The dehumanization of Shauna Shipman
This is a topic I have always wanted to write about
It started back when I first heard of Yellowjackets, back around the time of the season 3 finale. I have mentioned in another post that the things that I heard about Shauna without the context, made her seem much worse than she truly was.
And as I got into the fandom, lo and behold, it was even worse. It seemed as though a lot of the context for her behavior had flown over their heads. They saw her as a cartoon villain, a monster. The idea of showing empathy seemed impossible.
Everybody assumes that Shauna started the cannibalism because “she was crazy 🤪” while ignoring the fact that she was in her third trimester of pregnancy and having psychotic episodes and starving
And yes, having no food while extremely pregnant will cause more severe symptoms compared to someone who isn’t
So, reducing her eating Jackie’s ear to, Shauna’s evil and crazy is extremely thoughtless and inhumane.
They also happen to ignore Shauna’s guilt and extreme shame about doing so. Jackie asking about her ear is actually Shauna’s guilty conscience. Everyone remembers Tai’s vomiting and Natalie’s apologies, but nobody remembers how Shauna cried to Lottie about how afraid and ashamed she was.
It’s pretty easy to run into posts that treat Shauna like a violent animal, a dog that needs a leash. At first I took it as a joke (as I’m sure a lot of you do as well). But people genuinely believe this.
It got to a point where I saw a post where someone said that Shauna’s refusal to harm innocent things (ie: Bruce the goat) was because she had the mentality of an animal, and had no reason to harm it.
That made me stop for a good while
Shauna is incredibly human! She showcases genuine compassion and empathy. She is self sacrificial in a way that no animal can emulate!
Would an animal sacrifice their well being in the way that Shauna would?
Would an animal comfort people in the way Shauna did?
Would an animal tell their friends to go inside so they would not have to witness them chopping up the body of a child? Would an animal care more about their mental wellbeing over their own?!
“bUt AnImaLs TeChNiCalLy-“
I don’t care? Clearly Shauna is incredibly human. And also, the same video of her with the goat was memed as well, which also bothers me.
There are people who genuinely believe that the death of her baby was karma. A punishment that she deserved. There are videos about how she was a wh0re who deserved everything she got.
When someone points out how insensitive and ignorant and borderline abusive people can be to Shauna, it’s justified with:
“She deserved it because _____”
People will write about how Shauna hurt Melissa but ignore how Melissa took advantage of her in ways similar to how Lottie took advantage of Akilah and Travis.
a) Approach someone who is isolated and vulnerable (Travis points out Akilah, and Melissa stalks Shauna)
b) Convince them they are special
c) Continuously repeat these affirmations to the point that the other person internalizes and believes what they are being told
The other person (Shauna and Akilah) are disenchanted and end up feeling abandoned and betrayed. Both attempt to get back at their abuser with violence in anger at being used.
Obviously neither of them are right in their violent actions and are still responsible for them. Like poisoning the animals, or shooting Melissa.
It’s easy to be fooled by Melissa, and I do genuinely believe Melissa loved Shauna, but she still did abuse her as well, by using her mental instability and grief to her advantage.
Melissa and Lottie both repeat these behaviors later on in life, whether it’s with Alex, someone pretty similar to Shauna, except that Alex serves a different purpose, or Lottie’s cult, with Lisa, who also serves a different purpose.
Alex is incredibly vulnerable and has suffered a loss that Melissa is aware of and has watched happen. She feels guilt for her, similar to how she felt with Shauna. She stalks her and inserts herself in her life, like with Shauna. And both Alex and Shauna know little about Melissa, while Melissa knows about their most vulnerable moments.
it’s funny how the fandom will most likely ignore the fact that Melissa was willing to poison their only food source to kill and cannibalize Shauna and will tell you once again
You can tell them that it is insane to kill your only source of food to kill one person, after you put them on this pedestal and plan out a murder as well as desecrating and eating their remains, while leaving yourselves to starve for an unspecified amount of time (they do not know rescue is coming, Mari is not a decoy)
They’ll say Shauna’s crazy
When you remind them that they all helped in killing Coach Ben (including Natalie), they’ll jump through hoops to explain why Shauna is definitely the worst and everyone else is really, really scared of big bad Shauna!
They see Shauna the way the characters see Shauna, which is really interesting to me
See, Shauna is not the only character to be dehumanized in the series, but her dehumanization is not just done by the characters but by the people watching the show as well.
