#media literacy is dead i fear

[atomicjellyb3an]

Arcane season 2

im sorry but she looks so good

i support women’s rights AND wrongs

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

Aegon: rapist, enjoys watching his children fight violently to the death, murders innocent people.

HotD Fandom: Poor Aegon, he has an awful mother 🥺.

Alicent: Child bride at 14, rape victim, pimp father, deadbeat husband, forced to have 4 children.

HotD Fandom: Alicent is the root cause of all our problems. This woman is pure evil and the worst mother to ever exist. Shame!

[talknerdytome18]

Another day, another fucking Pip x Max fic on the ao3 tag 🤮

Atp I've just grown accustomed to the fact that people are gonna ship that freak with Pip and can't do anything about it because those shippers get highly defensive over that nasty ship. I'm just saying but if you need to go to extreme lengths to defend shipping Pip with a rapist, then maybe the ship is just awful 🤷‍♀️ (because it literally is. Fuck Max Hastings).

[thegreatmelodrama]

Hey, so Wicked actually is political! Hope that clears things up :)

[verdantdaises]

There’s nothing funnier in the world to me than when people expend the time and energy into interacting with media they don’t like—

[f4ggottree]

online discourse about imaginary people is so funny to me. like we can share headcannons all day long and i WILL participate in good fun but if we get to a point where you’re seriously arguing like its life or death over what random character five’s line meant in one throwaway episode and refusing to accept that other people can just disagree with you…good luck charlie.

[cheshire-castle-library]

I feel like as a writer I'm such a coward. I want to write things, but I hold myself back because I'm afraid of people finding out I'm a fucked up little guy. I know, academically, that every one who puts themselves out will end up tried on public opinion. I know that doesn't mean I'm a bad person, just because there's a chance for a pitch fork mob. But I'm still I guess "ashamed"? Afraid the church will burn me at the stake for writing romance like a Ludo song? Ashamed people I know will see that I do - in fact - have dark and scary thoughts? As if they don't already know I have edge-lord characters??? Do I fear I am unlovable if I write a fucked up thing? Am I so programmed to be the "Respectable Oldest Daughter" that these ideas must die with me?!

How do I free myself from this fear? I want to write messed up romance, the kind of true love on the torture rack that Morticia and Gomez had, I want to write the horrors that killed people and splayed out their insides before my scifi MC. I want to admit the world is terrifying and beautiful in horrific and yet conquerable ways! But I hesitate, choke myself back, write only things that you could show a 10 year old without giving them nightmares.

But I had nightmares as a 10 year old. I saw things that made me afraid. I imagined things that haunted me, that chased me in the dark. I know fear and I have faced it. Why am I so afraid of showing that? Why am I afraid of being perceived, when that the point of writing?!?

[imakatperson22]

“Why can’t Eddie and Buck just be friends?”

Because, dear fandom, they have not been set up as just best friends. Intentional or not, the way they have been cinematically filmed and edited, the way they have been written, and the way they have been acted scream romantic/sexual chemistry.

You want to watch meaningful male friendships? Go watch Psych, a show that portrays a best friendship with no romantic or sexual elements and does so quite beautifully.

Go watch Shawn and Gus and then compare them to Buck and Eddie.

I can respect the Tevan shippers who prefer Tommy over Eddie. That’s a matter of opinion. What is a matter of fact is the queer, homoerotic subtext that has been injected into this show between Buck and Eddie.

If you watch this show and don’t see that, I fear media literacy is dead.

[purpledemonlilyposting]

Okay it's time for me to go a bit crouching retard hidden genius here, take off the clown nose and put my thinking cap on. Cause unlike many, many people who reference Nineteen Eighty-Four I've actually read it. Several times. And not as a school mandate.

What does "He loved Big Brother" tell you about media literacy?

Like what even is that point, Lorch? What does just knowing the final sentence of the book tell you about someone's media literacy? What do YOU even think that line means? Cause I'd love to hear it and I doubt you've ever actually read the fucking book.

