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thefatlannister · 7 years

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You can respond to this privately or DM so it doesn't wind up in the tags. This is kind of a random question so forgive me. So, I've been doing a season 3 rewatch and I just landed on the episode where O beats the hell out of Bellamy and I was wondering, what if the situation was reversed? What if O got Clarke killed, would Bellamy have reacted the same way that she did?

Nah I don’t mind answering out in the open. What I have to say isn’t about character hate, it’s about the writers and pointing out the ignorant and, frankly, gross things that went into writing this scene in such an astonishingly un-self-aware way.

First of all, the answer to your questions is “no.” No, never, absolutely not, never in a million years, it never would have crossed the writers’ minds nor would it have crossed ours. Bellamy would never abuse Octavia physically, and it would never be written into the script. And those are 2 separate reasons - it completely contravenes everything about Bellamy’s character to suggest that he could lay a hand on the person he was compelled to physically protect since a young age, AND the writers would never have written an abuse scene where an older brother beats his younger sister, because it would have been completely unforgivable and disgusting. WHICH brings me to the discussion of the original scene.

My thoughts are below the cut. Abuse tw, obviously. And I don’t blame you for not wanting to read this because you’d rather pretend this scene never happened. I’m with you! Spare yourself. As for me, this ask triggered some Thoughts, so here we go...

Okay, so I think it’s really important to look at the Blake Abuse scene (and any scene in general) on multiple levels, as I hinted at above. First: from a character perspective. Is it in character? Does it make sense for the character? Second: From a narrative perspective. Does this scene work in the narrative? Is it earned and is the aftermath dealt with in a satisfying way? And, finally, Third: From a real-world writing perspective. As we know, TV does not exist in a vacuum, and writers bring their real-life biases, prejudice, etc. to their writing. In my opinion, responsible writing interrogates itself to prevent perpetuating tropes and racist/sexist/other “ist” writing. So let’s examine the Blake Abuse scene on these 3 levels.

1. The character perspective

Admittedly, this is a largely subjective level. One can easily make the argument that Octavia shouldn’t or wouldn’t have done that, but ultimately, I fall into the camp where I think that it is definitely plausible that, knowing what we do of the Blakes, this scene could go down like this. I don’t think it /had/ to, and I think it does derail where I was hoping Octavia’s arc was taking her (read: AWAY from abuser-ville), but it is definitely not outside the realm of possibility as far as her character goes.

Bellamy was Octavia’s ONLY real emotional outlet for sixteen years. Her joy, her pain, her frustration, sadness, humor, imagination, and anger was channeled at and through him. And Bellamy happily takes on that burden; his sister has no access to the outside, and so if the side affect of helping to socialize her is always taking the brunt of her emotions, so be it. This dynamic is part of the Blakes’ core codependency that makes them so dysfunctional in season 1. One of the sad parts about season 3, however, is that it seemingly undid all the progress that the Blakes made in s2, where Bellamy learned to respect her independence, and Octavia reaffirmed that he will always be her family.

Jroth apparently decided to throw all that development in the trash, however, once he realized he was going to write Ricky off the show for petty offscreen reasons. And so Lincoln’s death sets Octavia back months as far as her development - maybe even years - into the emotional equivalent of the fetal position. Meaning that, thrust back into an extremely emotionally vulnerable state, Octavia reverts to using Bellamy as her sole emotional outlet. Except that on the ground, Octavia has learned to express herself using violence, too, so that “emotional outlet” has now become a literal punching bag.

People act like Octavia beat up Bellamy because she blames him for Lincoln’s death - and I do think the fact that he was tangential to it made this possible - but ultimately this was less about dealing blame or some sick kind of justice and more about Octavia throwing a tantrum and channeling it all at her oldest, most reliable target. One who she knows wouldn’t ever fight back, even if he wasn’t chained to literal rock and one who, in this moment, she can comfortable link with Lincoln’s death.

And by the way, me explaining what makes this scene not out of the realm of possibility for Octavia does not equal me thinking it’s not gross so don’t even go there lol. So basically, yeah - this scene is arguably in character, as in, it’s not a hard leap to make for her.

The secondary (though perhaps less important to my overall point) element of characterization in this scene is Bellamy. I believe it is 100% absolutely in character for Bellamy to “allow” this beating to happen.* First of all, he’s a masochist, and this is an opportunity to receive a physical beating equal to the emotional one he has been giving himself and will continue to give himself through 3b. Mostly, however, Bellamy sees Octavia in this moment as “needing” this outlet - because of how they grew up, he recognizes immediately where she’s at and understands that wailing on him will give her relief of some kind. And Bellamy, fucked up by his childhood as he is, thinks that if he is giving Octavia something that she “needs,” it cannot possibly be wrong. Especially when it only comes at a cost to him - her needs have always, unquestionably come before his.

