I think it's actually essential to children's moral development to be exposed to short stories moderately beyond their reading level where a bunch of fucked up shit happens and then instead of offering a moral lesson or any sort of emotional or narrative resolution it just ends.
Thinking about an alternate universe where Seona Dancing became popular and Ricky Gervais continued his dream of becoming an off brand David Bowie, instead of making jokes in poor taste
Acknowledging that “critical thinking” means “thinking about things in a thorough way from different perspectives” and not “finding every flaw in a thing and fixating on it until all the joy is gone” is so liberating.
It’s supposed to be about intellectual curiosity, not about finding ways to devalue things that aren’t perfect or that we personally dislike.
We should all take things less seriously (coming from someone who takes almost everything seriously)
Even though I tell myself I don't like interacting with fandoms anymore because I'm 20 and want to direct my energy elsewhere, I need to put my 2 cents into the discussion (I'm a hypocrite it's okay, we move on).
I started watching Helluva Boss when only season 1 was fully out on YouTube, and I only just watched Hazbin Hotel this month. I had never interacted with any online discussions regarding the shows before a week or two ago - and I have to admit that I need to stop interacting with them because the pure brain drain they give me is insane.
I'm speaking from the point of view of a young adult: someone who is past the age of teenhood, but still has a lot of growing left to do.
We have to stop taking Hellaverse shows so seriously.
The amount of people, mainly teens (why are you even watching the shows) but also some my age and older, who act as if they are talking about real people is embarrassing. I've seen many arguments; some extremely justified and others not so much. "The show has bad writing", "there are too many swear words", "the characters are poorly fleshed out", "the animation sucks", "this scene is ableist", "this aspect is racist", "this is offensive" ... let's calm down for a second.
I will never be against free speech, and as much as it's uncomfortable to deal with discussions that I don't agree with, it is healthy and necessary to do so. We don't live in a bubble, we should interact with opposing views. With that said, I feel like a lot of people complain for the sake of complaining.
I wasn't around when the Hazbin pilot was first uploaded so I'm never going to fully understand the pure love fans had for the show back then, but can we please stop complaining about how shit the new seasons are. It's totally normal to prefer one over the other, to mourn something that could have been - but that's all it is. What could have been. It doesn't exist, you are complaining about what something is not. I'm someone who is very passionate about anything creative, so I can totally understand being annoyed that a show didn't turn out the way you envisioned it; and yet again, it's not your piece of art to fix. It's not your creation. You will never have the power to alter what it will become, and that's okay. Create your own fanfiction and drawings, but there's no use in bullying others for enjoying what you dislike; and there's no point in constantly bringing it up online. You're talking about behemoth creators compared to you. You're irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
I've had a show I LOVED become absolutely obliterated (ahem umbrella academy) in terms of plot - what did I do? Moved on. I literally cannot emphasise how minor it is to so many other day-to-day experiences. I appreciate the beginning and just accept the ending. It is what it is, it's only a show.
This is why I think most Hazbin Hotel fans who are active online are younger teens: nothing feels as big and serious as the things you love at that age. That's 100% normal, I can get that. However, when you're a fully grown adult and you're choosing to spend your time complaining about something as irrelevant as a show, I'm going to be a bit worried about you.
That's one side of the multidimensional coin. Another thing, which has been regurgitated to the extent where it has lost its meaning, is the lack of media literacy in the fandom - and yet I couldn't agree more. When you have young teens consuming media that's supposed to be made for adults, or at least older teens, there are going to be discrepancies in interpretation. Even when you take a show like Hazbin Hotel which isn't at all cerebral and is supposed to be an easy watch, there are still concepts one cannot process in the same way if they are a kid.
When it comes to consuming media, the main take away should always be that the way a topic is tackled does not necessarily reflect who the creator is. Whenever I see people complaining about how Viv tackled certain topics, I lose a braincell. Now, I cannot comment a lot when it comes to Alastor and his race (the whole Creole and voodoo/hoodoo debate) because I am white as a sheet of paper although I'm Mediterranean - and honestly it's the one criticism that makes the most sense. Except that ... what are we on, people?
I'll break it down for you:
For characters to be historically accurate and believable, they often have to embody the flaws of their time.
This does not mean that one cannot use their artistic freedom to break historical accuracy in other aspects of their art.
What the characters say or do does not imply that the creator agrees with them.
Portraying a bad or morally grey character in a positive light does not imply that they are being treated as positive; it is often a case of "who's perspective are we seeing the story through?" and "is the writer trying to challenge my outlook on morals and actions?"
Talking about dark themes in a way that undermines them does not mean that the creator thinks they should be undermined, but can sometimes mean they want you to look at the story through the villain's eyes.
