@@Captaiesqueletoevery single US president has been a Christian (deists don't @ me, you're just Christians too). Granted, Satanists are also basically just Christians (or edgy atheists who wanna feel special), but the US government is hugely, overwhelmingly, *incredibly* Christian. Until very recently, I'd say it was exclusively Christian. Just because they're evil doesn't mean they're not Christian lol
As a french the the funniest thing politicaly speaking was the fact that both the book and the movie acted like Paris was this 💖safe heaven💖 where they could frolick without a care, as if we are some sort of magical land completely unaware of foreign politic and not ONE person would recognize the prince of england straight up dirty-talking to the son of the us president in the middle of the day in some touristy café
This is the kind of thing that really takes me out of the whole story. The tabloid press follows famous people around RELENTLESSLY. I mean, we still get photos of Obama's daughters and they haven't been relevant in nearly a decade. If the PRINCE OF ENGLAND and the son of a sitting US president were going around a major city in europe they would be absolutely hounded by the press
lmaooo true, that’s part of why they got caught too tho. cuz they were spotted. although it def is strange that someone wouldn’t have picked up on their conversation.
this wasn’t mentioned, but the history buff in me was freaking out over so many of the things in the book would have much greater political implications. The prime one being - a member of the british royal family publicly supporting a candidate in an overseas national election. i was surprised queen mary didn’t bring that up as a point as to why they should deny it
I haven't read or watched it, but I feel like the idea that the US president's son being gay or bi would be TOTALLY FINE and not cause a massive shitstorm with conservatives and evangelical nuts would instantly kill my suspension of disbelief
I mean they definitely do explore that idea, it's still a big deal for Alex and he has to give a big speech to the press and stuff when the secret comes out. but yeah it's ultimately not THAT much of a stir
true, but this book is supposed to be an alternate, more positive reality. the author said they wrote it because they were feeling down after the 2016 election
The ending seems so silly now, knowing that Harry & Meghan were essentially just allowed to dip. Like, if that’s a real-life possibility, there’s no way the Queen would just let Henry remain in the line of succession or represent the royal family in any official capacity. He would be disowned in all but title only.
Yeah, the Harry and Meghan situation really makes the ending of the book feel all the more bleak. These people don't care about you! They'll throw anyone they don't like to the wolves!
Only if one completely misreads the Sussex's situation. Frankly the book shows how the Sussexes should have behaved. The book is fiction and works like fiction. Very well. The Sussexes are idiots who are self entitled and stupid.
This analysis of the story is beyond idiotic. Your views on the monarchy how it works is pitiful. You represent everything that demonstrates the shallowness of US social media. Please shut up until you have some idea of what you are talking about. This applies to real life AND fictional depictions. Very disappointed.
This comment is so wrong that is should be immediately deleted Firstly Harry and Meghan broke so many rules in the royal family even they being straight marriage actually also did so many disrespectful things against Her Majesty and they are hated in these days because of that Secondly a situation like this happened before for your information, with one of the Queen's cousins, is lord Ivar Mountbatten, who married a man in 2018 in a wedding at which Queen Elizabeth assisted, and arguing that he is too far of the line of succession, we all know that Harry would never be King because of his 3 little nephews, in that way your comment has no pint on reality and the movie as this video
a little beside the point, but I took a class on the american revolution/constitution and the shadow of Hamilton HUNG over us the whole time, it was unavoidable and weird and awkward. Somebody mentioned the hatsune miku binder at one point and everything went dead silent.
Not surprising tbh. I took a class on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics a few years ago, and even there the name "Hamilton" fell a few too many times to not be referenced a bunch. (By the people around me, obviously this being physics there was a lower percentage of people who knew anything at all about musical theatre).
My middle school history teacher brought up Hamilton for a little bit since it had just come out and we were learning about the founding fathers. To my knowledge it hadn't really blown up at the time but now I wonder if he still mentions it
okay as an admitted rwrb superfan (i own three copies and have read it probably five times since release) i almost did not click this video but out of trust in your opinions, i did, and i'm glad!!!! the politics of this book have always been weird to me, but i haven't really been able to pinpoint why beyond a generic "yes this is standard liberal pre-trump good faith how sweet" but you really hit the nail on the head here. honestly, it read to me as a sort of weird american propaganda almost??? like it fed a lot into those "anybody can make it here" with all the working-class-family stuff and the generally easy acceptance of alex's bisexuality, as well as a woman with a bisexual, biracial son winning texas, which hasn't gone blue since the 1980s? and it's being directly paralleled with this ass-backward, tradition-focused monarchy, as though americans are just so much more evolved bc alex has a cowboy hat. idk, the book's politics are weird. that's why i turn my brain off and say 'haha cute ship funny dialogue'
well I'm so glad you gave the video a chance! and I totally agree with everything you said. definitely buying into the American dream, go into politics if you want to help people fantasy. it's a very subtle issue, I feel like I had trouble even articulating it in this video. and I agree it's totally a book you can enjoy if you decide to just kind of take its word for everything, writing-wise it really is a cut above most of the new adult stuff that's gotten big lately. I just live to complain so I couldn't not make a video 😭
Yeah the political narrative isn’t at all groundbreaking even with the biracial bisexual son added in. I did think it was interesting for a romcom book and the characters weren’t completely flat which kept me engaged through the end.
@@ecogreenarchive the politics was always very superficial to me, i never thought about them in this light before. Also the characters and the romance are really enjoyable for me
while i agree with some of your points i dont really agree with the texas part. I think the idealism of winning the texas vote is honestly a powerful one. The issue with texas isn't that there isn't a large portion of minorities there, its that they are heavily under represented because of gerrymandering, and voter suppression. The latter is really important in red white and royal blue because if I remember correctly, a lot of Alex's campaign was just registering people to vote. A lot of times citizens dont have the resources available to know where to do that, when to do that, etc. etc. So often in the campaigning process people forget about these under represented groups' autonomy as citizens needs to be protected because they're focusing their time elsewhere. So to see this book, (which isn't perfect with politics) make this really amazing claim, it gave me more hope that people will focus more of their time in giving marginalized people in the south voting rights.
They admit themselves they were writing the book when Trump won. That means they plotted it and had started writing it during the Obama era (probably with Hamilton playing in the background) which would explain the book's optimism.
The fact that this book came out shortly before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry started dating is also significant to me. Meghan and Harry had arguably done what Alex and Henry did-- assimilated into the expecations of the Royal Family. But even that wasn't enough for the crown, and they were essentially forced to abdicate. That's *after* Markle had gone on tours to promote the British Monarchy! The book was quite limited in its attempt to be optimistic, and it often took me out of the book. I feel like it would have sold better to me as a Succession-like dark comedy rather than the Hamilton-esque liberal celebration.
It didn't though? Harry and Meghan started dating in 2016, it was made official in October, and the book came out in 2019. In 2019, the already had a kid and were still trying to make the whole royal thing work
@@emiandnues the Queen literally made a game amongst her family to find new ways to mock her at events and holidays; Her husband took part in this too
as someone who only recently read the book while waiting for the movie to come out….. it was so insane finding the hamilton references. from the moment they referenced his portrait I got suspicious, but when they finally talked about the hamilton and laurens letters omg literal sirens blasting inside my mind
its gr8 to see other ppl pointing stuff like this out bc sometimes people make u feel like ur crazy for not accepting the barest most libbed up versions of representation...my mom is definitely what i would describe as an obama era liberal and anytime i critique a movie like that she's like, "but theres gay people in it so the political message is good!" and i dont know how to explain its more nuanced than that
As someone who grew up liberal in a red state and recently moved to the west coast, something that I do appreciate about this book and McQuiston’s other works is how red states aren’t depicted as lost causes that aren’t worth thinking about. I completely agree that Texas flipping blue is total fantasy in the book, but to me the rhetoric was a vast improvement from the watching the people in my home state suffer and have the people I live around now not give a shit because they disagree with my state’s politics
I agree with that! I liked the element of Alex really believing in the disenfranchised voters in his home state. The author is from Louisiana so I wonder if that's why it's important to them
At least Marco finally moved on from Elle, and found someone who actually liked him. Likewise, Luke left Cassie and the military behind to become a Prince!
My biggest gripe with the book was how it treated Alex's identity as a Mexican-American. Like it felt very "this is what a white liberal thinks life is like" and some of the scenes (the "helados" scene) annoyed the hell out of me to point where it even took me out of the plot with how disconnected and "outside observer-y" it felt from what I've witnessed as a Mexican-American myself.
Yes! I remember there’s a conversation in the book that’s happening in Spanish but in the book it appears as English, which is fine since logically the audience for this book are English speakers. But like that conversation did not make ANY sense in Spanish, it was full of americanisms and english phrases that simply don’t translate. And it’s not a huge deal as I still liked the story but it was pretty obvious that the representation was surface level and written by someone that like... didn’t want to offend anyone but also had no real interest in exploring the culture depicted.
honestly that kind of seems inevitable. short of having a mexican american person basically write the scene themselves i can't imagine how a white author would be able to overcome the hurdle of just not being mexican american. it's a weird writing issue bc obviously we want more rep for characters of color but also if you're white it's kind of just impossible to authentically write it, short of co-authoring it. more poc authors needed i guess
@@idontneedaname318 that or basically investing in diverse beta readers. Like if I'm gonna write about a culture that is not my won, even for my own piece of mind, I think it would be best to have someone from that culture, if possible, look it over to smooth out any obvious missteps or even just to provide that alternate view that only someone of that group can provide.
One of the things that bothered me about the book is like "the presidents husband is a billionaire but he's a good billionaire guys! It's cause he can't stop inventing stuff!! He's such a genius" Then it's like "henrys bff is a billionaire but he's a good billionaire guys!!! He has charities!" Look, if you want to have your characters flying private from europe to america constantly and going to balls and royal wedding, just lean into it like don't try to convince me that's they're pc or "good, actually"
@@erinkatrina4201yeah, I think that would actually be quite interesting and give the author an opportunity for an engaging and complex character study. I think many of us are rather hypocritical about certain aspects of our politics, and exploring that tension would be great.
You are definitely correct that the Hamilton/Laurens thing is a specific reference to the musical, because Alex also mentions Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, which LMM directly cites as his historical source for most of the show
@@jane-mulcahy great video, by the way. Totally agree that Hamilton was the peak of the Obama era. As to the book, I think it would have been a way more satisfying ending if Henry had actually just abdicated and fucked off with Alex (who naturally also came to his senses and decided to become a civil rights lawyer or something) and ran his youth center for unhoused queer teens in relative peace.
i honestly gotta applaud Nicholas for all the movies he’s been in so far like how do you go from Cinderella to Purple Hearts to RW&RB and have it work? love that for him!
changing the royal family from the windsors to the hanover-stuarts in the film made my friend and I scream about the alternate history implications of that for a solid 45 minutes
Yes! I couldn’t focus on anything after that reveal. Does this mean Scotland is long since independent? What about Ireland? How was the empire successful in further colonisation without these regions for initial manpower and labour? WHAT DOES THE WORLD EVEN LOOK LIKE!?
