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herinsectreflection · 3 years

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Top five unintentionally resonant metaphors in Buffy and Angel.

Ooh, this is interesting. I had to ruminate on this for a while. The writers put in a lot of metaphor that is intentional and resonant, so on one level it kind of feels unnecessary to look for unintentional metaphors, and it’s also difficult to tell what’s intended and what isn’t. I also guarantee that I totally forgot something far more interesting and resonant than some of these. But here’s what I came up with off the top of my head: 1) Chosen as revolution. The main theme is obviously choice, with Buffy reshaping her life to allow herself control over what she will do next. But also, she overthrows an old system to replace it with something better. She specifically calls out that the system she lives under is merely a construct, created by “dusty old men” because it suited their agenda. They wanted to concentrate slayer power into one girl so that they could control her, deny her choice, and have that power used as they saw fit. Buffy destroys that constructed world in order to create a better one. What she distributes to the masses of potentials is not just slayer power, but the power of choice. They now have the means to produce their own stories, thanks to Buffy. 2) Buffy and Faith as a tragic love story, and a repeat of Buffy/Angel. Some of that subtext is obviously intentional, but I don’t think it’s necessarily intended as a love story. Except that is very blatantly is, and it’s better for being read that way. The Buffy/Faith arc of S3 is structured almost identically to the Buffy/Angel arc of S2 - a tentative courtship in the early season that suffers a setback in episode 7, then the two of them get gradually closer again until the climax (heh) of episode 14. At this point Faith/Angel turns evil, teams up with the bad guys, and spends the rest of the season proving how much they don’t care about Buffy by obsessively deconstructing her life, until she kills them via stabbing in the finale.

It’s specifically Angel’s return that drives a wedge between them initially, and I think it’s more resonant to consider this not just as one friend lying to another, but as the trauma of one relationship tearing down a potential new one. There are several scenes in early S3 that can be read as Buffy being interested in Faith, but pulling back because of everything regarding Angel. Buffy’s unresolved trauma from the events of S2 causes the same thing to happen again in S3. Pain begets pain - that’s the cycle of tragedy.

3) Adam as Season Four itself. I love season four, I think it’s criminally underrated, but it absolutely has its issues. It never quite grasps the student experience in the same way it does the teenage experience or the adult experience. The plot feels cobbled together and directionless. As is Adam. He is cobbled together and does not know his purpose in the world. S4 is a transitional season, and Adam is a transitional state between human and demon. In Superstar, he perceives Jonathan’s warping of the narrative as a lie, because he himself is the true narrative. His ultimate plan is to turn all other beings into creatures like him, just as S4, if the show had not course-corrected, could have spiralled into more S4s, more doomed transitional seasons that do not know themselves. By summoning the First Slayer and ripping out Adam’s core, Buffy, taking on the role of the writer, destroys the core plot of the season and summons a more interesting finale. 4) The fawn that Willow kills for the spell in Bargaining is Buffy. Some of the language used in this scene is really interesting. “Come forward, blessed one. Know your calling.” She refers to the fawn as “blessed” and having a “calling”, just as Buffy is blessed with power as part of her calling. "Accept our humble gratitude for your offering. In death... you give life.” Willow might as well be talking to Buffy, whose “offering” (or “gift”) was her own death, in order to give others life. "May you find wings to the kingdom.” Clearly evoking the idea of heaven here. Buffy believes that she was in heaven. She found her wings there. Until Willow drags her back. But unlike Buffy, who defied the idea of sacrificing someone else and instead sacrificed herself to give life, Willow sacrifices another creature. She goes against Buffy’s wishes by literally killing metaphorical Buffy. And so she curses the entire project, and what she tells the fawn/Buffy is reversed. Buffy’s wings to the kingdom are torn off her, and in life she feels dead, and so she neglects her responsibilities and calling. Buffy feels empty throughout S6 because her metaphorical self was killed, by her metaphorical spirit no less. Only death may pay for life, and the cost of Buffy is... Buffy. (There also might be something to the fact that it’s a deer/fawn. Obvious symbol of innocence but also sounds kind of like Dawn? Maybe? Could be a stretch.)

5) Finally I feel I’ve got to throw an Angel one in here, so let’s say the Senior Partners as the network executives. They are a powerful but unseen group with total control over Angel’s ultimate destiny, and the name very clearly evokes a load of men in suits sitting in a board room deciding things, aloof and disconnected from the creative process, and from lived reality. The show is very clear that Angel only lives by their mercy, and avoids death/cancellation because he is useful to their agenda. The point in real world where it becomes clear that they will not renew the show is the point where in the show, Angel becomes aware that the apocalypse is afoot, on their terms. So he rebels against them, cancelling himself and bringing about the end on his own terms. Instead of going quietly and sadly, he creates one of the best finales ever and so proves the senior partners/networks wrong.