In TV shows, we are given the pov of all characters. We are supposed to understand all of the characters, the situation they’re in and how that affects all of them.
Coach Ben is also dehumanized, but people seem to understand that he is being dehumanized and sympathize with him. Travis is dehumanized on Doomcoming and people can understand that. Natalie is dehumanized during the hunt. Lottie is dehumanized and turned into Wilderness Jesus
Shauna is dehumanized just as much, if not even more, but Lord forbid you acknowledge that, and everyone says:
“Nooo! Shauna’s really mean! She’s crazy! Stop glazing her! You’re removing her flaws! Stop babying her! She’s pure evil! She was born a demon! Did you know she slept with her best friends boyfriend!”
Yeah, she’s flawed, but she isn’t pure evil. That’s not the point of the show. And the show has made it pretty clear that she is being dehumanized. And also scapegoated.
How did that happen? Well, let me explain!
Obviously, they didn’t point at Shauna and say,
“Hey, we need a fall guy to handle all of our guilt for us, can you do that for us? Pretty please!”
It happened gradually. It’s clear that Shauna caught her bearings fast after the crash and played an active role in helping the others, and stepping up to do the nasty job that nobody (outside of Misty) wanted to do.
Shauna is someone who is already used to bearing the weight of someone else’s emotional needs and baggage. Whether it was her mother at first is questionable. But Jackie, who had a harsh mother, most likely complained often to Shauna, who would put aside her own needs to be there for Jackie
Like, in the script for that Jackieshauna hug outside the cabin, this is what Shauna is thinking
Even though Jackie ignored and insulted her for making the decision to go to the cabin, she puts Jackie’s mental health and feelings above her own.
“Shauna is scared, but she also knows this is what Jackie wants to hear”
How many times does Shauna put aside her own fear or personal issues aside for someone else?
It shows when Jackie says in the pilot that Shauna was always there for her. It shows when she tries to teach Jackie how to butcher, and gives her a pep talk. It shows when she is willing to die in an abortion attempt to keep Jackie from finding out. When she attempts to get her to eat on Doomcoming
Chances are, Shauna has been doing this pre-crash, quite often. Shauna and Jackie are used to the status quo. Shauna is used to her role. Everyone gets on her for not leaving, but they ignore how much she cared. Obviously Shauna didn’t have the heart to ignore Jackie when she was sad. She didn’t want to lose her closest friend.
She was probably afraid that Jackie would leave her and find better friends if she complained. And even when she did Jackie laughed it off and mocked her. (“Jesus, what crawled up your ass?”)
She was used to playing the role of caretaker and had the strength to do incredibly hard things without complaint. This kind of affects how the others would perceive her in the situation they were in
It would become the norm to assume that Shauna could handle it and that they could just worry about themselves, after all Shauna was self sufficient.
This self sufficiency turns into worship when Lottie turns her worship of her infant son. Suddenly the child is not just Shauna’s, it’s theirs. Shauna’s agreement to the baby shower suddenly turns into an entire segment of the religion turning her into the Virgin Mary.
The scene before her birth is indicative of this. Shauna complains about Lottie muttering things to her baby. She asks for Tai’s help. Tai takes Lottie’s side, dismissing it as harmless
I saw a Tai fan blame Shauna for making Tai feel bad, and call her a hypocrite for not caring about Tai? That she was a fake friend for not understanding how Tai felt about her sleepwalking and how Lottie was helping her?
This is exactly what I mean when I say this fandom dehumanizes Shauna.
Shauna is about to give birth in the middle of the wilderness. She is asking Tai to keep Lottie away from her as Lottie is scaring her. This is clearly been happening for a while. Shauna is the one who needs support. I’m not trying to say that Tai’s struggles don’t matter, but Tai has Van, while Shauna’s best friend has died. She isn’t insulting Tai or disregarding her issues. She doesn’t even mention them!
She isn’t yelling, she’s begging Tai to have her back in what she believes could possibly be the last days of her life.
Tai again disregards her issues for the sake of group peace. This is clearly normal behavior at this point
The group sees that Shauna can handle things without falling apart. They decide to let her do it instead of questioning it. Tai is the most resistant to this idea, but even she bends to it when her well being is on the line
Lottie is helping her with her sleepwalking and Van is her #1 acolyte, therefore she chooses Van and Lottie over Shauna. I mean Shauna’s strong enough to deal with it, right?
