#I can have a little capitalist exploitation as a treat. Because it is fiction and not real.

[scarletfasinera]

I am once again playing Stardew Valley

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

I think discourse would be a lot less toxic if we recognized that sometimes, our reasons for liking or disliking characters are completely subjective, and don't need to be defended with any concrete morality or ideology

(gets kinda personal under the cut)

Like, I disagree with c!Quackity about a LOT of things. I'm a bleeding-heart vegetarian socialist who once cried for an hour after accidentally stepping on a lizard. Big Q's a capitalist casino owner, war criminal, and canonical cannibal. The guy is a dickwad and there's no way around that.

But... I understand why he's the way he is. I know what it feels like to be manipulated, exploited, objectified, and emotionally abused. I know what it's like to be the "odd one out" in your group of friends, or to worry that you'll never be good enough for them. I know what it's like to pour all of your passion into something, only to fail over and over. I know how much it hurts to be rejected or abandoned without warning. I know how frightening the idea of being lost to time and never leaving your mark on the world is. And you know what? Even if he's someone I wouldn't easily get along with in real life, that doesn't mean I can't find common ground or a sense of hope in his fictional story, and that doesn't mean I can't root for him to heal and redeem himself.

On the flip side, I've tried time and time again to see the good side of c!Dream, and I just... can't. A huge part of the reason I find him so difficult to sympathize with is because c!Tommy and c!Tubbo remind me so much of my younger siblings. No matter what "good reasons" might be presented for Dream's treatment of them, I can't help but picture the same thing happening to my family. And I know for a fact that if somebody did half of what Dream did to them to my little brother or sisters, all of my pacifist platitudes would go out the window and I'd be on their ass faster than you can say "me perdonas."

But even still, that's my personal reasoning. I'm not going to go out of my way to tell anyone who finds comfort in Dream's character that they're not allowed to do that. Maybe they can relate to feeling isolated or demonized, or to spiraling out of control and digging yourself deeper. Maybe they just enjoy reading deep between the lines and seeing perspectives that no one else interprets the same way. Maybe they feel that if he was treated as a realistic rather than bombastic villain, he would be recognized as emotionally complex or mentally ill and treated accordingly. Or maybe they just think his voice is hot.

As long as they're not spreading anything that's genuinely hurtful or dangerous, why should I care if somebody enjoys a character I find reprehensible? Everyone relates to fiction differently. That's not a black mark on their moral code, that's just... having fun, thinking deeply, maybe even a healthy way to cope for some.

I'm not going to take that away, and I don't think anyone should.