#i like discussing the flaws and depths of characters
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If Jason's character had been written to its fullest potential, as you and many others have discussed several times, do you think that there would still be a large amount of favouritism towards Percy or do you think there would just be people arguing over who's better?
Personally I like to think that if we had gotten a few books documenting Jason's time at Camp Jupiter prior to the release of The Lost Hero, people would've had time to warm up to Jason a bit more and develop a fondness for his character and then the second option probably would've happened but what do you think?
my inbox was sort of jammed w asks so I'm sorry this took so long anon! i wanted this post to be more in-depth and not lazily written so I waited for a while to get my motivation recharged again, i hope this post reaches you somehow haha
my take on this, is that yes, jason would've gained more support than he did originally, and there wouldn't have been an agressive bandwagon of people jumping on the slander train, but he would still be somewhat disliked/suppressed imo.
from what I've observed the hate doesn't just stem fom him being uninteresting, it's combined with a lot of people's attachment towards percy, that they gatekeep him and are agressive to anyone who even alludes that other characters have a chance of being more interesting/powerful if rick hadn't played favourites. (like hazel, nico, thalia, etc)
i think you'll get a better perspective with this example I'll be giving you from one of my observations (i sound like a philosophy professor pfft)
I was on the r/camphalfblood reddit once, and a post came up on my feed, the person went on to rant about how jason shouldn't be 'trying so hard to suck up to nico by being so overbearing' and that they 'wished it wasn't jason with nico in that scene, it should've been someone else' and that rick shouldn't have made jason so nice and understanding about it. they were outright bashing him for being supportive?? idk it was clear they favoured percy over him and had some kind of prejudice against jason.
i didn't even understand what op was so pressed about. that jason wasn't being homophobic and was being a supportive ally? lol thankfully the comments went off and a few of them said 'you're saying this but you would be bashing jason if he wasn't comforting nico as well, jason can never win in the fandom' and that was VERY true.
I've seen people say that jason shouldn't have been written to be a very handsome heartthrob either and that they were very annoyed that rick kept emphasizing his good looks, making him 'too perfect' but that person failed to acknowledge that rick emphasized percy's attractiveness way more than he did jason lol but that was apparently completely alright (to me it just translated to 'how dare rick make jason as good looking as percy, only percy is allowed to be hot, jason deserved to look like an ugly rat' LOL)
so you can see how people pick on him about the most trivial things ever to 'defend' percy from imaginary arguments/rivalry lol
if jason was written well, they'd still find a way to hate on him, probably tossing the 'hes such a gary stu he has no flaws' in there aswell
funny thing is that they hated him for being too perfect and not making mistakes, but proceeded to SHRED him to pieces during MOA when he said he was suspicious of nico. didn't you just claim that he needed flaws? but the moment he displays it you are driven off of the handle??
I do have an interesting perspective that works in jason's favour tho, where I'm willing to bet that atleast 80% of the fandom would've been sympathetic to his struggle and he would've become a fan favourite, even going as far as to rival percy's fame, where, like you mentioned, there would've been equal percy and jason stans and it would've become a debate as to who is better. (hint: villian jason grace) send me an ask if you want me to elaborate on this ;)
#pjo#pjo fandom#percy jackson#pjo series#pjo hoo#jason grace#pjo hoo toa#rrverse#hoo#hoo fandom#heroes of olympus#percy jackson fandom#percy jackon and the olympians#character analysis
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ignore this.
learning to shut up when i dont have anything new to say to the discussions my mutuals are having about the treatment of the female characters in this show and fandom
even though ive just gone ahead and rambled in the tags a bunch of bullshit
#lohst.txt#they're all so right#because this fandom has had problems since the beginning#its always about the boys#the fics and the art and everything#and the fact that a large portion of this fandom is obsessed with the squip. the ACTUAL villain. yet would wish a 16 year old girl death#yeah. chloe did some fucked up things. yeah. dywh is an awful situation that was not handled well#(because this show has awful writing. you guys have been saying that already and youre right)#but come on. y'all act like the other characters did nothing wrong#if the writers would have cared to put actual depth into these characters#i havent listened to the source material in. a while. and i never got around to watching any other boot other than two rivers#i dont know what im saying#it was so easy to join bmc rp servers because no one ever picked the girls#did that mean i was left out of the rps? mostly. yeah#i mean. those servers always had the same rich and jake so we'd team up#but the jeremy and michael would barely give room for anyone else to interact with them#i used to have some discussions with someone about the flaws of this show and how the girls are constantly ignored#(back when i had sort of dipped out of the fandom)#anyway im never one to get involved in discourse directly#i support my mutuals and reblog art and post my silly little fics#mostly because im always too tired to put a lot of thought into any in depth analysis#(even though i have alot of thoughts on chloe and fairytales. which has nothing to do with this whatsoever)#everyone else has said it so much better than what i can currently come up with rn#but the way that the girls get watered down to one personality trait (this includes madeline). and are always used as background characters#the way there was so much christine hate at one point because she got inn the way of boyf riends#i looked chloe up on pinterest the other day out of curiosity#and there was so much hate#everyone likes christine and brooke#theyre the nice girls#the ones that get watered down to innocent and naĂŻve and the mum friend of the group
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in regards to laios mispronouncing toshiro's name, colonial powers have been nonconsensually changing ethnic names to make them "easier" for white people to pronounce for centuries. erasing an individual's name erases their identity and their culture. it's a way of forcibly assimilating minorities into a dominant culture. while the island has not colonized wa or anything like that, toshiro is still an ethnic minority on the island. laios' inability to properly pronounce toshiro's japanese name but properly pronounce every other character's name (especially when many of them are western-inspired) demonstrates a racist imbalance of power
it's worth noting that toshiro is the only character whose name is consistently mispronounced in the story. laios mistakenly calling toshiro "shuro" is a significant detail in the narrative. it's more than a simple slip-up on laios' part but an indicator of a broader trend of ethnic names being "too strange" or "too difficult" for western/the island's society. instead of learning how to pronounce his name properly, society urges toshiro to accept an "easier" name. laios dubbing toshiro "shuro" is another way society others him
in the context of laios' (unintentionally) racist dehumanizing view of toshiro and how this colors their entire relationship, laios mispronouncing toshiro's name also exemplifies the racial issues at play in their relationship's dynamic
obviously, laios doesn't know that he's mispronouncing toshiro's name and toshiro doesn't correct him, but my points still stand. i'd also argue that toshiro isn't quite as bad at communicating as the fandom believes him to be. for example, he tells laios and marcille that he thinks ancient magic is a bad idea, and he confronts kabru about his motives in sealing the dungeon and working with the elves. toshiro mainly fails to address laios' microaggressions towards him, including laios mispronouncing his name. if toshiro didn't feel othered by the island's society for being eastern, he'd probably feel more comfortable bringing up his discomfort with laios' actions
an angel loses its wings every time a white person reblogs my laios-toshiro meta saying they don't believe laios doing x or y constitutes a racist microaggression or toshiro acts maliciously against laios but not vice versa (neither of them act with malicious intent imo)
i just ask that we think about the implications of what we're saying about race before we post it. none of us are perfect. we're all products of our own biases, which is exactly why we have to be extra careful when speaking outside of our lived experiences. please consider how you might be contributing to harmful racist dynamics when you reblog a post about the white consumption of asian cultures and the consquential dehumanization of asian people with a denial of racism or a bad faith reading of the asian man's but not the white man's actions
no one who did this is morally bankrupt or anything like that. i know none of you harbor ill intent, but this is just a request that we think about the broader sociohistorical context before we speak on race. if you're uncertain about something, take a moment to educate yourself first, and when you make a mistake, be willing to listen
#toshiro nakamoto#laios touden#dungeon meshi#tbh if i was toshiro and my white boss/coworker kept committing microaggressions against me#i would also not confront him about it#also toshiro is obv a very flawed character as well but i feel like i very rarely see legitimate critiques of him#like we can talk more about how he's sexist or classist in the context of his upbringing and role in the nakamoto household#potentially the issue is that discussions surrounding toshiro are often grounded in his relationships w laios and falin#which are ofc interesting to explore#but do not explore the full depth of his character both /pos and /neg#long post
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The himbo, malewife, goofball -fication of percy jackson is such a crime by both the fans and riordan. It has made Mr not like percabeth as a couple because in all posts and in later books annabeth is such a girlboss, while Percy's dumb and can't fight his way out of a paperbag without her. All the posts are about how annabeth will be an architect and percy would love to be a trophy husband.
