Some instances that I feel show how some messages in MHA are detrimental, especially on how victims react to their abuser, can be gauged by responses that tend to be highly prevalent in the fandom.
(Definitely not every fan, but a great majority).
Endeavor is a great example. Whenever you post criticizing his approach to atonement (and ultimately criticizing Horikoshi’s writing), you get BOMBARDED by people either belittling you for not liking his character or essentially forcing you to like his character by frantically writing “at least he tried” arguments.
If I have the CHOICE whether to forgive his character or not, especially given he goes through an atonement arc and not a redemption arc, why is any form of criticism about his abusive behavior and essentially his abuse of power practically ignored by the story unacceptable?
The message was detrimental because people operate on the notion that for victims to be good people, they must forgive and even help their abusers. MHA presents people who choose not to forgive him as either a monster (Toya) or inconvenient (Natsuo). And if they are still unforgiving, they must admire the abuser for doing the bare minimum (taking responsibility; this is also about Natsuo).
Essentially, they are considered "imperfect victims" because they weren't merciful in their approach to their abuser.
The majority of the fandom tends to ignore the lack of actual consequences for Endeavor's actions because he vows to talk to Toya every day. Insisting that doing the bare minimum, which is recognizing his son's existence and suffering, became his "hell" is a wildly fucked up message, in my opinion.
It harps on the issue mentioned above that if a victim isn't receptive to forgiveness or doesn't act "demure," they are seen as an inconvenience—which is how the Todoroki family ultimately views Toya.
On a less critical note, I'll vent, so if you don't like this, just ignore it.
I'm so fucking tired of stories depicting imperfect victims as people who deserve death and torture. Plus, having to be on the brunt of so many people acting like you're morally fucked because you're not impressed with how a writer handled abuse. Horikoshi is not the first writer to try to atone a character who is an abuser (and he isn't the first to fail at that, either).
I'm not about to dick-ride every decision every author makes. Especially if the message convinces some audience members that victims are inherently broken if they can't bring themselves to forgive and/or admire someone who hurt them.
‼️ Please don’t skip taking a look 🍉🇵🇸
“My name is Eslam from Gaza, I’m 29 years old, and I’m a children teacher from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. a mother of two daughters, Hanaa 5 years old, and Alma, 10 months old. My husband Rasmi is the director of 3 language and training centers. In this war, our house was completely destroyed and razed to the ground, and my husband’s centers were blown up. He lost his job, and we were completely displaced, and we are now homeless and jobless, My two young daughters constantly suffer from diseases due to malnutrition and water pollution.
Danger and death surround us all day and all night. We have lost everything and depend on donations to survive and, most of all, to have any hope of escaping this genocide and evacuating to safety in Egypt. The cost of daily living continues to rise significantly in Gaza - imagine that we cannot find the type of milk for our daughter because of its high price. There is no kind of detergent and this is the cause of skin diseases for my two little girls. We bought a piece of soap for $30! ، and detergent is 100$.
Attached for you are pictures of how our lives have changed since October 7th.
Please help. Any funds raised will be used in daily survival and if enough is raised, to be able to evacuate Gaza.
what a season....milchick nation its been an honour.
im so serious about them
need this tutorial fr
so i have a mildly popular “reblog and put in in the tags” post going around and its. very clear how many people don’t know how to interact with a tumblr post
so, first of all, tumblr’s culture has changed a lot in the past couple years. there’s a genuine community effort to not start any drama, and ironically a lot of the current hostility is an effort to keep things calm. there’s also a change in how people interact with posts, so if you haven’t been here in a while please skip down to the tags/replies/reblog with text section.
for newcomers: you should be reblogging posts about as liberally as you would like something on twitter. if you only like stuff, people will think you are rude/a bot. you’ve probably heard people talk about “cultivating your dash,” and thats because this platform is 100% centered around your dashboard. trending matters less, unfollowing and blocking in order to shape your dash into it’s best form is widely accepted, the majority of the content you’ll find and interact with will be because of your dash, and the only way to put things on your dash is to reblog them. tumblr users are deeply distrustful of algorithms and have largely turned off the “see posts your friends have liked” function (i recommend you also turn of the various algorithms in settings → general settings → dashboard preferences).
so, once you’ve reblogged a post, there’s three ways to add content to it. the tags, replies, and reblogging with text. all of them have different connotations
the tags: an inside voice. originally they were meant for organizing your blog (and they’re still used for this), but they’ve also morphed into a way to share thoughts that aren’t funny/insightful enough for non-followers to be interested in. when in doubt, put your comment in the tags
replies: basically talking to your friends in class. your followers have no way of finding your replies (they don’t pop up on the dash, nobody gets notified except for the original poster) so chances are, only the person who made the post is gonna see your comment. it’s for quick one-offs that you’re okay with other people overhearing, but really is only made for one person. they’re like a public dm
reblog with text: an outside voice. you’re getting up on a stage in town square and entertaining people. make sure it’s funny or insightful— bottom line, add something new to the conversation. you should use this the least
general rules of thumb:
when in doubt, reblog. people will judge you if your blog is only personal posts and you only interact with other content by liking it.
the only things people will judge you for reblogging are personal vent posts. leave a like to give a little virtual hug
if a post is asking about your personality/opinions (i.e: tell me what’s the last tv show you watched, that kind of thing) put it in the tags
also if you see a nice edit, gifset, or art, reblog and say something nice in the tags! it’s that nice sweet spot of common enough that no one will notice but uncommon enough to make the artist’s day
i glance at my tumblr mutual reblogging from me again.. blushes and looks away..... my trasured mutual, you mysterious and charming being.....what are we? i hope... maybe someday, we could be something more... something like..discord friends
While most of us can agree that it's pretty in-character that Bakugou's rotten personality made him drop in the rankings, Horikoshi is again contradicting himself. What was the point of shoving in our faces that Bakugou's changed when his actions are telling an entirely different story? There are so many faults in Bakugou's character, but the worst thing is the difference between what we're told and what we're shown. We're constantly being told one thing by the other characters, but Bakugou's actions tell us an entirely different story.
And what's worse is this is something that's happened repeatedly.
Aizawa tells the audience Bakugou respects Uraraka as an opponent. Bakugou a) tells Uraraka she should have given up and b) assumes her plan was Izuku's
Aizawa says that Bakugou will never become a villain because he's so dedicated to being a hero. Bakugou rejected the LOV because they're losers he looks down on
Bakugou says that Izuku wouldn't leave him alone and that's what caused him to lash out. Their first interaction showed Bakugou confronting Izuku while Izuku does his best to make himself seem smaller
All Might tells us that Bakugou has dedicated himself to helping Izuku succeed and get better. The only thing Bakugou ever actually did in regards to OFA was attempt to force Blackwhip out
There are probably a ton of other moments I missed, but you get the point. We're constantly being told Bakugou's improving, but his own actions show us otherwise
big (nitotan) moods and bigger idiots
yjh WILL bite him