#jewish-coded loki

[wisteria-lodge]

What do you think leads some people to prefer fictional villains and anti-heroes to the good guys? I've had this preference ever since I was a little kid watching Rugrats, thinking Angelica was the best. My favorites usually have that "edge" and it isn't based on sorting. Loki, Vegeta from DBZ, Jayne, Draco, Magneto, the uncle in Teen Wolf, Zuko, the Phantom, etc. Sometimes when a character is redeemed (Itachi, Zuko), I actually lose interest. If it matters, I think I'm a Snake Bird.

This is a big question, with a lot of potential answers. I'll throw a few out there, see if anything resonates.

Structurally, villains tend to be more active. The villain does a thing, and the hero reacts to it (tries to fix the problem, restore things to how they were, etc.) Since we like watching characters who want things, do things, and make decisions - that can make the villain a lot more fun to watch than the much more passive hero. Also, there's a lot more structural pressure on the hero to be - relatable, likable, able to carry big emotional beats. This can (unfortunately) lead to heroes who are kind of Bland, Generic Everymen.

Related to this - if you yourself are not your culture's idea of an Everyman, then chances are the villain might actually be a lot more *relatable* than the hero. A lot of the guys you listed are a disenfranchised minority of some sort. Magneto is Jewish, the Phantom is disfigured, Zuko is a poltical exile, Loki is an ice-giant (which counts.) Even Draco is honestly quite femme-coded, unlike Harry or Ron.

I think villains work really well as power fantasies. I *like* Superman as a character, but being him seems exhausting and unrelatable. But being that charismatic, powerful asshole... there's so much *freedom* there, it's fun to think about. I honestly think is why characters like Rick Sanchez and Walter White get such disproportionate amounts of love and identification from their fans. I think this is why a lot of people loved BBC!Sherlock, who is SO much more of an asshole than the original Sherlock Holmes.

Things like pettiness, cowardice, vanity, pride, short-sightedness, cruelty.... like these are such an important part of the human experience, and when they're explored in art it's often through the villain or antihero. You see a good performance of a villain in a Shakespeare play, and it's very - oh shit, I recognize those impulses, that's me and my grimiest and stickiest. Engaging with that can be a really cathartic, really rewarding experience.

[littleabriel-blog]

Why You Shouldn't Watch Loki S2

With Season 2 of that show making its debut tomorrow, I thought I would make one last ditch effort to convince people not to watch it. It's not just because it's a horrible show that makes a mockery of my favorite Marvel character. There are a lot of problematic elements that contribute to the long list of reasons why people should not give Disney their money or ratings.

I am imploring people, one last time: If you must hate-watch the season, pirate it. If you must watch with some lingering hope that the real Loki will somehow make an appearance (and based on the reviews I have seen, that seems very unlikely), pirate it. Please don't contribute to Disney's ratings. Disney isn't going to care if you're hate watching or if you are only watching it hoping to get a glimpse of the Trickster we all know and love. They only care about numbers, and high ratings might mean we'll get stuck with another season of this utter dreck.

That said, here are some reasons why you should rethink giving this show your views:

It glorifies abuse and torture

In this show we are treated to the sight of Mobius using torture as "therapy", emotionally beating Loki down to the point where he capitulates to the TVA's demands, punishing him for having a crush on someone else by sticking him in a room for hours (at least) with an illusionary Sif who kicks him in the balls and punches him on repeat while further hammering the whole "you'll always be alone, you don't deserve good things" message, and generally working for an organization that subjects Loki to mockery, bullying, sexual assault (being stripped without his consent--that scene wasn't hot. It wasn't sexy. It was horrifying and I really, really have to wonder about the mental state of anyone who is at all turned on by it. Think about it, if Loki were a woman who was being forcibly stripped, there would have been loads of hatemail filling up Disney's servers), and slavery.

That's even before we get into the atrocious way Sylvie treats him. I've gone into how she treats him many, many times, how she belittles, invalidates, silences, and oh yes tries to kill him for daring to ask her to reconsider killing HWR. If the roles were reversed and Loki treated Sylvie like that? You ladies who love the ship so much would be boycotting Disney. It's no less abuse just because it's a woman doing it to a man.

It glorifies fascism

The TVA is very much Nazi coded yet they are framed as heroes...well, except when they're picking on Sylvie of course, since she's all pure and good and can do no wrong (Mary Sue powers activate!) They torture a character who is very much Jewish coded, an effeminate man who is very much the Other in the home he grew up in.

And what the hell is this?

As a Jew, I find this image deeply, deeply disturbing. It's a fucking gas chamber, y'all. It. Is. A . Gas. Chamber.

I don't know how anyone can NOT see how problematic it is.

It has Jonathan Majors in it

I really don't give a flipping shit if they're "only" allegations or if they wrapped up filming before the allegations came out. People boycotted Flash for Ezra Miller doing basically the same thing, so I don't see why it should be any different with Majors.

But then I know from experience that some of you so-called feminists out there are only about protecting or believing women when it suits you. Can't have a little thing like not supporting a domestic abuser get in the way of your wish fulfillment self-insert fantasies of beating the crap out of Loki before fucking him.

The first season was written by a total creep, and that same creep is producing the second season

'Nuff said.

Selfcest/Incest

I don't want to hear how "selfcest doesn't exist", especially in a fictional universe where you have sorcerers, witches, men with super soldier serum running in their veins, magic plants that turn individuals into superstrong Cat People, and talking raccoons.

And even without the selfcest, that ship is a very problematic one, as I stated above, and have continued to talk about at length.

