I think I realized why the way the fandom treats Celine bothers me so much. Like I always thought she was an interesting character and the hate train has died down quite a bit since the movie premiered, but there's still somethings I see every now and then. And the thing that kills me is that in blaming her, it completely takes away the agency of the other characters, the ones who actually had screen time in the movie.
When the movie aired, there was so much demonization of Celine as a character, which not all of it is undeserved. Regardless of her good intentions, she laid a foundation for Rumi to hate her patterns and cause her to have weird swings with her self worth. No one, even the most diehard Celine fans are going to deny that. But the thing is, Celine did not cause the plot of the movie to happen. Sure she helped it happen, but everything that happened was the fault of the characters in the movie.
Celine has less than 5 minutes of screen time, a good chuck of which is exposition and flashbacks, she helped shape the story, but it is the main characters that make things happen. But the parts of the fandom that hate and condemn Celine use her as something to blame because it's easier than holding their favorite character accountable for their actions.
There are 4 main characters in KPDH, their actions are what cause things to break in the movie and should be allowed to keep their agency as characters without blaming other factors. They are all adults, young adults arguably since they are in their 20's or frozen in their 20's but adults all the same. they are not 17 year olds in their first year of debut or something, they are adults and their actions should be considered their own. Yes, the way they were raised shaped them, but as adults they are responsible for their own actions and choices.
Everytime I see a 'it's Celine's fault rumi broke down because she made her hide her patterns,' or 'It's Celine's fault for teaching Mira and Zoey to hate demons and that's why they did x and y,' it just is a narrative parts of the fandom tell themselves to not have to hold the characters accountable for their actions. At the end of the day, Rumi chose to keep her secret and confide in Jinu instead of her friends. Zoey and Mira raised their weapons against Rumi and refused to let her explain. Jinu betrayed and had Rumi assaulted as he revealed her biggest secret to the world. that's not even counting all the bad stuff he did that didn't revolve around the main characters in and before the movie. these are all choices that the characters make to help doom the world and are just as important to them as the ones they make to save it.
again, no one is gonna pretend that Celine didn't fuck up, especially when she tried to get Rumi to hide her patterns after everything, but the honmoon was already breaking and hell was breaking lose. Everyone of them fucked up, but only one was used and is still used as the fandom's punching bag.
I dont' know I just needed to get this out, as someone who isn't the age demographic for the movie I do understand why people react to Celine as a character compared to the others. But as someone who wants to be a writer one day and is slightly older than a big part of fandoms in general, (Im 34 almost 35 that makes me old these days) I just can't help be bothered by the way fandoms will be bias even if I understand why.
Yes, exactly.
Like going off of the movie (I know what the creators have said in interviews but I also don't think they remember their own timeline very well), Huntr/x is the five-time defending winner of the Idol Awards, looking for their sixth win in a row.
Which, to me, means that, at minimum, they have been professional performers for the last 6-7 years, if not longer.
Assuming Rumi debuted as an adult, that puts her solidly in her mid-twenties, probably around 24-25 if not older with Mira and Zoey not that far behind.
And at that point, they are just grown adults who are perfectly capable of reflecting on their own upbringing and challenging the beliefs they grew up with.
Like what gets me about the fandom is this refusal to just... let these characters be responsible for their beliefs and actions?
