hey (with the intention of hand in unlovable hand not to me not if it’s you sorry about the blood in your mouth i wish it was mine if i loved you less i might be able to talk about it more i don’t know what to do without you i don’t know where to put my hands)
Be warned, this is long, confusing, and I'm not even sure if I made any valid points. But I had thoughts on Young Royals, with no one to talk to, so here you go.
I've seen various different takes on Erik and what people thought his reaction would have been if Willie had come out to him, most of them being positive, and some as well saying how sad it was that Willie never got to come out to his brother. I have a different take, but bear with me it's gonna take a second to get there.
Something that I found interesting in the first place was that when August found out it was Simon and not a girl, he just seemed shocked, but not in a homophobic way that I had kind of been expecting.
Additionally, let's take a look at the comments on the video, I've split them up into three different groups. General comments (disbelief, surprise, pity, etc.), comments sexualizing them, and negative comments. (I've translated these as well as I could as they were not all captioned, but if I've made a mistake feel free to let me know!)
General Comments "OMG Have you seen this?? The Prince is gay!!!!" "Who's the other guy?" "I'm dead" "Finally some news to put Sweden on the map!" "Poor boys, I feel sorry for them" "So clumsy to get caught on film" "I know where he lives!" "I think the video is fake" "Love for the boys"
Sexualizing Comments "Royal porn" "Sexy" "Love" "Sexiest video ever"
Negative Comments "How will the monarchy survive this?" "The end of the royal family, time for Sweden to become a republic!" "Never been ashamed about being Swedish until now" "Class traitor! Your mother cries for your sins"
Now, there are quite a few things I want to point out about Sweden that I feel should be taken into account here. Of course, we don't know the exact dates that the show took place, but we do know it is modern-day, and though it is a work of fiction, I am going to assume that anything that is currently true in Sweden at the moment, give or take a few years, would also be true in the Young Royals universe.
The first point I would like to make is that Sweden is one of the most LGBT-friendly countries, even being named the most friendly country in 2019. Looking back in history, 1944 was when Sweden decriminalized sexual relationships between consenting adults of the same sex, though it was still thought to be an illness. However, in 1979 it was no longer considered an illness. Fun unrelated fact, but Sweden was the first country to legalize gender change in 1979. (If you'd like to read more on LGBT rights in Sweden here are some resources. One. Two.) If Sweden is that progressive and is that LGBT-friendly, then I wondered what the problem was with Willie coming out, so I dug some more.
I'm American, so my understanding of many parts of the world is unfortunately skewed or incomplete, but I'm working on changing that. However, because of this, one thing that surprised me in my research was that the monarchy in Sweden is more of a unifying symbol than anything else. They have no political affinity or formal powers, but rather "the King’s duties are mainly of a ceremonial and representative nature." Of course in the case of Young Royals, the Queen inherited the throne, and Wilhelm would after her.
Something else I found interesting about the monarchy in Sweden is that the current Queen, Queen Silvia, did not come from a line of nobility, so when Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf married in 1976, it was highly unusual. (See more on the Swedish monarchy here.)
There is one last thing I want to point out about the current King and Queen. "In summer 2000, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden made history when they ate under the rainbow flag at Djurgårdsterrassen, a Stockholm restaurant owned by gay owner Arto Winter. At that time, the decision was seen as controversial, and played a valuable role in moving conversations forward – while making the royals’ position abundantly clear." (Source)
Now, of course, I understand the difference between a fictional work and real-life situations, but at least in my opinion, these same ideals should carry through to the show that we see. If the King and Queen in real life have been openly supportive of the LGBT community since at least 2000, then although specifics might not be the same, some of those ideals should carry through to Young Royals, so what is the problem, right?
I'm not trying to erase the reality of homophobia altogether, because of course, that exists. We even see in the show through comments that there are some people who are worried about the state of the monarchy, are disgusted, or downright still think that not being straight is a sin, but we also see other comments as well. If Wilhelm were to come out, what would happen? Would there be some backlash? 100%. Would there be people who would support him? Also 100%. Would it make his life harder? Probably, but would he be happier? In my opinion, yes, but I guess that's a question that Wilhelm would have to gauge on his own.
