#ed can't read

[thepersianslipper]

Has this been done yet?

[crownspeaksblog]

"He went mad, he tortured the crew, he took my fucking leg, cause i dared to mention your fucking name!"

Goddamn! This line! This line scratches a part of my brain in way that makes me sorta wish we had gotten a full season of angst (I'm glad we didn't though, i wouldn't be able to handle it) but my GOD it's just so good!

Con O'Neills acting and delivery in this scene is just amazing! The way he says "he took my fucking leg, cause i dared to mention your fucking name!" Like the words are seething out of him, he slams the bottle in his hand on the desk, like he can't fucking believe it, can't believe that ed, the man he's probably known from DECADES, would just shoot him, so easily, just for daring to utter fucking stede bonnets, fucking NAME out of his mouth!!

And it's not just cons delivery, it's the ed and stede angst of it all! It's the way ed is caught of guard with izzys audacity to even say "talk it through" the way stede used to say it. It's the way ed wouldn't accept hearing izzy say stedes name or mention eds feelings for stede, let alone infront of the crew. It's the look on eds face and the way he nodes his head like this is what you get, the second he shots izzy!

But yeah, that line is the epitome of brain scratching for me! Go listen to it again. I'm not giving this line the justice it deserves, go listen to it again!! It's glorious!

[xray-vex]

hey remember when the OFMD s2 teaser video dropped and there were people who were somehow CONVINCED that Stede was referring to Izzy when he said "I don't care what any of you say, he's actually a good guy" and not, y'know, Ed, whom they were literally just talking about in this scene?

like what the hell was that about

[cuddlytogas]

there was some Twitter madness recently where someone left a comment on someone's art to the effect of, "Ed shouldn't wear a dress, he's a man!" which I do disagree with on principle, but unfortunately, it brought out one of my least favourite trends in the fandom

so, naturally, I had to write a twitter essay about it. and I already largely argued this in a post here, but the thread is clearer and better structured, so I thought I'd cross-post for those not on the Hellsite (derogatory). edited for formatting/structure's sake, since I no longer have to keep to tweet lengths, and incorporating a couple of points other people brought up in the replies

so

I want to point out that the wedding cake toppers in OFMD s2 aren't evidence that Ed wants to wear dresses. Gender is fake, men can wear skirts, play with these dolls how you like, but it's not canon, and that scene especially Doesn't Mean That.

People cite it often: 'He put himself in a dress by painting the bride as himself! It's what he wants!' But that fundamentally misunderstands the scene, and the series' framing of weddings as a whole. I'd argue that Ed paints the figure not from desire, but from self-hatred; it's not what he wants, but what he thinks he should, and has failed to, be.

(Yes, I am slightly biased by my rampant anti-marriage opinions, but bear with me here, because it is relevant to the interpretation of the scene, and season two as a whole.)

The show is not subtle. It keeps telling us that the institution of marriage is a prison that suffocates everyone involved. Ed's parents' cycle of abuse is passed to their son in both the violence he witnesses then enacts on his father, and the self-repression his mother teaches, despite her good intentions ("It's not up to us, is it? It's up to God. ... We're just not those kind of people. We never will be."). Stede and Mary are both oppressed by their arranged marriage, with 1x04 blunty titled Discomfort in a Married State. The Barbados widows revel in their freedom ("We're alive. They're dead. Now is your time").

But even without this context, the particular wedding crashed in 2x01 is COMICALLY evil. The scene is introduced with this speech from the priest:

"The natural condition of humanity is base and vile. It is the obligation of people of standing ... to elevate the common human rabble through the sacred transaction of matrimony."

It's upper class, all-white, and religiously sanctioned. "Vile natural conditions" include queerness, sexual freedom, and family structures outside the cisheteropatriarchal capitalist unit. "The obligation of people of standing" invokes ideas like the white man's burden, innate class hierarchy, religious missions, and conversion therapy. Matrimony is presented as both "sacred" (endorsed by the ruling religious body), and a "transaction" (business performed to transfer property and people-as-property, regardless of their desires), a tool of the oppressive society that pirates escape and destroy. That is where the figurines come from.

When Ed, in a drunk, depressive spiral, paints himself onto the bride, he's not yearning for a pretty dress. He's sort of yearning for a wedding, but that's not framed as positive. What he's doing is projecting himself into an 'ideal' image of marriage because he believes that: a) that's what Stede (and everyone) wants; b) he can never live up to that ideal because he's unlovable and broken (brown, queer, lower-class, violent, abused, etc); c) that's why Stede left. He tries to make himself fit into the social ideal by painting himself onto the closest match - long-haired, partner to Stede/groom, but a demure, white woman, a frozen, porcelain miniature - because, if he could just shrink himself down and squeeze into that box, maybe Stede would love him and he'd live happily ever after. But he can't. So he won't.