There are many take-aways you can have from Nineteen Eighty-Four regarding the control of the populace through deception, fear, propaganda, regulation, indoctrination of the young, the dumbing down of language, and sheer hypocrisy. I'd be more interested in someone's take on passages like this to gauge their media literacy:

'It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn't only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take "good", for instance. If you have a word like "good", what need is there for a word like "bad"? "Ungood" will do just as well -- better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of "good", what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like "excellent" and "splendid" and all the rest of them? "Plusgood" covers the meaning, or "doubleplusgood" if you want something stronger still. Of course we use those forms already. but in the final version of Newspeak there'll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words -- in reality, only one word. Don't you see the beauty of that, Winston? It was B.B.'s idea originally, of course,' he added as an afterthought. A sort of vapid eagerness flitted across Winston's face at the mention of Big Brother. Nevertheless Syme immediately detected a certain lack of enthusiasm. 'You haven't a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston,' he said almost sadly. 'Even when you write it you're still thinking in Oldspeak. I've read some of those pieces that you write in The Times occasionally. They're good enough, but they're translations. In your heart you'd prefer to stick to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?' Winston did know that, of course. He smiled, sympathetically he hoped, not trusting himself to speak. Syme bit off another fragment of the dark-coloured bread, chewed it briefly, and went on: 'Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,' he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. 'Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?'

The speech had been proceeding for perhaps twenty minutes when a messenger hurried on to the platform and a scrap of paper was slipped into the speaker's hand. He unrolled and read it without pausing in his speech. Nothing altered in his voice or manner, or in the content of what he was saying, but suddenly the names were different. Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremendous commotion. The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong! Quite half of them had the wrong faces on them. It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work! There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls, banners torn to shreds and trampled underfoot. The Spies performed prodigies of activity in clambering over the rooftops and cutting the streamers that fluttered from the chimneys. But within two or three minutes it was all over. The orator, still gripping the neck of the microphone, his shoulders hunched forward, his free hand clawing at the air, had gone straight on with his speech. One minute more, and the feral roars of rage were again bursting from the crowd. The Hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed. The thing that impressed Winston in looking back was that the speaker had switched from one line to the other actually in midsentence, not only without a pause, but without even breaking the syntax. But at the moment he had other things to preoccupy him. It was during the moment of disorder while the posters were being torn down that a man whose face he did not see had tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Excuse me, I think you've dropped your brief-case.' He took the brief-case abstractedly, without speaking. He knew that it would be days before he had an opportunity to look inside it. The instant that the demonstration was over he went straight to the Ministry of Truth, though the time was now nearly twenty-three hours. The entire staff of the Ministry had done likewise. The orders already issuing from the telescreen, recalling them to their posts, were hardly necessary. Oceania was at war with Eastasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. A large part of the political literature of five years was now completely obsolete. Reports and records of all kinds, newspapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound-tracks, photographs -- all had to be rectified at lightning speed. Although no directive was ever issued, it was known that the chiefs of the Department intended that within one week no reference to the war with Eurasia, or the alliance with Eastasia, should remain in existence anywhere. The work was overwhelming, all the more so because the processes that it involved could not be called by their true names.

Also please read Nineteen Eighty-Four everyone. It's a very good book, it's not very long, and it's still scarily relevant to today.

[rainy-writers]

When are y’all gonna get it through your heads that no one actually cared if the Velaryon boys were bastards or not? They could have come out with white hair, violet eyes, the whole shebang and the rumor still would have been spread because it was meant to undermine RHAENYRA and her claim, nothing else!!

It was a misogynistic attempt to paint her as reckless and irresponsible and another way for the greens to push for Aegon. It was fear mongering, meant to say “Hey! Choose Aegon because you guys don’t want a bastard on the throne, right?” And it didn’t fucking work, save for on the idiot audience that still eats this shit up and genuinely believes that the dance happened bc Harwin and Rhaenyra weren’t married, rather than realizing the whole theme is MISOGYNY!! ITS ABOUT USURPING A WOMAN NO MATTER WHAT SHE DOES, SOLEY BC SHES A WOMAN AND NOTHING ELSE!!