#cosmictuesdays #btvs #ats #asks #chosen #s7 #s6 #bargaining #buffy x faith #s2 #s3 #angel s5 #s4 #adam

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cruelfeline · 4 years

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The Hordak Bleatings Masterpost

The new and improved Masterpost! All of my ridiculous bleating in one place! Now with categories to allow you, dear friends and neighbors, to better marvel at the utter nonsense I get up to in my spare time. It shall be updated every so often/when I remember.

some of these categories may overlap or perhaps not be perfect; I tried; there was... a lot

Enjoy!

Biological/Medical Musings

A Fairly Comprehensive List of Hordak’s Clinical Signs

I Wrote Too Much About Hordak’s Arms

And Then Someone Asked About His Elbows So Voila

Someone Else Asked About His Eyes

Yes; I Did Measure Hordak’s Ears via Fuzzy Math; You’re Welcome

A Brief Word About Dentition

Some Sad Thoughts About Clone Lifespan

I Like to Headcanon that Clones Have Naturally Different Eye Colors

Counting Hordak’s Ports

Thinking About Terrible Ways Prime Could Institute Biological Control

Doing Very Fuzzy Math And Wondering Just How Young Hordak Could Be

Spending Way Too Much Time Figuring Out Whether Hordak is Left or Right Handed

Why Tiny Food is Probably Ideal for Hordak (a joke ask I essentially took Seriously)

Discussing Hordak’s Temper

Considering Whether Hordak Needs Oxygen

Discussing Whether Prime and his Clones are Genetically Identical

Hordak in Relation to Other Characters

Entrapdak

Hordak Can Get Close to Entrapta Because He Needn’t Fear Her

Discussing Entrapdak Age Discourse

Bit More Regarding Hordak’s Maturity vs. Entrapta’s

Hordak Didn’t Manipulate Entrapta… But Catra Did

Assessing that Unfortunate Moment When Hordak Snapped at Entrapta

Further Assessing Hordak Snapping at Entrapta by Noting When He Doesn’t

On Hordak’s Wardrobe Change

Entrapta Shushing Hordak is One of My Favorite Interactions

The Entrapdak Scene Was Also One of Self-Love

I Really Like How Entrapta Talks to Hordak About Failure

Hordak Tells an Actual Lie and Succeeds

Entrapta’s and Hordak’s Social Differences Help Them Connect to One Another

I Would Have Appreciated A Scene Where Entrapta Learns About What Happened To Hordak

Hordak Takes Strength From Realizing That Entrapta Came For Him

Hordak and Entrapta Just Like One Another, and I Enjoy That

There is a Huge Difference in How The Alliance and Hordak React to Entrapta Being on Beast Island, and it’s Jarring

This is Mostly About Catradora But Kind of in the Sense of Why Entrapdak is Better, so Here it Goes

Entrapta Didn’t Teach Hordak How to Love; She Taught Him How to Be Loved

The Soup Scene is a Condensed View of Why Entrapdak Works in Light of the Rest of Hordak’s Arc

Hordak and Entrapta Search for One Another Alone, and it Makes Me Sad

I Love How Hordak Scooches Over for Entrapta to Join Him on his Throne

Catra

The How-Catra-Manipulated-Hordak Masterpost

Watching Catra and Hordak Switch Roles in Season Three is Fascinating

Hordak and Catra’s Low Points Indicate Their Core Problems

Did Hordak Abuse Catra? Did She Abuse Him? The World May Never Know

Comparing Hordak and Catra in Terms of Consequences and Agency

Hordak and Catra’s Apparent Ages Likely Affect How People Judge Them

Why Doesn’t Hordak Subdue Catra?

Losing and Regaining the Will to Fight is Another Hordak/Catra Parallel

Sometimes I Wish The Show Would Focus Less on Catra and More on Hordak

Why Catra Besting Hordak Isn’t As Satisfying As Catra Besting Shadow Weaver

Hordak Exhibits Some Level of Trust in Catra Even in Season 2... and She Betrays It

The Difference in How Hordak and Catra Handle Relationships followed by Why They Are Like This

Some Brief Words on the Differences Between How Hordak and Catra End Up Driven to Destruction in Season Four

Musing About What I Actually Would Accept as “Hordak Abusing Catra”

I Think It’s Kind of Funny that Some Expect Catra to be Suspicious of Hordak Post-Canon

Two Scenes That Look Distressing Side-by-Side

Discussing How Catra and Hordak Start Off as Parallels but Later Deviate Due to Character Differences

Adora

How Adora and Hordak End Season Four Differently

Hordak and Adora Parallels

I Wonder if Adora Recognizes Some of Herself in Hordak

Other

This is Actually About Shadow Weaver, but Compared to Hordak, So…

Hordak Doesn’t Seem to have a “Rule the World!” Moment (compared to Shadow Weaver)

On Hordak’s Weird Interactions with DT

Watching DT Circle Hordak is Interesting

Let’s Compare the Circling Scenes, Shall We?

