#i cant get over the anecdote where toby stephens GIFTED prince fucking charles

[morganadismay]

THANK YOU yes exactly. it does feel crazy to compare them but the underlying themes are the same deep down: marginalized people vs the crown/the oppressor. structures of fear and shame in society vs the power in community. only bbc merlin gets so tangled in its own metaphor, uncertain if its protagonists are villains or not, and what they’re allowed to do on bbc to not be villains, and the show ultimately upholds the values it purports to criticise (e.g., to put it succinctly, gaius’s baffling and frankly appalling “uther is good for camelot” statement delivered to merlin in the wake of uther’s genocide and merlin accepting this at face value as Sound Judgement) and upholds the crown in the guise of making it tragedy. it’s poor writing, sure, but more than that it’s poor politics.

and its precisely because its the british broadcasting company (lol) that merlin stays so unbelievably centrist, “family friendly” (read: spineless) and royalist and mucks up the very compassionate metaphor its going for so severely… everytime merlin-the-character seems to get any closer to freedom/a breakthrough, he is hindered by the rigid structure of the hierarchy the show itself upholds because the writers don’t actually feel comfortable with allowing any leeway for real revolution or criticism of what camelot represents here. to actually change something you’d have to actually address something beyond “this sorcerer wanted revenge on arthur and therefore he is bad, and only those who peacefully accept their persecution and remain in their place are morally commendable”. and well. the bbc is bloody well not gonna do that ❤️ which is precisely why the comparison makes itself… with thee Fuck You British Crown show

genuinely every time i think a little too hard about bbc merlin and its politics (+ the implications irt colonialism, the british empire, queerness, revolution and religion) and it gives me a frustrated headache, i start being plagued by soothing visions of black sails. i don't know if there's another show that is so directly opposite to bbc merlin (from the quality and writing itself to the way it tackles the themes above, the way it tackles the concept of monstrosity and shame, the way it tackles ... everything) but if you ever need to like. detox. please do yourself a favour and watch it. it also has the craziest dyke drama on television with no exaggeration