#like i love jughead this isn't anti-jug or anything just to be clear but the show has imo perfectly established how traumatised jughead

[leotanaka]

jughead almost immediately removing himself from the musical aka the narrative the moment that someone else (kevin & clay) starts writing their own version of it and in turn, his removal from controlling the narrative ends up allowing the characters to take back control of their own narrative because when jughead writes and rewrites the story, it ends up trapping the characters deeper inside the narrative and the cycles they are desperate to escape until they are repeating the same behaviours over and over again but when kevin & clay write and rewrite the story, it ends up giving the characters back their agency because they're trying to help them which then allows them to break free from the narrative and walk away.

[thetaoofbetty]

I think with the whole darkness is bad discourse, one of my favourite scenes from season 2 finale. Betty and Jughead are babysitting the twins and Betty asks if evil can be passed on and thinking about her dad and the black hood and all that. Jughead says she has some darkness in her just like him. It's interesting the shift from how Betty and Chic would talk about darkness compared to how Betty and Jughead do. Flash forward to s4 finale, Betty isn't upset that Jug wrote them as a murder couple.

Hello beautiful! 

I mean, I think there’s something to be said in the message that the more righteous you think you are, it’s almost guaranteed that you are, in fact, part of the problem. 

That Jughead has always reassured her on her insecurities should speak very loudly to people but alas. This ties into what I’m about to say next but there’s a clear line in the sand on people who can’t see why we think Jughead and Betty are good together and why he’s a better match for her in our minds vs Archie. 

And, uh, you know, having some actual self-awareness. 

~Incoming tangent on FanPolicing~

Hal felt righteous in his choices. Betty never did. That’s the difference. How often do people who feel morally superior tell on themselves? How often do we see people damning the fictional escape of others being some of the most judgmental and hateful people out there? 

I’ve never met someone who’s accepted that there’s a whole lot of gray area in life condemning others for what they enjoy in fiction. Most people without an agenda accept that we know wrong from right. 

Unfortunately for people (antis) who want to police how and what people ship, they’re always on the other side of that. They find something they deem “wrong” and then declare us morally bankrupt for not agreeing with them. 

They’re the Hal, here. Not us, not Betty and Jug. Betty and Jughead have accepted their demons and are just trying to do the best they can. The s4 finale proves that. People working out the darkest parts of themselves in fiction has been happening for as long as people tell stories. That’s where you work it out. Fantasizing has never been the problem. Writing it down isn’t condoning it. Reading it isn’t condoning it. Enjoying a fictional dynamic isn’t approval of A Thing. 

That people think Jughead corrupted Betty in any fashion is just another misogynistic take wrapped up in gender roles and the ownership of women. Giving each other the safe place to be the darkest version of themselves in fantasy is not corruption, it’s acceptance and love. If anything, he gave Betty the space she needed in the story he wrote to get the revenge she so clearly wanted but couldn’t act on. Something I don’t think anyone else would have been able to do since I doubt anyone knows her like he does. 

The problem I have with some of the people who want B/A is that there seems to be some sort of purity aspect to it and they think Archie is going to “fix” Betty. Jughead’s love isn’t based on the idea of Betty he has, he loves her just as she is. If they can’t see why one is horrifying to some and the other isn’t, they’re not really people I want to know, tbh.