What Wrong Hordak’s Arc Teaches Us About Clones and Hordak

Wondering if Hordak Actually has Control Over the Etherian Horde (could he have stopped the war?)

Prime

There Is A Huge Difference In The Standards Prime And Hordak Hold Others Two Versus Themselves

Hordak and Horde Prime Handle Their Own Vulnerabilities Quite Differently

The Difference Between How Prime and Hordak Use Anger

The Moment Prime Touched Hordak’s Face is the Moment I Truly Knew That Something About Hordak’s Backstory was Very Wrong

Clone/Origin/Prime-Related Sadness

The Clone Thing

More Distressed Bleating about The Clone Thing

Hordak’s DMV Photo Disturbs Me

Hordak Isn’t Actually an Idiot About Disease Transmission

On Hordak’s Bodily Autonomy, or Lack Thereof

How Much of Hordak is “Hordak?”

I’m 99% Certain That Hordak Sucks at Lying Because he Literally Couldn’t

You’d Think Hordak would Think Things Through, But…

Hordak isn’t Really Proud of “Hordak” (with a bonus Adora mention)

Hordak Provides Excellent Fridge Horror

Hordak’s Behavioral Pathology Isn’t Actually Pathology

So! That Purification Ritual was Really Something

Despite Erasure, Hordak Remains Himself

The Clones Are Essentially Trapped By Prime And It Upsets Me

I Get Annoyed That The Clones Aren’t Discussed More By Our Heroes

Again, I Wish The Show Acknowledged The Clones A Bit More, Wrongie Edition

Wouldn’t It Be Swell If Prime Really Did Manage The Clones Like Livestock?

It’s More Emotionally Poignant That The Clones Are Individuals Rather Than Drones

Prime’s Doctrine Ensures Hordak Blames Himself, and it’s an Awful Control Measure

Hordak Probably Isn’t Dumb for Using Uninsulated Cables; Rather, Clone Sadness is in Play

Why I Can’t See Hordak and the Other Clones As Colonizers (unlike Prime) (also a whole convo thread)

Thinking About Clones and Self-Care

Each Clone Will Have to Realize That They Were Victimized

Wondering if Horde Clones Might Feel Anxious Sleeping Alone

Why Prime Might Encourage Some Autonomy in His Clones (spoilers: for cruelty)

Completely Arbitrary Classification of Clones Post-Prime!

Prime is an Actual God to the Clones and it is Terrifying

Canon Plausibility of Blanket Burritoing Horde Clones!

I Appreciate That, Despite Their Devotion, the Clones are Portrayed as Legitimately Suffering due to Prime

Catra and Adora have Happy Memories; do the Clones?; does Hordak?

Morality/Punishment/Redemption Related

Morality is (sadly) not a Universal Thing

Don’t Talk to me About the Reset as “Proper Punishment”

Why Hordak Doesn’t Just Become a Good Citizen

I Think About Hordak’s Choices a Lot

Hordak as an Abuse Mimic Rather Than Pure Evil

Looking at the Horde Child Soldier Thing From a Certain POV

Emotional Support is a Necessary Part of Healing

Hordak Was Forgiven Without Redemption, And I’m OK With That

Hordak’s Arc Speaks Directly to People who were “Raised Wrong”

I Wonder if Hordak Would See anti-Princess Propaganda as Propaganda

Semi-Intelligent Plot/Story Observations

Hordak’s Portrayal is a Function of Character Lens

Hordak Gets Very Legit Development in Season Four

She-Ra Isn’t a War Drama and Here’s Why

Hordak Suffers From a Distressing Lack of Agency

Hordak is a Weirdly Unenthusiastic Lord

The Season 4 Finale Reframes Hordak’s Vulnerability

Untangling Hordak’s Backstory in Light of What We Now Know

Why Hordak Getting Possessed is Narratively Good

Hordak’s Rebellion and Subsequent Possession Essentially Summarize His Story

There Are Big Differences Between Hordak and Prime’s Etherian Wars

It Is Pretty Unlikely That Hordak Would Have Pulled The Portal Lever

It Occurred To Me That Hordak May Initially Ignore FO’s Tech Because It’s Just Really Old