@@PetraSkullsit's 1.30am, my family is asleep and I just couldn't hold myself from laughing out loud when I read your comment. Absolute gold, thank you
There is actually some drama in the Taylor Swift community about this book and movie because the author was a rampant Taylor hater for years but then the movie adaptation of their book came out and the characters and plot ended up being so accidentally Taylor Swift coded that people started making edits using her songs and now the author has seemingly gone into a panic and has been mass deleting all their old hate tweets about Taylor seemingly trying to backtrack in an "oh shit" moment.
@@cidevant002 lol I would guess they mean both having a romantic/fluffy/modern vibe, and corresponding well to various T Swift songs (meaning people can make fancams and edits and whatever set to said songs). see London Boy, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, etc. etc.
They have spoken about this though. They are non-binary and their internalized misogynistic views were how they coped with not knowing how to perform girlhood successfully. Its not an excuse, but its a reason and shows how its not bs that they have grown out of it
I'm half South Asian, and the "henry has an Indian servant" part of the book IS upsetting (although semi- hilarious because like "why would they write that" LOL) Idk, very much a "sounds about white" moment for Casey McQuinston. Generally because as a South Asian person myself, if a white person told me these plans for their South Asian secondary character, "servant of English Monarchy" I would explain that I am uncomfortable, and would encourage them to change it up. I get the escapism bit when it comes to their work, however characters like these are NOT taking into account how REAL LIFE south asian/desi people may feel, and tbh just reeks of neoliberalism. Overall, Casey writing a sort of "anti-racist, anti-colonial fantasy (where we have a Hot Indian guy working for the monarchy!)" makes me question... is this their place to write this as a white person? They are a talented author but def have missed the mark a few times when writing about POC or ethnic minorities. For example in their other book One Last Stop, there was a questionable moment where the white character tells her Asian gf that "most of the world isn't like that" anymore, when Jane (her gf) is a victim of a hate crime. Just some thoughts from watching your video, which I really enjoyed!
Yeah, that was weird, is the author British? I think many British people and even some with Indian background want to believe Britain did something good for the sub continent, they "civilized" them. I'm European myself but not British so I only know little of their history except their own bloated self-celebration so it was a shock for me when I recently watched a video about the real history of how they bled India dry and ruined their economy for a literal century +, absolutely one of the worst crimes of colonialism and everyone should know about it.
The Asian gf one 😭😭😭”I want to write a more believable but better reality” WHY IS YOUR cutesy romantic fantasy A WHITE PERSON TELLING THE ASIAN VICTIM THAT IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL. 😂😂😂it reminds me of my white liberal history teachers who would JUMP at the opportunity to quote the n word or say words like niggardly (unrelated to the n word, but suspiciously similar to it) because it was their only opportunity to say the “forbidden” word ‘without being racist.’ First of all, that’s a debatable justification. Second of all, WHY IS YOUR FANTASY TO SAY THE N WORD ??? Neoliberal bs for sure The servant one is SO OUT OF POCKET. Idk even where to start. So much to unpack
@@c.w.8200 The author is American I believe. I agree with your point - the Britain/India relationship has such a bloody history. But then you do get British Indians living here now who actually support/possibly work for the monarchy... I've met some of them. So that's a bit baffling. Also we currently have a British Indian prime minister, but he's a rich Conservative so yeah... not really representative of a majority here. I'm half Indian, half English/Portuguese, living in the UK, and I have no love for the monarchy btw. (Apart from Princess Diana who died the year I was born, I empathise with her situation.) The only semi 'positive' thing was Harry's marriage to Meghan in 2018 - which had a lot of young, racially diverse people like myself feeling a bit warmer towards the BRF. And we all know how that turned out! I really like RWRB though, I appreciate it as the fantasy it is.
It absolutely blew my mind when I learned that people earnestly believe that Britain "did India a favour". I'd always thought the whole "we brought them the railroads" thing was a mindset that had been left firmly in the mid-20th century. As a South African, the Indian community here is very radical (or was, anyway) and I'd just never been exposed to blatant apologetics like that. Horrifying.
It’s a self own for me to admit to knowing this, but I was in tumblr in 2012 and there was a founding fathers fandom that existed pre-Hamilton. I remember Hamilton/Burr being a popular ship but I think there were references to him and Laurens as well
It's always so weird for me when something promotes itself as a better version of reality and they still write homophobia in. Like, a world without some form of homophobia is so out of the real of imagination that we can't even pretend that it's possible, not even when we try to escape the bleak reality we all have to live with. Including the people who already live the homophobia. It's just weird.
I agree but I also think that there's some value in having books that deal with that and have a happy ending / show some progress in the world because it feels realistic enough to provide hope that things are changing, at least to me
I mean. There are plenty of stories which imagine worlds without homophobia. But homophobia is kinda... fundamental to the plot of this book? McQuiston didn't say they wanted to write about a utopian version of our society. They said they wanted to write about a world that was slightly better, but still "believably fucked up." I think the homophobia falls under the "believably fucked up" banner, don't you?
I was genuinely kinda confused why Henry didn't just abdicate. Like, they mentioned that he has his dads money, so he probably wouldn't even have to get a job. But also, he does not seem to actually like anything about being a prince. So, why would he continue to be one? I know its more complicated than that, but then they should've at least gone more in depth about it once they brought it up.
Actually, in the collector's edition there is a bonus chapter from Henry's perspective where he does abdicate! It really seems like a beautiful conclusion of his arc in my opinion. I love this book so much
That was the best chapter. When she writes a sequel which will most likely happen, I want it from his point of view. He is an intersting care that I wanna know more about
i used to follow casey mcquiston on tumblr and i can't remember if they were in hamilton fandom, but they WERE in the social network fandom, so i absolutely would not be surprised lmao
I just wanted to say, i think the thumbnail of this video is maybe the most visually effective thumbnail i've ever seen for any video, ever?? like at first you're hit with the meme meaning of the image and the context behind that, and then it re-contextualizes itself with the book cover beside it,, it makes an argument by the association of those images with such startling immediacy and clarity that it's instantly recognizable what the thesis of that argument is like, in the first 2 seconds of seeing it. and it does all of that with a single meme?? like, it's funny, but then it also blasts your fucking brain with the implications of the comparison and you instantaneously know what the entire video is going to be about. it's just so visually powerful i'm unironically obsessed
honestly as a queer bme brit this book is so clearly written by a white american lib that it's practically painful.... "here's the token critique of the US as a genocidal empire but at least we don't have monarchy teehee" really encapsulates the the jingoism and blinkered exceptionalism of the american liberal. and idk if rwrb really did originate as social network rpf fanfiction but there's no doubt in my mind that it was definitely brewed in the cauldron of fic-writing - the superficial acknowledgement of serious political issues which are used as ~snappy quips~ and ~mic-drop moments~ and then completely brushed off in favour of an easy-breezy assimilationist happy ending is so fanfic-y lol
also I just looked up nicholas galitzine and found out he's a member of a very prominent russian noble family as well as a descendant of IVAN THE GREAT????
I never finished this book and i think i finally understand why. The moment that really, completely pulled me out was when a whole mob turns up outside the royal palace, up in arms almost, to protest the fact that two guys aren't allowed to date. A whole crowd is absolutely ready to support these two, and to pressure the monarchy with the weight of public ridicule in order to get the main characters together. When i read it, this felt so insanely 2010's-y to me that i couldn't physically take it, and now i understand the entire book was already like this, i just didn't see it yet. If i'd read this book in 2015-2018 i would have loved it so much, i just know it.
But…if there WAS a gay prince, and his private emails leaked, and it turns out he’s been emotionally abused for years by his grandmother and brother and has been working on trying to come out publicly but hasn’t managed it yet and now he’s been outed against his will….you REALLY think an army of British queers wouldn’t turn up to wreck some shit? If anything, the push back against queer people lately has just highlighted how much resistance is still so very necessary. I can see something like this really getting a lot of people up in arms, especially as Henry seemed like he was already pretty publicly beloved. He would have been instantly adopted into the canon of iconic gays, and the community would have rallied accordingly.
I’m so glad somebody else noticed the weird politics in the book! There’s a lot of stuff in rwrb that I’ve learned to chalk up as a ‘product of it’s time’. The optimism about politicians, the genuine belief that democrats work to improve America, the weirdly lukewarm look at the monarchy, the general wealth the characters take for granted- all this is no longer conceivable now for a multitude of reasons, but in 2019 ( and the years prior to 2019 in which the book was written ), it was still somewhat…understandable. I completely understand why the additional chapter took a different route for Henry and Alex, and I find it somewhat interesting that nobody really questions the choices or character coherency in that chapter- because a lot of us lost the optimism Henry and Alex had in the years between 2019 and 2022, so their choices make complete sense to us, without much explanation
I'm glad that you brought this up (and if you don't want talk of the movie, it's fine to delete this) because this was basically the exact same nonsense in the movie. The King (instead of Queen) just decides to have a change of heart and let Henry be gay after a passionate speech. It's the most unsatisfying writing ever, I couldn't have imagined it was practically the same in the book.
no that's super interesting to hear! it's too bad because adapting it gives you the opportunity to improve on stuff like that, I guess either no one thought of it or no one cared to
The movie was worse for that in this sense. In the book they at establish that things are not all roses - the queen is only still talking to Phillip, and that only just; the mum is getting into politics, relocating closer to London, it is suggested a couple of times that she may be looking to push for the Queen to step down while still alive. The movie doesn't really address England afterwards; things like that. Though maybe it could be seen as better, as we don't see any fall out, it doesn't explicitly say that things are staying the same, aren't changing at all 🤷♀️
In the movie I legit thought they were going to make a joke out of the King changing his mind on the spot, like imagine The King: The country will never accept a prince that is a homosexual! *In walks the footman and whispers in his ear* The King: Well it seems like they do, nevermind
@@djmensil7303 This is what was bizarre to me. Tonally, that was WAY darker than the rest of the movie when he flat-out said "the Prince cannot be homosexual" and then a few tense shots later it turns out he can, and the King can be defeated by mass spontaneous pride parades.... some of the most insane tonal shift I've seen to justify this world in which it is devastating to be gay but homophobia is always immediately defeated.
@@carpevinum8645 I think that is more interesting even if I don't know if that's something that could really be done? But I may be wrong. Either way, that at least shows that the tensions hold. In the movie, they all drop with the glorious curtains and the parades and it's so canned.
This is EXACTLY what was going through my head when I read it a few years back. For some reason, it was the hottest book on BookTok after the 2020 election, and I honestly thought I was going insane. One thing I feel I should add is that I also had high hopes for McQuiston’s other work, since I liked the romance/writing and felt that they might do better if the book wasn’t about politics. Unfortunately, after reading their newest book, a queer YA coming-of-age romance set at a Catholic school, I don’t think I really have faith in them anymore. Like, in this book, the school the MCs are in is homophobic and conservative, and its administration stifles all students’ self-expression. It’s a very tear-the-system-down premise, without any of the wide scale of international politics, so I thought it would be fine. And then the end of the book comes! And it turns out that: 1. Almost everyone is Not Homophobic, but rather actually totally fine with the gay kids! 2. The only person who isn’t, the principle, is a Bad Dude and everyone agrees with that. 3. It turns out that that principle has actually been illegally altering grades to uplift his own daughter’s status. 4. The previously homophobic administration steps in and does its job to get rid of the Bad Dude, and everyone claps. Literally, no systemic change needs to happen, even on this very small scale, because all the Bad People are also doing Crimes! And the system obviously takes that very seriously, even if those Bad People are rich and white! McQuiston lowkey just recycled the ending of RW&RB, with the one Senator actually doing illegal things and immediately getting removed, and also everyone in Britain and Texas is a secret Ally, and Texas goes blue and everyone claps. I’m being kind of hard on them, I know, but this is really frustrating! It feels less and less like escapism, and more like active denial.