If she had no kids = Vote for Aegon cause she’s barren!!

If she had kids = Vote for Aegon cause they’re bastards!!

If she has kids that look exactly like her = Vote for Aegon bc her kids are clearly Daemon’s bastards am I right? Vote Aegon bc he’s clearly the more responsible of the two with his trueborn kids!!

It. Does. Not. Matter.

And it makes me so mad, especially when people say that the realm wouldn’t have accepted Jace like DUDE. Nobody is just casually going around saying these kids are bastards, save for the people that KNOW they can get away with it if they’re caught bc Viserys wouldn’t dare punish them. Aka:

Alicent, Otto, and her nightmare kids. That’s it. No, some random Lord in the Reach wasn’t preaching about Jace, Luke, and Joff being bastards. I sincerely hate to burst your bubble (NOT!) but you guys as an audience care more than the actual people that live in this world and it’s so funny.

Basic media literacy will tell you that NO, Westeros did not care. How do I know? Well it’s simple really. If they cared then majority of them simply wouldn’t pledge to support Rhaenyra, clearly knowing that Jace is her heir??

I mean, these are all of the houses that supported Rhaenyra AND Jace:

I mean do yall honestly think Cregan Stark thought Jace was a bastard when he swore an oath in BLOOD with Jace, marched PERSONALLY to the south AFTER Jace was dead, and tried to literally kill the CHILDREN of the Lord’s who rose up against him and Rhaenyra?

Do you think Lady Jeyne gaf when she personally pledged to support him? Lord Manderly? Hm.

No, they didn’t lmao.

So please, kill this narrative that “There was going to be rebellion if Jace ascended the throne” and “The realm wouldn’t accept him bc all of them secretly knew he was a bastard despite having no proof because his father, his grandfather and THEIR KING never said otherwise.”

It would not have happened y’all. And one day you blood purist, Velaryon boys haters are going to get it through your head that YES !! They were legitimate because no one ever said otherwise. It was never proven. Rumor isn’t proof. Hair isn’t proof for fucks sake. You need actual words from Laenor himself saying that RHAENYRA cheated and those boys are Harwin’s. You need Corlys passing over Luke for Driftmark and outright saying it’s because he’s a bastard to even get a SHREAD of doubt from the great houses.

One day you guys are going to realize that those boys were loved and no matter how much you try and discredit them, they will always be legitimate. Whether you like it or not, Viserys was content with Jace being on the throne after him, THE REALM was content, and Corlys Velaryon was ready to die peacefully knowing Luke was going to be after him. Hell, he damn near handed that boy the keys so don’t you dare say Luke didn’t deserve to inherit anything.

And sorry for the long post but some of yall are really starting to piss me off. Never mind that this is fiction, your attitude towards these boys is disguising and saying that they don’t deserve a good life, that they dont deserve things that were literally GIVEN to them with no complaints, and even going as far as to call them dirty or saying they deserve to die all because their mommy and daddy weren’t married is fucking disgusting.

This “bastards don’t deserve anything,” attitude needs to stop being preached by real life people. Hell, some of the people saying this are literally in the wedding photos of their own parents wedding LMAO. It concerns me on how much disregard you guys have for adopted kids (which is basically what they are to Laenor), and I’d hate to see the shit you preach in real life. Acting like blood actually matters in order for someone to be considered family.

Because regardless of what you believe, had their mother not been usurped because she was a WOMAN, Jace would have ruled, Luke would’ve gotten Driftmark and, yes, the world of Westeros would’ve kept fucking spinning.

By law these boys were legitimate and people seem to forget they came out of Rhaenyra’s coochie so REGARDLESS, they are Targaryen. Like unless Viserys or Daemon was their father, they were always going to be half NOT Targaryen lol…Just like Alicent’s kids. It just so happens that they’re half Strong, but again, it doesn’t matter, because Jace gets his claim from RHAENYRA, not his father, so even if Harwin was married to Rhaenyra he still would’ve been the heir?? Even if it wasn’t Laenor who was his father, he’d still be heir because of his mother and being married to someone does not change that.

