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bachelor4choice · 9 days

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Fans of Arcane! I'm here to bring theories!!!!

P.S.: Please, no spoilers. Especially regarding any leaks. Making theories is a big part of what makes a show fun for fans, so don’t ruin that. Good? Good.

Recently, I saw here on Tumblr a series of images about how the acts will be divided in this second season, and that gave me some clues about how Vi’s arc might unfold. Since they're focusing a lot on her, it's the "easiest" to deduce, but I have some guesses about other characters as well.

The image (not sure if it's official ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) is this one:

HERE WE GO!

Act 1: It would pick up immediately after the final events of the first season. Vi immediately finds herself "forced" to join Caitlyn and the Enforcers. It’s a natural progression for the character, considering what happened. Vi values herself as someone who protects those she loves. She always has been this way, so when she feels like she failed Jinx, she moves on to protect Cait. I believe, for her, it’s also a way to protect Zaun, which must fall into chaos with the power vacuum left by Silco. In this act we’d see Vi and Caitlyn grow even closer, but with so many close calls that we would die a little, because neither of them is exactly what the other needs. Both Caitlyn and Vi, in the inside, are actualy drifting away from what they initially liked in each other. Yes, it’s going to be quite painful to watch, but hey! It’s going to get worse :)

I believe the end of this act will be a confrontation between Jinx and Vi. And here, my friends, we see the downfall, because I still believe Vi won’t be able to finish off Jinx, and this will be a double failure in Vi’s "protector" nature. This will lead her to distance herself from Cait and the Enforcers, but by this point, Vi has nowhere to return to, because Zaun no longer accepts her. She has become a traitor, remember? Enter Dark Vi! At the end of this act, there will be ANOTHER breakup between Vi and Cait (without them even having started dating yet! These lesbians) and this will also push Cait to take more drastic actions, alongside Mel’s mother.

Act 2: It would start with Vi at her lowest point (I’m not looking at her arms, you are!) I believe this is also when Jinx becomes a symbol of resistance, as a response to the increasing pressure applied by Caitlyn and Medarda. As things get politically terrible, Vi continues to lose her sense of self. That’s why she drinks so much and why the ex-enforcer takes her to those underground fights. She keeps hallucinating about Caitlyn because, again, she feels like she’s failed. She couldn’t help Caitlyn because she couldn’t stop protecting Jinx. For her, this whole situation is lose-lose. Seeing Caitlyn drift further from who she truly is also deeply affects Vi.

I’ve always admired Caitlyn’s character for her rationality and compassion. She’s smart, determined, focused, but sweet (like a Cupcake). Seeing someone you care about lose that side of themselves because of your own sister… Yeah, I’d be drinking too. This would explain why Vi hallucinates about the Caitlyn from the first season. At the same time, with Jinx being exalted as a symbol, Vi sees exactly what she’s lost: the sister who was supposed to grow up and help Zaun. Everyone viewing Jinx this way, when she definitely ISN’T like that anymore, is like rubbing salt in the wound.

I believe Vi’s downfall will take up an entire episode. Two things could happen to end Dark Vi. Jinx, as we see her watching the fights and even betting on Vi. (Same Symbol)

Yep, in the new images, Vi isn’t hallucinating about Jinx, only about Cait. Jinx is going to watch Vi spiraling and I think she’s going to HATE it. I do believe Jinx has changed, but I think she still prefers to see Vi distant but doing okay, rather than close and falling apart. I think this would be an interesting trait for Jinx. Now, throwing in a wild guess: I think Jinx herself is going to seek out Caitlyn. Cait, by the way, is likely spiraling too, but unlike Vi, she has other ways to self-destruct (work).

So, my theory for the end of Act 2 is that Jinx is going to show Cait the state Vi’s in and say, “Look at this disaster lesbian!” This will lead to a really sweet moment where Cait finally reconnects with her compassionate side—caring about others' pain, not just her own (get ready to cry here. If this really happens, I want ALL of it! From tending to Vi’s wounds and alcoholism to a heart-wrenching confession in the middle).

HOWEVER, I don’t think Cait’s return will be the only catalyst. Here’s where the battle with Warwick comes in! Wouldn’t it be tragic if Vander, once again, is responsible for making Vi rediscover her value as the protector of those she loves? Because I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen—fighting this version of Vander will be the final nail in the coffin for Dark Vi. Oh, Vander, helping Vi even now.

Act 3: We’ll finally have Vi and Cait on the same page (you know that sex scene? Probably here, and I think it’s going to lean more towards sweet than sexy. Something tasteful, definitely).

Vi will be an Enforcer, but not to hunt Jinx—rather, to help Zaun and protect everyone, including Piltover, from Empress Medarda’s grip. After all, with Cait no longer obsessed with taking down Jinx, Medarda’s influence over Caitlyn will come to an end. The only leverage Medarda has over Cait is her anger, and when that’s no longer in play, Cait’s rational side kicks back in. She’ll realize that for Medarda, it was never about justice—it was about Hextech. This realization will be what unites everyone: Zaun and Piltover will come together, fighting against Medarda.

Oil and Walter.

As for Cait, there are definitely some missing pieces. Just as Vi has Warwick, Cait is going to have something beyond Jinx/Vi. But since there’s so little information about the other characters, it’s hard to say who. There’s bound to be something more than just the power of love. What’s important is that during the third act, we’ll already have Cait and Vi as Piltover’s Finest! In those perfect black uniforms.

Well, that's basically it! See you in November, when Arcane becomes my entire personality!

#piltover's finest #caitlyn kiramman #Cait #vi arcane #Vi #jinx arcane #Jinx #arcane league of legends #caitlyn arcane #Caitlyn #vi x caitlyn #just a guess #why is november so far?#Arcane #arcane season 2

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crazybiaatch · 2 months

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Silco and Jinx were never weird

I saw yet another tik tok calling Silco a pdf file for his interactions with Jinx, so I need to rant and defend my favourite mentally ill daddy/daughter duo, so spoilers ahead

END OF ACT 1

At the end of act 1 we see Silco and Powder in very similar postions. They have both just lost a sibling in the worst ways imaginable (to them, at the time). They obviously feel very differently about these losses, it was always in Silco's plans for Vander to die, but all the emotions from when Vander turned his back on their dreams had resurfaced while he was talking to Vander, whereas Powder had just tried to prove herself to her big sister and instead of being proud, Vi was angry, and told her that Milo was right, that she was a Jinx. So, when Silco accepts Powder's hug and even reciprocates, it does make some sort of sense. Not to us, and not to the people around them, but Powder and Silco are feeling very similar emotions, anger, confusion, betrayal, ect. Silco sees these emotions in Powder, and takes her in. We don't get to see much of their relationship here since this is the very beginning of the relationship, but I felt like pointing out the basis of their bond was important.

ACT 2

This is where some people start thinking their relationship is more sexual than it is. This is because of how touchy they are with each other. I'm talking about the scene where Jinx sits on Silco's lap.

Now, two points to get out of the way. 1, plenty of people show physical affection to their fathers this way and similarly, there is nothing wrong with this as long as it never crosses boundaries, and I cannot and will not speak on actual relationships I have no knowledge of, everything I am about to say is within the context of this fictional relationship within this fictional world. 2, Jinx is both Silco's adopted daughter (no blood relation, both of her blood parents are dead) and around 18-19 years old during acts 2 and 3, she is also severely mentally ill. Not in a silly, joking way, she at least has paranoid schizophrenia.

