[Meta] On Aqua's sexuality
Oct. 10th, 2010 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runespoorI cannot possibly be the only person on the Internet thinking that Aqua is gay. Not crushing on Terra, not crushing on Ven - which, lemme tell you, hits me much harder in the squick department than actual incest - but just plain ol' batting for her own team. AQUA LIKES THE LADIEZ.
Of interest:
1.
watch 2:06, and from 4:03 to 4:25. Look, I'm sorry but on 4:22 she clearly has her hand on Cinderella's ass. I'm not saying she's copping a feel, but she's being very physical with someone she barely knows, especially when you take into account that Aqua is not the most physically affectionate or demonstrative of the trio. She generally doesn't touch people, and by that I mean I don't think she touches anyone except Ven, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder when he's down.
As for 2:06, there are two interpretations. They're not in any way incompatible, and I personally think they both hold. The main point here is that Aqua taking Cinderella's hand and guiding her toward the chair doesn't conform to gender role; it's an obvious deviation. This is a gesture befitting of a knight, and as Aqua is for all intents and purposes a knight (the most obvious one out of the trio: she carries on her duty with honour and respects the orders she's entrusted with, and there's a certain code she follows, rules of conduct she never violates.) it's within her role to perform this gesture. However, it's a gesture that has more implications than, say, Aqua's apologizing one knee to the ground to Queen Minnie. This is a gallant gesture. She takes the Duke's place in the movie; this is Cinderella, where chivalry only survives as gallantry.
It's a knight's gesture, and it's a gallant gesture.
Taking Cinderella's hand and leading her to her chair is a completely conscious decision on Aqua's part, one I would argue goes further her duties as a knightly figure. Absolutely nothing forces Aqua to steal the Duke's moment; she has to walk past him to take Cinderella's hand.
Whether you consider the gesture to be 'romantic' in nature, there's no denying at least that Aqua's playing the other gender in that scene.
2. Olympus Coliseum
Okay, first we have to say that that world has a really rotten view of women. Phil and Hades' attitude toward Aqua is nothing short of repulsive, and she definitely agrees with that. Takes it into stride with Phil by refusing to play his game and responding as professionally as she can, and is pissed at Hades for looking down on her because she's a girl. Her stopping Zack from taking part in the fight may be mostly due because Hades messed with Terra and you do not mess with Aqua's boys, but I think also owes something to the fact that Hades has been nothing short of dismissive of her abilities. Aqua has something to prove to Hades by kicking his ass, both for Terra and for herself. She'll do the same in the Final Episode by stating for the first time in the game that she's Master Aqua.
As for Zack, who is the reason why I'm including this world here - my post being initially about Aqua's sexuality - the vid is relevant from 3:30.
It doesn't sound to me like a 'maybe', much less the 'sure let's!' Zack clings to. It sounds like a pretty definite no. Zack asking her on a date throws Aqua utterly out of the loop. And yet, objectively, the idea of a date between them doesn't sound so ridiculous. It may run into the problem that Aqua might see him as a little brother figure reminding her of Ven, but Zack looks older than Ven, so he and Aqua are close in age (he's younger, but probably not that much), and they have a good relationship. Why does it surprise her so much that he's thinking of her like that?
It's mentioned she blushes. She's flustered, I think, because she wonders how Zack could misunderstand their interactions so much. 'Oh god, how could he get the idea-- oh god, turning him down, so embarrassing.'
For me, the complete and utter shock and subsequent embarrassment are easily explained if she simply doesn't think of boys that way, at all.
When she leaves, the journal says that she's very strongly reminded of Terra. It may be because Zack asks her on a date and there's a romantic entanglement of some sort between Terra and her, or it may be because of the fact that Olympus Coliseum is all about heroes looking for strength and Hades manipulating Terra and Aqua being concerned for him. Or, again, both.
And that's the two most prevalent things I can think of the top of my head relating to Aqua's sexuality.
One last minor point: in the intro.
when she give the charms to Terra and Ven and Terra remarks that it's "awfully feminine of her" (7:40), she reacts strongly to that. It's obviously because she refutes the idea that Real Women Never Wear Dresses; she can kick ass at Keyblade wielding and like typically feminine stuff.