An Assessment Of The Villain Intro Cards, Focusing On Hordak

I Think It’s Silly To Blame Hordak For Everything - Especially When Considering Prime

Literally Just a Thread Explaining Why Hordak is Sympathetic

Some Words On Exactly How Terrible DT’s Reveal Was For Hordak

The Escalation of Hordak’s Situation is Really Something

An Anon Asks a Normal Question and I go on a Tangent About Hordak Compensating for his Inability to Innovate via Entrapta and Catra

There are Monumental Differences Between the Galactic and Etherian Hordes in Terms of Brainwashing and Agency

Thinking About Why Chipped Etherians May Not be That Sympathetic To Clones After All

Random Bit of Logicking About Why Hordak Calls the Princesses a Rebellion

Figuring Out Why I Find Hordak So Much More Sympathetic Than The Princesses

Brief Musing on How Hordak Might Face Antagonism From Both Sides Post-Canon

Hordak’s Story Touches on the Concept of the Imperfection of Authority

Someone Asked Me if I Found Hordak’s S5 Arc Satisfying

Discussing Whether Or Not Hordak Planned on Leading Anything After Conquering Etheria

Taking Apart an Abysmal Twitter Take Because It’s Fun

Talking About Prime’s Clone Troops v. Robot Troops

Talking About Hordak’s Emotional Age

Hordak’s S3 Backtory Being Part-Delusion Helps Emphasize the Inequality in Attachment Between the Clones and Prime

A Few Not-So-Nice Acts Hordak Commits That I Find Justifiable

Random Headcanons of All Sorts

Stupidly Cute, Pointless Headcanon #3825 (ears covered)

Stupid Pointlessly Cute Headcanon #4853 (yawning, with appropriate artwork)

Stupid Pointlessly Cute Headcanon #2938 (snoring)

Stupid Pointlessly Cute Headcanon #1423 (REM sleep)

Stupidly Cute, Pointless Headcanon #7845 (blushing)

Random Hordak-Related Thought #2935 (forearms)

I Like to Think That Hordak Does Cute Things in his Sleep

I Like to Think That Hordak’s Eyes Dim While He Sleeps

Literally Me Just Having Emotions

Thinking About the Stress of Maintaining His Image in the Horde

Why Hordak’s Trauma is Particularly Disturbing To Me (compared to Catra/Adora)

Catra Overcomes her Fear of her Abuser; Hordak Does Not

All of my Emotions over the S4 Finale

Hordak’s Goddamned Smirk Lied to Me

I Have Feelings about Hordak’s Enforced Self-Care

I Need Hordak to Know that He is Loved

Hordak Goes Pew Pew and It’s Cute

Watching Hordak Lift Things Makes Me Smile

Hordak’s Unreasonable Expectations Make Me Sad

Please Just Let Hordak Rest

A Sassy Post About People Complaining the Hordak and Catra are Forgiven

All My Words About That Hordak/Adora Scene

Hordak Taps the Asphyxiation Lever With Two Fingers And It Makes Me Happy

I Wonder If Individuality Felt Blasphemous To Hordak

Please Don’t Stab Clones In Their Ports, Thank You

Hordak Clasps His Hands And It Makes Me Anxious

Hordak Shaming Catra Mimics the Purification Room And It’s Disturbing

Watching Hordak Give Up Is Heartbreaking

I Worry About Hordak Handling Anxiety

People Being Considerate of Hordak Makes My Heart Smile

I Wonder If Magic Was Frightening to Hordak at First

Thinking About Hordak Progressing in Terms of Self-Care

Prime Never Calls Hordak by Name, not Even Once

Just Being Sad While Realizing the Sort of Life Hordak had to Look Forward To

Strange Fic-Like Things No One Should Read

Please Consider: A Concept Masterpost

Hordak Practices Eyerolling

Imp Hacks Up The Worst Color of Hairball

#hordak #masterpost #entrapdak #this post fills me with an exquisite mix of pride and abject horror

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ganymedesclock · 6 years

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Your meta is singlehandedly responsible for all my opinions and characterization of Shiro tbh and I kinda just realized something. Tell me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling what you're trying to say about after-s2 Shiro is just: This is Shiro, except now all his stressors are Worse.

I mean, Shiro’s not the same person he was in the first two seasons just as much as none of the other paladins are the same person they were in the first two seasons, but, I definitely think Shiro since then has built on what was established as his essential character that’s growing and changing.

