Little Monday Presents: Baldur's Gate III and the Queer Politics of Monstrosity.

Conclusion - The Battle of Purposes

Laura Westengard writes of the "ongoing battle of purposes" in Gothic media between queer representation and neoliberal assimilation. Perhaps as much as any other conflict in the game, this battle of purposes plays out in the game's writing with its emphasis on post-queer visibility, while also policing the boundaries of an acceptable neoliberal status quo. In my conclusion, I examine this conflict as it struggles against the rich language of monstrosity and its subversive potential. Citation Time Stamps 0:45 - 2:07 Westengard 179-180 5:32 - 5:35 Stryker, "My Words..." 248 7:36 - 7:53 Pocket Leaves, Feb 11, 2024 7:54 - 8:08 Figuring Out Fantasy, Feb 17, 2024 15:41 - 15:47 Westengard 104 Full List of Sources https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources [https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources] Little Monday on Medium https://medium.com/@littlemonday [https://medium.com/@littlemonday] Special Thanks To - Glen Eastman who voices both Frankenstein and the Monster. W. Reader who voices both Captain Robert Walton and Withers Luis Saniger as Swen Vinke, Kelly Green as Chrystal Ding, and Foxspitt as Adam Smith. And a special thanks to Moss/Magmethius (magmethius.tumblr.com) for providing necessary lore. And thanks to both Moss and Ben for providing their feedback on this project.

Part 5 – Would You Become a Monster if it Would Save the World?

We finally seek to resolve the central conflict of the game: Will you become a monster if it would save the world? But perhaps more importantly, what does it mean to transform into the very thing you sought to avoid becoming? And what does crossing the boundary into monstrosity reveal of the monster that's protected you since your fall from the Nautiloid? In part five, we take a close look at the game's sudden bifurcation, its controversial endings, and how its central theme is illuminated or darkened. Citation Time Stamps 1:35 - 3:39 Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes 85-97 29:46 -30:27 Shelley Vol 3 Ch. 7 30:36 - 33:25 Shelley Vol 3 Ch. 7 Full List of Sources https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources [https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources] Little Monday on Medium https://medium.com/@littlemonday [https://medium.com/@littlemonday] Special Thanks To - Glen Eastman who voices both Frankenstein and the Monster. W. Reader who voices both Captain Robert Walton and Withers Luis Saniger as Swen Vinke, Kelly Green as Chrystal Ding, and Foxspitt as Adam Smith. And a special thanks to Moss/Magmethius (magmethius.tumblr.com) for providing necessary lore. And thanks to both Moss and Ben for providing their feedback on this project.

Part 4 – The Dark Power of Monstrous Identity

"May you discover the enlivening power of darkness within yourself." – Susan Stryker. In her monologue "My Words to Victor Frankenstein," Stryker harnesses her rage as a transgender woman to redefine the monstrous and deprivilege the natural. In part four, we examine the subversive power of the Emperor's monstrosity through the lens of Stryker's monologue, and what it reveals of the efforts and institutions that seek to enforce strict, conservative boundaries on gender, sexuality, embodiment, and desire. Citation Time Stamps 1:00 - 4:52 Stryker, "My Words..." 245-247 5:43 - 5:50 Stryker "My Words..." 248 6:24 - 6:32 Stone 3 6:50 - 7:12 Stone 8-9 7:12 - 7:26 Stone 13-14 7:26 - 8:02 Stone 12 8:15 - 8:54 Stryker "My Words..." 253 9:33 - 9:44 Stryker "My Words..." 254 9:45 - 9:58 Westengard 102 15:28 - 15:50 Little Monday, May 20, 2024 17:03 - 17:18 Rigby 42 19:22 - 20:20 Little Monday, "Patch 7..." Sept 15, 2024 25:54 - 26:50 Stone 11 26:51 - 27:19 Stryker 249 Full List of Sources https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources [https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources] Little Monday on Medium https://medium.com/@littlemonday [https://medium.com/@littlemonday] Special Thanks To - Glen Eastman who voices both Frankenstein and the Monster. W. Reader who voices both Captain Robert Walton and Withers Luis Saniger as Swen Vinke, Kelly Green as Chrystal Ding, and Foxspitt as Adam Smith. And a special thanks to Moss/Magmethius (magmethius.tumblr.com) for providing necessary lore. And thanks to both Moss and Ben for providing their feedback on this project.

