#i see a lot of jiara in the tag so i think it’s not unfair of me to say

[devilsskettle]

the obx writers tapped into such a real and true teenage girl experience when they wrote kiara but they didn’t even realize it and then they completely undermine it more and more every season. because of course they wrote her as the “just one of the guys” cool girl (a la gone girl) because that’s a classic desirable archetype for love interest characters, she’s immediately identified as Other from her friends because of her gender and financial background (basically no girls are actual “pogues” in the whole series because girls from a lower income background are not the girls that male viewers and writers, and therefore their audience insert characters, find desirable — they want the “unattainable” girls who they think are out of their league in terms of both appearance and social standing etc like how many movies have the “average” nerdy guy character end up with the popular girl? this is the same thing but with more concerning implications about the intersection of classism and sexism in the writing. imo) HOWEVER in season 1, the way that she was written like that really resonates with ME because of course as a young woman who’s friends with guys, you don’t want to be seen as different to your guy friends!! you don’t want them to see you as a girl first and a friend second!! you certainly don’t want them to see you as a potential love interest first and foremost, only tolerating your friendship, secretly (or not so secretly) becoming close to you because they want “more” (as if friendships aren’t meaningful relationships in and of themselves and i think to kiara they are her MOST important relationships!! which i relate to a lot). AND ALSO she has such a difficult time fulfilling expectations of “acceptable” behavior for both her gender and financial background and THAT’S why she rejects her “kook” past so much! she doesn’t realize that freedom can be at the expense of her security and family relationships that her friends don’t have which positions her in an unsympathetic light imo BUT ALSO she feels trapped! and she feels like an outsider and a failure in her own life when measured by her parents and their social sphere! she acts like “one of the guys” because she wants the same agency afforded to her that guys get to have but OF COURSE all of her guy friends secretly have feelings for her and don’t see her truly as one of them. she’s an outsider no matter where she goes. and ofc they write her into a romantic relationship with the guy that, yes, she probably has the most in common with in terms of personality especially recklessness, but who regards her as an outsider the MOST out of the whole group. not that he’s even unjustified in thinking that but it’s total fantasy fulfillment writing for the very vocal straight fandom of the show especially who experience jj and kiara respectively as audience inserts for themselves. not that i’m NOT projecting my experiences onto kie obviously but like. come on guys