Part of it is he’s under a lot more pressure. Part of it is, when Shiro first came to the position in s1 he basically took all of his trauma and survivalism and tried to stuff it back into the mold of the Garrison’s Golden Boy. And ironically, I think it’s s1 Shiro who’s a lot more callous- look through the early episodes and see how many times Shiro interrupts, corrects, shoves or silences Lance in particular.

He’s determined to make a good impression early on, and, frankly, Shiro’s first impression of Lance is not favorable- he seems to regard him as just fooling around when the paladins need to be serious, they need to commit to this.

He’s also the one to chew out Keith for demanding Pidge can’t leave and was about to make, frankly, a very bad decision by letting Pidge wander off alone into the universe without even questioning how even a very resourceful and clever fifteen year old intends to survive in a hostile spacefaring empire they know almost nothing about. And it’s pretty clear, I think, rather than fair judgment, Shiro’s letting his personal sense of guilt, believing he failed the Holts, rule in this context.

Yes, people shouldn’t be shackled to paladin duty, but given Pidge’s custom jet booster had a good chance of making the pod explode (and by good, seemingly as high as 50% since it was used twice and the second time it detonated) on top of everything else, it’s clear if she’d gone off alone the way she meant to, she would have died.

Shiro in s1 is trying to be a perfect leader for everyone and frankly, who he’s become since then is better. It stands that he’s come a long way that Hunk, Lance, and Shiro himself all agree it’s unlike him to snap at people and bark orders.

At a glance, Shiro might seem as if he’s doing worse, but to me, I think it’s an incredibly heartening sign that Shiro’s character development appears to be an exercise in learning to ask for help.

Because while Shiro’s not a tyrant of a leader the way Zarkon leaned alarmingly close to in s3e7 on multiple occasions- it stands that Shiro, too, especially early on, suffered from that disconnect. He kept his own problems incredibly close to his chest. It’s obvious that he desperately latched onto being Black Paladin as a way to cope- as a way to redefine himself by something other than what had just happened to him.

Shiro in s1 is a tight-coiled spring. He’s uptight, he argues with Lance over the littlest things, in s1e1 on two separate occasions he breaks up arguments just by yelling for them to stop or “Stow it, cadets!”

Shiro’s growth as a character involves climbing off the pedestal he was sitting on at the beginning of the show. And he’s not the only one who was enforcing it, either- Lance flat-out says Shiro was his personal hero.

In the comics, Pidge can’t conceive the idea of defeating Shiro at all even though he’s really not that much a better fighter than the other paladins- before she gets her head in gear and is able to knock him out, she just reflexively looks to him as an invincible paragon which is a pretty big cognitive slip in an issue all about Pidge’s ability to gather and keep data.

In s3e1, none of the team can really see themselves conceptualizing Shiro and a lot of their overtures seem to suggest, more than none of them are suited to the Black Lion like Shiro is (fair!) that... not a lot of them really understand what Shiro was doing. Even Keith, the closest to Shiro, leads as a Red Paladin. He says he can’t do this like Shiro can but he never seems to clarify what that entails.

What I personally think began in earnest in s3, though there were small things building towards it all along, is the systematic demystification of Shiro as the perfect leader, as the team’s paragon.

There’s kind of a point that, as Zarkon’s specific counterpart, enemy, and successor, Shiro is going to be called upon to succeed where Zarkon failed.

And Zarkon’s failure, what led to his death and downfall as a paladin, was twofold: he failed to listen to his team when they had valid points, and he kept all of his personal suffering privately away from them.

Zarkon gambles everything to rescue Honerva in s3e7, and it goes disastrously because he lies to his team the entire way leaving them completely unprepared- so when he ends up outside of his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent, he’s surrounded and killed while the rest of the team is not in a position to do anything to help him.

Shiro in s1e11 leads the team in an equally desperate gamble to rescue Allura, and it works out. It works out because Shiro has the team’s consent beforehand, and even people who disagree (Keith) still consent to go. So when Shiro ends up outside his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent on two fronts, it’s not his personal skill as a fighter that keeps him alive.

It’s Keith going toe to toe with Zarkon to buy Shiro time to get back to the Black Lion.

It’s Lance, Pidge, and Coran holding off the majority of the empire’s forces.

It’s Hunk smashing in to break Allura out, and it’s her and him together that come to save Shiro’s bacon from Haggar who had already seriously injured him and could easily have killed him in that moment.

It’s pretty obvious that Shiro being honest and transparent with his team is what’s keeping him from getting killed. They’re his saving grace, time and time again, Keith especially- which is a big deal, when Keith is Alfor’s successor, and while Zarkon broke with the entire team, it was his refusal to listen to Alfor that was the nail in his coffin.

