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saruma-aki · 5 years

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Well, I would like to say I thought this through before dragging this post back up after having posted it way back when ST2 was new and fresh out of the proverbial womb, but, the harsh truth is, I did not. Honestly, I have been ignoring the existence of this post since its conception because the amount of popularity it garnered was mainly negative (no shock there; this is, after all, tumblr) and I had more important things to stress over than what someone interpreted from a line in a show that will fade into obscurity in a couple of years. However, the most recent reblog caught my eye because someone actually wrote something under it—and not just under someone else’s words, but the original post, which I had not seen in a while.

Obviously, what they said did not make me very happy. Otherwise, what is the actual point of making this post?

Here is the thing, the “tea” or however you want to call it—everything they said is way out of line.

I will be the first, the very first (no one is beating me to that spot) to admit that the original post was just a little bit tone deaf. It did not really discuss the topic or why it is that I felt like I did or Dacre’s own opinion. It was just a couple of screenshots from an article that made me feel better about where I stood on the whole debate—and I wanted to share it. I don’t know why. Maybe to just not feel crazy in the midst of that drama? Who can say? However, I will be the first to say that the post is wholly inadequate in explaining anything of note.

I was not exactly surprised when people took to it with raised hackles, even if I really never conceived it would reach close to five hundred notes by the time I got the guts to address it again (and I know that five hundred, 5-0-0, doesn’t really seem like a lot, but considering that I thought maybe one person would pay attention to it, it’s basically the equivalent of a million in my eyes).

But, you know what? I’m tired. I’m stressed. I’m slowly dying. Let’s finally addres this. Because this reblog, this most recent reblog, really bothered me. And I know, trust me when I say I know, that it seems simple and of no need for concern, and I’m sure the few people who are actually bothering to read through this are thinking, “Why on earth did they not just talk to this person instead of making a long post?” But, here’s the thing with this whole shebang: I’m tired, and this person isn’t alone in their opinion. What made this one stand out is how they phrased their belief.

I’ve had to listen to people gripe about how this post “proves there’s no such thing as POC solidarity”, and they’re absolutely right because Native American woman are being slaughtered and raped and abused every day, and Native Americans are represented less that one percent of the time (<1%) ) in film and media (and the few, very rare, times they are it is with an abundance of racism and stereotypes piled onto them), and yet I don’t see black people, with their sixteen percent (16%) representation score raising much of a fuss. (This is not a call out or something. I get it. Get your own representation and rights before helping out anyone else. It makes sense, in a way—I’m not judging. But maybe don’t come at people with that when you’re part of the issue.) I have had to listen to people assume my race, ethnicity, political leaning because of this post, and, honestly, I’m just a wee bit tired of it.

I have four things I really want to say with this post, in response to everyone, but especially in response to this one reblog:

1) I am a proud person of color. I am a proud descendant of African slaves. I am a proud descendant of Taino natives. I am a proud member of the Latino community. I am a proud non-white individual who experiences racism on a daily basis.

I experience racism meant for black people. I experience racism meant for Latinos. I experience xenophobia meant for Middle Easterners and Asians. I experience racism meant for Middle Easterners. I experience racism meant for Indians. I experience Islamophobia meant for Muslims. I have been told they should “build a wall” to keep me out. I have been told that the KKK should pay me a visit. I have been called a terrorist. I have had people dance in crude imitations of Indian traditional dance to my face while laughing. I have experienced all of this and more.

I have been a victim of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc., from both POCs and white people, straight and gays, natives and immigrants.

Do not presume to know my race and my experiences just because my opinion does not coincide with yours. Quite frankly, don’t do that to anyone. You do not know anyone’s life story, especially over the Internet. Do not assume otherwise. Do not delude yourself into a false confidence and assurance of your own moral superiority when you know nothing of the people you are attacking. It is easy to hide behind a screen, and I am not here to tell you to not talk about what you wish and what you can and cannot talk about and direct at people. I merely suggest you stick to the information readily accessible, not mere assumptions based on your own prejudices. It reveals more about you than the person you are belittling.

