WHY I LOVE THE SCARABIA CM AND YOU SHOULD TOO
Listen, I donât even know why youâd actually need to look for a reason to love and cherish this beautiful piece of animation, but to each their own. Regardless, youâre in the right place, because Iâm about to gush and cry over this CM just to convince you to show it the same level of love that I feel for it. Itâll be difficult, but donât worry, Iâll be there with you the entire time. So, letâs start with the beginning.Â
What makes this CM different from the others? Well, letâs look at the most obvious aspect: itâs narrated by two people, instead of just the Overblot victim like in the case of the Heartslaybyul, Savanaclaw and Octavinelle. There we had only Riddle, Leona and Azul speak because, obviously, as the Prefects and shadows of the villains they would be the most important characters. You could call that antagonist privileges if you want, but thereâs a reason a show with a big cast doesnât go in depth with every single one of their characters. Not only would it be infeasible, but also useless. Narratives need a point of focus, otherwise they end up disjointed and incomprehensible.Â
So why didnât this CM just have Jamil narrate? Heâs the antagonist of chapter 4, after all. Shouldnât he get his own moment in the spotlight, separate from Kalim? Well, yes and no. For you see, the thing about Scarabia is that unlike other dorms the relationship between the Prefect and vice dorm leader is much more complicated. By which I mean that no other vice dorm leader is an indentured servant to the family of their dormâs Prefect. Trey is Riddleâs childhood friend, Ruggie sticks with Leona because it gives him a better chance for survival, the Leech twins stay with Azul out of curiosity, Rook admires Vil, Ortho is Idiaâs little brother (?) and Lilia has served as Malleusâ parental figure.
(Also, yes, Iâm counting Ruggie and Ortho as vice dorm leaders since thatâs basically their role anyways.)
None of them are bound to their Prefect. Trey has a life outside of Riddle, Ruggie will drop Leona like a sack of potatoes if the latter gets too much to deal with, the Leech twins EXPLICITLY say that they will turn on Azul if they get bored, Rook actually points out Vilâs flaws to his face, Ortho doesnât let his brother get away with everything and Liliaâs position is more of a trusted family friend, than an actual guard/babysitter. The point Iâm trying to make is that all these people have choices when it comes to their relationships with their respective Prefects. They stay by their side out of their own will and not because someone is forcing them to be there.Â
The same doesnât apply to Jamil. He canât just decide to leave Kalimâs side one day, because he was getting sick of looking after him. And thatâs because he didnât have a choice in being by his side in the first place. That decision was made for him by his parents. Because thatâs how indentured servitude works: when youâre in the service of a lord, especially if youâre a poor peasant, your period of time decided upon entering the contract tends to extend to future generations as well since youâre not given any money to save. Most peasants that found themselves in such positions often would marry and start a family while still in the service of their lord and should they die, their family, unable to provide for themselves because their whole life was spent doing unpaid labour, will also enter the same contract. This process would go on until either slavery, which this most certainly is, was banned or the lord decided to set you free. The former was much preferable to the latter, because in a feudal system to be set free by your lord often marked you as an undesirable servant. You would be hard pressed to find a lord that would âhireâ you after finding out your former âemployeeâ decided to âfireâ you. So it would be very rare for indentured servants to actually manage to free themselves from that position.Â
This is precisely where Jamilâs frustration arises from as well. As a capable individual, heâs acutely aware of the limitations his status imposes on him. Heâs a servant of the Asim family from birth, much like his parents and grandparents were before him. This is not something he chose for himself, but rather something that was imposed upon him. Herein lies the central issue that defines Jamilâs character: lack of choice. Much more than any character, Jamilâs life is governed by the limitations that arise due to his social position. We see that ever since his childhood he was forced to always take into consideration Kalimâs abilities and model his performance as not to eclipse him in any way. If Kalim placed second place in a dancing competition, Jamil must not be among the top three. If Kalimâs grades slipped, his own grades must as well. If Kalim lost two times in a row at mancala, Jamil must make sure he loses the next three games. Yet, paradoxically enough he mustnât fall behind too much either, for that would make him a useless servant. And as I pointed out before, inept servants are not considered desirable by those in power.Â
It is in essence a balancing act that Jamil must make sure he adheres to strictly, as not to bring shame to the Asim family to whom he is, in theory, loyal. In relation to Kalim, Jamil must make sure he performs poorly, but in relation to others he must make sure he performs well. Itâs that precise position between exceptional and ordinary that he must achieve, and according to Azul, Jamil is excelling at that.
Azul: You usually never make yourself stand outâA wallflower, so to speak.
You make sure not to stand out academically, too. Whether itâs with class standing, or with practical training. But, at the same timeâŚ
You never get failing scores. (4-37)
Yet the question we must ask is why? Why must Jamil follow these demands?Â
Well, for one itâs the issue of the indentured servant that we have discussed before. Jamil is bound to the Asims and going against them will bring repercussions not only on himself, but on his family as well. In the modern age in which Twisted Wonderland seems to be set in, this would not be much of an issue, we would guess. However, while that might be true, we must consider it not only from a logical perspective, but a psychological one as well. The human brain is fascinating in the sense in which it is able to transform information into patterns. And nowhere is this most apparent than in the impregnation of cultural norms into the mind. We tend to think of some things as innately ânormalâ and âordinaryâ and everything that goes against those beliefs as âperverseâ and âimmoralâ. For example, up until a few decades ago, the idea of women as second-class citizens was seen as a perfectly reasonable notion. Those that did not agree with it were considered troublemakers and agitators, and if thereâs anything the human individual loves more conformity, itâs ensuring that itâs enacted upon the population at large. The nail that sticks out gets the hammer, as the saying goes.Â
But what does this have to do with Jamil? Well, the fact is that his role, as Kalimâs servant, comes with certain social expectations.Â
Jamil: Kalimâs parents were always better than my parents. Thatâs why⌠Kalim should be better than me, too. Thatâs why, I could never surpass Kalim when it comes to studying, exercise, and even playingâ (4-36)
The role of a servant is that of support. The Master leads while they provide the conditions and the means to do that. That is precisely the position that the Viper family is supposed to take in relation to the Asim family. For a servant to surpass his master, it leads to a deeply problematic realization: that oneâs status is divorced from oneâs capacity. Medieval rule was often characterized by monarchs assigning themselves as Godâs anointed on Earth. Their right to the throne was not ensured by their capacity or disposition or ideals, but simply by their nature. They were meant to rule, because of the social class and family they were born into. Nothing less, nothing more. It was instinctively understood that there was a great differentiation between them and the common people and that was translated in their position as those to be considered âelevatedâ. They did not mingle with the common folk, because that was beneath them.Â
And unfortunately, that is a cultural inheritance that is not easily done away with. For though we might claim we left behind the days of feudalism and vassals, there is still a great divide between social classes. It merely took a different form. Lords of the castle turned into politicians, celebrities and glamorous multimillionaires. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, as Shakespeare would put it. Call it what you will, but the end result is that social divide still exists. And we can see that is the case in Twisted Wonderland as well.
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