#the public vs hidden thing is also like trying to balance the evils

[dexaroth]

it's kind of a fun move to make my very very personal blog also the one I post my drawings on

ive purposefully done it to not create that kind of environment where it's just an account posting art, a one-dimensional abstract thing that's so detached that if I were to post something like 'teehee I tried to off myself so I'm opening comms to pay the bills' it'd be met with utmost surprise bc it'd break the illusion yknow?

but sometimes I do want some drawings to not have context. to be as impersonal as a vintage figure whose sculptor has never been fully known or a golden locket with the picture of someone who you don't know anything about

I want both, to be honest. it's always been a struggle of the need of external validation but also to not want to taint everything with myself

I want to draw a pet portrait for someone and not have it be judged with all the ramblings and half-jokes about how everything sucks every now and then.

I want to draw a guy being mechanically separated for no reason and not have it show up besides someone's pet portrait and having to explain to the average person I don't even know why I like gore so much besides rendering it is fun

it's all like a cycle of making it clear who is behind the art for context but also sometimes wanting everything to speak for itself and wanting a sort of pure reaction to it

and it culminates into that overly familiar feeling.. of wanting to be consistent. to have a feel, a look that you can maybe hope someone will identify as yours.. and the question is always the same - for what? why? why does it matter?

if anything the first thing I'd ever say to someone who remotely showed interest in art and wanted to know my side of it is that nothing matters and everything is subjective and that there will always be people who see too much meaning where there isn't and people who miss the point entirely. and that diversity is just as good as quality and not a binary switch that you have to pick for the rest of your life. and that often by trying to achieve perfection you just end up dumping what gave your art a personal touch because it wasn't absolutely on par with the version of you that you so desperately want people to identify you with or the vibe you want to give off or whatever else

it's kind of a problem that also has different connotations depending on the way wherever you post works, too

on devart and I think insta too favorites and likes are the easiest way to show a kind of support that happens to streamline everything into images on a page instead of actually taking in most detail, the title or description or lack thereof, maybe even a message or line or music lyric intended to aid in the perception.. that ends up getting completely ignored because it takes extra effort to do. and it gets exponentially worse the more people you follow

then, well.. tumblr. because of the way the posts are organized and at least show captions it has a bit of a leg up, but then the sideblog stuff comes up. posts 95% of the time only give traction to the account that posted it, so a sideblog where you reblog your art is pretty much just a gallery for the convenience of whoever follows them. if you post on that sideblog however, then that facilitates no one visiting your main and just looking at the drawings, leading to the art-artist detachment as it is also plenty of extra steps and effort

then, independently, the path you choose is hard to undo. choose to be unknown and be bound to the façade you have to keep and not break your persona, or put all bits of yourself out to the public and there will forever be an image/ background version of you that will contextualize everything you do

try to turn around and choose to hide and it will put people off and affect how some will look at your new stuff now that you're less of a social butterfly because of the instinct of curiosity and wanting to know what happened , choose to show yourself and now you're too real and people don't want to associate with you because of the things you express or how it hits different knowing x and y or just not caring about you enough to be bothered to keep up with your life with sporadic drawings inbetween

it's all ironically about your own self-image and knowing others who know you

oh and it just hit me the financial side of things too. but that's too much for me rn and it's sort of a bonus to my point anyways

idk man. I feel like I'm having a stroke while an influencer tries to explain branding to me

#the public vs hidden thing is also like trying to balance the evils #do you want to enable being made fun of by quirky neurotypicals and edgelords bc of ur 'archetype' #or do you want to enable everyone to put any meaning to your art including dogshit ones and treat it like a commodity #public enough to have your name or style used pejoratively to describe other people #or hidden enough to blend in and represent nothing and say nothing. just like a blank piece of paper #these two sort of types are everywhere and there just doesnt seem to be a grey area. its just.... awkward. #ah yes look at my painting and tell me what you think of it! dont take me into consideration at all though. pretend this came out of thin> #>air bc thats how i want it to be perceived. bc of course we all know thats a thing that can be controlled by sheer will right? lol #i want to draw whatever. i want to stop giving a shit. not care of what people think its all about. but i want to be seen as well. .. #and its frustrating bc i find it immeasurably valuable to find meaning in the mundane #to find the whimsy and care on someone's 'bad' stickman cat doodle even tough sketches dont mean barely anything to the artist #and then i get sad when someone below my skill level finds My sketches good despite me posting them as a 'look at how bad this looks lol' #just. being desperate for wanting everything to go your way #like a filmmaker who swears the theater is an integral part of their movie when in reality a guy watching at home cherishes it just as much #i think id turn inside out of disgust if i ever truly legitimally considered all the 'wrong' ways people can experience my art #compressed to hell or they just didnt bother to zoom in and didnt notice the brushstrokes and effects #which is totally normal and common and i myself do it! but my ego says nuh uh. go feel bad bc other ppl have agency lol #i can definitely pretend i dont care anymore and even try to believe it so much i unconsciously start assimilating it #but the Moment someone comments something that contradicts what i thought and wished was happening i just. break . #im truly trying to stave off negative thoughts and teaching myself that what others think of me doesnt define me #and one day im overhearing something i wasnt meant to know and its that someone thinks im a child #and ends up treating me like one. like im too stupid to do anything #and then i look back at my eyestrain/cartoonish stuff thats in fact considered childish by people who try to use age as> #a token of 'i dont enjoy X because X is for kids because/therefore im an AdulT! respect me!' #and i just have to face the reality that thats the image of me my art gives off by itself and what society chose it to symbolize as well #which it all leads to wanting so deeply a way to control how others view you because of how age gate-keeping for example is so stupid #and it bleeds into every other feeling and paranoia and self doubt #either you act cool and lie about who you are or let others label you what they see fit especially what they consider to be deserving of> #>ridicule #dextxt

