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#or maybe not since it would reduce her to the woc only introduced for helping the white main characters and being part of their romance
abbythegatekeeper · 3 years
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Since it was pointed out to me that in this final season of the Castlevania anime that in all likelihood, Greta of Danesti = Grant Danasty, I am now choosing to believe that along with being a badass bisexual WOC Greta is also a trans woman
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maeve-of-winter · 5 years
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I'm curious as to why you can't seem to have a larger conversation about Riverdale and race w/o mentioning Cheryl? Like even your comment about Josie had to be in the context of Cheryl stalking her in season 2. What about the fact that Josie is ignored for the whole series? Toni was introduced in season 2 as a prop for Bughead. Just bc she wasn't a series regular, doesn't mean they couldn't have told us about her parents lol. I get why you don't like Cheryl, but is she really the only issue?
Lol, anon. And I’m curious about why you think Cheryl should be left out of all discussion of racism in Season 2? I guess since you were unable to come up with a rebuttal to my points about Cheryl stalking Josie and framing Chuck, we’re right back at “HDU, you’re interrogating racism from the wrong perspective!” 
 Honestly, why should I have to leave Cheryl out of my discussion on racism, other than that Cheryl fans and Choni fans don’t want to admit that there are odd racial implications surrounding her character? Why should I have to talk about other racial aspects of the show and not mention Cheryl? I mean, it’s not like the storyline of her stalking Josie is suddenly going to vanish from existence if I stop bringing it up. In fact, it’s that storyline, as well as the show’s refusal to treat it as significant, that made me dislike Cheryl. 
 This isn’t a case of me disliking Cheryl and then latching onto racism as justification. This is me genuinely disliking how her emotions and trauma are treated as so much more worthwhile and special while WOC’s emotions and trauma are consistently swept under the rug. That’s why I continually harp on it—I don’t think I’ve ever seen a modern example that’s so blatant in prioritizing a white woman’s pain over a black woman’s pain, and it’s something deeply bothers me, so I want to talk about it. I also want to talk about since no one else is, and because Choni is constantly praised as a deeply progressive relationship, when from a racial perspective, it absolutely isn’t. 
 Also, I’ve noticed that when I talk about this issue of Cheryl and Choni, I tend to get a bunch of protests like yours above to stop it, and it’s important to me to pull back the curtain on the racism in Riverdale fandom, too, and get rid of this notion that it’s evidently wrong to talk about racism when it involves someone’s fave. 
More to your point, it’s nearly impossible to have a discussion about racism in Season 2 without discussing Cheryl, since she’s heavily involved in the main plots of all five of the Black recurring characters. Four of them have her involved in deeply unpleasant ways, and the last one is still irritating and iffy. 
Let’s just go over how Cheryl is involved in the plots for the recurring black teens in Season 2: 
 Josie: In one of her only plots for the season (or ever), Cheryl stalks and terrorizes her while gaslighting her into believing it’s the Black Hood, Chuck, and then the Black Hope again. She destroys the Pussycats and leaves Josie isolated from them. She destroys her relationship with Chuck. The show completely forgets about this plot in favor of concentrating on Cheryl’s pain and fear and issues with her mom, and it’s not until nearly ten episodes that it’s briefly brought up again, but it’s brought up in the context of something hurt Cheryl, not Josie, and got her sent to conversion therapy. Then in the following episode, we get a very brief apology from Cheryl where the narrative excuses her behavior, and then it’s forgotten.
We NEVER get to see the Pussycats reunite. Cheryl NEVER has to face consequences for what she did that aren’t framed as a reason to feel sorry for her—the show actually turns around and paints Cheryl as a victim of her decision to stalk and harass Josie, rather than examining Josie as a victim of Cheryl. We NEVER get a get focus on how Josie feels about finding out that Cheryl was stalking her. We get maybe two minutes combined, if that? What we get is an extreme example of a white woman tormenting a black woman and getting entirely away with it. And any discussion of racism within Season 2 would be remiss if they didn’t mention it. 
The worst part is, Cheryl’s obsession with Josie came from Josie rescuing her from Nick. So Josie is essentially repaid by Cheryl (and the writers) for her heroism by having her life destroyed.