Some people even go as far as to argue that they’re not Targaryen so Jace shouldn’t be the heir which is stupidest thing I’ve ever heard and the most blatant case of misogyny ever. Like unless your father cloned himself then you STILL get half your genes from your mother dumbass. They are as much Targaryen as the Hightower kids with their DARK HARIED PARENT, it just so happens that their Targ side is from a woman, not a man. Which, like I said, if you don’t consider them Targaryen just bc they don’t get their claim from their father then we know what you are. 🙃

But anyways, to make a long post short, yes these boys are legitimate, they were recognized as such by:

The King himself (who they’d be inheriting from)

Rhaenyra

Laenor (their father, who they’d be inheriting from and wanted Luke to have Driftmark)

Corlys (their grandfather, who Luke would be inheriting from and wanted Luke to have Driftmark)

Rhaenys

The Realm

History

And if you still don’t believe me, here’s the official Targaryen family tree from Fire and Blood which all of Westeros sees :)

You see how they’re listed as Velaryon? You see how they’re directly linked to Laenor and there’s no little astric saying how they’re bastards? Yeah me too.

PS - Read Fire and Blood as well. This whole argument about them being bastards is literally stemmed from no more than two paragraphs, IF that. And their legitimacy is never brought up again.

[pigidin]

I know well it won't ever happen, but it'd be great if on FIRST (official) Hazbin (as a show, not a pilot) pride, Al's finally confirmed to be AROACE.

The rejection of Al's orientation in this fandom is crazy and I'm not speaking of fanon, but CANON.

I'm SO tired of people saying "but he was just confirmed to be asexual!", "but the moment with rosie!", "what amir said was incorrect and he apologized for it!", "what faustisse said isn't canon anymore!" COZ-

Viv literally heavily implied on one of the streams Al's aroace, saying:

Oh no, I'm going to destroy the ship. I can't say. I don't want to ruin the fun for everybody. That's why I've been very quiet on whether or not Al is aromantic.

If I give a real canon answer [..] I don't wanna ruin anyone's fun

She knows the CANON answer to that question but doesn't say it aloud coz the canon somehow ruins fanon fun.

I really don't get why viv was then so eager to give everyone right to do whatever the hell they want but never confirm Al as aroace in the same. damn. fear. to ruin shipper's fun. Like? Bro if you gave the opportunity to do everything why hide what will change nothing? People will still ship, people will still play with his orientation (which is valid as long as you're respectful), but you know what it will give instead? Damn REPRESENTATION, damn CONFIRMATION, the damn thing your show is supposed to give.

Not to be rude, but then Husk being pan is non-canon as well (that's faustisse who said he is). And then media literacy is dead once again coz it's obvious Rosie was talking about dating Charlie not bout Al f=cking her. I might sound like overreacting but it's viv herself who is the reason of the war.

Screw fanon, canon should be stated by you, as a creator, giving the canon answers, coz you provide the show, you provide the characters, you provide the plot and lore and you are the one who created the characters the way they are. You can't really affect what people do with them, how they interpret them and how they create stories of them, but you are responsible for giving clearly defined information especially if it plays part in representation of the repressed group of real people.

Coz having actual confirmed aromantic IS a big achievement for us. Forcing him into the closet and taking away the bits of rep we could have is, honestly, a highly unwise choice. Saying fanon is a wide playground on which canon can have minimum influence but never giving specific canon statements is just utterly hypocrite. Aaand hiding the fact that someone is meant to not have any relationships for the sake of fanon (which is somehow much more important than real-life issues of literal erasure of aromantics) is pretty aphobic ngl.

[daddyduncan69]

One of my recent posts got a few comments about media literacy being dead and Neil being an unreliable narrator so I want to clear some things up.

