farleigh start and racism; oh boy.
(some people are going to find this post really annoying. some people are like felix catton.)
read this.
just some thoughts from the perspective of a person of color who is slightly too obsessed with this character. this movie leaves the viewer a lot of wiggle room to interpret how dynamics such as race and privilege come into play. there are certain parallels between this movie and the real world, and how unnoticeable white privilege tends to be for white people.
lemme lay some groundwork. from what i understand, the most prevalent form of racism and white privilege within upper- and middle-class circles is implicit bias. this is racist conceptualization that subconsciously interacts with one's perception of society and people. implicit bias is often externalized through microaggressions, differences in treatment and language towards a marginalized person, misplaced guilt or pity, and persistent denial of any existing privilege or marginalization. most of these biases are also founded on stereotypes. some racial stereotypes are heightening (e.g. asians are all smart) and some are lowering (e.g. black people are all lazy). all stereotypes are harmful. i'm going to discuss some of the stereotypes that could theoretically interact within the saltburn canon, as well as some things i've noticed within viewers. can of worms, to be honest. boutta get INTO IT.
to use one of my externalization examples, let's discuss (or, more accurately, let me discuss) the denial of existing privilege or marginalization. this is a subconscious way to uphold a sense of morality, effectively avoiding "white guilt," so to speak. as is clearly presented to us, the cattons are very attached to their methods of upholding their own self-righteousness. saviorism is a common theme within both elspeth and felix. in oliver's conversation with elspeth about poor dear pamela, you can see that oliver recognizes elspeth's need to justify her actions in an attempt to preserve her sense of decency. one can only assume that this applies to how they view farleigh's relationship with them. there's more to talk about there, but i'd like to start with the only overt mention of race in this movie.
in felix's confrontation with farleigh, farleigh makes the bold and brave decision to mention his blackness. i call this brave because it's genuinely a terrifying thing to do, and the end of this conversation is proof. "oh, that is... that is low, farleigh. seriously, that's where you want to take this? make it a race thing? i never know our footman's names; the turnover for a footman is notoriously high!" we have felix's intentional or unintentional shaming of farleigh. we have felix's appalled denial of any involvement of race or racial bias. we have felix's diversion away from farleigh specifically and onto his own inability to know his staff's names. felix made no further attempt to recenter farleigh, aside from telling him that the cattons have "done what they can." (which is SO absurd on its own. they are clearly and obviously able to do more. they are disgustingly rich). farleigh does feel ashamed after felix's response; you can see it on his face, and archie says it directly. here is a relevant and prevalent stereotype for all marginalized people: that the discussion of marginalization is exclusively weaponized to gain something or manipulate a situation. this is how felix chooses to see farleigh's implication of existing white privilege. this conversation results in nothing, does nothing, as felix chooses not to confront what he's probably thinking as he repeats the words "begging bowl" to venetia.
now. saviorism, guilt, and pity. felix specifically tells oliver that sir james made an effort to support farleigh out of guilt. i'd like to order some things in a way that i perceive them. frederica start runs from england, which is explained in a condescending way by felix. frederica start marries a so-referred-to "lunatic" who dug through fred and jame's money, although it's farleigh who only mentions fred's financial irresponsibility. out of guilt, james offers to pay for farleigh's education. the specificity of education is compelling to me. perhaps james is simply a patriotic man who strongly believes that english education is better. or this is a mobilized racial stereotype! who can truly know. i digress. james' offer to pay for farleigh's foreign education puts the cattons in an odd position; if farleigh is to attend english schools, he will need to stay with the cattons. if farleigh is staying with the cattons, he will need to be treated as equal to felix and venetia. this is all one long chain of obligations. none of these acts from one family member to another should be considered "charitable," because family should intrinsically create a trustworthy and supportive dynamic.
i believe that the cattons do consider their fostering of farleigh as obligatory. moral obligation, as they recognize that families are intended to have a sympathetic and loving relationship. they cannot, however, escape the truth that they're just guilty. the "begging bowl" and "biting the hand" are more symbolic of a starving dog and its charitable adopter than a cousin/nephew who's staying with his absurdly rich family. see, the cattons are fully and entirely capable of affording another child, of supporting frederica financially, etc. the only way i can rationalize their reluctance to do so is by assuming that they don't feel like farleigh deserves it. is this a crazy assumption? i genuinely don't see why else. of course, i don't think this mentality is explicit or conscious. it's more-so the reality that when farleigh walks in a room, he's not the same as anybody else. aside from background characters at oxbridge, the only on-screen black people are liam, joshua, and james' godson's wife (who gets degraded on-screen). this is the reality of being different in an environment such as the english aristocracy. the cattons choose to see themselves as the hand that feeds the less fortunate, more entertaining, and least inconvenient. the cattons' inclusion of farleigh is not only reliant on how well farleigh performs, but also on their own pity and guilt.