2) Billy never saw Max and Dustin together like he did Max and Lucas. Billy never saw Dustin upsetting Max like he did Lucas. Billy never sees Max and Dustin in any capacity like he does Max and Lucas.

This is not a justification. This is not an excuse. This is a mere statement of fact. Whether or not you believe Billy is racist or abusive or whatever, the bottom line is the same. Billy doesn’t witness Max with Dustin like he does Lucas. Honestly, I’m fairly certain Billy never even sees Dustin and Max together at all. Think Billy is racist or don’t, but it doesn’t change this very basic fact. It’s not a situation of “why didn’t he” when every iteration can be debunked by simply understanding that this wasn’t information he was privy to ever. “Why didn’t he?” Because he didn’t know.

3) I don’t take the word of the Duffers on anything. Let’s make that perfectly clear. And this is not some personal dislike or something. This is born from experience. I have sat in the writer’s chair; I have sat in the director’s chair; I have sat in the actor’s chair. You know what I have learned? The writer provides the skeleton, the director gives it movement, the actor gives it life. The job of an actor is solely to understand the character. That, ladies and gentlemen and the general populace, is the secret of acting.

What the writers provide is just the guidelines for the actor. The understanding the actor develops can evolve into a different interpretation than the writer or director had, and it has the potential to be more profound.

The other two reasons I don’t take the word of the Duffers on this is: A) had it not been for Dacre, the Duffers would have been subject to critique on lazy writing moreso than they are already because Billy’s depth and complexity, especially the jarring scene we all remember, came from Dacre—Dacre wanted a villain with a reason if he was going to play Billy and he pushed for it (which says a lot about him and how skilled of an actor he is—understanding that experience and trauma shapes us and forms us into what we are and that we are not static beings, so there should be no such thing as a static character) and that makes Dacre’s opinion a lot heftier than the Duffers’ already——B) Dacre originally did think Billy was racist. Isn’t that a kicker? Dacre remarks in interviews that when he read the script at first, he thought, “Oh, no, gosh, he’s racist on top of all of this?” And he stayed with that mentality for a bit. It was only as he delved deeper into the character and understood Billy more as a person instead of the two dimensional villain he’s set up as that he changed his mind and came to the conclusion that he doesn’t think Billy’s racist.

He put in the work.

The Duffers went in with a throwaway line and labeled the character as racist. They wanted a human villain, someone for people to hate, someone to pit against our heroes, against Steve. They wanted to make him awful and static and to have him do what Steve’s character couldn’t and stay the asshole the audience could hate.

Dacre didn’t fall prey to that mentality. He searched for the human in the label “human villain” that the Duffers wanted and found a much more complex character than the Duffers even considered. Because of this, Dacre’s opinion carries far more weight than the Duffer Brothers’.

And, ultimately, most importantly—the main reason I wanted to make this post, to defend the original post this is born from even though I’ve stated my stance on this issue in a separate post in much clearer terms—the real reason I made the original post to begin with even if I never talked about it:

4) People who immediately assume racism instead of ignorance, racist instead of ignorant, are part of the problem, not the solution.

This really bears no explanation. You cannot change what you believe is irreversible. You cannot educate what you believe is closed off. You cannot help that which you’ve condemned.

I do my utmost to live my life by this. Ignorance before condemnation, always, always, always. The majority of the time it is a lack of education on the subject and a lack of personal experience that leads to such grave misunderstandings. Give a person the chance to learn and to be taught and to redeem themselves, and most of them will. It takes time and patience and a boatload of energy and perseverance, but you get there through understanding and the willingness to help out—by giving them the chance everyone else is denying them.

You cannot help those which you’ve condemned. In life and in fiction, until proven repeatedly over and over again when intervention is applied, I like to adopt the philosophy that people are ignorant before they are racist, before they are a sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc., etc.

I’m not saying it’s a popular philosophy (because it’s not), and I’m not saying it’s right (because maybe it isn’t), but it’s my philosophy. And knowing where Billy comes from, what he’s been through, who his father is, what his home life is like, I elect to believe in my philosophy and in my understanding of the human mind, and I don’t think he’s racist. I can definitely see how he might be construed as such, and I don’t belittle those who see it that way, but I stand by my original observation (however ineloquently stated) that I, in my own personal opinion, don’t believe Billy is racist.

