Deep Conversations

The beautiful pink hue of this gem made me think of the way American society associates pink with girls. Many people like to embrace gender norms through the use of this color, like with gender reveal parties and 'girly' clothes. I read this livescience article about how this trend really took off in the 1980s when mass marketing could convince you that you needed certain products to perpetuate gender norms. This mentalfloss article also posits a few theories related to the trend taking off in the 1980s - technology made it so that parents could find out the sex of their child in advance and buy specific clothing in preparation.

I've gone through various stages of hating the color pink (because of the gender norms associated with it). At the end of the day it's just a color. Femininity doesn't have to be just one homogeneous thing, and it certainly can't be captured just by one color. I'm still not a big pink fan but I don't have to hate it quite so much. I can hate on all of the companies that perpetuate strict gender-norms instead.

And it turns out there's a multifandom vid that exactly captures a feel-good mood around the color pink and celebrates femininity in many forms!

Pynk [Fanvid] (275 words) by Tafadhali
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Multi-Fandom
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Additional Tags: Teenagers, Coming of Age, Female Friendship, Femininity, Queer Themes, Fanvids, Song: Pynk (Janelle Monaé), Pink (Color), Embedded Video, SO Much Kirsten Dunst, Meta, Sexual Content, Cross-Posted on Tumblr
Series: Part 5 of Multifandom Trope Vids
Summary:

Pink is the truth you can't hide, maybe

A celebration of girlhood, girl friends, and girlfriends.

The name of this gem makes me think of horror tropes and bloodshed. It represents courage and motivation, which are both important traits to utilize when facing your fears and warding off ghosts, monsters, and other scary things.

In that vein, I'm going to recc my favorite fics from summerofhorrorexchange! (Please mind the tags/warnings)

The woods are lovely, dark and deep (554 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Leah/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Leah (Stardew Valley), Marnie (Stardew Valley), Emily (Stardew Valley), Jas (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Treat, something nasty in the woods, Horror
Summary:

Once you get past the outer layers, the true nature starts to show...

My Notes: Stardew definitely is ripe for spooky tropes, and this is so well-crafted and tightly written. I love the mystery of the whole thing, and the bits about the farmer's strength.

Ways to Return (2794 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, WandaVision (TV), Doctor Strange (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff & Pietro Maximoff
Characters: Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Stephen Strange
Additional Tags: emotional support systems from beyond the grave, Not DSMoM compliant, 5+1, 5 times Wanda sees a ghost, and 1 time Stephen Strange does
Summary:

This time, when Wanda sees him looking at her in her rearview mirror, a grim line slowly setting between his furrowed brows, she doesn't cower or wonder.

She stares right back, tears streaking silently down her cheeks and asks: "Are you real?"

My Notes: A spooky and sad look at Wanda's grief in relation to Pietro. I really like what the author did with the ending.

Sokovia, still (1200 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson & Helmut Zemo
Additional Tags: Geographical Horror, Ghosts
Summary:

Although it had fallen, Sokovia refused to go quietly.

My Notes: Sokovia and ghosts! This fic makes me want to read a million more fics like it.

Green reminds me of many things, like 4-H and the Pacific Northwest. But then I remembered The Big Flower Fight! It's a British reality show in the same vein as Great British Bake Off, except the challenge is to build huge plant based structures. Everything about the show is visually gorgeous. There's also a ton of diversity. This show made me feel calm and happy during these tough times, and for that I will always be grateful. The competitors were a touch catty, but I love how the teams supported each other when it came down to the wire. I desperately hope they make a season 2.

Watch on YouTube

The color blue immediately reminds me of the ocean. I'm a water sign (pisces) and I've always felt so calm by the ocean, although I'm a pretty bad swimmer. Anyway, the ocean reminds me of a particular conversation I had with my husband a few days ago...

I was hypothesizing about why humans have not adapted to live in the ocean or underwater. We all know the Earth has a ton of huge oceans, so it doesn't make much sense why some distant ancestor didn't just wade out into the water and not come back (okay, evolution doesn't work like that but you see my point). Maybe I just really want to believe in Atlantis?? My husband then reminded me that dolphins and whales are the humans of the sea, considering they are mammals with large brains, a communication system, and social groups. They even have their own names!

I like how that article pointed out that we shouldn't think of being human as an "endpoint" to evolution - but we can still appreciate just how intelligent and social cetaceans are as a group and compare them to our own social groups. Whales are so beautiful to me: Smart AND huge/terrifying, it seems like the best of both worlds.

Speaking of Oceans, maybe I should check out some more shark/whale/dolphin themed films in honor of this prompt. I have a few on my list but I am accepting reccs!

Fandom-wise, my curiosity for (and healthy fear of) the ocean makes me feel just a little bit closer to David Webster, and I think that is both very emo and very sexy of me.