Silco and Jinx's relationship is not a normal father/daughter relationship. It literally never could be. Silco has been extremely traumatised by what happened with Vander and Jinx has devolped severe mental health issues while in Silco's care, while also being traumatised by what happened with Vi. So, instead of the breakdown I did above, I'm just going to point out things to contextualise how touchy Jinx an Silco are to each other, and I'm just going to go as chronologically as I can (I've rewatched this show 3 times, and I am rewatching all Silco and Jinx interactions as I write this)

1x04:

Silco defends Jinx, in the conversation with Sevika after the Firelights fight. Sevika was 100% right, and a cold-hearted leader like Silco would usually agree with what she was saying and punish Jinx accordingly. Instead, he tells Sevika to "not dissapoint him" (do better) and sends her away, before asking for Jinx's side of the story. Not to sound like I have daddy issues, but my dad woudn't even do that for me. (quick little aside bc its on my screen right now - that monkey thing on Silco's desk? Adorable, anyone who claims to not know that Silco was Jinx's dad is clearly not paying enough attention)

Now, the infamous moment. Silco hands his eye-needle-thing to Jinx, and she moves to sit on his lap and wraps a hand around his neck as he leans back (pictures below).

These pictures show just how physically close they are (literally touching) and yes, I can see how this looks weird, trust me, I've seen the fanart (i wish i didn't) BUT that doesn't mean I think that reading is right! For starters, physical closeness doesn't immediately mean sexual or even romantic tension, if this was true, that would ALSO mean that Vi and Jinx have a weird relationship (pictures below)

Woah! Look! Physical closeness! They're even closer than Jinx and Silco! So, it's not the closeness that makes it weird. Maybe it's the actual actions! Vi is just hugging Jinx, whereas Jinx is sitting half on top of Silco. To inject 'medicine' into his eye. I would like to see you do something like that standing away from someone. The two times we see Silco get his injections, Jinx has to lean over him to get it done correctly, and when she rushes it the second time, it hurts him. (another thing this scene is showing us is how much Silco trusts Jinx, who would you let stab you in the eye? Probably someone you consider family, right?) But okay, it could be the dialogue that's got tension right? They're talking about Vi. And then they're talking about Zaun. And then Silco gets stabbed. And then Jinx goes straight back to sitting away from him. They only touch for a matter of SECONDS (about 10ish seconds, give or take since we don't actually see when Jinx moves away again) though in word it could be longer because of the glitch effect we get when Jinx talks about Vi, but it's not like Jinx was sat on Silco's lap for half an hour. She only moved to touch him a) when he asked (by offering the needle) and b) to help him, and moved away as soon as she was finished helping him. The rest of the interaction could either be read as fatherly or condescending, both are true enough ("Take some time" "I don't need it" "Take it anyhow") so this interaction? No tension. None. If you do see sexual tension, you are reaching. All I see is a father/boss trying to comfort his daughter, and then moving on to reprimanding her for her mistakes and essentially grounding her.

Their next interaction, after the bombing. Silco storms in and starts yelling at Jinx until she gives him the hextech crystal and hugs him. I wouldn't even call this interaction very 'fatherly' since Silco barely even hugs Jinx back and just stares at the crystal. This is more Silco the Boss than Silco the Dad. I guess you could say the way Jinx walked before hugging him was a little flirtatious? But that's pretty much how she always moves. I don't have much to say about this one, it's fairly straightforward, at least to me.

1x05

Silco defends Jinx, yet again, this time from Marcus who is trying to demand Jinx getting arrested. Silco is tense and turns down Marcus's idea immeadtly.

Not much happens, they're seperate for the rest of the episode until...

"You're the only one I can trust with this, Jinx."

This honestly is my main point. Jinx is one of three people Silco trusts. (the other two are Sevika and the Doctor, and he moreso trusts that they will listen to him, and he doesn't trust them anywhere as much as he trusts Jinx) Jinx is the one that is trusted with his medicine, and through the show, no one else really touches Silco. What I'm saying is, the man was drowned by his brother and hates the idea of other people touching him, except for Jinx. He obviously sees her as family of some kind, his every action and word screams it. (tiny aside, the look on his face at the end of that scene? my heart shattered. No one could make me hate him after that, he looked so scared and heartbroken.)

The next weird scene also happens this episode. The lake scene, or as I call it, the baptising scene. Silco dips Jinx below the water of the lake he was nearly drowned in, and to do that he holds her hand and holds the back of her head, and leans with her to dip her under water. They get very very close, and without the previous context I could 100% see how people would think this scene is romantic. But with the context of both their relationship and the actual action he's doing? He's baptising his daughter. (pictures below)

I'm not sure if any of you guys have seen an adult baptism, but I have thanks to my religion class, and let me tell you, those priests get REAL close. Not to mention, this is the same lake he nearly died in. Of course he's going to want to be close to make sure she's alright. He doesn't get any closer, the only reason they're that close is because its when Silco is starting to tip her backwards, but while Jinx is still holding herself upright.

(honourable mention moment - Silco in the last scene of this ep is amazing and I commend the animators for being able to show his emotions so clearly.)

1x06

This first scene with Jinx doesn't add anything to the relationship with Silco BUT it does contextualise how touchy she is. She hugs this random guy. Sure, it's to plant a glitter bomb to his back and scare him, but still, she doesn't even know his name. Same with the Sevika scene, she's practically on top of Sevika, and then once Sevika tells her about Vi, she pulls Sevika so close that I just know they could smell each other's breaths. Their foreheads are literally touching.

So much happens this episode thanks to Silco and Jinx both finding out about Vi, but there are 2 things I want to note, 1, Silco praises Jinx to Vi, just. I wish MY dad did that. 2, this is the big shift away from Powder (Vi) to Jinx (Silco).

ACT 3

1x07

(sorry just - the ash tray covered in crayons? I did that to my parents ash tray once)

This is where the show stops going for subtext. Sevika compares her relationship with her dad to Jinx and Silco. THAT IS TEXT.

Anyways, the next big scene. The second injection.

"We are family."

I saw someone seriously try to say they never thought Silco and Jinx were family. Did you just, not watch the show? "Oh she's sitting on his lap again." Yeah she's also stabbed him in the face twice and in the neck once. Does that scream sexual tension to you?

1x08

Okay, so, Silco kisses Jinx this episode. On the forehead, while she's on her deathbed. He kissed her the same way I kiss my nephew goodnight. I cannot stress enough, I am a Jegulus shipper and even I am not seeing romantic or sexual tension and he actually just kissed her.

"I, too, once had a daughter" again. A character comparing their father/daughter relationship to Silco and Jinx.

1x09

(quick note - the way Silco acts when Renni's son dies is iconic)

Circling back to the trust thing, he is literally putting his life in Sevika's hands, she can chose to be loyal to him or to join Finn, and he knows that the choice is hers. Look at how he acts after she swings her sword. He is hyperventilating. He sat still and patient while Jinx literally stabbed him with that needle thing, but when Sevika had the choice between a gutsy kid or her longtime boss he feared for his life. Sure, he pulls himself together, but that was pure PANIC

Anyways, big moment here.

"You're my daughter." Silco to Jinx, moments before disaster. If you manage to watch that and still look back and think "The writers were trying to communicate that there was a sexual relationship between them." you are a child left behind.

To sum my points up + stuff that doesn't really have a nice spot to put it:

Silco and Jinx are the only people they truly trust. Silco hates being touched and Jinx is a very tactile person, she is also consistently the only person that touches Silco.

This relationship isn't normal or healthy, it's co-dependent asf but it's also 100% platonic and never once moves towards sexual or romantic

This is dedicated to the people that think their relationship is gross, not to the shippers. The shippers are already too far gone.

Watching the whole show through only Jinx and/or Silco scenes is still cohesive and you don't see Jayce until the very end, 10/10 for the writers

#silco #arcane silco #silco and jinx #jinx #jinx arcane #arcane #rant post #this is a half drunk rant that was spawned by someone saying Silco was acting like a pdf file around Jinx

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space-blue · 1 year

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Hi! I like your Arcane anaylses :) I wanted to ask for your opinion on why Sevika is celebrated and Marcus gets shamed? I mean, they basically did the same thing. Both betrayed their "friend(s)" - Vander and Grayson - for their personal beliefs.