Even the humor in the books went from Percy's sharp wit and snark to 'my pancakes can't drown because I'm a son of poseidon.'
And now this recommendation letter bullshit.
Honestly now I'd wish percy just separated from annabeth (but they remain best friends.) He stays home with his family, becomes a camp counselor, helps young demigods, holds God's accountable and eventually becomes a social activist. (I also dislike him doing something marine biology related. It's clear he hates academics but he always wants to help people. Him helping demigods and mortals is such a wholesome profession for him.)
I fully agree with the first half of this, though I slightly disagree with part of the latter.
The later-series and fanon mischaracterization of Percy is at least a solid 50% ableism minimum, full stop. He's being warped into a very stereotyped ADHD character and the exact reason why he's being characterized as "dumb" is because of ableism. Percy is a very intelligent character! That's exactly why he's so in sync with Annabeth and they're such a strong duo! It's just generally Annabeth is more book/academically smart.
I disagree with where you say he hates academics - because that's one of the common misconceptions about his character. Percy doesn't hate learning or academic subjects! He's not even bad at them! We know explicitly that when he is in an accommodating environment he is interested in learning and gets significantly better grades! Percy only dislikes school because it is generally an environment that systematically he struggles with. It's literally just he has a learning disability (two, actually)! That's it! When his learning disability is accommodated for he does well! It's almost like that's what accommodations are all about! We know this from the first series! It's discussed pretty in-depth! Percy isn't a dumb character and he doesn't hate learning, he's just been let down by school systems so much that he's inherently distrustful of them. If they actually accommodate him though then he does just fine!
And that's exactly what CHB was all about and why New Rome University was supposed to be such a big thing for him! CHB is a learning environment geared for demigods. NRU is a demigod college. Both inherently imply an environment meant to cater to and accommodate students with ADHD and dyslexia! They are both systematically structured to be able to accommodate him! Heck, CHB and CJ even both address in the wider themes of the series a metaphor about how ADHD and dyslexia are commonly seen as childhood disabilities, and how it can be more difficult to find accommodations into adulthood because of that attitude but those disabilities don't just go away - that's why CHB is a summer camp but they talk about how demigods outside of CHB don't often fare well. The metaphor there is those who are not getting help or accommodations are struggling. Because that's how that works! This is a fully intentional metaphor from the first series! CHB is never framed as being perfect for demigods, because one of the entire central conflicts of the series is Percy and Luke going back and forth about this flawed system meant to help and support them but still letting people fall through the cracks. The "claim your kids by 13" thing is a metaphor about how acknowledging a child's disabilities (and possibly getting a diagnosis) earlier/as early as possible means they will have more time to learn and build up resources and support for themselves to be able to use later in life. One of CHB's major flaws is that it can accommodate demigods to a certain point, but it can only do so much before those demigods have to leave (the metaphor being accommodating school systems when those disabled students do not have any other forms of accommodations in their lives.)
And that's why Camp Jupiter was framed as being so revolutionary for Percy because it had an environment acknowledging that this is not just a childhood disability, adults with ADHD/dyslexia exist too and still need and deserve accommodations, AND is a place where those accommodations are available. That's why Camp Jupiter and NRU are treated as such special and important things to Percy, because it's essentially Percy being shown this type of thing can and does exist and it is available to him. It is an option he never thought was possible. Percy never thought he'd be able to go to college because he would not be able to go through school without accommodations, but NRU proves otherwise.
The part that's absolutely stupid is Rick then proceeded to retcon NRU so that apparently it's not a full college and Percy still has to take classes at normal mortal college which DEFEATS THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF NRU EXISTING. Rick has fully retconned that demigods struggle past the ages of 16-18 when they're on their own (see above elaborated metaphors) and in doing so we have fully killed all symbolism in literally all of that. It's so stupid. And by having the plot of the CoTG trilogy entirely be that Percy is not actually allowed access to NRU in the first place because he is a son of Poseidon and has to do extra to even be accepted is stupid!
All that to say, I agree the marine biology feels like a huge cop-out and a disservice to his character by reducing him to just a son of Poseidon. The literal only reason why it's the default option people take for him is because oh, fish thing, fish guy. But I feel like everyone ignores the really obvious answer for what Percy would want to do which is - writing. Both his parents are writers/authors and he clearly admires that about them. Percy likes telling stories! He canonically is already a published author in-universe! That's what the books ARE in-universe! The first series fully exists in their universe and Percy is the author! This is explicit canonical information! Percy canonically has help physically writing it down (accommodations) but he is still the credited author! Percy is a writer! Already! Canonically! Why are we making him a marine biologist he already has a profession that ties into his character significantly more. Like you said, Percy likes helping people. That's what the books in-universe are supposed to be for! It's point blank at the beginning of the series! Book one! The thing everybody quotes all the time! The books exist because it is Percy trying to give advice to other demigods who don't know what's going on yet! It's Percy's writing down his experiences to help new demigods understand and contextualize their experiences so they can understand themselves better and figure out what's going on - WHICH IN ITSELF IS ALSO A METAPHOR ABOUT ADHD/DYSLEXIA! Because the core of the series has and always will be built around ADHD/dyslexia! Percy as a protagonist EXPLICITLY was created so that ADHD/dyslexic kids could see themselves as a hero!
Sorry that all was a very tangential rant but my point being: Absolutely. Percy in newer stuff in the franchise and in fanon is horrifically mischaracterized in ways that are functionally either fully ableist (shoutout TSATS for just outright claiming Percy is intentionally lazy and skips school out of disinterest, which is like the number one ableist attitude towards kids with learning disabilities) or a complete erasure of Percy's disabilities. Also I think he should be a writing major not a marine biologist.
