#shela realizes that villainy is not actually great

[villainspo]

Thinking supervillainy is aspirational is queer culture, because that’s where the representation was.

That’s who we could see ourselves in.

When you come from groups that are vilified, and see yourself in the person that the movie or the book wants you to think is bad, it’s only natural to question the narrative.

Were they really so bad? They’re like you. Are you bad?

Or did they merely have the temerity to break the rules of politesse that govern respectability?

You know how hard it is to stay within the lines of acceptability or even recognizability that other people draw for you.

Were they only monstrous because that was the role assigned them?

Did they actually make some rather good points?

I’m so so excited for the kids growing up now who can maybe find themselves in the heroes, too.

This comic gets growing up with villainy as the dream—and then offers an opportunity for the vilified to explore heroism.

You can tell how deep this got me, because this post is spaced out so nonsensically.

Let’s make wonderful and terrifying things from our traumas.

Source: New Mutants (2019) #32, by Charlie Jane Anders (writer), Ro Stein and Ted Brandt (line art), Tamra Bonvillain (colors), and Travis Lanham (lettering and production)