#like what's the point in that lskdjf what are you gonna do when you meet an anti-black black person in debate for example??

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

like, i agree with the main principle that they need to hire writers from other backgrounds. for sure. no arguments. i also agree in general, said so in my own post, that this episode is more of a "learning experience for white people" anti-racism story than a "catharsis for black people in the struggle" story. but there's an undercurrent in these criticism for the episode that i don't agree with, being that "white writers should never touch the subject of anti-racism because they could never understand it" (or conversely, "men should never write about feminism because they could never understand it") and like, tbh that's just not a premise i agree with. politically or artistically. being from a specific background doesn't actually guarantee that you understand your struggles or that you have the best ideas for liberation out there (if it were, rishi sunak and suella braverman wouldn't be in the positions they are, doing the things they do). and in dw itself, like, "hiring writers of color" doens't mean the episode will automatically be great. for example, i appreciate that rosa exists, but there's a lot of moments in rosa that diminish the episode for me and held me back from embracing it as truly anti-hegemonic, truly anti-racist piece of art. like for all the work it does in showing viewers the reality of segregation and showing the catharsis / admirability of people fighting it, it takes 10 steps backwards saying obama's election was "a victory" for anti-racism (ah yes the anti-racism of bombing yemen, syria, somalia, iraq....) + having rosa be congratulated in the bloody white house as "a symbol of her victory" or having a satellite named after her as the "end goal" of her work (ie. all symbols that just stand in for white "tolerance" rather than actual black liberation). conversely, if the person writing has a good grip on the issue, even if it's alien to them, yeah,,, i do think they can portray it well. and that they *should* try, because something genuinely interesting / pertinent may come from the exercise. and like, from my pov, living where i do, having unfortunately witnessed and lived thru racism......... yeah? the racists in dot and bubble and the doctor's reaction to them are pretty realistic to me (shrugs))? people criticism them as "caricatures" and ... i don't see it, honestly? like rich people really are Like That. racist are exactly like that. like i can agree with the crit for example that having ricky or a character like ricky at the end, saying the same stuff as lindy and co, would have driven the point home better (of "if you live in a society founded on racism, you will inherit racist views even if you're a "good" person most of the time"), but like, overall i do think the "cartoonism" or bluntness of the finetime's awfulness was a strong writing choice. i do think rtd make the right call there, and even if he's white, he got a good grip on how a black man like the doctor would react (like, pretty realistic to how irl black medical doctors speak about their experiences, for example). also lbr, some audience members are so dense about this (even a lot of people on /r/gallifrey said they *didn't* understand what the problem was in the end! ) and like... i don't think this should be that controversial? that's the magic of writing. that if you take the time to listen, learn and observe, you can write experiences other than your own pretty competently. anyway, back to the initial common ground, would a black writer have given them more specificity? most likely.do need to bring more of them (and if anything else, as good as the 3 boys in boys club are, it does get a little tiring to have only 3 voices in the choice for the last 5 years)? absolutely. but i dont think that means that rtd shouldnt have written this episode, or that him being white diminished how much of what the text actually says. and i think it would be a lot more productive to try to understand it on its own merits rather than defaulting to a kind of "locus theory essentialism" in media analysis.

i'm still baffled that an episode about racism had absolutely zero writers of colour. like what the fuck

[misas-biggest-fan]

Do you think that Misa knew that Light didn't love her?

ACK ANON YOU SENT ME THIS NEARLY 10 DAYS AGO AND A;LSKDJF I NEVER GOT BACK TO YOU1! im sorry!! the thing was, this was such an awesome question, i had to try to figure out how to phrase my thoughts in such a way that they made sense and then as i was doing this, i just totally forgot to like, actually give you my answer????

so anyway here’s my thoughts!!

short answer: YES.

long answer: she’s clever, but you don’t even have to be that clever to spend two seconds with light and realize that he’s not into girls and he’s especially not into misa, even as a friend. she knows he hates her guts. It’s plain as day and no one’s gonna feel his scorn as much as her. so I say yes, she does know. with that said, i think it sort of kind of almost doesn’t..... matter to her????? 

let me explain myself !!!! we’ve established here before that misa doesn’t “””””Love””””” light. first off, of course, she basically made the conscious decision to “be in love with him” and this decision was made before even meeting him and that’s not rly how love works (unless you’re a v confused and desperate aro person which i think she is LOL). 

second off, they develop no truly positive relationship. they may have things in common, but Light refuses to explore them. he treats her like dirt. she’s constantly fighting for his attention and his respect. they aren’t even friends. in light’s mind, they’re practically enemies bc misa’s a wild card and bc she knows his secret, she has him in her pocket. so it’s not like they spend any real time getting to know each other or building a relationship w each other as equals. it’s not a relationship that can actually make misa feel truly happy or connected to him bc....... it’s just not a real relationship. 

third off, she makes him date her with a gun to his head. if she truly loved him, she’d respect him enough not to stalk and blackmail him. she’d respect that he doesn’t want to date her. but she doesn’t respect that. bc she doesn’t “Love Light”. she loves what he represents to her and what he can mean for her in her life. she’s been so, so alone for the past year+. her family is gone, she has no real friends, and the guy who did all this to her got off scot free, which makes her feel like the whole entire world has abandoned her. and depending on how ‘famous’ or not you interpret her as being at this point in her life, the only people showing concern for her are fans who say they ‘love her’ but don’t know the real her and can’t fill this empty hole in her life. and then, magically, she gets some justice? someone up there noticed her pain FINALLY!! someone thought her and her family were worth avenging!! someone NOTICED her, the real her, her real pain!! so desperate, lonely, clingy misa decides that she’s going to attach herself to this person Forever and give them Everything because they’re the only person who truly cared abt her enough to notice her pain when the whole entire world had decided she wasn’t worth loving. and misa’s someone who needs a lot of love and attention. she’s needy. so if light needs her to give up half her lifespan?? done, not even a question. he needs her to do it again? BAM no thought about it!! he not super nice to her? who CARES!! bc light represents the love and attention she needs and hasn’t gotten. what’s half of her lifespan in the face of love and approval?? and if attention were water, misa is dying of thirst.

i’m like 100% positive the knowledge that their relationship is a sham depresses her. i think she still feels empty inside. light doesn’t fill the hole in her heart and can’t fill the bottomless pit of neediness. BUT it’s all she has. it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t love her bc it’s not like she’s going to leave him bc then what would she have?? and if she just closes her eyes tightly and goes ‘la la la’ loud enough, she can pretend she’s happy and she can pretend someone loves her and that’s all she rly wants out of light. she just needed someone to cram into the empty space in her heart, whether or not they actually fit or wanted to be there. she’s just needed the shape of someone, anyone, to say that was the shape that filled her up inside. that’s all. 

she knows he doesn’t love her but that’s no matter bc it’s not going to stop her from using him as hard as she possibly can.