SouHaru Week | Day 7: Competition & Olympics

Visual development by Eyvind Earle for Sleeping Beauty (1959).

Please remind me to not get into it over Scott McCall on fandom secrets, because several users there should have degrees in being wrong all the time. 

They’re so sure that because THEY hate Scott and they know THEY’RE not racist, and because “they didn’t even know Scott was anything but white”, that racism plays no part in how Scott was treated by the fandom at large. Scott’s just a terrible character, they cry, bringing up how he was a little sidetracked by Allison in S1, how he never wanted to be a werewolf in the first place, and oh, of course, that old chestnut, what he did to Derek in the finale of S2. 

Apparently, Scott is never punished in the narrative the same way Derek is?! Did you know this? Because, like, I seem to recall him breaking up with his first girlfriend because of werewolf things, that first girlfriend dying in his arms, him being repeatedly hunted by Peter and Hunters, his autonomy being snatched away from him by Peter, trying to commit suicide, being stabbed by the Nogitsune, being straight-up murdered at one point… the list goes on. 

Babes. Babes. You, as an individual, may not be racist. But when that large a number of people are willing to write about a character one way, to constantly invalidate their pain, to never show sympathy or empathy for them, to spin them as a villain for trying to do the right thing, and the only discernible difference between them and all of their other co-stars at that point are their features… could it your brain is being a bastard and loading you with unconscious bias?

The level of vitriol that is leveled at a character who is no worse than any other, who makes the same mistakes as the others, who suffers just as much (if not more!) than the others, who overall is trying to do the right thing is just… horrible. The trends in the fandom of how Scott was and is treated always say a lot more than the individual actions of fans.

I’d like to say that these trends don’t have any basis in racism, but fandom is as fandom does, and fandom unfortunately reflects a lot of the macrocosm of the world – which is racist.  It’s worrying, and frankly a bit horrifying, but many white people are preconditioned to dislike/mistrust people of color - to notice darker skin and features and mentally ascribe personality traits to those people - and not even register that they have done so. And people in fandomsecrets kept telling me they didn’t even notice that Posey is a person of colour, but that is why I say ‘unconscious’; because like it or not, sometimes that’s what’s at work. Brain processes your conscious mind would be rightfully disgusted by are going on! (And then, one person said ‘I don’t hate Scott just because he has more of a tan’, and I decided not to reply directly to that person because what the actual fuck.)

Once again, I don’t think every single person who dislikes him hates Scott for racist reasons. Like, sure, maybe you find him annoying because he tries to do the right thing but in ineffectual ways, or because he wants to be a normal teenager and does dumb teenaged shit. Or because he rarely apologises for his fuck-ups and they tend to get glossed over. But how does that make him different from any other character in this show? Why are you so willing to put aside any kind of empathy, why do you want to see him suffer so, why do you label him a bad friend? Why do you always point out how shitty the writing is in regards to Scott’s characterisation but none of the others? 

Do you hate him because he’s the main character and it’s perfectly normal to hate the main character? - that’s why no one in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom likes Buffy and only a vocal minority like Harry in Harry Potter, and no one has fucks to give for Dean and Sam in Supernatural — oh. Wait. [For the record, I know there are some fans who hate Buffy, Harry, Dean and/or Sam. They’re just not usually thiiiiiiis loud, y’know?]

If you hate Scott for how he treated Derek, do you hate Derek for how he treated Scott? Boyd? Erica? Isaac? Or do you recognize that Derek was floundering around in the dark and dealing with deep-seated trauma? And if you recognize that in Derek, why can’t you recognize that in Scott who at this point is 16 - 17 at the most? If you hate Scott for how he stole people’s autonomy, do you hate Peter for the same deal? Peter – an actual show villain, who I haven’t seen anyone actively hate, I don’t think? If you hate Scott for mooning over Allison and getting distracted by her, do you hate Stiles for being the same way about Lydia? If you hate Scott for thinking he knows what’s best for others and choosing not to let them in on plans, do you hate Chris Argent, Noah Stilinski, Derek once again? 

I 100% think that a bunch of people need to examine their unconscious biases and try to watch the show putting themselves in Scott’s shoes. Genuinely imagine how it would feel to be in his position. They seem more than capable of doing that with the others, so give him that same consideration. 

wait so goli0n challenged the god of the universe?

“what’s a god to a nonbeliever”

My favourite genre of gay people is "They didn't have bdsm sex onscreen but, bdsm elements are always lurking in the corner and haunting the narrative through thinly veiled visual metaphorical implication."

male supremacists of color are not handling the exposure of the 4B movement and south asian feminism(s) very well, in light of the kolkata victim and the sexual and physical abuse of south korean women and girls. they are very anxious about the global female solidarity occurring online. male supremacists of all races harbor anxiety over losing control of “their women” due to feminist consciousness, and all male supremacists accuse “their women” of being race traitors for not upholding their ideal form of patriarchy. colonized women can criticize white men for male violence, because colonized men do not want to be controlled by them either, but we must not criticize the men who share our colony for enforcing misogynistic repression. colonized men want to claim their rightful property, without white male influence. their ideal world is one where the yoke of imperialism is abolished, where they are granted freedom from physical and sexual abuse, but the status of women remains intact. they want women to be obedient, because complaining about misogyny makes colonized men appear weak in front of white men. they are right to complain about women of color “emasculating” them for being feminists. to them, “emasculation” occurs when they are denied their right to claim us as property, when they, too, are denied control. don’t fall for these manipulations. their misogyny is not more benevolent, their victimization doesn’t preclude them from patriarchal social control, don’t allow them to make you silently wait in line. either we’re all free, or no one is. 🫡

Been a while since I did some Namine/COM angst

oh wow! um, thank you for the new follows and reblogs/likes. i barely have the time/energy to draw souharu lately (grad school+depression lolz) but i have been thinking a lot about getting back into drawing my fave free characters (esp since ka effed up their dynamic again AND ruined continuity...idk how i feel with a new free series....) anyways, hi!! you can find me on twttr and curiouscat.me mainly @aomine_ebooks if you want, but no pressure to follow! i just thought if anyone wanted to idk chat and stuff i'm down with that :) feel free to message me here as well

i think this does get critiqued sometimes like I think we're supposed to see naruto's enduring loyalty to Sasuke as overall a noble/good thing but in the case of the uchiha massacre the uchiha's disloyalty to the village is used to justify their deaths and Itachi putting the village first is seen as a good thing i.e. loyalty to comrades is only good when they are loyal to the state which is deeply disturbing

I think it’s interesting how Shikamaru is basically saying that Sasuke is worth risking their lives for because he is a shinobi from the hidden leaf and therefore a comrade, instead of it being because he’s a kid who’s essentially being abducted by an incredibly dangerous enemy. He’s not a comrade in the sense of being someone he knows in a dangerous situation, but in the sense of being loyal to the hidden leaf, implying that once he fully cuts those ties to the village he will no longer be worthy of help/protection, which is exactly how he gets treated by Shikamaru and most of the Konoha 11 when he becomes a rogue ninja. Even the core ideas of loyalty and protecting one another are wrapped up in the nationalism of the show.