This post will not be extensive, but we here at Narnia felt the need to share some thoughts at this celebratory time. Before we proceed, however, let's extend some well deserved genuine excitement and respect to Harry Styles on his triumphant press conference in Toronto today. After the buffoonery of Don't Worry Darling's Venice dumpster fire, this was the kind of refreshing palate cleanser we all needed.
Everyone on the panel was impressive from start to finish and Harry finally was able to show the world his eloquence and his gentle, raw honesty, as he continues to navigate the treacherous waters of the closet.
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| TIFF22 |
And,
Yes, love and freedom are incredibly relevant and timeless.
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Oct. 23, 2021~Uncasville, CT, night 2 |
Never mind Harry's confident bravery. Here is the man of the hour arriving at the My Policeman red carpet event yesterday evening. Appropriately, "dressed" for the occasion.
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| Harry, my boy, I don't think you could be any louder with that green flower! |
You look fabulous, my dear!
From Symbolism and Metaphor website.
Ahem, I can see we are getting distracted from the initial reason for this post. Easy to do given the topic under discussion. But, let's try and focus, shall we?😂
Just a few thoughts to consider as we head towards shark infested waters that may seem decepetively tranquil on the surface, but can easily pull the Larrie fandom under if discerning situational awareness is not practiced. Having been around since the beginning of One Direction's introduction to the US, Narnia is more than familiar with Sony/Syco patterns of closeting, followed by pre-planned stunts/activities designed to maximize fandom demoralization. Tried and true techniques timed and laid bare with the intent of eroding the most loyal of fandoms. Yes, it does appear that great things are happening for both Louis and Harry. And in actual fact, there are many promising positive changes. A massively successful LT1 tour, and the well-received premiere of My Policeman at TIFF. Good things are especially happening for Louis Tomlinson, which leads people to believe he is now free. Amid these triumphs, however, there have been some troubling signs along the way, prompting this post. Remember when things look too good to be true, take a step back and start asking questions,
Fans who were not around in 2015 when Babygate was first imposed upon the fandom have no memory of how Sony/Syco expertly built people's hopes up for a coming out. And then on July 14, the fandom was rattled with:
Fast forward six years later and Narnia addressed the reemergence of some foreboding signs in our December 27, 2021 post on the sudden and unexpected appearance of "Freddie Reign" at the Tomlinson's house during the Christmas holidays. That's right, just when the fandom was sure the end of this stunt was imminent, suddenly Louis was using social media to personally reinforce the farce.
Fans may not remember, or admit to it now, but those pics sent a shock wave into, especially, the Larrie fandom. And don't think that Sony was not watching to see if their reformulated strategy would work. Because, despite all the narrative evidence to the contrary, Narnia continues to believe that Sony is still very much involved with trying to undermine Louis Tomlinson and continue to dilute the Larrie fandom that has remarkably and resiliently played such a pivotal role in his post-hiatus success. Why, you might ask would Sony do that? Well, if you were involved in massively corrupt and abusive business practices that included the imposition of a fake kid on a closeted couple, would you want eyewitnesses and their explosive Masterposts to remain online? The answer is: No way! By continuing the stunt way beyond it's expiration date, there is additional time to weed out more knowledgeable fans. More time to scrub the internet of valuable evidence. More time to erase the institutional memories of Larries who have simply decided to walk away and either purge their archives or rebrand themselves.
More time to create new identities to sleek away unscathed like Simon Cowell's right-hand woman for many years, Ann-Marie Thomson (former PA to convicted pedophile, Max Clifford) and the former US Director for Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment [Feb 2007-Feb 2022]; also assigned to One Direction. The same person whose husband, Pete Sampson, worked for The Sun and just happened to have the "good fortune" to break the news about Babygate back in 2015. Remember her? Well, maybe not. Since she has worked extra hard to disappear and rebrand herself. Right, Sarah? 😉
In short, whether Sony is still empowered through enforceable contractual obligations or through the leverage they hold over Harry's career who is still under contract with Columbia with his never ending Love on Tour commitments, Sony continues to be the obvious suspect behind the ultimate closeting stunt of Babygate. They always have been. After all, the deep closeting of Louis and Harry only began in 2012, when 1D came to America and Sony's brutal homophobic ways began. Understandably, with so many great things happening, the fandom wants to believe that Louis and Harry are almost free. And that image damaging stunts will soon end. That the two men will come out soon and live happily ever after with their newfound freedom. There are no doubt planted twitter accounts right now encouraging this exuberant optimism.
Some longtime Larries back in December even made a point of attacking Louis directly (not his oppressors) and suggesting they would not put up with much more "from him". The justification for their outrage is that they are convinced that Louis is free and is somehow intentionally choosing to abuse Larries by fueling fandom wars after all these years. In other words, he no longer needs his loyal gay fans around. (The Bentley mom's DM incident a classic example.) The old story of he's made it now, so Larries can sod off. Gee, sounds just like Louis, doesn't it? *sarcasm intended*
The only problem with this speculation is that it goes against 12 years of what we know about Louis Tomlinson. More productive answers might be found by focusing on details like how only when his tour ended in Australia in July, after months and months of no media attention, he's suddenly being interviewed on radio and TV, and here comes the Freddie references immediately. Which of course negatively impacts the unveiling of LT2. In fact, as he promotes his next album (Faith in the Future) Louis mysteriously continues to bring up the one topic that he knows alienates his fans. Ask the question, why would he do that?
Narnia has several ideas, one being that Louis had to agree to be involved in Freddie's life retroactively (which his current filling-in-the-gaps approach is what he is doing now) to convince the public that his silence and lack of cooperation from 2015 onward, was misinterpreted by the fandom. That behind the scenes, Louis was privately playing daddy all along. That way when the stunt does end, he will have his fingerprints all over the storyline and will have participated in the stunt "willingly". If the Larrie fandom is fragmented further, even better for Sony. Who knows, maybe that's what Louis and Harry's obsession with the number 7 is all about.
After all, Freddie allegedly was born on January 21, 2016 and on January 21, 2023 he will turn 7 years old. Another RBB/SBB birthday countdown, perhaps? Who knows, but the signs are all there to be especially cautious this week. Bad things seem to happen to Louis when he's in America. One eyebrow raising occurence is that the American media market has recently rediscovered that Louis Tomlinson actually exists when earlier in the year, as he toured the US, there appeared to be an American blackout. In fact, this sudden media attention coming after LT1 is another reason some fans believe he's now free. But, not so fast. Even given the importance of meeting deliverables, there's a reason Babygate has not ended. Leverage. James Corden is probably someone not to fear because of his longtime support and fondness of One Direction. But, just like in 2015, we are more concerned about his upcoming appearance on GMA. A televised broadcast most definitely in the back pocket of TPTB as demonstrated in August 2015 (interestingly enough, Louis' last appearance on the show) when they gleefully participated in the interrogation of the group about Babygate. The infamous buzzin' interview. Up until then, Louis had not publicly confirmed the rumor about his pending "fatherhood". Or, maybe something will happen at one of those looming radio shows listed on Louis' schedule this month where DJ's are curiously talking about Larry Stylinson on the air all of a sudden.
With this context in mind, Narnia would like to leave everyone with just four simple but powerful words to tuck away during times of frustration, more corporate disinformation and aggressive attempts to blame Louis for his own closet.
We trust you, Louis.
Do what you need to do and Narnia will continue to have your back.
pic sources: TIFF22, Tumblr, Dork Magazine, LinkedIn, The Sun, Love On Tour
playlist: Fighting the Good Fight - Unspoken
Bigger Than Me - Louis Tomlinson
We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel
Sea of Love - Cat Power
