So, uh… I wrote about Taash being non-binary and how I feel we need to start establishing a difference between “harmful” and “not how I’d have done it”.
This was a hard story to write, tbh, and I remain anxious about how it’s gonna play.
https://www.polygon.com/opinion/493171/taash-dragon-age-the-veilguard-queer-representation
This was a hard story to write, tbh, and I remain anxious about how it’s gonna play.
https://www.polygon.com/opinion/493171/taash-dragon-age-the-veilguard-queer-representation
Comments
pointing at these lines with a blinking arrow bc it’s so frustrating to write abt messy humans while fearing reactions when it’s not perfect queer representation. fantastic read (also name buddies! kind of)
A mother who clearly loves their child, but makes no effort to try and understand or change for their child.
even if it feels a little clunky, at the end of the day I'm happy they included all the queer stuff they did - in a way that can't be ignored. they used real world terms for that reason, imo.
i respect them for actually doing it, you know? i'd rather it be there than cut.
At least your early work is archived. : )
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I figure, if someone's portrayal of queer issues doesn't seem to fit with my experience, it must be because their personal experiences are different than mine. And that's okay.
"It's not queer enough!" they scream.
Fuck off. It's queer; that's enough.
(It could always be more queer, but it's fine.)
And I hope the takeaway for folks isn’t me saying “stop complaining” because: no. This isn’t a “shut up and be grateful” story.
https://bsky.app/profile/marscardua.bsky.social/post/3lecg6alkzs2c
I do have more...complicated feelings about media representation and validation (however that is a whole other can of worms).
but this article is just fire. Great work.
Not every work can be all things to all people.
I found Taash to be wonderful and the experience of romancing them came natural to me. I’d planned on Harding, but the characterization and interactions I had with Taash were endearing.
Perfect? Hell no, but nothing is. I’m still grateful to have experienced it.
There's no subtext, no nuance, no depth. It doesn't feel right because there's no interpretation.
Any knowledge of her character makes it obvious both lines mean the same thing, but the first is more interesting because the "trans" element becomes subtext.
Obvious subtext, but still
I have always been surprised by the criticism that the community has received from within.
I do understand why.
When you’re in that state self-criticism becomes a necessary part of survival.
As a survivor of just such a situation, the best advice I can give is forgive yourself.
Easy to say right?
It took me a while to figure out how I felt about Taash and their storyline.
The mix of 'I'm glad to see inclusion and outright real-world terms' and 'I kinda wish this was done a bit more artfully/contextualized better in-world' was challenging.
If I didn’t tell him to leave me the fuck alone about a game neither of us cared enough to actually play, I’d send him this. 🤣