:asoiaf
Star Trek
Sexualized Saturdays: Winona Kirk, Sexism, & Motherhood: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "I have been reading a lot of Star Trek fanfiction recently, and I have noticed a frankly upsetting trend. Many fans, it seems, like to cast Winona Kirk, James Kirk's mother, in a very negative light."
fandom:startrek, topic:femalecharacter, topic:fanfic
Star Wars
Untitled: cadesama and rosbridge (tumblr) - "I think that's a problem with writing prequels characters in general- it's really easy to try and make them better people with more enlightened opinions than they actually have and wind up going off in the other direction entirely because the disconnect between their beliefs and their actions winds up making them way worse than they otherwise would be."
fandom:starwars
Untitled: belinsky (tumblr) - "the prequels emphasizing anakin's love for padme as the tipping point for his fall to the dark side doesn't, i think, make his intrinsic humanity his ultimate flaw or his passion/love, which a lot of people have critiqued the prequels for doing"
fandom:starwars
Space Opera One Note Planets And Aliens:various authors (forum) - "I get that Star Wars is space opera and science fantasy, so I don`t care that much if all planets mostly consist of one type of environment or that most alien species seem to have only one etnicity, culture and language."
fandom:starwars
Star Wars Rebels
Star Wars Rebels Season One Review: Lex (blog) - "On every level, Rebels "gets" what Star Wars can be, and should be, with a consistency that most Star Wars stories to date have been unable to sustain."
fandom:starwars
Why do all Jedi have the same personality problems?:various authors (forum) - "I'm watching Rebels, and it's fun and all and I know it's a kid's show, but it's kind of bugging me that Ezra's challenges with Jedi training are the exact same ones Luke and Anakin face - anger, impetuosness, distraction"
fandom:starwars
Supernatural
Queerness, Tropes & Proof of Love: Why Destiel Is Canon: Foz Meadows (blog) - "But Destiel is a valid canonical interpretation of the show and its characters, and while there are other interpretations to be had - even contradictory ones - that doesn't make it anything less than legitimate."
fandom:supernatural
Sword & Sworcery
The Scythian - Sword & Sworcery: Feminist Frequency (video) - "In the debut episode of our series on Positive Female Characters, we celebrate the Scythian, the protagonist of Capybara Games' 2011 release Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP."
fandom:gaming, topic:femalecharacter
Tolkien
Untitled:tintamande (tumblr) - "Go you have any opinion on what kind of accent an elf trying to speak English would have? I guess it would depend on their own dialect, but what are your thoughts?"
fandom:jrrtolkien
Untitled:kazaera (tumblr) - "Quenya doesn't have many consonant clusters and English… does! This particularly hits the start and end of a word."
fandom:jrrtolkien
Thranduil Is Not A Villain Part One:sindarcaverave (tumblr) - "My problem with movie!Thranduil is that he was designed to fill a villainous role (for which we already have the characters of Smaug and Azog, aka real bad guys) rather than as a good king to a complex group of elves with a rich history that affects every decision he makes. "
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:adaptations
Thranduil Is Not A Villain Part Two sindarcaverave: (tumblr) - "PJ would have us see Thranduil as a king who is occasionally benevolent but always with an eye towards his own gain.
However, in the book, Thranduil cast in more directly positive light and is kind without having ulterior motives."
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:adaptations
Gandalf Meta:determamfidd (tumblr) - "Anonymous asked: What are your thoughts on Gandalf? Do you like him or not?
I… have mixed feelings about Gandalf, tbh"
fandom:jrrtolkien
The X-Files
The truth is out there: 'The X-Files' hasn't aged well: Alex Gabriel (blog) - "Much as I loved what I saw way back when, watching through laced fingers as Mulder and Scully flashlit their way through creepy submarines and suburban closets, X-Files has aged horribly since its run started."
fandom:x-files
If you have meta to submit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
Androids, and Cyborgs, and Robots, OH MY!: Jared Hill (blog) - "That being the case, what do all of these films about AI tell us about this current point in time? Simply put, we are terrified of what our own inventions can potentially become."
topic:movies, topic:robots
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Satan is Literally a Dark Wizard: pantydragon (blog) - "While in Tolkien's case, Sauron was a metaphor for industrialization, and in the case of children's books, morality is artificially externalized and simplified for the sake of young readers, the Christian reading of Satan is-as far as many active faith communities are concerned-neither metaphorical nor exaggerated. Satan is literally a dark wizard."