It's just plain awful

The plot is predictable, full of holes, and not even that original (it's cribbed directly from a script Waldron wrote that was so awful, even SyFy wouldn't produce it, plus see my post with the clip from Batman Returns). Loki is grossly OOC in it...seriously, there is not a single hint of the character I had grown to love from Thor 1, Avengers, and the Dark World. He's nerfed all to hell (an Asgardian god who can take on Thor easily is beaten up by human rednecks?), and he's lost all his cunning, wit, intelligence, and grace all in favor of turning him into a sophomoric slapstick clown and the butt of everyone's jokes. The newer characters are poorly mapped out and one dimensional.

It's just...bad.

So there, that's my last ditch attempt to convince people to boycott this piece of shit. I realize my pleas might be falling on deaf ears, much as Loki's pleas fell on Sylvie's, but I had to get it out there.

Other Loki show antis can add to this or elaborate if they want. I'm too tired to be too coherent right now.

[kruxband]

f/o headcanons thingy!!!!

krux (romantic)

68 years old

egyptian + filipino + swedish

genderqueer trans man (he/him)

bisexual

anniversary is august 12, 2021

rose quartz (romantic)

6000+ years old

south korean

xenogender hoarder (she/her)

bisexual or pansexual (not sure which is canon)

anniversary is august 18, 2023

chick hicks (queerplatonic)

47 years old

japanese + white american

genderqueer & genderfluid (he/him)

aromantic bisexual

anniversary is october 4, 2023

tow mater (platonic)

60 years old

filipino-american

transmasc (he/it)

cupioromantic bisexual

anniversary is january 5, 2024

deano (romantic)

28 years old

italian (canon) with ghanaian roots

gnc transfem bigender (he/she)

demiromantic bisexual

anniversary is january 15, 2024

akari (romantic)

29 years old

japanese (canon)

agender (she/they)

biromantic fraysexual

anniversary is january 15, 2024

popping candy cookie (queerplatonic)

26 years old

south korean (canon/coded)

xenogender trans woman (any pronouns)

aroace bi

anniversary is march 8, 2024

strip "the king" weathers (romantic)

62 years old

ashkenazi jewish american

nonbinary (they/he)

unlabeled sexuality

anniversary is may 31, 2024

loki odinson (romantic)

1050+ years old

nordic (canon)

genderfluid (canon) (it/he/she)

bi (canon) & aroace-spec

anniversary is july 15, 2024

[super-hero-confessions]

Okay. I don't understand how it's gotten to this point with fans pulling made up shit about Loki from their asses but no.

NO.

Loki is not POC coded. He's not Jewish coded. He's not neurodivergent coded or whatever the fuck else.

HE IS 100% NORSE.

BASED OFF A NORSE TRICKSTER GOD WHO IS A KNOWN LIAR AND POT STIRRER THAT FUCKS WITH PEOPLE FOR FUNSIES.

CREATED BY NORSE FUCKING WHITE ASS WHITE PEOPLE WHO KNEW ICE AND SNOW AND FROST TO BE FUCKING DEADLY.

HE IS NOT "OTHER".

HE'S AN ASSHOLE WHO ENJOYS BEING AN ASSHOLE AND HAS ALSO SUFFERED SOME HARDSHIP BECAUSE HE IS SURROUNDED BY ASSHOLES AND PLAYS RIGHT INTO THAT HAND.

Big. Fucking. Whoop.

ALL GODS IN ALL CULTURES ARE NEEDLESSLY CRUEL AND NEEDLESSLY SUFFER BECAUSE THEY WERE SYMBOLIC AND MADE TO EXPLAIN WHAT PEOPLE COULDN'T FULLY UNDERSTAND.

LOKI IS NOT SPECIAL BECAUSE HE RAPES A HORSE.

But you know what that really means? Loki plays into the cycle of abuse just like a normal person and then goes on and makes it worse by dishing it out on unrelated people who never did anything to him. Like, I dunno, all the goddamn humans he kills?

He's that psycho kid with a psycho dad who tortures ants because he can't find healthy ways to cope and it doesn't get much deeper than that.

Stop making shit up that.

EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE IN ANYWAY WOULD NEVER EXCUSE HIM BEING A GENOCIDAL MANIAC WHO CARES NOTHING FOR HUMAN OR JOTUN LIFE YOU FASCIST ILLITERATE FUCKS.

AND GUESS WHAT. LOKI OF MYTH NEEDLESSLY STARTS ALL THE SHIT THAT HAPPENS WITH THE OTHER GODS BY GETTING BALDR KILLED.

If you have to write paragraphs upon paragraphs of made up bullshit you call meta and headcanons or whatever the fuck to defend the idea of liking this guy beyond the shallow fact that you would never dare go this hard for someone ugly or god forbid actual myth Loki?

You do not actually give a shit about the character. At all. Because you don't actually see the character. At all.

Personally, I love Loki for what he is. A dark grey chaos loving trickster diva and selfish asshole god that fucks with people for fun and gets the story rolling. All of that is what makes him fun as a character while paying appropriate homage to the stories he came from in a way that still feels respectful of what ancient cultures were trying to convey.

But I also love the actual good Loki that people write in fanfic sometimes.

I don't love the posturing people use him for to inadvertently spread misogyny or even white supremacy that slips under the radar because fandom can't accept that their shit does stink and there ARE bad actors.

It is okay to like or love Loki. It is okay to want things to be better for him or to be written better for him. It is okay to write fanfic where he is all of the things you want him to be.

