Mob Psycho 100 & Legend of Korra - Power Imbalances and Parrallels
While looking at MP100 through a power lens, it is important to note that Mob is a part of the oppressive group. He rejects the ideals the group holds, and since their society is not founded on the ideals of esper dominance, he is able to do this gracefully and prevent the more prominent power structure from being formed. On a smaller scale, Mob goes throughout his life dismantling the oppressive power structures he finds. He is active in undermining the potentially brutal oppression that non-espers would end up facing
The Legend of Korra is actually really good media to look at when discussing this topic. That is a society that had those with supernatural powers, who were the minority, gain social capital and power enough that they were the oppressive force. And when confronted with this fact and potential uprising, Korra defends the current power structure because it benefits her, and she is unable to recognize it's flaws.
Mob is in a society that would take place before such a power structure is set up. when the minority (espers) see the potential to take power in their society, they are just beginning to do so. It is only happening on small scales, the espers are not yet organized enough to become a societally oppressive force, but in their own individual lives, we can see that most espers are taking social control. When Mob is presented with the opportunity to become an oppressor, he rejects it, and dismantles any potential power he could hold in a society at large. The values that his mentor, a non esper, placed in him, were what prevented him from doing so. Had he grown up surrounded by other espers, or people who enabled a hunger for power and dominance, he mightâve become one of the most potentially brutal oppressors.
Looping this back to LoK, if Korra had non bending mentors, she may not have dismissed (and ANTAGONIZED)this issues of the oppressed. And in this sense, they are two sides of the same coin. Korra is a super powerful member of an already ruling class, and thus she ignores the struggles of the oppressed, because she has never had to understand their struggles. Mob, on the other hand, has had to experience these struggles. And if he is read as autistic, and we see the social rejection and pain he faces in childhood as ableism, then we see that Mob is ABLE to empathize with the struggles of the oppressed because of his own experience being part of an oppressed group.
Itâs important Mob Psycho does not allow it's two groups to be simply categorized into âoppressionâ and âoppressedâ, i am only doing so for the sake of disucssion, and itâs more shorthand for the complex power dynamic between espers and non-espers. The espers are not already the ruling class, but they are in the process of trying to obtain that status, and in their own induvidual lives, they are the dominating force. Korra is the opposite, with the oppressed class trying to gain social capital. In both, the status quo is ultimately maintained. Non-Benders remain the lower class, and espers reamian in the not-quite-ruling-class status. Â Mob is able to represent (and empathize with) the non-espers (in battles) through his empathy from own upbringing, and his being mentored by a non-esper. Him being autistic allows him to understand both groups strugglesâ on a deeper level. And ultimately, he was able to prevent or stop (on multiple occasions) this unequal power dynamic from continuing or being achived at a larger level
and i think, on a deeper level, this speaks a lot to intersectionality. Mobâs struggles as an autistic person allows him to empathize and fight for the non espers from a position of privilidge as an esper.
Korra struggles with this because her upbringing was incredibly privliged and sheltered, and thus the first time she faced such adversity was when the non-benders were protesting the unequal power structure in her society, at which she was at the top. Also, when she meets the Equalists, Korra isnât yet surrounded by non-benders. she doesnt empathize with them or accept their struggles. Mob grew up around non-espers, and through that was able to understand them on a deeper level.
Please add any thoughts, comments, opinions, or critics!
