I’ll never understand the ‘you can’t like jax because he’s a bad person’ crowd.
just because I enjoy a character doesn’t mean I endorse all of their actions nor do I have to morally align with them. maybe it would make sense if jax was a character who, despite being a bad person, was loved by everyone, faced no consequences, and was set up in the story to be the hero/a good person despite all of the hurt he caused. because then maybe I could see the argument that I ‘agree that there is nothing wrong with abuse.’ but that is not the case.
for example, I do not enjoy the character from hoppers pixar who is a corrupt politician that doesn’t care about the environment because the story kinda sets him up to be someone you’re supposedly supposed to like/root for at the end, he does not really face any consequences for all the destruction he does, and everyone in the story (except the mc) loves him (although even the mc befriends him in the end). this presentation of a harmful person feels problematic to me because the story isn’t really making it clear that he is, in fact, a bad person (given, he is the antagonist of the story. I’m mostly complaining abt his presentation at the end). it feels moreso like they’re endorsing this kind of person. and, as a counter example, I love namgyu from squid games. does this mean I support murder? obviously not. but namgyu is clearly set up as a villain that the viewer should not empathize with, he is neglected/hated by the entire cast for his cruelty, and he faces consequences when the person he was abusing ends up being the one to kill him. he is still an enjoyable character for me because I understand that he is a shitty person, that his actions are not okay, and that I can just enjoy him as a fun villain.
and, on that same note, tadc has made it clear that jax is an antagonist that you are not supposed to agree with! a lot of people say that jax is loved by everyone, doesn’t face consequences, and is set up to be ‘the good guy’ but that’s just not true.
contrary to popular belief, jax is not loved by everyone in the cast. for the majority of the show’s running, they either ignore him (kinger, pomni), are scared of him (ragatha, gangle) or just straight up hate him (zooble). the group does accept him in the latest episode, but this is not out of forgiveness (especially in zooble’s case). the point is that all they have in this life is each other, and they have worse things to deal with right now. they are coming together as a group because what do they have if not community? they ignore jax’s assholery this episode because they’re not going to entertain his antics, and because they know he is just saying mean things for the sake of it/as a weird coping mechanism. you CAN care about someone’s wellbeing and coexist with them without forgiving them or even really respecting them. I don’t know how people read zooble’s ’Jax, we’re not gonna let you kill yourself’ as them needlessly forgiving someone who has mistreated them. especially because in the same sentence she goes on to say that he’s ’still an ass.’ as for pomni, she does care about jax, and bonds with him, but it’s VERY clear that she doesn’t just ignore his toxicity. this is especially clear in their fight scene where she yells at him and attacking him for acting like he doesn’t care even though she knows he does. it is this knowledge that there is more to him than just the mask he puts on that keeps her seeking him out, NOT his abusive tendencies.
we DO get to see the consequences of Jax’s actions throughout the story. his toxic behavior has caused him to push two friends away from him (pomni and ragatha. possibly gangle too, considering she didn’t want to team up with him anymore). he is also constantly being called out by zooble. he ends up the most excluded in the group because of the way he regulates himself. nearly all of the scenes in the latest episode show him actively isolating himself from the group because he doesn’t feel like he has anyone anymore after his fight with pomni. it is also very implied in his fight with pomni that he caused kaufmo, one of his closest friends, to abstract due to his toxicity. I don’t know what other consequences you guys are looking for. he doesn’t really have friends and he is actively suffering and suicidal in the latest episodes. even gangle is pushing back at him a little with smashing the watermelon with his face on it and putting him in a maid dress he hates. ragatha yells at him in episode 5. pomni attacks him, zooble calls him out, caine tortures him— the only character who doesn’t at one point get mad at him is kinger, but he is rarely conscious, and when he is, he has worse things to worry about. he is also tormented by Caine with his insecurities, but I put that as an afterthought because it’s not unique to him, that’s just Caine being evil.
jax is not set up in the story to be a good person. Gooseworx herself confirmed that jax is an antagonist, if my memory isn’t failing me. while his abuse is often played for comedic affect (which is because he tries to mask by playing a character), it is never endorsed. we almost always get to see the characters reactions to it, especially in the latest episodes. the best examples I can think of are in episode 6. gangle, ragatha, and pomni are all hurt by him in this episode and 2 of them get to discuss the affects he has on them in depth in a hurt/comfort scene. the best example is gangle. she is actively scared of him and talks about him like the abuser that he is. does this scene really make it seem like tadc is setting up jax to be some lovable hero? no, and that’s because he is not. he is narratively set up as an antagonist.
enjoying jax doesn’t mean I support abuse, ESPECIALLY because the story clearly states that his bad actions ARE bad. it’s not like I’m supporting a character who promotes abuse. in fact, he is an antagonist, and the story is narratively against his cruelty. personally, I enjoy jax because I find him interesting to analyze and I relate to a lot of his mental health issues. there is nothing more to it than that, so please stop trying to look into something that isn’t there.
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