If you interpret Aqua as lesbian, this moment is Fridge Brilliance. It's not just Terra having trouble to reconcile the ass-kicking and the girliness; it's trouble reconciling her being a lesbian and her being girly.
So yeah, for now I'm advocating Aqua as a lesbian. I'll be glad to discuss/add any stuff I missed, if you're in the mood.
Of interest:
1.
watch 2:06, and from 4:03 to 4:25. Look, I'm sorry but on 4:22 she clearly has her hand on Cinderella's ass. I'm not saying she's copping a feel, but she's being very physical with someone she barely knows, especially when you take into account that Aqua is not the most physically affectionate or demonstrative of the trio. She generally doesn't touch people, and by that I mean I don't think she touches anyone except Ven, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder when he's down.
As for 2:06, there are two interpretations. They're not in any way incompatible, and I personally think they both hold. The main point here is that Aqua taking Cinderella's hand and guiding her toward the chair doesn't conform to gender role; it's an obvious deviation. This is a gesture befitting of a knight, and as Aqua is for all intents and purposes a knight (the most obvious one out of the trio: she carries on her duty with honour and respects the orders she's entrusted with, and there's a certain code she follows, rules of conduct she never violates.) it's within her role to perform this gesture. However, it's a gesture that has more implications than, say, Aqua's apologizing one knee to the ground to Queen Minnie. This is a gallant gesture. She takes the Duke's place in the movie; this is Cinderella, where chivalry only survives as gallantry.
It's a knight's gesture, and it's a gallant gesture.
Taking Cinderella's hand and leading her to her chair is a completely conscious decision on Aqua's part, one I would argue goes further her duties as a knightly figure. Absolutely nothing forces Aqua to steal the Duke's moment; she has to walk past him to take Cinderella's hand.
Whether you consider the gesture to be 'romantic' in nature, there's no denying at least that Aqua's playing the other gender in that scene.
2. Olympus Coliseum
Okay, first we have to say that that world has a really rotten view of women. Phil and Hades' attitude toward Aqua is nothing short of repulsive, and she definitely agrees with that. Takes it into stride with Phil by refusing to play his game and responding as professionally as she can, and is pissed at Hades for looking down on her because she's a girl. Her stopping Zack from taking part in the fight may be mostly due because Hades messed with Terra and you do not mess with Aqua's boys, but I think also owes something to the fact that Hades has been nothing short of dismissive of her abilities. Aqua has something to prove to Hades by kicking his ass, both for Terra and for herself. She'll do the same in the Final Episode by stating for the first time in the game that she's Master Aqua.
As for Zack, who is the reason why I'm including this world here - my post being initially about Aqua's sexuality - the vid is relevant from 3:30.
It doesn't sound to me like a 'maybe', much less the 'sure let's!' Zack clings to. It sounds like a pretty definite no. Zack asking her on a date throws Aqua utterly out of the loop. And yet, objectively, the idea of a date between them doesn't sound so ridiculous. It may run into the problem that Aqua might see him as a little brother figure reminding her of Ven, but Zack looks older than Ven, so he and Aqua are close in age (he's younger, but probably not that much), and they have a good relationship. Why does it surprise her so much that he's thinking of her like that?
It's mentioned she blushes. She's flustered, I think, because she wonders how Zack could misunderstand their interactions so much. 'Oh god, how could he get the idea-- oh god, turning him down, so embarrassing.'
For me, the complete and utter shock and subsequent embarrassment are easily explained if she simply doesn't think of boys that way, at all.
When she leaves, the journal says that she's very strongly reminded of Terra. It may be because Zack asks her on a date and there's a romantic entanglement of some sort between Terra and her, or it may be because of the fact that Olympus Coliseum is all about heroes looking for strength and Hades manipulating Terra and Aqua being concerned for him. Or, again, both.
And that's the two most prevalent things I can think of the top of my head relating to Aqua's sexuality.
One last minor point: in the intro.
when she give the charms to Terra and Ven and Terra remarks that it's "awfully feminine of her" (7:40), she reacts strongly to that. It's obviously because she refutes the idea that Real Women Never Wear Dresses; she can kick ass at Keyblade wielding and like typically feminine stuff.
If you interpret Aqua as lesbian, this moment is Fridge Brilliance. It's not just Terra having trouble to reconcile the ass-kicking and the girliness; it's trouble reconciling her being a lesbian and her being girly.