Heya Anon, thanks, I'm glad you enjoy my meta! Hope you enjoy me disagreeing with your premise x'D

Sevika and Marcus have nothing in common imo. At no point in the show is it established that Sevika and Vander are friends. There are no outward signs of friendship. The person standing next to Vander and joking with Vander, and left in charge in episode 2 is Benzo.

We meet Sevika in a confrontational scene where she's against Vander. Vander doesn't meet her or anyone else's needs in that scene. He puts them all down and enforces, as he's been doing for years, The Status Quo. He doesn't listen, he's doing this meeting to reinforce that nothing should be done and enforcers left alone. Vander is ruling. He's the leader of the Lanes.

Sevika and Vander in that moment have conflicting interests. Sevika wants change. Sevika wants to lash back while Vander wants everyone to stay under the heel of Piltover, hoping that if they don't fight back the boot won't squeeze.

You can't blame Sevika for thinking that's crappy. She's making a life choice informed by her analysis of the situation. We don't know when she made her decision either, or for how long she's been hostile to Vander.

I'd argue too that there's a strong argument that Silco already has Sevika as an ally at that time :

He's famously untrusting.

The chemist I nicknamed Syd is at Vander's place riling people up with Sevika, and next scene he's manufacturing Shimmer for Silco, which can't be an easy process.

Silco has people spying on Vander AND his kids.

I think this telegraphs that Sevika has potentially been on his side for a while and was at the Last Drop to undermine Vander.

That's rough life politics. What can you do? You can't blame Sevika for having dreams of her own and seeing Vander as a massive obstacle on the way. Again, she's never shown to be one of his cronies and we have no clue about the nature of their relationship besides the fact she used to respect him. But we know so did Silco, and Vander has changed a lot.

On the other hand, Marcus has a very bad start…

He's an enforcer with a chip on his shoulder. I made this post theorising as to why… And it's whack and may be totally wrong, but it's clear Marcus is shown as going above and beyond in his hate of "trenchers". He uses slurs, is violent towards even children, and is happy to take bribes and underhanded deals in his goal of dragging said trenchers to jail.

He's also a doofus who doesn't realise what he's getting into. Blinded by his hatred and wading into dangerous waters. He's not smart enough to come on top and ends up being a tool.

Also… he's a COP. He's part of a system. He has a boss who he's NOT friend's with as far as we see, but he's her explicit subordinate and gets thrown around the office after disobeying her.

He put Grayson in a bad spot and led her to her death, failing his entire organisation by then not coming clean. He keeps dirty secrets that weigh him down, while Sevika is shown to be blunt and entirely truthful to Vi, Jinx, and even Silco.

He goes behind people's back, and sure, Sevika goes behind Vander's too. But Marcus is paid in literal blood money and never comes clean. Sevika is fine being open with her allegiences once shit hits the fan, and she's there for ideology, not self interest.

We don't know the details of Sevika's dream, but we know she keeps Silco on his toes. Silco's dream is the Nation of Zaun. Independance. Not the erradication of Piltovans.

Meanwhile Marcus just wants to throw children in jail, and DOES, again behind everyone's back.

Sevika is a bull. Marcus is a snake.

Sevika is making life choices and chosing who will serve her interests. She chose the anti hero who wants freedom for her oppressed people. Marcus is THE OPPRESSOR and a shitty one to boot who disobeys the very order he serves.

Funniest of all, I don't think Marcus was betraying Grayson. Her death was not part of "the deal". That asshole truly just wanted to arrest a kid and glean the recompense of a job well done. But there's no hint that he was trying to unseat Grayson.

In a way he's just as zealous as Sevika. He follows his hate and prejudices and she follows her principles. She doesn't mind bashing her own people to get to her goals, but Vander is literally doing Grayson's job for her. He's a freelancing cop and an enemy of any Zaunites dreaming of independence.

Vander has a stance, and Sevika has the opposite one.

The only person who perceives betrayal is Vi. But Vi is a child and doesn't understand politics at all. She's completely blinded by her love for Vander and her mindset of 'everybody is my enemy'. If she slowed down a bit, she might notice she and Silco want the exact same thing. Literally. A better world for Powder, and everyone like her. Vi is poisoned against Silco by Silco and Vander's fateful clash. It's perfectly understandable! I don't think it'd be easy to have her not be rightfully prejudiced against Silco.

But she IS our eyes for a lot of the story. We perceive Vander a lot through her extremely rose tinted view.

Sevika probably doesn't couch her own siding with Silco as a betrayal…

That being said, we don't know their backstory. Maybe Sevika was friends with Vander when they were younger? We have a picture of young Silco at the bar with Vander… did she know them both? Because then we can do anything you want.

My favourite take being that she took Silco's side after Vander's betrayal, but stayed out and public and was careful not be 'seen' with Silco. She's a true believer. I think if she had hesitations, learning Vander was sucking Grayson's toes most likely fully turned her away. That's just my prefered fanon, but if you have a fanon theory of her being Vander's friend, of course it'd colour your view. I just don't think the canon reactions of both characters really compare.

#anon ask #arcane #arcane meta #vander #silco #vi #jinx #sevika #marcus #arcane marcus #arcane vi #grayson #thanks for the ask

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letters-to-rosie · 1 year

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another fic idea: the timebomb Howl's Moving Castle AU

Ekko's Moving Treehouse!

blatantly inspired by @redrum-alice's FANTASTIC artwork and developed in collaboration with @lullabyes22-blog, because I've been fawning over the art since it was posted and I just knew there had to be a way this could work because it was so cute and the potential just jumped off the page for me

(you've probably seen it but go look at it if you haven't it's so good)

me and Lullabyes have both read the book and seen the movie, so we combined a lot of ideas from both versions, and this is the result so far:

so Silco is the Witch of the Waste lol

Jinx's curse turns her eyes pink (and they stay that way, like Sophie's hair turning white!)

our girl is on a journey of ✨self-discovery✨ and to find her family. Silco does not understand why and just wants her to come home for dinner lol

instead of happening upon Ekko, Jinx goes looking for him because she heard there's a wizard wandering around who helps people

Ekko's castle is a treehouse, and the roots walk!

Jinx: "What a stupid way to treat a tree!" DX (a book line lol)

Jinx keeps arguing with the curse and it weirds Ekko out but she's just arguing with Silco lol

Ekko is a big grump because he gave his heart away to protect it after so much loss 😭

Jinx does not clean his house. she just redecorates. she draws on everything, including the Wall of the Fallen, and Ekko is thisssss close to strangling her at all times but he's promised to help

Jinx: "Ya gotta inject some levity into this narrative!" /casually breaks 4th wall

Silco's henchpeople keep showing up and Ekko fights them off but they're just trying to get Jinx to come back for dinner

Silco: "Discover? What are you discovering? Gold? Dinner's getting cold!"

at some point Jinx will have to cut up Ekko's clothes mwahaha

Ekko has the Slime Meltdown™ because Jinx breaks his hoverboard and he needs to be airborne and free or else there's no point in living

Heimerdinger is Madame Sullivan/Suliman, Ekko's old magic teacher who tells Jinx she's a witch like in the book 🪄

he even has the intro that makes him appear all spooky at first before his furball nature is revealed

maybe instead of giving life to things she animates machines???

they have a cute breakfast scene in Ekko's treehouse where Jinx eats real fruit the first time

Vi leaves a flare lit for Jinx all this time, and Ekko helps her find it

we didn't discuss this, but I think it would be interesting if Vi was Turnip Head, trying to communicate through Jinx throughout the story and maybe pushing her into situations that she doesn't really want (which has to do with how we're imagining the ending; Vander could also be Warwick instead and serve the same purpose???? wait I'm cooking here)

I also want Ajuna to be Michael/Markl lol

the end of the story sees Jinx decide to be true to herself; even though she knows that Silco and Vi both love her, she's gotta do her own thing

despite being super annoying lol she helps Ekko live in the moment and get his heart back, and they fall for each other and it's mushy as hell okay

"She's like very decorative lichen growing on his tree and he can't get rid of her, so by the story's end she's just become part of the natural treescape."

and at the end they keep traveling in the treehouse to see the world and help people and so Jinx can come into her witch powers

probably would be easy to insert all the war themes

Jinx coming into her own and being cute, Ekko learning to love again after this woman just barges into his life, family themes, romance, what more could we want???

