daydreamer2467

[daydreamer2467]

Thank you so much for your response and I absolutely agree with everything you said!💕 Your point about narratives within real life historical movements and how they are morally portrayed is especially important to this conversation.

I know it may seem to some that bringing up serious real life political movements is silly when discussing a fictional fantasy character but I think that’s exactly why it is so important. When fictional stories normalize viewing movements for political change as violent and evil, they are inadvertently making it easier to demonize real world marginalized people fighting for change.

Moash, for better or worse, reminded me a lot of my own people’s fight against British colonial rule and even my own family members. Seeing the way his narrative has been forcefully shifted and the way people in this fandom talk about him hurts because I see how these sorts of portrayals have affected millions (if not billions) of marginalized people throughout history.

On that note, I don’t think a lot of people truly realize the amount of suffering that is needed for their version of peace to exist and thus it’s easier to judge those who are suffering. When those who have suffered do eventually fight back they are made the villains but the people who took their homes, killed their families, outlawed their languages and destroyed their cultures are never dehumanized in the same way.

I also don’t want to make it seem like I’m a Sanderson hater because I do genuinely love many aspects of his books and think that he is a very good writer. That being said, I don’t think it’s too much to ask at an American author with a primarily American fanbase that clearly based the racial caste system in his fantasy books off of an American system of racial subjugation, understand and accurately portray the struggle for racial equality.

The last thing I’ll say is that I find this fandom to be particularly cruel in regard to those who have sympathy for this character and blind to the more tone deaf aspects of these books. I’m not poc myself so I love hearing from poc Sanderson fans when they voluntarily want to speak on these topics. I only wish that more fantasy books depicted the overflowing amount of love and community that is intrinsically a part of marginalized communities and their fights for freedom. (Also sorry I’m realizing now that this was really long😅💕🥰)

Stormlight Archive: Moash’s Potential Redemption & My Issues with Stormlight’s Political Narrative

(Spoilers for Stormlight Archive books 1-5)

My main issue with the idea that Moash can’t be redeemed is that he is the only character of the lower caste in Stormlight whose foundational goals are dismantling said caste system. Him being redeemed presents an inherently different message than that of the redemption of Dalinar due to Moash’s violent actions being related to a collective retaliation against an oppressive class whilst Dalinar’s actions were acts of oppression that he himself committed in upholding said oppressive class.

Moash not being redeemed however, enforces the idea that by just explaining to the oppressive class that oppression is immoral they will automatically change their minds when in reality this is simply not the case. Moash’s retaliation is not done with the comfortability of light eyes in mind and thus is not celebrated by the readers or light eyes characters.

I also want to express that when authors demonize or create villains of these types of characters they are inadvertently shifting the narrative of real world movements for political change. Furthermore, I don’t think it is far fetched to assume that Sanderson created plot lines for Moash in RoW and WaT to shift his actions away from political change (killing Elhokar; the King of an imperialist nation that upholds slavery) and towards more personal acts of violence (trying to get Kal to kill himself, killing Teft, killing Leyton).

This is not to say that characters like Moash are not allowed to commit personal acts of violence, only that they should not be representative of an entire political movement.

The story then tries to change this representative as Moash’s actions start to change, with the political movement/narrative being given to Jasnah when she gets rid of slavery (enforcing what I talked about in the above paragraphs) and is thus separated from Moash’s narrative. This however doesn’t change the fact that he is still the primary character whose goals reflect this political movement and whose actions are inherently correlated with these politics.

Needless to say, I find this to be a bit of a copout in regard to Stormlight’s political storyline and Moash’s arc. Jasnah, who has never/barely shown any care for the plight of the dark eyed caste and is part of the literal ruling family of Alethkar is given this plot instead of a man who was enslaved and who killed a king in the name of enslaved people. Instead of what should have been a huge, emotionally satisfying plot point, it feels as if Moash and this narrative were separated in an attempts to make him an easier villain to hate.

In that sense I don’t blame those who hate Moash as I believe that was Sanderson’s intention but I do question what sort of message this sends to the audience. At no point are our upper class characters faced or challenged by their own  prejudice, whilst it is Kaladin who the narrative treats as bigoted for not trusting said light eyes.

I hope Moash gets his redemption arc and I do believe that him surviving the first half of Stormlight will mean some sort of redemption arc but I worry for how it will be handled. I also wish that Sanderson was more open to talking about his politics and handling of Moash as it has been very hard for me to find anything he has said on this topic. I will most likely post about this again in the future and I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts💕

[daydreamer2467]

Stormlight Archive: Moash’s Potential Redemption & My Issues with Stormlight’s Political Narrative

(Spoilers for Stormlight Archive books 1-5)

My main issue with the idea that Moash can’t be redeemed is that he is the only character of the lower caste in Stormlight whose foundational goals are dismantling said caste system. Him being redeemed presents an inherently different message than that of the redemption of Dalinar due to Moash’s violent actions being related to a collective retaliation against an oppressive class whilst Dalinar’s actions were acts of oppression that he himself committed in upholding said oppressive class.