Firstly, media literacy isn't dead becuase it cannot die. Also, I am not a big fan of fear mongering. Humans have always sought to understand and communicate with each other about the things we create. It is a skill that can be taught and should be practiced. There is no one right way to do it. And, while I think the education system fails so many of us (something something to make us easier to control something something), I also think that there are tons of resources to help us learn without the need for an official "teacher". So, instead of pessimistically saying is it "dead" (especially on someone's textual analysis post, like... are you saying I prove it's dead becuase I don't have media literacy? are you agreeing with me and therefore proving yourself wrong? do I not count for some reason? i don't think I get it), engage in discourse about media that you love. And I mean actual discourse, not just fighting on social media about whether or not everyone should "like" your favorite character. Ask yourself "what is the effect of this rhetorical device in the text?" "is the text trying to make me like or not like this character? is it working, why or why not," (do not ask "why did the author do this?" because that is not relevant nor are you a mind reader). Take free online Literature classes from colleges that help you learn how to analyze. Invite others to do it with you. Join or start a book club. Engage in various types of media, not just YA, fantasy, fiction, etc. Consider kindly rebutting or offering a counter point to other people's interpretations, bringing actual textual evidence to back up your points. Use Google Scholar to access free scholarly articles to see academic prospectives on various medias that are not just from social media or blogs. Your local library may even have subscriptions to paid sights like JSTOR or collections of essays that would let you access articles that are otherwise behind a paywall. All of these things can help improve your own media literacy and, in turn, will help improve the media literacy of the people around you.

Secondly, the point of my other post was NOT that Neil is an unreliable narrator. I've seen a lot of people make this claim so I wanted to chime in. Unreliable narrators are marked by a few characteristics, some of which are exaggeration, detachment from reality, naivety, and deception of the reader. I don't believe Neil falls into any of these categories. I would be open to arguments that claim he does, but it would be hard to sway me because I can't find any textual evidence to support it. This is an important distinction to me because the larger claim I make in that post is that ALL narration, 1st person, 3rd person, omniscient, limited, etc is biased- all of it. It is CRUCIAL as readers to identify a narrators biases and consider the text through that lens. If you aren't practicing doing that (or only doing it when the narrator is "unreliable") you can easily fall into the trap of saying "well Neil says Kevin is a coward so he is", which is obviously an issue in the grand scheme of textual analysis. However, you can also easily fall into the trap of saying "Neil is an unreliable narrator because he is wrong about things/lies to people/has trauma so you can't trust him". I believe that Neil tells us as the reader the truth in his narration almost 100% of the time, Neil just lies to the other characters 24/7. So, as readers we should take what he says in his internal monologue at face value but question the motives behind his dialogue with other characters.

Anyway, that was a long winded, probably boring monologue about critical textual analysis. I devote maybe 16 out of my 18 waking hours to thinking about this, so thanks for hanging in there to read it all. I just care so deeply that we as a culture continue to grow these skills without shaming those who haven't had the same opportunities to learn how to do it or making the act of learning how to feel hopeless or doomed.

[birdy-babe]

Oh great that woke race crap in the latest episode of my funny demon cartoon

This is a joke btw

I understand the joke BUT I WANT TO ANSWER THIS TO THOSE WHO THINK THIS SERIOUSLY

bc these themes have been there since DAYYYYY ONE. They are introduced in the Pilot subtextually and then reinforced in the first few episodes- specifically Loo-Loo Land and Spring Breakers.

Honestly it really shouldn’t take explaining- like if people don’t actually see how one of the show’s PRINCIPAL THEMES is portrayed throughout the series- I fear I cannot help. Media literacy must be dead then.

Thankfully I haven’t run into this too much- and honestly I love this theme because 1. It’s a great way to make people question our own society and 2. It makes the story itself better and more complex

<3 thank u for this ask and allowing me the space to talk about this

[thelastmerm4id]

you know it’s bad when the show ended and everyone’s big takeaway is “OMG CAITVI SEX !!!” i fear media literacy is dead. vi was abused by enforcers for YEARS in a cell just like that only for them to have cait and vi’s first time in a jail cell… they couldn’t of gone to a BED ?? it couldn’t of been the least bit of romantic ?? they had the woman who was abused for years by enforcers in a cell have sex with an enforcer in a cell… not to mention jinx was in the SAME cell not even a few minutes prior starving and hurting herself. only for her sister to have sex in the exact same spot she was just contemplating ending it all ?? the amount of disrespect is astonishing and the fact people are so excited over this disgusting sex scene is kinda appalling.