#timebomb #don't let me down people #we gotta make this happen lol #arcane #fanfication #arcane jinx #arcane ekko #ekko #jinx #vi arcane #silco arcane #silco #howl's moving castle #EKKO'S MOVING TREEHOUSE #it would be so cute okay

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destinygoldenstar · 1 year

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Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character?

That’s a tough one.

I see quite a few arguments about some shows I’ve watched that ‘oh, this character is bad because they have too much screen time’. Or ‘I wish this character had more screen time to be interesting.’

Basically, too much screen time is now a valid critique to describe why a character is bad or doesn’t work for you. And to that I say…

Uh… no?

I’ll give some examples where I see this critique, but for now I want to state a case of examples where I expected to see this critique online, but didn’t, and I wondered why.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE SPIDERVERSE SEQUEL:

The main character of the Spiderverse movies is Miles Morales. Clear as day if you see ANY promotional concept art. The movies nail that home and give you a solid POV character among the Multiverse chaos.

The sequel begins with an over twenty minute backstory sequence involving Gwen Stacy, a side character in the first movie.

(Fun fact: When me and my dad went to see it in theaters together, he said that backstory was over twenty minutes long and that he thought they could've trimmed it down. Animated-phobia gives you weird opinions. He didn't watch Arcane with me and thought nothing of it because 'it was an animated show'. Not kidding.) (Both of my parents are like this, sadly.)

Now, in the context of the movie, it makes sense to include this to understand the full POV of her character going forward. As she is pretty vital to the story.

I tried imagining a version of the movie where we DIDN'T get this intro, went straight to Miles, and we just had to put the pieces together involving Gwen and her actions. And I don't think the movie would've worked nearly as well.

This brings me to another point involving Gwen Stacy in this movie: She's kind of become a protagonist as well, next to Miles.

Is this screen time theft? Under the screen time critique, it probably would seem that way.

And yet nobody I've seen complains. If anything, this solidified her as one of the best movie adaptations of Gwen Stacy out there. In my opinion.

Unlike the first movie, this one is not driven by the narrative of the main character, but rather multiple.

This is not uncommon. And it's an even bigger case with Arcane.

Yeah, this show is phenomenal everyone who says so is right Jinx is an icon Vi is my cartoon crush next to Petra I was crying so hard at the ending and for that alone this show deserves every ounce of praise it gets and I'm kind of an Arcane stan-

*Inhales*

I think I just have a thing for dystopian stories where characters walk through hell.

(Yes I consider TD a dystopian setting, that'd be a nice hot take to tackle one day.)

The Hunger Games is my favorite dystopian setting that I've seen, just because it's very memorable and inspiring. But Arcane is objectively the best dystopian story out there. If I fade out of my Total Drama obsession, this show might be my next target.

Cupcakes. El fin.

I could stop there, but lets talk about why we're here.

Arcane does not focus on the two main characters only as the driving force of its narrative.

Advertisement tell you that our main characters are the two growing war machines who go around calling each other sisters, Vi and Powder (Jinx. Idk how mad people get for which name I use for her. Sorry if I offend you). In fact, there's evidence to back that up. Other than they're the people with dyed hair, that's instant main character. They're the first characters we meet in the entire show. They're the characters with the final scene that closes off the season. EVERY ending to an act is with them. They're the main characters. Boom.

But wait. Nearly TWO THIRDS of this show doesn't even focus on them!

We have all the Piltover characters we keep switching back to. Jayce, Viktor, Mel, Caitlyn for Act 2 pretty much, Silco kind of becomes his own protagonist in Act 3. Really, the only people who remain consistent side characters are Ekko, and the two boys that get blown to pieces by Powder. And... some other people I'm forgetting the names of. (Sorry, I only had two watch throughs of this show so far and I know nothing about League other than the sisters become enemies.)

Now, why?

Why is this the case? I'm not saying characters other than our mains don't get fleshed out at all, but to the point where they're basically major enough to carry their own show? That SOUNDS like a detriment to the story if anything, especially how unfocused it kind of all gets until the end where everyone's in the same room.

Had Vi or Jinx interact with these characters, their fleshing out makes sense, and you definitely see that with characters like Caitlyn and Silco, who kind of need them to function.

But the Piltover gang? Jinx doesn't meet them at all, neither of the sisters meet Viktor, and Vi does meet Jayce, but in Episode 8 of 9.

Why does nobody complain about this? If anything, these guys are stealing screen time.

Well, it turns out, this is all done in Arcane's benefit, rather than fault. We are all the protagonist of our own story, and there are multiple POVs regarding the world.

It's basically if Hunger Games was third person instead of first, and we actually got a chance to flesh out the other rebels/children.

Me personally, and I know I'm not the only one out there, but the sisters were the most interesting thing about the show, and other characters that talk to them were how they caught my attention. That in no way means I don't care for anyone though, and it's COMPLETELY a PERSONAL thing.

So whenever we DO focus on the sisters and their story, not only do we get these other POVS on the scene that could clash with our view of them, but it makes it so that EVERY. SCENE. MATTERS.

No scene is wasted in fleshing out the sister's story. Everything has a purpose and drives it all to one heartbreaking simulation. There's no wasted space, there's no lack of attention to a certain detail, darn it, it's just right.

(I mean, I guess I would've liked to see what they went through in that time skip, like how Jinx was raised by Silco and processed her new identity, or better yet how tf Vi survived prison when it's heavily implied she beat people to a pulp and got solitary multiple times. But I think Season 2 is gonna cover it.)

Seriously, imagine a version of this show real quick.

Imagine a version of the show that took the Hunger Games approach, and used first person POV on one of the two sisters, doesn't matter which one, they'd both work. Cut out scenes not involving that sister. The other characters that appear revolve around scenes they're in with that sister.

Would that work nearly as well?

I don't think so.

Now First Person POV isn't necessarily a bad thing. Danganronpa is first person. Minecraft Story Mode is first person. Those are probably not great examples, but it can work. (TDDRI, a fic of mine, is first person, and I had to work around that to flesh out everyone else. It can work.)

This show is very hot topic and weirdly paced than what I'm used to. So take everything with a grain of salt as I am nowhere near an expert with this show. The show's story doesn't even get started until Episode 4, as the first three episodes are all flashback to explain where our characters are and why they're motivated to do what they do.

Again, I tried imagining a version of this show where we DIDN'T get those first three episodes, we started with Episode 4, and we just had to ASSUME all the backstory involving the sisters and the titular arcane and put the pieces together through Vi's words and Jinx's hallucinations. I don't think we would have been nearly as invested.

So with these two examples, WHY does nobody complain about screen time involving a character?

Is it because they're just really good pieces of media? Or is there a reason for this?

After all, Spiderverse and Arcane fall under the category of an 'ensemble cast'. A cast of characters in a story where there is no titular main character to drive the narrative, and everyone does instead. It's like if Harry Potter was 'Hogwarts' instead, or some title like that.

But lets take a look at some examples of ensemble casts where there's been a complaint of some sort with screen time:

Total Drama and RWBY.

Now I only like one of these two shows, so I'm gonna put that aside for now.

Total Drama. It has an ensemble cast. The show is about teenagers suffering-I mean competing for a prize, eliminating each other bit by bit as it goes along. Naturally with that setup, early boots are left to dry. But that doesn't stop people from complaining.

