#because you'd rather deal with the 'monster' than any latent social issues

[greensaplinggrace]

there’s a certain beauty in fandom idealizing bardugo’s assessment of manipulation as well. how they give more weight to a level of predatory and highly manipulative behavior that does not exist within canon to support analyses that would previously fall flat. in an effort to forego real literary analysis, fans will take the author’s word for her intent and reapply it backwards throughout her works regardless of supporting evidence.

I think this shows a special kind of mindset that isn’t necessarily unique to fandom. many people in the world would rather allow confirmation bias to cloud their judgement of a situation than to view it through their own unbiased lenses. a show of support as well as community in a world where losing such connections may paint one as a predator or an outcast.

that the very act of shipping something is seen as supporting abuse or falling for manipulation when such actions present very different societal consequences overall is indicative of a larger misunderstanding about the world in general and literature's influence on the masses.

it’s the same argument that one would, say, use about people agreeing with midsommar or fight club or american psycho. yet when real satirical pieces of work criticizing prevalent societal problems in subversive ways are put side by side with shadow and bone, it becomes obvious where this argument fails. after all, for shadow and bone to present the issue of abuse and manipulation in a way that truly critiques society, it would first have to accurately depict the ways manipulation and cult tactics are utilized to exert control, and it would secondly have to display the real ways in which power is allotted within a system to the general populace as well as the individual - and it would have to tackle with nuance the diversity and intersectionality of privilege and trauma within a time of war and genocide.

the darkling's whole thing is his ability to manipulate people to empathize with him despite his wrongdoings and the fandom just proves that

a mischaracterization like this shows why such a misunderstanding would take place, however. when positing that the darkling's ability to manipulate people canonically relies on convincing them to empathize with him despite his wrongdoings, you insert more meaning into the narrative than exists. the darkling textually manipulates one young woman through his looks, because while bardugo argues that he represents a master manipulator, she only writes him as someone capable of being just pretty enough to catch a young woman's attention, so that he may use this interest to his advantage whilst still allowing her feelings of prejudice towards his race to go unaddressed.

the darkling gets alina to empathize with him, but his wrongdoings don't play a part in this. alina empathizes when she knows about his wrongdoings, yet never falls for it and still kills him. she empathizes with him when she doesn't know about his wrongdoings, and all this does is give her the impression that she understands him a bit more. nobody else is manipulated by this, so it isn't his thing. in fact, the darkling doesn't even try to appeal to anybody but alina, who canonically never fully falls for him anyway.

so to say people shipping a fictional ship somehow proves bardugo's point about the relationship... being unhealthy? is a shallow stone throwing opinion that is bound to hit some glass ceilings.

let's be real here for a second. bardugo treats her female fans like children and infantilizes her female characters. bardugo's point about the darkling's manipulation lacks nuance. bardugo's writing about abuse and manipulation in general lacks nuance, and is ultimately more harmful than helpful in any way. she has no point, because her point cannot even be supported by her own text.

comparing people liking an unhealthy fictional ship to the same mindset that occurs when consuming satirical media meant to display overall biases within general society runs into the very simple issue of that unhealthy ship representing nothing and addressing nothing prevalent about society in any meaningful way. not only that, but it isn't even portrayed in a way that would manipulate readers, considering the cheap use of narrative devices and the formatting of the story and themes overall. so what you are looking at when people like the darkling or ship the darkling and alina is people who admire the potential of these cobbled together archetypes and caricatures, and who simply admire the symbolism of such a dynamic.

for readers to, say, fall for the darkling in a way that makes bardugo's point, shadow and bone would have to be written very differently. it would have to have an accurate and nuanced handle on power and manipulation, a diverse assessment of privilege and oppression, a more realistic world state with more complex character arcs, and a consistent internal narrative that drives the plot. it would also have to have a better understanding of society and politics overall, and the methods through which organizations as well as people handle control and enforce conformity as well as obedience.

of course I hate darklina, but there's a certain beauty in people who ship them simply because of how it proves Leigh's point of his manipulation. how even though he's a murderer, predator, and so much worse, people still manage to think he deserves a relationship with Alina. that they should be together. the darkling's whole thing is his ability to manipulate people to empathize with him despite his wrongdoings and the fandom just proves that