#hawk being destroyed by that is justified (autism or no)

[purplerakath]

This is one of those things that being AuDHD I keep second guessing about the characters.

That and I dislike Demetri's characterization immensely. For very AuDHD reasons, if my friend showed me a video they promised me they deleted as a way to cheer me up, I'd have a meltdown. I'd never trust them again. They'd basically be dead to me. Because no matter what they said, or did, ever, in the future. That moment would be lingering in the back of my head forever.

So on the one hand, a lot of Autie traits are also just trauma response traits, and they made it clear from jump Eli has always been bullied. On the other hand a lot of the secrets Demetri told about Eli are autistic comorbidities so I'm never sure if I'm projecting or not on if Eli is ND or not.

If we do entertain the idea of ND (speaking Autism specifically for own experiences) read on Eli, I wouldn't call Hawk a mask. I would say he spends all of Season 2 and 3 completely dysregulated. He's in a form of freefall since the All-Valley in S1 and whatever forms of safety he had in his life are drained away against his will.

One of those being Demetri talking crap about Eli's special interest (Karate) since Season 1. Which is more of 'I see what they wanted with Demetri they just did it badly.' Demetri started pushing Eli away the moment Eli started being Hawk. (Which admittedly is also a very neurodivergent thing to do) Then they were on opposite sides of a war, and Demetri kept making himself less safe every time they interacted.

So it isn't a surprise in Season 3 he's basically in the longest stretch of disassociation and meltdown possible. His best friend keeps betraying him. His new best friend is in a coma/wheelchair. His third new friend moved away. And his new surrogate mentor/role model 'betrayed him' because Kreese got into Hawk's head.

And he wasn't until he got back all the people he lost (well, not Aisha, but Demetri, Miguel, and Johnny) that a balance between his two extremes (Eli in S1 and Hawk in S3) came about. Only to have that balance taken away again by Cobra Kai assaulting him and destroying another of his safe spaces (his hair, and the sanctity of his tattoo guy's shop).

But at the end of Season 4 he beats Robby (clean), has Moon back to liking him, he has all his safe people back. He can start to find out how much of Hawk was overcorrection (his apology to Kyler's flunkie in S6) and how much is him. And that is, apparently over the top America-hair.

Which in an autistic reading makes perfect sense. Also with him now finally comfortable enough in himself he can question if he ever wanted Demetri's dream of going to MIT. Like- Season 6 Hawk is incredibly healthy and flourishing.

I really, really wish the show did better with Demetri's character. I hate having my response to 90% of everyone's favorite scenes with him be 'but he's being an asshole right now.'

it’s always “eli and the hawk persona as a metaphor for masculinity/the queer experience” but it’s never eli and the hawk persona as a metaphor for the neurodivergent experience and masking. hawk is CLEARLY eli’s way of masking - he is literally following a social script, adhering to social cues and speech patterns he created to look tougher out of a need to SURVIVE. he literally distances himself away from demetri who is LITERALLY THE DEFINITION of neurodivergency (misunderstanding social cues, special interests, slower development when it comes to karate) out of fear that he might be perceived as anything that isn’t his neurotypical persona.

sure we talk about it, but we don’t talk about it in the sense of how powerful that makes the bond between him and demetri - “this is who you are.” “a loser?” “my best friend. i know you think that that mohawk defined who you are. but it didn’t. not to me.” it is the most POWERFUL thing to me when we get this narrative where demetri will stand by his side not in spite of or because of his neurodivergency but just understand that it’s a part of him. no babying, no shoving one part or another down - just acceptance. and only when eli gets that acceptance is the mohawk not a mask anymore, but a facet of his own personal beliefs, dreams and interests. hell, it’s why i can finally say that YEAH - I’M LETTING HIM WEAR THE AMERICAN MOHAWK. it isn’t some persona he wears anymore like a lie - it’s his enthusiasm for his special karate interest. and i like joking about flag desecrations, so why not.

this is a very happy/positive ramble, so i’m not going to get into complaining about how more often than not the mischaracterization of eli peeves me off so bad because my brain unconsciously connected it to people infantilizing autistic characters. LET AUTISTIC CHARACTERS HAVE FLAWS AND EXPERIENCE EMOTIONAL TURMOIL IN THEIR HIGH SCHOOL JOURNEY OF SELF DISCOVERY! IT’S FUN!