Now I want to look deeper at the conversation that Wille has with his mother, the Queen, in the car on the way home so he can give a statement to the media. Below is an excerpt from their dialogue.
---
Wilhelm: Why can't I just have a relationship with him? And not say anything. Just live a normal life.
Queen: You're the crown prince. And that's a privilege, not a punishment.
Wilhelm: Yes, but I didn't ask for this!
Queen: Well, nobody has ever, ever asked for this! You are the only one who can take over the throne after Erik. Don't you understand that? You are so young. When you're young, love feels like the most important thing in the whole world. When I was your age, I too had an unfortunate romance. That was before I met your father. What I mean is, is it worth it? If you feel that the attention you've been getting so far is unacceptable, it's nothing compared to what you will endure for the rest of your life. We have a chance to cover this up, I urge you to take that chance. You may not get another."
---
Something I find interesting is how much Willie just wants to live a normal life, which I get. He is under so much pressure, from being a role model, his brother's death that he hasn't even had time to process, preparing to be king someday, and (kind of) being outed to the entire world, but at least his school. It's enough to make anyone want to live normally. I think the biggest thing we have to think about here is the Queen's question as well. Is it worth it? She is right of course, the attention he will get will always be there, but I do think that Willie would be able to find a way to be happy along with being King. It shouldn't have to be a case of either-or, and ultimately I don't think it is.
Now I'm going to move back to Erik, and really, this ties everything back to the start where I mentioned I had a different take on Erik's reaction to Willie being not straight. I think that Erik already knew. It would make sense for a variety of reasons. In the show, it is obvious that the two of them have a good relationship. We also hear Erik tell Willie, "you can trust him, he's like a brother," in episode one when speaking about August, showing that trust is something strong between them as brothers. I'm not exactly sure how old Wilhelm is meant to be in the show, but I estimate somewhere around sixteen. I would like to assume that sometime before attending Hillerska, he may have had a crush or felt some attraction to a guy. We also can see from their phone call in episode three, that they're not afraid to joke around with each other about such things, meaning that Erik would most likely be the first person that Willie would go to about such things.
Another thing that makes me believe Erik already knew has to do with people assuming that Simon is the first guy that Willie has liked. Now, I know things are not the same for everyone, but if we consider what happens when the video is posted, and Willie had to deny it is him, we can conclude that being anything other than straight in their family is not okay, simply because they are royals, and the media attention will be too much. Imagine you've known your whole life, you can't be something, the first instance you encounter that, you're probably not going to give in right away. I'm talking at least some minor internalized homophobia here or something.
So put that into the context of Simon and Willie's first kiss in episode two. Simon kisses Willie twice before Willie says "Well, I'm not... I'm not... Stop! Wait, wait, wait!" and immediately pulls Simon back towards him. Let's reflect back to episode one where Willie says "I’m not… I’m not allowed to speak about political issues." I'm not allowed. Of course, there are TONS of restrictions on what he can and can not do, kissing guys, probably being one of them. But if he was going to say I'm not gay or I'm not like that, why would he instantly pull him back in, contrasting what he was just going to say. In episode three, Willie does say, "I'm not like that," which makes sense. He's had time to think and isn't in the heat of the moment. What other explanation can he give? Sure, he could say he's not allowed to be like that but saying that would admit that he is. It's a circle, a very messy circle, but it is a... loop.
Going back to what I'm supposed to be talking about here, Erik. This isn't Willie's first rodeo, but Erik was there for the first. One last thing I want to talk about is the phone call that Erik and Willie have in episode three. Below is an excerpt from their dialogue.
---
Erik: You've met someone.
Wilhelm: I, uh... Yes, okay, but I... I don't think we're a couple or anything. I don't know what it is but can we just...
Erik: I get it. I get it. You don't have to tell me any... I don't wanna hear any details. Hey. Willie, enjoy yourself. Soon enough people will start having opinions and-
Wilhelm: They don't care about me. 'Cause you're the Crown Prince that they have opinions.
Erik: I don't get it. Why are you sitting in your room sulking when you have a crush to hang out with?
---
Firstly, Erik refers to Willie's crush as completely gender-neutral. "You've met someone" could very easily be "you've met a girl". The same goes for "you have a crush to hang out with". Very well could have been "you have a girl to hang out with". Sure, it could be completely coincidental, but we live in such a heteronormative society that it would just make sense for Erik to use female-gendered words. Unless, of course, he knew.