[hfjonewiki]

sometimes i wish i wasn't a tryhard media literacy andy because i'll look at myself and go "you realize that knife being revived would lessen the impact of him sacrificing himself for marshmallow, right. you realize it would retroactively make that entire thing pointless. same with bow, her arc was about overcoming her fear of being left behind and forgotten in favor of the living contestants. they're not coming back and it would be dumb if they did" but then i'll go "ohhhh but them staying dead makes me Sad :("

[bwat5-blog]

In Defense of Vi

*i accidentally posted this in a community first so the formatting is a little off. Sorry*

**Spoilers for all of Arcane**

In Defense of Vi

I must start off saying Vi is my favorite character for disclosure. However, I understand she is not everyone’s and that’s okay! This is not about favorites. But I am writing a few of these because I feel like media literacy itself is severely lacking, regarding a few characters in this story among our fandom and it REALLY bothers me. There are few common criticisms of Vi that are being thrown around that are just bizarre:

Vi is a bad sister

Vi betrayed her people by becoming an enforcer

Vi is “The Jinx” as demonstrated by the AU episode and all those people would be alive and happy if she had died

Vi got Jinx killed at the end of the series (even though we all know Jinx is alive)

Season 1 Act 1:

Per the writers Vi is 14-16 years old in Act 1. When we first see her she is crying from seeing her parents killed, but she is also keeping Powder close and watching over her. Now Vi is a kid. She can’t see Vander’s point of view on why maintaining peace is important, and until it’s too late she never considered the ramifications of leading the group of kids who look up to her on the heist. However, even at her young age, from the time of the heist to the taking of Vander by Sico, we see her fight to protect her siblings, watch over and support Powder, tell Powder he differences make her special and strong, and even take steps to turn herself into law enforcement to spare her people any more pain. Even at that young age she is Brave, selfless and loyal to a fault.

The incident at the warehouse during the attempted rescue of Vander and what follows, is heartbreaking for a variety of reasons, but we also get a good glimpse into the bedrock of Vi’s character during these events. The only time we ever see her leave Powder behind is in this mission because it is so obviously dangerous. We then see Vi, a child, fight for her life to save her family through her own pain and fear. It even seems like they may succeed until Powder’s bomb detonates and their world falls apart.

Now comes the incident that has drawn Vi all sorts of criticism in the fandom. Upon realizing Powder’s part in what occurred, Vi grabs her roughly, hits her, yells at her and calls her a Jinx. Fans have used this moment to draw parallels to Caitlyn’s treatment of Vi at the end of Season 2 Act 1, have linked it to the moment at the end of Season 1 when Jinx claims Vi created her, and labeled Vi a bad sister. Things that should be noted:

Vi is not even old enough to have finished puberty in terms of mental development

She has just watched her brothers die violently

She has just narrowly survived a fight against several adult thugs, many of whom were armed and could have killed her at any point

She is standing over the dead body of her adoptive father. The man who carried them off of that bridge, who even taught her to box.

Obviously Vi was wrong to lash out at Powder. But her reaction was beyond understandable. She is a grieving child in horrible pain, having a very raw moment blaming the only target available. She goes around the corner, is almost immediately horrified at the sight of her sister’s blood on her hands, and tries to go back to her, everything ruined by Marcus and Silco.

Stillwater: Per the writers, Vi spent 6-7 years in Stillwater. Where we learn she was routinely abused and assaulted, deprived of all kindness and basic human decency. A teenage girl who just lost her entire family, and whose last words to her beloved little sister, who she feels immensely responsible for were words of anger. She is unjustly thrown in this horrible place that will craft her into the woman we meet in act 2.

