My favorite part of Nimona’s narrative queerness is the dichotomy of the trans experience and the cis gay experience explored in Nimona and Ballister’s relationship. They’re both queer people villains, but Nimona’s villainy is seen as more innate, while Ballister’s is something he can escape. Nimona is trans a “monster,” but he is just a victim of circumstances who can reclaim a powerful position. Nimona goes to him as a fellow queer person villain, but finds that Ballister has just as many judgements to unpack and insensitive questions to ask as other people, though he is more willing to do the work. I saw so much of the community dynamics of trans and cis people in queer spaces in this. Outsiders think we’re exactly the same, but internally many cis people either don’t care for uniquely trans struggles or want to distance themselves from us completely.
Releasing Nimona on the last day of pride month 2023 was such a great move because it’s a really needed piece of media right now. Lots of countries that legalised gay marriage years ago have been grappling with this rising TERF narrative of “if you’re gay it’s whatever but if you’re trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming in some way you’re a PERVERT! A MONSTER trying to GROOM CHILDREN!” The outrage against simple things like pronouns and drag events, and the movement against gender affirming healthcare have reached a terrifying peaks for contemporary times.
So a kid’s movie set in a fictional country with controlling government officials with personal agendas, with an openly gay couple but also a shape-shifting kid who cannot even be afford to be out is our reality in the US today. Nimona’s feelings about her vibe, body and form, her insistence that she is only “Nimona” no matter what she looks like and her aversion to “small-minded questions” together forms such a beautiful allegory about trans, genderfluid individuals.
Ballister asks her to be a girl, but for whose sake? It’s only for the comfort of people who refuse to understand her, and would rather see her die than let her be herself. And it’s this widespread rejection and loneliness that has eventually made Nimona indifferent to pain, that makes her feel suicidal.
In the end, it is another member of the LGBTQ+ community that truly sees and accepts Nimona for who she is. And that should be a reminder that we cannot let them divide us. Trans people stood up for the rest of us and made historical change happen, and we need to do the same for them. Besides, cis queer people are only the “good ones” until they’re done with trans people and then will turn on us.
by far the funniest reason my dad came up with for why he doesn’t want me to work in the funeral/mortuary industry is because it’s “unattractive”. like man do you think i apply to jobs based on their impact on my tinder profile.
it’s even funnier that how wrong he is too. if i work in the morgue i’ll get bitches you couldn’t even imagine.
hotd has the same brain poison in it as succession in that it’s an obvious criticism of feudal power and blood-purity hereditary monarchy as something that makes people insane and traumatises the few who escape the grinding wheel into continuing the cycle but that a sizeable subset of fans think it’s a game any of the characters can materially win, and that there is any character who ‘deserves’ the throne more than the others. dips almost immediately into unironic bloodline arguments and gerrymandering their favourite war criminal into being the ultimate winner i saw someone on twitter argue that overall daemon won because his kids survive even though his head got turned into red slime. the dance is the targs tearing their legacy apart due to personal ambition it’s the dying of the dragons it’s the beginning of the end and it was always going to happen!! the next king is rhaenyra’s son, but succeeds aegon ii - both sides can claim a victory. how does any of this matter? it killed them both anyway
ALT