Secondly, "Hey. Willie, enjoy yourself. Soon enough people will start having opinions". This sounds very much to me like, enjoy your time while you can be yourself without backlash because soon you won't have that privacy. While I feel that, yes, the same may happen with anyone Willie was to date, him having a same-sex partner multiplies that, by a lot.
In conclusion, Erik knew Willie was not straight, Willie should come out, but when he is ready, and August is a really deep character that people don't give enough credit to. Gosh, I hope I covered everything, I probably forgot so much, but it's fine. Please let me know your thoughts if you've made it this far into the post.
One last thing. I hope you'll notice how in this post, I never referred specifically to Wilhelm's sexuality, and I did that for a reason. I often see gay used to label him, and though I am unsure if that's being used as an umbrella term or specifically as in he only likes men, I think it's really important to realize that they're specifically making him unlabeled. In this youtube video Edvin Ryding, the actor who plays Wilhelm, says "What we're trying to do... We're not labeling Wilhelm's sexuality. I think that's good because it's like, it portrays that it's okay that way too. You don't have to. You shouldn't have to come out. It should be allowed to be a bit fluid, a bit out there." I just think that it is important as it's another type of representation that is not seen often.
for some reason when i took the apush test in 2018 i decided to make my study guide in the form of a shitpost. im talking bullet points. pop culture references. gen z lingo. its 102 pages long. i ended up getting a 5 on the test and this is literally all the studying i did. i am also now a history major.
but since i remember things better in shitpost form, it worked really well then memorizing dense text. and i know the test hasn't changed that much, so, i thought i would offer it to anyone who needs it.
it spans everything i learned in US 1 and US 2 and goes in chronological order. i haven't read through it in a hot minute but i think that everything in there should make sense. i essentially clown on the us for 100 pages in shitpost form.
so for all of you stressing about the exam on thursday, don't. read a shitpost instead. it will help you.
Legit though this is so helpful, bless you op 🙏
I swear by this sheet, I got a 5 on my APUSH exam
What happens once you kill yourself? Because I'm ready to go.
You wanna know what happens once you kill yourself? Your mother comes home from work and finds her baby dead and she screams and runs over to you and tries to get you to wake up but you won’t and she keeps screaming and shaking you and her tears are dripping onto your face and your dad hears all the screaming and runs into the room and he can’t even speak because the child that he loved and the child that he watched grow up is gone forever and finally your little sister runs into the room to see what all the fuss is about and she sees you dead. The person she looked up to and loved. The person she bragged about to her friends, the person she wanted to be just like when she grew up, the person that made her feel safe. But she’s never really going to get to grow up and smile and laugh and love because she’ll always be consumed with this feeling of missing you. And now there’s something missing from your family and they can barely look at each other anymore because everything reminds them of you but you’re gone and hurts more than anything. and you think that your mom never cared because she was always busy and yelling at you to finish your homework and clean your room and forgot to say I love you sometimes but really, she loved you more than anything and she doesn’t leave the house anymore, she can’t even get out of bed and she’s getting thinner and thinner because it’s too hard to eat. Your father had to quit his job and he doesn’t sleep anymore, every time he closes his eyes he sees his baby dead, and the image never goes away no matter how much alcohol he drinks. And at school your best friend sees that your seat is empty and she gets this sick feeling in her stomach and that’s when she hears the announcement. You killed yourself. And suddenly she’s screaming and crying in the middle of class and no one even bothers comforting because they’re all busy sitting there staring at your empty seat with tears dripping down their cheeks and all she wants is for you to hug her and tell her it’s gonna be okay like you always did, but this time, you’re not there to do it, everything is dark now that you’re gone and her grades are slipping, she barely goes to school anymore and she ended up in hospital after taking too many pills because she wanted to see you again. the girls who used to make fun of the way you dressed feel their throats get tight, they don’t talk to each other anymore, they don’t talk to anyone, they’re all in therapy trying so hard not to blame themselves but nothing works. and your teacher who always gave you a hard time stares blankly at the wall, she quits her job a few days later. And then your boyfriend hears the news and he can’t breathe, he still calls you a lot just to hear your voice and he talks to you on facebook but you never message him back, he can’t fall in love again because every girl he meets reminds him of you, he’s never going to get over you, he loved you and he cries himself to sleep every night, hating himself and slicing his skin because he couldn’t save you and he’s never going to hold you in his arms or hear you laugh again. Now everyone who knew you, whether they were a big part of your life or someone you passed in the hallway a few times a week, they carry this aching feeling around inside them because you’re gone, and they miss you, and they don’t know why you left but it must’ve been their fault and they should’ve stopped you and they should’ve told you they loved you more and that feeling is never going to go away. And so you killed yourself
but you killed everyone else around you too.