Season 1 Act 2:

We then, of course follow Vi on her journey with Caitlyn to find Powder. Vi watched enforcers kill her parents. She spent a childhood on the run from them. She has been regularly assaulted by them and has been imprisoned by their leader with no cause for years. Yet still, when a stranger in that uniform comes, Vi takes the first chance she can to try and get back to Powder. While in the undercity she is:

She is stabbed

She is beaten

She is hunted

She is knocked out

Al those things considered, and she does not give up. Finally finding Jinx when Jinx sets off the flare. Vi immediately tells her it’s okay that she has changed, its okay that she’s had to do bad things, and tries to apologize for leaving her sister behind even though it was never her choice. Its not until Jinx blows the bridge, killing enforcers, and trying to kill Vi and Caitlyn and Echo that Vi finally goes back to Piltover.

Season 1 Act 3:

Vi doesn’t see Jinx again until the end of this season. But Vi still tries to talk Jinx down at her “dinner party”. She tries to get Jinx to leave with her. Tries to keep Caitlyn and Jinx from harming each other. And while Silco has encouraged every feeling and emotion in Jinx that has fed her mental trauma and her issues, Vi tries to call her back to her real self-reminding her of her true name and those who love her. Tragically despite all of her efforts, all of her pain and shedding of her own blood, she has to watch as her beloved sister murders the mother of the woman she loves

Season 2 Act 1:

We see Vi trying to navigate the immense grief and guilt over her sister’s actions and be there for Caitlyn. An obviously emotionally fraught scenario given Piltovers grief after the attack and their attitudes towards the under city. The big plot point of her Arc in this act is her putting on the uniform of the enforcer. Of note in this are several points:

She initially refuses

When she does agree to do it, Caitlyn has explained she is afraid if she goes alone after Jinx, either she or Jinx will die. Those are the two true nightmare scenarios for Vi. And She tells Vi putting on the uniform is really the only way to be a part of it

Vi knew Piltover retaliation was coming no matter what. After the memorial attack its only exacerbated. Being a part of it is the only way to have someone who knows and cares for under city, Jinx, and Caitlyn there

The use of the grey while undeniably immoral in their efforts to apprehend Jinx is not fatal. And as Vi later explains it was to keep innocent people out of harm’s way while they tracked her sister

As soon as they locate her sister Vi sends the other enforcers home to limit collateral damage

This act culminates in the battle of the Chamber of Janna (Just what I’m calling it). People have used the fact that Vi calls her sister Jinx, and that she partakes in this battle as evidence of her being a bad sister. However, there are details that cannot be ignored:

As far as the name goes by this point Jinx has been insistent on the name herself

In spite of all of her efforts up to this point, Vi has been almost killed by her sister repeatedly, watched her sister almost kill the woman she loves repeatedly, and watched her sister murder the woman she loves mother

Jinx tells Vi quite plainly she hopes she and Caitlyn slept together already before.. heavily implying her intention to kill them. Jinx also tells Sevika earlier that is exactly her intention

Vi cannot bring herself to finish Jinx when she has the chance and stops the fight completely when Isha is in danger

The conclusion of this act sees Vi’s desperate attempts to do the right thing thrown back in her face as she loses her sister again, and Caitlyn breaks her heart and shatters her status as the only enforcer ever to be kind to Vi after a lifetime of loss.

Season 2 Act 2:

Ah Vi’s pitfighter stage. Although I don’t believe the show explicitly tells us how long its been, the writers and various internet sources suggest it has been several months. We find Vi abusing alcohol, fighting nightly with zero regard for her own safety, hallucinating Caitlyn being there for her, and after pushing away Loris being completely and totally alone. Fortunately, most of the conversation I see around this stage is fairly on point although I think we all agree it should have been more fleshed out. We are seeing Vi at her absolute lowest point. To quote Linkin Park in a way She tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end it didn’t even matter. She has been betrayed and broken by everyone left in her life who could do so, until of course Jinx returns with news of Vander’s re-emergence. Now, there is a lot of talk about Vi’s behavior during this act and comparing her to Jinx in terms of “who was the better sister”. Lets break it down!