And, ultimately, I just want people to accept that. I’m not denying the possibility. I’m not uninformed. I’m not some white, cisgender, hesterosexual man sitting behind his computer screen agreeing with a white actor because it makes me feel more comfortable in myself and my own experiences. I am a proud POC, a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, a writer, an actor, a director, and a human being. I see where you all are coming from—I hear you; I read what you write. I get it. But can you get me? Can you understand where I am coming from? Can you stop with the misinformation and the moral superiority complex? Life is too short to live like this. I know that it’s Tumblr. I know being superior is the bread and butter of this site. But, honestly, guys, let me get cheesy for a second, let me get real, because you guys clearly need to hear this:

Be willing to understand and to learn. You will get so much further in life. You cannot help that which you’ve condemned, guys. And you really can’t. You can’t change what you believe is irreversible. You can’t teach that which you believe is unwilling to learn. Give people a chance, and they might just surprise you.

Gosh, I hope this cleared some things. I doubt many of you made it to the end if you even got past the beginning, but I sure feel better after writing this. Take care. Bless. I’ll see you on the other side of the war.

#stranger things 2 #billy hargrove #in defense of billy hargrove #in defense of myself #dayummmm never thought i’d end up here #tumblr will forever and always need to chill #chill tumblr chill #mullet wearing asshole #harringrove #i am here to clear the air #that really wasnt muggy to begin with #but some people got confused real fast #so here we go

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mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker · 6 years

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Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows Vol 2 #10-12 Thoughts

Previous thoughts here.

Even though issue #10 is a done-in-one and issues #11-12 two-parter, to all intents and purposes the three issues form a three parter, issue #10 acting as a kind of precursor to the latter issues.

First things first the elephant in the room to address is Ryan Stegman as the writer and by extension the artists filling in for him.

Whilst neither Stockman nor Level are the measure of Stegman, they both do respectable jobs, with Level’s art in particular being a better compliment to Stegman’s. This isn’t to say Stockman’s art is ill suited because like in issue #5 his style excels at expressive almost Rugrat looking child characters and issue #10 features one such character as the lead.

Stegman for his part, whilst he may be working off of ideas leftover from Conway, does a surprisingly good job. There are some problems with issue #11-12 I will talk about later, but issue #10 is great and over all his dialogue, pacing and handling of the characters is solid, shockingly solid for someone who I do not believe has much (if any) writing experience. This applies to his writing contributions to issues #8-9 too.

His work is not as layered or as nuanced as Conway’s but it’s still good, still cuts to the heart of this series (family) and still delivers on the emotion when needed.*

This arc as a whole provides a decent enough wrap up to the over all subplots across the series and the 12 issues as a whole did a good job in the pacing department.

I despise decompressed storytelling but RYV up to this point has handled it really well. The first 4 issues were the guiltiest in this department but their style of pacing was justified. Beyond that it’s been done-in-one stories or else two parters or in this case a pseudo three parter. This keeps things nice and breezy and makes you feel like things have actually advanced quite a bit since issue #1.

Of the three issues though it must be said issue #10 was the strongest and most interesting.

I said back when I covered issues #8-9 how I appreciated that each story across the series was mixing up which characters get the focus (last arc being Peter and more noticeably MJ) and that continues here. Whilst technically Normie is the lead character of issue #10 it’s Peter and Annie who’re the Parkers getting all the focus here, and it’s adorable.

This is something we haven’t seen before outside of that back up from issue #1 and it’s nice to call back to that (along with the fact that Peter pumps Annie full of sugar when MJ’s away). The clever part of the story is how the focus upon Peter and Annie is complimented by the Lizard and Billy’s opposition to them. This recalls Mr. And Mrs. Spider-Man #1 from 2009 but also emphasises the key point of this story: Normie’s loneliness.