topic:religion, topic:villains
Ethnic Superhero Season, of What Michelle Rodriguez Can Teach Us About Believability: Squid, Inc. (blog) - "But first, let's address the premise itself. Are all of these superheroes, "originally" white, whose races are being changed, being stolen?"
topic:race, topic:superheroes
Magical Mondays: Storytelling and Animal Transformations: porluciernagas (blog) - "However, some of these properties gloss over the actual "transformation" part of an animal transformation, and I think the way the animal transformation is handled can add a lot to a story."
topic:magic
The Romance of the Closet: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "The Edge of Impropriety and Orphan Black both reflect a world in which LGBT people are more accepted, and more visible, than in the past. But that has not banished the LGBT experience as a fictional metaphor or trope."
topic:lgbt, fandom:literature, topic:romance, fandom:orphanblack
ICFA 36: Fantasy, theory, and arguing: Benjamin J. Robertson (blog) - "The Fantasy division, in my humble opinion, seems to suffer from an inferiority complex stemming from the lack of regard that fantasy, as an object of study, has within the academy generally and within the study of fantastika specifically, vis-a-vis science fiction."
topic:fantasy, topic:academia
ICFA 36 paper: Here at the end of all things: An Archaeology of Return: Benjamin J. Robertson (blog) - "Here is my paper from this year's International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, on the problem of ending in fantasy and John Clute's conception of return."
topic:fantasy, fandom:literature
4 Misconceptions About Fanfiction: Justine Manzano (blog) - "So, I feel the need to clear up some of the misconceptions that have sprung up about fanfiction, by discussing a series of topics in the community."
topic:fanfic
From Shaman to Equinox: The Challenges and Failures of Indigenous Representation in Superhero Comics: James Leask (blog) - "Questions about representation have been a growing subject of discussion in comics over the past few years. But the discussions rarely seem to include indigenous people, and I rarely get an answer to my question, even if I can guess at it."
fandom:comics, topic:representation, topic:superheroes
Feminist Frequency's Positive Female Characters in Video Games, "The Scythian": Kristin (blog) - "Although I have been advocating for positive examples of female game characters in Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, I'm uncertain about the value of separating the two series into "good" and "bad" versions."
topic:criticism, topic:femalecharacter, fandom:gaming
Note: The video this article is about is linked under the specific fandom: Sword & Sworcery.
Why are shows with despicable people in the lead so hot these days?:various authors (forum) - "Basically I seem to be one of the few people who prefer a badly written show with characters I like over a "well written" show with characters I hate."
topic:canon, topic:writing
Specific Fandoms
The 100
The 100: marina (DW) - "I have, however been watching The 100, because I'm very weak for scifi shows, no matter how shitty, and this show is apparently right on the edge where on the one hand I roll my eyes through most of each episode (don't care about the parents' plot, don't care about the romantic plots, ESPECIALLY don't care about the love triangles, don't care about basically every white dude character, don't care for the standard issue CW racism) but on the other there's enough interesting stuff in there to make me keep watching (all the women! the mother-daughter relationships! the sometimes interesting/bold choices that are more "Lord of the Flies" than "Lost"! Bellamy!)"
fandom:the100
A US show does Israeli politics,,, weirdly accurately: marina (DW) - "In the second half of the first season, The 100, which as of the S1 finale is definitely the best scifi show currently airing, in my opinion (which is partially a comment on how few awesome scifi shows are around currently), has done such a stellar job of creating a metaphor/representation of current Israeli politics (and specifically the latest election results in Israel)"
fandom:the100, topic:politics
Cinderella
Embracing Exaggeration: A Review of Cinderella: Sarah Shoker (blog) - "Cinderella is a stark contrast to 'edgy' television drenched in grit and grimdark-inspired fantasy novels."
fandom:cinderella
Community/Moonlighting
How Moonlighting Laid Groundwork for Community: Greg Cwik (blog) - "But the show to which it's most indebted, one it has (to my knowledge) yet to directly acknowledge, is Glenn Gordon Caron's Moonlighting - the show that did meta before meta was cool."