I was patiently watching this as an old person, smiling with condescension at the notion of 2015 being seen as a time of idealism, when suddenly you hit me with that Joanna Russ reference. I'm so glad to see Russ has not fully vanished into the mists of time. As for 2015, okay, sure, if you were 14 it would have looked very different than it did for older people, or at least for old leftists. To me, Obama's friendly demeanor did nothing to obscure his monstrous treatment of immigrants, his "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to the collapse of the global economy and the crimes of the Bush administration, his fear of addressing race substantively, his constant kowtowing to every idiotic Republican demand, his worship of corporate domination of the country... and so on. For me, that kind of ruined this novel. The glib "liberalism with blinders on" style of politics is simply repulsive. And the movie made it all even dumber (though it had a few good moments). In any case thanks for your perspective. It's fascinating to see how differently young teens experienced those years.
i’ll never forget that there was a throwaway line about a harry potter ship in the book like casey is a true millennial at their heart and i think that explains a lot of the liberal tendencies
all of mcquiston's work is like this re: politics unfortunately. every book ends in a "yeah the system sucks but if we all work together we can make the system work for us!" kinda way. i'm glad that they believe in they power of collectivism but post the 2016 election and the u.s. response to covid i cannot relate lol.
If you liked the writing on it's own, I would actually recommend one of McQuiston's other novels, One Last Stop. It has all the wit, endearing characters and cute romance, without (most of) the intense and suspicious political implications. I read it first and personally liked it way more, it's so cute! The girls are falling in love on the New York subway!!! I mean come on!!!!!
as someone who read one last stop and has yes to read rw&rb, i sooooo love that book. i do wanna read rw&rb after watching the movie, but yeahhh i love and support my sapphics (also alex was reading it in the movie!! lets fuckin go! i hope they make a movie for OLS as well hehe)
i think there are many interesting inaccuracies in the book but bizarrely, the one that still bothers me to this day is the part where alex mentions the sound of the spoon moving in a circle while the queen is stirring her tea. as an etiquette nerd it bugs me because in ”proper” etiquette, you NEVER stir in a circle, instead you slightly move your spoon back and forth (without it touching the cup) so as not to make a clinking or dragging noise. so the queen would absolutely not do that in any situation. this is such a nitpicky thing, i know, but it’s one of those things that once you know it, you cant unknow it. and it took me out of the already flimsy belief that these were realistic portrayals of british royals
HA thank you for bringing this to my attention, I feel you on 'this doesn't actually matter that much but it bothers me specifically'. the devil's in the details!!
this was such a great video!! as someone who enjoys both your content and this book i really enjoyed hearing you speak about it. something that is so interesting to me is that henry does abdicate but this is only explained in a bonus chapter in a collectors edition of the book that most people who just casually read the book will never see. another amazing video!!!
I'm glad you were able to enjoy even as a fan of the book! I heard about that collectors edition fact while I was editing- I guess I'm glad the author eventually went with that choice, but it's not reflected in the original text, and like you say, most non-hardcore fans won't know about that development. That might've been a good extra detail to include in a film adaptation, but apparently they don't do that in the movie. Missed opportunity imo!
It turns out that in the collectors edition of the book there's a bonus chapter where a few years down the line Alex is persuing a law degree and Henry's after abdicating and become a philanthropist (also Nora x June is teased)
as much as i adore this book, this video is 1000% true and i think the reason i loved it is because i myself was 15 when hamilton came out in “post-race” obama era america and (even tho obviously for many people, including myself, the country was not actually a realized “american dream”) i just kind of missed that sureness in such a turbulent time like high school that everything would someday be okay and we could make a better america. like i read this book this year in 2023, but it did elicit a warm, fuzzy nostalgia for the ignorance of 15, but i subconsciously did pick up on the hamilton references and how white liberal this book is and understand it even better now lol.
Im really glad you brought this up because I watched the movie and really enjoyed it, but when I finished it I had this feeling that it was missing something? Like, something about the problem wasn't solved, and it's great that Henry gets to have his fairy tale romance, but at the end of the day, that wasn't the whole issue. The problem was, for Henry specifically, that the monarchy and life as a prince was stifling and he didn't like 'benefiting' from a system with such a horrible past, worse when he doesn't even enjoy the benefits. I always expected Alex to go into politics, but I was kinda looking forward to Henry getting out of being prince. Stil, I had a fun time watching the movie,and maybe it'll be used to their benefit, and they'll make a sequel or something? Have Henry realize that the problems of the monarchy can't be solved with them letting him have a boyfriend, and if not leave the monarchy, actively work to remedy what it's done.
okay I need to get the story straight here. another commenter said McQuiston was in the Social Network fandom. now you're saying it straight up started as Social Network fanfiction?? do you have a source for that? huge if true
@@jane-mulcahy I don’t have a source, it’s one of those rumours that everyone has heard but you don’t know how it started… it seems pretty likely to me but someone else could probably make an equal case for it not being true
As usual, an absolutely excellent video. I also have to say, I hope you get good money from your sponsor because this is the most compelling ad read I have heard in a long time. It's very you and honest and thus, fresh. I had fun even during the sponsor moment, that's how good it was
I wanted to like this book so badly, and i get why people do. I can see a lot of people wanting some escapism and self-indulgent fun. I never really expected anything revolutionary in terms of the book's politics either. But i just couldn't stand McQuiston's prose. Especially the constant pop-culture references. Maybe their writing improved in their other books but i just couldn't get through this one.
I love that Uma Thurman was cast as the POTUS. I'd certainly vote for her, and she's an excellent Mum to Alex. Plus, it's fantastic to see a cheesy Queer Rom Com which has a happy ending, and doesn't involve one of the leads dying. 🏳️🌈💘👬
Yeah I just gotta say I've seen ur comments on videos for years now from every corner of UA-cam and your profile picture has become very iconic to me lol
@@BaileeWalsh Same, has she finally started her own channel? I haven't checked in a while, she should make a guide to all the good channels she apparently knows way before I get there.
The fact that the royals in the book were so progressive really annoyed me. Even in real life, Prince Harry, who seems to be the most progressive royal, isn’t a Republican, has never spoken out against imperialism or in support of reparations, and only ever talks about issues when they directly affect him. Yet, in this book, the royals are anti-monarchists who hate the institution. It’s just so unrealistic that a man of Prince Henry's background, who received a private education at Eton and who grew up alongside the aristocracy, would be left-leaning that it’s laughable. It’s also annoying how McQuiston painted the U.K. out to be a backwards, conservative country and the U.S. as the opposite when, in actuality, both countries are as socially liberal as each other. You can’t just use the monarchy to represent the U.K. when a lot of British people are largely uninterested in the Royal Family.
You gotta read "Fan Fiction" by Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek), would love to hear your take! He calls it a "mem-noir" which is a fun concept and centers around threatening fan mail. The audiobook is voiced by a bunch of Star Trek cast members too!
just one thing: there is a bonus chapter (it was released in the 2022 collector's edition) which takes place during the years after the book's storyline and in this Henry actually abdicates. so at least there's that. as someone who will defend this book with their whole heart everything you said makes sense (although i think the whole US politics thing is more of a wish fulfillment than Casey being actually this positive/idealistic about it)
yeah I heard about the bonus chapter while editing this video. I'm definitely glad the author decided to do that in the end, but tbh it doesn't really have that much of an impact if you're not gonna include that in the original text, you know? but I agree I'm sure the intention was just to present a nice alternate reality, like they said in the acknowledgments. I'm glad you gave the video a chance! I really think the book is good overall, just wanted to share my thoughts
I feel like there’s something to be said for just letting them have an uncomplicated ending for a while. Alex graduated college DURING the book, and Henry isn’t much older, so I think an actual “change the world” narrative would have felt a little weird to me. It’s shown that both of them are going to work towards some kind of large-scale reform (Alex and law school/politics, Henry and the Henry Foundation for lgbt+ youth), so I didn’t really feel the need for a grand reworking of two entire countries’ political systems (by a couple of early twenty-somethings) to be completed within the year that the story actually covers. It’s true that it’s not a full happy ending, but I never got the impression that it was intended to be.
My personal main problem with rwrb is Alex’s race. I recently watched the movie but haven’t read the book I’m a few years so I don’t remember exactly how this was handled in the book but I don’t think it was commented on much in the book either. Alex is a mixed, his mom is white and his dad is latino, I love that, it’s actually similar to me (my dad is latino and my mom is white, in fact we couldn’t be more similar my grandparents also immigrated to America just as Alex’s dad says in the movie) my problem was that he talks about how he’s latino, but never about his white roots either. And yes it does completely change your perspective on race ethnicity and identity. His mom is very different from him, and he lives with his mom. But he never actually talks about how that affects him, and only talks about how he grew up working class and his grandparents immigrated. Which makes me wonder why he was made mixed in the first place if it’s completely ignored that his mom is white, and why his mom is the white one who is also the president. Idk just something I thought about while watching, I would’ve really liked to see a character like me deal with the problems of having family of two different ethnicities.
as a former gay man i remember there being a lot of problematic micro aggressions in the book but as someone who's also from a country still suffering from englands colonialism, all the hand wavy stuff also was upsetting. edit: wanna clarify that i'm a trans lesbian not a straight man 🤢
they really should've used a fictional country because there is too much history and pain in any real royal family. It's uncomfortable to be asked to root for a symbol of oppression and subjication.
@@vainpiers using a fictional country wouldn't have helped because it would have still had the backbones of oppression with a shiny coat of paint on top. monarchy itself is the symbol of oppression because monarchy cannot exist without atrocities.
@catgirlsanonymous yeah but a fictional country hasn't literally genocided a fuck ton of countries and you're never going to fully erase stories about monarchy because its so engrained in society. Like Disney princesses vs the literal English monarchy. There's a difference, Snow White never colonised India.
I feel less alone now because I remember bringing up similar thoughts re: how the novel is Obamarotica for affluent liberals in a book club discussion, and being kinda despised for saying so. A killjoy to my white gays who read. Also, Bollywood gurly to Bollywood gurly: we both know that RWRB is what we'd get if Karan Johar decided to take a stab at a movie with a political bent.
