#holy shit indidnt mean to write an essay

[aroaceacacia]

What is your twitter dude I've looked up every variation of all of your usernames that I can think of but I can't find it lmao I wanna know your thoughts on mask

@ genesisfr0g !!! it's not intuitive sorry, genesis frog & variations of that are what I usually go by online, tumblr happens to be the exception

I'll give more thought through thoughts here. I think dream meant well with mask, but its message came off strange to me. (I understand that it's just his own personal experience, but from everything I can tell, it's not healthy behavior.)

the way the end of the song is not a happy/conclusive ending ("I've been wearing a smile so long it's real", implying he has become the mask), but the end of the music video is happy? it's this strange dissonance to me that feels deeply wrong, almost like dream misinterpreted his own song; mask is about masking his neurodivergence and his mental health struggles, and the conclusion the video draws is... to do that indefinitely for so long that you repress/ignore your struggles

similarly to that, the happy ending of the video kinda clashes for me with the dumping meds scene. dumping medication impulsively, without talking to your doctor, is not a good thing. you don't have to take medication to cope w mental health, because there is no "one size fits all" tool, but the mask video does not show dream actually building any coping mechanisms and instead just... pretending like everything is fine. that doesn't sit well with me, and it's why the mask video feels to some people like it lowkey endorses not taking medication (that and the ridiculous phrasing of "normal pills", "you are not normal" on the doctor's note, etc).

all of this to say, this all rubs me the wrong way in part because dream (imo) clearly does not have all of the tools he needs to cope with his ADHD? he's impulsive and he lashes out on twitter, which consistently leads to him stepping in shit and causing controversy after controversy. he's a creator with 23 million subscribers, he has millions of eyes on him and just as many people waiting to criticize him and tear him down.

I understand people arent perfect but in situations like, say, after an MCC where the winning team appeared to "cheat", Dream going on his roommate's stream and jokingly and loudly accusing his friend/coworker of cheating via a glitch that's affected just about everyone in the game at some point, to an audience of 100k+ very passionate young people, or when he's being accused of cheating by speedrun mods whove done math and think his run should be invalid and he doesnt remember cheating on purpose, Dream needs something or someone to make him stop, wait, and think about what he's about to do before he says anything. I recognize that he seems to be aware of his flaws and hes very willing to admit that hes fucked up when he thinks he needs to, but he just keeps doing this over and over? Some/most of his twitter fans pull the "he has ADHD" card to a lot of his criticism in this vein, and yeah he sure does, but he also needs to try and improve himself - it's not an excuse to continue in this way

so overall, the impression I get is that dream is a young man with a disability (ADHD) who's never really been part of a community with other neurodivergent/disabled people, who purposefully ditched one of the tools he was offered to cope with his disability (the medication), and since then has not actually learned how to cope or asked his existing support system to help accommodate his needs (i.e. asking someone he trusts before making potentially inflammatory tweets, or even having a PR manager). and basically, none of it is good, imo

in terms of mental health & neurodivergence there are creators who are more frank and honest and healthy with how they cope and get through it. for example- plumbella is autistic and has been open with their anxiety, taking breaks, and getting help!

im not saying that dream needs to spill his life story/every detail of his mental health history or whatever, but I think this whole essay can clarify to you that the overall impression I get is that dream does not cope with his ADHD in a way that is healthy or actually constructive and the mask music video unintentionally validates that.

if people find comfort in mask by dream, I'm not trying to take that away from them; I'm just offering my perspective as a medicated person with ADHD around dream's age.

also just, the music video was not well written - the story was shown to the audience in a way that felt. uncreative. straightforward. Like there wasn't a lot of artistry in it? the character designs were very unsettling, and the movements/animation was very slow. that animation works in a few shots, and the lighting was beautiful, but overall the MV did not look good and it wasn't enough of an engaging or interesting story to want to bring me back to watch it again

tl;dr mask didnt look good and it had themes that trouble me bc they seem to fall into a pattern of dream not actually successfully coping with his ADHD and as a result causing problems for the greater MCYT community