Part 3 – Paranoia & Queer Gothic Recognition

"The beauty of the dream vanished" – or rather, the Guardian that came to us in our dreams. In its place? The Emperor. In part three, we come face-to-face with Rigby's concept of "Queer Gothic Recognition" just as we come face-to-face with our true Guardian. As the dream vanishes, paranoia takes its place, and we examine the connection between the Emperor's monstrosity and the coded language of queerness. Citation Time Stamps 0:51 - 4:33 Bailey Dec 15, 2023 4:34 - 8:14 Little Monday Feb 28, 2024 6:12 - 6:18 The Emperor, Astral Prism cutscene between Acts 2 & 3 6:23 - 6:28 The Emperor, Atop the Netherbrain Act 3. 12:32 - 13:35 Rigby 38 13:46 - 13:59 Rigby 38 14:00 - 14:19 Halberstam 32-34 19 52 - 19:14 Art Book 14 20:14 - 21:18 Stryker, "Transgender Studies..." 214 23:52 - 24:29 Little Monday Aug 14, 2024 26:12 - 26:42 Benshoff 128 26:43 - 27:02 Benshoff 117 31:20 - 31:24 Halberstam 28 38:17 - 38:36 Halberstam 28 30:08 - 40:11 The Emperor, Astral Prism cutscene between Acts 2 & 3 42:51 - 43:15 Halberstam 117 46:13 - 47:07 Little Monday Sept 28, 2024 51:17 - 51:22 Stryker, "Words..." 248 52:35 - 53:14 Little Monday Oct 13, 2024 54:22 - 55:19 Little Monday May 6, 2024 1:02:33 - 1:06:37 Shelley Vol 3, Ch. 3 1:06:40 - 1:08:37 Shelley Vol 3, Ch. 6 1:09:53 - 1:03:43 Brooks 9 1:11:31 - 1:12:00 Halberstam 26 1:12:45 - 1:13:52 Descent into Avernus Full List of Sources https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources [https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources] Little Monday on Medium https://medium.com/@littlemonday [https://medium.com/@littlemonday] Special Thanks To - Glen Eastman who voices both Frankenstein and the Monster. W. Reader who voices both Captain Robert Walton and Withers Luis Saniger as Swen Vinke, Kelly Green as Chrystal Ding, and Foxspitt as Adam Smith. And a special thanks to Moss/Magmethius (magmethius.tumblr.com) for providing necessary lore. And thanks to both Moss and Ben for providing their feedback on this project.

Part 2 – Supremely Frightful Would it Be to Mock the Stupendous Mechanism of the Creator of the World

"Frightful must it be… for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world." – Mary Shelley Building on a philosophy that privileges the natural, part two examines the relationship of the natural to the moral and the unnatural to the profane. We explore how death, desire, and the destruction of the family unit meet in the Gothic tale of Ketheric Thorm, his daughter Isobel, and her lover, the aasimar, Dame Aylin. We also examine how this tale both reinforces the unnatural as monstrous, while also subverting the normative boundaries of desire with Isobel and Aylin's relationship. Citation Time Stamps 0:47 - 0:58 Rigby 37 0:59 - 1:01 Palmer 180 1:20 - 1:23 Shelley Vol 1, Ch. 4 2:50 - 3:01 Shelley Vol 3, Ch. 3 12:17 - 12:30 Halberstam 1 Full List of Sources https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources [https://littlemondaywrites.libsyn.com/sources] Little Monday on Medium https://medium.com/@littlemonday [https://medium.com/@littlemonday] Special Thanks To - Glen Eastman who voices both Frankenstein and the Monster. W. Reader who voices both Captain Robert Walton and Withers Luis Saniger as Swen Vinke, Kelly Green as Chrystal Ding, and Foxspitt as Adam Smith. And a special thanks to Moss/Magmethius (magmethius.tumblr.com) for providing necessary lore. And thanks to both Moss and Ben for providing their feedback on this project.