Those five simple rules, insanely crucial. People don't get that. Especially when you remember that Hazbin Hotel is a dark comedy, you have to know that serious themes are going to be dealt with in unorthodox ways. It is completely understandable to not like that, no one is saying you have to be okay with it; but dark comedies will always have the aim of making you uncomfortable because they're dealing with serious subjects with a comedic tone. Although, I do think there is a certain line that, when crossed, makes jokes seem insensitive. For me, that line isn't crossed in Hazbin, but it's totally okay if you think it is.
What I'm trying to get at here is that simply because Hazbin Hotel, and Helluva Boss but a little less, depicts topics such as manipulation, murder, assault, misconduct, and sex in a lighthearted way, it is not telling you that you should not take those topics seriously. You have to use your brain and realise this is an animated, fictional show based on no real people. Make note of the context, the genre, the audience it is intended for - maybe it isn't meant for you.
Whenever I reflect on this heated online debate, I want to tell these people to read Nabokov's Lolita. That is a novel which is narrated from the point of view of the abuser and it is never implied that what the narrator is doing is wrong. All he does is try his best to justify his relationship with a minor. Does this mean Nabokov is telling readers that pedophilia is fine? News flash: no he's not. Nabokov's aim was to bring awareness to this horrible reality, to really get into the mind of the sick. If we don't allow writers the space to explore the dark corners of the human psyche in uncanny ways, then we are losing our critical thinking and our ambition to test the boundaries of art.
The gist of my argument is this: no, Viv is not sick for portraying evil realities and not giving the time to tell you, "hey, this is bad, don't do this". You should know that already. She does not need to make it clear that what she is portraying is bad, and she does not have the time to do so when she only has eight 20-minute episodes to work with per season. A good piece of media isn't defined by its moral code. There are countless books and films which treat their characters in poor ways and are problematic, but think for a bit: is the creator targeting a certain demographic, a certain minority, or are they treating their characters the same regardless of who they are? Food for thought.
Once again, just because one specific character is treated in one particular way does not necessarily mean the scene has racist/sexist/homophobic/etc undertones. I'm a woman: a woman being hit in a show does not instantaneously mean the perpetrator is misogynistic. Maybe the woman was being a dick and the other person was acting in anger; maybe the abuser does not distinguish between gender and they just hate everyone in general. Moreover, life is not black and white, and simply showcasing a stereotype in media does not mean the creator believes the stereotype. Besides, some people actually fit stereotypes and that's not a negative thing. To give an example based on a situation I have the authority to talk about, having a female character act quiet, passive, and hyperfeminized is not instantly a stereotype - some people actually are like that. Yes, I'm talking about people complaining about Angeldust and Velvette. Can a gay man not be feminine? Can a black woman not be loud and opinionated? Unless ALL the gay characters are feminised (Vox isn't for example), and ALL the black characters are loud (Husk and Alastor only react when they're instigated), then no one can claim that these characters have been stereotyped on purpose.
At the end of the day, if you think the show is shit, that's perfectly fine. If you think it should've be done differently, that's fine too. You can have all these ideas of improvements in your head, but the reality is, you're wasting your energy if you're bantering about it all the time online. You can either enjoy something like Hazbin Hotel for its brain-rotty, hilarious but also sometimes squirm-in-your-seat nature, or you can decide it's not your cup of tea. Either is understandable, but if you're shitting on a show for not fitting your exact preference of art, or because it's not blatantly telling you, "THIS THING IS BAD, DO NOT DO THIS" ... maybe you should work on your critical thinking. If it's an objective or hugely justified criticism, I respect it.
Sincerely, an English Literature major who is so tired of everyone's shit xx
PS: This has nothing to do with people who complain about Viv as a person. I am aware lots of the bad things said about her have been debunked, but I am still doing my research. At the same time, I don't really care who she is because we consume media made by horrible people all the time. As long as I don't fund them, I know how to separate the art from the artist. Again, not calling Viv a horrible person, just being realistic because I have never met her and don't know her as a person.
You know what? If, in life, I was a serial killer with beautiful, thick, curly hair, and then I died and went to hell only to end up with a bob with the worst fucking undercut I've ever seen in my life, I would also be a dick for all eternity. Forget brimstone and hellfire, that's all hell really is: a godawful haircut.
Shoutout to Gotye for dropping the song of the century then just crawling on all fours back to being a school teacher or whatever, wouldn’t even recognise him in the street cause of that strategic camo face paint.
This is not actually Maeve but Spencer's subconscious- which indicates that he wants her to say those things- which indicates he wants her to hold him at least once.
why does it feel morally wrong to spend all day in bed or at home. like i do it often but the whole time im wracked with guilt. it's literally not hurting anybody
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