And in s5e3 and s5e6, what’s steadily moving into position to save his bacon from Kuron? It’s not just Lance being the team’s interpersonal Heart as usual- but rather, that Shiro is finally, decisively, opening up and connecting to the person he’s been at odds with from the start.

And while a lot of people take that as a “boo hoo, poor Lance”... it’s really more to Shiro’s detriment than Lance’s. After Shiro and Lance argue, Lance is the one who has multiple people verbally taking his side (Hunk, twice, and Allura personally talking to him about it with her concerns, and Shiro himself apologizing)- while Shiro clearly is falling back on bad habits and withdrawing from the team about his issues.

Because Shiro, in a very catlike manner, starts avoiding people when he’s feeling awful. Which is why I think it’s such an unsung glorious moment when in s5e6, when Lance hasn’t even brought it up again or prompted it- Shiro is the one to bring it up and basically tell Lance to keep looking into this because something’s really wrong.

S5e6 is a glorious day for Shiro’s character because, some time before the car has set on fire, Shiro’s actually rolling down the window and telling someone “hey, the door’s locked and I don’t know where this thing is going, and this is kind of a problem. Can you... get help, please, I’m terrified”

So in that sense, much as I purport to be take it or leave it about clone theory, that’s why I really hope this is the original Shiro at hand... because everything he’s learning here is incredibly good and important for his long term emotional health and I’m pretty sure what we’re gonna get out of Kuron is a strong positive emotional arc for Shiro and Lance.

Shiro’s moving away from being the team’s perfect leader, but that’s nothing to mourn, because instead of a perfect leader he’s becoming an honest, emotionally healthy person who knows he can actually trust his team. And my multiple posts talking about how Shiro really wasn’t that perfect once you take the rose-tinted glasses off isn’t dunking on him or calling him lame-

it’s pointing out that he really wasn’t doing anybody a favor by pretending to be ideal leader. In s1e9 he had a full-tilt panic attack and immediately jumped into realizing Allura was still in danger and they had to act fast to prevent them all from being destroyed- which is fine, except the part where... he didn’t unpack or process any of that afterwards.

Sendak dug up a huge volume of Shiro’s insecurities, trauma, and frankly fear of himself, of the idea of being irreconcilably changed by what the empire did to him. This is a big problem. The implication is on some level Shiro is genuinely not comfortable in his own skin and that... wasn’t the only allusion to it.

S4e4 is basically a whole exercise in the paladins and how they relate to image (and how they really don’t) and with Shiro, the main thing Worm!Coran focuses on is Shiro’s body.

Shiro’s body, that, seemingly, he prefers to keep covered as much as possible given even though he prefers pretty close-fitting attire, he’s also pretty consistently one of the most modestly dressed of the paladins. That, as mentioned, Sendak was able to maliciously play on the fact that Shiro has some lingering anxieties of what was done to it, and that pervades his flashbacks and reactions to his missing year- the repeated implications of medical torture emphasized less by pain (sedatives are frequently shown) and more that things were done to him, that he doesn’t know the extent of, and he was powerless to stop.

And Shiro- perfectionist, anxious about how people see him (s1e6 for example), with these very serious insecurities about bodily autonomy and the aftermath that he’s been living with...

(he has a large facial scar, lost color in part of his hair, and is missing an arm, to say nothing of any other scars he might have that we as an audience haven’t seen, and, personally, his body type to me suggests that he lost weight in prison and his super-defined musculature is less about athletics and more a lack of proper subcutaneous fat)

...has Worm Coran repeatedly telling him to show off his body. The relatively innocuous (before Coran gets brain-wormed) start of it all even has the script make a joke about how Shiro only has one hand, that he gives a “really?” aside look at.

I can’t help but feel like the implication there, when all of the other prompts poke at existing insecurities-

Allura feeling like she’s just an ineffective replacement for the person no longer with the team when she was one of the loudest unhappy voices about him drifting away, Hunk being relegated to his gastrointestinal problems and his genuine quick wit and keen sense of humor ignored, Pidge being ignored because “nobody cares what you’re saying anyway!”, and Lance the actor basically spending the entire time indulging the fake, flashy casanova persona he uses to cover all of his own insecurities

-that there’s something significant that, again, all of s4e4 for Shiro is talking about his body, especially his muscles, which is seemingly another change after the missing year- he doesn’t seem nearly that built in the Garrison pictures, though it could be that he’s just wearing more modest clothing, it’s still very suspicious especially when Haggar’s endeavor was to turn Shiro into her personal fighting machine.