One of the funnier moments of the Hamilton fandom finding out Hamilton was (Probably most definitely Bi) was that Doctor Who (Another Tumblr beloved British show) referenced it long before the musical in an offhand joke about Hamilton Jefferson or Adams fancying the Doctor.
thank you for this video- it put into words exactly why i found the entire book embarrassing in the same way the “and then everyone clapped” story was embarrassing
i’m so happy this video showed up in my recs, this is EXACTLY how i felt reading the book😭 i was so shocked when i looked up the publication date because it felt sooo 2015 to me. not to mention the tumblr hamilton war flashbacks LMAO
What's especially funny to me about Alex's revised life plan is that going to law school first makes his future political career way more conventional, almost to the point of being boring, like "Oh? A Democrat candidate for political office with a law degree? From a family of politicians? Groundbreaking." I distinctly remember hoping that both protagonists would discover that they needed to slow down a little, but it seems like a lot of young queer romance stories are wedded to the idea that the heroes need to be overachievers, inadvertently feeding into the idea that if you want to be happy in a toxic institution you just have to try a bit harder and get assigned your own special project or whatever. Idk a lot of other gay men liked the book but I struggled a lot with the politics and characterisation, and then felt kinda weird about the female-dominated fan culture that developed around it. I actually read it before it got super big and posted a bunch of snarky tweets about it lmao.
@@jane-mulcahy not only do i believe it, remember it. it just knocks me out every time. i was never in that fandom but i used to be friends with someone who stirred up a lot of shit around it, and it never fails to blow my mind.
from being in a lot of queer internet circles i’ve known about this book for the last 3 years or so, but everything being based on real countries always put me off, i don’t think i would’ve been able to read it without questioning all of this. I’m not surprised about the hamilton references either, it definitely feels like a product of 2013-2014 tumblr and american politics culture that happened to come out recently
Yes that is definitely on my list especially since Indian films wouldn't be off limits during the strikes! (also Kal Ho Naa Ho forever, best movie of all time award)
Classical composer you might enjoy: Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina. Sources suggest she had a romantic relationship with Empress Elizaveta Alexeievna. Her music is banging too!
Idk if it's because I'm a almost 30 year old millennial, but I literally discovered Hamilton through Spotify when I was going to listen to some in the heights and saw the album. Don't know about the social political implications of that all, but it seems like it was popular primarily because it was drastically just oppopsed to basically everything on Broadway. That and and be blunt representation that offers makes it more similar to something like black panther IMHO. The thing I took away from it (As former a Black Theater kid) was that Hamilton himself place value in the wrong thing that is what led to his ineffable downfall. The reaction the people on Tumblr hats with though isn't surprising since ship anything with everything
Good lord I remember being so deep in the fandom during the 2020 elections, and EVERYONE was checking whether different states turned blue, particularly Texas. I remember genuinely crying because it was so close yet it was red and it didn’t happen like the book. I’m not even from the states but god I was invested.
Someone probably already mentioned it but I think the series Young Royals does this effectively. It blames the monarchy as an institution that treats the royals kinda horribly (and not just the queen). The main character, Wilhelm, has been vocal about disliking being a prince and the rigidity of his life because of it. The last season isn't out yet but abdication has been mentioned and I think that even if he doesn't abdicate, he will at least try to do something to change the system he was born into.
the delight I felt upon hearing jane suggest someone write a hunter biden x prince harry fanfic, immediately opening ao3 and finding that someone actually had. incredible scenes
Thank you so much for your thoughts, Jane. I had read the book in 2020 before the world ended and while I found the book entertaining and enjoyable, you shared pretty much the exact same thoughts that I had overall, minus the Hamilton reference lol I hadn’t seen Hamilton prior to reading the book. Despite my criticism of some of the plot elements, I can definitely see the appeal and I am grateful that other writers have had opportunities to share new stories and to have them all have a chance to gain popularity too, especially since queer stories up until recently have been harder to come by. If I may make a suggestion, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” is an incredibly beautiful story and I always look for excuses to recommend it because I still feel like not a lot of people know about it and that book is getting a film adaptation release next month, so that’s fun too lol
there’s like a bonus epilogue thing written from henry’s perspective and i’m like 99% sure they say he abdicated in that but that’s also something that’s only gonna be known to a fan of the book not the average consumer and it was also written a lot later sooo
I didn’t read the book or watch the movie, but I imagine a "fun" drinking game would be taking a drink everytime something happens or someone does something that would cause a major controversy if not lead to an assassination attempt
thank you for reminding the importance of the strikes! here's to hoping amazon loses so much money that they cannot avoid paying their writers and actors fairly.
It's an often-repeated fact that Lin Manuel Miranda was bullied by Immortal Technique in high school. My theory is that Miranda's entire career is his way of taking revenge on hip-hop itself for what one rapper did to him. Some theater kid got stuffed in a trash can, and an entire artform has to suffer for it.
@@thenablade858 honestly, I feel like you really shouldn't be making light of bullying. Students outside of lmm also got bullied and some of them were female students
okay some people in the comments have mentioned the rumor that the book was originally social network fanfic. but now you're telling me social network RPF FANFIC?? as in shipping actual Jesse Eisenberg with actual Andrew Garfield?? this changes everything
I think theres now a collector's edition of the book with a bonus chapter in which it is said that Henry has given up his royal title shortly after the events of the original book.
I had been eying "Red, White & Royal Blue" for a while, so I appreciate this review/analysis! I wonder what has become my life that I continue to search for any small mention of "Hatsune Miku binder Jefferson". It is still a bizarre concept, like watching a trainwreck happen in real time due to the sheer absurdity of it.
I would still give the book a shot if you're into romance/romantic comedy type stuff, like I said there's still plenty to like! and yes Hatsune Miku binder TJ haunts my dreams as well
@@jane-mulcahy Considering that I'm reading an erotica series which has worldbuilding that makes me want to smash my head against the nearest vertical surface, that sounds just up my alley. I like reading. I don't mind reading subjective trash. What could possibly go wrong? [whispers] France is following us to revolution / there is no more status quo / but the sun comes up / and the world still spins
Thank you sm for this video. Personally, I hated the book. From the writting, plot, characters and relationship: NOTHING worked for me. I was really sad I did not enjoy it bc I thought it would hit harder for me as a bi latina woman. It was one of my biggest disappointments. I dont mind that ppl like it or the movie since its a romcom, but I dont plan to watch the movie either. So thank u again! U really put some of the thoughts I had about the ending.
God dammit ffs im here to watch your entire video and learn from it and possibly enjoy more videos from your channel bc I was accosted by the thumbnail of Jefferson in his hatsune miku binder. well played
i resd the biography that Hamilton is based on, and the one thing that has stuck with me since reading it, was that even for the time the letters between Laurens and Hamilton were VERY affectionate and Hamilton's family even had large sections of their correspondence blacked out.
I clicked on this cuz I thought I was gonna see some wild Hamilton fanfic, qnd while I did not get what I came for, I very much enjoyed the journey I was taken on
I know this doesn't necessarily have to do with the politics of rwrb but when the King (in the movie) was enraged about the controversial gay relationship i dont know whose idea it was to cast Stephen Fry, bc he himself is in a rather controversial gay relationship. That broke my immersion immediately. And throughout the whole movie there were many small moments like these, politics or not. From the posh accent the royals put on that is not really a royal accent to the idea that the US not only elected a woman but also one that's married to a Mexican? If you gave things more than a second's thought, you'd be out of the whole movie. And some people can do that! I still enjoyed the movie! But I had to shake my head every few minutes bc something felt off
I love Hamilton for the horrible horrible tumblr fandom culture it created. It's the legacy our founding fathers deserve
Yeah they deserve it for worshipping Satan just like the government that still worship Satan
True
based, cemented even
legacy, what is a legacy?
@@Captaiesqueletoevery single US president has been a Christian (deists don't @ me, you're just Christians too). Granted, Satanists are also basically just Christians (or edgy atheists who wanna feel special), but the US government is hugely, overwhelmingly, *incredibly* Christian. Until very recently, I'd say it was exclusively Christian. Just because they're evil doesn't mean they're not Christian lol
As a french the the funniest thing politicaly speaking was the fact that both the book and the movie acted like Paris was this 💖safe heaven💖 where they could frolick without a care, as if we are some sort of magical land completely unaware of foreign politic and not ONE person would recognize the prince of england straight up dirty-talking to the son of the us president in the middle of the day in some touristy café
This is the kind of thing that really takes me out of the whole story. The tabloid press follows famous people around RELENTLESSLY. I mean, we still get photos of Obama's daughters and they haven't been relevant in nearly a decade. If the PRINCE OF ENGLAND and the son of a sitting US president were going around a major city in europe they would be absolutely hounded by the press
Also France literally collapses during the play.
lmaooo true, that’s part of why they got caught too tho. cuz they were spotted. although it def is strange that someone wouldn’t have picked up on their conversation.
this wasn’t mentioned, but the history buff in me was freaking out over so many of the things in the book would have much greater political implications. The prime one being - a member of the british royal family publicly supporting a candidate in an overseas national election. i was surprised queen mary didn’t bring that up as a point as to why they should deny it
and the movie furthers it with henry straight up going on stage after she is reelected !
Absolutely right -- him going on on stage at a political event would be the most unacceptable and taboo thing in the whole story
I haven't read or watched it, but I feel like the idea that the US president's son being gay or bi would be TOTALLY FINE and not cause a massive shitstorm with conservatives and evangelical nuts would instantly kill my suspension of disbelief
I mean they definitely do explore that idea, it's still a big deal for Alex and he has to give a big speech to the press and stuff when the secret comes out. but yeah it's ultimately not THAT much of a stir
What would the British Press do to them? We will find out in the sequel. They will live in the US.
true, but this book is supposed to be an alternate, more positive reality. the author said they wrote it because they were feeling down after the 2016 election
Monarchy aside they’d probably have an easier time in the UK. It’s less... fundy.
@@sabrina-cf7lz:) i like that
The ending seems so silly now, knowing that Harry & Meghan were essentially just allowed to dip. Like, if that’s a real-life possibility, there’s no way the Queen would just let Henry remain in the line of succession or represent the royal family in any official capacity. He would be disowned in all but title only.
Yeah, the Harry and Meghan situation really makes the ending of the book feel all the more bleak. These people don't care about you! They'll throw anyone they don't like to the wolves!
Only if one completely misreads the Sussex's situation. Frankly the book shows how the Sussexes should have behaved.
The book is fiction and works like fiction. Very well. The Sussexes are idiots who are self entitled and stupid.
This analysis of the story is beyond idiotic. Your views on the monarchy how it works is pitiful. You represent everything that demonstrates the shallowness of US social media. Please shut up until you have some idea of what you are talking about. This applies to real life AND fictional depictions. Very disappointed.
This comment is so wrong that is should be immediately deleted
Firstly Harry and Meghan broke so many rules in the royal family even they being straight marriage actually also did so many disrespectful things against Her Majesty and they are hated in these days because of that
Secondly a situation like this happened before for your information, with one of the Queen's cousins, is lord Ivar Mountbatten, who married a man in 2018 in a wedding at which Queen Elizabeth assisted, and arguing that he is too far of the line of succession, we all know that Harry would never be King because of his 3 little nephews, in that way your comment has no pint on reality and the movie as this video
Commenting to get more chisme on the royal family
a little beside the point, but I took a class on the american revolution/constitution and the shadow of Hamilton HUNG over us the whole time, it was unavoidable and weird and awkward. Somebody mentioned the hatsune miku binder at one point and everything went dead silent.
stop that's so funny 😭
Im so glad I was done highschool history before this went down
Not surprising tbh. I took a class on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics a few years ago, and even there the name "Hamilton" fell a few too many times to not be referenced a bunch. (By the people around me, obviously this being physics there was a lower percentage of people who knew anything at all about musical theatre).
