Garp, Fascism, And Parental Failure

Garp, Fascism, and Parental Failure

Garp is truly one of the most interesting One Piece characters for me because of the extent to which his dogged, relentless devotion to a fascist system–and the supposed "order" it promises to uphold in the face of anarchy or rebellion–perseveres no matter how many times it fails him and his son and his grandsons. He's fully aware of the deep-seated corruption and atrocity, and feels some kind of moral obligation to bend its rules to protect the innocent (as we can see with his attempts to protect Rouge and Ace), but when faced with widespread femicide and infanticide, genocide, slavery and endless examples of egregious cruelty, he is unable to comprehend the notion that the system is indefensible, or that the only moral choice he can possibly make when faced with that level of atrocity is to leave and resist it. His son recognizing the inherent, inexcusable failures of the World Government and its armed enforcers–literally quitting the force to start a revolution– changes nothing. The order to slaughter pregnant people and infants at Baterilla can't convince him otherwise. The countless instances of bribery, the tolerance of atrocity from state-sanctioned privateers, everything about the history of the Valley of the Gods are all things he's aware of, and takes issue with, but never comes to the conclusion that he cannot affect positive change within a system designed for oppression. The public execution of his grandson–a prime example of the marine's fundamentally irrational, arrogant, vindictive cruelty clearly bound to blow up in all of their faces even before their Pyrrhic victory at the summit war–makes him waver, but even when confronted with this obvious, indefensible injustice against a child he raised and rescued by people seeking to murder him on live TV and desecrate his corpse as a show of power, he cannot bring himself to act against it in any meaningful way no matter how much it hurts him to leave his grandson to die. If he can't veto it, he'll stay Vice Admiral and suffer through Ace being sacrificed on the altar of fascist state control, and functionally leave Luffy for dead in the process while he's at it. He fails every single person he wanted to love–Ace, Luffy, and almost certainly Dragon–and allows himself to be reluctantly complicit in countless crimes against humanity again and again and again because he's so deeply steeped in this notion of preservation of order through state control that he convinces himself that even this disgusting, atrocious, fundamentally flawed and untenable excuse for a government is better than abolition, better than revolution, or just the act of expecting accountability or literally anything better from the systems that issue false promises to protect you. Dadan beating the living shit out of him and calling him a failure as a grandfather, as a self proclaimed defender of the people, is one of the most important scenes in the Postwar Arc because a lesser series might frame Garp as a tragic, helpless figure suffering more than anyone else due to conflict of love and duty, but One Piece refuses to whitewash his actions/inaction or allow the grief and suffering caused by systems he's complicit in to take precedence over its real victims: the D brothers.

There's so much I could say about statism and anarchism and the ways people have internalized the supposed necessity of state violence to the extent they can't oppose that violence even when it ruins them or their loved ones, but that horrible indoctrination and its devastating consequences for both him and his family are what makes Garp so fascinating to watch and so thematically/politically important to One Piece as a whole.

More Posts from Sadgargoylesss and Others

4 years ago

I hate how in the Cruella trailer she’s all “people try to hold me down… I am woman…. hear me roar……” as though people are opposing her for misogynistic reasons and not because her primary motivation is SKINNING PUPPIES? 

1 year ago

Civil War

[video description: A Black Sails fanvid focusing on Eleanor, Mr. Scott, and Madi. Between clips of Madi and Eleanor discussing their past on the beach, there are scenes showing Eleanor and Mr. Scott's interactions, emphasizing how Eleanor fails to consider Mr. Scott's perspective, and the ways in which Mr. Scott is never able to lose sight of his position in society. The penultimate scene is Madi's speech to Woodes Rogers. As her speech escalates, sounds of chains clanking and being removed can be heard in time with the clicking of the knitting needles being used by Eleanor's ghost.

/end description]

Dialogue transcript:

Eleanor: You trust him? Flint. You've cast your lot with him.

Madi: What does it matter to you?

Eleanor: Before this war began, before everyone's roles changed, your father mistrusted Flint as much as anyone in Nassau did. I assume you were in some contact with him all that time. I'm surprised that his feelings didn't influence you.

Eleanor: For how long had he been secretly aiding them?

Flint: He began, he said, after the Spanish raid.

Eleanor: Did he say why he did it?

Madi: You were my sister. There is very little that I remember from when I was young, but I remember this.

