Red's bitchin'

You truly are a The Force Awakens

[meeeee-tho-blog]

[nepofledgling]

first of all I don’t “waste” time on stupid things I spend time on stupid things there’s a difference

[prohaloplayer-deactivated202601]

does anybody want to take turns hitting each other unconscious

[blackvelvetofnight]

love when creatures sniff your hand and are like. ah understood

[hearty-an0n]

if i was orpheus i just wouldn't have turned around lol

[hearty-an0n]

just went and got eurydice. this is so easy

[hearty-an0n]

um. awfully quiet in this tunnel.

[hearty-an0n]

[gentlemotherfontofmercy]

Shadow and Bone is a thematic mess, honestly. clearly LB intended to write a classic Good vs Evil/Light Will Always Triumph Over Dark/Chosen One story and in a sense she succeeded but not without pushing some veryyyy uncomfortable ideas and messages.

I think often about how Aleksander is referred to as 'power-hungry' and how we as an audience are intended to automatically read this as a bad thing, and how Alina is supposedly better/more pure than he is because she wields her power without being 'greedy' for more.

But...the Grisha are quite canonically subjected to Fantasy Racism and live in a country where they either become indentured servants or soldiers - they are an oppressed people. Painting their leader as evil for being 'power-hungry' in a world where gaining power on a physical and political level is the only way to guarantee safety for his people is just a very very weird choice. There's nothing wrong with seeking power in a world that wants to grind you beneath it's boots. (*How* you go about wielding that power DOES matter which is why it's fine that Aleksander is a villain because he's willing to use his own people as tools and sacrifice the few for the good of the many.) This becomes even more baffling when you realize the historical context and parallels to the plight of the Russian Jews under tsarist regimes and it really makes me scratch my head.

I saw a video on Twitter where a fan referenced Grisha prisoners being held in the Ice Court and how it reminded them, as a Jewish person, of concentration camps. And in the video Bardugo is quick to say it isn't the same thing at all because Grisha are 'fighters' and 'not innocent civilians' which struck me as an incredibly insensitive and historically inaccurate thing to say.

So it seems like she's completely unaware of what she's been writing and the stereotypes being perpetuated. What irritates me is that somehow no one else caught onto this?? Not a single friend, not her editor, nobody??? The romance and action are not compelling enough to distract from the terrible world building lol, I refuse to believe none of this was pointed out to her.

If anyone knows if she's ever addressed any of this, please let me know!

[gentlemotherfontofmercy]

Editing to add a link to the Twitter video, in which she says things that are actually WORSE than I thought originally. I'm genuinely incensed by this. The contradiction in what she's saying vs what's on the page is making my blood boil - what kind of mental gymnastics is this woman doing while writing these books ☠️

[chaotic-dreamer88]

I couldn't believe my ears when she said that it "isn't the same thing at all because Grisha are 'fighters' and 'not innocent civilians' " I was so appalled by this. That is such insensitive thing to say. It also makes her look like an insensitive idiot because, alongside this being the worst reasoning for why grisha's being prosecuted is "ok" , is her saying that what makes it different is grisha being "fighters" in the army, um ma'am not all grisha's are figers lmao what about grisha's in Fyerda and Shu han. They are normal "innocent civilians" who just want to live in peace. Instead they are hounted and killed as witches or they are hunted and experimented on. Her idiotic and insensitive reasoning of they are "fighters" doesn't apply here. Does she even hears herself.

[nettlesdefensesquad]

The hilarious thing is she tries to further villify the Darkling by claiming he “stole”children from their parents due to Grisha being raised in the Little Palace. If they had no choice but to go there(they really didn’t it was that or death) how the fuck them fighting back doesn’t make them victims. They still are no matter what since they’re a pr secured group but her logic is so fucked up.

[finemakemeyourvillian]

all of this and plus she’s actually also compared the experience the grisha went through to the experience jews did, so it seems like she accidentally contradicted herself.

i think that even if it was pointed out by editors and stuff, they eventually came to the conclusion that we would actually care much abt it which is why it is largely ignored and not actually solved in the books. honestly, i feel that was the most annoying sort because while aleksander’s methods were cruel, his motivation was not and that is something that’s sort ignored/ glossed over. you cannot give us a person who is trying to make better for his kind, who are insistently persecuted or discriminated on or shunned by all other people and then tell me he is evil and power hungry. especially not after you tell the treatment the group faces is as bad as that the jews did.

like @kindhearted-ocean pointed, things he did such as second army and bringing all grisha children are also unfairly villianised and actually helped keep the grisha safer. it’s not fair to see the latter, or really even the former, as something cruel and forcing them to fight because >

most grisha would literally not been safe or been shunned for practicing outside

the quality of life some of them experienced at the little palace was probably better than would have outside

while you are separated from family from what i understood you weren’t rly isolated from them

there was literally an active war going on, and people were being drafted regardless

and i think more than anything it was annoying how literally none of the main ‘good’ characters really addressed this or fixed it or even bothered to sincerely listen to what aleksander was saying. they were all blinded why the belief that he’s some evil, psycho, power hungry maniac. yes his actions were cruel and yes he would have sacrificed the life of few for the more but this is also a man who has seen centuries of persecution and efforts to fight against it without much progress.

anyways i hope netflix addresses some of this in the show going forward.

