#and taika does bring such a specific viewpoint you cant really ignore the influence of here

[biancathecrossbow]

I love your OFMD takes so much. Can you expand on this show being about toxic masculinity?

Sure! Youre gonna wish you hadnt asked me though because unfortunately this is a big interest of mine. I am *checks notes* one month from finishing my degree with an emphasis on gender socialization, and I work in the field of gender based violence so I LOVE to talk about toxic masculinity.

I was kinda worried going into this show because it has a distinct lack of women characters. And dont get me wrong, I think they can and will add more but I think this cast works well in the theme of this show for this season. This show is kind of a big alegory for gender norms!

Let me preface by saying that not all masculinity = toxic masculinity. Which is a major point of this show as well. We tend to use 4 indicators for toxic masculinity when we study it;

1) the normalization of casual violence

2) the repression of emotions and communication about emotions, and channeling negative emotions into anger instead (this typically stems from the idea that emotions = weak)

3) the glorification of "success", wealth, and power as the core reason you exist as a man

4) a hyperfixation on (hetero) sex as a status indicator (this one isnt very prevalant in this show so I wont touch on it much here)

The first and second episodes set the tone perfectly. Stede is a character who is not masculine AT ALL, its litterally the first thing we learn about him as well as the fact hes kind of insecure about it. Despite that, it is NEVER Stedes goal to embody traditional masculinity. He wants to be braver and more competent, sure, but he still values kindness, education, and open communication, and by the end of episode 2 has decided he is going to define masculinity (his pirate identity) for himself. The scene where Nigel describes bullying Stede as a fun little joke shows off why perfectly. Stede has been isolated by the expectation of the masculine, and he isnt interested in being isolated any more.

This is a key value that Stede holds, and it comes up multiple times. Another place I like to see this value in action is episode 8. Calico Jack is a caricature of what toxic masculinity is. I didnt notice until my 2nd watch through, but before Jack accidentally kills Karl, he injures and mocks multiple members of Stedes crew, consistently playing it off as a joke. Sound familiar? Theres a sense of peer pressure that comes with toxic masculinity, because men typically reinforce it among each other. Jack obviously influences Ed, but to some extent both of them are also influencing Stedes crew. At some point you can tell the crew is just NOT into this vibe any more but they keep hanging out because Blackbeard is there and they idoloze him. And in an amazing moment of character development, Stede is not willing to put up with it. At some point he goes no, we arent doing this. And not just to Jack either, hes pretty done with Ed acting that way as well.

On the subject of Stedes crew, they really show off the fluid nature of the masculine and feminine. While they start off seeming hyper masculine and semi-violent, they all break down into more realistic existances of both pretty quickly. They like dressing up, interior design, and they like sewing! But they still like blowing shit up and being rowdy boys. You see this best with how the crew interacts with Izzy, so Ill touch on him next.

While Jack is a caricature of toxic masculinity, Izzy is more the embodiment of it. You get soft character moments for EVERYONE in this show, even Ivan and Fang have tender moments where they cry. Except for Izzy (dont worry though, I have a feeling we will). And Izzy isnt just masculine, hes aggressive and hostile towards femininity. He loathes Stede and Lucius more than any other characters, and they have the most feminine demeanors of the entire cast. He has visceral reactions of disgust to open communication, and open displays of affection. Hes very locked up in his own personal idea of masculinity, which is unfortunately based heavily on the influence of Blackbeard. But masculinity doesnt serve Izzy here. He takes nothing but L's from the first moment we meet him, and the crew of the Revenge doesnt really respect him because they are learning from Stede that masculinity isnt everything, and Izzy is a repressed little freak.

So now we have our spectrum and extreme sides covered, we can talk about Edward because really, this aspect of the plot is his alone to experience this season.

Edward sways back and forth so much in this show that it is JARRING. He clearly has very little sense of self, especially now that he has spent a career of piracy being whatever everyone expects him to be. Edward is a different person depending on who is currently observing him. Alone with Izzy but kind of in general, he is domineering and vaguely crazy. Theatrical and braggy, yes, but still the scariest person in the room most of the time.

Alone with Stede, we realize that Edward is also smart as fuck, he can read and write and play the piano for Gods sake. He loves the things everyone else has hated about Stede up til now; his clothes, his eccentricity, even his library. We realize pretty quick that THIS is who Edward really is, he just cant shake the shadow of his guilt or his anger issues or his feelings of incomptence. (In short, he cant shake his toxic masculinity.)

