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theukuleleisbroken · 7 months ago

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Lady Nagant and Belief in the System

So MHA has finally ended, and it was a little underwhelming to put it nicely. What I wanted to talk about was one smaller aspect of the issues of the story, and that was Lady Nagant. I liked her character, but I feel like the execution is an example of one the main issues of the story that stands out to me. If AFO possessing Shigaraki and Midoriya deciding to “save” him was when the story changed direction to the final arc, then Lady Nagant is one of the first examples of when Horikoshi decided to start rushing a little towards the ending and not fully acknowledging the deeper societal issues of the setting, instead focusing more on an almost blindly optimistic (though bittersweet, although there are issues with that) conclusion.

Lady Nagant is an interesting morally gray character in a mostly black and white world. Where the main characters already kind of border on child soldiers, she is one, scouted by the Commission at a young age and trained to become an assassin to deal with their dirty work (and I think it’s implied that not all of her targets were guilty). Once she snaps and kills the president, the Commission tosses her into Tartarus, the prison for the most dangerous villains, and cover up what really happened.

The issues come from the response to this. When Nagant reveals this to Midoriya, he says that he’s starting to see and understand the shades of gray in the world, and he reiterates the “reaching out a helping hand” message of the story. It’s not an completely terrible response, but I feel like Midoriya is missing the point. Midoriya’s response is focused on an individual’s/community’s responsibility to change things (and that is important), but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge the systemic issues. Nagant had her belief in the hero system exploited from a young age and was used to secretly “preserve” the public’s blind trust and faith in that system. She is rightfully and justifiably angry at the system and doesn’t believe it will change for the better if it is brought back.

(Another detail that kind of bothered me is that Midoriya tells her she still has the heart of a hero, but she should understandably want nothing to do with heroes. This feels like a small flaw of Midoriya’s that isn’t fully acknowledged, in that he has a hero-centered worldview, which pops up with Bakugo, Endeavor, and in this instance Nagant. Shigaraki calls him out on it during their fight, accusing him of trying to fit him into his worldview.)

She is almost immediately redeemed by Midoriya’s and Hawk’s optimism, which is nice but still doesn’t deal with the systemic issue of the Commission. In the epilogue, she stays in prison because her faith and trust isn’t fully reignited, and Hawks, the Commission’s other child soldier and Nagant’s successor, is now the president of the Commission (which is another can of worms about how his character was handled, particularly his optimism and faith in Endeavor, one of the main examples of the toxic and corrupt hero system in the entire story).

Nagant says that history will repeat itself, and with the main heroes relying on a simple, individual/community focused, almost blindly optimistic approach of reaching out a helping hand, while seeming to miss the point and not questioning the deep systemic problems of hero society that led to villains like the LOV, I can’t help but feel that she might end up being right.

#mha critical #bnha critical #lady nagant #izuku midoriya critical #hawks critical #this is a messy post #but I wanted to get my thoughts out #now that the story has ended

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perplexingluciddreams · 11 months ago

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disorganised ramble about feel "trapped" and don't know myself:

i have been trapped in one way or another my whole life, so much that i don't know who i am or what i am like. (most is low sense of self from autism, but worse from the life events/situation).

trapped in bed, in house. can't leave. don't know anything about myself as a real person anymore. only inside-head versions (many) of me.

make up stories and worlds in head, make up better versions of "myself" (not real, only made up characters that i wish is me). all can do and say what they want and interact and show emotions and KNOW all own thoughts and emotions can express ALL however whenever whatever. do this so so much whole life, lose any sense of self i maybe did have (can't remember).

trapped in body, struggle find words mine, movements i don't want to make, struggle move way i want. can't break out, can't say what i want, can't tell anyone important urgent things. scary, make me mental detach dissociate, go "trance" and "survival mode", just do what i am told. not even think about what MYSELF want or like. not even consider to make my own decision, not given opportunity for own decisions.