My middle school history teacher brought up Hamilton for a little bit since it had just come out and we were learning about the founding fathers. To my knowledge it hadn't really blown up at the time but now I wonder if he still mentions it
Ok well this is how I found out about the hatsune miku Thomas Jefferson so... wow... my body is caught between cringe and uncontrollable laughter
okay as an admitted rwrb superfan (i own three copies and have read it probably five times since release) i almost did not click this video but out of trust in your opinions, i did, and i'm glad!!!! the politics of this book have always been weird to me, but i haven't really been able to pinpoint why beyond a generic "yes this is standard liberal pre-trump good faith how sweet" but you really hit the nail on the head here. honestly, it read to me as a sort of weird american propaganda almost??? like it fed a lot into those "anybody can make it here" with all the working-class-family stuff and the generally easy acceptance of alex's bisexuality, as well as a woman with a bisexual, biracial son winning texas, which hasn't gone blue since the 1980s? and it's being directly paralleled with this ass-backward, tradition-focused monarchy, as though americans are just so much more evolved bc alex has a cowboy hat. idk, the book's politics are weird. that's why i turn my brain off and say 'haha cute ship funny dialogue'
well I'm so glad you gave the video a chance! and I totally agree with everything you said. definitely buying into the American dream, go into politics if you want to help people fantasy. it's a very subtle issue, I feel like I had trouble even articulating it in this video. and I agree it's totally a book you can enjoy if you decide to just kind of take its word for everything, writing-wise it really is a cut above most of the new adult stuff that's gotten big lately. I just live to complain so I couldn't not make a video 😭
Yeah the political narrative isn’t at all groundbreaking even with the biracial bisexual son added in. I did think it was interesting for a romcom book and the characters weren’t completely flat which kept me engaged through the end.
@@ecogreenarchive the politics was always very superficial to me, i never thought about them in this light before. Also the characters and the romance are really enjoyable for me
while i agree with some of your points i dont really agree with the texas part. I think the idealism of winning the texas vote is honestly a powerful one. The issue with texas isn't that there isn't a large portion of minorities there, its that they are heavily under represented because of gerrymandering, and voter suppression. The latter is really important in red white and royal blue because if I remember correctly, a lot of Alex's campaign was just registering people to vote. A lot of times citizens dont have the resources available to know where to do that, when to do that, etc. etc. So often in the campaigning process people forget about these under represented groups' autonomy as citizens needs to be protected because they're focusing their time elsewhere. So to see this book, (which isn't perfect with politics) make this really amazing claim, it gave me more hope that people will focus more of their time in giving marginalized people in the south voting rights.
I thought you were calling urself a rwby fan and was reeling over that
if someone ever reviewed my book and said that i gave off "tumblr tendencies" i'd end it all
😭😭😭 I truly meant it as a neutral descriptor
one time someone said something i wrote reminded them of John Green and yeah i almost did right then and there
12:50😭😭😭😭😭
They admit themselves they were writing the book when Trump won. That means they plotted it and had started writing it during the Obama era (probably with Hamilton playing in the background) which would explain the book's optimism.
That's probably true- and just a heads up, the author uses they/them pronouns!
@@jane-mulcahy Fixed. Thanks.
The fact that this book came out shortly before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry started dating is also significant to me. Meghan and Harry had arguably done what Alex and Henry did-- assimilated into the expecations of the Royal Family. But even that wasn't enough for the crown, and they were essentially forced to abdicate. That's *after* Markle had gone on tours to promote the British Monarchy! The book was quite limited in its attempt to be optimistic, and it often took me out of the book. I feel like it would have sold better to me as a Succession-like dark comedy rather than the Hamilton-esque liberal celebration.
Agreed, but also imagining Red White and Royal Blue as a Succession-style black comedy is so funny 😭
It didn't though? Harry and Meghan started dating in 2016, it was made official in October, and the book came out in 2019. In 2019, the already had a kid and were still trying to make the whole royal thing work
One could argue Meghan's failure is due to the lack of popular support she received form the British public, not necessarily because of royal backlash
@@emiandnues the Queen literally made a game amongst her family to find new ways to mock her at events and holidays; Her husband took part in this too
as someone who only recently read the book while waiting for the movie to come out….. it was so insane finding the hamilton references. from the moment they referenced his portrait I got suspicious, but when they finally talked about the hamilton and laurens letters omg literal sirens blasting inside my mind
thank you I needed to know this wasn't just a me thing 😭
definitely not just u 😭😭 Alex literally mentions Ron chernows biography in his letters, they couldn’t make it more on the nose
its gr8 to see other ppl pointing stuff like this out bc sometimes people make u feel like ur crazy for not accepting the barest most libbed up versions of representation...my mom is definitely what i would describe as an obama era liberal and anytime i critique a movie like that she's like, "but theres gay people in it so the political message is good!" and i dont know how to explain its more nuanced than that
That’s how you explain it. By saying “it’s more nuanced than that.”
tbf politics as a whole has evolved very rapidly since Obama left, and Trump took office, so I get why your mom hasn't caught up yet since that era
As someone who grew up liberal in a red state and recently moved to the west coast, something that I do appreciate about this book and McQuiston’s other works is how red states aren’t depicted as lost causes that aren’t worth thinking about. I completely agree that Texas flipping blue is total fantasy in the book, but to me the rhetoric was a vast improvement from the watching the people in my home state suffer and have the people I live around now not give a shit because they disagree with my state’s politics
I agree with that! I liked the element of Alex really believing in the disenfranchised voters in his home state. The author is from Louisiana so I wonder if that's why it's important to them
At least Marco finally moved on from Elle, and found someone who actually liked him. Likewise, Luke left Cassie and the military behind to become a Prince!
I'm obsessed with the idea that these movies are all somehow in the same universe
@@jane-mulcahy
UUUUUUUU
My biggest gripe with the book was how it treated Alex's identity as a Mexican-American. Like it felt very "this is what a white liberal thinks life is like" and some of the scenes (the "helados" scene) annoyed the hell out of me to point where it even took me out of the plot with how disconnected and "outside observer-y" it felt from what I've witnessed as a Mexican-American myself.
Yes! I remember there’s a conversation in the book that’s happening in Spanish but in the book it appears as English, which is fine since logically the audience for this book are English speakers. But like that conversation did not make ANY sense in Spanish, it was full of americanisms and english phrases that simply don’t translate.
And it’s not a huge deal as I still liked the story but it was pretty obvious that the representation was surface level and written by someone that like... didn’t want to offend anyone but also had no real interest in exploring the culture depicted.
honestly that kind of seems inevitable. short of having a mexican american person basically write the scene themselves i can't imagine how a white author would be able to overcome the hurdle of just not being mexican american. it's a weird writing issue bc obviously we want more rep for characters of color but also if you're white it's kind of just impossible to authentically write it, short of co-authoring it. more poc authors needed i guess
@@idontneedaname318 that or basically investing in diverse beta readers. Like if I'm gonna write about a culture that is not my won, even for my own piece of mind, I think it would be best to have someone from that culture, if possible, look it over to smooth out any obvious missteps or even just to provide that alternate view that only someone of that group can provide.
One of the things that bothered me about the book is like "the presidents husband is a billionaire but he's a good billionaire guys! It's cause he can't stop inventing stuff!! He's such a genius"
Then it's like "henrys bff is a billionaire but he's a good billionaire guys!!! He has charities!"
Look, if you want to have your characters flying private from europe to america constantly and going to balls and royal wedding, just lean into it like don't try to convince me that's they're pc or "good, actually"
100% agree just lean into him as a hypocritical or flawed billionaire that tries to do good but falls short by supporting the status quo
@@erinkatrina4201yeah, I think that would actually be quite interesting and give the author an opportunity for an engaging and complex character study. I think many of us are rather hypocritical about certain aspects of our politics, and exploring that tension would be great.
You are definitely correct that the Hamilton/Laurens thing is a specific reference to the musical, because Alex also mentions Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, which LMM directly cites as his historical source for most of the show
lol exactly I almost mentioned that detail!
@@jane-mulcahy great video, by the way. Totally agree that Hamilton was the peak of the Obama era. As to the book, I think it would have been a way more satisfying ending if Henry had actually just abdicated and fucked off with Alex (who naturally also came to his senses and decided to become a civil rights lawyer or something) and ran his youth center for unhoused queer teens in relative peace.
@@valerieastraThis does happen in the bonus chapter, BTW, pretty much exactly.
i honestly gotta applaud Nicholas for all the movies he’s been in so far like how do you go from Cinderella to Purple Hearts to RW&RB and have it work? love that for him!
and he's in bottoms with rachel sennott and ayo edebiri which is set to open next month 👀
fr mans got acting range
He plays completely different characters yet each one doesn’t remind me of a past role
He's frikkin brilliant!
he was also in Handsome Devil which i saw years ago and didn't even realise it was the same guy!
changing the royal family from the windsors to the hanover-stuarts in the film made my friend and I scream about the alternate history implications of that for a solid 45 minutes
Yes! I couldn’t focus on anything after that reveal. Does this mean Scotland is long since independent? What about Ireland? How was the empire successful in further colonisation without these regions for initial manpower and labour? WHAT DOES THE WORLD EVEN LOOK LIKE!?
@@boohbahblaster the thing that really killed me was when they go to the V&A. like victoria and albert who exactly
@@PetraSkullsit's 1.30am, my family is asleep and I just couldn't hold myself from laughing out loud when I read your comment. Absolute gold, thank you
There is actually some drama in the Taylor Swift community about this book and movie because the author was a rampant Taylor hater for years but then the movie adaptation of their book came out and the characters and plot ended up being so accidentally Taylor Swift coded that people started making edits using her songs and now the author has seemingly gone into a panic and has been mass deleting all their old hate tweets about Taylor seemingly trying to backtrack in an "oh shit" moment.
oh damn lol! I had no idea. Alexa, play London Boy
What the hell is "taylor switf" coded and do I really want to know.
@@cidevant002 lol I would guess they mean both having a romantic/fluffy/modern vibe, and corresponding well to various T Swift songs (meaning people can make fancams and edits and whatever set to said songs). see London Boy, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, etc. etc.
@@cidevant002 What Jane said, basically. The movie plot gives off vibes that remind people of certain Taylor Swift songs.
