Dang
there are three main reasons i say this.
one) zuko is never actually challenged by the narrative and made to question his imperialistic, racist, and xenophobic beliefs about the alleged inferiority of other nations, people, and bending.
you can say, "but he realizes he sucks during zuko alone!"
but i have to ask you: does he ever actually question the fire nation's values? or does he just realize he's been mean and scary?
his redemption arc is largely made into a personal issue of kindness instead of a social issue of him needing to make amends for both enforcing and benefitting from the fire nation's imperialism.
furthermore, zuko's redemption is boiled down to a moment in which he chooses a family member who is not abusive to him over a family member who is abusive.
two) zuko's redemption arc relies on audience bias. you like zuko because of how sympathetic the narrative is to him even when he's being a racist imperialist, and thus you want zuko to redeem himself. you root for him to be part of the gaang because of all of these moments of sympathy given to him by the narrative and these little moments he has with them that tease at his potential goodness.
zuko absolutely gets to the point where he starts to make better choices in the narrative and wants to do better. i'm not saying he doesn't.
but does he ever textually earn the gaang's trust and make amends with them? you might say, "well, yeah, he goes on life-changing field trips!"
think about it, though. how quickly does the gaang decide they like zuko fully now in book 3, despite him having hunted them and tried to kill them repeatedly throughout books 1 and 2? what does zuko actually do besides take a few of them on "life-changing field trips?" how does the gaang trust zuko so much after a few weeks of him being one of them and months of him being their enemy that they don't even think it's suspicious or weird or scary when he starts firebending aggressively at aang?
the answer is that bryke took too long getting to zuko actually starting his redemption arc and relied so much on audience bias that they decided the gaang had to forgive zuko and trust him that easily, regardless of it made sense.
three) zuko's choice of his uncle over his father is a matter of filial piety: should he abide by it by paying respect and obedience to his father or break it by choosing to go against his father? however, it is never portrayed through this lens. the choice is whitewashed and westernized for the consumption of a white, western audience. it gives no nuance to what it means to be raised with filial piety as an unquestionable staple of your culture and go against it.
this last one is racist, if you were wondering. because atla is racist.
Damn OP, go off.
I definitely agree that having caitlyn’s character take that dark turn is interesting. I would like it if she actually suffered consequences from the narrative about it tho. Like yes, on her part, its a morally grey, “lesser evil” choice to prevent the Noxian invasion. And arcane is full of morally grey characters and choices. But usually, the difference is that said moral-grayness is acknowledged in canon in some way. While we the viewers know what Caitlyn did was wrong/cruel/morally grey, she isnt actually punished for it. Nobody calls her out for it to any significance. While i dislike the “dictator cait” takes that come in tandem with writing off jinx and viktor’s actions, i can see why the phenomenon has arisen when the latter are punished for their actions while the former is really not.
to continue talking about why i believe the political commentary of arcane is flawed, i want to discuss how the piltover-zaun conflict not getting a satisfying resolution hurts caitvi’s writing as a couple. i want to talk about them specifically bc they’re the only endgame couple in arcane and the worst takes i see about the show’s political commentary usually comes from caitvi shippers. i will start by saying that i LOVED caitvi in s1, which is why i’m so disappointed by how they were written in s2. while i understood why people were uncomfortable with caitvi due to caitlyn’s position as an enforcer and vi being a victim of police brutality, it didn’t bother me when i first watched s1 because caitlyn fit into the “good cop” trope and i believed that the series would end with her reforming the police force in piltover. my expectations ended up being subverted when i watched act 1 of s2 after seeing the dark turn her character had. i actually liked seeing caitlyn’s descent into darkness in act 1 because it demonstrated that even “good” people in corrupt systems can still abuse their power. i thought that she would eventually be redeemed since caitvi is the endgame pairing and that is the only way i could see the couple working. after watching act 2, i became less confident that caitlyn would get a proper redemption arc since we only see the aftermath of her actions and she gets offscreen development. again, it makes sense that she would grow less skeptical of the crackdown from noxus after 3-6 months, but it would be more impactful we see what led her there when in ep 3 she used the grey against civilians, threatened heenot, and nearly shot a child. i need to emphasize that the grey WAS used against civilians since the mv montage shows regular civilians running away from it and vi says it was used to “clear the streets”. even if the grey was only used against criminals, it is still a war crime because the use of chemical weapons is prohibited under the geneva conventions. the last time vi and caitlyn were together, caitlyn hit vi with her rifle on a place that vi was already deeply wounded from. the fact that their reunion is caitlyn hitting vi multiple times is a good example of how vi’s trauma is rarely explored by the writers, especially since she is so nonchalant about it. during her time in stillwater, vi was regularly beaten by enforcers, she should’ve been a lot more hostile towards caitlyn when they meet again. vi was one of the main characters who confronted piltover about their oppression of zaunites in s1, but in s2 when caitlyn becomes everything vi hates about piltover, it doesn't harm vi's perception of caitlyn at all. another thing i hated was vi having sex with caitlyn in a jail cell knowing that jinx is going to commit suicide. not only is it ooc for vi since she is shown to be very loyal to her family and is a victim of police brutality, but sexual assault by cops is very prevalent in prisons so it's tone deaf to viewers who experienced police violence. i know that the scene is supposed to be vi “reclaiming her trauma”, but is it really reclamation when her trauma is rarely explored? caitlyn is NEVER confronted by anyone for gassing civilians, falsely imprisoning zaunites, torturing zaunites, and raiding their homes; the fact that she never comes to terms with harming zaunites makes it feel like vi is settling. i understand that lesbian representation is important, but that doesn’t mean that we have to excuse bad writing, especially when said pairing is wrapped up in bad political commentary. pinkwashing and homonationalism are real problems and the way caitvi shippers become apologists of fascism and police brutality is reminiscent of how oppressive power structures justify xenophobia, racism, and aporophobia in the name of “protecting” queer people.
UIJSKN MAKE THIS A MEME
Omggggg 😭😭😭
Day 31: The Last Drop
past and present
SKGRNVWSKH;DVN I REMEMBER THEM OMFG
Various group shots from Young Justice: Outsiders
S T O P
A family of fraternisers
AUs where Viktor is raised by Silco and/or Vander are funny to me, because that means that most of their children run off with “The Enemy”
I figure this is a setting somewhere between the main universe and Powder’s AU
Bonus “I learned it from YOU daddy” ZaunDads
.
Jason made this then bribed Babs to hack into Bruce’s phone and send it to the family group chat
BYE this is the epitome of their dynamic
Chase: You lying, cheating, piece of shit!!
Zari: Oh yeah? Well you're the idiot who thinks you can get away with everything you do. Well guess what? Things don't work like that!! WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD, BITCH!!!!
Chase: I'm leaving you, and I'M TAKING JULIA WITH ME!!!
Julia, picking up the monopoly board: I think we're gonna stop playing now.
I just want you to know I cried literal tears reading this 😭 /pos
Vi the woman that you are
Bad jokes HATE to see Vi R. Cane coming
She/her - Writer (ao3 @AgraAFTERdark), yapper, bottom feeder. Sometimes i serious but mostly i shitpost.
258 posts