#like im thinking about Silco in the alt universe and as Jinx's hallucination in the prison and i am quaking with rage

[blaec-ynk]

ngl the more I think about Arcane the more I find myself more enraged by the fact that 'cycle of violence' stories like it are ultimately proponents of the status quo where Piltover will reap all of the benefits while Zaun continues to be oppressed and abused and used

even at its most radical the show never swings truly left of center when it comes to politics because they clearly villainize the only individual(s) pushing for Zaun's independence while the Ideal Father Figure And best Man You'll Ever Know is aiding Piltover's exploitation and oppression and further enforces the status quo. Vander is depicted as someone that breaks the cycle of violence despite allowing and aiding its violence towards Zaunite people while revolutionaries like Silco are reduced to violent mafia bosses without any positive or even neutral influences on the society around them, his only positive/humanizing trait being his love for Jinx

this isn't a cycle of violence that you can step away from no matter how hard the story tries to paint it that way with Jinx's final arc and the dumbass move they pulled with Vander's letter to Silco and Ekko's alternate reality shenanigans. If Vander sent that apology to Silco they shouldnt have reunited because their conflict was not personal (for the most part) but ideological where Silco wanted to break out from Piltover's foot on Zaun's throat while Vander was encouraging people to just take it. Silco was the demonized personification of radical change and the end of imperialism/colonialism/classis/oppression while Vander was the glorified personification of assimilation and complacency under discrimination and oppression

this is not a cycle of violence because Piltover has its foot on Zaun's throat and can freely abuse and use and exploit and torture Zaun in whatever way it wants in whatever means it wants meanwhile the most violent thing Zaun can do is scratch and bite at the leg and foot pinning it to the fucking ground. a cycle would imply that if Zaun stops scratching and biting and writhing, they'd be freed from Piltover's control, the foot would leave its neck, but that's not what would happen; Piltover would just keep its foot on Zaun's neck. Zaun cannot break out of a cycle that does not exist; they can only try to dig their way out of a grave and doing so requires destroying the foundations Piltover built directly on top of its beaten, bruised, bleeding body--but according to Arcane, Zaun cannot unbury itself BECAUSE it destabilizes Piltover and that is the worst thing that can fucking happen, because its against the status quo and therefore the worst thing you can do

and they double down and triple down on this constantly. its especially annoying with Ekko and Caitlyn's conversation in the Firelights hideout when the story and Caitlyn herself minimize Piltover's and the Council's active and passive condemnation and oppression and exploitation of Zaun and calls it a simple "misunderstanding" when it is everything but. the people in power know EXACTLY what theyre profitting off of and they do not give a fuck. they might make a show of sympathy but that sympathy is not worth jack shit or ass when they continuously uphold and profit from the oppressive and exploitative system. NONE of the Council are good people and NONE of the Enforcers are good people and NONE of the Houses with any influence are good people because they ALL benefit from Piltover's exploitation of Zaun and never do anything to meaningfully change ANY of it (Caitlyn's mum's ventilation system is worth fuckall when it comes to legitimately improving Zaun's situation and Jayce never attempts to do anything about Zaun outside of the Shimmer smuggling and becomes corrupted literally at the drop of a hat, not to mention his anti-Zaunite radicalization in the later episodes and that barrier on the bridge; and sure, he has legitimate reasons because of the Hextech crystal and Jinx, but he was making all of Zaun suffer for one person's crimes and didnt care about it until Viktor reminded him he's from the Undercity as well)

the show's insistance that this isnt the case and their simplification of these politics and demonization of revolutions and class actions is borne of the fact that Riot Games genuinely does not believe in those values. the only way in which they want out of the status quo is by leveraging it for themselves, like with them laying off half the writing staff and producing overpriced gacha skins for a silly little game

there is definitely more that can be said and any and all points made here could be altered for a more accurate picture but i just needed this anger out of my head. im just so genuinely sick of these """"cycle of violence"""" narratives