#can you admire him elsewhere ffs not under this footage at least

[fymagnificentwomcn]

Yeah i do believe that gevherhan and ayşe's friendship was wasted too and i think murad did the whole "marriages of atike/silahtar, gevherhan/kemankeş" thing just to make his mother angry and to do the exact opposite of what she says like he didn't give a flying damn about anyone's happiness so it wasn't because atike supported his relationship with farya ....Anyway i think if farya didn't exist at all and they followed the historical events for once And they portrayed Ayse as his favorite and +

Yeah, in the end he didn’t give a flying fuck about anyone’s happiness or TRUE justice, it was all about punishment in the end and Atike was simply a pawn, used to “illustrate” the case. Because when you analyse the whole situation, nobody was a winner there, except maybe Murad himself because he again showed everyone he might do as he pleases and nobody is going to stop him. In a way, this again exemplifies that he’s not a just ruler, but this time without outright violence. Murad is like a rebellious teenager who will pretend to be “independent”, but in fact his idea of being independent is just as uncritical as doing always what someone orders you to do - do always the exact opposite of what someone advises you to do. True maturity and independence relies on being able to discern when to follow advice and when to not. He’s technically an adult man and a father, but mentally he’s still just a grown-up, strong, scary kid, not even being able to take responsibility for his mistakes, but instead always blaming everything on his mother and the awful world he lives in, when in fact he is the one most priviliged and in most power to shape up his own fate. Even a woman as powerful as his mother has to watch every step because she may be treated as usurper or tyrant for smallest mistake since her power isn’t seen as legitimate in many aspects. Plus, she needs to juggle being a single mother to many kids with state benefit and she sometimes couldn’t just go too far with dealing with traitors because she was scared of retaliation affecting her kids. She worked for years to achieve her status, while Murad may just make a show with executing someone with a mace, shout that he’s a shadow of God on Earth and everyone bows to him. Nobody denies Gevherhan’s husband was a traitor that deserved execution, but in the way Murad did it he humiliated his sister and his nephew. Did he take care of Gevherhan’s feelings and tears then? Not at all.

For me, the three characters of Atike, Murad and Farya while not the same, share the same underlying mentality that Mai once put: “self-centred, spoilt and playing the victim all the time”. I’d also add lack of self-awareness and treating yourself as “not like others” and the only person who suffers or does not have it easy.

In a way, Farya and Atike got a voice when they could discuss their “issues” with each other, a voice that was taken from Gevherhan and Ayse in this aspect.

I’m always surprised how Murad may whine, shout, pity himself, be angry all the time and there are plenty of people, including women, wanting to give a hug to a ”tormented soul”, while women who simply turn their pain into crying are so offensive and annoying. Man often looks “sexy” when he’s angry, woman is just a spiteful bitch etc.  Kösem’s: “Whom do I tell my sufferings to? Should I yell blindly at the walls?”is so on point because again her responsibility denies her even that, if she succumbed to anger, she would be lost, meanwhile Murad may have anger issues he has no intentions to work on that cause actual harm and destruction, but he’s simply a “poor suffering soul”.

Everyone deserves a voice, and it’s sad that characters who got most control over their lives aka Murad, Atike (who is allowed to do as she pleases for whatever reason, unlike other blood sultanas in the show) and Farya shout about their pain most, but characters who need to keep it hidden get blasted for their coping mechanisms that often do not harm anybody. Look at Murad’s reaction to Ayse’s crying and Kösem trying to keep her illness a secret - he yells at both and shows zero empathy in both cases, he interprets it “appropriately” as hysterical woman vs power hungry cold bitch and threatens BOTH with taking their children from them (because it’s then when he blackmails Kösem with locking Kasim and Ibrahim up). I don’t think there’s a more misogynist character in all MY/K, even without the physical violence towards women.

Again, Ayse and Gevherhan deserved someone to listen to their emotions too and to be able to express them too. People who keep their pain more to themselves, like Gevherhan, often get their personality simplified and reduced and once they express it, they may get villified or mocked, so that those who shout and pity themselves louder and in a more “brave, aggressive” way (often resorting to making a fuss around themselves and being destructive), aka Murad and Atike, may get whitewashed and be freed from any responsibility for their actions by some parts of the fandom.

- Joanna