Mr. Guthrie: Once upon a time Mr. Scott was my personal houseboy. Until he proved himself worthy of greater responsibility. That earned him an education which he then passed on to my daughter. And look where that's gotten me.

Madi: You were older. You were beautiful. I revered you.

Mr. Bryson: Mr. Scott, you sided with his daughter against him. You forgot your duty. You must have known there would be consequences.

Madi: When you were told that my mother and I were dead, I have to believe that it affected you. You had just lost your mother.

Eleanor: And what? Now you think you can just waltz back in here and pick up from where we left off like nothing happened?

Mr. Scott: Where else would I go? I belong to you. Chattel property of the Guthrie estate.

Eleanor: You… you know I've never seen you that way.

Madi: But if things were as I remember, my mother and I were your family, too.

Eme: He says…

Mr. Scott: I know what he says. He says in Nassau a slave can be free, get a job and a wage. Maybe for him. He's strong. A few others. The rest of you, don't kid yourself. You are cargo, in Nassau or otherwise.

Madi: And yet, through all the years thereafter that my father cared for you… counseled you, labored for you… he never told you that we were alive.

Madi: I was there in Nassau, and she's there. Eleanor is there. She is one of them now. I stood in Nassau and I realized when this war begins, it will have many different meanings, but to you this war is a civil war. You will have people on both sides of it. You will have daughters on both sides of it. And I want you to know…

Mr. Scott: [whispers softly] Only… you.

Madi: It would have been so easy to lessen your suffering by divulging the secret. And yet, he never did. Have you yet asked yourself why that is?

Madi: The voice you hear in your head… I imagine I know who it sounds like, as I know Eleanor wanted those things. But I hear other voices. [clicking sound] A chorus of voices. Multitudes. They reach back centuries. Men and women…and children who'd lost their lives… to men like you. Men and women and children forced to wear your chains. I must answer to them and this war… their war… Flint's war… my war…it will not be bargained away to avoid a fight.

Madi: My father didn't mistrust Flint. My father mistrusted all of you.

(for @built-on-sand )

1 year ago
💥🙌👏

💥🙌👏

11 months ago

GAZA NEEDS YOU. DON'T LOOK AWAY. YOU CAN SAVE LIVES. Below are some VETTED campaigns to support the people who have been experiencing an active genocide for almost a full year. DONATE DONATE DONATE. If you cannot, share widely.

(June 1)

Help Iyad and his family (@iyadsobhei) - Iyad is an elderly man who has been living in dire conditions with deteriorating health; he needs to evacuate with his wife and eight children. This fundraiser currently has NO FUNDS.

Help evacuate Hani's family (@skatehani) - A dear friend, and a Palestinian skater trying to evacuate 10 members of his family; he has lost his father to injustice. Less than halfway to his goal.

Help Husam and his family (@husamthaher) - Husam desperately needs to save himself, his wife, and 3 young children.

Ahmd needs urgent evacuation (@ahmd-iyd) - Ahmd has lost his livelihood to this genocide, and needs funds to help his family evacuate and rebuild their life.

Help Mahmoud Abu Hamam and his family (@ma7moudgaza) - A college student who desperately needs to evacuate to Egypt.

Help Iman’s family find safety (@imaneyad) - Iman has a family of 7 who need to find safety.

Help Mahmoud's family evacuate (@mahmoud0qassas) - Mahmoud and his family need to get to Egypt. His brother in law needs medical attention ASAP.

Support Ruba and Amal's family's urgent evacuation (@rubashaban @amalshabn) - Ruba and Amal's family are lacking the basic necessities of life; they have an elderly father who desperately needs to be evacuated for medical care.

Help Omar evacuate (@omarsobhi) - Omar is a 20 year old Palestinian student who wants to save himself and his family from this genocide.

Support Fahmi and his family (@fahmiakkila) - Fahmi's life has been turned completely upside down, and he now finds himself responsible to save his parents, sisters, & brothers - 7 members.

Save a displaced Gazan Family (@ranibra) - Rania is married with five children, her husband needs medical care. She is now responsible to save her children. Help them evacuate.

Save little Yusuf and his family (@ahmednabubake) - Yusuf is in an intensive care unit fighting for his life in Gaza; he needs urgent evacuation alongside his family.

Save a family trapped in Gaza (@mohamedalanqer) - Mohammed Alanqar and his family are living in fear, urgently needing financial assistance to escape to a safer environment.

Help Gazan children survive (@aymanayyad81) - Fadi Ayyad, an 18-year-old from Gaza seeks the funds to help his family survive these gruesome conditions.