It is not okay to culturally appropriate and deny what he is canonically with made up bullshit pulled from your ass to pretend that Loki was justified when he was ATTEMPTING GENOCIDE. And it is especially not okay to then have the audacity to deny the fact that Loki has pretty privilege.

Fuck you people doing this shit. At this point I prefer those that actually admit they like him because he's hot. Because at least they don't go rabid and are fucking HONEST with themselves about this shit and about his character.

And above all?

LOKI IS FICTIONAL.

PEOPLE DON'T OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION FOR DISLIKING OR HATING HIM. DOING SO IS NOT AN ATTACK ON YOU. THEIR EXISTENCE DOES NOT CHALLENGE YOURS AND THEIR PERSPECTIVES ARE JUST AS VALID.

JUST LIKE YOU DON'T OWE THEM AN EXPLANATION FOR LIKING HIM. YOU DON'T EVEN NEED ONE. BECAUSE HE'S FICTIONAL.

Have civil discourse and discussion if you want to, try and get more people to like Loki and see the lighter grey in him even. But you do that by being NICE.

Not by being a dismissive, denying, bullying asshole that then pretends you have the moral high road over ultimately meaningless. Fictional. Bullshit.

I guarantee a majority of people who hate Loki now? It's not because Loki is imperfect or the "other". It's because his stans do everything they can to be toxic, hostile, and in turn make him look bad.

Even Loki's never attempted to justify his attempts at genocide. Escape accountability, sure. But not justify it.

[nikkoliferous]

Racism, Ableism, Transphobia, Oh My!

The Many Times We Were Lied to About Canonizing Loki’s Genderfluidity

Visibility Does Not Equal Representation

More on the Problems With Loki (2021)’s Black “Representation”

Episode One’s Mongolia Scene Was Also Pretty Racist

Sexism, Fluidphobia and Transphobia in Episode Five

On Framing the Irredeemably Evil TVA as Good and/or Necessary

Toxic Messaging in Loki (2021): A Summary

Loki (2021) Is A Show Made By and For Bullies

The Horrifying Totalitarianism of the TVA

The Obvious Bad Guys Who Weren’t

How Marvel’s Glorification of Abuse Retraumatises Victims

The Hidden Harm in How Marvel Has Handled Loki’s “Adoption”

Loki (2021)’s Extremely Problematic Villainising of Black Characters

Forcing Loki to “Admit” His Inferiority is Not Character Growth

Loki’s Jewish-Coding Makes Loki (2021)’s Framing of the TVA as a Necessary Evil Especially Disturbing

Misandry, Toxic Masculinity and Queerphobia in Loki (2021)

Loki (2021)’s Transphobic Promotion of Autogynephilia

The Grotesque Framing of the TVA Intake (aka Stripping) Scene

It’s the Framing, Stupid

The Disturbing Hypocrisy of How Loki’s Crimes Against Other People Are Framed vs. Their Crimes Against Him

Loki (2021) Suffers Due to the Showrunners’ Inability to Decide Whether the TVA is Good or Evil

Villain Discourse: You Cannot Beat or Shame People Into Mental Wellness

↩️ back to the compendium

[misstisalir]

Being Brough Back

OOC;;

So *someone* talked me in to coming back to Tumblr. While I wait to see if I'll get to use my old codes, here are my characters available for use:

Barbara Gordon | Oracle | FC: Bryce Dallas Howard | DC Universe A spitfire of a woman, daughter to James Gordon, Barbara has established herself as a veritable good guy kingpin. She provides intelligence and hacking to those who need it, the best technical advisor you could find anywhere. Keep in mind that Babs will not take any shit from anyone, and if she has something on her mind, you can be sure she'll tell you.

Timothy "Tim" Jackson Drake | FC: Ryan Potter | DC Universe

Genius, sleuth, prodigy. Tim is a proud Robin, and knows that his mind is second to very few, if any. Book smart, snarky, and happy to be part of the Wayne family, Tim is a bit of an oddity, but he likes it that way. If only he was a little less serious.

Michelle Evans | "Wolf" | FC: Emilia Clarke | Marvel Universe

Michelle Evans, the daughter of two nobodies that she'd just as soon avoid, became entrenched in SHIELD when she was only 14. Taken away from an abusive family who didn't quite understand her Mutation, the girl is now safely working as a translation expert, not allowed on field missions. She's met the Avengers, sure, but how are you supposed to be allowed out when your mutation is literally a feral creature trapped in human form?

Sarah Rogers | FC: Jessica Chastain | Marvel Universe

Multiple timelines available. The Irish Catholic mother of one Steven Grant Rogers. See Chara page for one Verse idea. Others available.

Wanda Maximoff | Scarlet Witch | FC: Elizabeth Olsen | Marvel Universe

Daughter of a Jewish father and Romani mother, Wanda was raised as a settled Romani woman by Marya and Django Maximoff. Living in Sokovia meant she was raised in a world at war, and it was as a child in this war-torn country that she realized that she was a witch. Keeping it a secret from her parents until they died, Wanda considers herself estranged from both God and the Roma peoples, thinking her mutant gifts nothing more than a curse. Her life was forever entwined with her beloved brother Pietro, One soul in two bodies to her mind. The pair relied on HYDRA to fix their world, only to become experiments. One prison for another, she belonged to the Avengers until the Sokovia Accords threatened to rip her freedom from her, and she ran away to live a life of solitude...missing the other half of her soul, and relying heavily on Vision. (Wandavision and after available.)

