#caitvi is not abusive or problematic or proship

[spicyycarrot]

I could make a whole different post about the issues with Silco but focusing on Cait here:

Caitlyn Kiramman is not an active oppressor just because she's from Piltover. it's the additional context surrounding both characters that makes her hitting Vi particularly uncomfortable to many members of the audience.

Caitlyn is both a cop AND part of a of a powerful, influential family, she's literally the daughter of a councilor. Vi on the other hand hails from the undercity, ravaged by poverty and decades of systemic oppression from Piltover. she gets arrested by the people Cait later works for and is thrown in jail for no reason as a teenager where she's horribly mistreated for years.

in S1, there is an imbalance between them (oil and water) but neither of them ever lash out violently. Caitlyn is kind and understanding and has a lot of empathy for Vi and Zaunites in general, this completely changes in S2. no clue if there even is such a thing as the Geneva convention in Runeterra but if there is, Cait in S2 almost definitely breaks it. she uses chemical warfare against civilians, has people arrested and beaten for no reason, she gets thiiiiiis close to becoming a fascist dictator etc.

I'm gonna use an example I've seen people use in comparison to Caitlyn hitting Vi: Vi hitting Powder in S1.

There's a difference between a cop, who's part of a violent institution, hitting someone who (although a colleague) previously got beat for years in prison, and an older sister lashing out in a moment of desperation. of course Caitlyn was hurting too at that moment, of course there was grief there and she wasn't herself, but that applies to the Vi/Powder scene just as much, what's different is the additional context of "cop from a rich & powerful family vs. former inmate" in the Caitvi scene that makes people particularly uncomfortable. none of this is to say that Caitvi is. like. a problematic ship or abusive in nature, it's just that Cait hitting Vi on top of Cait's actions against Zaun - which both go completely unaddressed, which she faces no consequences for (Cait's one line about "no amount of ??? can atone for our crimes" or whatever she says doesn't really count lol because we don't even see her trying to atone for anything she did) - leaves a really, really bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. what should be an unspeakable action gets no mention from anyone, let alone apology, and you're meant to just sorta sit there and think "awww cute they're canon now :)"

again, a lot of stuff I could say about how Silco is characterized but in summary:

1. I've not seen anywhere near the amount of people rushing to defend Silco (maybe the occasional crazed fan here and there) as I've seen people do with Cait because Silco is very clearly painted by the narrative to NOT be someone you should root for

2. Caitlyn is a cop and this has very real and very unsavory implications & connections to real life. she's one of the main characters you clearly see struggling and doing horrible things, but at the end of the day the narrative wants you to still root for her. in order for that to work for a lot of audiences though, the story has to acknowledge her actions and how truly horrifying they were and make her atone for what she did.

People use oppressor x oppressed as buzz words because they actually never talk about the Canon events that take place throughout s1 and s2. It's always just regurgitation of that statement.

They never actually look at caitlyn's actions in relation to vi and zaun. Never look at the roles other characters play as well. Silco was an oppressor of his own people, but apparently the title oppressor doesn't equate to actions and only equates to "being born in piltover".