Hat Adult just being kind of tired and far removed from her exuberant child self because I assume constantly traveling from world to world and dealing with time-space related catastrophes in youth would lead to the craziest early-mid 20s burnout known to man is a concept that is very important to me.
Actually this has been brewing in my head for YEARS and I finally have the confidence to talk about it so:
THE AROMANTIC SNATCHER ANALYSIS POST
A bit of a disclaimer: this post discusses Snatcher and The Prince's character from an aromantic lens, and so I would prefer to keep shipping discussions and tags out of the notes because of this
Also obligatory "this is just my personal interpretation of the character/story and you can interpret it however you want outside of this post" disclaimer, alongside the fact that THIS ANALYSIS IS NOT PERFECT!1! i am running on pure autism and slight projection so certain things will not be 100% canon accurate
i am simply an aroace person who is genuinely insane about snatcher and i want other people to be able to glimpse my vision
Ok so let's talk about how Gears for Breakfast accidentally created the most compelling aromantic horror story I have ever laid eyes upon
Starting with the way the storybook is set up:
A typical fairytale
Now there's a certain heteronormity and ESPECIALLY allonormity that can be inferred by the ideas of a stereotypical fairytale that can be seen directly in the story book
The Prince and Princess always fall in love and always live happily ever after, that's just how it is!
And that allonormitive mindset bleeds into the entire genre to the point where WE as the audience see 2 people with crowns holding hands surrounded by hearts and we instantly assume we know what's going on here
But we don't
AHiT subverts the allonormitive fairytale narrative for something much darker, something that paints an idyllic fairytale romance as a nightmare scenario
And that's the important part to me:
Romance as a nightmare scenario and love as horror
Even if we don't know everything about The Prince and Vanessa's relationship we can infer one thing:
That Vanessa's feelings were FAR stronger than The Prince's were
Think about it: the only perspective we get from The Prince is a single letter and the act of buying flowers, THAT'S IT! while almost anytime we see Vanessa she's going on about how obsessed she is with The Prince
She bans bacon because he likes it
She cuts his hair without his consent
She fantasizes about locking him in the cellar
It's clear as day that what Vanessa feels for the Prince is far stronger than what he feels for her and that it's possible he can't even properly reciprocate her "love" for him
And while these actions are 100% abusive and not healthy in the slightest for ANY kind of relationship, it can still be interpreted as whatever type of "love" she feels for him not being the same as the love he feels for her, which is a common struggle and even fear for some aromantic people!
I do not speak for the entire aromantic community but the idea of someone developing feelings for me is genuinely terrifying and my inability to reciprocate said feelings resulting in a one-sided obsession is even more terrifying!
No matter how much he "loves" her back, The Prince will never be able to "love" Vanessa the way she "loves" him, and that's what destroys Subcon!
and the final nail in the coffin was a bouquet of flowers... a traditionally romantic gift...
Now let's talk about the cellar and how it ties into all of this (this might get a bit dark so be weary)
We can tell from the diary pages that Vanessa didn't just choose to throw The Prince down there on a whim, this was a PLANNED punishment that she fantasized about doing to him before the incident even happened
it obvious she wanted to completely remove his agency by literally chaining him to a wall, making him into a decoration to gawk at NOT A PERSON
now there's a VERY SPECIFIC thing this could be a metaphor of but for the sake of not stretching too much and keeping this post "safe" im not going to make that connection
what i AM gonna talk about is how being aromantic means certain people dehumanize you because in their eyes if you cant reciprocate their idea of "love" then you are less than human, something to isolate and mock
almost like being locked in a cellar...
Vanessa's treatment of The Prince removes his agency in the "relationship" and invalidates his "love" for her as "not being enough!" which is something that many aromantic people stuck in toxic relationships can relate to!
her "love" for him is so intense and volatile and suffocating that nothing he can do even compares to what she feel towards him and she gets upset when he cant properly "love" her the way she wants him to!
and it kills him
she leaves him down in the cellar to die and it kills him
but this is just the beginning...
OH BOY TIME TO TALK ABOUT
SNATCHER
oh boy where do i even start with this guy-
seriously how do i even BEGIN talking about the aroace swag this ghost possesses????
they ditched their horrid ex, took over the woods, acquired an army of children loyal minions, and is just living their afterlife chilling in the woods without any need or want for another partner!
sure sometimes he reminisces about her but does he plan on going back?
HELL NO!!!
he has all he could ever want! he doesn't need her! he doesn't need anyone!!! except his kids ofc
seriously this ghost is living my dream rn
"but what about the soulmate comment from deathwish!" DO YOU THINK HE WANTS TO GO BACK???? im pretty sure that was just nostalgia (which does not equal actually wanting to be with her again)
its clear that they're much happier spending their afterlife without the need for love than they were when they were alive and chained to Vanessa
AND I LOVE THAT!1!!1!1! I LOVE SEEING CHARACTERS REALIZE THAT THEY DON'T NEED A SIGNIFICANT OTHER TO MAKE THEM HAPPY!1!1!1! I LOVE SEEING SNATCHER BE FREE FROM HIS PREVIOUSLY ALLONORMATIVE RELATIONSHIP!1!1!1!
seriously this guy is living his best afterlife single and i love that for him sm
now... why is this so important? why should this matter to you?
aro/ace characters are rare to come by in media and any sliver of representation we can get is always a welcome sight! seeing a character who was previously chained down by a relationship free himself of those chains and reclaim his (after)life for himself is a narrative that many aro/ace people can admire and relate to!
seeing so much of a focus of romance in fandom spaces can be very hostile ESPECIALLY towards those who are romance repulsed and people who are just tired of seeing it everywhere
i wrote this "essay" as a way to not only share a very underrated headcanon which ive held onto for years but to also shed light on how important stories like this can be for those on the aromantic spectrum!
i hope ive made at least a few people think about this perspective more and i hope you can respect my personal interpretation of Subcon Forest's story (you can always have your own interpretation!)
anyways thanks for reading! idk what else to say so uhhh-
OOOO GO LOOK AT LIGHTHOUSE BLOOM AND HAUNTED SCRAPYARD OOOOOO-/silly
..do you think you could do different hairstyles for her too? for fun? i have seen a couple i loved lots like cornrows with a ponytail but that one might feel like its more adventurous or official, not casual (people do such fun patterns with it too like making hearts or stars..)
(dont take it as a req if you'd rather not)
I hope these are okay, first time drawing bantu knots but I wanted to include them so bad
And a silly doodle of platonic bowstache hair assistance
Bow Kid watching Hat Kid's tail go back and forth like a cat with a toy
you know when you can just tell your animals are about to do something stupid and fight each other, this is them
Also I hope it’s alright I throw in something I made last night and forgot about, easier than making a whole new post, and I also can’t find the original of this meme :’) I love the internet /s
I remember when I was younger, anytime I watched a movie where the characters have to kill a scary monster/alien, I always thought the act of killing it was intended to be part of the horror. Like there’s this amazing creature that we’ve never seen before, and maybe under different circumstances we could’ve coexisted with it, but it’s trying to attack you and you have to defend yourself, but by destroying it you also destroy the ability to ever understand it and that’s sad and is supposed to make you feel conflicted.
It was not until well into my adulthood that I realized most people do not have complicated feelings about movies where people have to kill a scary alien monster, nor is that necessarily meant to be part of the narrative (unless it very obviously is). They just want the scary thing to die because it’s scary. I don’t have a real conclusion to this I just started thinking about it for some reason.
I always felt I couldn't possibly be upset about dying to an alien monster because proof of otherwordly life is exactly what it'd take for me to die happy
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