The \"Controversial\" Topic

[Media Critic]

Hi. Long time lurker. I have been listening to this podcast since season 1 or 2, can’t remember and comment rarely. I usually just listen.

Anyway, I am going to try my best to word this as politely and fairly as possible:

The first season I started listening to Once Podcast it was the season in which it was highly suggested that Mulan may have had romantic feelings for Aurora. This podcast of course chose not to discuss the issue for reasons Daniel explained very well in podcast episode 245 (I think) after Mulan’s  Ruby’s romantic preference was confirmed and she was shipped with Dorothy.

I was very disappointed when the podcast avoided discussing Mulan during the early days for reasons I think I expressed then. I appreciated that the podcast at least addressed the issue and explained following the  DoroLan  kiss episode.

Well here we are again. It has been confirmed that two characters of the same gender, Robyn and Alice, are romantically involved. And again, the scene was all but glossed over during this week’s podcast. I respect that given it was a small scene that it may not have needed a great deal of discussion and understand that Daniel and possibly the others have very personal convictions on the matter.

That said, what I wanted to say was that after years of listening to the podcast, if Robyn and Alice’s storyline are not given the same treatment as the rest of the narrative, which this season includes dark witchcraft (which was discussed at great length during this week’s podcast), out of respect for myself, the lgbt community and my personal convictions/dignity I will have to cease supporting the podcast. I have definitely said this in the past during the Mulan controversy, but I never really left, I lurked on and off until I became a regular again. Now that it has been years later and since that time much has evolved (and devolved) in our political world from gay marriage, more diverse representation on all forms of media (not just OUAT) and of course the era of Trump and a subsequent backlash against progressive ideals in our society to an extreme and frankly alarming degree, I am VERY genuine in this sentiment, especially when in the past Once has delved into adventures in Hell/the underworld, women sleeping with other women’s husbands and giving birth to their children and now potentially evil witchcraft, which SPOILER (based on previews for next year’s pick up episode): will be a big theme when the show returns and the podcast has not so much as hesitated to discuss these topics though Jeremy did express his distaste for it. I cannot  stick around if the issue of sexuality is treated the way it has been in the past and was during this week’s podcast.

Again, I wish not to debate this. In fact, as predominately a lurker here, I plan to not even log on or respond to any responses  to this post. I just wanted to get this off of my chest as our current world shows us that silence, whether it comes to race, politics, sexual harassment, etc. does no one any good. That said I think  Zobyn Alice+Robyn will play an important role in epsisodes to come. I think this season is all about correcting some of the criticisms OUAT has faced in the past from lack of racial diversity to the way minority characters have been treated (disappearing and dying and being cast off into the shadows). If  Zobyn  Alice+Robyn is a response to criticism that  DoroLan  Ruby and Dorothy was a stunt only to be cast off to Forgotten Character Island, I expect us to see their relationship be fully expanded and deepened.

 

[RumplesGirl]

You said you won’t be replying to anything, which is fine, but as a representative of both the podcast and the forums, I’ll just touch on a few things (for you and for others)

1) Just to clarify: Dorothy and Ruby shared TLK; not Dorothy and Mulan. To this day, Mulan is canonically unattached.

2) Again, just to clarify: Zobyn is, I think, Zelena and Robyn(?) which is a mother/daughter combo. That will likely be discussed at length. I think Alice and Robyn, a romantic pairing, are currently going by Curious Archer?

3) The podcast isn’t sure how it will handle Robyn/Alice storyline because there are some other things going on and we have three months to figure it out. As usual, this forum will be open to all conversations of relationships and storylines regardless of sexual orientation so long as they abide by the rules of the forum (polite conversation and civil discourse)

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Media Critic]

Sorry, wanted to clarify that I did mean Ruby and Dorothy and Alice and Robyn.

 

LOL!

[Gaultheria]

I doubt there’s any point in OUAT tackling Issues-with-a-capital-I anymore. Complainants would merely switch from saying “Why hasn’t the show dealt with X?” to “What took the show so long to acknowledge X?”.

Gaultheria's fanvids: http://youtube.com/sagethrasher

[Jamie]

I am with you Media Critic. I also commented on the show notes for the last episode, and (not surprised) haven’t gotten a response. Daniel seems to only respond to people thanking him for his “courage” when it comes to LGBT characters.

I just have issue that Daniel and Jeremy have mentioned to have respectful conversations, but have referred to Daniel’s statement of the Ruby/Dorothy episode, which was so homophobic and completely disrespectful to gay people.

I’m super annoyed with this podcast when it comes to how they treat/discuss LGBT people and how they have basically ignored Alice/Robyn’s ship. And that they talk about gay characters as a controversy, and discuss it more than when there has been sexual abuse/rape, that hurts a lot.

 

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