Remember The White Knight @nomans-an-island - Tumblr Blog

Ok so I've decided to stop using this blog (for now at least) for no other reason than that I'm really more happy just infodumping occasionally to friends and enjoying the books on my own and fandom in general tends to stress me out so don't expect posts anymore!

#this isnt abt my old posts it doesnt bother me much #it's just that I have Such A Specific relationship with these books and characters that anything other that gets stressful and overwhelming #and i don't have much interest in the show as a result and that's ok! so it's just self care to stop stressing about things #sometimes self care is realizing you're happier somewhere/doing something else!#anyway ily guys hope you're doing well!!

Okay now I'm really confused because I'm all for characters being cast as actors of color but why, out of everyone in this cast full of kind and skilled people, did they choose a bully who's existence in canon is to verbally abuse a bunch of children?

Like why did the creators see a whole ass 17-18 year old who is literally going to throw hands with two eleven year olds and a thirteen year old to keep her grades up and who, unlike the other executives, was shown to be the most willing participant in a Whole Lot of unethical stuff such as kidnapping, brainwashing, forced hospitalization, and other such things and decide she was definitely going to be good to portray as a woc in a mostly white cast?

#ask to tag #like i am genuinely so baffled here #if they decided to make her nice and like a mire sympathetic character at least there's that but then that poses the question: WHY THO #No shade to the actress tho they seem really cool! im just like disney... Disney what did u do this time #pls

Okay no idea what's going on in the show/what they changed about Martina since I haven't watched it yet but just to give everyone a reference,

Martina Crowe is closer to Rhonda's age than to Kate's! The absolute youngest she can be is 17. Kate is 12! So yeah maybe spread the word so people don't accidentally do this!!

#the mysterious benedict society #LIKE IM SURE ALL.THE SHIP.POSTS DONT KNOW.THAT BUT IM LIKE.AAAAAA PLEASE DONT DO THAT #if they did age martina down in the show.im.gonna be so uncomfortable like bestie why

Idk what the fresh heck is going on with Martina but I have a feeling I'm not gonna like it

#someone fill me in here #1. did they rlly cast a woc to play her when she's entirely antagonistic? i don't trust disney with that kind of decision lmao #2. did they age her down? she says she's a young adult in the books why r ppl shipping her with kate #3. is she like nicer or something??? like in the first book she's objectively awful so ppl watching the show should not even be sympathetic #yet so aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

You know the irony of a corperation that uses children and children's media to send out imperialist and capitalist propaganda (Disney) being the ones producing a production on a lite dystopia series about a man using children to brainwash society into capitalist thinking is not lost on me

#like im interested to watch it but also loath gisney #anyway y'all best be leaking the show dont support disney+ just bc its adapting ur beloved seried

nomans-an-island

I had an insight while I was reading just now!

So we know that there was a power struggle over who would get constance because recruiters were tracking her since she ran away and Milligan was likely tracking them tracking her.

Initially I figured Mr. Benedict sent Constance on the mission because of her talents- because if Mr. Curtain specifically wanted her then it had to equal significance- and of course on one hand that's true but I also realized since protecting her would be very difficult and risky the safest place for her to hide was in the institute itself but with her memories, agency, and older children who will look after her.

The fact that recruiters could theoretically have recognized her or Mr. Curtain may have remembered her name probably worried him to no end though. No wonder as soon as she got back he wanted to adopt her he must have been so worried. 😭

8x19pm

You'd think some of the recruiters would have recognized her. And yeah why would Mr. Benedict sent her to the institute where recruiters could recognize her? They easily could have stolen her once she got to the institute

nomans-an-island

No it's unlikely that the recruiters who saw Constance were at the institute at the time as two of them were dispatched by Milligan and the others were likely still out looking for her. (Also this was all almost a full year later and children change in appearance quite a bit between 2 and 3 and the recruiters only saw her for a few minutes)

The genius in sending her to the institute is that no one would expect her to go there and if they did see her there they'd have no reason to think that she was a threat. (Mr. Curtain DID stop trusting her early on though which makes me think he might have started to catch on but he probably assumed she at most had been smart enough to join without being recruited not that she was working as a secret agent)

But Mr. Benedict knew very little of this and so he still would have worried about it even though it really was her safest bet.

I had an insight while I was reading just now!

So we know that there was a power struggle over who would get constance because recruiters were tracking her since she ran away and Milligan was likely tracking them tracking her.

Initially I figured Mr. Benedict sent Constance on the mission because of her talents- because if Mr. Curtain specifically wanted her then it had to equal significance- and of course on one hand that's true but I also realized since protecting her would be very difficult and risky the safest place for her to hide was in the institute itself but with her memories, agency, and older children who will look after her.