[toomanylokifeels]

Comparing/Contrasting Villains: Loki vs. Kylo Ren

Summary:

On what comparisons merit discussion re: the treatment of villains in narratives, and at what point do these comparisons limit analysis of their roles as villains situated within their own unique narratives. 

Disclaimers:

I know a lot about Loki as depicted in comics, movies, and in post-Christian interpretations of Norse mythos. I do not know a lot about Kylo Ren, because I’m not personally invested in Star Wars. What I know is second-hand.

My aim is not to make any judgments on what character(s) you choose to prioritize or invests yourselves in. This is simply my interpretation of the ongoing comparisons between these two villains. 

It has often been said that every story needs a good villain, and villains have come to represent many things within a narrative. Yet, even as they are very diverse in their narrative purpose, our fascination with villains has pushed many of us to draw similarities between them all. 

That is not necessarily a bad thing, which I will discuss. However, to some extent the depth and nuance of each narrative is lost when we try to make some villains to be too much alike. We may do this to garner villains sympathy, or we may do this to garner contempt for these characters. 

Either way, the narratives in which these villains are situated become muddied. 

Two villains in particular have become incredibly popular in recent years: Loki and Kylo Ren. Some enjoy both characters, some enjoy one over the other, and some don’t like either. My job here is not to convince you which option is best. I do want to discuss how they’re compared, though. 

You see, there are some surface-level issues that arise in fandom spaces when it comes to villains like Loki and Kylo Ren. These issues have some merit in that they highlight how we treat villains - in general - within a narrative, in both  sympathetic and unsympathetic ways. 

First, let’s talk about sympathetic reactions to villains as a whole.

There is a history in story-telling of coding villains with traits that also represent marginalized individuals, and for a long time this has further marginalized people with those traits. Things such as mental illness, disability, gender and sexuality, and race amongst other things have been used to literally villainize characters. 

As part of reclaiming those narratives, marginalized people have become more sympathetic to villains. However, this becomes a tough balancing act for people -- it’s impossible to extricate villains from their deeds, and thus fandoms have warred over how much sympathy is too much sympathy.  

Loki and Kylo Ren both have backstories. We could argue back and forth about the effectiveness of those backstories, but that’s not what I desire to do here. I do want to highlight that both have been used within canon works and by fandom to explain their evil misdeeds...

...and both have garnered them sympathy. That being said, those stories are not the same. Those stories have different implications that just so happen to bring both characters to the point of villainy. Still, problems do arise when we become too sympathetic which does merit discussion. 

As much as fiction and reality are separate, the way in which we view the world shapes how we tell stories. Religious mythos are powerful enough to guide the actions of others, and so are the stories we tell on the movie screen or in comic books. So, having too much sympathy for the devil so to speak can do harm. 

I could go on at length about the power of storytelling, but I want to remain focused here on what comparisons are worth making (in my opinion) and what comparisons miss the mark. Here, comparing sympathetic reactions to villains warrants discussion especially with regard to our personal and societal values.

Next, let’s talk about unsympathetic reactions to villains as a whole. 

While villains can be coded with marginalizing traits, villains undeniably reflect societal evils we have to grapple with. Villains may be oppressive dictators. Villains may be corrupt politicians. Villains may be self-serving opportunists. Villains represent everyone and everything that can do harm to us. 

Heroes were literally made to overcome these evils, and we in turn overcome them vicariously. So, as it is natural for people to be sympathetic to marginalized traits it is also natural for people to be unsympathetic to villains who represent the people and things that do harm to us now or in a historical context. 

Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to discuss some of these issues in a larger context using examples from various villain narratives even if the characters have glaring differences. In addition, the cult of personality created for these villains reflect the actual phenomenon of ‘cult of personality.’

(That is, creating an idealized public persona for an often evil individual, romanticizing their struggles and their achievements to the point of completely erasing the great harm that they have done to others or to their own people.)

Yet, the very fact that villains can have marginalized traits means that “calling out” the evils of villains to an excessive extent can do a lot to further push the associations between marginalized traits and villainy. Fans who identify with this feel more alienated and hated as a result. 