Melody and Valerie: After spending most of Season 1 in the background and getting just a few moments in the spotlight, they spend Season 2 almost entirely in the background before vanishing from the show entirely. Their only plot where they get any focus is when Cheryl, a white character, permanently destroys the friendship between them and Josie, three black characters. The Pussycats then break up for good, never to reunite. 
Chuck: In one of his only plots of the season (or ever), he is framed by Cheryl for stalking Josie, of which, of course, Cheryl is actually guilty and he is innocent. But as I mentioned before, there are unavoidable racial implications tied into white women knowingly falsely accusing black men of being predators. Historically, numerous black men have been lynched because of it. Cheryl essentially preys upon society’s fear of black men by accusing Chuck, even if that’s not her primary motivation—she’s still using racism to her advantage. And again, any discussion of racism in Season 2 would need to talk about this scene because of the ugly history surrounding it and the writers’ ready willingness to indulge in it. 
 What’s more is that again, we NEVER get to see how Chuck was affected by being falsely accused. We NEVER see Cheryl apologize to him. Similar to how Josie being stalked by Cheryl was treated as negligible and barely worthy of closure, Chuck’s circumstances as falsely accused black man is treated as wholly negligible and unworthy of closure or further attention. He is just yet another black character whose life Cheryl destroyed because she felt like it.
Toni: The one black teen cast member who wasn’t involved in the Cheryl stalks Josie. Instead, her character is treated as negligible in other ways. 
First of all, let’s address what you said about Toni being a prop for Bughead. She absolutely wasn’t. She demonstrably wasn’t. And while I’ve tried to avoid being rude, the assertion that she was is such a transparent display of, “What about this other thing, huh? Isn’t that problematic, too? Huh? HUH?” that it gives secondhand embarrassment. You obviously saw me and others discussing how Toni was a prop for Cheryl and instantly went, “Well, Bughead did it first!” It’s very predictable. 
To put it plainly, Toni wasn’t a prop for Bughead. She wasn’t introduced solely for encouraging the ship or just to help that out. She was introduced to an obstacle for them and a potential love interest for Jughead. The difference is that the latter allows her agency and independence. The former does not. She is essentially a secondary character for Jughead, but she is not his prop.But even if she was, if we go along with your logic of her being a prop for Bughead and then being a prop for Cheryl (which you don’t even deny), is having a black character go from being a prop from one white couple to another white character really progress? 
What I’m saying is that it wouldn’t be an improvement if Toni went from being Bughead’s prop to Cheryl’s. It doesn’t make it less problematic for her relationship with Cheryl, it just means that both relationships have issues with racism. Neither one is better than the other. So for all your trying, Cheryl still isn’t in the clear. 
 But I don’t agree that Toni *was* a prop for Jughead or Bughead. She was his secondary character and mainly to introduce him to the world of the Southside, but not a prop like she was and still is for Cheryl. 
Let’s look at how Toni is written in regards for each character. 
Jughead: Toni has her own interests in school newspaper and photography. She warns him that if he doesn’t join the Serpents, he’ll be targeted by the Ghoulies and is proven right. Tells Jughead numerous times when she thinks he being a dumbass. Tries to help decode the Black Hood’s cipher with Betty and Jughead and snarks on Betty’s ponytail. She has a one night stand with Jughead and dumps him the morning after because she realizes he isn’t what she needs. Discusses how her uncle has kicked her out of the house for her sexuality and is reduced to couch-surfing or else just living on the street. Has an identity as a Native American, encourages Jughead to meet with her grandfather and learn about her people’s heritage, gets angry when he appropriates her people’s suffering, advises Jughead on what he can do to make amends and helps him lead the protest at Pickens Park. Pushes back against Cheryl’s bullying when Cheryl, apropos of nothing, begins insulting Toni and all of the Southside students. 
Cheryl: For no adequately explained reason, suddenly starts reaching out to Cheryl, who has never apologized for the way she treated or anyone else and has never done anything nice for her in the slightest. Stops pushing back against Cheryl’s bullying and just accepts it so she continue to reach to help Cheryl, who responds to Toni’s kindness with homophobia, which she also never apologizes for. They get together in a scene all about Cheryl and Cheryl’s pain and suffering, with Toni making a speech about how awesome Cheryl is. Toni joins the River Vixens for no reason we get to hear other than that Cheryl wants her on the squad and then basically exists the next few episodes to comfort Cheryl. 