all of this is somehow, painfully mirrored by some takes i've seen on farleigh. maybe this entire post is presumptuous, but you know what isn't presumptuous? saying that certain people hold farleigh to an incredibly odd standard. while the cattons never canonically said anything along the lines of "farleigh doesn't deserve our love and support," mfs on the internet have. the number of times people have referred to this character as greedy, lazy, petty, and malignant is so odd to me. i'm insane, i know. i just don't understand how people can hold farleigh to the backdrop of an english aristocratic family and so passionately say that he, of all characters, is the most detestable. or that he, of all characters, has no reason to behave in the way he does.
is farleigh greedy? greed is defined as a desire for more. farleigh has no desire to climb ranks, no desire to replace or surpass felix, no desire to hold any power over any family member. he is maintaining, upholding a standard that has been set for him throughout his life. is it kind or selfless of him to meddle in other people's affairs with the cattons? no. does he have a reason to be upset that non-relatives of the cattons are a threat to his inclusion in the first place? yes. is farleigh lazy? i don't even need to explain this one. no. if you don't consider oliver lazy, then i really don't want to hear anything. is farleigh petty? pettiness is defined as "an undue concern for trivial matters, especially in a small-minded or spiteful way." farleigh's meticulous attention to trivial matters isn't undue in any sense. a person of color and their meticulous attention to trivial matters is almost never undue. elspeth is a good example of petty. is farleigh malignant? there are a lot of definitions of malignant and i've seen people apply all of them, in some way, to farleigh. that's just wrong. archie madekwe once said, "i was interested in humanizing what, on paper, seemed like a mean character, a villain, or a bully. i don't think he's any of that. he's very self-serving, but i think he's really a heartbreaking character." case closed, this was for my own piece of mind. had to write this section because good lord.
in conclusion to this post that has gone tragically off the rails, i think the in-canon and viewer perspective of farleigh is, perhaps, a little racially motivated. sue me. they are all very centered on this idea that farleigh doesn't deserve inherent respect, support, and love. to remove farleigh's rational position within the cattons family would be akin to removing his right to familial love. genuinely, that's how i see it. the transaction nature of farleigh's actions is responsive. he sees felix as a social shield at oxbridge, he sees elspeth and james as the beholders of his perceived security, and he sees saltburn as a way to escape from his lack of privilege and his lack of stability in america. boom. bam. pow.
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the crouch family
barty, emily, barty, winky, the grandparents
there was nothing bartemius crouch sr loved more than his job, except maybe for emily crouch. their son, barty, was third on the scale of importance. he was part of the family, that's true, but there was a reason he came after emily and his job: emily was his wife and the mother of his son, and his job was what allowed him to support her and the child. barty would never have been born if it hadn't been for these two. therefore, barty was third.
sometimes emily said, jokingly, that barty was married to his job, and that she only got in the way of their love story. other times though, she said the same thing, but angry. or crying. barty wanted to reassure her, but he could never find the words to tell her you are the most important thing to me.
he knew she was right, his job took up a lot of his time. it made him come home late, it forced him to lock himself in his office. it was a big effort, but necessary. and then, once he had shown everyone his commitment and his value, after having defeated voldemort and become minister, he would have had a lot of time to dedicate to his family. first work, then pleasure.
was that what ruined everything in the end? without realizing it, he had put work first. what would have happened if he had come home on time more often?
what would have changed?
emily crouch loved her son with all her heart... but, sometimes, she felt like she was betraying her husband's trust. he had been there before barty was born, she had loved him before their son. so, emily crouch loved her sweet barty with all her heart, but she loved her husband more.
when they met, they were young and immature. he talked to her about his dreams and goals, and she was enchanted by him. he seemed like a serious young man, with a life plan. someone who would give her certainties. it would have been nice if she could marry a boy like that.
on their wedding day he promised her love and respect. and he always kept his promises. it was important for him, who grew up with a violent father and a submissive mother. the horrible and strict grandparents that barty met only once when he was five, and never again. he told her that he didn't want to be like his father, and he didn't want her to have the same fate as his mother. he was always a great husband.
they argued sometimes, they didn't always share the same ideas. but they always found a way to fix everything, they loved each other. he had given her a purpose, emily was not good at anything, neither in magic nor in life. she would have had no future if it weren't for him. she only had eyes for her husband.