#pjo#percy jackson#riordanverse#rr crit#cotg#meta#analysis#chalice of the gods#adhd#dyslexia#disability#Anonymous#ask#long post //#i do agree with the ''Percy continues to hold the gods accountable'' thing because that too is a metaphor for adhd/dyslexia#more re: accommodating systems and making sure demigods (disabled kids) are getting the support they need#functionally it's equivalent to Percy doing that thing where you have to nag whoever's in charge of ADA stuff to actually do their job#it's the rant i always go on: you cannot remove the disability themes from PJO or else it is no longer PJO and you ruin everything#you cannot divorce Percy's character from being disabled/having ADHD and dyslexia/PTSD/etc#it is the core of his character and the entire plotline and arc he navigates in the first series#disability is the foundational core of the franchise and if you fuck that up you have literally lost the plot and need to revise#i actually really genuinely love the layers of disability themes and metaphors in the first series and thats why its my favorite#because every other subsequent main series loses that#the other series arent as much about disability - they have different focal themes - so they get a pass there#though they do way better to holding on to their focal themes more than like HoO or TOA does by LEAGUES#anyways i didnt proofread this cause its early so forgive any errors or nonsense i was just ramblin'
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alien romulus, andy, racism, and why robots are autistic
this is an introspective into how the alien series treats artificial humans, also known as synthetics, and how sci-fi portrays androids in general. alien romulus spoilers under cut. written by a native autistic and disabled fan <3
andy from alien romulus is an artificial human that is constantly being seen as less because of his race (artificial human) and who often portrays autistic characteristics. these characteristics include an aversion to loud sounds, difficulty reading social cues, and a special interest in dad jokes.
his behavior is explained by him being a âdamagedâ artificial human, which is somewhat disappointing. itâs disappointing that these traits that so many of us autistic people have are considered flaws in the context of the movie.
his sister, who is human, takes him for granted and chooses her life over his, even though he shows emotions and was apart of her family. even though it isnât outright stated, this kind of reminds me how sometimes we as autistic people are seen as a burden on our families, despite us being able to care for ourselves.
once andy gets rookâs chip inserted he becomes âbetterâ. âbetterâ motor skills, âbetterâ intelligence, and âbetterâ everything. but yet, he still portrays autistic characteristics. he doesnât go from autistic to not autistic, he just starts displaying different autistic traits. he is very knowledgeable about tech, aliens, and the human body, while being very objective about what the right thing to do is. instead of being a very empathetic person, he is a very practical and calculating person, which i think is super interesting.
honestly, i think it would have been really interesting to see him be the sole survivor. to have him get his revenge on the sister that betrayed him and the world who bullied him for his raise and ability.
okay now to androids, synthetics, and robots as a whole. robots are seen as cold and emotionless, similarly to how autistic people are seen, so many ai and robot characters are autistic coded. robots donât have compassion or empathy in the eyes of the general public, same as autistic people. many autistic people have reclaimed robot characters to represent us, and i think thatâs fantastic !!
i specifically love artificial humans in the alien franchise because they showcase so much depth and empathy, while still displaying autistic traits. and beyond that, most of these artificial humans are enslaved by a corporation (weyland yutani), and despite direct programming from their oppressors, most artificial humans end up doing the right moral thing in the end, further proving their humanity. despite being technically non human, i genuinely think theyâre good autistic representation. do i like the way that the characters around them treat them ? no. but i think that might be the point. the point is that these characters are ableist and racist and shouldnât be considered morally correct. i think that the writers could convey this in a better way though.
okay. racism discussion time. several times throughout this series we encounter artificial humans, and almost every time they have to correct their peers on the right terminology to use for them. as a native person who has had to tell multiple people (coworkers, professors, etc.) not to call me an indian, this really stuck with me growing up, and i still think itâs interesting to this day. in alien: romulus andyâs sister uses âsyntheticâ to refer to him MULTIPLE TIMES, after heâs stated that he prefers artificial human. this is important, because even though heâs family she still does not fully understand what he goes through and she does not respect his identity or boundaries.
there are also multiple instances throughout the series where characters (our beloved ripley included) have prejudice against artificial humans because of bad experiences with artificial humans in the past. this causes human characters to attack and/or harass artificial humans who they have just met for no other reason than their race. in alien: romulus we see a character be hostile towards andy because another unrelated artificial human made a choice to save the many over the few, and his mother died. this is a choice that many humans would make and would not be blamed for. this reflects the real world, where people of color are blamed for almost every choice they make, while white folks can make the same choices and not be criticized.
in conclusion, i love the character of andy and i think him and the alien franchise as a whole is so interesting. let me know if you want a deep dive into the themes of sexual violence, birth, and motherhood in the alien series !! iâve done a whole research paper on it, and my college admissions essay was about the alien queen, so i know quite a lot !! i hope this drives a lot more fans towards the alien fandom and i hope a bunch more merch comes out !! yippee !!
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Empire of Death was bad and cemented several fundemental flaws in this season.
I watched this in the theatre, and the contrast between everyone's excitement before Empire, and their universal disappointment leaving the theatre was super disheartening. I'm gonna try to articulate my problems with episode, and how they're linked to fundenental structural issues of this season.
SPOILERS BELOW:
Sutekh
The moment the UNIT characters died the story was robbed of any stakes. (Also? Kate and Ibrahim?? During Pride month?? Disgusting)
Sutekh was pointless, big CGI spectacle who was barely there. Saying he's been latched onto the TARDIS since Pyramids of Mars was such an asspull. Why couldn't he have latched on during Wild Blue Yonder? wouldn't that make much more sense??
You're telling me the guy who holds all life in contempt is invested enough in learning the identity of Ruby's mum he willingly reveals himself??
And then they defeat him by dragging him through the Vortex just like before, which it's been explicitly stated *didn't work* last time? He just *lets* Ruby leash him??
The 'death of death is life' bit, and the idea of the Doctor representing life as a Ying to Sutekh's Yang, is a cool concept just jammed in there with no real buildup or depth.
The issue is bringing Sutekh back takes so much effort- a literal, clunky clipshow of Pyramids of Mars, a whole episode spent building up to the reveal of a silly anagram entirely unrekated to Sutekh's previous appearance. And it just... amounts to nothing. What a silly way to cap off a season meant to be jumping-on point for brand-new viewers.
Mel was just takingup space. Pointless.
Ruby's Mother
I don't have a problem with the *concept* of Ruby's mum being normal. I really like the idea thematically. The execution was terrible.
First of all it leaves so many unanswered questions (why the snow? Why was time changing? Why was she shadowed? Literally just for the sake of the mystery-box?) and represents the worst thing about this new era- RTD using fantasy logic to handwave any logic at all, and just do whatever he wants without properly justifying it.
Second, I *hate* how easy and simple and neat the reunion is. Ruby seems incapable of getting angry with anyone. She has never once argued with 15, or Carla, or anyone besides that one moment in 73 Yards. She has never expressed any kind of negative feeling towards her mother for abandoning her. And it's fine for her to reach that conclusion! It's just bizzare we never see Ruby struggle with her feelings beyond the shallow goal of wanting to find her.
