Of course Alice Wu isn’t supposed to fix years of misrepresentation, but she’s someone who has been to hundreds of festivals and met fans and she knows how the community is waiting for a romcom and she gets a chance with Netflix and makes a movie about a friendship between a girl and a guy? that’s disappointing tbh even in the comments everyone missed the point of the trailer and are shipping the lesbian and the guy.

Nooo, they’re not! Are they?? Nooooooo. Surely it’s just a teeny tiny group of people.

But leaving those people aside, it sounds like you do still kind of think Alice Wu should have made a different movie? Even if all that is true, it’s still not her responsibility. She wrote what she felt inspired by and this is the story she wanted to tell. I think all the choices she made were important to her, not just that it’s f/f, but that it’s in small town Americana, that it’s a white guy she befriends and who begins to understand her, that we can find commonality with anyone. She was inspired to write this after the 2016 elections, there was something more here than just “let me throw something down”. The choices here weren’t a platonic m/f friendship vs a f/f romance, it would have just been this movie or none at all. If anyone’s on the hook here, it’d be Netflix and Hollywood as a whole, who’ve made so few lighter-toned f/f movies that this one has to stand for them all. 

I totally get being disappointed by it but two things can be true: 
1) I wish this were different
2) Alice Wu can make what she wants

Neither negates the other. It just means you and Alice Wu are different people and like different things, which is totally normal and healthy and fine? It’s only when it goes from “I like something else” to “I wish this was something else” to “this creator should have made something else” that you get near dangerous territory. And honestly, even that last comment is pretty mild, it’s just, when you consider your audience, which is Anyone On the Internet, we want to be a little more careful because often that’s not where it stops, it goes to “this creator is stupid/selfish/bigoted in some way for not doing this instead”. Not saying that’s what you’re saying! Not at all. But I think we all know how things can spiral, or even be open to misinterpretation.

I went to my friend and said actually much more extreme things, because I know she understands where I come from, what exactly irritated me, what I meant and didn’t mean, and most importantly, I knew she was on the same page. Aside from not wanting this to spiral out, I know people are excited about this, I don’t want to ruin it for them. My priority in answering these asks is trying to make sure everyone feels heard but I especially don’t want to take this good thing and bring anyone down.

Which kind of hilariously takes me to literally the very next ask:

And another anon:

alrighty so originally the only things i knew about The Half of It was GAY and alice wu but now having seen the trailer is see that its a little less gay and more about friendship (which is fine). Heres to hoping they go nancy drew-esque in that the guy is like Ace and is more than ok with being friends instead of getting the girl. Either way i will watch and keep any and all negative opinions to myself cause Alice doesnt need or deserve that shit

I do think the guy will be fine, I think it is very much a story of Paul and Ellie’s friendship winning out over everything, not just small-town racism or homophobia but the more focused “relatable”–at least in fiction–issue of liking the same girl. But you know, exactly the same as above except in reverse, you can have your preferences and not like something and not have it be an attack, heh

And another anon:

the ironic thing is alice wu HAS made a romcom with a full on happy ending with saving face years ago but that movie gets so overlooked and underappreciated

She has, she absolutely has, but even if she hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been on her to provide one now. 

Although on the other hand, I also don’t think the existence of that or IMAY can be used to stop people from wishing there were more happy f/f romcoms in general. It’s not even like there’s been a jump in the number in the last few years, even though sometimes people act like the lack of rep has been addressed. And that’s aside from the generational differences. Someone who wasn’t born when Saving Face came out could be old enough to be the target audience for this teen movie.

And another anon:

I’m not sure but the trailer looked good. And I like the platonic side

That’s good, anon! I think it’ll be uplifting and even many people, like myself, who wish for something more romance-centric, will like it.

Hey I’m the non-tumblr killjoys anon from before. Yes, I’ve watched the series finale. holy IT WAS SO SATISFYING & AMAZING!! I love my green queens! And that they became green queens together as their final shot! It started from Aneela bathing in green & Delle Seyah kneeling to them being immortal green together! Like how does that?! Michelle Lovretta did! Oh and Dutch& Khlyen’s storyline (along w/Aneela’s comment) beautifully tied the knot on their abusive family dynamics.

Hi, anon! I’m so glad you came back, it gives me an excuse to keep talking about it.

Gah, wasn’t it, though? I’m still riding the high from it. Every day I think of it and smile and gush about it with my friend. And omg, I literally said the EXACT same thing to her!

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Their first scene is set up as Aneela the queen granting Delle Seyah an audience. Delle Seyah is literally forced to kneel while Aneela is casually bathing in such an abundance of the green, something so precious it’s being killed for, a show of force and power and highlighting their different stations. 

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And then their final scene is Aneela GIVING DELLE SEYAH HER OWN GREEN. They even made sure to add that, to indicate what a serious gesture this is from her, that small a detail to add to its significance. This isn’t just Aneela using her pools of green to add to her army, this is risking herself so Delle Seyah can stay with her. And as opposed to Delle Seyah kneeling to her, surrounded by Aneela’s guards and handmaidens, they’re holding hands alone in THEIR bedroom.

I’m going to remember this for such a long time. Like, i don’t know if you watched Harlots? One of the other shows that I loved and talked so much about for being both good but also making compassionate decisions? We praised it so much after season 2, we were like, these writers GET IT, they get what they should and shouldn’t do, this is a story about hope, it’s about victims triumphing, this is women writing women. And then it turned out that WAS just coincidence, these writers had no such deeper intentions.

But KJ is the opposite! To have it confirmed that these are deliberate choices, with Michelle Lovretta going out in interview after interview and being asked by so many different entertainment journalists, why not a death? Everyone gets a happy ending? And she’s like yes! Giving a properly articulated philosophy, describing the effort and work that went into doing that, bringing back even Pip and how that wasn’t about Zeph needing him anymore but as a bonus, discussing ways to even bring Pawter back. I really needed to have that kind of faith in at least some professional creator. 

Another thing I loved was that she said she specifically wanted to end it with some things left open, to show that these were their ongoing adventures and it all continued even after the camera stopped rolling. Just so much thought into making this the best experience for the characters and thus fans! And it worked. 🙂