Sigyn Freyjasdottir | FC: Bryce Dallas Howard | Marvel Universe/Norse Myth

Sigyn is the daughter of Freyja, the proud goddess of fidelity. Sharp tongued and honest, this Vanir woman is a master of the Seidr, illusory magic her skill of specialty. Married to Loki early on in a marriage of political convenience between the Vanir and the As, she once suffered, but since long before his supposed 'betrayal', she has been in love. The woman is a fierce protector of her 'dead' husband, and will ever defend him.

Fenrir, the Dread Wolf | FC: Alex Saxon | Marvel Universe

You want to talk about a young man with hatred in his heart and a weight on his shoulders, look no further. Fen knows well what was done to him, and feels betrayed every day. Scars in his fur mark the passage of time, and the ever hungry son of Loki stays, chained. He has learned to cast his semblance, though, to give him some kind of gift of FREEDOM, to feel like just another person.

Lyanna Stark | FC: Lyndsy Fonseca | Game of Thrones (MULTIVERSE)

The stoic daughter of the North, Lyanna is a woman that would likely be more at home on the Battlefield than in the castle. However, she was promised to marry Robert Baratheon, much to her chagrin, and was embroiled in her own duty. Never let it be said that Lyanna did not do her best, for Duty and Honor were above all for her at one point in her life. However, a roguish prince from the Royal family claimed her heart, and stole her away from an unhappy arrangement...And she bore him a son. (Multiple Verses Available)

Alice Liddell | FC: Mia Wasikowska| Multiverse

The Liddell line is a delightfully mad thing, and it all began with one girl, dizzy and dreamy. Alice Liddell is the original girl down the rabbit hole, able to slip between one world and the next with such ease that it might well shock others to see.

[mthofferings2023]

Kerr Avonsen

See Kerr Avonsen’s existing works here.

Preferred contact methods: Email: fan+mthbid@katspace.org Discord: kerravonsen

Preferred organizations: - Assistance Dogs International - Coalition for Rainforest Nations - Girls Who Code - Médecins San Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) - World Central Kitchen (See the list of approved organizations here)

Will create works that contain: symbolism, character study, found family, friendship & bromance, romance, encouragement, redemption

Will not create works that contain: smut, slash/femslash, incest, shippy content between characters who have a parent/parental-figure and child relationship, major character death, character bashing (including making good guys into villains (e.g. Hydra!Cap)), no powers AU, tragedy

  -- Craft or Merchandise --

Auction ID: 1006

Will create works for the following relationships: Tony Stark-centric - MCU Loki-centric - MCU Bruce Banner & Tony Stark - MCU Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis - MCU Loki & Thor - MCU Natasha Romanov-centric - MCU Pepper Potts/Tony Stark - MCU Jane Foster/Loki - MCU Darcy Lewis/Loki - MCU Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov - MCU

Work Description: I am offering a symbolic/stealth-fannish necklace. That's jewellery that you can wear without it being obvious that it's fan-related. So I don't use logos or faces, I use symbolic things. For example, for Jane Foster I would use star charms, and for Loki I would use the colour green, and for Thor I'd use a hammer; that kind of thing. At the minimum, I would make a piece symbolising your chosen character or characters. If inspired with a creative prompt, I may attempt to go deeper, doing a character study, or exploring the relationship between those characters, or touching on the events which influenced them. You can give me preferences as to styles or colours, but not everything may be possible. The most important thing for me in regard to colours is whether you have a warm skin tone or a cool skin tone; I want the piece to suit you. If you have any allergies (e.g. wool, nickel, copper), let me know ASAP, as that will affect what materials I can use. Note that the list of characters and ships above is not proscriptive; you can always ask about someone who is not on the list. Indeed I encourage you to! Some of the most interesting prompts I've had came about because someone asked. Also, anyone who is listed as a romantic pairing, I am happy to do as a friendship pairing. For previous examples of my symbolic jewellery, see my AO3 series "Symbolism With Occasional Words" https://archiveofourown.org/series/2326487 -- particularly my previous MTH fills "Jewish Bucky Barnes" https://archiveofourown.org/works/38410030 (2021), "Symbolic Lokane" https://archiveofourown.org/works/40360662 (2021), "Inside Outside - Bruce and Hulk" https://archiveofourown.org/works/50015419 (2022), and "Weighing the Heart - Symbolic Moon Knight" https://archiveofourown.org/works/50015740 (2022). TIERS: Bids $60 and over would get a matching pair of earrings. YES, I can do clip-on earrings. Bids $150 and over would get a matching bracelet. These would not have all the design elements of the necklace, but they would be made of matching colours and materials. TIMING: Since we are coming up to Christmas, things will get very busy. I will be happy to have initial discussions before Christmas, but no real work will be done on the piece before January. I cannot say when it will be finished, just that I will try my best to get it finished before the next round of MTH starts. POSTAGE: Bidder will get the item posted to them at their expense. Unless they live in Australia, in which case I will post it for free.

Ratings: Gen, Teen

Can pods bid on this auction? No - I'd rather not be bid on by pods

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

-- Craft or Merchandise --

Auction ID: 2005

Will create works for the following relationships: Carol Danvers-centric - MCU

Work Description: I am offering a Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) themed jewellery set; a necklace, bracelet and earrings. This is a stealth-fannish set, meaning that it can be worn without it being obvious that it's fan related. For this set, that means that it is in Captain Marvel's colours, gold and blue, with a touch of red. The jewellery is chainmaille, made from gold-plated brass rings, and anodised aluminium rings (in gold, blue, and red). While the earrings are for pierced ears, I can change them over to clip-ons if requested. HERE is a photo of the necklace: http://katspaces.org/gallery/post/symbolic/.thumbnails/captain_marvel_necklace-20230917_154010_jpg.html Bracelet: http://katspaces.org/gallery/post/symbolic/.thumbnails/captain_marvel_bracelet-20230917_153732_jpg.html Earrings: http://katspaces.org/gallery/post/symbolic/.thumbnails/captain_marvel_earrings-20230917_153323_jpg.html POSTAGE: Bidder will get the item posted to them at their expense. Unless they live in Australia, in which case I will post it for free.

