Maia has thoughts

Upon theatre reopening, we had news that Scorbus is as good as canon in the re-worked one-part version of Cursed Child. It has us feeling very mixed feelings[i]. We want to feel joy, but time has taught us to always be critical and we have an underlying feeling that we are still being queer baited. This piece dives into scorbus past and present to try to tackle why this decision was made. Part 1: Scorbus in the two-part play The original London cast and the material The original material of the play (we’re talking the script, not acting choices) is heavily focused on Albus’s character arch, with Scorpius’s and Harry’s relationships with him involved in moving the plot along. Albus is given Delphi as a love interest, and this was played off as feasible by the original cast, Sam Clemmett’s Albus all puppy dog eyes and cheesy flirting. Scorpius is given Rose as a love interest, who was always put across as the one person that Scorpius fancied, with Anthony Boyle's Scorpius flirting al...

Last year, I posted this: Falling out of love with an old friend: How to be a Potter fan in 2020. I wanted to write this new piece to document the changes in mentality I have undergone because personal growth is important. It isn't a personal attack on anyone in any way, we're all different people who will have come to our own conclusions, though I do hope it is challenging. As always, call me out on anything that's terrible here.  Over the past year, I've done a lot of reading and listening, and watching. I’ve listened to trans and nonbinary voices (friends/influences/creatives etc.) and the overwhelming message from those voices has been: Get over Potter. I was particularly affected by a close genderqueer friend who I met through Potter and was fully immersed in the fandom. They have absolutely stopped supporting the universe. To them, this meant a lot of changes to their life happening very quickly because they just couldn't anymore. It should go without saying ...

A few weeks ago, I sent out a tweet asking for peoples experiences where people had been made to feel less than because they were a fangirl. I decided to delve into this topic because I’ve recently realised that I am respected as an equal person in most situations except in fandom. In the majority of cases, if I bump into an actor that knows me from fandom in a neutral zone I feel like I am starting from below them and I have to make a massive effort to act intelligent and normal. This isn’t the case with everyone but I always get that shock if they recognise me as a human being whose life exists beyond fandom. I don’t think that any of these people mean to make me feel that way and that it is a structural thing. Something about the expectation of me as a blushing, out of control fan makes me lose my confidence as a normal person and it is hard to break that expectation down. I wanted to get a scope of how others felt they were treated, so here are some quotes from people from differen...

I’ve been writing this for two years. It’s still not flawless but as it’s pride month and we’re already calling out the Church for racism anyway, I thought I’d further shake the boat with my ideas on why a lot of Christianity is bad.   If at any point you think this is about you, it’s probably about you. Those of you who it isn’t about will have no reason to feel called out or guilty.  Disclaimers: I am a cis, middle-of-the-spectrum woman, I do not speak for all non cishets. I am not white, so I exist at that intersection too (which is a whole different issue that needs its own space). Also this is my opinion. The intention of this isn’t to sound aggressive (I’m certain I sound aggressive at times but I’m just being blunt), it isn’t asking for apologies or pitty on any level. This isn’t about me. It also isn’t about why Christians can be gay or why you should be nicer to gay people, those resources exist. I do not offer solutions, only a wake-up call. So hello! I’m Maia, ...