(Also Carla? Has nothing to say?? Just welcomes that woman in with basically no comment? Carla is a 2D cutout of a person, used as a plot device and otherwise relegated to the single character trait of I Love My Daughter. The children yearn for the ilk of Jackie Tyler, Sylvia Noble, even Francine Jones.)
15 & Ruby
The emotion behind 15 & Ruby's split felt entirely unearned because we've never seen their bond develop. They never argue, never disagree, Ruby hasn't learned anything about herself or grown or changed. The closest we got to that is 73 Yards, which was undone. She was already brave and kind and musical and sure she loved her adoptive family when we met her in Church on Ruby Road.
Similarly, 15 tells us Ruby encouraged him to talk about family in a way he never has, but that was in what, two moments across the season? And they seemed random, unrelated to Ruby being with him. New viewers will assume 15 is just that open anyway- he was discussing fatherhood with a dead man's hologram- and old viewers assumed trauma-dumping was just a new trait of 15's personality, not Ruby-specific.
The problem is we're told Ruby & 15 are best friends but it isn't earned. I liked 15 crying initially but both he and Ruby do it so much (15 cries about 5 times in this one episode) it loses its impact and I'm becoming numb to it. There is no contrast, no downtime.
Season Structural Issues
I think the biggest problem is Season 1's storytelling priorities. It's much more interested in selling *the show* (look at our big budget! And guest stars! And how flexible our format is! Musical episode! The Beatles as props! Bottle episode! Indie folk-horror! Black Mirror! Gay Bridgerton!) it forgot to put effort into developing and investing us in its characters. I liked a lot of the individual stories this year but in retrospect a lot of them feel like they're wasting space that needed to go to essential character and theme setup.
These skewed priorities, combined with the cut down episode count, really impact the pacing of the season. Ruby and 15 were barely together! Even in Rogue they were seperated for most of the story!! We only loop back to a flashback of 15 meeting Carla in Rogue!
This is made worse by the baffling insistence on a 45-minute runtime. We know key sequences were cut from almost every episode, with highlights including:
The Gobin King invading Ruby's flat and her banishing him with scratchcards in The Church on Ruby Road: Her missing 'companion saves the day' moment!
Refrence to the Toymaker in The Church on Ruby Road, which was itself referenced in The Devil's Chord. 'I told you about the Toymaker when we first met' sir, objectively you did not.
The TARDIS jukebox playing the Sugarbabes' Push The Button in the opening scene of Space Babies, hastily cut around in the final edit. This is the setup of a running joke still in the episode, and part of the story's climax. The first encounter with the Bogeyman was also longer, with 15 taking particular interest in its skin
Extended scenes in Abbey Road from The Devil's Chord, including an apparently significant speaking role for Cilla Black, according to her annoyed actress.
Cut dialogue from The Devil's Chord explaining the musoical number was caused by Maestro's power lingering, and that banishing them undid everything they'd done. Fans inferred thos based on the rules established in The Giggle, but again, new fans haven't seen The Giggle and were left clueless.
An opening sequence for The Legend of Ruby Sunday where 15 & Ruby meet Susan as a nanny in 1947 America, a blue-skinned waitress, and an astronaut meeting a colony of giant, sentient ants. At the end of this we actually see 15 decide to go to UNIT for help. In the broadcast version he just sorta shows up.
Really what Empire of Death exposed to me is how emotionally hollow the season was. I enjoy the exoperimentalism, but not at the cost of character. And then in the finale Russell reverts to almost a parody of his RTD1 finales, with the nonsense logic and lack of consequences. All the worst bits of Last of the Time Lords and The Giggle put in a blender.
#doctor who#dw spoilers#empire of death#empire of death spoilers#doctor who spoilers#ncuti gatwa#millie gibson#ruby sunday#fifteenth doctor#rtd2#rtd critical#doctor who series 14
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I think people sometimes think I hate Roy Mustang because a lot of my long meta posts don't discuss him in the most favorable light, when nothing could be further from the truth.
I am obsessed with him.
Most definitely one of my Top 5 Fullmetal Alchemist characters.
I just think the guilt and the war crimes are the most interesting parts of his character. His belief to face justice at the end of his claim to power is what makes him enjoyable. His beef with a teenager amuses me. His inability to win a game of chess is what makes him a great strategist. His loyalty to Riza gives him depth.
But like... I only enjoy talking about him when I can acknowledge that he bought into military propaganda. When I play with the fact that he saw people desert in Ishval and couldn't do it. When I really dig my teeth into the fact that he threatened their entire plan against Father just to avenge Hughes. When the fact that he cannot separate his personal feelings from his professional goals plays into how easily he can be tricked and played with.
He's so deeply flawed and I love talking about that because that's what makes it FUN!
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Narrative: Handling Complicated Situations
I saw this Twitter thread about this particular scene from Spooky Month 6 and I really enjoy seeing people engaged in the discussion understand the grey areas and complexities in this scene and that no oneâs truly right or wrong. No one is going âHe was so mean to herâ.
Despite Father Gregorâs harsh words and his strict ideals, we as the audience know he comes from a good place. Heâs shown to genuinely want to help people and cares about the boys. We also know Lila loves her son and wants to protect him but the show isnât afraid to call her out on her faults. We see the consequences of the boysâ actions with the demon. Even then, we see their personal issues that we can sympathize with.
This also had me thinking about the Hellaverse (particularly HB) and how it often fails at presenting nuanced situations like Stolitz, Stolas and Stella, or Blitz and his sister, Barbie. Usually, they only show one characterâs perspective, expect you to sympathize with them, and frame the other character as one-dimensional so far. The only situation I can think of that was given some nuance was Stolas and Octaviaâs relationship in Looloo Land. However, after that episode the show stopped exploring Octavia as a character and wanted to give Stolas more sympathy.
Father Gregor couldâve easily been made into a one-note character, given his brief appearance in the last Spooky Month, but the show decided not to do that. They put effort into giving depth to almost all the characters. Donât mean to sound cliche but if Father Gregor was written by Vivziepop or in HH/HB, he would be this one-dimensional, judgmental, self righteous character youâre meant to hate (pretty much Lute). He wouldâve called Lila a bad mother instead of irresponsible so the audience can easily side with Lila.
Both of these are indie cartoons. The difference is one allows characters to be flawed/human while the other is more concerned with the audience liking certain characters.
#vivziepop critical#vivziepop criticism#helluva boss critical#spindlehorse critical#helluva boss criticism#helluva boss critique#spindlehorse criticism#hazbin hotel critical#hazbin hotel critique#hazbin hotel criticism#spooky month
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The Problems With Charlie As The Main Protagonist
I've spoken about my thoughts on Charlie as a character before a few times on this blog, but I think it's finally time to discuss why Charlie isn't exactly the best protagonist. On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with her, she's likable and endearing enough and she's easy to root for. But...once you look deeper, the problems begin to rear their ugly head.
1. Charlie Never Grows
The first major issue with Charlie as a character is how she never really grows over the course of the first season. The show never really gives her much of an arc...? Like, by the end of the season, what does Charlie really learn by the end? The only thing I can think of is that she was right about sinners being redeemed and...that's it.
