#So she thinks the crux here isn't that Garak himself did especially bad things but presumes he himself is marginalized by the State | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bijoumikhawal · 2 years

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the thing I'm struggling with in RTD (since a big theme is intergenerational trauma) is less instinctively pulling back from depicting fucked up shit that happens irl (though that happens) and more in Garak's case trying to balance fucked up shit happening to him and not making him fall into a weird position. I can't write him as doing fucked up shit so much- partially because he's had a bit of character development from the occupation, and partially because he's not in a position of power to act in certain ways.

#Cipher talk #Something I'm doing with Leeta is that she has VERY limited information about Garak so what she knows is: he was on the station under Dukat #Dukat hates him and treated him incredibly poorly as did the other Cardassians #He cannot return to Cardassia #He stayed behind on the station when it was about to go kablooey instead of escaping to try and help #And that's it #And she is a genuinely insightful person but her insight leads her in a very particular direction #So she thinks the crux here isn't that Garak himself did especially bad things but presumes he himself is marginalized by the State #Which isn't exactly wrong #And that he's refusing to sympathize with her because admitting they have something in common is admitting he's inferior #Which also isn't exactly wrong Garak does have ladder syndrome a bit #Anyway he ends up thinking about this after the episode where they get zapped back to the occupation #Because I've always found the double consciousness there interesting where garak talks a lot of shit about how great Cardassia is #And the supremacy of Cardassian society and how if he can tell the guards he's an order agent it'll fix everything #But doesn't actually act accordingly what with immediately pick pocketing a soldier #And the point of Leeta being the way she is is frankly to explain why she doesn't balk at Julian using their open relationship to fool #Around with Garak and to deny Garak the catharsis of being punished. He acts the way he does in part because a negative reaction- one he #Provokes instead of something just happening to him- is better than being ignored #But also I wonder if someone should confront him #His and Ziyal's relationship here is shaping up interesting because Ziyal is aware of her class privilege as Dukat's daughter just as much #As she is of her mixed heritage making her rejected and she absolutely will use it without thought bc she knows how limited she is

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