Ezekiel gets the most flack for too little screen time, and major fanboys say he should've had more focus. Personally I don't get that based on what role he's deigned to play. Caleb is a more recent example. I thought he was gonna have a bigger role and character than he ended up having, and him being a first boot gag makes even less sense than Zeke. Dawn is a fan favorite who isn't even in that many episodes. Axel is a ripoff of Shawn because of her lack of screen time. Scary Girl is... Scary Girl, who I don't see the fuss about her little screen time as she's comic relief, but the complaint is there. There is SO MUCH bashing about Noah's lack of screen time it is not even funny. So much so that he's sharing screen time with another person.

And who is to blame for this: Well, the characters who make it really far into the game, or course! How dare they steal screen time away from these guys!

I feel like Ripper is the most recent example of this. His character arc was about him breaking a world record. He broke it. It's Episode 5. Now he can leave the show, right-

Nope. He's around till Episode 8. Out of 13. And even then, in Episode 13, he's Millie's partner, which means screen time.

It sounds unjustified because it is. I'm not the biggest Ripper hater, but I definitely see the complaints. (Ripper and Damien swapping places are the only part of the elimination order I would change. Everything else is pretty spot on.)

We already have MK as a pre-merge antagonist and Julia as a post merge antagonist, we don't need this rando bully character as well as it adds nothing. Maybe Ripper would've been better liked if he wasn't a bully and just some morally average comic relief guy, but also... probably not.

But he's not the only fart based character in this show that gets complaints about screen time. Here's where I talk about the first gen.

For what I have seen, the ones with the biggest screen time complaints are Owen, Duncan, and Beth. I don't count Heather cause it's on purpose. I count Sierra because it's a personal gripe I have.

Owen was the original winner of TDI, came back on the show in the second season for a mole subplot nobody likes, and merged season three. He and Noah also got a spinoff.

Beth was the finalist of TDA.

And everyone hates it, including myself.

Then there's Duncan. Easily the character the show focuses on the most. Season 1? 4th place. Season 2? Winner. Season 3? Gone half the season so he's only in 8 episodes not counting what he didn't compete in, but he scored 5th overall. Season 5? Weakest performance, but he still merged. That's 8th place by the way.

By far, THIS is the character in this show that gets the MOST horrendous flack for his screen time. And from what I've learned, if you think this, you probably hate Duncan as a character.

Like, I haven't watched Winx, but I saw videos on YouTube that made fun of Bloom for getting too much screen time.

Somebody do those but with Duncan! I'm not a Duncan hater, but I would like to get a laugh!

So it'd just be easy to say the writers played favorites, it was an issue, and be done with it, right?

Except no.

My GF watched World Tour just recently. (And she was mixed on it.) Her comments regarding Duncan and Gwen were that she wished they had more interactions to sell them (she was routing AGAINST Duncney, basically) and it didn't help that Duncan was gone half the season. She said that it would've helped all the characters involved if he stayed to flesh that out.

To that I went: "Huh. That's interesting how you take no issue with this character's screen time."

But why though? She's not a stan of him, she's a casual viewer, so that can't be it.

And that's when it hit me.

Beth and Sierra. These two make it through an entire season each. And we both collectively hate them as characters. And we hate seeing them on screen.

That's because it's what the characters DO with their screen time.

See what I'm talking about:

Season 1: Duncan is an established character that develops relationships and friendships and learns to open up to people outside of his comfort bad boy zone.

Trent spends 16 episodes sitting still and looking pretty with a guitar. (Okay that's probably not a great example, and I don't hate Trent, but you kinda get it)

Season 2: Duncan is dealing with revenge on Harold for his spoiled relationship with Courtney where he gets abused by her, fights to hold his own, and dumps her.

Beth spends the entire season talking about a fake boyfriend and cheating on it.

Season 3: Duncan, again, is only competing in 8 episodes out of 26, but what does he do? He establishes a new relationship with Gwen, gets her cancelled, forms a friendship with Alejandro, and gets played.

Sierra is there the entire season sexually harassing Cody and passing it off as quirky. We hate to see it. (Seriously, you guys think the love triangle is worse than this? My GF and I agreed we would rather watch the love triangle ten times again, over Sierra being on screen at all.)

What's the difference here? STORY.

Certain characters have story to follow, that NEEDS that screen time to work. Ironically, the plotline of Duncan's that comes across the least genuine, is the season where he's on screen the least. (Not counting All Stars, but they're kind of equal in episodes Duncan's in.)

Again, imagine if we never had that backstory sequence of Gwen Stacy. Yes it eats up screen time, but without it? She would come across as an ingenuine traitor who supposedly ditched her dad for some cool spider society. We NEEDED that sequence.

Duncan is always doing something when the screen is focused on him.

The reason Beth and Sierra don't work despite having all the screen time in the world is that they do NOTHING with the screen time they get. Nothing of value at least. We could've learned a lot about their origins, Beth's underdog status, or Sierra's fanclub, flesh them out as dynamic characters to route for, with different sides of them that slip through time to time that gets the audience thinking.

Nope. Sexual harassment makes up for all of that. (I question why I put up with this show sometimes.)

That would be the case and that's the answer, just do something with your screen time and you're free to have as much as you want.

Except there's ANOTHER key to the puzzle here.

Duncan is in the top 4 of the TD cast for a reason.

He's a main character.

Something Jaune Arc is not.

Hello nemesis my old friend.

Look, I respect people who like RWBY. People can feel any way they want to about a show. Opinions are valid.

If you think Arcane is the worst show ever made, that's valid.

If you think Velma is the best show ever made, that's valid.

It's all VALID.

With that said I think this show is an absolute trainwreck when it comes to writing characters.

Now hold on before you say I hate everything about it, I don't. This show does have SOME merits to it. The music is stellar and I actually listen to the soundtrack from time to time. For a limited budget animation, it's impressive. The choreo is neat. I want these weapons. I actually like quite a few of the side characters. Keep in mind I said side.

But what I look for in a good show is a compelling story and interesting characters to follow.

Something this show just does not have in my opinion.

I keep saying I'll do an analysis post on why Team RWBY are awful protagonists, but I've been busy and my plate has not emptied. But one of my main points regarding them is screen time.

Keep in mind, I've only seen fully up to Season 8. I've only seen clips of Season 9, so whatever I say about 9 may not be accurate.

Team RWBY are the main characters of the show, and yet they have not done a single main character thing throughout EIGHT SEASONS. It's kind of incredible.

If I didn't know the name of the show but saw a clip, I'd assume the main character was Jaune, or Oscar, more on them later.

What have these girls contributed in the battle of Salem's forces?

Season 1: Blake helped stop a robbery. Not even all four of them, just Blake. (So did Sun and Penny.)

Season 2: They broke into the White Fang's secret operation and busted a train into the city to fight off some Grim, in time for Team CFVY to wipe them out. (Those characters appear TWICE in the ENTIRE show, this is the first time. Just to speak my point.)

Season 3: Yang got framed for assault which helped the bad guys. Ruby watched Pyyra die and she blasted an eyeball off Cinder.

Season 4: UH...

Season 5: They housed Oscar, they met Raven, and they took place in the battle of Haven where Yang got the relic. (So did Oscar, JNR, Qrow)

Season 6: They took the relic to Atlas. (So did Oscar, JNR, Qrow)

Season 7: They lied to the general about vital information that could've helped them get one on Salem, and doomed all of Atlas.

Season 8: They caused the death of a kingdom and fell through a hole.

Season 9: UH... (That's not me not knowing what happened in 9, they just climbed out of the hole, basically, as the season has nothing to do with Salem's forces.)

Now, because the main characters are not involved with the main plot very much, does that make them bad?

No. There ARE ways to utilize them outside of driving the external plot.

Some stories are Character vs Self, Internal Conflict. The basis of this show's story is that these kids who grew up to be military soldiers are learning that their lives and the world is not a fairy tale, and they're not the good guys. That SOUNDS like the show is all about internal conflict, right?