every experience i have (nowadays) come from behind/through a screen. through devices, laptop phone iPad TV. TV shows give closest experience of "real life" to me. my made up mind stories and TV shows and reading books/fanfiction, more more real than physical actual surroundings and life situation.

no physical interaction with the world. not sensory, not social, nothing. can't get around easily, can't go physical places, can't touch plants or nature, can't hug real people. can't talk. even my "talk" come from a screen device - even with conversation real person face-to-face.

feel so disconnected, detached, untethered

didn't even have words for most own thoughts when younger. so couldn't even attempt to express. just doomed to live separately on my own in my head whole life. now have some words (disorganised chaotic messy), but even more trapped physically in every way.

i don't feel like a person.

#from the chaos of my mind #autism #autistic #sense of self #bedbound #housebound #nonverbal #nonspeaking #if need more tags please say #this is a messy post #but my words is very messy disorganised mixup right now

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startanewdream · 2 years ago

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Hi Mah, I’ve noticed a lot of writers saying their fics aren’t being commented on or reblogged as much as they were before, and that it’s been discouraging. I can’t speak why for everyone but this is my story. I used to comment and reblog everything because I appreciated the hard work everyone put in. I got inspired to write a few fics of my own, hoping I would get the same support or even suggestions on ways I could improve my writing from all the writers I looked up to, but I got nothing. I spent hours and days writing, reading articles, and watching YouTube videos on how to improve your writing, but I never got one comment, like, kudos, or reblog from any of the writers I showed my support to. I started to notice people had their own little friend/support group and would reblog and comment on each other's posts or stories, but not the newer writers unless you were a phenomenal writer. If you weren’t worth their time, then you were unnoticed and not appreciated. It didn’t matter that you wrote long detailed comments on every single chapter of their story and reblogged their stories, hoping it would get more attention to help encourage them. You and one other blogger were the only ones that I got a comment from, and I ended up unfollowing everyone except for you and the other blogger. I stopped writing, deleted my stories on one of my low days, and unfollowed everyone but you and the other blogger. I stayed away from the Harry Potter community for a while. You two are the only ones I will take time out of my day to write comments for. I’ve read other stories, but I don’t comment on theirs unless it's by a new writer. I try to show encouragement and give suggestions in ways I wish I would have gotten them. I just wanted to say thanks, and I've come across some great new writers through your blog. I’ve been absent for a long time, but I’m back now. I hope things have changed and everyone is more supportive of one another. I don’t know if people are hesitant to help other writers but they take 5 minutes out of their day to read their stories and write two lines of encouragement or heck even a pm on ways you think the story could be improved, newbies will appreciate it more than you’ll ever understand. I just think if you want a little love then you need to show a little love too.

Hey, Anon. I went back and forth on how to answer this because yes, I understand it, but also... not?

I really don’t want to sound dismissive; I get it, writing takes time and effort, you put a piece of your heart there, and when people don’t seem to notice it, you take it personally. I've been there as, in a way, all who has ever posted their fan work have been. It’s shitty.

But you cannot control anyone else. If you are writing and posting because you want people to comment and engage; don’t. It will drive you mad, trust me, because there is no bar that will ever suffice. Write for your own joy... and read and review for your own joy.

If you want criticism, ask for it, send a pm to those who answer it. Join a discord. The review section in a fanfic is not the place for it, it would be just rude. And accept that sometimes there is no problem, no reason for why your fic is unnoticed; no one has ever cracked the code for what makes a fic popular, and honestly, I am glad for it. It’s cliche, but true: you are the only one who can write your stories.

Finally, I get the if you want love you need to offer some love, but also... it sounds entitled? Threatening? I am not sure. Fanfics are for free; they are supposed to be fun. When they stop being something that you can enjoy, what is the whole point?

I am sorry you didn’t feel your effort was appreciated. I hope that, despite everything else, you loved giving voice to the characters, crafting a scenario out of nowhere, and spinning words into something that was real and yours. I hope you stick around.