Ratings: Gen, Teen

Can pods bid on this auction? No - I'd rather not be bid on by pods

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

[jessicalprice]

When I was on the island of Gotland in Sweden, I was at the Viking museum there and started talking to one of the museum staff and joked that I was the only Jew on the island.

And she was like, “Maybe at the moment, but there were Radhanite (Jewish) traders that came here in the Middle Ages.”

The Vikings had contact with Jews!

Loki being Jewish-coded does kind of make Joss Whedon’s implicit comparison of him to Hitler extra gross.

I wonder what you mean with "Loki’s Jewish-coding". Loki is a Norse god, of Scandinavian origin, not Jewish/middle-eastern. I hope I just misunderstood your fandom tropes because making him a Jew all of a sudden seems extremely weird. Scandinavians can also have VERY curly hair and straighten it because we don't like it.

Um… I’m sort of confused by the assumption that I’m an idiot that seems to be underlying this question. Pretty clearly, I hope, I was talking about Marvel’s Loki, not the original Loki of Norse myth. In fact, in the post you’re talking about, I referred to it as “[MCU] Loki’s Jewish-coding.” The reason “MCU” is in brackets is that I didn’t want to exclude the Loki of the classic Marvel comics—who, I think I recall @fuckyeahrichardiii​ telling me, is even more intensely and problematically Jewish-coded than MCU Loki. I read and write fanfiction about MCU Loki primarily; writers do draw on the myths that inspired the comics and films, but for the most part the more recent fictional representations are the basis.

Because I am not an idiot, I do know that Loki is a Norse god of Scandinavian origin, and it would be absurd to claim that the Loki of myth has Jewish or Middle Eastern characteristics. I have read, in connection with the controversy about the origin of Loki’s name, that he may be a holdover from an earlier, perhaps pre-Indo-European pantheon that was replaced by the Norse one. The Jotnar in Norse myth, like the Titans of Greek myth, do seem to play the role of “old gods” that might represent the gods of the pre-Indo-European populations that were conquered and/or displaced by Indo-European settlers just as the Jotnar/Titans are conquered and displaced by the Aesir/Olympians. Loki is unusual in being a Jotun who is accepted into the community of the Aesir – perhaps an older native god being borrowed into the invaders’ religion? So Loki is already an Other, an outsider relative to the rest of the Norse pantheon.

Despite the fact that Marvel was using Norse gods as the basis for their Asgardian characters, the comics originated in 20th-century America, which was, ineluctably, subject to a number of other cultural influences. Mainstream American culture has been primarily shaped by Christian European culture, and the Other par excellence of Christian Europe has always been the Jew. In European culture, Jewish men have been feminized and, especially around the turn of the 20th century, have been compared to or associated with gay men in light of their shared status as outsiders, as an alien and inscrutable Other, and presumed untrustworthiness. (This is brought out in an especially poignant way by Marcel Proust, a gay man and the son of a Jewish woman, in In Search of Lost Time, particularly in his treatment of the Dreyfus Affair, which was THE political event of the 1890s and left a deep scar on French society that still hadn’t healed when Proust’s books were published 20-30 years later.)

Marvel’s Loki hits many of the points associated with the figure of the Jew in European culture. He is the eternal foreigner in Asgard, his loyalties constantly in question. He is portrayed as sly and manipulative, always pulling strings from behind the scenes, forever plotting to take power from the rightful rulers of Asgard. He does tend to be queer- or feminine-coded, which on its own isn’t necessarily evidence of Jewish-coding, but reinforces the rest of the image. Aside from having dark hair while most Asgardians are blond/golden-haired—a standard trope for emphasizing the “Oriental” origins of European Jews, though many (like myself) are blond or (like my mother and grandmother) red-haired—the Loki of the classic comics also tends to have a hooked nose. (Which is pretty common among cartoon villains, especially sly and conniving ones…)

I first became aware of the implicit Jewish-coding of MCU Loki—which might have been unintentional, or just a consequence of the adaptation from the comics—when I happened across a couple of videos setting footage from Thor and The Avengers to songs from The Prince of Egypt, including “All I Ever Wanted” and “The Plagues.” I realized that Loki’s position as member of a foreign enemy group, rescued from death as a baby and raised, in ignorance of his heritage, as the second prince of the society that conquered the society of his origin, was very similar to that of Moses in The Prince of Egypt. (That movie doesn’t adhere exactly to Moses’s story in Exodus; Moses did actually know where he came from because his sister Miriam volunteered his birth mother as a wet nurse for him. But then, in some versions of the comics, Loki does know that he’s either adopted or Odin’s bastard, so that doesn’t necessarily spoil the parallel.) Then I noticed some of the other characteristics that set Loki apart from Asgardian society at large and his adoptive family in particular… I actually had Loki comment on it in my first Thorki fic, Desert Flowers, which takes place after Loki visits Berlin in the 1920s. (I doubt Antagonistic Anon will care, but some of my other followers might be interested.) It’s easiest for me just to quote that passage. Here Loki is explaining Midgardian racism, including antisemitism, to Thor:

“There are a few characteristic physical traits, though they’re not consistent. Long, arched nose; dark curly hair.” Loki stopped short, his lips pressed tightly together. “In general, they don’t look any more different from other Europeans than I do from you,” he forced himself to say good-humoredly. “In fact, I was given rather shoddy service at a few restaurants—and even turned away from one inn that I was certain still had vacancies—which was very puzzling until I realized that they thought I was Jewish… a member of this group, I mean.”