The whole issue is an exploration of Normie, his attempts to live up to his father and grandfather’s toxic legacy and how that quest and their absence in his life has left him alone and unprepared. He thinks he’s grown up to cope with the challenges facing him but he is still ultimately a sad little boy who misses his family.**

In particular in this issue and the next two Normie’s problems are highlighted when contrasted to Annie. Annie expresses gratitude for having a loving family like Normie lacks, calls out Normie on the depressing state of his young life and behaves (comparatively) more like a real child of around their age.

But it is also Peter’s treatment of him with small sympathy that highlight’s Normie’s childishness and pitiful emotional state. We see his anger is born less from a desire to honour his legacy, or even plain old revenge but more a childish anger about just not having his parents (specifically his Dad around). And Stegman and Stockman just sell it!

You see the shades of Norman and Harry’s vendetta cropping up in him but just from a different angle. This permeates through the arc actually and both directly and more subtly recalls DeMatteis and Buscema’s Harry Osborn arc from the early 1990s.

It’s not just fun or coincidental references either it taps into the idea of how family legacies can be toxic which is contrasted nicely with the family dynamic of the Parkers.

This comparison and contrast between the Osborns and Parkers deepens in issues #11-12.

The most obvious example to bust out is the one already drawn (but done better here imo) from the Venom arc. That of MJ and Liz Allan both being mothers who will go to extremes for the sake of their children, with their confrontation in this arc being pretty juicy.

But we also see it in Peter’s protectiveness over Annie too. In another potentially genius call back to Spec #190 by DeMatteis and Buscema (and possibly RYV vol 1 #2), a rage fuelled Peter beats the crap out of the Rhino due to him threatening his family. This is both a realistic reaction for a parent to have and also very true to Peter’s established character in both RYV and the 616 universe, and something not displayed much in RYV vol 2.

In a way this arc marries (if you pardon the pun) the kind of extremes Peter was shown to have regarding Annie from vol 1 with those MJ had been given in vol 2 as the story shows both becoming aggressive in pursuit of rescuing Annie.

In having Peter hunt down Annie, Annie confront and attempt to redeem Normie and MJ get to the bottom of her Venom situation with Liz, issue #11 does a great job of closing out the over arching story of volume 2 by having the Parkers all equally be the focus. Issue #12 kinda does the same thing by involving the X-Men and similarly the use of a Regent power draining mech helps tie-back into the original RYV.

Issue #12 in regards to balancing out the family has a few more mixed results, but it depends what you want out the conclusion.

The story again provides us with a nice change up in the dynamics as it’s more Annie and Normie’s story than it is Peter and/or MJ’s. So it’s something different, but for a wrap up arc maybe having the Parkers fight all together was more thematically appropriate.

It certainly isn’t poorly done though. Annie comes into her own, Normie is believably redeemed and the story has a great message about how words can sometimes win out over fists.

There is also a great twist (kind of) in having the background character Ms. January wind up as the main villain, allowing for Normie to be redeemed and allowing him to break the Osborn Curse of which the arc is named after. It also ties back into the theme of family as Ms. January’s actions stem from a kind of motherly instinct towards Normie.

The action is pretty decent as are the stakes.

Giant robot = Bad.

Giant robot vs a powerless Spider-Man and Mary Jane = Very bad

Giant robot vs a powerless Spidey and MJ whilst it also has the powers of four of the X-Men = How ARE they gonna get out of this one?

Speaking of the X-Men, the arc handles them in a way I appreciated. Not only does their presence recall RYV #1 but it also ups the stakes whilst not allowing them to take away any of the spotlight from the Parkers.

Specifically Annie who comes into her own as I said and this then leads into a pretty organic transition into the new 8 years later status quo.

So...all great right?

Well...not exactly.

Let’s put aside how the Goblin mech having the X-Men’s powers was somewhat underutilized. Let’s put aside even how as I said it maybe should’ve been better if all three of the Parkers were involved in bringing down the threat.

Let’s instead talk about the three big elephants in the room.

Elephant #1: Venom

When I finished RYV #9 even though MJ was still wearing the symbiote I presumed that she’d beaten it and was going to get rid of it. Seemed like the obvious and natural ending to that arc right?

Right...except that didn’t happen.