this need to be on everyone’s blog
this makes me think..
God bless whoever wrote this.
im crying
I never usually reblog things like this.. but if it saves just one persons life… please take thime to read this even if you think there is no point in living. Please.
please please PLEASE reblog this
Reblog yet again for the people that need this
reblogging for my followers
Life’s too precious. If you feel like this, please know that it gets better. And that people are always happy to lend an ear; heck drop me a message too. But never, ever think about taking your own life.
every single time I read this,i remember how i tried back then. but don’t do it.
please reblog if you’re reading this!!!
so uh, i never really talk about the part of my life when i had thoughts like anon. i had a similar post saved that helped me when i had these kinds of thoughts. please reblog this so that someone else might also see this and hope that it helps them
really important — know that even before you’re gone you are desperately and unendingly loved by people ❤️ and if anyone needs an outlet to talk let me know, please.
Chik-fil-le sandwich
INGREDIENTS:
4 hamburger buns, split
1 head green leaf lettuce, leaves separated
1 beefsteak tomato, sliced
20 dill pickle slices
FOR THE CHICKEN
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup dill pickle juice
1 ½ cups milk, divided
1 cup peanut oil
1 large egg
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Place a chicken breast on a cutting board. With your hand flat on top of it, carefully slice the chicken in half horizontally. Trim excess fat as needed.
In a large shallow baking dish, combine chicken, pickle juice and ½ cup milk; marinate for at least 30 minutes. Drain well.
Heat peanut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
In another large shallow baking dish, whisk together remaining 1 cup milk and egg. Stir in chicken to coat and drain excess milk mixture.
In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken, flour and confectioners’ sugar; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
Serve chicken immediately on burger buns with green leaf lettuce, tomato and pickles.
Also if y’all are interested, I have the copycat recipes for the Frosted Lemonade and the Chicken Nuggets
Reading is my Uni town and it closed
(◡‿◡✿)
(ʘ‿ʘ✿) “what you say ‘bout me”
(ʘ‿ʘ)ノ✿ “hold my flower”
✿＼(｡-_-｡) “Kick his ass, baby. I got yo flower.”
i found it
the original post
i found it
this should have the opportunity to be on everyone’s blog.
*tour guide voice*
and here on the left ladies and gentlemen, you see one of the posts before everyone went batshit crazy
for those who want to see more of John Winchester’s Journal by Alex Irvine (this excerpt is from page 130) here’s the link to read it online:
also, that birthday entry ends with this:
Dean took care of the nuns just like I thought he would, but I don’t think I’m going to be sending him on any more solos soon. That one was a little tense.
..make of that what you will.
“You were working for them this whole time?” The hero asked from the cell floor, cradling their shattered arm.
Their partner looked away.
“You’re disgusting, you know. You told me you thought honor was important! You said that you cared about me! You said you’d protect me! I believed you!”
“Well, that’s on you.”
