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dressrossa - idolatry and politics

one thing dressrossa does well is delve into why idolising ruling figures is so detrimental. it shows how easy it is to fall (back) into it, especially after king riku's fall from grace. the people that still idolise doflamingo, e.g. bellamy and the soliders, do so with a kind of feverishness. it's like doflamingo is the only thing they have left.

in this idolatry they fail to see just how expendable they are. soliders in dressrossa are practically a dime a dozen but they've convinced themselves that they're seen as individuals and regarded as important in that way, a type of parasocial relationship. we especially see this with bellamy: he's looked up to doflamingo for a long time, fantasised about what it would be like to work for him. in doing so he assumed that doffy would see him the same way, but that was not the case. these people idolise their rulers and in return they are dehumanised and quite literally objectified.

it is reminiscent of punk hazard, and the way in which caeser's guards idolised him. this type of deification, almost, comes at the expense of their own lives. it robs them of their critical thinking, their common sense. their circumstances have rendered them desperate for a leader, so much so that they are willing to ignore the wrongdoings of their leader. but we learn that ignorance is not bliss.

if we were to look at this in the context of the real world we would note that we see examples of this all the time, but it is not specific to political leaders. kpop groups and western singers garner huge crowds of fans that seemingly support their every action: their fights with other celebrities, questionable and harmful speeches they make. but this 'stan culture' only degrades the analytical skills of those who partake.

mainly i think this comes from the assumption that criticism = hatred but that is not the case. criticism is often a form of learning, both for the receiver and the giver. when you can critique the people you look up to as well as public figures and the media you consume, it allows you to really step back and think deeply about intent, action and consequence. otherwise, you risk becoming part of the herd, for lack of better term, functioning as part of a hive mentality.

that is to say that this type of thinking is not only promoting anti-intellectualism - it is robbing our generation and future generations of their individuality, creativity, and the courage to speak and stand on their beliefs. it robs people of their chance to learn by actually engaging in whatever subject they want and it ultimately degrades politial literacy.

dressrossa is a prime example of how these factors combine to produce a population that isn't a safe environment for free thought, instead producing a dystopian setting in which anything but the status quo is heavily ridiculed, punished either by doflamingo and his executives or by the social norms of the country.

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I care them 🐟❤

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Luffy, Luck and Destiny - The Next Pirate King

Luffy is an exceptionally lucky character. Looking at where we are right now in the anime - having just been split up from the rest of his group by Bartholomew Kuma - it doesn't really seem that way. But if there's one thing about Luffy it's that he's going to survive. In other anime it's seen as plot armour and sure, it might be in One Piece, but from what I've seen Oda is so very intentional about every detail, and therefore it cannot be ignored.

The one instance that stands out the most is Loguetown, when Luffy was seconds away from being executed by Buggy. At the moment, his death seems imminent, inevitable. The rest of the strawhats are busy fighting the marines and Luffy is up on the same platform on which Gol D. Roger was executed. Aside from the obvious foreshadowing and symbolism of that moment, the bolt of lightning that ultimately saves his life is so random and out of the blue that I could find no other explanation for it but divine intervention.

It was quite literally the perfect out: Luffy is immune to lightning due to him being made of rubber, a direct result of him having eaten the Gomu Gomu fruit. And when you think about it further, even those events in his childhood led to this moment.

Luffy was inspired by Shanks to become a pirate, and the reason he ate the devil fruit was because Shanks refused to take a child to the grand line with him. Who knew that a decade later, that fruit would save his life?

All of this, however, was the preamble to the point I want to make.

At the point I'm at now, Luffy has just used the haoshoku haki, otherwise known as the 'king's disposition haki' with no prior explanation or training. Luffy's seen haki at work throughout the series but only knowingly witnessed its power in the Sabaody arc, the arc that directly precedes this one.

One more fact about the haoshoku haki that is necessary knowledge: it can only be used by one in a million people, and its users are rumoured to be the 'chosen ones'.

One piece is an anime that, out of all the pirates we've encountered, takes us along with Luffy, a 17 year old boy with the unlikely dream of becoming the pirate king. He starts off with a barrel of food and a tiny row boat, and against all odds builds a tight knit crew that seem to mesh well together. They make it through betrayals, through battles that they shouldn't, by any means, have survived. He declares war on the government that rules the planet. and time and time again, against all odds, he survives. Luffy prevails. From the moment we meet Luffy, the viewer, and later his crewmates, are left with no room to doubt that he will achieve his dream. And with the details Oda has given so far, there is no doubt that Monkey D. Luffy is the chosen one.

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*blushes* *giggles* *blushes again*

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i simply can't get over iñaki's priceless reaction when oda said "i can't imagine anyone else playing this (luffy) role" to him like that's just so fucking wholesome

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GODD THEY'RE SIIIIICKKK

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skypiea zoro was fucking something

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luffy can never resist the tantalizing draw of forbidden territory

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luffy finds his unconscious body and immediately it’s “zoro, how could this happen when you were here?” that’s an awful lot of faith and trust and it’s a simple phrase that speaks volumes AND OH

most of the time, luffy has things handled. he’s the captain, he’s strong and he’s supposed to. if luffy’s not there, no worries! zoro’s got this. and if zoro doesn’t? if he doesn’t?

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sky islands are scary but he was sooooo brave about it - maybe even the bravest

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i want to write about arabasta but i need a refresher of the arcs events

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Our Usopp proving that he can also be brave.

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Sanji listening to his captain

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Nami is money-hungry because in one traumatising and defining moment of her life she didn’t have gold or money when it was needed. She had food though in the form of tangerines from a farm.

But for Sanji, in a similar life defining moment, had all the gold but it didn’t matter at all.

Nice balance in the core characteristics of the Strawhats

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i love arlong park zoro like he was just running around barely alive held together by duct tape in a stolen shirt with half an idea of what was going on with nami and arlong

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a home for my one piece rambles. op counter: 700.

spoilers are unwelcome.

recent writes: arlong park + capitalism, luffy + luck, dressrossa - idolatry and politics

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Photo study but make it Nami

edit : i see all your reblog tags and this feels the best, thank you ! you guys are crazy but in a good way :’)