Tessrry - Untitled

pssst. while forgiveness is an option that the survivor can make for their own sake, the way it’s written in bnha is not a good handling of a forgiveness narrative. this is because all of the arcs dealing with forgiveness have so far been narrated through an abuser’s thoughts, prioritizing his hopes and unfulfilled desires (desires that are unfulfilled because of his abuse), rather than the emotional journey of his victims. shouto started softening his stance not when the story explored shouto’s thoughts, but when the story began exploring the thoughts of his abuser. as a result, what happens on the page is the abuser stops abusing and starts to feel bad, and therefore shouto begins to have a more positive relationship with him. rather than forgiveness resulting from a survivor coming to terms with his abuse and making the decision to forgive for his own peace of mind, the forgiveness is primarily framed as the abuser doing and feeling things, and therefore forgiveness happens. shouto does not make a decision to start forgiving; his abuser makes a decision and gets forgiveness in return.

forgiveness can be an empowering decision when made by a survivor with their full agency. its portrayal in fiction is not always empowering, especially when the narrative focuses on the feelings and thoughts of the abuser over the survivor. that is propaganda, plain and simple, particularly when we as a society already vastly overestimate the importance of an abuser’s feelings both in general, and in relation to stopping their abuse. in a social climate that already promotes forgiveness—not for the sake of the survivor but for the abuser—it’s difficult to write about forgiveness in a way that won’t be taken as modeling the behavior of “good” victims. we cannot treat characters like independent human beings, who all make “valid” decisions in response to their abuse. how are their decisions framed? who are we being told to sympathize with? who is being prioritized narratively? we can’t engage in discussions about representations in fiction without considering these kinds of questions.

King Pin

Anyway, on the issue of how Bakugou never gets consequences, and that generally the bad things that happen to him have no connection with his misdeeds...Aoyama's involvement in his kidnapping could have complicated that a bit

Why is Aoyama the traitor? Because his parents arranged for him to receive a quirk from All for One. Why did they do that? So that Aoyama could be "normal" so that he could be spared from the ostracization of being quirkless - i.e. to protect him from the childhood Izuku had. So more or less Aoyama is the traitor because his parents wanted to protect him from people like Bakugou.

The set up is there for this, but there isn't really any follow through with it

What happened to them. Where did they go  😔

Reading articles about MrBeast's dominance of YouTube is fucking bizarre because, from my perspective, the dude isn't even on YouTube. I've never watched one of his videos. YouTube has, to the best of my knowledge, never recommended one of his videos to me. Every thumbnail screenshot of his looks like something you could tell me was a photoshopped parody of YouTube culture, and I'd believe you. No one I follow on YouTube ever mentions him, even negatively or in passing. The first time I ever heard his name was in regards to the quality of his ghost kitchens. The only way I know he isn't a mass, shared hallucination is that I've witnessed the thoroughly mid-looking chocolate bars he sells at Walmart for some reason

iruma eating a cupcake . courtesy of @fanfiction-artist-prototype

hawks 🤝 endeavor

"you know how we're literally responsible for this person's suffering? what if i got 20 panels more than anyone else to talk about my feelings about the incident?"

baby no

wait, do people who read bnha realize that there's no such thing as 'quirk suppressants' or 'quirk-cancelling' handcuffs/drugs/etc. in the HeroAca World currently? There's nothing. There's only Eraserhead and heavy sedatives to stop a person's conscious altogether (and formerly Overhaul's bullets that were the first of its kind).

Like, that's the reason for why Heroes are allowed to use heavy force, and why Tartarus and it's straightjackets are a thing? A good part of the conflict hinges on the fact that the world can't easily take away a person's supernatural ability - that's why quirk use is so suppressed and Villains are treated so harshly and no one had any idea what to do with kids like Toga or Eri (before being taken in by UA/Eraserhead) who couldn't control their quirks besides telling them to not do it, or that they're bad for not controlling themselves, and finally abandoning them.

When you have no good way to inhibit someone's quirk with a simple injection or electronic collar, you'd end up trying to prevent them from using their quirk in whatever physical way possible: restrain them by tying up their arms or putting a muzzle on them, lock their hands in metal boxes, put them in a confined space with a gun trained on them, keep them under anesthesia for months on end, and so on. You end up treating them like they're feral, rabid beasts that can't be controlled, as ticking time bombs monsters who are capable of any thing at any moment and needs to be subdued as quickly and completely as possible.