Is Cheryl still bullying other Southside students and just not Toni? Is Toni still being bullied by the students Cheryl was initially leading against the Southside students? We don’t know. The show doesn’t want to remember Cheryl being a bully or Toni being a victim. It’s all about Cheryl being a victim of everyone now. 
Case in point: the conversion therapy plot. Here Toni exists to rescue Cheryl from the Sisters, in a plot that’s not about Toni being badass or how much Cheryl means to her when she has so few other people, but to give a decidedly prurient examination of Cheryl’s pain and suffering and of how much of a victim she is. And when Toni shows up to rescue Cheryl, Toni gives another speech about how awesome Cheryl is. This plot exists not to “humiliate Cheryl,” as some have accused it of, but to paint Cheryl as the woobiest woobie to ever woob at the hands of her mother, uncle, religion, and society in general, and to also demonstrate that the show writers aren’t afraid to go to extreme and distasteful lengths to do that. The next episode has Toni joining the show musical mostly so she can be there to comfort woobie Cheryl about her monstrous mother and make yet another speech about how awesome Cheryl is. And the next and last time we get a plot that really focuses on Toni, it’s when Penny is holding her captive. 
And if you think that we’re going to get a focus on how traumatic this is for Toni and how hard she’s fought and how angry and scared she is about her situation, then you’ve forgotten that Riverdale doesn’t give a damn about black characters, because the scene exists to be 25% about Jughead outwitting Penny and 75% about Cheryl being a Badass Archer Warrior Goddess. 
 When Cheryl is captive and Toni is her rescuer, the show is about what a woobie Cheryl is. When Toni is captive and Cheryl is her rescuer, it’s about what a badass Cheryl is. But the focus is never, ever on Toni. And that’s why I’d say she’s a prop for Cheryl. 
Previously, I’d discussed Toni’s parents not being so much as named despite her main character status while Cheryl got detailed focus on her immediate family throughout multiple seasons, including an emphasis on all of the ways her mother had hurt her. In the second season, it didn’t bother me as much, since Toni was a secondary character. You’re right in that we could have been told her name, anon, either when she was Jughead’s supporting character or when she Cheryl’s character, but since she was still a supporting character, it didn’t honestly bother me that much. After all, we only learned Kevin’s dad’s name in the second season, and he’s an actual character on the show with a central role in the first season. 
However, it is glaring how few times Toni’s family receives even a mention when she’s supposed to be a main character during the third season, especially when she’s compared to Cheryl, who continually has plots involving her family.It really does look like the show is more interested in focusing on a screwed up wealthy white family in their big Gothic manor than a mixed black-Native who struggles with poverty and lives in a trailer. I’m just saying. 
 And consider this: we never learned her parents’ names, but when Toni was Jughead’s supporting character, we got to hear about her family. We got to hear about her personal struggles with her uncle and the problems he caused for her. We got to meet her grandfather, we got to learn about Toni’s culture, and we got to see how angry Toni was about Jughead appropriating her family’s history. Toni was allowed to have struggles as a bisexual teenager and a descendant of the Native Americans, and both were treated as entirely separate issues. 
 Contrast that to when Toni becomes Cheryl’s supporting character in Season 2 and continues to essentially be her supporting character in Season 3. I don’t think Toni’s uncle or grandfather ever get so much as a single other mention. And the only other time Toni’s identity as a WOC came into play was when it was relevant to college admissions. Even though Toni being kicked out of her house by her uncle would be a strong basis for Toni to relate to Cheryl’s issues with her mom, we never see it. And why? Because the Choni relationship is not written to be about Toni and Cheryl bonding together. It started as and almost always has been about Toni being unfailingly supportive of Cheryl. 
 And that’s why I say Toni wasn’t a prop for Jughead or Bughead but is one for Cheryl. She was a person with her own problems outside of Jughead when she was his supporting character. She wasn’t allowed the same agency when it came to Cheryl. 
TL;DR: Cheryl plays a major role in the plots of all the recurring black teen characters’ storylines in Season 2, with ugly racial implications for each one.
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