Okay, so whether or not you agree with how subtle Leighton Grey & Co. went with representing Damien’s trans identity, his story arc/ending was a great, subtle way in representing the difficulties and nuances of performing vs. over-performing his gender (with Damien’s goth identity acting as a metaphor).
Damien feels “embarrassed” at showing a part of himself that isn’t stereotypically goth, like many trans people feel uncomfortable or up for ridicule if they showcase interests or present in such a way that is like their gender assigned at birth. He feels that in order to be validated, he needs to act as goth as he possibly can 24/7– like how trans people feel pressured to overperform their genders.
Even though his goth interests are a huge part of his identity, and he originally entered the goth subculture to make himself happy, he soon felt like the goth stuff was the most important thing about him.
The player character’s interest in Damien despite his “normal” behaviors is what causes him to reflect on WHY he felt the need to perform goth to such an extent, in a way that made him feel uncomfortable expressing parts of his real self.
Through this reflection (and not, may I note, the PC’s love alone), Damien concludes that he would live a fuller, happier life if he allowed himself to be a three-dimensional human being instead of just manifesting one character trait (goth, gender).
This is not a pitch-perfect metaphor– for many trans people, performing their gender “perfectly” is often a matter of life and death– but it is useful for those in the nonbinary/trans umbrella who feel the need to embody only masculine/feminine/androgynous/whatever traits in order to be respected as their gender (even if they’re in a relatively safe environment).
And it was just a really cool, subtle way to tie goth/trans stuff together???
Honestly, really good representation all around, in my humble opinion.
EDIT: tumblr user supergaysatan (who I can’t tag for some reason) pointed out this article on the difficulties of being both goth and trans, which adds a deeper layer to this analysis… just gotta figure out how to word it, and then I’m going to probably make another edit to add more thoughts no one asked for (but y’all should read it)
I love how supportive Robert is in the whittling game. The MC literally just makes a few sticks and shapes in the beginning and Robert is still genuinely interested in what he wanted to do and how he calls the “art piece”. He can be such a sweetheart. Robert is so encouraging of others but not so much of himself.
I’m not sure if this has been pointed out before, but on the second date with Robert, you see the inside of his truck and on the passenger’s side of the dashboard (image thanks to @josephdaddy):
Stickers! Here’s a closer look at them:
They’re really cutesy stickers. The kind children have. We know that this is a really old truck, the main character jokes it’s probably the oldest truck one can drive while still being street legal.
So, I just wanted to personally suggest: Val put those stickers there years and years ago.
Leighton: We actually sat down and wrote an entire list of everything Mat serves at the coffee spoon. Enjoy:
Hot Cocorosie Americano Football Fiona Apple Juice Philter Collins Mocha! At the Disco Decaf for Cutie Chai Antwoord Iced T Odd Future Wolf Gang Coffee Them All CappucinOK GO Macchiato DeMarco Iced Teagan and Sara Chance the Frapper Flat White Stripes Froyo La Tengo Damien Ricemilk MGMTea Passionfruit Tea Pit Godspeed You! Black Coffee Father John Misto T’Angelo Blood Orange Juice Decaf from Above 1979 Childish Mochaccino Smashing Pumpkin Spice Latte
whitemanning critical 