Every time I read fandom posts about fictional characters ‘deserving’ things I’m struck by how culturally Christian ya’ll are without realizing it
Your critical analysis skills won’t improve until you understand that characters are tools in a story and applying real life morality to them does not lead to good writing. Does a villain 'deserve’ redemption? Who cares? I want to know if it would support the story’s message. Does a tragic character 'deserve’ better? That doesn’t matter. Did their death serve as a satisfying end to their arc? Did it impact the greater narrative in a positive way?
sick of hearing about “healing crystals” that “cleanse your mind and body of negative energy” i want to know which rocks can hurt you and fuck up your vibe so bad
everyone suggesting uranium isn’t wrong but anyone who said “literally any rock if you’re willing to resort to violence” are the only people who can get on my level. you’re hired.
caincore
okay which fandom that sprung up out of nowhere overnight like mushrooms after rain is this a reference to i can’t keep up anymore
oh you meant like. that guy from the bible who invented murder. right.
‘it’s just trendy to hate on marvel’ no. marvel has done this to themselves. they overwork underpaid and non unionized vfx artists, they don’t allow actors to have access to the full scripts, they gloat about continuity but don’t have consistency, very few of the writers care even slightly about the characters or the source material, and they have gone for quantity over quality / are overproducing their product to the point of consumer exhaust. they are a multi billion dollar creative monopoly that should be held accountable
And less important but still notable, their movies are a mockery of the creative process, the industrialization of art, this is entertainment in late stage capitalism: Formulaic, repetitive, identical, assembled in a way that would make Henry Ford cry a tear of joy. Marvel is a symptom of the fucked up world we live in
64% of Democrats do not want Joe Biden to run again, including 94% of Democrats under the age of 30. Absolutely comical for the White House to be slamming “activists” for being “out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Party”
Calling people “activists” is an underrated form of dehumanization I think. It’s snuck into regular reactionary rhetoric over the past couple years. The Biden administration is doing that here when just referring to the majority of people in this country that want safe and legal abortion. I first noticed it with transphobes who pathologically say trans activists when they’re just referring to trans people. White people refer to any black person wanting justice as a BLM activist. “Activist” just replaces “person” in most of these cases, and that’s definitely a linguistic tool that obfuscates the humanity of the real people affected by the issue at hand. All that said, heaven forbid people do activism. What a terrible thing to dedicate yourself to something bigger than yourself.
Actually, I’d argue that while OP is close to the right answer, that’s not quite it. I think it’s less about the children’s media as much as it is the fact that the refuse to engage with “problematic media” - which does, indeed, lead to people only engaging with children’s media in many cases, as it’s more likely to be “clean” and free of complications.
Problematic media is deemed morally evil regardless of the actual lesson behind it. I mean, you’ve got people on here refusing to read 1984 because “it’s misogynistic”, completely disregarding what role that plays in the story, and dismissing every other detail of the book, because this one detail is so deeply offensive, the rest of the story contains nothing of value. And then there’s the “Why do we have to read old sad stuffy books?” crowd to make things worse.
My point isn’t that the only way to learn is to read classics - many of the classics we have were determined by chishet white guys. There’s sometimes very uncomfortable parts, and I understand why people can’t always sit through them. But the solution to this would be to read more books by people of color, by women, by queer people, and that’s…not happening. Even asking young queer people to read queer history can be like pulling teeth, because it’s easier to get your information off of tiktok or tumblr in nice digestible posts and short, snappy videos. And why read something that might make you question your view of the world, or at least get you thinking, when you could read that mindless enemies to lovers coffee shop au that makes you feel happy instead?
I’m all for fanfic! I’m all for comfort stories! I’m all for protesting the classics that have been determined by cishet white guys, and I’m all for finding discomfort in things like casual sexism and racism in books! But I don’t think the solution is ‘this story is inherently problematic regardless of whatever the greater message is, and I refuse to read anything but my fluffy fanfics.’
But now you’ve got a generation of kids that want a clean cut story with a nice, well defined message. The second you get into complicated issues like homophobia - even if you’re a queer author - your story becomes problematic. Better to engage with something affirming that makes you feel good, with morals that align with your world view. This is the generation of “Maybe the curtains are just blue!”, of rejecting literary analysis because it’s “ridiculous, the author didn’t have a deeper meaning.” So you’ve got kids who lack reading comprehension because they’re refusing to engage with anything that has any element to it that isn’t pre-approved. They’re not approaching anything with an open mind, they’re not going into something that might be complex, because it might conflict with their morals, and in their mind, engaging with something problematic is a reflection of your personal morals, and prove that you are a bad person.
So what you’re left with is children’s media, which often challenges greater issues at a comfortable distance, with defined “good” and “bad.” The good guys win, the bad guys learn, the message is obvious. Children’s media is the least likely to be offensive, and the least likely to be problematic. But that’s a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
“…and dismissing every other detail of the book, because this one detail is so deeply offensive, the rest of the story contains nothing of value.”
Even the word “problematic” used to be an invitation to unpack difficult narratives, now it’s a thought-stopping cliché.
I hope it’s ok for me to post your tags because you said what I was thinking exactly and I couldn’t have worded it any better myself.