They have spoken about this though. They are non-binary and their internalized misogynistic views were how they coped with not knowing how to perform girlhood successfully. Its not an excuse, but its a reason and shows how its not bs that they have grown out of it
I'm half South Asian, and the "henry has an Indian servant" part of the book IS upsetting (although semi- hilarious because like "why would they write that" LOL) Idk, very much a "sounds about white" moment for Casey McQuinston. Generally because as a South Asian person myself, if a white person told me these plans for their South Asian secondary character, "servant of English Monarchy" I would explain that I am uncomfortable, and would encourage them to change it up. I get the escapism bit when it comes to their work, however characters like these are NOT taking into account how REAL LIFE south asian/desi people may feel, and tbh just reeks of neoliberalism. Overall, Casey writing a sort of "anti-racist, anti-colonial fantasy (where we have a Hot Indian guy working for the monarchy!)" makes me question... is this their place to write this as a white person? They are a talented author but def have missed the mark a few times when writing about POC or ethnic minorities. For example in their other book One Last Stop, there was a questionable moment where the white character tells her Asian gf that "most of the world isn't like that" anymore, when Jane (her gf) is a victim of a hate crime. Just some thoughts from watching your video, which I really enjoyed!
Thank you for bringing up that good point! Definitely poor optics on the author’s part.
Yeah, that was weird, is the author British? I think many British people and even some with Indian background want to believe Britain did something good for the sub continent, they "civilized" them. I'm European myself but not British so I only know little of their history except their own bloated self-celebration so it was a shock for me when I recently watched a video about the real history of how they bled India dry and ruined their economy for a literal century +, absolutely one of the worst crimes of colonialism and everyone should know about it.
The Asian gf one 😭😭😭”I want to write a more believable but better reality” WHY IS YOUR cutesy romantic fantasy A WHITE PERSON TELLING THE ASIAN VICTIM THAT IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL. 😂😂😂it reminds me of my white liberal history teachers who would JUMP at the opportunity to quote the n word or say words like niggardly (unrelated to the n word, but suspiciously similar to it) because it was their only opportunity to say the “forbidden” word ‘without being racist.’ First of all, that’s a debatable justification. Second of all, WHY IS YOUR FANTASY TO SAY THE N WORD ??? Neoliberal bs for sure
The servant one is SO OUT OF POCKET. Idk even where to start. So much to unpack
@@c.w.8200 The author is American I believe. I agree with your point - the Britain/India relationship has such a bloody history. But then you do get British Indians living here now who actually support/possibly work for the monarchy... I've met some of them. So that's a bit baffling. Also we currently have a British Indian prime minister, but he's a rich Conservative so yeah... not really representative of a majority here.
I'm half Indian, half English/Portuguese, living in the UK, and I have no love for the monarchy btw. (Apart from Princess Diana who died the year I was born, I empathise with her situation.) The only semi 'positive' thing was Harry's marriage to Meghan in 2018 - which had a lot of young, racially diverse people like myself feeling a bit warmer towards the BRF. And we all know how that turned out!
I really like RWRB though, I appreciate it as the fantasy it is.
It absolutely blew my mind when I learned that people earnestly believe that Britain "did India a favour". I'd always thought the whole "we brought them the railroads" thing was a mindset that had been left firmly in the mid-20th century. As a South African, the Indian community here is very radical (or was, anyway) and I'd just never been exposed to blatant apologetics like that. Horrifying.
It’s a self own for me to admit to knowing this, but I was in tumblr in 2012 and there was a founding fathers fandom that existed pre-Hamilton. I remember Hamilton/Burr being a popular ship but I think there were references to him and Laurens as well
Knowing that that fandom existed has taken years off my life
It's always so weird for me when something promotes itself as a better version of reality and they still write homophobia in. Like, a world without some form of homophobia is so out of the real of imagination that we can't even pretend that it's possible, not even when we try to escape the bleak reality we all have to live with. Including the people who already live the homophobia. It's just weird.
Cant resit The easy builted in conflict✨ 🤷♂️🦔
same thing happens with misogyny
I agree but I also think that there's some value in having books that deal with that and have a happy ending / show some progress in the world because it feels realistic enough to provide hope that things are changing, at least to me
I mean. There are plenty of stories which imagine worlds without homophobia. But homophobia is kinda... fundamental to the plot of this book? McQuiston didn't say they wanted to write about a utopian version of our society. They said they wanted to write about a world that was slightly better, but still "believably fucked up." I think the homophobia falls under the "believably fucked up" banner, don't you?
For a lot of queer people imagining a world with zero homophobia at all is too unrealistic, sadly
I was genuinely kinda confused why Henry didn't just abdicate. Like, they mentioned that he has his dads money, so he probably wouldn't even have to get a job. But also, he does not seem to actually like anything about being a prince. So, why would he continue to be one? I know its more complicated than that, but then they should've at least gone more in depth about it once they brought it up.
In the book he did within the next 4 years of where the movie ended
Actually, in the collector's edition there is a bonus chapter from Henry's perspective where he does abdicate! It really seems like a beautiful conclusion of his arc in my opinion. I love this book so much
That was the best chapter. When she writes a sequel which will most likely happen, I want it from his point of view. He is an intersting care that I wanna know more about
So his arc only gets a satisfying logical conclusion behind a paywall??
@@andrewdiaz3529 if you understand buying a book to read it as a paywall, then yes!
i used to follow casey mcquiston on tumblr and i can't remember if they were in hamilton fandom, but they WERE in the social network fandom, so i absolutely would not be surprised lmao
the SOCIAL NETWORK FANDOM?????!!!!!
@@jane-mulcahy again I could be remembering alllll of this wrong pls don’t come after me mx. mcquiston I’m just saying 😭😭
I need to know what went on in the social network fandom because I can’t even imagine it?!
What is the Social Network fandom? 😭
@@sarahcristina4656 like the fandom for the movie, the social network
I just wanted to say, i think the thumbnail of this video is maybe the most visually effective thumbnail i've ever seen for any video, ever?? like at first you're hit with the meme meaning of the image and the context behind that, and then it re-contextualizes itself with the book cover beside it,, it makes an argument by the association of those images with such startling immediacy and clarity that it's instantly recognizable what the thesis of that argument is like, in the first 2 seconds of seeing it. and it does all of that with a single meme?? like, it's funny, but then it also blasts your fucking brain with the implications of the comparison and you instantaneously know what the entire video is going to be about. it's just so visually powerful i'm unironically obsessed
😭 I appreciate this
honestly as a queer bme brit this book is so clearly written by a white american lib that it's practically painful.... "here's the token critique of the US as a genocidal empire but at least we don't have monarchy teehee" really encapsulates the the jingoism and blinkered exceptionalism of the american liberal. and idk if rwrb really did originate as social network rpf fanfiction but there's no doubt in my mind that it was definitely brewed in the cauldron of fic-writing - the superficial acknowledgement of serious political issues which are used as ~snappy quips~ and ~mic-drop moments~ and then completely brushed off in favour of an easy-breezy assimilationist happy ending is so fanfic-y lol
also I just looked up nicholas galitzine and found out he's a member of a very prominent russian noble family as well as a descendant of IVAN THE GREAT????
I learned about that recently too lololol isn't it crazy
I never finished this book and i think i finally understand why.
The moment that really, completely pulled me out was when a whole mob turns up outside the royal palace, up in arms almost, to protest the fact that two guys aren't allowed to date. A whole crowd is absolutely ready to support these two, and to pressure the monarchy with the weight of public ridicule in order to get the main characters together.
When i read it, this felt so insanely 2010's-y to me that i couldn't physically take it, and now i understand the entire book was already like this, i just didn't see it yet.
If i'd read this book in 2015-2018 i would have loved it so much, i just know it.
But…if there WAS a gay prince, and his private emails leaked, and it turns out he’s been emotionally abused for years by his grandmother and brother and has been working on trying to come out publicly but hasn’t managed it yet and now he’s been outed against his will….you REALLY think an army of British queers wouldn’t turn up to wreck some shit?
If anything, the push back against queer people lately has just highlighted how much resistance is still so very necessary. I can see something like this really getting a lot of people up in arms, especially as Henry seemed like he was already pretty publicly beloved.
He would have been instantly adopted into the canon of iconic gays, and the community would have rallied accordingly.
The gay yearning in me is keeping me from thinking too much about the political implications
this series of yearly "politically flawed new adult romance" nicholas galitzine movies is so funny to me. I love it
I’m so glad somebody else noticed the weird politics in the book! There’s a lot of stuff in rwrb that I’ve learned to chalk up as a ‘product of it’s time’. The optimism about politicians, the genuine belief that democrats work to improve America, the weirdly lukewarm look at the monarchy, the general wealth the characters take for granted- all this is no longer conceivable now for a multitude of reasons, but in 2019 ( and the years prior to 2019 in which the book was written ), it was still somewhat…understandable. I completely understand why the additional chapter took a different route for Henry and Alex, and I find it somewhat interesting that nobody really questions the choices or character coherency in that chapter- because a lot of us lost the optimism Henry and Alex had in the years between 2019 and 2022, so their choices make complete sense to us, without much explanation
I'm glad that you brought this up (and if you don't want talk of the movie, it's fine to delete this) because this was basically the exact same nonsense in the movie. The King (instead of Queen) just decides to have a change of heart and let Henry be gay after a passionate speech. It's the most unsatisfying writing ever, I couldn't have imagined it was practically the same in the book.
no that's super interesting to hear! it's too bad because adapting it gives you the opportunity to improve on stuff like that, I guess either no one thought of it or no one cared to
The movie was worse for that in this sense. In the book they at establish that things are not all roses - the queen is only still talking to Phillip, and that only just; the mum is getting into politics, relocating closer to London, it is suggested a couple of times that she may be looking to push for the Queen to step down while still alive. The movie doesn't really address England afterwards; things like that.
Though maybe it could be seen as better, as we don't see any fall out, it doesn't explicitly say that things are staying the same, aren't changing at all 🤷♀️
In the movie I legit thought they were going to make a joke out of the King changing his mind on the spot, like imagine
The King: The country will never accept a prince that is a homosexual!
*In walks the footman and whispers in his ear*
The King: Well it seems like they do, nevermind
@@djmensil7303 This is what was bizarre to me. Tonally, that was WAY darker than the rest of the movie when he flat-out said "the Prince cannot be homosexual" and then a few tense shots later it turns out he can, and the King can be defeated by mass spontaneous pride parades.... some of the most insane tonal shift I've seen to justify this world in which it is devastating to be gay but homophobia is always immediately defeated.
@@carpevinum8645 I think that is more interesting even if I don't know if that's something that could really be done? But I may be wrong. Either way, that at least shows that the tensions hold. In the movie, they all drop with the glorious curtains and the parades and it's so canned.
This is EXACTLY what was going through my head when I read it a few years back. For some reason, it was the hottest book on BookTok after the 2020 election, and I honestly thought I was going insane.
One thing I feel I should add is that I also had high hopes for McQuiston’s other work, since I liked the romance/writing and felt that they might do better if the book wasn’t about politics. Unfortunately, after reading their newest book, a queer YA coming-of-age romance set at a Catholic school, I don’t think I really have faith in them anymore. Like, in this book, the school the MCs are in is homophobic and conservative, and its administration stifles all students’ self-expression. It’s a very tear-the-system-down premise, without any of the wide scale of international politics, so I thought it would be fine. And then the end of the book comes! And it turns out that:
1. Almost everyone is Not Homophobic, but rather actually totally fine with the gay kids!
2. The only person who isn’t, the principle, is a Bad Dude and everyone agrees with that.
3. It turns out that that principle has actually been illegally altering grades to uplift his own daughter’s status.
4. The previously homophobic administration steps in and does its job to get rid of the Bad Dude, and everyone claps.
Literally, no systemic change needs to happen, even on this very small scale, because all the Bad People are also doing Crimes! And the system obviously takes that very seriously, even if those Bad People are rich and white! McQuiston lowkey just recycled the ending of RW&RB, with the one Senator actually doing illegal things and immediately getting removed, and also everyone in Britain and Texas is a secret Ally, and Texas goes blue and everyone claps. I’m being kind of hard on them, I know, but this is really frustrating! It feels less and less like escapism, and more like active denial.
