Rainy Day

my sweet SWEET man

Monster (2023) dir. Hirokazu Koreeda

Thinking about him ugh

THAT WAS SUCH AN INSANE SHOT, WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THAT?!

More Things in Ben 10 That Annoy Me: We never got more attention paid to any major character’s mental health and how it’s handled. I mean we got a whole episode about how a minor character 90% of people forgot as soon as she was off screen had a shit homelife and developed stockholm syndrome towards a villain, but gods help us we can’t acknowledge how heroing must be affecting, say, Gwen’s mental health, or devote more than a sentence over the course of the franchise to the idea that Kevin is getting help for his issues.

Lords above, UA brought in cults, stockholm syndrome, abuse, genocide, and rape, but they can’t spare an episode to dig into the main chars’ mental health?

They gave us Couple’s Retreat but couldn’t give us a “Kevin’s Finally Looking For A Therapist” subplot

The news about Papaa Essiedu playing Snape has been a "mask off" moment for many people, and I'm really disappointed. I've seen bad takes from both sides, Snape fans and haters. Does it always have to be like that? Why can't people leave black actors alone? I don't even want to watch the show, because I don't want to support JKR, but this is disrespectful to the actor who just wants to do his job.

It’s interesting to me because I’m not going to watch that show—I just have no interest in a new version of Harry Potter. It’s not even about not wanting to give Rowling money, because that’s an easy fix (just pirate it), it’s simply that I don’t care for it and I don’t think it’s necessary. But okay.

My issue here is that, look, I can understand fans being super hesitant because they have a very clear image of Severus in their heads. I get it because, in my head, Severus looks a certain way too, and I would like him to be represented like that, but honestly, I don’t care that much. At this point, book-to-screen adaptations take more and more liberties, and I’ve just gotten used to it.

What does bother me is how everyone—literally everyone—tries to act all progressive while making up excuses that do nothing but mask their racism. I’ve seen people say they’re so worried about the hate the actor will receive, and that’s why they think this casting isn’t right. As if the actor isn’t a grown, autonomous man who’s fully aware of the consequences of taking on a role like this. They treat him like a clueless child who doesn’t know what he’s doing, being unbearably paternalistic, because they think this fake concern will somehow cover up the stench of racism coming off their words.

Then there are people who simply complain that he doesn’t look like their Snape. Okay, whatever, at least they’re being honest.

But the ones who piss me off the most are the ones crafting these elaborate arguments about how problematic it is for a black man to play Snape (as if people of color don’t have the right to play whatever character they want, even the controversial ones). They spew nonsense, calling him an incel (false), a Nazi (false), and throwing around all the utterly untrue, completely fanon bullshit people say about Snape—just to mask what really bothers them: that their favorites are going to look like the abusers they actually were.

Severus is a character shaped by poverty, abuse, and social exclusion, and it’s because of these things that he ends up following the people who provide him with a sense of safety and belonging—people who give him a space where he can have ambition and not feel like an outcast. It’s literally the same story as many kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who end up in gangs. He’s a working-class character who was systematically bullied and assaulted by a group of four people—none of whom were poor. (Because Lupin wasn’t poor as a teenager, sorry. His father worked for the Ministry—deal with it.) The ringleaders of that group were two white, cishet boys from obscenely wealthy families with bloodline statuses equivalent to the Muggle aristocracy. It was the upper class teaming up to humiliate and marginalize the lower class.

And the thing about Severus’s haters and Marauders apologists is that they constantly use every rhetorical trick in the book to minimize this dynamic, justify it, and even suggest that Severus deserved it. The problem with this casting is that it’s going to make it impossible to deny that there was a major social component to that abuse. They simply won’t be able to ignore it. And that’s what’s pissing them off—it has them shaking because they won’t be able to keep excusing the sexual harassment, the attempted murder, the constant bullying, etc. They just won’t.

And I think it’s disgusting to use race as a shield, to pretend to care about racism when the only thing you actually care about is defending characters who represent the privileged, oppressive social elite—just because they’re your favorites. It’s repulsive.

The problem with these people isn’t that they have some incredible social awareness and genuinely care about the representation of Black men in fiction or about racism. No. What they really care about is how this might affect their attempts to seem progressive online.

What actually worries them is that the abusers they constantly defend—whose classism, social prejudices, and repeated abuses of power they refuse to acknowledge—can no longer be hidden behind excuses. That now, they won’t be able to defend them without looking like complete idiots.

But here’s a spoiler: they already are. They don’t need Snape to be Black for that. They’re already defending and justifying abuse, violence, and sexual assault. The only difference is that right now, they can deny it more easily. But that doesn’t erase the sin.

I know that we often criticize JK Rowling's writing (and with good reason), but there's one thing I believe she got right: how she portrays Harry finding out about his father's bullying.

Since the beginning of the books, we see Harry's parents as these perfect heroes, who gave their lives to save their son. So, obviously, this orphan child idolizes his parents - and so do we, as readers.

The only person who goes against that idea is Snape, who only ever says bad things about James Potter. However, Harry doesn't believe him, and neither do the readers.

And then, we see Snape's memories and find out that he was right all along. That James wasn't a perfect hero, but used to be a violent bully who tormented people for fun. Just like Harry, we get disenchanted, like we have been deceived this entire time.

Harry idolizes his father, but he's still capable of recognizing that his actions were cruel and inexcusable. Harry hates Snape, but still acknowledges that he didn't deserve that kind of treatment. It's a good message to show that people aren't just "good" or "bad".

And because of that, it's even more frustrating when fans try to defend James' actions, by saying: "Actually, no, Snape was a bad person, so he deserved to be bullied".

Even Harry HATES Snape and is able to see that what his father did is horrible. Harry adores Sirius and adores Remus, and yet he tells them to piss off when they try to justify the bullying. The purpose of that scene is for Harry to demystify his father, to learn that he wasn’t perfect, and to start doubting the adult figures of his childhood. It’s a way to break away from childish innocence and to make the protagonist understand that not everything is black or white, and that even good people can do horrible things, and it’s not right to idealize anyone.

The scene is designed to seem horrible. Harry finds it horrible. Harry. James’s son. Sirius’s godson. Harry finds what they did disgusting, and they’re doing it to someone Harry hates. This isn’t accidental; narrative and storytelling aren’t accidental things. The scene is set up this way, and the protagonist’s reaction is what it is because Rowling is telling the reader that it was horrible, that James and Sirius were bullies, and that Snape was their victim. Denying this goes against the narrative. But justifying it with absurdities like saying it was Snape’s fault for not wearing pants?? I get that they are kids saying these things, but one day they’ll wake up at 25 and realize the nonsense they said online, and they’re really going to feel terrible shame.

The worst part is that they’re not interested in understanding other points of view. Like, you share links or articles with different perspectives, and they don’t care. They don’t give a damn about the canon; they literally deny it. The mental gymnastics they do to justify the abuse? But then they say the scenes are open to interpretation, like, hello? They’re not? The scenes are designed to convey a message, and the message is clear. That they need to deny it over and over again to avoid admitting they’re whitewashing and justifying wealthy abusers is their cognitive dissonance running wild. Honestly, what a damn shame these people are; I don’t care if they’re kids, I had more than two neurons at 15.

(kofi request) izuku beat her comphet <3 they're girlfriends <3

JAYCE AND VIKTOR

ARCANE 2.09 — "The Dirt Under Your Nails"

dynamight and izuku