Again we see the influence of pressure both on an individual peer level and on a societal one. Ed talks a big game, but he bends to what Izzy says because he cant take people seeing him as weak. He hates his life, he doesnt even really seem to like his crew, but its all he has ever really had and he cant figure out how to let it go. Even after Izzy gets thrown off the ship, Ed cant stop being a dick and he doesnt even realize hes doing it until Lucius points it out to him.

But he starts to change! At first its treated like a passing curiosity for the aristocrat life, but that curiosity is something Ed has always had. In the moonlight scene, Ed realizes that someone is finally seeing him for who he really is; soft and insecure, and that they still like him anyway. The bathtub scene we see Ed accept that he does have fears and he does regret the violent things he has done. Eds anger issues start to dissipate almost immediately after episode five.

But the pressure persists. I love the scene where Izzy challenges Stede to a duel, and Ed is clearly very afraid for Stedes life and he could certainly intervene, but instead he cowers and cant even watch. The audience once again gets to him. He cant intervene because again, he doesnt want to be accused of having a weakness in his feelings for Stede. Compare this though to episode 9 where, in front of God and Izzy and everybody, Ed interneves in the most dramatic way to save Stedes life and he doesnt care who sees. Why the change?

The episode with Calico Jack is simply SO GOOD for Eds arc. I mentioned it in the other post, but the scene where he tells Stede "but this IS who I am", and Stede looks skeptical, is pretty much a spot on analysis of him over the course of this whole show. Also, I really like Jacks line; "what kind of pirates have friends?" Its well considered that toxic maxculinity makes manhood very emotionally isolating, and men struggle to have deep friendships as a result.

Put simply, Ed changed because he realizes he can not have both. He can not have Stede and also hold on to Blackbeard, to being angry and apathetic towards death while he represses his emotions via substance abuse and casual violence. While some of these men are learning to definine their masculinity themselves, Edward has to learn to not let it define him, period.

It is vital to his story to understand that Edward had an abusive childhood. Though we dont see very much of it, its really guiding his behavior. He doesnt have the tools to understand other ways of being. Kids who grow up in abusive households become desperate for gaining control any way they can. He doesnt know how else to act, but he wants to. And he begins to.

So I also think its nice that after the breakup, Ed doesnt immediately revert back to his old ways. He has changed as a person, maybe because of Stede initially but now he knows he has to do it for himself. He lets himself feel grief. He opens up to Lucius and the rest of the crew. He indulges in things that make him feel genuinely better; eating sweet treats and crying and writing sad songs. And its probably a lot harder to do that than it would be to give in to rage.

Then here comes the hypermasculine devil on his shoulder to push him back in the other direction. Izzy points at all these healthy coping skills and calls them a weakness, says DEATH is better than being weak. And Edward reverts back to being a scared and helpless kid, unable to stop the pain of except through more violence. And Edward is still in so much pain, still so heartbroken, he would do anything to get control back and to stop feeling weak. So he does. Because its easier, and its what he knows. And because he now associates these good things with Stede.

I just think its a neat way to tell a story. In this same vein, I also kinda dont think that Ed really wants to leave piracy and run away with Stede. We see in other shows how characters use physically running away to mentally run away from difficult feelings. I think Ed cant imagine staying a pirate and staying with Stede, because then be would have to make sense of these two worlds and two identities and find a middle ground which he doesnt think is possible for him. Theres a reason he only truly breathes and slows down when hes on land and far from everyone else with Stede. He is still very concerned about how others are going to view him.

Obviously this isnt the ONLY theme of the show, but I think its a really important one AND I think we will keep seeing gender broken down like this. We have a lot of media that redefines what it means to be a woman (because women have had the shit ass end of history and they of course deserve narratives deconstructing the bullshit) and I think this show will touch on that as well. Its just very refreshing to see a show approach how MEN experience the patriarchy in a way that is so accessible and funny. Because the nature of toxic masculinity is that it DOESNT serve men, but we dont talk about that enough. Men benefit from the patriarchy in an overarching way, but they suffer in interpersonal relationships and I do think its time we show that head on.

Excited for what this show will do next. I hope Izzy gets a chance to self reflect a bit and chill the fuck out.