#I'm not sure he was the My Word Is King patriarchal abuser

[rotzaprachim]

one thing that’s kind of poking at me a lil bit ficwise is kind of. unpicking the threads of Galen and Lyra and Jyn. I think there’s a fandom and to an extent a canon tendency to make her early childhood in Lahmu into Those Good Years, and to an extent that’s part of the structure of a film with a running time- the opening, before everything Goes Wrong. but I can’t stop thinking about how, if not fearful, then deeply paranoia-laced and isolated Jyn’s early childhood must have been. your father is on the run, your father took you and your mother with you in the night, you know literally no one else but your mother and your scientist father who has made himself a god? there’s such a kind of, cold, isolationist biblical patriarch narrative edge to the opening shots of lahmu and the Erso family as purposefully isolated and separated from everything. I’m not sure it’s quite a horror story- thought it sure has potential to be- but I do think there’s room to deeply unearth and nuance the situation there a bit. after all, by the time rogue one starts Galen and Lyra are terrified, and the story begins in many ways with their fear. what is it to be a child of that? 

[disneydancepants]

Disney Debunking 5: Ursula isn't the Villain of The Little Mermaid?

So... I've joked (a LOT) that The Little Mermaid started a new trend at Disney: one in which the true "villain" is trauma from bad parenting. Moana's dad is so overprotective and controlling that it borders on abuse. Maui's parents tried to murder him because his eyes are too close together. Anna and Elsa need years of troll therapy because of King Agnarr. Tiana actually had wonderful parents, but her dad maybe miscommunicated some life lessons before being killed. Fa Zhou goes from being a loving parent to Mulan to getting caught up in patriarchal B.S. King Triton is a raging, controlling racist until he immediately regrets losing his shit at Ariel and doesn't know how he can apologize to her.

But I've read way too many posts and articles actually defending Ursula as a good octo-person.

Hahaha, no. That witch is evil.

So here's how those Ursula-defenders are wrong.

1.) "Ursula was a feminist fighting the patriarchy of Triton's Atlantica".

A feminist is someone who advocates that women deserve equality with men, at it's basic core. Is Ursula trying to fight to bring equal rights to the mermaids of Atlantica? Fucking no! She wants to turn everyone into emaciated shrimp. She manipulates and hurts people to gain power. She wants power only for HERSELF. Triton isn't oppressing her because she's female. Triton is oppressing her because she's an evil and power-hungry criminal. That isn't her first emaciated shrimp collection. Ursula is a feminist like Cruella is an animal-rights activist. Or like how I'm a disciplined Sims 4 cc creator. 😅

2.) "Ursula is offering Ariel freedom and a choice, unlike her father King Triton."

Lulz, no. Ursula is manipulating an abused teenager into signing a contract that Ursula sets up to fail. Everything Ursula feeds Ariel is a fucking lie, and then she steps in as "Vanessa" to straight up sabotage Ariel. This argument is delusional. You want to tell me next how casinos are designed to give us the freedom to become millionaires? All Ursula's contracts are scams. I don't even understand how anyone can be dense enough to think otherwise...

3.) "Ursula is right about everything she tells Ariel about all men, and Eric even proves it true at first."

Okay, so... These people clearly didn't watch the movie. Props for even getting Eric's name right by googling it, I guess.

Sure, some men don't care what a woman has to say and only understand "body language". One of them is named Gaston. Li Shang's soldiers also fall into this camp, until they actually spend time around a real woman and realize that they're, y'know, people too. There are sexists out there, for sure.

Eric is not one of them.

I'm forcing myself to not dive too deep into this, since that will be another post. But Eric literally is not romantically interested in Ariel at first. I mean, he was for a second when he thought she was the amazing woman who saved his life. But when losing her voice rules that out, Eric loses all interest in Ariel... Outside of wanting to help out and befriend this shipwrecked stranger.

Eric only starts to have feelings for her after Ariel manages to show her personality without uttering a single word. She shows Eric that she's fun-loving and adventurous when they explore the city together. That's not "at first". You need to also remember that Disney romances are ALWAYS sped up because of the runtime. You have to suspend your disbelief a bit for the fairy tale to work.

Sorry, but it's not okay to assassinate other characters so you can justify one character that you like. That's my main beef with Maleficent: I can only enjoy it in the mindset of "I'm watching Villain propaganda right now." And let's be honest: that actually makes it even better. I love unreliable narrators.

Cruella avoided this by creating new characters to be the antagonists. Sure, Roger is kind of a dick. But... He's always been a bit if a dick. The lawyer thing was weird, but it doesn't destroy his established character. Not sure why Cruella is going to end up kidnapping puppies, but...

I'm getting off-topic.

My point was: I'm worried about the new Little Mermaid movie. Not the black mermaid thing: there are dark-skinned mermaids in the Animated Series, so those incels are factually wrong. No, I'm worried that Ursula is going to get morally-whitewashed to justify her actions, like they did to Jafar. And Jafar suuuuucccckkkkked. Dude was boring. He was the second biggest crime of that remake.

The first being that Friend Like Me wasn't a 90s Will Smith rap... a la Men In Black and Wild Wild West.

Please just let Ursula be outlandishly evil. That's WHY we love her. Let her be manipulative, power-hungry, and fabulous.

I don't think they're going to.