Shiro’s got a huge amount of things that have been quietly eating him from the start, and the good news is, they’re actually starting to bubble to the surface- he’s actually breaking down and talking about them with less and less impetus, which is important, because back in s2e7, Shiro made it clear that his connection with Black, that any ideal connection, needs to be rooted in trust. And while he’s heavily spun that as, he needs to be trustworthy to others...

If Shiro never talks to the team about his problems, no matter how he might spin that as not wanting to burden them or that he’s able to deal with it on his own, he’s not trusting them.

And again, that Lance is seemingly the catalyst for this is amazing to me, because Lance?

Lance is the trust guy. Lance is the feelings guy. Lance is the uncrowned king of literally every thing Shiro has been struggling with the absence of here.

Lance is both the guy who genuinely gets in Shiro’s face when he feels like Shiro isn’t listening to him, but he’s also the guy talking about how Keith needs to trust the Black Lion because Black wouldn’t ask him to do this for no reason (when Black is Shiro’s Lion, and Keith draws many obvious explicit parallels between Shiro’s requesting him to fly Black and Black taking Keith as their replacement paladin).

Lance is the one who tells Allura that Shiro is ultimately not their enemy, that they’re on the same side, and who’s vindicated when Shiro is now clearly working with Lance against Haggar, telling him that something’s wrong and that he doesn’t feel right, hasn’t felt right for a while, which is the last thing Haggar wants Shiro to do.

Lance trusts Shiro, but not blindly. He’s compassionate, but not to the point of self-neglect. He is exactly the head that Shiro needs on his team right now. And that experience is gonna mean a hell of a lot to Lance, as well.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Shiro #Lance #readmore #guess who's pumped for Shiro and Lance in season 6 #this guyyyyyy #Anonymous

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kingofthewilderwest · 7 years

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I think why I’m intrigued about VLD’s current storytelling direction between Shiro and Keith as respective leaders... is because it’s a direction I myself wouldn’t take as a writer.

I respect the writers completely and believe they’ve already proved that they know what they’re doing in this series. Long-term story arcs have been beautifully laid out and paced; individual episodes nicely formatted; foreshadowing has been cleverly built up for instances like Keith’s Galra heritage and Operation Kuron; parallels and divergences from Defender of the Universe make for intentional work. So I am quite sure they know what they’re doing here, too.

Yet what I see in the story are two fascinating conflicting directions for character growth occurring simultaneously. How one would most logically take Keith from this point... and how one would most logically take Shiro from this point... sort of conflict.

On one side, we have Shiro. He’s a character who started in the Black Lion as the leader of the team. While he is a natural leader, he also contains his fair share of weaknesses and needed growth to be a leader. His greatest challenges thus far - especially in S1-2 - have been handling his PTSD, and struggling to have a strong bond the Black Lion. I feel that neither of these arcs have come to completion. He’s still struggling through trauma and hasn’t dealt with it.

And as far as the Black Lion and a strong bond are concerned... I don’t feel like the story is done with that either. I’ve seen great analyses discussing how Shiro’s bond with the Black Lion might not be meant to be... how the Black Lion shows preference to Keith even as of S2... and how the growth in the story is the Black Lion moving increasingly decidedly away from Shiro. There’s a lot of merit to this idea, in which case Shiro’s arc would be about him moving away from a Paladin.

But I feel that doesn’t completely take into account we have seen multiple episodes dedicated to Shiro building a bond with Black even in S2. And the takeaway from those episodes is not that Shiro is becoming increasingly incompatible with Black, that he’d be a better fit elsewhere. “Space Mall” shows Shiro spending a lot of time to build a stronger bond with Black... and that works. Black doesn’t get tempted by Zarkon again after this point because Shiro demonstrates an ability to trust rather than command the Black Lion. Shiro leaves the exercise feeling his bond with Black has deepened. And then there’s the S2 finale. Shiro demonstrates growth with Black again... by unlocking teleportation abilities in Black and retrieving the black bayard. The black bayard he’s seen using in the show opening, in fact! He’s had growth in his bond with Black, even while Black has currently moved from Shiro to Keith.

I as a writer would therefore feel like the logical progression forward in Shiro’s arc is that he continues this growth. Take Shiro a step back away from Black so that he can handle the personal issues debilitating him. Have him finally quit instinctively hiding his PTSD, open up about it, work through it best he can. Have him quit taking on everyone else’s burdens as a leader without seeing to his own problems. Have him take up a support role that helps him act as a more well-rounded member of the team rather than the single leadership head every other Paladin reveres. Then have him return to Black with all the more power to his character.