The fact that recruiters could theoretically have recognized her or Mr. Curtain may have remembered her name probably worried him to no end though. No wonder as soon as she got back he wanted to adopt her he must have been so worried. 😭

#just god the layers and complexity of it all

On one hand Martina is clearly aware she's doing harm the entire second book making the fact that she was raised in the institute generally irrelevant but on the other she intrigues me so fucking much

#like i dont particularly think she'd become a better person post canon necessarily?#and unlike characters like azula atla her portayal wasnt due to misogyny or ableism #and like yeah her ruthless competitiveness was definitely a result of being raised in L.I.V.E #but at the same time she was definitely knowingly complicit in everything #so i really dont think she really deserves a redemption perse #but similarly to how mr curtain after being neutralized takes this bizarre still bad but not the antagonist state #I'd love to see how she developed post canon like i want to pick her brain #did she regret it once it wasn't benefitting her anymore? did she ever try to make amends and become a better person? or did she just go #straight from competing in the institute to competing in capitalism after her release?#it could honestly go both ways and i dont think either would make her particularly sympathetic but they're both interesting

nomans-an-island

Top ten worst/J plot holes why didn't Kate find more than one pencil in the storm drain? Even if somehow the pencils Rhonda has been dropping in it annually somehow disappeared Kate took the second test after Reynie and Sticky and it hadn't rained so it couldn't have fallen that far into the drain. Yes there was a crack 10 inches deep but she should have found at least 3 pencils in that drain....I need answers

synestheticastiel

Rhonda was so distressed at the idea of those pencils ruining the environment or clogging the drains that she and number two sneak out one night to collect them all. they fail completely but Milligan appears from the shadows and silently does Exactly what Kate did.

nomans-an-island

this is such a godtier hc thank you

#would read the heck out of a fic of this

Cringe i had my old name and pronouns I haven't used since 2019 in my bio and didn't even notice

#deleted it #yall cam make up nicknames for me and use w/e pronouns u want i no longer wish to be perceived <3

nomans-an-island

Guys I'm so sorry for pointing this out but... Kate literally vents... Pretty suspicious

nomans-an-island

The kate kinnie reviews are in/lh

#youll never take me alive/j

Guys I'm so sorry for pointing this out but... Kate literally vents... Pretty suspicious

#the mysterious benedict society #amougus

Top ten worst/J plot holes why didn't Kate find more than one pencil in the storm drain? Even if somehow the pencils Rhonda has been dropping in it annually somehow disappeared Kate took the second test after Reynie and Sticky and it hadn't rained so it couldn't have fallen that far into the drain. Yes there was a crack 10 inches deep but she should have found at least 3 pencils in that drain....I need answers

#the mysterious benedict society #mbs

bookbaran

Also, I’m on the fence about how it sets the children up as special because they love the truth. My knee-jerk reaction is that everyone loves the truth, but I suppose certain recent examples have taught me that that’s not true. I guess I’m just wary of the “more special than everyone else” trope. Especially when it’s used to treat the other characters with less humanity and compassion.

nomans-an-island

While it may look like “gifted kids” bullshit on the surface that aspect of the book is actually delving into Neurodivergent coding. The love of truth bit is very clear autism coding paired with the fact that all of them face clear marginalization for it, the fact that Mr. curtain was literally planning to pathologize it into existing mental illnesses (psychosis & depression) in order to discredit and demonize them (which is a very good commentary on how ableism operates) etc.

The main thing that actually brings the cast together is their vulnerability due to being Neurodivergent (and disabled) which has led them all to be isolated and marginalized. This is at the core of all their experiences and effects all of them in different ways.

The second book takes this farther to explore Reynie’s paranoia/psychosis developed after the trauma faced in the first book and has a very honest portrayal of what not being able to trust people as a traumatized child feels like. Everything becomes very real in the second book when you realize that the ableism Reynie faced up until the second book in addition to his trauma has made him feel like people are inherently bad or out to get him until proven otherwise.

The book also very clearly calls out academia for being ableist and implying that intelligence as a concept makes people more or less valuable (SQ is an idiot/pos but he’s also kind and a good person even if he doesn’t like the truth and is intentionally avoiding it and not only is his mistreatment by mr Curtain treated as objectively wrong but he’s clearly set up by the narrative to be a hero in the story and to be a force for good.)

And knowing the truth isn’t treated as being a better or more honest person. They all still have compassion for and relate to the other kids at the institute, their parents and guardians who didn’t have the love of truth spoken of are still beloved and seen as figures they look up to and emulate.

Basically, love of truth was used as a metaphor for neurodivergence and a reflection on how society treats ND and disabled people.

8x19pm

I love hearing what others think about the mysterious Benedict society. When you talked about reynie’s psychosis, are you taking about his hallucinations of the old hag? (I think that’s what it’s called)

nomans-an-island

Nope though that is also a valid interpretation! I'm talking about his delusions all throughout the second book that everyone has malicious intent. The reason I label it delusions rather than just paranoia is because it leads him to cut off their only way of communication without consulting the others and puts them all at risk which is very illogical for a character like Reynie but is definitely a good example on delusional thinking and how it can lead to impulsive self destructive thinking.

Just..as a psychotic person who struggles a lot with this kind of stuff too that really stood out to me and I really enjoyed that while everyone could understand reynie's delusions and general mistrust of people that the narrative proved those delusions wrong and allowed him to overcome them and realize that while sometimes he's right not to trust people that it doesn't apply to everyone.