#it falls most squarely at the center of that Massive Web of Subjects and Narrative Methods and Craft

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

me: i'll just write up a quick post about a couple simple things you could change about sdmi to fix the worst of the talking animal stuff. maybe a little disclaimer at the beginning about the Utopia Problem

me an hour later, 3k words into the post and still writing: ah lads not again

[thecottageinthedark]

#SDMItag#whosebaby talks#it lies at the intersection of a lot of stuff; both Complex Yikes to Unpack Which I Feel Strongly About#and genuinely really really fascinating storytelling; themes; framing devices; and so on#which i've had a lot of thoughts about in general for a long time; and then sdmi comes at it from a really unique angle#for the genre and medium that it is#and a lot of those themes hit home hard for me; even before you add in the role the show itself has played in my life#there are things about sdmi i will rip on hard but it genuinely means a lot to me and i love it deeply#and examining what's baby and what's bathwater here and what's both of them mixed up; and sitting with what that Means#is something i think is very much worthwhile#and at this point the talking animal stuff is one of my main focuses here *because* out of everything in the show#it falls most squarely at the center of that Massive Web of Subjects and Narrative Methods and Craft#and that includes; specifically; serious subjects being packaged into Silly Framing as a way to slip them through#and make it look ridiculous to examine them seriously#the worldbuilding with the Goofy Hanna-Barbera Mascots in this universe; and what the narrative has to say about them#is working on some very very nasty axioms re: racism and ableism irl#and it addresses those with the kind of serious dramatic framing in-universe that really brings those axioms out#'show for little kids where your pet cat learned to talk and is your best friend now' has like; maybe some potential for not-good messages

#probably a good idea to talk to your kids carefully about! but it is a whole different ballpark from#'slavery is legal and horrific human rights abuses happen left and right and our villain is traumatized by them; and a huge underlying them#of the show is playing it as Horror that the class of people with no rights; who exist to be cute little toys and accept you as their owner#might rebel and Cause Problems and act independently; and be dangerous and effective; might not *like you* or prioritize your best interest#and they're so fundamentally made to love and be dependent on and subservient to you; to be your *sidekick;* that the only way they could#possibly ever want to reject that is if they were driven insane by a corrupting force they're uniquely vulnerable to; which turns what they#are inside out; and/or if they were just pure soulless evil to begin with; and once they've turned against their masters they're so far gon#that the only thing to be done is to kill them or lock them up to rot. none of the cursed animals ever shake it off the way some humans do.#you uh. you may recognize. some themes here lmao. and them dressing it up in Goofy Animal Mascots to sneak it through is the point#and that's a trope that both fascinates me and pisses me off. It Keeps Happening#anyway yes many thoughts etc#the crit files

me: i'll just write up a quick post about a couple simple things you could change about sdmi to fix the worst of the talking animal stuff. maybe a little disclaimer at the beginning about the Utopia Problem

me an hour later, 3k words into the post and still writing: ah lads not again