“Huh,” said Thor disgustedly […]

Loki cleared his throat. “At any rate,” he continued, “the animus toward them centers on their supposed character: greedy, ambitious, deceitful; physically weak, but clever and devious enough to gain power through indirect means.” Me again. Too interested in scholarly pursuits, not enough in manly physical activities; prone to neurosis. All too quickly, the list of antisemitic stereotypes that he had heard tossed around in Berlin had turned into a catalogue of Loki’s own inadequacies. While Thor is the very embodiment of the ‘Aryan ideal.’

Pretty obviously MCU Loki’s hair is naturally curly because Tom Hiddleston’s hair is naturally curly and they can’t always keep it under control. But in combination with its unusual color, the unusual texture and his apparently intense desire to slick it into submission spoke to me. I’ve struggled with the frizzy texture of my own hair, and a lot of other Jews I know try to tame it in various ways, while others go natural and embrace the “Jew-fro.” I’m sure Scandinavian people can have curly hair, and I’m not ruling out an interpretation of Loki’s dislike of his curly hair that has nothing at all to do with his status as Other. But for me it just fits in with everything else that I’ve mentioned.

Jeez, I kind of can’t believe I wrote that much in response to what clearly was not a friendly question. I’m honestly kind of puzzled as to why Anon was so bothered by an offhand comment about Loki being Jewish-coded. (Like, is there a problem with Jews “appropriating” Scandinavian culture…? Don’t worry, folks, Jews have absolutely no interest in replacing you.) Actually, this is the second hostile anonymous “question” I’ve received in the past two weeks, both with decently good grammar (unusual for anon hate) but premised on a wildly uncharitable, deliberately obtuse interpretation of something I wrote (my response to the first is here). If the second didn’t regard a pretty widely shared post of mine, I might suspect a single unfriendly blog-stalker. This is kind of weird, since I never used to get obnoxious anonymous comments; I guess the cost of gradually increasing exposure is assholes.

@darklittlestories, @incredifishface, I thought you might find this whole thing mildly entertaining… Oh, and @andreashwood, because you’re a “Prince of Egypt” fan.

[lucianalight]

as a jewish person the 'space lizards' joke really felt like a slap in the face since that conspiracy theory is rooted in antisemitism. esp since it was such an ooc thing for loki to say so it felt like mike just really wanted to reference that conspiracy theory. also the way the tva have so many similarities to the nazis. I never met most of my extended family bc of ppl like mobius.. also they literally had posters referencing 1984 but then presented the tva as "good guys."

I'd never heard of this conspiracy theory until other Jewish people pointed it out. I thought it was really odd that Loki said that because he has seen many alien species through his life and these Timekeepers didn't even look like lizards. So yeah it was definitely a reference to this conspiracy theory and it's really terrible that they did sth like that.

I also hate Mobius and all the TVA agents with a passion. As I said before, they're the perfect example of the concept of banality of evil.

The framing of the show is also terrible. On one hand you have all these similarities with Nazis, references to Orwellian dystopia and key phrases associated with totalitarian propaganda. You have Sylvie, who the narrative frames as a hero coded protagonist condemning TVA. On the other hand, the show ends up framing freeing of the timeline as a terrible mistake, TVA as a necessary evil and Mobius who believes the ends justify the means as "inherently good"!

What I think makes all of this even worse is the implicit Jewish coding of MCU Loki. Sth I was made aware of by @philosopherking1887 's great meta about it in which she has described some of antisemitic stereotypes and how they apply to Loki, both in comics and MCU version. Quoting from her post:

"In European culture, Jewish men have been feminized and, especially around the turn of the 20th century, have been compared to or associated with gay men in light of their shared status as outsiders, as an alien and inscrutable Other, and presumed untrustworthiness."

"The animus toward them centers on their supposed character: greedy, ambitious, deceitful; physically weak, but clever and devious enough to gain power through indirect means."

This is how the series portrayed and retconned Loki. They introduced Loki as a queer character and went and reinforced all the anti queer and antisemitic stereotypes about him. Loki is shown as clever but power hungry and greedy, a liar and betrayer and physically weak to the point that humans can easily beat him up.

So in the series, we have TVA which is basically Nazis, presented as good guys or a necessary evil that actively torture, murder, commit genocide and treat variants as worthless and less than people. And Loki, a Jewish coded character is arrested by them, his lack of agency is played for laughs, his torture is framed as therapy and sth that he deserved, he is dressed in their uniform and in the end states that they made a mistake in freeing the timelines.

There is not a single minority group that this show and its terrible message and references hasn't insulted.

[podcastwizard]

i’ve seen how y’all use the phrase coded and decided you don’t deserve it anymore. guess what fuckers nothing is coded anything anymore if it’s said it’s said. no more subtext just domtext from here on out. 