Moash not being redeemed however, enforces the idea that by just explaining to the oppressive class that oppression is immoral they will automatically change their minds when in reality this is simply not the case. Moash’s retaliation is not done with the comfortability of light eyes in mind and thus is not celebrated by the readers or light eyes characters.

I also want to express that when authors demonize or create villains of these types of characters they are inadvertently shifting the narrative of real world movements for political change. Furthermore, I don’t think it is far fetched to assume that Sanderson created plot lines for Moash in RoW and WaT to shift his actions away from political change (killing Elhokar; the King of an imperialist nation that upholds slavery) and towards more personal acts of violence (trying to get Kal to kill himself, killing Teft, killing Leyton).

This is not to say that characters like Moash are not allowed to commit personal acts of violence, only that they should not be representative of an entire political movement.

The story then tries to change this representative as Moash’s actions start to change, with the political movement/narrative being given to Jasnah when she gets rid of slavery (enforcing what I talked about in the above paragraphs) and is thus separated from Moash’s narrative. This however doesn’t change the fact that he is still the primary character whose goals reflect this political movement and whose actions are inherently correlated with these politics.

Needless to say, I find this to be a bit of a copout in regard to Stormlight’s political storyline and Moash’s arc. Jasnah, who has never/barely shown any care for the plight of the dark eyed caste and is part of the literal ruling family of Alethkar is given this plot instead of a man who was enslaved and who killed a king in the name of enslaved people. Instead of what should have been a huge, emotionally satisfying plot point, it feels as if Moash and this narrative were separated in an attempts to make him an easier villain to hate.

In that sense I don’t blame those who hate Moash as I believe that was Sanderson’s intention but I do question what sort of message this sends to the audience. At no point are our upper class characters faced or challenged by their own  prejudice, whilst it is Kaladin who the narrative treats as bigoted for not trusting said light eyes.

I hope Moash gets his redemption arc and I do believe that him surviving the first half of Stormlight will mean some sort of redemption arc but I worry for how it will be handled. I also wish that Sanderson was more open to talking about his politics and handling of Moash as it has been very hard for me to find anything he has said on this topic. I will most likely post about this again in the future and I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts💕

[daydreamer2467]

The war will end.

The leaders will shake hands.

The old woman will keep waiting

for her martyred son.

That girl will wait

for her beloved husband.

And those children will wait

for their heroic father.

I don’t know who sold our homeland

but I know who paid the price.

- The War Will End by Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet

[daydreamer2467]

Sinners: Movie Analysis

Here’s my analysis of Sinners that I put on Letterboxd + some additional commentary💕🩵🎶

I absolutely adored Sinners and was surprised to find so much of my own culture reflected in the film. As such I wanted to give some insight into the Irish vampire Remmick and his connection to its themes, its culture and its story.

Before I go into explaining I want to note that I live in Dublin and am a dual citizen of both the US and Ireland with family and cultural ties to both nations. It is because of my own history and culture that made me resonate and feel so seen by Coogler’s writing of Remmick, the main vampire villain of the movie.

I should also note that Remmick could be a nod to the Irish story of Abhartach, a legend about a man killed who rises from the dead demanding blood. The story has many versions such as Dearg Due, that most likely influenced the Irish writer, Bram Stoker, in writing Dracula.

From the very first scene that Remmick is in, where he is getting chased by the Choctaw vampire hunters, it is obvious the amount of research Coogler has done. For those who don’t know, the Choctaw Nation and Ireland have a very long history dating back to the Famine, a genocide against Ireland by the British. Wherein the Choctaw Nation donated $5,000 in today’s money not long after the Trail of Tears to help the country. Since then both peoples have maintained a relationship, with Ireland paying back the Choctaw Nation for their help. There’s even a memorial down in Cork to commemorate our relationship.

It felt ironic watching this scene for the first time knowing this long history but looking back it perfectly sets up the movie’s main theme surrounding Remmick. That’s because in this scene Remmick is pointedly finding safety in the house of a KKK member, the literal embodiment of white supremacy. Remmick is doing what many Irish Americans did at the time, turning their back on community in an effort to appeal to an American standard of whiteness (Irishmen hadn’t been considered white before this time period), eventually becoming that standard of whiteness themselves. Knowing this, the Choctaw men hunting him seems more like mercy kill than an actual hunting. Seeing it this way, it could even be mirroring a scene later in the film between Annie and Smoke.