McQuiston released another book since One Last Stop? When did that happen?
@@bookswithike3256 last year on may if i remember correctly
I was patiently watching this as an old person, smiling with condescension at the notion of 2015 being seen as a time of idealism, when suddenly you hit me with that Joanna Russ reference. I'm so glad to see Russ has not fully vanished into the mists of time.
As for 2015, okay, sure, if you were 14 it would have looked very different than it did for older people, or at least for old leftists. To me, Obama's friendly demeanor did nothing to obscure his monstrous treatment of immigrants, his "see no evil, hear no evil" approach to the collapse of the global economy and the crimes of the Bush administration, his fear of addressing race substantively, his constant kowtowing to every idiotic Republican demand, his worship of corporate domination of the country... and so on.
For me, that kind of ruined this novel. The glib "liberalism with blinders on" style of politics is simply repulsive. And the movie made it all even dumber (though it had a few good moments).
In any case thanks for your perspective. It's fascinating to see how differently young teens experienced those years.
i’ll never forget that there was a throwaway line about a harry potter ship in the book like casey is a true millennial at their heart and i think that explains a lot of the liberal tendencies
Love the phrase "coffee shop AU about the fouding fathers". Oh tumblr, we really are something ❤
Honestly, the only thing that REALLY took me out of the book was the "flipping Texas" subplot. Cause, yeah... naw, dude, that's nearly impossible.
all of mcquiston's work is like this re: politics unfortunately. every book ends in a "yeah the system sucks but if we all work together we can make the system work for us!" kinda way. i'm glad that they believe in they power of collectivism but post the 2016 election and the u.s. response to covid i cannot relate lol.
To me it’s a period piece (2014-2019)
you are so valid for that
same vibes as Hamilton being an early-2010s period piece despite most of it being set in the 1700s
If you liked the writing on it's own, I would actually recommend one of McQuiston's other novels, One Last Stop. It has all the wit, endearing characters and cute romance, without (most of) the intense and suspicious political implications. I read it first and personally liked it way more, it's so cute! The girls are falling in love on the New York subway!!! I mean come on!!!!!
one last stop is so good!!
as someone who read one last stop and has yes to read rw&rb, i sooooo love that book. i do wanna read rw&rb after watching the movie, but yeahhh i love and support my sapphics (also alex was reading it in the movie!! lets fuckin go! i hope they make a movie for OLS as well hehe)
You, about Hamilton: "It was the calm before the storm."
So, are you saying... in the eye of a a hurricane, there is quiet?
i think there are many interesting inaccuracies in the book but bizarrely, the one that still bothers me to this day is the part where alex mentions the sound of the spoon moving in a circle while the queen is stirring her tea. as an etiquette nerd it bugs me because in ”proper” etiquette, you NEVER stir in a circle, instead you slightly move your spoon back and forth (without it touching the cup) so as not to make a clinking or dragging noise. so the queen would absolutely not do that in any situation. this is such a nitpicky thing, i know, but it’s one of those things that once you know it, you cant unknow it. and it took me out of the already flimsy belief that these were realistic portrayals of british royals
HA thank you for bringing this to my attention, I feel you on 'this doesn't actually matter that much but it bothers me specifically'. the devil's in the details!!
this was such a great video!! as someone who enjoys both your content and this book i really enjoyed hearing you speak about it. something that is so interesting to me is that henry does abdicate but this is only explained in a bonus chapter in a collectors edition of the book that most people who just casually read the book will never see. another amazing video!!!
I'm glad you were able to enjoy even as a fan of the book! I heard about that collectors edition fact while I was editing- I guess I'm glad the author eventually went with that choice, but it's not reflected in the original text, and like you say, most non-hardcore fans won't know about that development. That might've been a good extra detail to include in a film adaptation, but apparently they don't do that in the movie. Missed opportunity imo!
It turns out that in the collectors edition of the book there's a bonus chapter where a few years down the line Alex is persuing a law degree and Henry's after abdicating and become a philanthropist (also Nora x June is teased)
as much as i adore this book, this video is 1000% true and i think the reason i loved it is because i myself was 15 when hamilton came out in “post-race” obama era america and (even tho obviously for many people, including myself, the country was not actually a realized “american dream”) i just kind of missed that sureness in such a turbulent time like high school that everything would someday be okay and we could make a better america. like i read this book this year in 2023, but it did elicit a warm, fuzzy nostalgia for the ignorance of 15, but i subconsciously did pick up on the hamilton references and how white liberal this book is and understand it even better now lol.
Im really glad you brought this up because I watched the movie and really enjoyed it, but when I finished it I had this feeling that it was missing something? Like, something about the problem wasn't solved, and it's great that Henry gets to have his fairy tale romance, but at the end of the day, that wasn't the whole issue.
The problem was, for Henry specifically, that the monarchy and life as a prince was stifling and he didn't like 'benefiting' from a system with such a horrible past, worse when he doesn't even enjoy the benefits.
I always expected Alex to go into politics, but I was kinda looking forward to Henry getting out of being prince.
Stil, I had a fun time watching the movie,and maybe it'll be used to their benefit, and they'll make a sequel or something? Have Henry realize that the problems of the monarchy can't be solved with them letting him have a boyfriend, and if not leave the monarchy, actively work to remedy what it's done.
ive had this book rotting on my shelf unopened for like 2 years now, and nothing has made me want to read it more than this critique
When I saw who had been casted, my first thought was "oh i have GOT to know celebrated youtuber Jane Mulcahy's opinion on this!"
Wildest thing about this book is it started as a Social Network fanfic
okay I need to get the story straight here. another commenter said McQuiston was in the Social Network fandom. now you're saying it straight up started as Social Network fanfiction?? do you have a source for that? huge if true
@@jane-mulcahy I don’t have a source, it’s one of those rumours that everyone has heard but you don’t know how it started… it seems pretty likely to me but someone else could probably make an equal case for it not being true
It’s not true, the author did write Andrew Garfield/Jesse eisenberg fic but it has nothing to do with RWRB, its a huge misinformation thing lol
As usual, an absolutely excellent video. I also have to say, I hope you get good money from your sponsor because this is the most compelling ad read I have heard in a long time. It's very you and honest and thus, fresh.
I had fun even during the sponsor moment, that's how good it was
I wanted to like this book so badly, and i get why people do. I can see a lot of people wanting some escapism and self-indulgent fun. I never really expected anything revolutionary in terms of the book's politics either.
But i just couldn't stand McQuiston's prose. Especially the constant pop-culture references. Maybe their writing improved in their other books but i just couldn't get through this one.
I really like casey mcquistons writing style but I can see why you wouldn't, it's definitely not for everyone
It truly doesn’t matter how many times i’ve seen Hatsune Miku binder Thomas Jefferson, it’s always a jump scare…
I love that Uma Thurman was cast as the POTUS. I'd certainly vote for her, and she's an excellent Mum to Alex. Plus, it's fantastic to see a cheesy Queer Rom Com which has a happy ending, and doesn't involve one of the leads dying. 🏳️🌈💘👬
Trina, I once again see you in the comments of creators I'm subscribed to 😃 and I've only just newly subscribed to Jane here 😅
Girl you're literally in every channel 😭 I love this 💙💙
Yeah I just gotta say I've seen ur comments on videos for years now from every corner of UA-cam and your profile picture has become very iconic to me lol
@@BaileeWalsh Same, has she finally started her own channel? I haven't checked in a while, she should make a guide to all the good channels she apparently knows way before I get there.
The fact that the royals in the book were so progressive really annoyed me. Even in real life, Prince Harry, who seems to be the most progressive royal, isn’t a Republican, has never spoken out against imperialism or in support of reparations, and only ever talks about issues when they directly affect him. Yet, in this book, the royals are anti-monarchists who hate the institution. It’s just so unrealistic that a man of Prince Henry's background, who received a private education at Eton and who grew up alongside the aristocracy, would be left-leaning that it’s laughable.
It’s also annoying how McQuiston painted the U.K. out to be a backwards, conservative country and the U.S. as the opposite when, in actuality, both countries are as socially liberal as each other. You can’t just use the monarchy to represent the U.K. when a lot of British people are largely uninterested in the Royal Family.
the audible “YES” I just let out in my group office upon seeing the notification for this
it's always a great day when jane uploads
You gotta read "Fan Fiction" by Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek), would love to hear your take! He calls it a "mem-noir" which is a fun concept and centers around threatening fan mail. The audiobook is voiced by a bunch of Star Trek cast members too!
Thanks for the recommendation! Sounds interesting!
just one thing: there is a bonus chapter (it was released in the 2022 collector's edition) which takes place during the years after the book's storyline and in this Henry actually abdicates. so at least there's that. as someone who will defend this book with their whole heart everything you said makes sense (although i think the whole US politics thing is more of a wish fulfillment than Casey being actually this positive/idealistic about it)
yeah I heard about the bonus chapter while editing this video. I'm definitely glad the author decided to do that in the end, but tbh it doesn't really have that much of an impact if you're not gonna include that in the original text, you know? but I agree I'm sure the intention was just to present a nice alternate reality, like they said in the acknowledgments. I'm glad you gave the video a chance! I really think the book is good overall, just wanted to share my thoughts
I feel like there’s something to be said for just letting them have an uncomplicated ending for a while. Alex graduated college DURING the book, and Henry isn’t much older, so I think an actual “change the world” narrative would have felt a little weird to me. It’s shown that both of them are going to work towards some kind of large-scale reform (Alex and law school/politics, Henry and the Henry Foundation for lgbt+ youth), so I didn’t really feel the need for a grand reworking of two entire countries’ political systems (by a couple of early twenty-somethings) to be completed within the year that the story actually covers. It’s true that it’s not a full happy ending, but I never got the impression that it was intended to be.