*I just want to note here that Bellamy only “allows” Octavia to beat him in the sense that his fucked up understanding of himself, his own culpability, and his relationship with his sister make him think this is ok/he deserves this. His “allowing” Octavia to do this is not some form of full consent that people can use to brush off the ugly implications of this scene - which unfortunately I have seen done. “Free and informed consent” is NOT a standard that can be applied to abuse, ever (not would it even be applicable in this situation). End note.*

So, ultimately, we the audience can see how wrong and fucked up Bellamy’s response to Octavia is, but I still think that it is in character. 3x10 is the most violent and twisted and horrible manifestation of the Blakes’ relationship possible, but I still think it can be justified as “in character.”

So let’s jump to level 2.

2. The narrative perspective

So this section will probably be short because in a way I think whether a scene works narratively is a combo of level 1 and level 3, and I’m talking about them in depth.

I will say though, that it’s really hard to tell if this scene works narratively because season 3′s narrative, especially before and around the midseason transition, is so fucking convoluted and, at times, just plain bad. We obviously know how terrible Bellamy’s 3a arc was, and that’s a hard thing to separate from this scene. Like, if Bellamy had been well-written up through 3x10 - even if they had kept elements of the Pike arc, or devoted enough screentime to explaining it - I think there would have been little to no reason for the audience or the narrative (or Octavia) to blame him for Lincoln’s death, since clearly that was something that Bellamy never wanted. But instead, we went into this scene with half the audience salivating for some kind of revenge, and Bellamy seemed like the best target since the narrative hadn’t really given him the time or space to argue his 3a case. But I digress - back to the narrative itself.

I think the narrative problems with this scene have less to do with the scene itself and more to do with the preceding episode and the scene’s aftermath. As in, it was sloppy writing to have to tie Bellamy up in 3x09 in order to have him chained at the beginning of 3x10 - I’m not sure it was narratively earned that no one trusted that Bellamy didn’t want Lincoln to DIE enough to let him help with their escape plan. But anyway - bygones, right? I’m not trying to dive into the minefield of “what percentage of Lincoln’s death is Bellamy responsible for” here lol.

And as far as the scene’s aftermath, it’s been pointed out before but it’s worth repeating: it makes zero narrative sense that Bellamy remains tied up and “the enemy” after Kane and company have re-accepted Bryan and Monty back into the fold. I suspect that this narrative wrinkle is meant to both 1) set up Clarke as the first person who “forgives” Bellamy and 2) possibly to make Octavia’a beating more about “””justice””” and less about her reversion to emotional infancy. So, when it comes to (2) especially, this scene has some narrative deficiencies.

Overall, however, the problems with this scene do not stem from its place in the narrative.

3. A “should I write this” and “how should I write this” perspective

Okay, so here’s where we get to part where I can barely keep my mf hat on.

Just because a scene is in character or could work narratively does NOT mean you should write it!!!!!!!!!!! As much as the 100 writers wish that their special snowflake writing was not impacted by their own real-word biases and as much as they wish that everyone watching could just shrug off their lived experiences or their oppression or their triggers or their, you know, awareness of anything happening in the world around them, THAT IS NOT THE CASE. Stories have weight, and impact, and when you as a writer do not interrogate your own writing or what you are putting onscreen, you are a) going to tell bad stories and b) going to be part of the The Problem (The Problem being perpetuating various forms of social oppression).

And look, this isn’t a censorship argument. The 100 delves into a lot of deep/controversial topics, and sometimes it drops the ball and sometimes it doesn’t. The way I see it, you can think about the Octavia Abuse scene in 2 ways. One - the scene remains in the show and its treated, explicitly and seriously, like the instance of abuse that it is. Two - you don’t! write! the mf! scene!

Because the Octavia abuse scene is ostensibly in character and not a complete aberration narrative-wise, the writers could have written this absolutely devastating scene if they were serious about taking on the issue of abuse. In doing so, however, they would have had to consciously give up on having the audience “root” for Octavia for a long while, until perhaps she could “earn” some type of redemption. They could have had other characters react more violently to the scene in front of them, instead of shrugging it off as “a family thing,” they could have had Clarke ask about it and call Octavia out, they could have - through whatever character they wanted - pointed out that Octavia using violence to deal with her feelings/relationship problems was becoming a disturbing pattern (with Lincoln, then with Indra, then with Bellamy).

Some might argue that this treatment in present in Octavia’s 3b arc. And yes, I am glad the show acknowledged Octavia’s burgeoning darkness by making her do “wrong” things in 3b and 4a, but their was WAY too much ambiguity in 3x10 and beyond regarding whether Octavia’s beating of Bellamy was the beginning of that very problematic turn or whether that was a one-off okay “just a sibling thing” dealing out “”justice”” after Lincoln died. And I know the argument is out there that “we don’t need the narrative to hand-feed us these messages” and yeah, that’s true - I’m a meta hoe and I don’t need to be hand held - but that argument falls by the wayside when, written in the script, the man who literally played the moral center of reason in 3a turned away from a scene of abuse with the thought “it’s a family thing.” The fact that the show did a terrible fucking job framing that scene is also apparent in the audience’s reaction - a huge portion of which was celebratory. Idk about anyone else, but I don’t think 50% of people out there are abuse apologists; no, the narrative set them up to feel Bellamy’s beating as cathartic, even deserved. The bottom line is, the writers had no idea how serious that scene was, and that was clear in the utter failure of the writing to satisfyingly or responsibly address it.