And it doesn't really make Charlie that particularly compelling as a character, she's entirely stagnant. She does have a conflict with her father, which, while executed fine, isn't enough to make her a developed character. She only gets small tinges of development and that isn't really enough for me.
Charlie doesn't learn anything or grow as a character, which makes her pretty underdeveloped as a character. The show never really gives her any real character flaws to grow from and become a better person, she's always portrayed as in the right anyway and never challenged once. Speaking of that...
2. Charlie is Always Right
This more or less ties back into the "Charlie never grows" point I've said before and I've talked about this several times before, but it's still an issue with Charlie's character; she is ALWAYS in the right. Charlie's "everyone can be redeemed" mentality is never once challenged by the narrative, and anybody who does oppose Charlie in any way is considered as wrong by the narrative.
The reason why this is a problem is because Hazbin Hotel heavily preaches about being against black-and-white moralities, as seen with Heaven and especially Adam. Heaven is meant to be seen as bad because of its black-and-white mindset of "Sinners can't be redeemed and never will". This is put on full display with Adam, and his song Hell is Forever, to the point it literally includes lyrics like "the rules are black and white there's no use in trying to fight it".
You Didn't Know further pushes this with this line "the rules are shades of gray when you don't do as you say and you make the wretched suffer just to kill them again".
So the show wants to push a message of "black and white morals are bad", but...it's rendered moot by the fact that Charlie is purely portrayed as in the right. Charlie is completely correct, everybody can be redeemed, everyone even the most evil people who did the worst possible things can still be good, and anyone who opposes her is wrong cuz she's completely in the right...gee, for a show so heavily against black-and-white moralities...doesn't this all seem very black and white in it of itself?
Charlie's "everyone can be redeemed" mentality is just as black and white as Adam's "nobody can be redeemed", they are both extremes leaning in opposite directions, that are also both wrong in their own ways, yet the show portrays Charlie's extreme as the right one and Adam's as the wrong one.
I've already talked about this before but Adam is a pure straw character; he only exists so Charlie can prove him wrong, he cant have any real character depth beyond being a generic asshole or have a real point because the show is so dead-set on making Charlie purely in the right no matter what; the narrative never challenges her and anyone who opposes her is portrayed as automatically in the wrong.
This is not the only time this happens btw. In episode 5, Lucifer is also portrayed as automatically wrong for opposing his daughterâs goals. He himself says that âOur people are AWFUL. They got gifted free will and look what they did with it!â, and the showâŚnever counters this, despite what Lucifer is sayingâŚbeing true. The people in Hell ARE awful and it's their own fault, many of them ARE deserving of death becauseâŚwell, their shitty people.
Charlie is never challenged once throughout the show and its a problem because not only does it fly in the face of the show being so anti black and white, it also wastes an opportunity for the show to develop Charlie as a character; with her learning that some people can't be redeemed because they either are incapable or uninterested in changing.
That would fit more with the showâs anti-black-and-white themes and also have Charlie go through real growth as a character as she learns that not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. But sadly, we can't really have that.
So Charlie's ideals are never challenged by the narrative and thus it not only flies in the face of the show's themes it also wastes an opportunity for Charlie to grow as a character. Now it's best to get into the next issue with her...
3. Charlie is Barely Focused On
Another big issue with Charlie as the show's main protagonist is that the show doesn't really focus on her that much, especially the first half. Now, shows don't need to focus on the main protagonist at all times, obviously giving some screen time to other characters is definitely something shows should do.
But the problem is that Charlie gets very LITTLE focus in the series despite being the main protagonist, and this contributes to the problem of her being underdeveloped. The first half of the show is especially bad at this; episode 1 Is the only episode in the first half that focuses on Charlie, but even then it's overtaken by the B-plot involving the other characters trying to film a commercial.
Episodes 2&3 are entirely dedicated to what characters like Alastor or Angel Dust are doing and episode 4 is completely focused on Angel and his arc. It contributes to the issue of the show not being able to develop Charlie that much as a character because she's constantly being overshadowed by other characters. The second half is better in this regard for focusing more on Charlie but still, for the first half of the show, it feels like Charlie is overshadowed by other characters which is embarrassing because, well, she's the main character, yet she feels like she's barely gotten any actual spotlight.
4. Conclusion
I want to love Charlie as a character. I really do. I mean, she's a part of one of my favorite character archetypes. I always LOVE over joyful optimistic characters because I just find them a joy to watch on screen, but sadly, Charlie doesn't have much depth beyond that archetype. She isn't that developed making her fail to be much of a compelling protagonist, her ideology is never challenged by the narrative wasting an opportunity for her to grow and contradicting the show's themes, and she's heavily overshadowed by other characters despite being the main protagonist.
So ya, that's why Charlie isn't that great of a protagonist...bye.
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wyll and bow too
i need karlach and scorpia to be friends
#not to make it politic but have yall noticed that theres a trend with making black men in stories like. one dimensionally nice?#like#it almost feels like the writers are saying ''look we're not racist! not only we have a black man in our main cast and we're not making him#angry or agressive hes a real nice person!'' and then they dont give them any more depth beyond that#and then they just leave the characters aside#ive noticed it happen so many times in recent ''progressive'' stories#wait now that im writing this down im kind of remembering the internet having a discussion about this before there might even be a term for#this trope? curse my shit fuck memory#anyways point is. bow and wyll would get along because they both got done dirty by the writers who forgot to give them personalities#(before yall come for me im exaggerating obviously both of them have both depth AND personality. i just mean that compared to other#characters in their stories theyre obviouslyunder developed. its a well known flaw in both works.
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I think I'll just say this: I don't agree when people call any of the islanders "bad parents" just because their parenting is flawed.
Like, parents and their parenting is flawed. Inherently. One parent cannot meet all the demands of their child; it is literally impossible. As humans are imperfect, there will always be something missing or lacking in one's parenting. Hell, sometimes even two parents can't meet all their child's needs, depending on their personalities. If that's the case, then I guess all parents are bad parents. But that's not the case, so I don't get why people are so adamant when they see that a parent isn't handling things 100% perfectly and go "wow this person's parenting sucks."
And this is even more so when you take into account... pretty much everything going on in Quesadilla island. These people never really planned to be parents, yet here they are! And this island is out to kill these kids, so it's also a dangerous game of survival now, too! There are horrors around pretty much every corner. Plus, outside or inside forces are making the islanders suffer very often. The islanders are never okay. How they take care of their children is going to be different just by the very basis of their environment. The standards of parenting are different here. Their relationships with people, including their children, were never going to be 100% healthy or positive or okay. It's just not possible.
so, no, I don't think that just cause, say, q!Tubbo or q!Phil aren't great in regards to their emotional intelligence and often isolate themselves, or when any other parents in general don't handle what their children are going through perfectly, that they're bad parents. That kinda statement feels like it diminishes pretty much all the hard work and effort and love they put into taking care of their kids and even kids that aren't their own. Tubbo gives his everything for Sunny, and was/is an active babysitter for a lot of other eggs. Phil works so hard to love and teach survival to and take care of his two eggs equally. (Like, being 'basically' a single parent, of one or WORSE, two, is already hard enough in the real world - imagine being one on this fucking hellscape they're on).