With all of this in mind, let’s discuss the problems that arise when narratives are conflated for either the purpose of sympathy or the purpose of contempt. Mainly, the meaning behind each individual character’s narrative is lost when we conflate characters like Loki and Kylo Ren too much.

The reaction to villains like Loki and Kylo Ren feel similar to a lot of people, and maybe there is some merit in saying that people can be over-sympathetic to villains who are, for example, white, male, and powerful in some other regard such as wealth or status. These discussions may be worth it. 

On the other side of it, people may see marginalized traits coded in these villain characters that they themselves identify with. This may involve disability, mental illness, LGTB+ status, and so on. Therefore, discussions re: these codings may warrant further exploration. 

However. 

At the end of the day, these characters are situated in different contexts. Their roles are different. They have different histories. They have different backstories, which can’t be firmly connected by vague associations such as “they were just neglected” or “someone lied to them.”

In conflating them, people overly sympathize with traits that they mistakenly think related to both of these characters or all villains they encounter, or people may be overly contemptuous to the point of hating people who may identify with villains based on marginalized traits or interest in their nuance.

(I don’t think I should have to state this reminder, but I will in case it comes up -- if you enjoy a villain’s narrative it does not mean you sympathize with it nor does sympathizing with an element in their narrative mean you would or should sympathize with or excuse their actions etc. etc. etc.) 

You can find that general themes span across multiple villain narratives, but the specific messages associated with those themes are firmly connected to the specific narrative contexts these villain characters are situated in. Thus, it does us no good to say they are the same. 

Nor, should we assume people love or hate villains for the same reason.

When you take a villain like Loki and conflate him with Kylo Ren or vice versa, the nuance in their experiences and history disappears. For example, Loki comes from a rich history spanning hundreds of years and the villainization of Loki has been hotly debated for hundreds of years. 

You simply cannot take another villain character like Kylo Ren and compare them on that level, even if trends in reactions to villain characters may be able to be generalized by looking at both these characters. In terms of their historical value, though, these two cannot be compared. 

We also have to consider motivation and alignment of values. Villains may often desire power, but how they go about doing that and why they desire it vary greatly. Villains may feel maligned, but why they feel maligned and how they express that vary greatly as well. etc. etc. etc.

For example:

Kylo Ren is a villain who is situated in an ideologically based conflict. He does not want to be who he was groomed to be, and thus he created an identity for himself based on idolizing and mimicking those who have garnered power and control through violent and fascistic means. 

Sure, there are some ideologically based issues that arise in some narratives Loki is in but not all. We could talk about them, but doing so says more about society than it does about Loki in some of those narratives. There’s a lot about Loki that can’t be said in a more political narrative. 

Loki is largely a free agent who cannot be bound by any obligation to anyone. He has a chaotic nature that involves frequent change and transformation. Due to this, he’s not always aligned with evil even if his existence is constantly in conflict with the world(s) around him. 

It could be argued that both characters grew up in a privileged world, which lends to a sense of entitlement. This isn’t necessarily wrong. However, there are some things that marginalize Loki that are largely ignored when he’s conflated with villains who don’t share these traits with him:

Loki is a product of transracial adoption that comes with notable identity challenges. The nature of his adoption was not normal either, as Odin’s actions align with imperialism. While Kylo Ren’s identity may be forcibly shaped by those around him, Loki’s identity was hidden or openly maligned by those around him. 

Beyond that:

The villainization of Loki’s particular traits, rather than his actions, also reflect the effects of imperialism and the marginalization of queerness throughout history. The reinterpretation of Norse Mythos through a Christian lens has also done much to erase the significance of Loki and other Norse gods and goddesses.

Again -- the historical context between Loki and villains like Kylo Ren is just not comparable, and while we can certainly draw similarities in regards to general themes e.g. “identity issues”, “ideological differences”, “desire for power”, etc. these associations hold together in a flimsy and vague manner. 

To some, villains highlight modern day problems such as why people find identity in politically dangerous movements and how certain groups of people become entitled. To some, villains highlight the conflict between our society and the marginalized traits that we often sympathize with. 

I think there’s truth in both of these things, but...

While comparisons between villains like Loki and Kylo Ren may be merited when there are larger themes to discuss and/or when the reactions to villains seem similar, conflations of their narratives and personalities devalue their narrative purpose and simply don’t hold water.

Both characters make less sense if you think they’re essentially the same.

It’s always helpful, to me, to think about how two or more villains may interact with one another upon meeting, to discern differences in personality and motivation. For example, contrasts can be immediately seen between Loki and other villains when he chooses to ally with them. 

They simply do not have the same motivations, the same backstories, the same reasons to by sympathetic, the same reasons to hate them, etc. etc. etc. and it’s immensely boring to view characters as one dimensional representations of larger problems instead of nuanced in their own right.

So, whether you love them or hate them please -- for the love of good stories -- stop suggesting they’re the same when doing so completely erases the importance of their differences. Villains and antagonists are an important part of our history, of human stories, for multiple reasons. Not just one. 

#loki #kylo ren #fct #meta #i guess ??? #long post