The fantasy fails: Ed is morose, turns away from the figurines, then tips them into the sea, a lost cause. He knows he won't ever fulfil that bride's role, but he sees that as a failure in himself, not the role. It's not just that "Stede left, so Ed will never have a dream wedding and might as well die." Stede left when Ed was honest and vulnerable, "proving" what his trauma and depression tell him: there's one image of love (of personhood), and he'll never live up to it because he's fundamentally deficient. So he might as well die.

This hit me from my very first viewing. The scene is devastating, because Ed is wrong, and we know it! He doesn't need to change or reduce himself to fit an image and be accepted (as, eg, Izzy demanded). Stede knows and loves him exactly as he is; it's the main thread and theme of season two!

(@/everyonegetcake suggested that Ed's yearning in these scenes includes his broader desire for the vulnerability and safety Stede offered, literalised through unattainable "fine" things like the status of gentleman in s1, or the figurine's blue dress. I'd argue, though, that these scenes don't incorporate this beyond a general knowledge of Ed's character. Ed is always pining for both literal and emotional softness, but the significance of the figurines specifically, to both Ed and the audience, is poisoned by their origin and context: there is no positive fantasy in the bride figure, only Ed's perceived deficiency.

Further, assuming that a desire for vulnerability necessarily corresponds with an explicit desire for femininity, dresses, etc, kind of contradicts the major themes of the show. OFMD asserts that there is nothing wrong with men assuming femininity (through drag, self-care, nurturing, emotional vulnerability, etc), but also that many of these traits are, in fact, genderless, and should be available to men without affecting their perceived or actual masculinity. It thematically invokes the potential for cross-gender expression in Ed's desires, especially through the transgender echoes in his relieved disposal, then comfortable reincorporation, of the Blackbeard leathers/identity. It's a rich, valuable area of analysis and exploration. But it remains a suggestion, not a canon or on-screen trait.)

Importantly, the groom figure doesn't fit Stede, either. Not just in dress: it's stiff and formal, and marriage nearly killed him. He's shabbier now, yes, but also shedding his privilege and property, embracing his queerness, and trying to take responsibility for his community. In a s1 flashback, Stede hesitantly says, "I thought that, when I did marry, it could be for love," but he would never find love in marriage. Not just because he's gay, but because marriage in OFMD is an oppressive, transactional institution that precludes love altogether. All formal marriages in OFMD are loveless.

So, he becomes a pirate, where they reject society altogether and have matelotages instead. Lucius and Pete's "mateys" ceremony is shot and framed not like a wedding, but as an honest, personal bond, willingly conducted in community (in a circle; no presiding authority, procession, or transaction).

That is how Stede and Ed can find love, companionship, and happiness: by rejecting those figurines and their oppressive exchange of property, overseen by a church that enables colonialism and abuse. Ed is loved, and deserves happiness, as he is, no paint or projection required.

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY: draw Ed in dresses! Write him getting gender euphoria in skirts! Write trans/nb Ed, draw men being feminine! Gender is fake, the show invites exploration, that's what 'transformative works' means! But please, stop citing the cake toppers as evidence it's canon. Stop citing a scene where a depressed Māori man gets drunk and projects himself onto a rich, white, silent bride because he thinks he's innately unlovable and only people like her can find happiness, shortly before deciding to kill himself, as canon evidence it's what he wants.

(Also, please don't come in here with "lmao we're just having fun," I know, I get it. Unfortunately, I'm an academiapilled researchmaxxer, and some of youse need to remember that the word "canon" has meaning. NOW GO HAVE FUN PUTTING THAT MAN IN A PRETTY DRESS!! 💖💖)

[babykittenteach]

He's fine.

[bizarrelittlemew]

every time i see "Ed asks Lucius to write down his lyrics" used as an argument for claiming that Ed can't write i just want to. you know. point out that Stede has Lucius write down everything he says?? and does?? all the time?? and when he can't find Lucius he asks Frenchie (who actually cannot write) to do it instead of just writing it himself. and we know Stede can write. it's got nothing to do with ability to write, just that the captains don't seem to want to write stuff themselves when they have an employee whose job is to do that exact thing for them

[ofmdee]

81 pics in my part 30 folder, 38 made it into the chapter itself 😂

i might cut down the sexy stuff, idk, the chapter is 7.2k words before editing lmfao, and when i edit i usually add more to each scene

but also who is gonna complain about a longer sex scene? 😂

much 2 ponder

gonna try to get this edited over the weekend!!! 😤

catch up before the next chapter drops~!