Like, I don't think there's anything wrong with pointing out the parents' flaws. Their flaws make them human, and it'd be foolish to disregard their humanity. And it's interesting to analyze their flaws and what they say about the character, and how they impact their family. There's nuance there, and it should be discussed.
But I think when you're just going "oh, they're bad at parenting in general" because they fumble the bag in other departments lacks nuance. Sure, if you're just saying "they're bad when it comes to certain aspects of parenting," that's a different story, because that's understanding their flaws while recognizing that those flaws don't define all of their parenting. But to just say they're bad at it in general isn't productive analysis of their characters in any way. I haven't watched q!Phil take care of his egg for a whole year (followed by a second egg more consistently shortly after) only for people to shit on his parenting just because his lack emotional intelligence is more noticeable as of recent due to all the trauma and bullshit he's endured. And I haven't seen q!Tubbo put his whole heart into taking care of Sunny as well as multiple other eggs, being Chayanne and Tallulah's reliable godfather, just for people to put down his efforts because he's not always great at more emotionally in depth conversations. They're good parents in a lot of ways, and those strengths shouldn't be discredited just because they aren't good at other things. Their characters deserve way better than that.
tldr these parents are all good in many regards and are just trying their damn best in the worst of circumstances, can we cut them just a bit of slack, please?
#qsmp#fuck it i'm tagging the characters i mentioned#q!philza#q!tubbo#missy rambles#also tldr this discourse is fucking dumb#like jesus calling them bad parents feels like it's shitting on all the time they've spent on this damn island taking care of these kids#all cause they're bad at talking about feelings sometimes? give me a break
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hi to chrom hater anon i'm a professional chrom enjoyer
if you get deranged enough about awakening i think chrom is a very well done character :) he's ignorant but well meaning which meshes in interesting ways. he's not overtly prejudiced to the plegians he knows personally but still *generally* prejudiced because of his upbringing.
additionally in discussions of the ylisse-plegia war he tends to focus on how ylisse came away from it because that state of ylisse is what shaped his formative childhood years (seen particularly in his feelings about emmeryn's early years as exalt). this is UNDERSTANDABLE but still an extremely DEEPLY FLAWED and naive stance when doing politics on a larger scale, which chrom is incredibly ill-prepared for. it's a very childish view of a large scale conflict.
chrom's propensity for violence is a trait that actually deeply fascinates me. he has intense admiration for emmeryn's desire for peace yet he has a very short temper in tense situations (seen in basically all of chrom's interactions with gangrel), and he tends to lash out easily at anyone he views as an enemy. he admires peace but sees no other means to achieve it than violence. isn't that interesting. the implications here. like, he's the inheritor of the falchion, he's the only son in his family, in all likelihood it was expected that HE would take the throne and continue his father's war, but he was so young when the exalt passed that the crown went to emmeryn instead.
it really seems like emmeryn intentionally kept her siblings away from politics, which results in BOTH of them being naive in vastly different ways, with the expectation that she would always shoulder the burden of the crown yet left all the bigger a void when she died.
mind, intentionally being raised to behave this way isn't an excuse either. it's ultimately still something chrom, as an adult, SHOULD examine critically. this is, in fact, a character flaw, and i think its great.
you can then of course do nice little compare and contrast at the shitty dads, i.e. chrom's dad vs validar. robin's first act as an awakened god is murdering validar. robin became the monster everyone saw them as, the one their father thinks they were born to be. it's a neat lil nature vs nurture comparison if you really get into the depths of grima-ology (hi grima âď¸ mutuals).
to dig more into points the chrom hater anon makes.
"chrom is transphobic for killing excellus" do you hear yourself. excellus was an enemy commander. chrom has no personal grievances against the commanders other than they are part of the army with the known intent to raze ylisse.
SAME WITH ROBIN BURNING DOWN THE BOATS. THEY ARE AT WAR. IF ROBIN DIDNT DO THAT THEY'D ALL GET KILLED. they would have to fight the valm forces ON FOOT and BE KILLED VIOLENTLY because they are vastly outnumbered. it would be weird if he WASN'T at least happy about this.
he could stand to be regretful about the massive loss of human life but honestly hashtag robin warcrimes W.
"chrom makes sure to only recruit white ylisseans" i think this is just dev colorism actually. like you know how robin's dad (who is evil) is brown, but robin (who is good) is white? and how that makes no sense and robin should logically also be brown? i dont think chrom would've turned down if like, mustafa joined him. it is simply that intsys was still in their racism era (which is, tbh, only really ended with engage, like, cmon, look at literally all of FE, this isn't a chrom flaw, it's a FE being racist flaw.)
same with the sexism things actually FE is just homophobic and sexist a lot so all the characters are also by extension. this is called doylist analysis
Chrom tells Aversa "One person's life means nothing in the shadow of millions" Chrom is a hypocrite i hope this helps. additionally what aversa is doing is "help the dark god literally causing the apocalypse rn" whereas the sacrifice/save robin choice is "doom people in some hypothetical far off future" which is FAR less personal than "all of humanity RIGHT NOW".
TLDR: the real chrom enjoyers know about his character flaws and love him anyway because it's nice flavor to chew on
also never insult my beautiful daughter lucina ever again. she is deeply compelling even if she is narratively underutilized. anyone who calls themself a chrom fan and hates lucina is a faker and will not survive the winter.
also learn the difference between flaws of the story's writing and flaws of the character otherwise everybody in awakening is sexist.
anon you should read chrom/grima fanfiction unironically we fucking love tearing this dude to shreds for his flaws. this has all been a ploy to say that. chrom is naive and selfish and hypocritical and i love him very much he is my wif e :)
.
#fe#fire emblem#chrom fe#chrom fire emblem#i am no longer neutral on chrom#fe13#fe awakening#fire emblem awakening#what am i witnessing#fave takes <3
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I hate the attitude that so many people in the RDR2 fanbase have that gun = strong. When discussing the women - Abigail, Molly and Mary specifically here because they are who I was talking about when I was told these things - who are, to me undoubtedly, strong women who withstand horrible circumstances, I am told that no, actually, theyâre not strong. Only women like Sadie are strong, or maybe Miss Grimshaw, on a rare occasion Karen, but always Sadie, because Sadie has a gun and she kills people with it.
I know I pin a lot of things on misogyny in this fanbase, but in a gaming space mostly full of men, youâre going to see a lot of it, and the way men and some women who like Sadie discuss her has always reeked of it to me. They reduce her down to only being a gun, taking away the actual depth and emotion of her character in favour of seeing her as one of the men, because she wears boy clothes and has a gun and sheâs nice to Arthur, so sheâs cool. Not like Molly who cries all the time and wants to die, not like Abigail whoâs doing everything for a man, who arenât strong at all despite what they have been through because they never go on a shooting spree, which as we know is the only thing that makes a woman strong.
