That's it I can't take it anymore I hope the creator of this tiktok has a terrible day
edittt 2026: rereading this a year later n (while I meant it as a joke) I feel so mean about this post!! This person was also just joking n as you can see even liked the comment that brings up his actual arc, which i know in the old tags (screenshot) i said i found hypocritical but like,,,, i was just being insufferable LoL
i just get tired of gil hate cuz i think its 1. exaggerated- as it doesn't criticise HOW they handle him being prejudiced in his arc, but JUST that he has an arc about being initially prejudiced and changing (which imo is in concept actually a rlly important message for kids!!) and 2. Discussions/hate about fake in-story racism by Gil seem to over-shadows discussions about real racism of the brand ._.
i understand ppl hate gil bc the gil/lagoona "fantasy-racism" arc bc is poorly executed - i very much agree and imo it's by default an insensitive way to depic the topic of racism bc A) fantasy racism is a stupid trope often belittling of the issue, especially when lagoona is supposed to be discriminated as a POC, but her (and her dad's) features are blonde w straight hair and blue eyes and B) it being a romance makes it worse tbh. Like: Gil does remark he's also fighting just for their friendship in the show, but the narrative still pushed the idea that he does this out of romantic love and that Lagoona endures it out of romantic love and that's quite a contrived+toxic way to pose it.
Other than this, there's the fact that (C) the writing doesn't commit to treating this as an actual arc, but constantly exploit this icky "pseudo-racial" conflict for cheap romance drama. Which is not only redundant, but also even more insensitive and dries the premise of any possible meaning/moral it is meant to be showcasing.
Like I think Gil's story of "sometimes YOU are the bad guy, and YOU have to question your own prejudice and work on it" IS A SUPER IMPORTANT LESSON FOR CHILDREN!!! Like, it's a teaching meant to counter that "and the bullies cried to dumbo too" fenomenon, like telling kids they (as "protagonists") are not gonna always be right and are not necesserly the heroes or victims, and saying they will need to question their prejudice+faults and work to change them *is GOOD* on paper.
BUT again i think it FALLS FLAT, bc the white kids that are supposed to be learning this might not really get the message when it's filtered through stupid "fantasy racism" romance - bc the fantasy racism IS the dumbo. Like, they're gonna feel sad for lagoona and gil *as sea monsters* but that's not DIRECTLY gonna translate into questioning IRL discrimination or anything ... it might be taken by kids at face-value, since the representation and argument the story it's trying to make are so passive and vague in MH.
THE THING IS. I DONT THINK THIS IS A REASON TO HATE GIL. Like: i think it's reductive to hate Gil's character, when I think the actual issue it's the bigger story and it's execution!!!
I think saying "gil is racist" is STUPID bc the point shoudn't be that gil/his family is racist. BUT that the NARRATIVE doesn't take seriously the racism commentary that it's supposed to be making. Like, again, Gil being a flawed character wouldn't be an issue if it was part of a story that seriously tried to teach children to question prejudice.
The BIGGER RACISM is MH's writing team treating prejudice as drama. Racism as drama. As a "story conflict" they can sprinkle around when they run out of ideas . which is MINIMISING the topic!! it's exploiting it!! It's this idea of "yeah we are the diverse inclusive brand TM, we comment on being *a marginalized* in the most marketing safe - abstract - appealing way possible. yes we have a """message""" but be fr we are just trying to sell you dolls actually we dont want controversity among REAL racist parents. When we say gil should go against his racist parents we "mean it" only as long it doesn't upset YOUR REAL racist parents into not buying our dolls. Which is why why we always soft-reset to the "impossible romeo and ghouliette" status quo instead of doing anything impactful with this arc."
WHICH IS MUCH WORSE!!!! Saying "i hate gil for being sea-monster fake racist" as a short hand, is cutting them so much slack!!!! the sea-monster-racism-gil-bias-whatever is FAKE!! BUT Gil's arc could have mattered, and it didn't get to matter bc the bias to keep it performative and appealing to every parent -even racist ones- was REAL!!! that racism was REAL!! AND THAT'S like,,, WORSE???
I don't think the "gil made a joke about not liking the ocean bc whales poop there" should be top result when discussing racism in Monster High💔💔💔 .
again. that racism was fake. gil hate is tired imo cuz is kinda used as a scape goat/distraction so that the community won't comment on any REAL racism within the brand and how it handles the topics of representation and discrimination. it's always reduced to "uhhh nastly lake water monster is sea racist to lagoona" like Who Caresss. pls lets comment on the real issue, which is that all never meant anything. Let's not take the message at surface level, but call it out for being surface level.
