#like if you need your morals spoon-fed to you by fictional media

[coockie8]

"You can't create fiction about X problematic thing without explicitly condemning it otherwise your readers/viewers will think it's okay to do irl!"

Okay see well I was under the impression that since I'm not creating fiction for literal 5-year-olds that my readers/viewers would already be aware of the fact it's not okay to rape, torture, and murder people in real life without me spoon-feeding that to them like they're toddlers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you're over the age of 10 and still don't know that it's bad to hurt people in real life without a fairy tale telling you so, then that is 100% a you problem, like I don't know what to tell you here :/

[emperorren]

hot fucking take, but if a piece of media is not primarily aimed at children then you can all shove your little "impressionable little girls" discourse where the sun doesn't shine. if an adult woman sees an unhealthy / dysfunctional / otherwise not-applicable-to-real-life romance in a story and takes it as life advice then the fault lays on her own poor judgement. imagine if we applied this standard to fictional stuff beyond romance, there would be no stories we should be allowed to tell.

hot fucking take, romance is more scrutinized than other (arguably more dangerous) aspects of fiction, like violence, because it’s considered to be a *girl thing*, and girls need to be protected from their own impressionable minds more than boys do, whether they’re 5 or 50. (which we’ve discussed ad nauseam)

But I think even literal “little girls” deserve more credit than the discourse gives them. At age 8, *I* was watching Sailor Moon, with its plethora of complex villains and antivillains, some of whom were redeemable, some were irredeemable but still treated sympathetically, and some even fell in love with a heroine. And I remember being perfectly able to handle the complexity---I rooted for certain things while also being aware of why they couldn’t ultimately have a happy ending, I saw the tragedy of villains who had been molded into monsters and couldn’t find their way back to their true selves for what it was, I watched the male lead shut the heroine out horribly and leave her sobbing in the ground, only for them to be eventually reunited (and separated again, and reunited again). Maybe it’s because I’ve always watched more anime than western animation, but I don’t recall ever having trouble connecting with messy romances or stories where the line between good and bad guy wasn’t so clear. I don’t think children need to be spoon fed exclusively with patronizing narratives and simplistic morals. Children are way smarter than adults, and it’s much healthier to educate them to appreciate complexity and three-dimensional characters in the stories they consume, imo.

[crowleaf]

You’re allowed to like villainous, evil, and antagonist characters without including a disclaimer on your analysis of them. You don’t have to reassure the Good People Of Tumblr that you don’t condone Evil-Doing irl. For fuck’s sake. Have a little respect for your followers’ intelligence. 

If they do think you’re pro-murder for finding a fictional murderer well-written and they unfollow you for that, then good for you! You’ve successfully weeded out the children who need morals spoon-fed to them by creators for them to consider a piece of media Acceptable and Good, because they are unable to discern these things for themselves. 

Why would you want that type of person following you in the first place? Unless, of course, you are that type of person. In which case, maybe touch some grass.