I think it’s important to note that the core theme of this film is how culture and community are linked and what happens to people who’ve lost their culture and community. That is what Remmick, and what so many Irish Americans want and are cut off from. When he sees Sammy and the Juke Joint dancing with the past, present, and future spirits, he sees a tie to his own culture that he has lost. Except instead of wanting a mutual consensual connection between himself and Black Americans, he wants to take it over in a desperate attempt to get something that’s already lost.

When he sings ‘Pick Poor Robin Clean’ to try and get into the Juke Joint, he is imitating a song written and sung by Black Americans, taking it over, gentrifying it, and trying to use Black American culture for his own gain.

Though he doesn’t just sing this song, in fact he sings two songs that I have heard my whole life and was very shocked to hear in this movie. The first is ‘Will You Go Lassie, Go?’ and it is sung to the white passing character Mary before the vampires kill her. The song is an old folk song about a young man yearning for his love who has gone away. Though Scottish in origin it was reinterpreted by Francis McPeake and gifted to a woman named Maggi Pierce who left Ireland for America. In that sense it is also a mourning song for someone who is going far away, never to return. For those who don’t know, an ‘American Wake’ was a practice in Ireland for mourning someone leaving for America because they would not be able to have a funeral in their home country once they died.

When Remmick and the other vampires sing this for Mary, it is a song mourning a community already gone. He is a dead man, singing a mourning song, in a land that calls for funerals back home.

From this point on, Remmick grows his group of vampires larger and larger, trying to mimic the community they had when he wasn’t with them. They sing and preform the song ‘The Rocky Road to Dublin’, a rebel song about the oppression and colonization Britain exerts over Ireland. That being said, Remmick is the only one Irish dancing, all of the other vampires are just surrounding him without any real dances of their own. I saw a few people point out that they were dancing counter clockwise which could be a reference to Irish Sidhe/Fairy Folk who trick humans into dancing forever by going counter clockwise (though this is just speculation). There is also a lack of past and future spirits with them as they are neither dead nor alive. Their connection to their community is gone and their culture too.

I've seen some Irish people say that choosing these songs is lazy because of how widely known they are, but I disagree. Remmick is a man cut off from his culture, so it makes sense that the songs he knows are a bit superficial. I also agree with casting Jack O'Connell instead of an Irish person born and raised in country because I think he has a better understanding of Irish people in the diaspora and their relationship with Irish culture.

The last song we hear from Remmick after this is ‘Pick Poor Robin Clean’ again, only this time with all the people he has taken and transformed from the Juke Joint. He is, without intending to, the embodiment of white supremacy and how it takes and takes and takes.

When he fights Sammy, he does what many Irish Americans do, use their people’s past subjection to justify their oppression and bigotry over others. They know enough about oppression to knock on the door and peek inside, but because of their willingness to assimilate into American whiteness, the only community they have left to be a part of is one founded and controlled by white supremacy.

Before, Remmick was most likely someone like Sammy, a Filí able to use music to gather community, which is why he uses it to gather more and more vampires, yet he doesn’t understand that this is doing the exact opposite of building the community he yearns for.

In As Gaeilge, the Irish language, there’s a saying, “Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan Anam” which translates to “A country without a language is a country without a soul”. At no point in the movie does Remmick even speak Irish and the rest of the time he is switching between accents whenever it seems beneficial. I see Remmick, and many people who claim to be Irish American without any actual connection to Ireland, as the embodiment of this saying. They are people who have lost their language, their culture, their people, and as such have lost their soul to hate pretending to be community.

When Remmick is finally killed by the sun and burned in a giant cauldron of fire, it may seem to some that he is being punished and sent to hell. This is not how I interpreted his death, having had prior knowledge of Irish folktales as well as just attending Bealtaine at the Hill of Uisneach in Westmeath a couple weeks ago. For those who don’t know Bealtaine is an old Irish festival celebrating the coming summer, the return of the sun and life itself. I view Remmick’s death as a reflection of this festival (& other Irish pagan festivals) and his return to his ancestors after finally embracing the sun once more (just like how Annie said vampires are cut off from this connection, he is finally free to have it once more). Below is a picture I took at Bealtaine that I think looks very similar to Remmick’s fire in the movie.

Sinners is a movie about what happens when you allow hate to walk right through your door and how it isolates you from everything you hold dear. When Mary and Stack speak with an older Sammy, Stack mentions how the music hasn’t felt ‘real’ since that night, having lost the connection that living and dying gives to the evolution of his people.

Setting aside Remmick, I still absolutely loved this film, and he is by no means it’s major highlight. The way Coogler depicts Black American culture, its beauty, tenderness, and relation to music is masterful and I sincerely hope this film gets all the awards it deserves. I won’t go deep into his depiction of Black Americans and Black American culture because it is not my culture to speak on, and this analysis is already way too long. I will say though that this film is a masterclass in how culture and community relate to characters and their motivations. I think it’ll go down as one of the best horror films of the genre and I can’t wait to see what else Ryan Coogler and everyone who worked on this film makes.