Vi’s aggression toward Jinx when Jinx comes to her

There is really nothing to say here. Vi is at her lowest point and Jinx who has caused so much harm is here talking about their dead dad she indirectly killed

Vi Hits Isha

Isha is adorable and tenacious, and her death made me wish I’d never seen this show/deem it the best show ever at the same time, because that scene was so amazingly done. However, Isha also much like jumping Rictus jumps in the middle of a fight between Vi and Jinx and Vi lashes out one time without really realizing AND STOPS IMMEDIATELY.

Vi not trusting Jinx when Vander first arrives

Vander’s first move when he arrives is trying to kill Isha. And despite her conflict with her sister, and not knowing this little girl at all, Vi throws her own body in front of Isha tangling with the monstrous form Vander has been forced into. And after fighting for her life, even with all that Jinx has done, VI PUTS HER LIFE IN HER SISTER’S HANDS AND LOWERS HER GAUNTLETS.

The end of Act 2 is mostly positive between the sisters and we are blessed/cursed to see Vi getting just a brief taste of happiness like it could all work out.

She wants to stay in the commune with Powder and Isha and Vander

We see her trusting and loyal nature in trusting Caitlyn to help them when she is honest

Vi throws her own body over her sisters to protect her from the blast when Isha dies, even while having to process her dads death all over again (or so she things cause the writers hate us)

Season 3 Act 3:

Here we primarily deal with the “Vi was the Jinx” people and the “Vi got Jinx killed” people. The Vi was the jinx thing is all coming from Echo’s little journey to the Alternate Universe. And yes. At the surface level, while the main universe where Vi is alive is rife with tragedy, the alternate universe where she was killed during the heist as a kid is happier and more peaceful. However, it is in no way BECAUSE she is dead. The AU is at peace because hex tech never happened. We could really deep dive this with a murder board list of cause and effect here, but ultimately the only deaths that can actually be laid at Vi’s feet in any credible way, are people killed by Jinx because Vi couldn’t bring herself to end her life. BECAUSE SHE NEVER TRULY STOPS BELIEVING IN HER SISTER.

If you need some proof, the Arcane Afterglow for Season 2 Act 3 addresses Echo’s journey, and the writer (I believe) explains that the purpose of echo seeing this place is to restore his faith in what his world can be. Its nothing to do with learning Vi was the issue the whole time.

I feel like someone could write a college thesis on hex tech and its poisonous impact on the lives of these people. If anything is “The Jinx” it’s the arcane and hex tech. Heimerdinger tells Jayce and Victor this from Day 1. It literally becomes the entire crux of those two men’s story to learn how they were wrong to bring hex tech into the world and have to fix their mistake.

For the rest of the show Vi’s story is straightforward but still clearly shows her character to be loving, loyal and true. She stands up for her sister after all the changes she has seen in her and even tries to break her out jail, with even Jinx noting “You’re really never going to give up on me”

“Vi Got Jinx Killed”- There is more between the attempted jail break and this incident, we could talk about Vi’s bravery during combat and trying to save lives including her sisters when the Vander drone attacks the air balloon. But Vi causing Jinx’s death is the real crux here. First of all, anyone who paid any sort of attention knows Jinx isn’t dead. But that’s not really the point. The point is that here at this final moment, Vi just couldn’t take any more:

She watched her birth parents die

She watched Vander die the first time saving her

She watched him die the second time after they had just got him back

Now has to say goodbye to him again

And here’s the thing folks. This isn’t subtle. We see what she is flashing back to her in her mind. She is watching him die for the first time all over again and its heartbreaking. It really seems like she can’t even hear Jinx she is so lost to her grief in that moment. When Vander attacks her for the last time, buff badass Vi sounds like a frightened child (in the most heartbreaking way not mocking). And Jinx does the noble thing and saves the older sister she knew would never stop loving her. Also, for people saying Vi is “too happy” for Jinx dying. She is literally sitting alone drinking and humming the song Jinx was singing when their parents died. It’s a “Happy ending” in terms of Vi and Cait getting to be together and be alive, but its quite clear they have a boatload of trauma on their shoulders. Vi has not found peace. But because of her sister’s sacrifice, she is finally has a chance.