Well it's not.

I mean, they DO realize this and make a morally questionable choice with consequences they regret.

In Season SEVEN.

And even THEN, they're treated by gods themselves like they've done nothing wrong!

If you ask me, it should have happened a LONG time ago.

What internal conflicts do these girls have?

Ruby is a naive prodigy who wants to be a huntress and live out a fairy tale reality. And she lives out that dream. Then Pyyra dies and she loses that home. And then she's back to fairy tale land, just doing more crimes and hating authority. And I GUESS she learned a lesson in 9...? I just saw her as depressed.

Weiss is an heiress of a rich company trying to overthrow rule of her father, who hates her. She hates Faunus. She learns not to hate Faunus. And she gains a lot of powers.

Blake is part of a civil rights movement with Faunus and she likes assaulting her own kind and burning their homes. She also has an abusive boyfriend and kills him with a girlfriend by her side.

Yang lost her mommy and wants to find her. She loses her arm. She finds her mommy but doesn't give a s**t because plot. She also gets a girlfriend.

That's like Vi and Jinx's reunion, only they didn't care about seeing each other again after years, they just pointed fists and guns at each other and said, "Where's the arcane?! Where's Silco?! I'm not here for you, I have a police GF now!" "I'm not here for you, I just wanted an easy route to blast Piltover to pieces! Mwahaha!"

See where I'm going with that?

Internal conflict is a key to making characters screen time worth while.

But lets face it, Team RWBY not having very well established internal/relevance to the external conflict is not the full reason why this is a problem with their screen time.

It's their lack thereof.

Three quarters of every season, they're just sitting at some random place that's not even pretty to look at, and the SIDE CHARACTERS do all the plot relevant stuff.

See why I like the side characters better?

Lets look at that chart again:

Season 1: Sun and Penny stopped that robbery.

Season 2: Team CFVY stopped the Grim invasion.

Season 3: Pyyra's story and downward spiral to her death.

Season 4: Nora and Ren the season.

Season 5: Oscar. The tribe.

Season 6: Oscar again as he's responsible for the exposition involved in that season.

Season 7: Ironwood's descent into insanity AND Penny's descent into accidental heroism.

Season 8: Both those characters die. Everyone dies.

Season 9: ...okay, good point, there was no one else.

Okay so maybe Season 9 gets a pass, but the others? Can you really put Team RWBY in a plot summary?

And that's just external conflict talking, let's talk the MAIN CHARACTER with the INTERNAL conflicts throughout the ENTIRE show.

Jaune Arc.

A SIDE character, voiced by one of the writers, has some of the most plotlines to follow due to his internal struggle and conflict in this new war throughout the entire show.

He has something to do in MOST of the seasons of this show. Not unlike Duncan. The only time I think he didn't have anything going on was Season 7.

In the very first season, Jaune has an entire character arc surrounding him trying to find his inner strength with a one off bully character as an antagonist. That sounds fine, so what's the issue?

This character arc takes up FOUR episodes out of 16. A WHOLE QUARTER OF THE SEASON.

"Well, maybe those episodes cut away to other people at some points-"

No. They don't. It's all Jaune in all these episodes.

Season two is less so Jaune focused, but he has a little subplot surrounding letting go of his feelings for Weiss and finding another girl who would gladly take him. I guess it's priority respect because Neptune was into Weiss at the time? But those two wound up never being a thing, so...

The whole time I thought Weiss was just asexual, but then 9 came in to screw that idea.

Season three focuses on Pyyra, Jaune's love interest, and therefore he's vital to her story and her thought process, so much so that the big angst moment in the season is with him and their death kiss.

Season four and five are focused on Jaune's thirst for revenge on Cinder, a member of Salem's forces, for killing Pyyra. He learns about Salem's forces along the way, makes his own opinion about all this lore, and decides to help out due to his personal necessity.

Wow. He has an internal conflict going on, AND he's active with the external conflict. HMM...

Season six is him letting go of his grief after his moral failure from the Battle of Haven nearly getting Weiss killed. And also he pins Oscar to the wall because why not. It's brief but it's also a full on character arc.

Season eight, he kills Penny, a girl he has never interacted with before this point, and he's a grieving mess. So much so that season nine also includes Jaune dealing with MULTIPLE grieving instances and personal failures.

Everyone else got a seasonal break from the story, and yet Jaune could not.

Now, is this a screen time issue?

Yes.

But NOT for the reasons you might think.

Let's go off of Duncan again, a character with a major status in the show's story and conflict from day one. He was designed that way.

Jaune was not designed that way. BUT I don't actually hate his story for the screen time he gets. In fact, he's probably one of the most interesting characters in the show because there's so much time dedicated to his struggle and his story.

The elephant in the room isn't because Jaune has a story.

It's because the main characters don't have a story.

Again, Arcane, that show focuses on a LOT of characters that aren't Vi and Jinx. You could argue Jayce is the Jaune in their universe. But why does it work? Because there is NOT a neglect of characterization of the leads.

In RWBY, there's a serious neglect issue.

And it's not just Jaune. There are other side characters who've been stealing time away from the leads.

Oscar, ever since he debuted Season 4, has been devoted to screen time stealing, and stealing the main character status with a Chosen One narrative and a pretty offensive way of portraying Multiple Personality Disorder. He's the one with the chosen one story, he's the one who interacts with the bad guys, he's toe to toe with Ironwood, he's the one related to Salem, and he does all of it with the personality of a hollow pine tree.

I mean I guess he also has a crush on Ruby, but... I don't want to get into that.

Hell, CINDER, an ANTAGONIST of the show, has more conflict and screen time than the leads. And she's one of my least favorite characters in the entire show, isn't that sweet?!

On top of that, she's a VILLAIN. We shouldn't be routing for her!

Then there's the rest of JNPR. Nora and Ren have a season focused on them, that being season 4. Pyyra is the same case with season 3. Pyyra dies in that season, so she's obviously not getting screen time any further. But Ren and Nora are alive, AND they have a subplot in the Atlas arc. Having a subplot isn't a problem, it just becomes jarring when the main characters don't have an arc and they do.

Penny gets revived and dies in the Atlas arc. That's also a thing.

The fix here should be really simple! Swap roles! Have the side characters sit in the houses with their little arcs, and have Team RWBY on the fields reacting to everything. It wouldn't excuse their lack of inner struggle, but at least they'd be involved with the plot.

There are many ways you could fix this. Like Oscar's role of being related to Salem. Ruby's mom is dead, but like, what if her mom was Salem and was taken out in war and revived/corrupted into this monster figure? That'd be an interesting narrative.

And RWBY is not the only show, the previous season of Pretty Cure, Delicious Party, ALSO has this issue. And arguably they did it worse because I don't even care for the side characters there either. I'd be repeating myself with criticism there:

Yui, the supposed main character, has no character trait other than be a glutton and a stand in for her grandmother, the other Cures are also irrelevant to the plot and just spend their time eating. The boys of this magical girl show are the focus and have all the wishy washy plotlines, and none of them are even that interesting.

I will give RWBY this over Delicious Party to prove I can see its merits:

At least they only have ONE forth wall narration and do know boundaries to that stuff, as opposed to Delicious Party that thinks their viewers are IDIOTS, and needs a narrator to explain EVERYTHING. CONSTANTLY.

(What a new low for that franchise, am I right? At least we have Hirogaru Sky.)

So what have we learned here?

To answer the question: Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character?

No. It's not that simple.

It's what the character DOES with that screen time that matters. And their role in the story that warrants this screen time.

They need to have all the details of their story laid out for you to care about them.

They need every scene involving their story to matter.

They need to have a plotline that justifies the screen time, small role or big role.

They need to be involved with the main story if they are a major character.

They need an internal conflict to keep the time on them engaging.

They need to be doing something.

If they are a minor character, additional screen time is not a bad thing.