Now for the second level of bias that went woefully uninterrogated: Bellamy is the third person of color who shares a personal relationship with Octavia whom she has hit. A LOT has been said on this topic, so I really don’t feel the need to rehash it all here, but - this is the sign of a nearly all-white writers room that is so unwilling to believe that they, Good Liberal Whites, could possibly write a story that is racist. As we all (should) know, it is VERY easy, and practically unavoidable for us white people, to unintentionally perpetuate harmful tropes or write a racist story!! Checking yourself is necessary!! Hiring diverse writers rooms is necessary! Noticing and avoiding having a white girl hit 3 different poc in her story in an attempt to correct their behavior is necessary! Checking themselves, especially on the “how does this play on the racial level?” perspective is something that the 100 writers need to improve on, and is one more unexamined harmful element of the Blake Abuse scene.

Finally, finally, finally, to get to the part of your question, Abby, that sparked this whole rant in the first place. This scene is so deeply steeped in gender bias that it’s irremovable from how we view the scene, in my opinion (*note here* for everything I say going forward, assume this is compounded by and intersected by Octavia and Bellamy’s respective races, because that’s how these things work. I’m mostly focusing on gender in this section but if anyone has any thoughts about the intersectionality here please feel free to add). Had that scene been reversed, and Bellamy had beaten Octavia until he was too tired to raise his fist (hell, if he’d even hit her ONCE), I really can’t imagine the audience OR the narrative daring to treat it as anything other than totally horrifying and inexcusable abuse.

Had this scene occurred the other way around, we would not have been subjected to “well, did she deserve it?” or “he was hurting!” or “well it is her fault X is dead.” I don’t think there would have been any pushback on calling Bellamy’s actions as wrong, as disgusting, as inexcusable. I think because of this, the writers never would have written the scene the other way around - because to have Bellamy abuse Octavia, that would be unforgivable. But, clearly, having it the other way around isn’t.

This isn’t just the 100 writers’ fault either. There’s a double standard that exists across the entire industry (TV, books, movies) now, I think, where a certain type of White Feminism is being exercised where (especially white) girls being violent is empowering. To a certain extent, having women be physically capable, be able to defend themselves, be able to excel in a masculine-coded field like fighting is a feminist pursuit (and, speaking as a bi girl, can be hot as hell!). But it has, I think, often been twisted into this kind of gross justification to excuse badass women doing terrible things because it’s a badass trope-breaking woman doing it. And this isn’t a problem because I don’t think people should stan “problematic characters” - absolutely not. This is a problem because the violence of these women is not treated as problematic at all, or condemned at all - in fact it’s seen as “progressive.” The second (huge) problem is that this rule really only appears to apply to badass white women. And I think the 100 pretty clearly falls into this trap with Octavia (and several other characters I can think of). Whereas the show normally tries very hard to show the good and bad (mostly the bad) of violence and war, Octavia gets somewhat of a free pass, because ~feminism.*

*Note: this is a problem of both writing and fandom response, I think.

So now that I’ve basically failed to hold myself back from an indictment of the entire tv/movie industry as whole doing a shitty job moving past flimsy, one-dimensional, white feminism, let me get back to my original point, and your original question: No, Bellamy would not have reacted in the same way as Octavia were the situation reversed, nor would that scene have ever been written, for more reasons than one.

Moving forward, I remain extremely disappointed with the execution and lack of self-awareness that was present in the writing of that scene. It’s been a personal struggle for me, as someone who LOVED the Blakes, and always liked Octavia, to reconcile the scene with the show going forward, especially since it seems like this show will never address that scene in the way it deserved. Because I love this show and these characters, and because I don’t think the writers know that they were essentially normalizing, or condoning, abuse, (although intent really shouldn’t be an excuse), I am choosing to try to let go of the past and judge the characters based on the writing going forward, in the hopes that the writers may have learned from their past mistakes. Honestly, I don’t blame anyone for having an intense reaction to this scene- your reaction and your choices are your own and I can only speak to mine.

I’m truly sorry if you made it to the end of this meta, I didn’t realize I was holding all these feelings back. Writing about this scene was a cathartic experience, though, and I suddenly feel more ready for the baptismal cleanse of s4 than ever before.

#ask mj #bellamy blake #anti-octavia blake #the blakes #the 100 meta #i hate using anti tags but this isnt necessarily octavia positive....but honestly i like octavia i just *clenches fist* hate white feminism #also i should have a tag for *accidental meta*#mine #my meta #janefosters

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