fandom:community, fandom:moonlighting
CSI: Cyber
A Series of Tubes: 'CSI: Cyber' Review: Steven Lloyd Wilson (blog) - "I'd say that it's terrible, but that's an insult to the adjective. It achieves levels of ignorance normally reserved for congressional committees, chickens born without heads, and the children of celebrities."
fandom:csi
Daredevil
Review: 'Daredevil' Is Unlike Anything Marvel Has Ever Done: Kevin Fitzpatrick (blog) - "Marvel's Daredevil occupies the bizarre paradox of feeling completely unique, and uniquely familiar at the same time."
fandom:daredevil
Deadpool
The New Deadpool Movie Might be More Inclusive Than You Think: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "Yeah, though many of Deadpool's comics are wacky and hilarious, he has a lot more depth than many people give him credit for. So let's talk about this and how, if done well, Deadpool could make for a really fantastic movie, not just by comic book movie standards but by intersectional feminist standards."
fandom:marvelcomics, fandom:mcu, warning:rape, warning:childabuse
Doctor Who
An Unlikable Doctor: whovianfeminism (tumblr) - "The deliberate promotion of the new Doctor as more unlikable than his previous two incarnations raises an intriguing question: Could a woman portray the Doctor the same way Peter Capaldi portrays the Doctor? And would the show's producers have been able to promote the show the same way if a woman was taking over the role?"
fandom:doctorwho
The Changing Style of Doctor Who XI: The Dark Doctor: daniel-saunders (LJ) - "As noted in the previous article, Andrew Cartmel had arrived as script editor at a time when Doctor Who was in crisis."
fandom:doctorwho
Dragon Age
Troubling Heteronormativity with Alistair and Cullen:imadra_blue (DW) - "The Dragon Age canon tells us Alistair and Cullen are heterosexual, so--
--wait. Hold up. Let's examine that before we go any further. Does canon actually tell us that?"
fandom:dragonage, topic:sexuality
Gravity Falls
Theory #8091b: haikujitsu (tumblr) - "I was looking at the journal pages, and here's something interesting."
fandom:gravityfalls
Green Fairy
A Look at Green Fairy, the Pinnacle of Furry Genre Fiction: Matt Healy (blog) - "I figured the best place to start would be to read the best furry fiction available. I asked around on Twitter and got a strong recommendation for Green Fairy, by Kyell Gold."
fandom:literature, topic:furries
The Hunger Games
The Psychology of Inspirational Women: Katniss Everdeen: Dr Janina Scarlet (blog) - "Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, who volunteers to take her sister's place in the monstrous Hunger Games, is a hero and a legend. After going through some of the most horrific events imaginable, Katniss attempts to end her own life. What caused her to try to commit suicide? Does Katniss suffer from a mental health disorder? What stops her from dying and what gives her a reason to live?"
fandom:thehungergames
Mockingjay Part 1 Misses Opportunities for Rich Metatextual Interplay with PTSD justira (DW) - "The story - the book - is, at its core, part social commentary and part inspection of PTSD. But the film adaptation lacked the boldness to pull a full genre shift, or make up for Collins's shortcomings as a writer."
fandom:thehungergames
Insidious
Insidious Without Sin: Noah Berlatsky (blog) - "The main problem with Insidious is that it has no sinners."
fandom:insidious
Jem and the Holograms
Femslash Friday: On the Promise of Canonical Kimber/Stormer: Jessica Doyle (blog) - "One night not long ago I was reading online, which I often do, and I ended up reading an interview in The Advocate about an brand-new comic-book series, which I don't often do."
fandom:jemandtheholograms, topic:femslash
Last Man on Earth
Phil Miller and Male Entitlement: brigidkeely (blog) - "This is an example of the same male entitlement that gives rise to the Nice Guys who have nothing to offer save feigned respect and kindness with an ulterior motive, and who deride and berate the women (usually better looking, with better jobs and social skills) who don't appreciate their greatness and refuse to fuck/date/marry them."
fandom:lastmanonearth
Legend of Zelda
Piece of Heart: It's All Political: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "This lesson argues that no piece of literature is devoid of political bias, because every author has a personal political preference that is likely to present itself in that author's works. Likewise, every person who has ever had a hand in creating a Zelda game has left his or her political footprint on it, it's just a matter of spotting the tracks."