A minor character with a lot of screen time could be there to advance the world building, they could be heavily connected to major character, relationship or otherwise.

But the minor characters don't become favorites and neglect focus on the people the story is revolving around.

First Person POV is a difficult storytelling technique when it comes to screen time, but it's not a bad tool. It can be used as a certain perspective for every character involved if done properly.

And just... screen time alone isn't a valid criticism in my opinion. It's WAY more complicated than that.

What's your opinion? Reblog your thoughts, I'm very curious, especially with media with this issue I did not cover.

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kiraman · 6 months

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youtube

give me a hot sec to pathetically gush over my favourite arcane scene and probably one of the best sequences of a tv show ever because the brainrot has set in too deep

I'm gonna try to be semi articulate and not just scream incoherently about the sheer flawlessness of every aspect of it so

the stunning, haunting visual manifestation of jinx's trauma and deep obsessive guilt / always carrying the family she's killed on her back like ghosts / the weight of her guilt and her inability to escape the past, living in that moment of loss and death forever... Claggor died instantly so his ghost on her back is expressionless. Quiet. Mylo is screaming in agony because a) his death was slow and painful, bleeding out on that floor feeling every explosion set off by jinx's bombs b) I think also because Mylo represents the negative voice in her head and claggor represents the more 'positive' and the negative always drowns out the positive inside of her. IMMACULATE. Haunting.

Match cutting Caitlyn and Vi sliding down that tunnel like bullets to the enforcers loading their rifles is a shiver inducing genius foreshadowing / metaphor

The little moment of Vi fucking losing it over that dude in her way, furiously shoving him away and flipping him off despite being in a frantic rush to get away (a tiny flicker of comedic relief because she's a FIRECRACKER) then looking up and seeing jinx's flare because of it. I'M ON MY KNEES somewhere in piltover crying screaming

WHEREVER YOU ARE LIGHT IT UP AND I'LL FIND YOU !!!!!!!! and jinx's desperate attempt to reach out to her sister. She's kept that flare tucked away in a box for YEARS hoping that one day it'll help her guide vi back to her. The later tragedy of them both wanting their sister back but both of them wanting the idealised version of the other... One of them stuck in the past the other diving head first into what is to come (slightly irrelevant but im a firm believer that enforcer vi is coming, if not next season, then s3)

Silco's blind rage and violence, thrashing around in furious disbelief, punching, kicking, screaming, stumbling back and collapsing onto the ground in his breathless fury!! STUNNINGLY portrayed.

The visuals, the music, the bouncing, throbbing pulse of its pace!! The massive outpouring of feelings (hope, desperation, rage, devotion...) This sequence serves as one of the best executed boiling points in a show that I have ever seen!!

The bridge scene! A throwback to the bridge scene on episode 1 and how it all began for the sisters! The terrifying finality of it, like, look at us. this is the world: there's them (under city) and us (piltover) and the gap can never be bridged. They've come FULL CIRCLE with this moment.

ALSO

because I'm pathetic

This

#yapping cw 💃#arcane brainrot tag #arcane #silco arcane #jinx arcane #vi arcane #this and the time bomb fight sequence have got me in a CHOKEHOLD #arcane tag #Long post//#arcane spoilers

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ravenkinnie · 2 years

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went on twt, saw bad silco takes, immediately left, honestly king that a year after the show came out he still incites bad takes on both sides of the spectrum. silco never manipulated jinx vs he only ever manipulated her, like do y'all have the ability not to think in black and white all the time. there's no way that upon seeing powder he was immediately overcome with maternal instincts so strong that it changed his entire mindset, like he absolutely has manipulated her at many points probably, has absolutely projected his own problems and issues on her and jinx was a preeten with a fear of abandonment who soaked it up easily. he STILL manipulates her, when she confronts him about vi and he says shit like "who gave you a home" that is blatant manipulation. thing is, if you asked him he probably would have said he's manipulating her (i mean he wouldn't but yk in a truth serum scenario) because the whole point is that up until the last moment nobody knows how genuine and real his care for jinx is, not him or jinx and definitely not the audience

but like, the entire time you're being told from other sources that it is a real possibility, that this toxic unhealthy bond also includes something real and genuine and strong. literally the fact that silco would fumble the bag on zaun for jinx is an actual concern that everyone has, including sevika, the person closest to them hdhdhsjns

like are y'all not bored. are you not bored when you don't enjoy how messy snd complex snd unstable those dynakkcs are, how cobtasting concept and emotions can overlap

#not to be a hater but ppl will stretch those analytical skills for their romantic ship but fail at literally everything else #silco and jinx #silco

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sandraharissa · 1 year

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I’m kinda bummed we’re for sure never gonna see certain interesting characters team up or even really interact. For me it’s Mel and Silco cos they seem the best political players but also share this connection that’s kinda subtle and not a lot of ppl talk about it but arcane is chock full of parallels and one of them are Ambessa and Mel vs Silco and Jinx. Those are two very similar pairs but in the crucial aspects that arcane explores they’re the exact opposite.

We’ve got these brutal leaders with their political goals with daughters that are quite sensitive and good-natured even tho both are raised to be violent.

On one hand we have Mel with her good heart who has a mom who wants her to ‘be a wolf’ however Mel is basically a princess (definitely lives like a princess) and has an older brother who she looks up to who also doesn’t want to be a wolf and so it doesn’t work. All we see is Ambessa trying to teach 10yo Mel this lesson by decapitating a 10yo princess just like her that Mel sympathized with in front of her. And predictably all it does is traumatize her and start the rift between the duo.

On the other hand I can’t imagine Silco ever behaving like this in front of Jinx or treating her like that. Moreover in Jinx’s case it’s unnecessary cos her whole world is violent and she needs to be violent to survive. Long before Silco she saw her siblings glorify violence and Vander praise Vi for doing good in a fight. So even tho the narrative goes out of its way to show us how Powder is afraid of violence she is also very successfully conditioned to want to be violent herself from a very young age, waiting excitedly for her bomb to blow up in a teenager’s face.

Secondly Ambessa at some point in her past is put in front of a decision where she has to choose between her daughter and their relationship and her political goals, so basically the exact same conflict Silco is later put through, and she chooses to exile Mel so she can do her thing peacefully. In contrary, Silco gives up his political goals for the sake of not sending his kid away from him to prison, which I think is comparable to exile.

And then in The Moment of Truth the both daughters are put in the positions to make world-changing decisions. Their choices are enforced by the slightest move of their fingers. Mel pulls off her Medarda ring for the sake of following her values and ignoring her mother’s ambitions, meanwhile Jinx pulls the trigger for the sake of following her own values so to speak, and in a way to honor her dad’s memory/avenge his death/fulfill his dream.

So we see how the two duos who are in drastically similar situations play out the exact opposite way based on the polar opposite type of relationship present between each parent and child. And that results in the polar opposite choice each daughter makes between war and peace in the piltover/zaun conflict. So basically my point is that if Mel ever met Silco she’d cry tears full of mommy issues.

#mel medarda #arcane #jinx #silco #silco and jinx #my:arcane

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kgkgwrites · 8 months

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Arcane Episode 1 Analysis(Part 2/2)🍺🕴️👊👀

Hi everyone, welcome to the 2nd and final analysis for Arcane, Season 1 Episode 1!!! Do note that the following is my own personal readings of what certain scenes of the show may mean and if you have any differing opinions that’s totally fine!:) Do feel free to message me privately as well if you would like to discuss certain points! That said, hope everyone has fun analysing with me and HAPPY READING!!!:)))

Once again spoiler alert for those who haven't watched the show yet!!!

Welcome back everyone! Similar to the first half of the episode, the second half introduces the audience to the characters that the story revolves around (If you’re interested, be sure to check out my analysis of the first half on my account!). However, in the second half, the story takes a slightly darker edge, *foreshadowing potential conflicts following the introduction of Silco, the series’ main “antagonist” and *foil to Vander who we were introduced to earlier in the episode.