[ladymelisande-deactivated202407]

I always found funny that they are at war with two countries but somehow one drafting is bad and the other drafting is good... Also Grisha have to use their powers and have to train. The Little Palace was the safest place to do that? What if they tried and hurt their parents or were persecuted by some ignorant peasant village that still saw them as witches? A lot of Grisha children didn't have Grisha parents. Would they let them repressing their powers so they all end up like Alina or die? The Second Army is villainized with Nikolai's Woke Crew™ being the ones that escaped from drafting and fighting for the Good Side unlike those Fools of the Second Army™. But none of these "good characters" offers a solution except murdering the man that was responsible for the change in the Grisha's life, they either just get it by Deux Ex Machina or Bardugo just waves it away... Such heroes.

[reddysetgo]

Y'all these are fictional books

[vashthestampede-deactivated2020]

[fodsley]

[catchymemes]

[zog-agent]

[nicholasjohnsrudheatstreet-deac]

im all the people in the notes who think this is bad

[the-foley-knoll-horror]

Archie Loyd tried to walk away from Trabucatti after being physically pushed, told him “you’ll work for me one day” when the man wouldn’t stop following him with two other people, Trabucatti punched him, and then Loyd died upon hitting the ground.

Trabucatti denies he is responsible in any way for the death, claiming Loyd came at him with fists raised. Every single witness denies this happened, even the people that were with Trabucatti.

This is not a privileged white person getting hit for talking shit. This is not a case of him getting his comeuppance for being classist or racist. This is straight-up a dude being stalked and attacked after not fighting back or making a motion to physically defend himself.

And there are people that are okay with this in the notes. That’s fucked up.

[cheshireinthemiddle]

*long sigh*

[inked-up-gentleman-deactivated2]

We need a stronger plague…

[im-the-princess-now]

Even if he was some privileged white boy who said something stupid, did he really deserve to die for it???? Yall are a bunch of psychopathic degenerates

[cutuwithacakeknife0000-deactiva]

[agnesandhilda]

hunting down the cringe avatar with my fail uncle

[dankmemeuniversity]

[car-eater]

[evilidiot]

[leporida3z]

[spunstaeble-deactivated20220704]

[rook-the-catechumen]

[blueskittlesart]

finished 7 deadly sins so i guess i really am gonna have to start watching naruto now ://

[blueskittlesart]

this is the funniest possible tag someone could have put on this post

[taiga-fujimura-official]

OPEN RP

Would you care for a free lollipop?

[kaiserbeamz]

Would I?!

[taiga-fujimura-official]

Would you?

[kaiserbeamz]

Would I!?

[taiga-fujimura-official]

Would you?!

[kaiserbeamz]

Ẅ̴̨̰͚̟̤̅̓̀͌͆̇̈̎ͅǫ̴̢̳͙͈͍̰͇́̀̄̈̎͜͝ͅu̸̢̘̦̩̠̭̿̈́̆́̋͗̇l̷̨̛̥͔̠̳̯̘̹͎̎̀̐͑͑͊͒̋̍͘̕̚d̷̨͇͚̲͈̈́̄̏̈́͊̀̀̆̽̔̍́ ̵̧̧̰͖̻̻̞̘̖̳̤͌́͗̎̆̾͛̾̈̅͗̿́͠͝I̵̢̨̛̯̯͔̜̠̬͐̃͋͆̔͂́̃̀͑̆̚͠͝!̶̧̢̡̛͔̥̮̱̉̇͊̆̊̐̃̀͝?̸̧̛̩̝̫̰̟̫͕͖̦̾̀̚̚

[taiga-fujimura-official]

W͙̤̬̼͇͚͔̮͍̲͔̘̹͜͡ͅÒ͕̭̗̞͖̤̹̘͈͔̬͙͖̥̀͢U̶̡̲̩̺̟͕̭̖̮̲͡L̝͖̺̲̺̩͚̲̙̠̟̺͖͚̯̘̺͟͟ͅḐ̟͈͎̥̤́͘͝ ̢̢́͠͏̣̝͓̱͙Y̛͔̱̫͍̲̲̻͎͈̤̦̠̜͡Ó̷̼̮̥̖͎͍̭̜̘͍̭̦̼͘͟͜U̡͞͞͞҉̜̼̱̖̟?̫͙̹̤̘͔͉̗̖̝͎̜͞͞͠!͍̩̗͔̯̘̗͓̦̟̱̝͕̟͎͚͠

[kaiserbeamz]

….would I what?

[taiga-fujimura-official]

Would you care for a free lollipop?

[kaiserbeamz]

Would I?!

[taiga-fujimura-official]

RADDA RADDA

[kaiserbeamz]

Yes. I would. Thank you.

[starwarsgraphictee]

I haven’t seen the episode where this is from, but I have no doubt in my mind it went exactly like that.

[ewaneneollav]

[kristina100000]

good morning world

[kristina100000]