There’s no “should” when it comes to imagination yanno. Characters are just ideas, dolls, fans can take them out of context and give them new meaning as they please. Or not 🤷.
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It feels wrong to imply that characters aren’t written with intention. If a character is a rapist, the audience SHOULD think “this character was written to be evil, not lovable.” Fiction & reality are separate, but our subconscious mind struggles to find the difference, so it can dictate our morals
I understand that; I woobify villains all the time. But SA in particular is such a delicate topic, not something that society has become comfortable with satirizing, unlike death for example. It’s why, as a victim, it hurts to see people acting like it’s just typical cartoon villain shenanigans
I think you’re right that our society has not become comfortable satirizing it. And this might seem counterintuitive, but that’s a problem (& why this character is controversial)—it has long been a taboo topic of discussion in any capacity and that’s led to constantly sweeping it under the rug. 1/6
Dark fiction, absurdism, comedy, kink & erotica, etc. have been vehicles of anti-violence for centuries. Eg. The most influential anti-slavery lit in the US was fiction (including farcical or “lighthearted” fiction and comics). It’s evident in historical (and current) data that 2/6
people are more comfortable discussing violence when exposed to multiple interpretations of that violence—inc. satirical and “distasteful” ones. Even when discussing extremely violent events, educators often avoid talking about sexual violence. 3/6
Sorry, but it doesn’t and that has been debunked many times. There has been ample psych literature about this since the violent video game backlash 20+ years ago.
When I was a 7, one of my Barbies decapitated Ken with the dream house elevator. All the other dolls turned against her. I was mad at her because I was wrapped up in the story. But ofc I knew that she did not do it maliciously bc I knew she was an object, not a person. And it was a story I made.
Your feelings about the character are real and important to you and I’m not saying they aren’t. Just saying that this has long been a topic of study and there’s no evidence that recontextualizing, having affection for, or writing about fictional villains causes real-world harm.
But I’m referring to opinions on characters. We react to them like real people, just on a much smaller scale. We get sad when they die, or angry when they do wrong. We form emotional responses based on our morals. It’s why, as an extreme example, adults who sexualize fictional kids are morally bad.
What are you basing this on? Our reactions are real as in feelings exist but they are far from the same, humans know how to differentiate fictional and real things from a very young age. Fictional characters are objects—no one is harmed when we imagine them being evil or suffering or dying.
And no one is harmed if we enjoy imagining those things! Horror (and other dark fiction) is popular because fiction is a fun safe place to imagine awful bonkers unrealistic stuff without it actually harming anyone!
It’s just the basis of fiction; we know it’s not real, but we emotionally respond because it reflects reality. We’re supposed to know characters are evil if they’re written to be, and if someone doesn’t think a blatantly evil character’s actions are evil—like SA—I’m going to question their morality
It is not the basis of fiction. In art, anything fucking goes. And I recommend you read up on the actual psychology here, because if you go around judging everyone as moral or immoral based on their taste in art, you’re going to be stressed forever and judge many good people as “bad” for no reason
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