Hello, I'm mmmmalo. I read Homestuck and write about it.
My major essays:
Psychological Storytelling (2019) outlines a few methods of reading Homestuck that can articulate muted aspects of character psychology. Front and center is the notion that some characters (namely the trolls) can act as manifestations of the thoughts of the people they are speaking to -- as though the notion of a brainghost had haunted the narrative since Act 4. The essay contains what I regarded as the key insights of the previous year's rereading, the rest of which is available here.
Some Words on Openbound (2019) apprehends the conflict with Lord English as a metaphor for an antagonistic relationship with language itself, and applies this paradigm to Act 6 Intermission 3. The result is a mildly Lacanian account of self-alienation, with a certain focus on Roxy. This essay is the stand-out product of another session of rereading, the rest of which is available here.
Slurquest (2022) models Homestuck as a veiled satire of American conspiratorial thought, in its capacity for posing racial and sexual minorities as existential threats. Much of the piece uses profane word play to suss out references to hate rhetoric, hence the name. The essay focuses primarily on anti-black racism, homophobia, and transphobia, but subsequent writings have expanded the scope to encompass discussions of anti-semitism, anti-feminism, orientalism… a lot of things. Those and other investigations are recorded in my ongoing commentary tag, available here.
Other blog highlights:
this post about Dave's self alienation, which operates on roughly the same register as Some Words on Openbound
this post about red scare motifs in Hiveswap Act 1, which nicely foreshadow Fozzer's professed communism in Friendsim
this post about June, which apprehends Dad's car as a symbol of Egbert's body
the metameta tag, where I engage questions about my methodology and offer summaries of ongoing lines of inquiry
my doodles tag, which contains art and fan comics
Enjoy your stay. My askbox is open if you need it.
