MDZS Salt

Nov. 5th, 2021 10:08 pm
quillsshadow: Iridescent shilouette of a quill pen in an inkwell (Default)
I wish the MDZS fandom a very clear awareness that Jiang Fengmian is an abused spouse

Why does no one see this?

There are a scary number of people who see Yu Ziyuan as some form of admirable, and obviously they don't think she'd abuse her husband, but even the people who despise her seem to have missed this. Despite it being right there the moment you look - she's verbally and emotionally abusive with her insistence that everything wrong in their marriage is his fault for not loving her enough, her repeated accusations that he cheated on her, her destruction of his relationship with his son... We don't get to see her physically abusing him, but I seriously would not put money against it happening in private.

And the fandom blames Jiang Fengmian, the way that real life men get blamed for being caught in an abusive relationship. "He could have divorced her!" "He had the social power to escape!" "He's too passive, so it's his own fault!" He tried to escape. His parents pressured her into marrying him. It says so in the text.

I'm not saying that people should like him. I'm not saying that people should agree with his choices. (I don't agree with pretty much all his choices when it comes to Wei Wuxian.) I am saying that I am tired of and a little disgusted by seeing so many people who call Yu Ziyuan out on her child abuse then swing around and blame Jiang Fengmian for his abuser's actions.
quillsshadow: Iridescent shilouette of a quill pen in an inkwell (Default)
To be clear, this isn't about canon. I have no idea if Orochimaru is redeemed (or 'redeemed') in canon at all, and I care less. This is about what I've come across in fanfics.

Orochimaru is to blame for his actions. Danzo might have ordered them (hi, retcon to make the ugly guy responsible for all the actions by the hot villains! *waves obscene gesture at it*), but Orochimaru is supposed to be a genius. He doesn't have to emotionally connect to infants to intellectually understand that risking the lives of Konoha civilians would negatively impact his teacher's opinion of him. He doesn't have to be emotionally affected to understand that killing babies in experiments would not be authorised or approved of by Sandaime.

If the whole 'experimenting on orphans' thing was because Danzo told him to, then Orochimaru could have gone to Sandaime about it! Or if he suspected Sandaime was in denial about Danzo's actions and would refuse to listen, then a genius shinobi should be able to leave hints that someone ordered it and let Sandaime follow them as far as he chose. Know what he shouldn't have done? Experimented on Konoha orphans and hidden it from Sandaime. (Quick reminder that at least 49 infants died in these experiments, btw.) That was his choice, and his actions, and therefore his fault, and his responsibility.

The fanfic that sparked this complaint had 'he was following orders!' as an excuse for him. If he's that dependent on orders over his own judgement, then he shouldn't be capable of running a hidden village! (Otokage, remember? Wanted to become hokage, remember?) He knew the orders weren't from Sandaime - if he didn't, why did he hide his work?

In conclusion, whether Danzo ordered him to do it or not, Orochimaru is the one who killed at least 49 of the people he was supposed to be protecting as a shinobi of Konoha. Pretending that he didn't, or flat-out ignoring it, doesn't make me feel he's redeemable or redeemed. Saying it wasn't his fault doesn't, either. Redeeming him would take a whole character arc - one that should start with him recognising that he was wrong to kill the children he was supposed to be protecting, and then build on that!
quillsshadow: Iridescent shilouette of a quill pen in an inkwell (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] guardians_song had a link to an interesting article on serial bullies. I read the section se'd linked to (guru) and all I could think was 'This is L.' Then I read the other descriptions, and...

http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/serial.htm#Attention
Misa.

http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/serial.htm#Guru
Read this, then try and tell me they aren't describing L.

http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/serial.htm#Sociopath
And finally, Light-as-Kira.

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