was that her mistake, maybe? she should have given barty more love. was she the cause of it all, all that went wrong?
if she had told barty how much she loved him, would anything have changed?
winky was devoted to the crouch family like no one else had ever been. she had deep respect for her masters, she venerated them, she served them with happiness. they were so kind to her, and she was just a house elf.
she served mr. crouch since he was a child, he was very dear to her. mrs. crouch was a wonderful woman. and when little master crouch joined the family, she was so happy: he was the kindest and most polite child she knew.
sometimes she had heard him say terrible things, terrible indeed, that she would never have dared to repeat. that's why she didn't tell her masters. she made a mistake and ruined everything, there was no other explanation. she was unable to protect the family, and when barty escaped from azkaban she did nothing to alleviate his condition. she should have talked to mr. crouch more, persuaded him to be more lenient. he was a man destroyed by grief, but he was forgetting his son again.
had master crouch felt lonely? had he felt unloved? but then, had he listened to her devoted and sincere words, whispered under the invisibility cloak, or had he simply ignored her all these years?
barty crouch jr hated his family. and it wasn't something he tried to hide, even if they didn't seem to understand it. bearing the name crouch was embarrassing and shameful. bearing the exact same name as his father was an insult. what was "family" to others was nothing more than an oppressive group of people to him. they accused him of destroying their lineage, but why would barty feel bad for doing so? why would he pity an absent father and a mother who only loved him when he was weak and alone?
he had to get rid of them to be completely free. and how ironic, after all, hadn't they all sacrificed themselves so that he would be? but freedom wasn't the air outside azkaban, nor his father and winky's desperate attempt to fix everything. freedom was power, control. and his "family" couldn't give him that. they couldn't give him anything... well, except anger and pain.
but, sadly, he already had those.
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I’ve been drawing Vaggie more from different angles and hairstyles but this is the only one ill post for now
We’re gonna pretend I wasn’t on hiatus for 2 days🙈
To be honest I wanted to go longer than that. Maybe a week or two, idk. I’m just not in a good space at all right now and it’s taking everything I’ve got not to relapse or well, collapse.
(you probably shouldn’t read what’s below honestly but if you do, tw!⚠️)
I was fine for a while and now suddenly im back in this horrible place in my mind. I feel like I’m going to explode. My sleep paralysis is getting worse, and i had a seizure for the first time in like 5 years. And I’ve already had reoccurring nightmares of trauma since the age of 3. But apparently, “that’s normal” or “i’ll be fine”, according to literally EVERYONE i tell. I’m not eating or drinking much of anything and I’m constantly reminded that im not enough, which was obvious but it still hurts. I always put others first. I always try to make everyone happy. All my life I’ve tried.. so hard to be perfect for everyone, and okay mentally, but my body just can’t have that at the moment. I want to give in. I do everything for everyone but it’s like no one cares what happens to me as long as they’re happy. I do everything for everyone so they’ll keep me around. Maybe they’ll miss me one day.
I’m trying so hard to hold on and get through it but uhh those unhealthy coping mechanisms are looking mighty fine rn! But uhhh anyways! How are you guys??😍
yeahhahahahgagagagagag um also i found out i have attachment issues yayyyyy…
erm what the sigma🥸‼️
uhh sorry about that! I always keep things like that to myself so feel free to ignore it. I’ll be fine, I always get past it lol
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something something something flatlanders don’t kiss with their mouths because they’ve got too much going on (sharp teeth, retracted eye, etc.) so instead close their eye and press them against each other as a sign of their utmost trust when they’re vulnerable.
[Plain text ID: a digital drawing done in a lineless style of two original, stylised Flatland characters; Atlas and his daughter Stella.
Atlas is a light grey isosceles triangle with a central eye, dark grey limbs, chips in his top and bottom corner, two scars on his left side and one across his eye. He also has a long, dark grey tail with a banner-shaped tip. Stella is a more humanoid character with a large eye for a head, black stick limbs and a thin black tail with a heart-shaped tip. She is wearing a lacy white gown.
Atlas is standing and his eye is closed in a content expression. He is holding Stella to his left with both arms and they are pressing their closed eyes together. Stella is sitting in Atlas’s arms and smiling. She is touching Atlas with her hands; one is laid on his surface and the other is wrapped around his arm that is supporting her body.
The behind them is a yellow crescent moon with a navy earth shadow directly behind Atlas and Stella. The rest of the background is beige.
End ID.]
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