Save Tawfik and his family (@tawfikwaleef) - Tawfik is an engineer from Gaza who urgently needs to escape Gaza with his family.

Help Tahseen and his family (@tahseenmush) - Tahseen and his family are from northern Gaza and need urgent help to survive this genocide.

Don't ignore this list—your support is URGENTLY needed. Each fundraiser here is an opportunity to help, and it has been made easy for you to find these fundraisers. You can easily save lives. Pick at least one to support. Once again, your donation can save lives. If you can't donate, please share these campaigns.

FIND MORE CAMPAIGNS HERE

إذا انت من غزة و بدك إضافتك إلى القائمة التالية - اضغط هنا

4 years ago

Friends, tell me of ships you hate.

2 years ago
Great News: You Can Pay Me Now!  I’ve Opened 10 Commission Slots On My Ko-fi, Where I Also Take Donations. 
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Great news: you can pay me now!  I’ve opened 10 commission slots on my Ko-fi, where I also take donations.  You can request an icon/pfp, a design sheet for your OCs, a full scene concept, etc. in a style of your choice as long as you choose the correct add-ons; DM me before ordering if you’re unsure about pricing.  Commissions are for personal use only.

5 years ago

how long does it take zuko to convince his staff that he isn’t gonna slap, punch, beat, banish, or otherwise assault them?

that they aren’t about to lose their job (or life) over a spilled cup or broken vase?

that he’s not trying to trick them when he says they can relax the ornate and complex flattery each time they leave the room?

that he means it when he bans corporal punishment in the palace (and out of it) and that they really can come to him if someone forgets that rule?

that they haven’t upset him or wronged him when he asks to take his meal without the full serving staff of twenty watching him?

zuko is sensitive, even when he tries not to be, and watching these people be so afraid of him would break his heart. but that also means we gets to see it when they begin to open up to him.

firelord zuko who’s feeding the turtleduks when a toddler comes running over. she almost topples into the water but zuko sweeps her up before she’s in any danger. he holds her in his lap and shows her how to feed them gently. when the mother comes careening out screaming for her child she stops short at the sight of zuko and collapses into a bow, head to the floor. she begs forgiveness but zuko shakes his head, and offers his hand for her to stand. he hands over her daughter, asks the girl’s name. his guard calls him back into meetings so he leaves with a smile and a bow to both of them. it’s the first time a child hasn’t been afraid of zuko here in the fire nation, and he smiles all week

firelord zuko who spends months trying to win over the kitchen staff enough the let him make his own tea. they refuse at first (as much as one is allowed to) and stand on principle. but zuko is patient, so patient, so he begins to visit the kitchens once a week. he tells the head chef he’s going to come, it’s not a surprise. and he just thanks the staff, asks their names, maybe mentions an earth nation dish he had that’s native to a region who’s dignitaries are coming. once he’s been a few times he asks about their lives. simple things, never much more than yes or no answers; he doesn’t want to force them into speaking more than they’re comfortable just because he is their firelord. but 10 months in, and he finally convinces the guards, tasters, and head chef he can make his own tea. the head chef still insists on checking the tea as it comes in (special shipment from the jasmine dragon of course) because he’s been working in the palace for a long time and he’s seen many leaders but zuko is the first firelord he’s actually wanted to serve. and he’s seen this 18 year old kid trying so damn hard to help the palace and nation heal, tying so hard to win favor with his dishwashers, that he wants to keep safe. he may not prepare the tea, but not a leaf gets to the firelord that isn’t personally checked by him.

and in a couple years, the permeating sense of fear and dread begins to leech out of the palace. maybe the maids start humming in the corridors, maybe the washer women laugh and talk as they go about their business, maybe the royal dressers don’t flinch at the scars all across their young leaders skin anymore

maybe the country is being run by a smart, kind, genuine young man who works tirelessly to restore their honor as people of the fire nation. zuko brings music, art, poetry, dancing and life back to the fire nation. he teaches the wisdom he learned from the sun warriors and old masters: fire isn’t just hate and death. it can be life, light, a sun blazing inside you and he fosters that light in his people. so they can shed the last 100 years of hatred together and foster a new nation of peace

4 years ago

“redemption arcs only work if the person isn’t a villain!”

“redemption Arcs Only Work If The Person Isn’t A Villain!”
1 month ago
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oh, you haven’t heard? it’s all going to be okay

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