fandom:legendofzelda
Zelda Dungeon Talks: Which Game has the Best Character Development?: Alexis Anderson (blog) - "In a series that's been running for as long as The Legend of Zelda has, there are always going to be some minor characters that end up swept by the way-side; but Zelda usually does a pretty good job of making its characters memorable."
fandom:legendofzelda
The Librarians
Here's Why You Should Be Watching The Librarians: Kris Smith (blog) - "The first season of The Librarians is over, but with it just renewed for a second season, is it worth your time to catch up on? Heck. Yes."
fandom:thelibrarians
Lost
The Lost Will and Testament of Javier Grillo-Marxuach: Javier Grillo-Marxuach (blog) - "If you are reading this, it might be because you asked me how it all began and I sent you here."
fandom:lost
Miranda
Miranda, performance and online audiences: ingerlisekbore (blog) - "I am currently working on a study of online audience engagement with screen comedy, and have just completed three case studies that examine evaluations of sitcoms. One of these case studies focused on discussions of Miranda (BBC2/1, 2009-2015) on the discussion board of a popular British media and entertainment site."
fandom:miranda
My Little Pony
My Little Pony - All About the Comics: Fangirl Chat (podcast) - "On this episode Teresa Delgado is joined by Bobby Curnow of IDW Publishing to discuss all things from the world of My Little Pony comics."
fandom:mylittlepony
One Direction
"Legends ! Aha x" or, The Myth of One Direction: Corbin (blog) - "Yet despite all their grubbing and fuckery, despite the maddening certainty that they are five twenty-something monster boys alive in the world, One Direction retain an aura of magic and power and unknowability that eclipses reason."
fandom:onedirection
'Til I Change My Luck: "Fireproof": Aly (blog) - ""Fireproof" is a lot of things to a lot of people. It was the first thing we heard of off FOUR, One Direction's most recent album, and for me it was like coming home, somehow. It was good and right and real, it felt like the sun breaking through clouds."
fandom:onedirection
Pretty Woman
What 'Pretty Woman' says about sex, money, and how we view women: Anna Pulley (blog) - "But for all its Cinderella escapism and happy endings (pun intended), Pretty Woman is the Fifty Shades of Grey of its generation, reinforcing the dominant narrative around woman as property and sexual object and grossly misrepresenting how sex workers are portrayed."
fandom:prettywoman
The Robe
The Robe: My Own Personal Non-Denominational Jesus: aelarsen (blog) - "It's Holy Week, so I figured I would take a break from Salem's witch trials and tackle one of those old Hollywood Biblical epics. I settled on The Robe (1953, dir. Howard Koster), mostly because I'd never seen it before."
fandom:therobe, topic:history, topic:religion
Runaways
Why I'm Not Too Excited About the New Runaways: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "Have you ever read a series of books with several main characters you love and then all of a sudden a new book in that series is introduced, but it's with entirely new characters that you never met before and know nothing about?"
fandom:marvelcomics
Salem
Salem: Who's Real and Who's Not: aelarsen (blog) - "As I mentioned last time, WGN's Salem show is based on historical reality a bit the way that surumi is based on crab legs. There's so much wrong with the main characters that I decided they needed a whole post to themselves."
fandom:salem, topic:history
Salem: Let's Look at What Actually Happened: aelarsen (blog) - "Today, I'm going to lay out the problem with the series' chronology. So, as usual, I'm going to lay out what actually happened, and then look at the series' version of those events."
fandom:salem, topic:history
Scandal
Scandal Chat: Season 4, Episode 16: TLF Editors (blog) - "VO: I don't know if it's something with our network or what here - this episode also was bumped later thanks to the WIAA high school basketball tournaments - but I'm suddenly plunged into a fight between Leo and Abby, probably regarding sex, because on this show, it's either sex or politics."
fandom:scandal, warning:spoilers
Sheena: Queen of the Jungle
Re-View: Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, The Marvel Movie Nobody Remembers: Lesley Coffin (blog) - "he female-focused property predated Wonder Woman both in print (1937) and on TV (1955-56) as an attempt to capitalize on the serialized Tarzan films MGM produced. But this is one of the most bizarre, '80s-fantasy, post-Beastmaster movies."
fandom:sheena
A Song of Ice and Fire
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Catelyn III, ACOK: Steven Attewell (blog) - "I must admit to a certain apprehension in writing about Catelyn III, because I consider it to be *the* central chapter of A Clash of Kings."