[ricstarlovebot]

do people know that when we say “coding” it means “with reference to a code” as in, just because you read something as being applicable to a character that does not mean that it’s coding because coding must refer back to a known code, which can be read and recognized! coding has a lot to do with stereotypes for this exact reason

coding and applicability are very different things and while both are of course subjective, the latter is much more so

[nerdby]

I mentioned biphobia because your joke felt like erasure. Also I can't read tone especially when people fail to use tone indicators or emojis, so the fact that it was a joke went completely over my head.

And also I think you're forgetting that Marvel is currently in a stranglehold by a monopoly corporation that was founded by a Nazi sympathizer and is headed by a centrist CEO who took over for a guy who donated MILLIONS to the Don't Say Gay Bill in Florida. So the MCU filmmakers don't exactly have complete creative control over what they can do in the shows and films, but unfortunately the fact that Marvel Comics have always been left-leaning is what put them in this position in the first place. Cause that's why they started selling off film rights in the 90s to avoid bankruptcy and only just got back the film rights of the Hulk from Universal Studios.

Hopefully, it 20-30 years Marvel will be able to buy Marvel Studios from Disney but that's a long way off.

I'm also not a Sylki shipper, by the way. I don't ship those two, but because I'm just as much as a horror nerd as I am a comic book nerd I've seen a lot lot worse. And with all due respect, art does not exist to make you comfortable -- least of all the horror genre which the Loki series is heavily influenced by. The Loki series is a love letter to counter-culture and the horror film genre largely started as an act rebellion against the Hays Code which was illegal censorship of Hollywood films spearheaded by the Catholic Church. The Hays Code is the Hollywood equivalent of the Comics Code Authorities which existed to censor comic books.

Art exists to make a statement and to make people to think, and to help us build empathy by learning about people different from us.

"It makes me uncomfortable," is the argument used by fascists like Moms For Liberty who are pushing to reinstate illegal acts of media censorship like the Hays Code via book banning.

And do not claim that media is not political or that not all media has a message. That is an anti-intellectual ideology meant to silence artists and minorities. Just like how people love to say Marvel isn't political even though the company is famous for having been founded by Jewish progressives.

People need to step outside of their comfort zones in order to grow and become better people. So it makes me very uncomfortable when people complain about a piece of media because they find it unsettling.

the loki show annoys me so much as someone whos been a loki fan since like. thor. the original thor. since i was a literal child

cuz the concept is so great and so are the actors and the plot and im rly enjoying it but then they throw sylkie in the middle of it and it ruins everything for me so much. i literally put off watching season 2 for days cuz i despise the sylvie/loki shit so much T-T it annoys me when i watch it because the good stuff is so great especially for someone who's been waiting for loki to have content all to himself for years and then its just. ruined. by such a shitty little thing

marvel would go bankrupt before they let gay ppl exist but im gonna lie to myself and convince myself lokius is becoming canon this season to get me through it

[iamnmbr3]

the loki series is esp insulting bc disney created this divisive, sexist, racist, queerphobic, antisemitic, bigoted garbage that basically is a parody of progressivism straight out of a rightwing bigots 'tHiS is THeFuTuRe THaT LiBERalS WaNt' playbook and then act like we should be GRATEFUL. like they literally just insult to injury. absolutely outrageous

like. sorry but it's actually not empowering to me to see Loki the heavily Other Coded character be reduced to a caricature where we're supposed to laugh at his pain and think it's funny and justified when he gets enslaved, tortured, dehumanized, sexually assaulted, threatened with murder, and told he is part of a group of people that the Nazi coded TVA "heroes" are exterminating (and this genocide is presented as justified and good)

Loki is coded as the Other, the outsider, and that coding involves an amalgamation of many things. there are many lenses to look at his character through. there is female coding. queer coding. trans coding. gnc coding. genderfluid coding. jewish coding. minority coding. nd coding. victim of colonization coding. etc etc.  and given the history of the way these groups having been treated.... the messaging is. especially pointed and disgusting and not progressive at all. and it's simply not acceptable.

this show is literally pro fascist. and disney expects me to cheer for it. gtfo with this nonsense. 

[theblasianwitch]

Friday the 13th

Originally popularized by a novel of the same name by Thomas William Lawson talking about manipulating the stock market, but the term got spread to coincide with being unlucky and rehashed and used in the horror media of all kinds. This book came out within the first decade of the 1900s.

The Number 13

The number 13 has a long history of being unlucky going all the way back to almost 2000 BCE.

Hammurabi's Code of Laws from Babylonia omits the number 13 when numbering the laws.

Loki in Norse mythology is sometimes viewed as the 13th god thanks to a dinner party in Valhalla hosting 12 gods and Loki arriving doing, well, Loki things.

In the Jewish Cabal there are 13 evil spirits.

Chapter 13 of Revelations in the Christian Bible is all about the Antichrist.

So yeah 13 gets a bad rep, but its mainly Western cultures as in the East the unlucky number is 4. In Italy though, the unlucky number is 17 and they don't see 13 as unlucky.

However, those were primarily based on language or homonyms really. (4 in Ancient Chinese and some current Asian languages [Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean to name a few] sounded like the word for death. 17 in Roman numerals XVII being able to be rewritten into the Latin word "vixi" which means "I lived" therefore no linger alive.) There wasn't that correlation with Western languages however. The more I looked into it, the more I found how Friday the 13th is labeled as a "Anglo Saxon" belief. So I dove a little deeper and sure enough the number 13 gained its bad rep through the spread of Christianity and colonization and the assimilation/eradication of the more earth based pagan religions.