[waitineedaname]

how long did it take for greed to figure out ling is fifteen. people always joke about him realizing he's not legally old enough to drink, but tbh they're always talking about ling looking older than he is and I think the much more pressing issue with purchasing alcohol would be that ling doesn't have any legal ID. personally i think it would be very funny if greed didn't realize for ages and then ed turns sixteen during the camping trip and is like "haha what's it like being fifteen loser" and greed is like Excuse Me. What.

[serious-goose]

ngl when izzy got the note about his leg, i thought he was going to say something like "i wish i could fucking read" and burst into tears

[purplebass]

The owlcrate special adsom edition reminding me that I'm too poor to spend money on physical books nowadays lmao

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Your analyses are the best. They are so fun to read and I over think everything afterwarrs

Thank you!

For analyses above my level, I highly recommend checking out these if you haven't already read them:

The two chapters of Kei Toda's Reading The Promised Neverland with a British/American Literature Scholar (2020) that have been translated into English by fans (Chapter 2: Religion by @thathilomgirl & @0hana0fubuki0 | Chapter 3: Gender by @1000sunnygo)

Anime Feminist's "Emma’s Choice: The gender-norm nightmare at the heart of The Promised Neverland" article (2018) (good follow-up to Toda's chapter on gender)

Jackson P. Brown's "Thoughts on… The Promised Neverland, and Black Women in Manga" (2018) blog post and Zeria's video essay/blog post (2019) on Krone's depiction

Jairus Taylor's "The Unfulfilled Potential of The Promised Neverland Anime" (2021) which made me more open to the idea of a remake of S1

For tumblr posts (some of these I'm linking through my blog because I either had a minor link addition or think the OP's/prev's tags deserve to be seen and rebloggable, but you can just click through to the original post):

@puff-poff's exploration of the demon world's culture (Part 1 & Part 2)

@just-like-playing-tag's examination of the farm system, Emma character analysis launched by a minute change in S2e02, and mini-Isabella analysis regarding her treatment of Ray (along with her blog just being a wealth of knowledge in general)

@hylialeia's post on the series' handling of Norman's plan/the oppressed and oppressors

@avadescent's analysis of the S2 ED album art (Norman and Emma are perpendicular; Emma and Ray are parallel.)

@linkspooky has a lot of analyses from when the series was running but special mention to this analysis of Norman's character

@vobomon also has a lot but special mention to her Norman is autistic and Norman has PTSD posts

@goldiipond's "Ray is autistic" essay

@emmaspolaroid with some of the best Emma and Emma & Isabella meta in general

@nullaby's post on Isabella and Ray's relationship

[xoxoemynn]

Really need people to examine why they're so insistent Ed can't read when we have evidence of him being able to do so SINCE SEASON ONE.

[thermoskind]

in the letter ed found stede said he wrote to him every day. how close to that beach is ed and stede's inn and how long would it be for the rest to wash up on shore for him to find? will he be able to take a stroll and find a bottle in the sand and know it's for him? and if he found them all, what's to stop stede from writing new letters and taking them down to the beach for him to find?

[andromedaexists]

"i'm literally never beating the allegations" and then the allegations are that i like skrunkly looking guys

[beeeinyourbonnet]

Fanfic bingo!

Thank you @deliriumsdelight7 for the tag!

thought I was gonna get bingo at least twice, but unfortunately, my yolo nature of assuming I will remember my entire plot from now until eternity lost me that left row.

TAGGING: @bearrycool @goldenwingediris @darklybound @ladymaliwan @threepwoodmarley @suchadearie

Blank bingo card under the cut!

[grubus]

what influenced your writing style? I really love how you switch between humor and heartwrenching, sometimes in the same sentence.

I got no clue <<

I'm always curious how people figure out what influenced them. Is it just what you like to read? Watch?

The Martian is my favorite book, I love Murderbot Diaries as well. I love how "The S Classes That I Raised" explores relationships, I love the unreliable narration of svsss as much as I love how it embraces the love for story telling. I adore Solo Leveling (the comics) for having a super powerful mc whose driving force is family and survival. My go-to fantasy series when growing up was anything David Eddings wrote, and my favorite was "The Redemption of Althalus" but I imagine what truly influenced me was the Belgarath and Polgara books??? Maybe??????? Or maybe it was The Golden Compass, with the Morals and Souls and Found Family. I love the unending hope and despair of any transformers, Mass Effect and Dragon Age and even Hollow Knight both grabbed me by the throat with their world buildings and politics and world ending threats, xxxholic made me cry as a teeny teenager and Inuyasha (the manga) and HunterxHunter made me first interested in the Horrors and Relationships,, and!!!!!!!!

I dunno I just like storytelling.

Though I've been told before that people enjoy how I switch between comedy and sad, and I'm always very flattered when they do <3