For dropping Shiro as a leader would be an odd step back for his character growth. It’s not that being a Paladin is an automatic “upgrade”, and it’s not that he can’t do great works outside of being a Paladin, and it’s not that a broken bond with Black means he can’t move forward, either... but the focus of his character arc thus far almost seems to necessitate he returns to Black at some point. To have that continued character growth where he gets over his own inner demons. To have that continued character growth where he can, in fact, build that bond with Black. To have Shiro never return to Black is of course possible, and his bond can be talked away as “Keith fits Black better, I realize now I can’t be the best fit,” but it would be very hard to have a satisfying character growth arc that way. It would be very hard to build a satisfying character arc with growth and development that way. It’s hard to build Shiro and have him develop increasingly powerfully as a character without some building with Black.

I can't easily see his character arc feeling satisfactory without giving him back Black. Not with all the time they’ve spent on Shiro having positive growth with Black throughout S1-2. The trajectory he’s been on thus far has been building up with Black... not learning to step aside from Black.

Now on the other side, there’s Keith. Let’s also not forget Lance and Allura and their respective character growths, too, but I’m focusing mostly on Keith right now. The whole “two leaders” concept, as it were. Keith’s obviously being built up as a leader - first Shiro tells him to be successor, then Keith does take on the role of Black Paladin, and now he’s in the stage where he’s learning what it takes to be a good leader. He’s still not making the right decisions, but we see that kernel of good leadership ability in him.

Of course it’d only make sense to develop that! Write that story of a character coming into his own as a leader. Write that story of how he builds and becomes a powerful head to Voltron. Write that story where Keith Kogane becomes the leader we are so familiar with in DotU and VF and all the other past Voltron materials out there.

To not write Keith into that firm leadership role doesn’t make sense. It’s clear where his trajectory is headed: become a leader to the team. To completely abandon the central concept of Keith always being a leader in DotU and VF would be bizarre. Keith’s always been leader. Keith always will be leader. You can’t peel him back into the Red Lion now.

I as a writer wouldn’t make this plot tangle myself. We have two characters, Keith and Shiro, who seem that they would best develop forward by being in Black and leading Voltron. To not give Shiro back Black feels unsatisfactory. To have Keith lose Black feels unsatisfactory. And I think that’s why the fandom is so much in debate about what the state of the Lion switch will be. Everyone sees different angles on how different trajectories work, based upon what storytelling momentums work.

I would have taken the less complicated route. Give Shiro a solid character arc in S1-2 where he learns how to bond with the Black Lion. Make it feel even more decidedly like he and Black have a lasting bond by the end of S2 rather than one that’s just been unlocked to a new stage. Either that, or have him just about to start to make headway. Perhaps still have him going through PTSD struggles, and just starting to make headway... and then have him die at the S2 climax. Build in that parallel between VLD Shiro and Shirogane Takashi of Golion. Create that logical transition point in which Keith must step into the role of the Black Lion’s Paladin. Build Keith from there into the leader we always knew.

That sort of story arc would be satisfying because the story would start with an unexpected Black Paladin... and then explain how Keith came to fill that role. It’d have enough of an arc to Shiro that it wouldn’t feel like the writers are dropping a character arc (or either that, they’re intentionally severing one for emotional effect), and of course it’d allow Keith to have a great arc without another character mingling in the same area as team leader. It’d be a great stepping stone for Lance and Allura, too. It’d be a great, sad moment of emotional impact and demonstrate the risk the Paladins must take in their duties. And it’d have a lot of evocation to the original content from which the Voltron series came.

Honestly, from S1 E1 I thought Shiro was slotted to die.

That can never happen in VLD now. Everyone’s realized Shiro can’t have a death mid-story, that he probably can’t die at all and have a logical story be told. The writers have introduced too many new, complex tangles regarding Shiro in S3. You wouldn’t throw in a whole story of a clone without wanting to do much more with the character! The start of Operation Kuron signifies a huge launch point into much more development with Shiro.

So there’s part of me that’s nervous some character won’t get the development they need. Another part of me is selfishly nervous that Shiro won’t get the development I want. There’s another part of me that feels I have The Narrative Plan for future seasons with Shiro and Keith all figured out. Another part of me that has No Idea What The Writers Are Planning. And a whole bunch of me is very intrigued about how this will all play out.

The writers know what they’re doing. We all see they’re clearly setting up character growth arcs. They’ve already proven they can execute great writing. It’s just a matter of us as audience members watching that writing unfold.

#long post #non-dragons #vld #Voltron: Legendary Defender #Voltron #Voltron Legendary Defender #Takashi Shirogane #Shiro #Keith #Keith Kogane #analysis #my analysis #this blog is going to be Voltron heavy today as I prepare for S4's release #Shiro is an odd unknown #the other characters have more past and history #Shiro is The New Thing (TM) in this reboot

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