- unless your character is pale the patches won’t be just a couple shades paler than their skin color. it’s the destruction of melanocytes, not an opacity filter. they won’t be pure white but they’ll be pretty close and just looking at photos of ppl (especially in different lighting) will help
- that said don’t be afraid to give pale characters vitiligo, it’s definitely not as noticeable at first glance but still cool
- pls... don’t draw patches pink.. it makes my skin hurt. unless ur character is sunburned just don’t
- vitiligo is, in MOST cases, symmetrical TO AN EXTENT. you obviously don’t have to follow this rule bc there’s real life exceptions, but most patches will have a patch/other half similar in size and shape on the other side
- idk if other people have this but the right side of my patches are bigger, which is why i say TO AN EXTENT
- patches can’t have freckles. i actually have a freckle that’s cut in half by the edge of a patch currently
- vitiligo can happen anywhere on the body but it’s most common around the eyes, mouth, hands and feet. also armpits but ppl don’t usually draw characters w visible armpits. that said not everybody has face patches most famous example i can think of is jon hamm
- patches can have smooth and/or splotchy edges, even on just one person. for example the bottom of my eye patches are v smooth but my forehead patches are all over the fucking place
- there’s a theory that trauma to the skin can trigger a new patch of vitiligo to form (which i’m prone to believe cause my forehead patch came in after i got a bad habit of popping pimples LMAO) so if ur character has a cool facial scar along w vitiligo u could give them a patch originating from the scar (or an acne patch like me.......)
- adding on to that the reason for this theory is bc it’s an autoimmune disease and while most ppl with vitiligo won’t have another one there IS a corrolation w other autoimmune diseases so like if u wanna maybe draw ur character also w a diabetic pump that would be kinda cool (they said diabetically)
- it also spreads with age, so if ur drawing a younger/older version of ur character keep in mind how it has changed over the course of their life. example mine started out small in the corners of my eyes and spread into what i call my superhero mask in the span of three years, for others that kind of progression could take way less time or way more time. it’s up to you to decide
- it can affect hair color as well so if patches go over the hairline of ur character feel free to give them cool white streaks
- draw more vitiligo in general it’s pretty and makes me like characters instantly
if this post actually gets any traction and u also have vitiligo feel free to add anything! every case is unique and i’ve only got my perspective and this is just my rambling thoughts
rebloging this bc i wanna draw fanart of characters with vitiligo and wanna have the right info when i do
Bridesmaid to a waiter: What a beautiful wedding
Waiter, about to reveal that the poor groom’s bride is a whore: Oh you haven’t heard?
the number of people making comments on this post about how there’s nothing wrong with being a whore is far too high like i’m not trying to shame people who are promiscuous or sex workers this is a fucking reference to a song and if you dont understand the reference dont reblog with some idiotic trying too hard to be progressive shit its literally a joke about a lyric from a song it was never, and never will be, that fucking deep. if you dont get the reference literally just shut up and dont reblog this post oh my god
by fall out boy
I dont know what’s funnier the people getting offended because they don’t get the panic reference or the people getting offended because they don’t get the fall out boy joke
by fall out boy
the suite life finale
JUSTICE FOR CASEY GOODSON
On December 4th, 2020, Casey Christian Goodson Jr. (23 years old) was shot three times in the back and murdered by a Sheriff’s Deputy as he was entering his home in Columbus, Ohio. Goodson’s family stated that he was returning home from a dentist appointment, holding a Subway sandwich, his face mask, and his keys, when he was shot.
Two days later, the Columbus Police Department made a statement alleging that James Meade, the deputy responsible for Goodson’s death, saw a man believed to be Goodson with a gun while driving. Meade then approached Goodson after he exited his car and walked home, where he was shot.
Hours after the shooting, the US Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, Peter Tobin, confirmed that Goodson was not the fugitive they were searching for. However, Tobin also added that he believed that the shooting was justified, claiming that Goodson was shot after he refused to drop his “weapon.”
Yet another Black man murdered by the police.
DEMAND JUSTICE.
art credit: @alex.albadree on instagram
graphics credit: @worldawarenessassociation on instagram
BLACK LIVES MATTER IS NOT A TREND! PEOPLE ARE DYING
schlatt is so powerful he breaks the language barriers
from: blackgl0ve on tiktok
somehow I got 95/20 on an assignment
I hope they never fix it and leave it this way forever
reblog the Awesome Grade picture for awesome grades
guys this really works i reblogged it and then got 870% on an essay
May your GPA rise due to clerical error.
this magical tumblr grade increaser comes once in a million years, reblog for good grades
May the good grades bless us all!
summary: They didn’t have to worry about you like they did JJ. Until, one night, they did. After your friend’s find you in John B.’s backyard broken and unable to form words, they try to unravel the past few weeks that led you to this moment.
warnings: angst, sadness, depression slightly
hrifjrhdit this is so good!!! can i be added to the tag list???