My personal main problem with rwrb is Alex’s race. I recently watched the movie but haven’t read the book I’m a few years so I don’t remember exactly how this was handled in the book but I don’t think it was commented on much in the book either. Alex is a mixed, his mom is white and his dad is latino, I love that, it’s actually similar to me (my dad is latino and my mom is white, in fact we couldn’t be more similar my grandparents also immigrated to America just as Alex’s dad says in the movie) my problem was that he talks about how he’s latino, but never about his white roots either. And yes it does completely change your perspective on race ethnicity and identity. His mom is very different from him, and he lives with his mom. But he never actually talks about how that affects him, and only talks about how he grew up working class and his grandparents immigrated. Which makes me wonder why he was made mixed in the first place if it’s completely ignored that his mom is white, and why his mom is the white one who is also the president. Idk just something I thought about while watching, I would’ve really liked to see a character like me deal with the problems of having family of two different ethnicities.
as a former gay man i remember there being a lot of problematic micro aggressions in the book but as someone who's also from a country still suffering from englands colonialism, all the hand wavy stuff also was upsetting.
edit: wanna clarify that i'm a trans lesbian not a straight man 🤢
they really should've used a fictional country because there is too much history and pain in any real royal family. It's uncomfortable to be asked to root for a symbol of oppression and subjication.
mlm to wlw pipeline
@@seyspectra shits inescapable
@@vainpiers using a fictional country wouldn't have helped because it would have still had the backbones of oppression with a shiny coat of paint on top. monarchy itself is the symbol of oppression because monarchy cannot exist without atrocities.
@catgirlsanonymous yeah but a fictional country hasn't literally genocided a fuck ton of countries and you're never going to fully erase stories about monarchy because its so engrained in society.
Like Disney princesses vs the literal English monarchy. There's a difference, Snow White never colonised India.
I feel less alone now because I remember bringing up similar thoughts re: how the novel is Obamarotica for affluent liberals in a book club discussion, and being kinda despised for saying so. A killjoy to my white gays who read.
Also, Bollywood gurly to Bollywood gurly: we both know that RWRB is what we'd get if Karan Johar decided to take a stab at a movie with a political bent.
omg honestly I would kill for a Bollywood RWRB. say what you want about KJo but he'd probably be the man for the job lol
@@jane-mulcahy I mean 'Rocky aur Rahul Ki Prem Kahaani' would have a killer soundtrack.
damn i was kinda hoping this was gonna be about Alex turning Texas blue cuz that was crazy
I mean for the record I also thought that was crazy
I saw Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson in the thumbnail and my mind touched the VOID.
One of the funnier moments of the Hamilton fandom finding out Hamilton was (Probably most definitely Bi) was that Doctor Who (Another Tumblr beloved British show) referenced it long before the musical in an offhand joke about Hamilton Jefferson or Adams fancying the Doctor.
thank you for this video- it put into words exactly why i found the entire book embarrassing in the same way the “and then everyone clapped” story was embarrassing
i’m so happy this video showed up in my recs, this is EXACTLY how i felt reading the book😭 i was so shocked when i looked up the publication date because it felt sooo 2015 to me. not to mention the tumblr hamilton war flashbacks LMAO
What's especially funny to me about Alex's revised life plan is that going to law school first makes his future political career way more conventional, almost to the point of being boring, like "Oh? A Democrat candidate for political office with a law degree? From a family of politicians? Groundbreaking."
I distinctly remember hoping that both protagonists would discover that they needed to slow down a little, but it seems like a lot of young queer romance stories are wedded to the idea that the heroes need to be overachievers, inadvertently feeding into the idea that if you want to be happy in a toxic institution you just have to try a bit harder and get assigned your own special project or whatever.
Idk a lot of other gay men liked the book but I struggled a lot with the politics and characterisation, and then felt kinda weird about the female-dominated fan culture that developed around it. I actually read it before it got super big and posted a bunch of snarky tweets about it lmao.
not the miku binder thumbnail XD
would you believe it's not even the first time I've used it in a thumbnail? it's just such a cosmically hard-hitting image
@@jane-mulcahy not only do i believe it, remember it. it just knocks me out every time. i was never in that fandom but i used to be friends with someone who stirred up a lot of shit around it, and it never fails to blow my mind.
Nothing more romantic than selling out with your one true love
any time i see a hamilton reference in the wild, my fight or flight kicks in i swear to god
from being in a lot of queer internet circles i’ve known about this book for the last 3 years or so, but everything being based on real countries always put me off, i don’t think i would’ve been able to read it without questioning all of this. I’m not surprised about the hamilton references either, it definitely feels like a product of 2013-2014 tumblr and american politics culture that happened to come out recently
I am 100000% here for more book reviews. I also miss Bollywood content since you got me to watch Kal Ho Naa Ho 🙏🏻💕
Yes that is definitely on my list especially since Indian films wouldn't be off limits during the strikes! (also Kal Ho Naa Ho forever, best movie of all time award)
Classical composer you might enjoy: Varvara Nikolaevna Golovina. Sources suggest she had a romantic relationship with Empress Elizaveta Alexeievna. Her music is banging too!
Idk if it's because I'm a almost 30 year old millennial, but I literally discovered Hamilton through Spotify when I was going to listen to some in the heights and saw the album.
Don't know about the social political implications of that all, but it seems like it was popular primarily because it was drastically just oppopsed to basically everything on Broadway.
That and and be blunt representation that offers makes it more similar to something like black panther IMHO.
The thing I took away from it (As former a Black Theater kid) was that Hamilton himself place value in the wrong thing that is what led to his ineffable downfall.
The reaction the people on Tumblr hats with though isn't surprising since ship anything with everything
Good lord I remember being so deep in the fandom during the 2020 elections, and EVERYONE was checking whether different states turned blue, particularly Texas. I remember genuinely crying because it was so close yet it was red and it didn’t happen like the book. I’m not even from the states but god I was invested.
There's no way that this book didn't start as a hetalia fanfic. It had to be.
Gagged at this comment, not a stray hetalia mention in 2023 😭😭😭
Allegedly it was influenced by the author's old Social Network Andrew Garfield x Jesse Eisenberg rpf. 😂😂😂
That makes a lil too much sense but I hate that you brought it up Linx 😭😭😭
Someone probably already mentioned it but I think the series Young Royals does this effectively. It blames the monarchy as an institution that treats the royals kinda horribly (and not just the queen). The main character, Wilhelm, has been vocal about disliking being a prince and the rigidity of his life because of it. The last season isn't out yet but abdication has been mentioned and I think that even if he doesn't abdicate, he will at least try to do something to change the system he was born into.
the delight I felt upon hearing jane suggest someone write a hunter biden x prince harry fanfic, immediately opening ao3 and finding that someone actually had. incredible scenes
Thank you so much for your thoughts, Jane. I had read the book in 2020 before the world ended and while I found the book entertaining and enjoyable, you shared pretty much the exact same thoughts that I had overall, minus the Hamilton reference lol I hadn’t seen Hamilton prior to reading the book. Despite my criticism of some of the plot elements, I can definitely see the appeal and I am grateful that other writers have had opportunities to share new stories and to have them all have a chance to gain popularity too, especially since queer stories up until recently have been harder to come by. If I may make a suggestion, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” is an incredibly beautiful story and I always look for excuses to recommend it because I still feel like not a lot of people know about it and that book is getting a film adaptation release next month, so that’s fun too lol
I've been meaning to read Aristotle and Dante for years, I'll definitely have to get around to it some time!
@@jane-mulcahy it’s one of my all time favorite books. I can’t recommend it enough.
as soon as I saw miku binder thomas jefferson I knew where this was going (and I love it)
I thought it was interesting that the public coming out was the book's final triumph. Not just their coming out as individuals, as a couple.
there’s like a bonus epilogue thing written from henry’s perspective and i’m like 99% sure they say he abdicated in that but that’s also something that’s only gonna be known to a fan of the book not the average consumer and it was also written a lot later sooo
we're just innocent men...
We're just Normal men...
I didn’t read the book or watch the movie, but I imagine a "fun" drinking game would be taking a drink everytime something happens or someone does something that would cause a major controversy if not lead to an assassination attempt
thank you for reminding the importance of the strikes! here's to hoping amazon loses so much money that they cannot avoid paying their writers and actors fairly.
not even a minute in and im giggling about nicholas galitzine being the unofficial mascot of the channel
It's an often-repeated fact that Lin Manuel Miranda was bullied by Immortal Technique in high school. My theory is that Miranda's entire career is his way of taking revenge on hip-hop itself for what one rapper did to him. Some theater kid got stuffed in a trash can, and an entire artform has to suffer for it.
Ain't no way boy 🥴💀
LMM was a big fan of 80s Rap and Disney musicals of the day.
His entire career is defined by those two things
Immortal Technique saw the future and tried to warn us but we didn’t listen.
@@thenablade858 honestly, I feel like you really shouldn't be making light of bullying.
Students outside of lmm also got bullied and some of them were female students
This video is insanely underrated. and also insane.
i think about how this book started out as tsn 2011 press tour RPF every day of my life i will never know peace
okay some people in the comments have mentioned the rumor that the book was originally social network fanfic. but now you're telling me social network RPF FANFIC?? as in shipping actual Jesse Eisenberg with actual Andrew Garfield?? this changes everything
I think theres now a collector's edition of the book with a bonus chapter in which it is said that Henry has given up his royal title shortly after the events of the original book.
I had been eying "Red, White & Royal Blue" for a while, so I appreciate this review/analysis!
I wonder what has become my life that I continue to search for any small mention of "Hatsune Miku binder Jefferson". It is still a bizarre concept, like watching a trainwreck happen in real time due to the sheer absurdity of it.
I would still give the book a shot if you're into romance/romantic comedy type stuff, like I said there's still plenty to like!
and yes Hatsune Miku binder TJ haunts my dreams as well
@@jane-mulcahy Considering that I'm reading an erotica series which has worldbuilding that makes me want to smash my head against the nearest vertical surface, that sounds just up my alley. I like reading. I don't mind reading subjective trash. What could possibly go wrong?
[whispers] France is following us to revolution / there is no more status quo / but the sun comes up / and the world still spins
Thank you sm for this video. Personally, I hated the book. From the writting, plot, characters and relationship: NOTHING worked for me. I was really sad I did not enjoy it bc I thought it would hit harder for me as a bi latina woman. It was one of my biggest disappointments. I dont mind that ppl like it or the movie since its a romcom, but I dont plan to watch the movie either. So thank u again! U really put some of the thoughts I had about the ending.
God dammit ffs im here to watch your entire video and learn from it and possibly enjoy more videos from your channel bc I was accosted by the thumbnail of Jefferson in his hatsune miku binder. well played
based on this and other comments I'm getting the sense that miku binder jefferson was very effective thumbnail material!
i resd the biography that Hamilton is based on, and the one thing that has stuck with me since reading it, was that even for the time the letters between Laurens and Hamilton were VERY affectionate and Hamilton's family even had large sections of their correspondence blacked out.
wooooo! Limmy!
how did that sketch get, like, internationally famous?
I clicked on this cuz I thought I was gonna see some wild Hamilton fanfic, qnd while I did not get what I came for, I very much enjoyed the journey I was taken on
I’m printing this video out frame by frame and covering my walls. Great stuff all around!
I know this doesn't necessarily have to do with the politics of rwrb but when the King (in the movie) was enraged about the controversial gay relationship i dont know whose idea it was to cast Stephen Fry, bc he himself is in a rather controversial gay relationship. That broke my immersion immediately.
And throughout the whole movie there were many small moments like these, politics or not. From the posh accent the royals put on that is not really a royal accent to the idea that the US not only elected a woman but also one that's married to a Mexican? If you gave things more than a second's thought, you'd be out of the whole movie. And some people can do that! I still enjoyed the movie! But I had to shake my head every few minutes bc something felt off