yay for characters that actually got a life before the story and where forged by it, rather than a two paragraph backstory and an arbitrary list of traits
ohhh i really like this page... i love sugar and lola's interactions, and i love learning more about them... and i love both their expressions, throughout the whole page, but in particular sugar's expressions in the first five panels. i think they do a really good job of conveying how she may be feeling...
heya eggy. she's thinking of something, actually!
although their eyes don't always point in a direction based on pseudo-science, in that panel, her eyes are looking up and to the right, indicating she's recalling a visual memory (in this case, sugar's haircut).
thanks for the comment!
oh time to cry at parts it makes no sense to cry at again
people have more than once mentioned sugar seeming like...dangerous, an asshole, etc. and I feel weird and worried that I can't see it at all. like, does that mean I come across as a horrible person to everyone too? idk. she just seems like a somewhat sheltered mentally ill dork w/sharp teeth, to me
heya ell, sorry to make you cry.
your interpretation of sugar is actually pretty spot on. this is how a lot (most, i'd say) people interpret her.
however, sugar as a character was made specifically with the knowledge that certain types of people (like masculine women, or mentally ill people) are considered dangerous and predatory by appearance alone. a reader similar to sugar would probably not assume this, but other readers probably will. sugar's character was designed to fully allow people to approach her with these preconceptions, and be dissuaded from them by her actions and development, eventually-- ideally allowing them to examine why they initially felt hostility towards her, on their own terms.
i can't promise you no one sees you like they see sugar, but i do know not everyone does, and you're not a horrible person.
oh please do not apologize for making me cry! a lot of things in this story are just hitting me really hard in unexpected ways. it wouldn't be doing that if it weren't done so well, so, you know, not actually a bad thing.
I love lola and sugar both, but sugar is a lot easier for me personally to relate to in a few ways, so, yeah. thank you for the response!
the change in lola's expression is interesting here; their upper eyes in panels 1, 5 and 7 look pained, or at least pretty nervous, but as soon as sugar mentions coming out as genderqueer they light right up. i'd say that they have a lot of hesitance towards broaching the topic of gender, but they did ask sugar the question about whether they walk more femininely or masculinely, so... hmm
hiya proteles. these are really good observations.
a good thing to keep in mind with their dialogs about gender is that lola navigates her interactions with sugar using a mix of caution, because she is cis, but openness, because they're both intersex. some topics about gender may be more approachable than others in this regard.
at this point in their relationship, all lola knows is that sugar seems fairly respectful and attentive of trans issues, but as this scene progresses, it should become more obvious why sugar never brought it up before, and that sugar might have been the one who often avoided talking about trans things specifically rather than lola.
after analyzing the comic, i come to a thought... of the ending. i think, it will end up with one of them living, and changing. in "character study" style movies, they start with from the bottom, with a big task/adventure to do...then by the end of the film, the main character changes due to the circumstances that happened throughout the movie. i think if nobody changes their mind, then the whole character study here would be lost; there'd be little reason for exposition if theyre just gonna both end up dead... it kinda feels like, a "redemption arc"
although their eyes don't always point in a direction based on pseudo-science, in that panel, her eyes are looking up and to the right, indicating she's recalling a visual memory (in this case, sugar's haircut).
thanks for the comment!
people have more than once mentioned sugar seeming like...dangerous, an asshole, etc. and I feel weird and worried that I can't see it at all. like, does that mean I come across as a horrible person to everyone too? idk. she just seems like a somewhat sheltered mentally ill dork w/sharp teeth, to me
your interpretation of sugar is actually pretty spot on. this is how a lot (most, i'd say) people interpret her.
however, sugar as a character was made specifically with the knowledge that certain types of people (like masculine women, or mentally ill people) are considered dangerous and predatory by appearance alone. a reader similar to sugar would probably not assume this, but other readers probably will. sugar's character was designed to fully allow people to approach her with these preconceptions, and be dissuaded from them by her actions and development, eventually-- ideally allowing them to examine why they initially felt hostility towards her, on their own terms.
i can't promise you no one sees you like they see sugar, but i do know not everyone does, and you're not a horrible person.
I love lola and sugar both, but sugar is a lot easier for me personally to relate to in a few ways, so, yeah. thank you for the response!
a good thing to keep in mind with their dialogs about gender is that lola navigates her interactions with sugar using a mix of caution, because she is cis, but openness, because they're both intersex. some topics about gender may be more approachable than others in this regard.
at this point in their relationship, all lola knows is that sugar seems fairly respectful and attentive of trans issues, but as this scene progresses, it should become more obvious why sugar never brought it up before, and that sugar might have been the one who often avoided talking about trans things specifically rather than lola.