I was truly surprised when I saw MJ in the suit during this arc. It got me thinking her absence and trip to the hospital in the prior issue made more sense.

But narratively it served little purpose here. It gave MJ something to do in issue #11 I guess but equally MJ could’ve gone to confront Liz without the symbiote simply to learn why Liz had done what she did.***

So why did MJ keep the costume? My suspicion it was purely to justify her still wearing it in Venom-Verse and thus milk MJ in the suit more given how the marketing department (or whoever) were the people who pushed that onto the series in the first place.

It wouldn’t be much of a problem if not for the fact that it’s disposed of so cheaply and easily in issue #12 and you have to No. Prize why she couldn’t have gotten rid of the suit earlier.

The Fantastic Four were mentioned in issue #10 and since they were the guys who got Peter and the symbiote separated in the first place you’d think this wouldn’t be a problem. The ONLY explanation I can dream up (and this isn’t present in the story mind you) is that the symbiote was altered somehow by Liz to be resistant to fire and sonics, hence why in issue #9 MJ punches a flamethrower or something with no problem.

Elephant #2: Ms. January.

Conceptually a background character turning out to be a villain in a twist is great. Problem is we never learn why.

At first it seems like Ms. January just cares for Normie that much but not only is this an offhand motivation in the first place but more poignantly Harry (not Normie) is brought up more than once by Ms. January in issues #11-12.

So it has something to do with him but we never learn what exactly.

She just switches on everyone, goes nuts and it’s because of Harry.

????????

I think this is an example of Stegman being an artist more than a writer tripping up, it may well have been Conway’s original plan for Ms. January to be the final boss but he hadn’t fleshed that part out and Stegman just plugged it in.

Elephant #3: This arc takes waaaaaay too much stuff from Spider-Girl.

I love Spider-Girl. She is my second favourite Spider character behind Peter himself. Her series was a triumph and an underrated all time classic.

And one of the key parts of that series was Normie Osborn being a sad lonely young man self-destructively trying to live up to his father and grandfather’s legacy as a Goblin, and avenge what he perceived as his father’s death due to Spider-Man. The subplot wraps up in Spider-Girl #27, my favourite issue of the series, in which Spider-Man’s daughter is captured and at the mercy of Normie, calls him out on his BS, expresses sympathy for him and with kindness talks him into changing his ways, finding redemption and becoming an ally to her.

Sound familiar?

Here is the thing, putting aside how Spider-Girl did it better, there is nothing wrong with repeating the same ideas to an extent.

But it is the fact that they repeat the redemption part and the manner in which it happens that is the problem. No Normie isn’t borderline suicidal in this story but he’s still on a path to destruction and still has Annie at his mercy and she still is the one who redeems him.

It would’ve been a better take had it actually been Peter who talked him down.

The comparisons to Spider-Girl are not helped by many fans feeling RYV and Annie supplanted Mayday in certain respects and more poignantly that from here on in the series would be borrowing waaaaaaay too many elements from Spider-Girl, starting with the epilogue to this issue where Annie becomes a teenager.

So...in a lot of ways this arc had the weakest writing of RYV up to this point, but I think it’s strengths in spite of it’s weaknesses combine to render it stronger than the X-Men arc and thus only the second weakest arc of the series thus far. In particular I have to commend them for making so much of it work as they did in spite of Conway leaving.

I doubt I’d be complaining this much had I read these at the time of their release though simply because back then these would’ve still been infinitely better Spider-Man than Slott’s clownshow.

Were I to give issue #10 it’s own grade it’d be an A-.

But the 3 issues collectively get a B-.

Good, worth a read but very flawed nevertheless.

*Which is very damning when you consider Stegman, an artist, was a better Spider-Man writer in 3-5 issues than Slott was across 10 years.

**Also the story explains why Normie seems more intelligent than he should be, it’s because of the Goblin formula which helps resolve what otherwise would’ve been something of a contrivence.

***Speaking of which how did Liz know Spinneret would’ve taken her bait about the symbiote? Not saying there is NO explanation but we don’t really get one ever.

P.S. How the Hell can this random orb contain Peter’s powers? His powers stem from being altered on a genetic level!

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