fandom:asoiaf
Episode 378 - ASOIAF Cohosted with Miles Schneiderman and Steven Attewell: UNspoiled! (podcast) - "It's time for your next dose of ASOIAF, and today we are going to be talking about some people that we all know and love, namely the Mad King Aerys."
fandom:asoiaf
Crazy fan theories of the day: Johnny (blog) - "Today's question of the day: What is the craziest fan theory that you hope will come true by the end of A Song of Ice and Fire?"
fandom:asoiaf
Star Trek
Sexualized Saturdays: Winona Kirk, Sexism, & Motherhood: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "I have been reading a lot of Star Trek fanfiction recently, and I have noticed a frankly upsetting trend. Many fans, it seems, like to cast Winona Kirk, James Kirk's mother, in a very negative light."
fandom:startrek, topic:femalecharacter, topic:fanfic
Star Wars
Untitled: cadesama and rosbridge (tumblr) - "I think that's a problem with writing prequels characters in general- it's really easy to try and make them better people with more enlightened opinions than they actually have and wind up going off in the other direction entirely because the disconnect between their beliefs and their actions winds up making them way worse than they otherwise would be."
fandom:starwars
Untitled: belinsky (tumblr) - "the prequels emphasizing anakin's love for padme as the tipping point for his fall to the dark side doesn't, i think, make his intrinsic humanity his ultimate flaw or his passion/love, which a lot of people have critiqued the prequels for doing"
fandom:starwars
Space Opera One Note Planets And Aliens:various authors (forum) - "I get that Star Wars is space opera and science fantasy, so I don`t care that much if all planets mostly consist of one type of environment or that most alien species seem to have only one etnicity, culture and language."
fandom:starwars
Star Wars Rebels
Star Wars Rebels Season One Review: Lex (blog) - "On every level, Rebels "gets" what Star Wars can be, and should be, with a consistency that most Star Wars stories to date have been unable to sustain."
fandom:starwars
Why do all Jedi have the same personality problems?:various authors (forum) - "I'm watching Rebels, and it's fun and all and I know it's a kid's show, but it's kind of bugging me that Ezra's challenges with Jedi training are the exact same ones Luke and Anakin face - anger, impetuosness, distraction"
fandom:starwars
Supernatural
Queerness, Tropes & Proof of Love: Why Destiel Is Canon: Foz Meadows (blog) - "But Destiel is a valid canonical interpretation of the show and its characters, and while there are other interpretations to be had - even contradictory ones - that doesn't make it anything less than legitimate."
fandom:supernatural
Sword & Sworcery
The Scythian - Sword & Sworcery: Feminist Frequency (video) - "In the debut episode of our series on Positive Female Characters, we celebrate the Scythian, the protagonist of Capybara Games' 2011 release Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP."
fandom:gaming, topic:femalecharacter
Tolkien
Untitled:tintamande (tumblr) - "Go you have any opinion on what kind of accent an elf trying to speak English would have? I guess it would depend on their own dialect, but what are your thoughts?"
fandom:jrrtolkien
Untitled:kazaera (tumblr) - "Quenya doesn't have many consonant clusters and English… does! This particularly hits the start and end of a word."
fandom:jrrtolkien
Thranduil Is Not A Villain Part One:sindarcaverave (tumblr) - "My problem with movie!Thranduil is that he was designed to fill a villainous role (for which we already have the characters of Smaug and Azog, aka real bad guys) rather than as a good king to a complex group of elves with a rich history that affects every decision he makes. "
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:adaptations
Thranduil Is Not A Villain Part Two sindarcaverave: (tumblr) - "PJ would have us see Thranduil as a king who is occasionally benevolent but always with an eye towards his own gain.
However, in the book, Thranduil cast in more directly positive light and is kind without having ulterior motives."
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:adaptations
Gandalf Meta:determamfidd (tumblr) - "Anonymous asked: What are your thoughts on Gandalf? Do you like him or not?
I… have mixed feelings about Gandalf, tbh"
fandom:jrrtolkien
The X-Files
The truth is out there: 'The X-Files' hasn't aged well: Alex Gabriel (blog) - "Much as I loved what I saw way back when, watching through laced fingers as Mulder and Scully flashlit their way through creepy submarines and suburban closets, X-Files has aged horribly since its run started."
fandom:x-files