The Rec Center #111
Hello! Greetings from the same side of the Atlantic (where I’m learning that British Olympic coverage is far superior to NBC, I’m so jealous, folks). This week we have essays on K-pop, trans fic, and Black Panther (with more next week, once we’ve both seen the film!), and Femslash February continues with a grab-bag of fics and vid recs. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“How K-pop became a global phenomenon” by Aja Romano at Vox
“No country takes its fluffy pop music more seriously than South Korea.”
“It’s In the Beards” by KJ Gormley at Shakespeare and Punk
On exploring trans identity via the dwarves of Hobbit fic: “Hobbit fanfiction is where I learned how to be normal and trans at the same time.”
“The Wonder of Wakanda: How This Black Utopian Space Is a Game Changer for Artists and Audiences” by Anna Branigin at The Root
We’ll have more Black Panther ~content next week when more people have seen the movie - feel free to send us your fave pieces so we can include them! In the meantime, here’s a non-spoilery look at the cultural impact of Wakanda, with interviews from BP cast members. P.S. We recommend the film’s (non-spoilery) concept album from Kendrick Lamar; you can listen on Spotify.
older stuff
“Fanfiction isn’t about muting the original stories. It’s about heightening them.” by Constance Grady at Vox
“When I read fanfiction written about source material I love, I am almost never reading it to ‘correct’ the source material or erase my emotional reaction to it. I’m doing it to heighten my reaction to the source material.”
tumblr & beyond
Padme Amidala/Breha Organa Star Wars AU fanart by yellowis4art.
Some Due South meta about the imagery of the closet, by alwaysalreadyangry.
“people who still refer to nerd slapfights as ‘wank’.. u are valid”
fanfiction
Femslash February continues! This week we have a grab-bag from our submissions; thanks, as always, to our guest reccers. And great news: we got waaaaaay more f/f than we could ever fit into this month of lists, so that means more f/f in our grab-bag lists generally! My master plan worked, mwahahahaha. — Elizabeth
“capture what time forgot” by mapped. 3.6K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Black Sails; Ship: Max/Miranda Barlow
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Black Sails has some AMAZING fanfiction it’s so hard to pick one, but this is my favorite femslash fic. It’s set pre-series, with two characters who never interacted, not once, but if they HAD, it would have been exactly like this.
Rec: It fulfills my personal headcanon that, while Flint was off establishing a name for himself as a deadly pirate, Miranda was lonely and depressed in Nassau and found comfort in the arms of the beautiful Max, because WHY SHOULDN’T THAT HAVE HAPPENED?
Content warnings: N/A
“i don’t wanna give you up (i don’t wanna let you love somebody else but me)” by notcaycepollard. 3.5K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Ghostbusters (2016); Ship: Jillian Holtzmann/Erin Gilbert
Recced by: cairophoenix
Backstory: Kate McKinnon’s wacky and very queer Holtzmann spent the entire movie flirting with the very tightly wound Erin. It was delightful.
Rec: The voice is just SO good: I am utterly convinced that this is what the inside of Holtzmann’s head is like. SO good.
Content warnings: N/A
“Morning Will Come” by blackrising. 8.6K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Tomb Raider (video game); Ship: Lara Croft/Samantha Nishimura
Recced by: Antediluvian
Backstory: Yamatai is a nightmare—but never more so than for an Omega in heat or an Alpha faced with a choice.
Rec: FEMSLASH A/B/O.
Content warnings: N/A
“get loved, make more” by allthingsholy. 10K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Lizzie Bennet Diaries; Ship: Lydia Bennet / Gigi Darcy
Recced by: lulabo
Backstory: Whether Lydia likes it or not, she shares a bond with Gigi Darcy she does with no one else. As they get more entrenched in each other’s lives, Lydia finds some peace.
Rec: It’s beautifully written, does justice to all the things both women have been through, and it’s hopeful.
Content warnings: N/A
“Just the One, Two” by Panny. 10.6K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Jessica Jones; Ship: Jessica Jones/Trish Walker
Recced by: stars-inthe-sky
Backstory: After her family died in a sketchy accident that also granted her super-strength, Jessica Jones was adopted by Trish Walker’s mother. The mother was awful and abusive, but the girls remain close into adulthood, and it’s clear throughout the show’s first season that Trish is the most important person in Jessica’s life—and she’s also often the one encouraging Jessica to embrace her powers and her heroism.
Rec: The characterizations here are incredible—I don’t normally have strong feelings for or against this ship, but Panny’s understanding of both Trish and Jess is so strong that it left me convinced. Trish’s experiences with superpowers were also interesting, in context with everything else that’s happened.
Content warnings: Nothing graphic or explicit, but there are references to various canonical traumas the characters deal with
And some vid recs!
“Take Me to Church” by LithiumDoll. 4:08, rated Gen.
Fandom: Person of Interest; Ship: Root/Sameen Shaw/the Machine
Recced by: yunitsa/pamphilia
Backstory: Root is a hacker/mouthpiece for a (female-coded) artificial intelligence; Shaw is an ex-government assassin. They start out with a flirty-enemies dynamics that deepens into so much more, hitting nearly every fandom trope along the way; they’re also hot like burning.
Rec: This, to me, is *the* ship vid: it constructs a perfect build through plot and Feelings (certain moments, like Root on the rooftop, get me every. single. time.), while managing to include the disembodied Machine as a central character.
Content warnings: (temporary and simulated) character death, spoilers through the end of s4 but not beyond
“Suffer” by Anoel. 1:31, rated Teen.
Fandom: Person of Interest; Ship: Root/Sameen
Recced by: yunitsa/pamphilia
Backstory: More Shaw and Root, this time really highlighting the (canonical!) BDSM aspects of their relationship.
Rec: This show aired at primetime on CBS!! And yet somehow, without using any external source, this vid is...um. Let’s just say I had to double-check that “Teen and Up” rating.
Content warnings: Bondage, blood, needles, not always consensual kink
FINAL THOUGHT
Tonight is the men’s figure skating final at the Winter Olympics!! I fully intend to set my alarm for 3am so I can watch it live. If you want to join me, you can find streaming info here. I also did a lil Winter Olympics explainer podcast this week, if you need some background knowledge beforehand. This is gonna be such a great competition! Almost all of the top skaters did SUPER well last night, and if you haven’t seen Adam Rippon or Yuzuru Hanyu skate before, I highly recommend looking them up. Wow. — Gav
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, etc—are strongly encouraged as well. And if you have any interest in doing an entire rec list or explainer, please get in touch! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)