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whatamessz · 5 years

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The former Lives of Murdoc A. Niccals (pt. 2)

pt. 1 is here

I’m glad you all are interested, so here is the next part! I’d also like to add that, in this pt as well as pt 1, I tried to find parallels to Murdoc’s canon biography (or fanon, in one or two cases), so have fun searching and interpreting or just ask me.

Also this time I’ll only cover one era. I know I said I thought about Murdoc being a fellow of Aleister Crowley and him fighting in World War II and I wrote several approaches, but even if there are defo interesting parallels in Murdoc’s biography to Crowley’s (not only with the whole occultism but also about Crowley being bisexual and working his ways around it with magic rituals or a wild stay in Mexico or him being a mountaineer that let me think of Murdoc’s trip to the Andes etc etc etc) I struggled finding interesting significance for Murdoc as a backround figure in that life. Still lmk if you want to hear my attempts.

There are some CW’s, so take care: mentions of period typical homophobia; mentions of brief Na/zi party sympathies (I hope you see how I don’t include that for shits n’ giggles)

Between World Wars (1925 - 1933)

Interesting and troubling times that touch on a few points I’d like to address. From around 1900 to 1933 Berlin was the epicenter of one of the first global gay and trans rights movements. Curtesy to several historical figures, but especially the doctor and sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who opened his “Institut für Sexualwissenschaft” (Institute for Sexology) in 1919 (if you watched/read “The Danish Girl” or know about Lili Elbe, you might know about the institute too). His theory was, that trans- and homosexuality weren’t chosen or a disease, but inherent and therefore those affected deserved rights and support. Hirschfeld gathered a broad circle of supporters and worked closely with women’s rights activists. The institute harbored the largest library on the subject at the time.

The ultimate goal of Hirschfeld and his like-minded colleagues was the abolishment of § 175 (effective from 1871 to 1994) of the german criminal code, which penalized homosexual encounters.

The institute even survived World War I. By the end of the 19th century, Berlin already had its own, surprisingly public ball culture, but Hirschfeld’s yearlong efforts as well as the thriving economy of the Weimar Republic liberated the social climate for queer people in Berlin a lot more. In the 1920’s, Berlin had the world’s biggest gay- and lesbian quarter. That and the overll party scene attracted an international clientele.

Enter Murdoc. Born around 1900 into GB’s working class, on top of that, struggling with the norms and expectations of a heteronormative life style pretty early (my interpretation from all the canon hints will always be he’s bi or pan). In GB, it was possible to legally pursue homosexual acts since 1885 through section 11 (pls correct me if I tell bs here). London still had it’s own, vibrant queer culture at the time, but afaik it was a more repressed than in Berlin (again, tell me if I am wrong).

1914 WWI broke out. Reportedly, even minors as young as 16 were drafted for military service. I imagine Murdoc was about to be drafted in 1917/18 but was caught fooling around with another boy and therefore, while not strictly punished, found inept for military service. In November 1918 the war ended, but Murdoc faced more and more pressure from his surroundings bc his preferences had become known, so he decided to find his luck in Berlin. And he probably did in the gay party scene of the city.

Downsides of this scenario? Two major points:

The antisemitism of 19th century was still very present. There were so many famous jewish artists, doctors, scientists, writers etc. assembled in Berlin who had immensely shaped the cultural progress of the time, but still they were an easy scapegoat.

Second point was, that the economy wasn’t thriving for a long time. The majority of Berlins population lived under gruesome circumstances in poverty and criminality was at it’s peak (something I imagine Murdoc would have struggled with too). In 1929 the Great Depression hit Germany too and it ultimately helped the political right wing (the german Na/zi party N/SDAP) rise, like crisis are prone to do. This is kinda bleak now, but I find it hard to discuss away Murdoc’s former canon probable right-wing sympathies, or at the very least ignorance. So this is where my suggestion now comes from, that he might first sympathized with the rising party, that got elected into the german government in 1933. That was until he had to realize that people like him where among the very first victims of the new movement and I think he had to learn that the hard way. As soon as the N/SDAP got elected, a mob of Na/zis raided Hirschfeld’s institute, waving flags and shouting parols, not only bc of his advocacy for queer people’s rights, but also bc he was jewish. Hirschfeld fled into exile and never returned. His remarkable library got publicly burned in May 1933 and §175 was aggravated later. After that, I imagine that Murdoc had an unpleasant encounter with a few rightwing lads that made him finally change his mind. He returned to GB quickly and later got drafted into the British army. Members of the LGBTQ+ community in Germany finally were pursued and interned in concentration camps, flagged with a pink triangle.

Ok, I used it this time to talk about a period I really care about and I used to do a lot of research back in uni, but I still think this could fit Murdoc’s characterization.

I can’t make promises on my motivation, but if you have any more suggestions or want me to cover a certain period, just tell me.

Tell me if you find inaccuracies too, I love to learn.

#murdoc niccals #murdoc gorillaz #gorillaz #plastic beach #cw #tw #my fic #still not a fic but fairly long #text post

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