The way Sadie is viewed by these people also completely diminishes the person Sadie actually is. I have so often found that Sadie is only held in such favour by certain men in the fanbase because she is the easiest woman to turn into a man, as it were, or theyâre attracted to her. She dresses like them, spends most of her time around them, kills lots of people like them, and sheâs still very pretty, so if you only value women for fitting in with men or for how attractive you find them, Sadie is the perfect candidate. She challenges plenty of men, but not Arthur, so sheâs a good one, and sheâs even got a more neutral stance on Dutch, so sheâs doubly a good one, because now sheâs not angry with the cool leader either.
This is not to say Sadie gets no hate. She absolutely does, and itâs all as unwarranted as youâd expect. Sadie has established skills with her gun, sheâs going to be skilled with it when she picks one up, her and her husband shared the work as she says. She is rash and she has a short fuse, but her husband was murdered and sheâs not going to be at all calm about that. Her final mission is optional. If you donât want Arthur to go on that, donât make him. She got a lot of people killed unnecessarily. Sheâs flawed, sheâs very, very flawed, and sheâs also not the only character to cause the deaths of innocent people during the game. But just as much as overly criticising her behaviour and looking at no motivations or reasoning she might have had, treating her more critically than you would the men, reducing her down to her flaws is an unfair view of her character, so is reducing her down to a generic cool woman character with nothing happening besides guns and chest, because thatâs apparently all women are good for to plenty of the men in the fanbase.
The point of this ramble is just that Sadie is more than her gun, she has a whole personality in there, and while I do think itâs a shame that the entirety of her character was hinged on her revenge until the epilogue since it gave us quite a limited perspective on her, we still get to meet her properly when the epilogue comes around and she has mostly gotten over her grief. Sadie isnât just a gun and her strength doesnât just come from her killing lots of people, and there is no lack of strength in Molly, Abigail and Mary because they either kill very few people or none at all.
The strength these women have does not come from the bodies at their feet. Arthur Morgan isnât a strong man because he kills people. Why is that only a condition for the women? Why does Abigail coming from being a teenage sex worker, a dangerous industry at the best of times, to a very young mother trying her best to keep her family together, to give her son a better life than she had not constitute as strength? What about that does not make her a strong person? Same for Mary, same for Molly. Both went through a lot of abuse, Mary did all she could to protect her brother and Mollyâs drove her off such a frightened, paranoid edge, leaving her convinced everybody in the gang who she already knew werenât the biggest fans at her were laughing at her, and yet she still went through multiple sessions of being sweater by the Pinkertons - who, Iâll remind you, treated Strauss rough enough to kill him - and didnât say a word. How arenât they strong?
They donât have guns. Abigail kills Milton, but heâs a character you 100% hate by now. Mary and Molly never kill anybody. If your one condition for a female character being cool and strong is they shoot a lot of people, these three donât fit that, but if thatâs your condition for the women, that says more about you. Stop using Sadie Adler to back up your misogynistic feelings about the other women, sheâd hate that
#red dead redemption 2#rdr2#sadie adler#molly o'shea#abigail marston#mary linton#being annoying about the women again because I got comments calling only Sadie strong#like none of the other women are are the other three I mentioned are weak and only cool Sadie with her cool gun is strong#shut up and gain some media literacy please
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[tma spoilers: sasha's arc, discussion of women in tma and general spoilers for s1-5]
i wanted to do a breakdown of how the tma fandom interprets the main cast of 'protagonist' women specifically pertaining to sasha's role in tma canon and how shes viewed in the fan sphere :)
i think its interesting how sasha is almost universally liked by tma fans when she was a very short-lived character with just about no screen time. its obviously tied to the fact that sasha was considered an ally by jon and the other original staff and they take measures to avenge her in some regard- this is perpetuated as shes painted as an obvious protagonist (one of the few who arent necessarily morally grey) with no real content to prove she had bad qualities. other women in tma have a considerable amount of content (im specifically referring to those working in the archives or having a large role in jon's life: georgie, melanie, basira, and daisy) which lets the audience see them in a more multi-faceted light. we see their rights and wrongs through jons eyes, and since they have more canon content, obviously they're more complex characters and they serve more nuanced narrative purposes. at the end of the day, sasha's use as a character was to drive the plot with a significant death and inspire a revenge or depression in the other characters, and she served this role perfectly. jon avenges her twice in s5 alone (smiting the not!them and then cursing her name at jonah) so we know she was very important pre-s1, but as the audience we just dont get to see that depth to her.
theres also the internalized misogyny that fandoms often have; sasha was the main and only female role in s1 (not counting gertrude since shes dead) and her relationships largely revolved around men. all of her coworkers were men, and we know they admired her. we know she was friends with them all individually and also glued them together in group settings. she had a "will they wont they" relationship (his words of course) with tim, and she was the character that introduced us to michael. the other more fleshed out women of tma had relationships largely revolving around other women. melanie and georgie were partners, melanie had moments were she was friends with basira, and basira and daisy came into the series as a package deal. when these characters are given the choice between choosing to help jon or choosing to help the woman closest to them, they dont choose jon. obviously this can rub the audience the wrong way, but it also showcases a loyalty to the idealized fanon interpretation of a woman over the canon multi-dimensional women we dont need to extrapolate on.
i get that its easier to like a female character when she's a protagonist who supported the male lead; and bonus points if shes such a vague character that anyone can paste their interpretations onto and it cant be "disproven". of course its sexier to leave things up to the imagination, but it just irks me to see people fawn over a (please forgive me) one dimensional character when more complex women exist in canon. people have the tendency to beg for flawed women in fiction then dislike them or ignore them when they get the representation they asked for. if you're willing to defend jon but not melanie, basira, daisy, or georgie, maybe ask yourself why.
disclaimer: i dont think anyone is a misogynist for liking sasha or preferring her over the other women in tma! i like both canon and fanon interpretations of her character and i wish we got to see more of her, but i do think theres something to be said about how the fandom treats her vs the other women in the cast. and i know im not at all the first to say it! i was just thinking about this as a general observation of fan content that ive seen and i dont mean to hate on anyone, their fan content, or sasha as a character!
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DBDA nightly analysis #25! (sorry i've been lacking lately, i have not been in the right mental state but i am BACK NOW BABYYYYY)
tonight's topic: crystal palace the girl that you are (character analysis bc she's been getting shit on so violently lately and DOES NOT deserve it.)
i will say - i didn't care all that much for crystal for quite a while until i really sat down to analyze her motivations and background, but it is the hate that some people have been spewing about her that motivated me to analyze her tonight.
crystal palace is flawed. of course she is. she is by no means perfect.
the first time we see her is in emma's flashback to her and crystal. she would play in a graveyard, frolicking about and taking polaroid pictures with this ghost of a young child. she was good enough friends with this child for her to seek out professional help to get her back. she was undoubtedly kind to her.
when we see her next she is dazed and confused, and still, she makes a rude remark. this is not because she is inherently bad, but because she still has that memory of being mistreated. now, she doesnt have all of her memories, but she has the memory that people weren't nice to her. she feels she must fit into that mold and that memory. the way she does that is by being a dick.
