points at this. Yeah. you get it.
tangential addition about selfishness in sbr because i am cuh-raaaazzzyyyyyyyy. let me preface this by saying this is my half-formed takeaway (i need a reread before i really solidify my feelings) but i want to yammer anyway b/c its fun.
Look- I have a looooottttt of feelings (many of them negative) about how his disability is handled in SBR. I know it's a sign of the times, and I know that miraculous cures were sort of popular in the 2000s, but I still feel a type of way. Unfortunately, Johnny Joestar is also one of my favorite characters ever.
Johnny is, initially, willing to do anything for his idea of stability and normalcy (aka, the ability to walk). Johnny is willing to die for it, for zero. Johnny is self-serving and concerned chiefly with his own personal devices. Boom, done, fits the definition of selfish. But this selfishness is immaterial. There are no women to woo, no trophies, and there's money but it is markedly not what Johnny is after. You cheer for Johnny despite his shitty attitude because, yeah, you know how that feels. You know how it feels to want something so badly and not be able to get it- something important, something vital, something that was once a part of who you are. Do I wish Araki made it something other than walking? Yeah, I do. But this is what we got.
Even in learning to become more compassionate, Johnny remains selfish. He wants to walk, and he wants Gyro to be by his side. He is willing to sacrifice his everything to make sure Gyro stays by his side. Just because he saved Gyro's life doesn't make this a selfless act- he's still selfish.
Lemme do a hard pivot. The True Man's World. Cool. A lot can be said about it, but at its core, the True Man's World is saying kill or be killed. The traditional gun-slinging duel does not just represent humanity's inherent struggle for power against one another, it is that very thing, very literally. Ringo thinks that the world would be better off if it went to this natural state. Ringo thinks this natural state is to eat or be eaten. Gyro and Ringo go at it again and again because Ringo needs Gyro to see. He needs Gyro to be hungry, and he needs Gyro to understand, because he can tell that Gyro isn't hungry. Ringo is also selfish for this. His insistence that Gyro molds himself into this worldview just because he sees it as the most just is selfish. It absolutely helps Gyro down the line, but that doesn't matter because the act is still selfish.
Diego Brando! My favorite little prick. He, too, is selfish! Yes, he fits the bill more neatly because he yearns for material goods. But why does he yearn for the material? Because he grew up dirt poor, and he watched his mother get beaten down and get back up for him. Diego knows damn well what it means to have absolutely nothing- just like OP said. To an extent, Diego shows how selfishness can drive you to that moral gray area, especially in addition to thinking he can rule Manhattan... Get the fuck out of my city, man.
Hot Pants? Selfish. Serving the Vatican is the most noble cause if you're Catholic (which, I am, don't come for me.) But the Vatican is what? Selfish! Hot Pants serves the Papacy out of guilt for her own self-perceived misdeeds. The Vatican is selfish because they want the power of Christ's corpse all for themselves, thus the holy mandate.
Gyro has been resistant to his own humanity. Let me finish! Gregorio's words struck him deeper than he realizes. To be selfish is to be human. Gyro's selfishness is very shallow. He's run off to America for this grand, noble cause because he is angry with his station in life. He is angry with his father. Gyro is foolish. Gyro masks his anger and yearning for Something Else with these noble intentions- similar to Diego in a way I'm having trouble wording right now.
Gyro does not want to admit that he's selfish. Of course, Marco is his priority and he is here, inevitably, for Marco. That is true- I'm not saying Gyro is that much of a dickhead. What I am saying is that there was a subconscious block in Gyro's head about that sentimentality. Gyro thinks his intentions are fully noble, and that he's reclaiming his sentimentality through this nobility, but that's just not the case. It's all shallow. Ringo and Johnny tell Gyro to be selfish. Acknowledge that you're also here for you. You are here because you want to be, because you're human. That's okay. Actually, that's good. Everyone is selfish! Everyone is eating so they don't get eaten! Humans are selfish. Compassion and sympathy and sentimentality make us selfish, because it makes us look out for ourselves and that's good.
Valentine is the result of a skewed, shallow world view about what it means to be virtuous and serve the greater good. Gyro and Johnny are so awfully, terribly human. That is what makes the difference.
anyway dang ive got like an actual paper to write. anyone is free to disagree btw this is just where i took it- i love to hear everyone's interpretation ever i love sbr and i love healthy discourse. ok bye