What's funny however is that the number 13 was still viewed as good or no view at all in the early days of Christianity. Gnostics had 13 Conformations and the Magi were said to visit the Christ child on the 13th day, and even receives his full awakening on his 13th birthday when he pretty much told off the rabbi that they're doing things wrong. So for a while it was a neutral number.

Until the 12 disciples sat down with Jesus on the Last Supper on a Thursday before being crucified on a Friday. 13 men enjoying their last meal together before everything turned bad on a Friday.

Unlucky Days of the Week

So now you know somewhat why Friday from the Christian perspective which has pretty much spread like a plague, but if just Friday was unlucky why does TGIF still exists? Makes no sense really. What does have some backing though is the Latin Americas, Greece and Spain viewing Tuesdays as unlucky so much that their superstitions encourage you to not travel or get married on a Tuesday. Reason being is because Tuesday (Martes) is the day of Mars, the god of war and destruction and its believed that destruction will follow you throughout the day. Combine that with the spread of 13 superstitions and the unlucky day becomes Tuesday the 13th.

Whether you believe or not, still best not to disrespect the day. I for one will now be marking Tuesday the 13th, Friday the 13th and Friday the 17th as days of caution or just to do a little extra protection... Maybe I should befriend Mars.

[philosopherking1887]

Close to the 4-year anniversary of my first Thorki fic -- which started as “What if Thor and Loki got high and Loki tried to get Thor to talk about philosophy?” and ended up touching on racism, the incest taboo, and Marvel Loki’s Jewish-coding -- I learned that the Ba’al Shem Tov probably smoked weed.

[profiterole-reads]

2021 Favourites

In no particular order. This is content I've read and watched in 2021, not necessarily content released in 2021.

Books

1. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley: m/m 19th-century fantasy. I love the intricate plot of this series. Book 2 takes place in Japan, which makes it even more interesting.

2. The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca: queer and poly urban fantasy set in a secondary world. This amazing stand-alone novel has telepathy where the characters can end up in somebody else's body. Think Sense8.

3. [Spanish] Cada Seis Meses by Clara Duarte: f/f magical realism. This is my favourite Spanish novel. The love interest only exists six months a year. The plot plays with the butterfly effect.

4. Cute Mutants by SJ Whitby: sapphic and trans/enby superhero fiction (YA). This is a novel series, despite the comics-sounding titles. I read a lot of original superhero books and this is my fave.

5. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao: m/m/f science fiction. I also read some original giant robot novels and this is definitely my fave. I love how it's inspired by Chinese culture and mythology.

6. The Unraveling by Benjamin Rosenbaum: science fiction with two invented genders. In this far-future stand-alone novel, people have several bodies with only one mind. Perfect for fans of Ann Leckie.

7. The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer: m/m science fiction (YA). Try to go into this book knowing as little as possible. It has horror vibes of the quiet "we're two people alone in the middle of space" variety.

8. The Papercutter by Cindy Rizzo: f/f dystopia (YA). The United States have split into two nations: the United Progressive Regions and the God Fearing States. Jewish pen pals use a secret code via traditional papercuts.

9. Jinx Ballou, Bounty Hunter by Dharma Kelleher: thriller with a trans woman protagonist. This action-packed series deals with serious themes, but also has fun scenes where the protagonist cosplays and goes to conventions.

10. [French] Tant qu'il le faudra by Cordélia: LGBT contemporary fiction. This is my favourite French series. A group of diverse people write an LGBT magazine. It's a brilliant mix of activism and romance.

TV shows

1. Word of Honor: BL wuxia. This c-drama is mind-blowing, nobody knows how it went past censorship. It has an excellent plot and beautiful visuals.

2. Heaven Official's Blessing: BL xianxia. This donghua is full of sweet flirting. I love the plot and the gorgeous art. There's also going to be a c-drama.

3. The Wheel of Time: heroic fantasy with some f/f + polyamory in the background. This is very pleasant to watch thanks to its focus on women and on characters of colour.

4. Legend of Yunqian: GL time travel (part wuxia, part contemporary). This c-drama is a quick watch, with 15 episodes of 4 minutes, but it packs a lot.

5. Motherland: Fort Salem: urban fantasy with some f/f. This is another excellent series with a focus on women and on characters of colour.

6. Color Rush: BL magical realism (YA). This k-drama is based on the concept of Soulmate AUs: you only see colour when you're with your soulmate. It's movie-length, with 8 episodes of 15 minutes.

7. MCU TV shows: Loki is bisexual and genderfluid. I also like the deaf representation in Hawkeye and the Black representation in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

8. Y: The Last Man: science fiction with a trans man major character. The plot could have been better, but the trans representation is very well done.

9. Light On Me: BL romance (YA). This k-drama's protagonist is on the autism spectrum. It has an all-male love triangle.

10. Young Royals: m/m romance (YA). This amazing Swedish show is about a gay prince finding love at his boarding school.

Movies

1. The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity: BL wuxia (not to be mixed up with The Yin Yang Master, though it's pretty good too). Both of these movies are Chinese adaptations from the Japanese novel Onmyoji.

2. MCU movies: some m/m in Eternals. I love that we're finally getting more diversity in the MCU, not only with Eternals, but also with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

3. The Matrix 4: science fiction by a trans woman. Objectively, there isn't much LGBT content, but subjectively, the movie has a lot of queer/trans energy.

4. Snake Eyes: action movie with BL vibes. I know it isn't exactly popular, but I thought it was as good with Japanese culture as Shang-Chi was with Chinese culture.

5. You Make Me Dance: BL romance. This Korean movie is a lovely story about a professional dancer and a debt collector.