we see her a bit more in depth in her walk with charles. she expresses that she feels like people weren't the kindest to her and, knowing what we know about the way she was raised, that makes a lot of sense. she was excruciatingly neglected as a child and seeked attention. the best way to do that was negative attention. it was the easiest to accomplish.
she has her spats with edwin, but they are mostly (if not exclusively) initiated by him. she returns his energy. then we see some of the shit she goes through with david. he is incredibly abusive all throughout the series and it is very evident how predatory he is. he chose her because she was unloved. because she was vulnerable. she was easy to take advantage of.
her breaking down in E1 is so, SO important to me. we forget that she is MEANT to be flawed. she is imperfect. like the boys, she is but a sixteen year old and she is so deeply scared. she doesn't know who she is or how to cope with the fact that she doesnt know who she is. on top of that, this fucker that she's with (affectionate) won't stop shitting on her for NO reason. from the start, he was a douche to her (he has his motivations for this as well, but that doesn't mean it's not true) and now shes sitting here and calling her abuser and the fucker that has been tormenting and stalking her is being linked to her ("her demon") and she cant HANDLE that. shes been hanging on by a thread all of E1. shes been dealing with so fucking much, emotionally.
interestingly, edwin is not an emotional character when faced with other people's issues. i say this because he still garners more compassion than her. the way she treats the becky aspen case, especially, is so fragile and vulnerable. the way she immediately starts crying after looking into becky's mom's mind should have elicited more sympathy than it did and it's incredibly interesting that it didnt.
i will be the FIRST to say how important the "it's a lark to you!" scene is for edwin, but i never hear anyone discuss crystal's part in this conversation. shes so desperate and hurting and it's so strange that no one talks enough about that.
except no its not. i wish it was.
i truly think its an issue of her being a black woman and standing in the way of payneland. there is a lot of internalized misoginoir within how the fandom views her character. it is explicitly highlighted within the show how similar edwin and crystal are and a lot of the things she gets hate for are characteristics that are also incredibly prevalent in edwin's character. for example, her brashness and bluntness. itâs okay when itâs edwin, the white, queer twink of everyoneâs dreams, but the second itâs a woman who is already on thin ice for the fandom because sheâs standing in the way of the main ship, itâs easy to say sheâs a bad person for this.
crystal is so unwavering as a character. she has such strong themes of feminism all throughout her story. she is able to separate from her abuser and intimidate and overpower him which is so STRONG. she is able to hone in on the divine femininity of her ancestors and THAT is where her power is derived from. she confronts a goddess of female vengance and justice and stands in front of her, demanding justice for the young girls slaughtered under her watch. she is inherently, at her core, good. she has done shitty, awful things in her past, but that happens when you are abused. it is not an excuse, but she is a CHILD who has been deeply abused. neglect is a form of abuse.
also, could you IMAGINE how it must feel to be such a deeply unloved character who KNOWS they are unloved. she is a psychic. she could see into the minds of her parents. she could always see their apathy. what a lonely fucking thing to go through, my god.
even still, when she was doing these awful things, she took the time to connect with a young girl and spend enough time with her for them to bond and for her to miss her. her first instinct (with the memories of her parent's neglect gone) is to cross an ocean to save a little girl. she is so deeply touched by maren and shelby's stories.
she is a flawed character, but they all are. she gets more hate than all of them and, if you are one of the people who hate her above all else, i want you to ask yourself why? these views are, of course, not held by the majority of the fandom, but it has become a big fuckin issue and i wanted to address it. acknowledge where itâs coming from, if youâre one of the people feeling a bit targeted by tonightâs analysis. love yall <3
#dead boy detectives#dbda#crystal palace#crystal palace surname von hoverkraft#erebus psychoanalyzes things nightly!#i love psychoanalyzing everything <3#character analysis#dbda analysis#save dead boy detectives#renew dead boy detectives#revive dead boy detectives#save dbda#we will save this show#savedeadboydetectives#psychoanalysis#dbda meta#meta analysis
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Avatar official account posted their screenplay of the Sullys arrived at the Metkayina clan on their TikTok. This part here caught my eye. Neytiri has a secret shame that her kids are half half-human.
What's your thoughts?
oh man, I have some really mixed feelings about this ngl...
First thing I want to say before I get into my rant is remember that not everything in the old script is canon, so Neytiri feeling ashamed of her children isn't canon as of right now, but there's a possibility this will be confirmed in a later movie.
A little self-disclosure, I'm engaged to a guy who is from a different race and culture than me, and I'd like to have a kid with him at some point. My partner and I have discussed the fact that our kids would be mixed, and we've already made plans to teach them both of our native languages and make sure they're exposed to both of our cultures. Even though my kids will be different from me in some ways, I don't care, I'll still love them no matter what and I can't imagine ever being ashamed of their differences-- especially since I was the one who chose to have children with a man who was a different race/culture.
While Avatar is completely fictional, the romance between Jake and Neytiri is a clear allegory for a real-life mixed-race couple, with their children's "hybrid" traits being an allegory for real-life mixed-race children feeling insecure about their features. Obviously, not everything is a one-to-one allegory, since Neytiri has been directly and violently victimized by Jake's people and most modern mixed-race couples in my country deal with more systemic forms of oppression instead, but the allegory is still there.
To be completely honest, if the writers actually follow through with this line from the script and show Neytiri being ashamed of her children on-screen, I might actually start to hate Neytiri. Her other character flaws, like her chauvinism, her resistance to change, and her hypocrisy about Jake vs Spider, are completely understandable, especially since she's been through unbelievable amounts of trauma because of humans. I still like Neytiri a lot even with her flaws. But being ashamed her own kids? The kids she chose to birth/adopt, knowing they were hybrids? These two babies right here?
I am really, really trying to be understanding here, 'cause Neytiri's been through trauma that I could never imagine, but still... ma'am those are YOUR babies. I don't think any kind of trauma justifies being ashamed of your children for something they have no control over.
Whenever I see that screenshot, all I can imagine is Kiri or Lo'ak finding out their mom feels ashamed of them. Could you imagine? They would be absolutely crushed. I think Lo'ak especially would have some kind of a crisis over it, since he's already so insecure about being a hybrid. Even Miles freaking Quaritch, the vengeful colonizing monster, isn't ashamed of his son being so different from him.
For the record, I know the only reason I feel so strongly about this is because I'm projecting my own feelings about being in a mixed-race relationship and planning to have mixed-race kids onto Neytiri. But I feel the way I feel, and if this ever becomes canon I would never be able to look at her the same way, so I'm hoping this idea stays in the old script and never sees the light of day again.
No matter what happens, this is James Cameron's story, and I trust him to deliver a fantastic movie even if I don't like everything about it. Besides, this is only one line. It doesn't go in-depth into the nuances of Neytiri's feelings. Maybe if they choose to go with this concept and flesh it out better, I'll change my mind about it, who knows.
I'm also gonna add this here, cause I know how tumblr is: these are just my personal feelings on the topic-- my personal feelings that are completely subjective and are greatly effected by my own life experiences. I know some people like this idea and think it would be a great thing to explore for Neytiri's character, and if you think that, then great, good for you, no hate to anyone with a different opinion.
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