*Foil: Literary device used to reveal characteristics or traits of one character through comparison with another.

*Foreshadowing: Literary device that gives hints to what is coming later in the story which can help to develop or subvert audience expectations

Firstly, I believe that there is not really an antagonist or truly evil character in the show (which is why the earlier “antagonist” was in quotes). All the characters all have their own motives and goals which they attempt to achieve by the only ways they know how. Jinx lives her life haunted by the traumatic experiences of her past, attempting to find a shred or even a semblance of family in this dystopian setting of the Undercity. Silco attempts to wrestle back any bit of respect he can for the Undercity through violence, which he deems necessary to exact change (a common belief of the people of the Undercity at this point in the story), even managing to achieve his goals to an extent, forcing Piltover to make a deal with them to give the Undercity more control towards the end of the show. Even the corrupt governors in Piltover who may appear evil are simply doing everything in their own self-interest and though they are morally flawed, I do not believe they are evil. (After all, we see reports of these corrupt governments on the news relatively often and even though we may think that what they are doing is wrong and immoral, we don’t brand them immediately as despicable and irredeemable monsters right?). Ultimately, this show is a sort of reflection of society, with people having both light and dark sides, introducing real world ideas like war and violence and this is what makes the characters we are introduced to so complex and loveable because for the audience we immediately think, would we do the same in their shoes?

Back to the analysis now:). In the second half of the episode, we are introduced to what can only be described as the “heart” of the Undercity, the bar known as the “Last Drop” run by Vander, the adoptive father of Vi and Powder whom we were introduced to last episode. This location becomes a representation of the Undercity as a whole and repeatedly appears throughout important points in the story. As we see Vi and crew walk up to the Last Drop here, it appears to be brightly lit, glowing with warmth and teeming with life, with a low rumble of voices that, in a city where people seem to intentionally keep their voices down to avoid unwanted attention and conflict, is particularly inviting. All these qualities set the Last Drop apart from the rest of the buildings in the Undercity.

However, when Vi returns back from prison later on in the story, the Last Drop feels vastly different. The warm and assuring glow of the Last Drop is gone, replaced with a cold exterior. The comforting yellow glow of the signage, replaced with a nauseating neon green. Even Caitlyn who was new to the Undercity at the time managed to pick up that the Last Drop stood apart from the other squalid buildings in the area, but for WILDLY different reasons than what we mentioned previously, claiming that it looked like it had “bodies buried in the basement”. The macabre image that she painted with those words stands in stark contrast against the warmth and security that the Last Drop used to provide to Vi and her crew while it was under Vander’s ownership, leaving her visibly affected by the change and unable to even LOOK at it anymore.

This is all due to the different ideals and values that the leaders of the Undercity at the time brought. While Vander represents a sense of family and unity, standing up for everyone else and always thinking of the needs of others before himself, Silco when he took over instead had an extremely objective and materialistic view on things. Instead of valuing the abstract ideas of personal bonds and connections, he instead chased economic and material profits, turning the Undercity into an “enterprise” as he described to Finn, one of the chem-barons incharge of the Undercity. Silco did this by spreading the physical representations of his control, Shimmer, all around Zaun to use as a threat/ card to play against Piltover despite the physical and mental harm it can cause over the residents of the Undercity. The word “enterprise” also brings to mind the running of a business and company, reducing and almost erasing what Zaun originally stood for and found strength in. Loyalty. Family. Unity.

In addition, we are introduced to the eye *motif as we see Silco set up the outline of an eye around the Last Drop signage at the top of the bar. The “eye” is meant to represent the foresight that Silco brings to the table with his ideas and goals to take back power from Piltover.( I will be referencing this multiple times throughout the series so do keep a lookout for this image!)

*motif: A recurring element or idea that has a symbolic significance and helps to develop a theme in a literary work.

In the scene following the introduction of the Last Drop, a frail and scrawny looking man is seen making a deal with a pair of thugs and was just about to be bullied into accepting a bad offer after being threatened by violence when Vander steps in to stand up for him. When asked to go away, Vander warns them to not “mess with the guy that pours the drinks”, gesturing to the rest of the bar which is dead silent, a stark contrast from a second ago, all of them backing Vander immediately.

Though a short sequence, it convincingly puts across the strength of the bonds between the people of the Undercity, standing up for one another in a heartbeat. The nonchalant and seemingly simple way Vander phrases the threat to the thugs, “mess with”, is contrasted immediately by the hostile reaction from the bar. Despite not knowing the specifics of the incident that occurred, they immediately put their faith in Vander whereby Vander in turn trusts them immediately to have his back. In addition, I mentioned in my earlier analysis that Arcane plays with elevation and angles to put across certain points. As the camera pans around to the rest of the bar after Vander’s threat, everyone is on the same eye level as the camera and can all be seen in a panoramic shot of the bar, representing the equality and respect that each and every one of them is held at by their fellow men and illustrates how they are all on the "same level"(literally). However, in a later scene with Silco, he is shown to be positioned instead ABOVE and separate from the citizens of the Undercity surrounding him, all of them groveling disgracefully at his feet in the darkest and lowest point of the Undercity.

The irony of this scene is in the fact that despite the grandeur goals that Silco claims he is chasing for the good of people in the Undercity, struggling to gain the respect they supposedly deserve from Piltover, under his management the people lost their strength and power that they had all along, reduced to starving beggars who relies on Shimmer for gratification and are (LITERALLY) at the lowest point of the Undercity at this point in the story. This calls attention to the theme of appearance vs reality whereby even though it seems that they are making progress, becoming wealthier through the sale and transportation of the harmful substance Shimmer, they actually lost something even more valuable in the process, forgetting what it means to be from the Undercity.

Later on in the story, Silco realizes this, re-embracing the ideas that the Undercity stood for in the past after a series of events. Being betrayed by the chem-barons attempting to overthrow him, the threat of Sevika turning on him, and almost losing Jinx. He recalls that it is “loyalty” that bore the Undercity through its tumultuous past.

After these events, Silco seems visibly shaken and his character seems to have a major change of heart, making the same decisions Vander had while in the same position, choosing family over power/ control. This clearly highlights the theme of action vs stagnation as despite Silco’s dreams for the future and the actions he took to try and obtain his nation of Zaun, he ultimately ends up back where the story started 8 episodes ago. (Small teaser about what we’ll be talking about in future episodes)

The episode ends with Vi comforting Powder about their failed heist by bringing her to a spot with a clear view of the Undercity, describing to her stories of her previous escapades with Claggor and Mylo. She tells Powder about them running through gutters, painting signs, and getting bullied. She describes what happened with such tenderness and nostalgia that even we can see that her feelings are genuine. Through this, we also see the Undercity as these characters do, as somewhere that they can be themselves and enjoy the ups and downs that life brings them, having memories that can survive the test of time. This is juxtaposed against the initial impression we had of the Undercity as a dark and sketchy place.

This is a reminder to both the audience AND Powder that no matter what troubles befall our characters at this point in time, the Undercity and the family that it stands for will always support them as the stories that Vi tells Powder seems intrinsically linked to the physical places in the Undercity like the “gutter(s)” and “sign(s)”, highlighting the strength of the Undercity once again. This wholesome and heartwarming scene is broken up by Powder’s confession of her still being in possession of the Hextech jewels that she stole from Piltover.

This revelation and the timing that it is revealed to us, breaking up the flow of the scene, hints at some potential conflict that may happen that will literally break apart the peace and comfort that our characters are currently taking for granted, stemming from these jewels, all of this culminating in a later episode that will be analyzed in one of my future posts.

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That's the end for my analysis of Episode 1 of the Arcane series!🎉😁 Phew this was a long one but hope you all still enjoyed reading and do feel free to request for analysis of any of your other favorite shows!! Hope to see you again in my next post!

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