#portraying an oppressed person fighting the oppressors as monstrous is really really hard to do right | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nellasbookplanet · 18 days ago

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Okay finished my arcane season 1 rewatch (and I absolutely didn’t cry again) (I'm lying I'm still wiping the tears off) and god it really is a master class of storytelling, isn’t it.

The last episode being called 'the monster you made'. Silco condemning Vander for giving up fighting because it endangered those he loves, only to then himself being unable to obtain his goal because it would mean giving up the only person he loves and he finally understands. Zaun being inches from getting their independence and freedom only for a hurt child to blow it all up in the name of the father figure she killed to protect a sister who left her. Because that's the thing, isn’t it. Jinx and Silco are monsters and legitimate villains but only becaue Piltover created them. They made their own choices sure, but they were choices that would never have even been on the table if they didn't exist in the constant despair and desperation and loss that is living in oppression under a police state that fancies itself a utopia. Piltover and the council built their own monsters and were then shocked and horrified when they acted the part and bit back.

#portraying an oppressed person fighting the oppressors as monstrous is really really hard to do right #bc it will often come off as arguing in favor of the status quo and condemning resistance as a whole #rather than as something inevitable created by the violence of oppression #and which will keep happening as long as the oppression remains #thus painting the oppression itself as the true evil which must be defeated bc IT is the true root of the cycle of violence #(jemisin's broken earth trilogy and stevenson's nimona comic all handle this topic excellently. go read them)#arcane adding the distinction of ekko and the firelights also heightens it #bc they are true resistance fighters who actually care about the well being of their community #while silco is simply trampling anyone in his way and exploiting said community if it gets him even an inch closer to his goal #anyway. on to season 2 #which I've heard handles the themes of oppression and resistance less deftly #oh well. if i don’t like it there's always fic lol #nella talks #arcane

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