#Or you will just end up creating something toothless and cynical with tokenizing bullshit at best | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hypermascbishounen · 1 month

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There's a deep irony in Berserk being so admired by people who really really hate what Berserk is about on an emotional level, but especially when writers want to take influence from it. Because Berserk is very strong thematically, and someone who can't acknowledge subtext is going to whiff on emulating anything good.

#And by that I mean that like many of its influences and descendants the plot is fundamentally driven by toxic gay shit lol #Listen there's just no beating around the bush here: you either understand this type of story is super emotional #That the softness and hope and love for humanity is vital connective tissue between the edgy violent dark setting #And that at its core the queerness is *central*#Or you will just end up creating something toothless and cynical with tokenizing bullshit at best #You cannot make that lightning strike twice if you're too scared to even write that shit as ACTUALLY core to the plot #You don’t have to make your shit gay to be good you just have to understand if your major influence was gay and why #So that you respect subtext and thematic writing and emotional resonance in writing in general #And maybe understand that if you also want credit for pushing the envelope you get where the real standard is #This is one of those things I see in equal measure in dudebro homophobes and supposedly progressive queers #No that wasn't “bait/delusion” it was barely subtext and if you go into writing with that attitude you're going to write shallow shit lol #I genuinely believe when people lament about reading comprehension they're actually talking about willful ignorance #Because willfull ignorance *does* cause a need to deny reality to a point where it warps your ability to understand information #Having difficulty comprehending text from a learning disability or improper teaching #Has fucking nothing on someone whose deliberately trained themselves to rationalize away anything uncomfortable #Tag rant over but this shit really is a plague and you can see it so starkly when it comes to Berserk #An undeniably respectable work from a place many envious little goblins that covet it do not actually respect

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