So yeah, for now I'm advocating Aqua as a lesbian. I'll be glad to discuss/add any stuff I missed, if you're in the mood.
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no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 09:14 pm (UTC)I'm not trying to start anything here, as we are all civilized people.
Don't you think you're digging far too deep into the character? This is a Disney thing afterall.
A very intersting piece. ^^
no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 10:52 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I see your point about KH being Disney; Aqua isn't just a Disney character. And even if she were, Disney has created ambiguously gay characters before, such as Ryan Evans of High School Musical. If that's what you meant about this being Disney and I didn't misunderstand you.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 10:17 pm (UTC)As for the gesture, I just thought that Aqua would act before the stepfamily possibly held things up. They totally have a face that's like "We're not going to let this happen >8I"
It's knightly but just ordinary knightly to me with a hint of thoughtfulness to pre-empt something worse
As for Zack, it's a "I can't do that" which seems to imply that she has other responsibilities to do. She kinda looks back for a split second then back at the camera which just reminds me that she's thinking of something which I interpreted to be her duties (finding Terra). Especially since she knows Terra is getting closer to the darkness thanks to Hades and she mentioned her journey slightly before. She doesn't want to get sidetracked with anything not very important and she probably will be busy even after she finds Terra as her duties as a master. The time isn't just right for a relationship. I kinda attribute the slight surprise to "oh no, a guy is asking me out, this never happened before and I can't go out with him, I have to find Terra D:" since I really didn't notice many other people in LoD besides Terra, Ventus, Aqua, and Eraqus. They seem to have a semi-sheltered life.
Um, the last part about Terra reconciling with Aqua's lesbianness just confused me xD
no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 10:42 pm (UTC)I agree that helping Cinderella down was the knihtly thing to do, but the Duke was closer, and there's no reason to assume he wouldn't have stepped up the way he did in the movie. The developers' intent in that scene was probably just to give Aqua more limelight (I think it's a great character moment) but it gives her the traditionally male part even more clearly for a moment than fighting monsters in a fantasy setting does.
As for Zack, it's a "I can't do that" which seems to imply that she has other responsibilities to do.
Of course, and she even says so, but I find her reaction both very strong and confused. Her body language indicates, to me, that she's not just slightly surprised, she's totally dumbfounded - she even fumbles with words, and usually Aqua is pretty smooth when she's not required to come up with a cover story on the spot. Which this kinda is, but not really, since she ends up telling him the truth, if not all of the truth.
About the lack of people in LoD, I assumed that they were in contact with other people, as Terra and Aqua must have had parents at one point, and they must find ways to renew their clothing. In my headcanon they know people from outworld, or the LoD is bigger than what we're shown. Definitely agree on Ven at least leading a sheltered life due to Eraqus not wanting him to leave LoD.
Sorry, I could've been clearer, and I'm projecting RL attitudes on the KH-verse, what I meant was that as the most common lesbian stereotype is butch, Terra was even more surprised/amused at Aqua displaying 'feminine interests' than if she'd just been comrade in Keyblade-wielding.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-22 06:07 pm (UTC)The Snow White universe was a bit of a 'tingly gaydar!' moment if I recall correctly as well, but I'm hesitant on what it was that set it off. I think Aqua just seemed to find Snow White far too intriguing. I really should go look up that scene.
From a psychological viewpoint, there are reasons as to why she wouldn't have an attraction to either Ven or Terra, which is not proof in itself that she is lesbian at all, but are interesting to consider. The incest implication that you referred to between the three is that they essentially grew up together (Ven is... a difficult case, obviously, being in a stunted jejune state without memories and half of his heart...) and quite possibly Terra and Aqua have already developed a Westermack Effect between them. I sense absolutely nothing between them in any way, not even remnants of awkwardness they might have had after going through puberty together -- it's like neither even noticed. The only way you get that kind of apathy, imo, is if both are totally uninterested in what each other's gender has to offer, because the total isolation and dependency like they're forced to undergo in the Land of Departure can break even the Westermack Effect. (but then, my bias is leaking a little here, for me, Terra is either asexual and/or has Single Target Sexuality.)
no subject
Date: 2010-11-03 03:18 pm (UTC)