Like Tai herself says “happy wife, happy life”
Meaning: “Van and Lottie’s wants as well as mine, will always come above yours. It doesn’t matter what you want if Van wants something else.”
This happens over and over again
“Shauna is butchering meat in the freezing cold while pregnant? With her best friends corpse? I mean? She wants to do it? And cutting meat is icky! And outside is freezing! I don’t wanna go outside! Shauna’s super strong! She can handle it! Shauna hurry up, or I’ll eat your food!”
“Shauna’s sleeping on the floor? I mean Coach Ben already has the bed, and he’s a lot more fragile than Shauna! Never mind the fact that he’s a grown man and Shauna’s seventeen years old and pregnant! She cuts meat! She can handle the attic! Hopefully she doesn’t fall! 🤞”
“We need someone to kill whoever is picked! We should pick Shauna! She’s super strong! She cuts meat! Who cares if she buried her dead son the other day! She handled Jackie like a pro! She can handle this as well!”
“We need someone to butcher Javi! Shauna can do it! Even though she is clearly crying and covering her eyes! I mean she did say to leave, and I mean, as we always say, Shauna’s super strong!”
Tai ignores Shauna’s wishes once again, with the birth ceremony, which seems nice and all, but leads them straight into the one place Shauna was afraid they would go.
Lottie assumes that their prayers saved Shauna, at the cost of the baby. The baby is a heroic sacrifice now, instead of a tragedy
The group, once again, put their own well-being above Shauna’s. They cannot handle what they have seen, so they create a story that makes themselves feel better at the cost of Shauna’s mental health and her grief.
Shauna’s pleas mean nothing. Her wishes mean nothing. They have already decided what she should feel, what she is capable of handling. It’s why the group put the knife in Shauna’s hands.
They believe she is stronger than them, feels less than them. She is the image of strength, a godlike creature thanks to Lottie’s delusions and Vans storytelling
She is not like them, she can handle it. She has to handle it. Because she can, after all, she’s handled much worse.
This is the framework for the way they see Shauna in later years.
You can see how we have went from Shauna their teammate to Shauna, the Virgin Mary. Now, we get to Shauna, the antler queen.
After the cabin fire, nobody gives Shauna credit they way they do for Natalie. This is simple, Shauna is expected to be a superhuman creature, she is expected to keep them alive. It’s not something they reward. To them, Shauna saving them from the fire is like going to work, or raising your children, it’s a responsibility you are expected to carry out without reward or acknowledgement.
When Natalie butchers Ben, the group sees it as an awful thing, a hard task that would be incredibly difficult and they send her their apologies and pity
When Shauna butchers Javi, in the freezing cold after burying her infant son. It’s her job, Shauna cuts things, it’s expected for her, it’s like clocking into work. No one bothers to thank her. Only Van, Tai and Natalie go outside with her, and they go inside without question when Shauna says to go.
But when the others do similar things (Natalie surviving death by luck, or Tai making huts) it’s something to reward. Natalie and Tai are teenagers and friends in their eyes, so they can see the effort put in. Also Tai happens to be Van’s girlfriend
Funnily enough there was an argument on TikTok about how Shauna never contributed to their survival and kept them alive the way Natalie did. Which was funny because I’m pretty sure the season 3 Yellowjackets would agree.
Art imitates life, I guess?
This way of thinking isolates Shauna, with only Travis and Coach Ben acknowledging her sacrifices (“What about Shauna?” “I’m so sorry Shauna”). Natalie also acknowledges this years later. Lottie seems to understand and empathize in some ways as well (“You don’t have to kill the goat”)
Which is interesting as they are the only characters dehumanized in similar ways.
In season 3, Shauna had been acting out. This leads to the others isolating her even more and mocking her. Mari constantly eggs her on and the others roll their eyes and grow aggravated with her.
This is because they don’t view her as a grieving mother, they view her as an annoying toddler spilling their food and spitting on the walls.
Shauna is returning their energy and it aggravates them. They can’t seem to comprehend why she can’t get over it. Why she can’t just be grateful for the wilderness’ blessings? For her baby’s sacrifice?
Mari eggs her on, believing that she can handle it, and gets angry when Shauna acts petty in return. Tai warns Natalie and all she says is that Shauna is in a mood.
As well as that, one thing I forgot to mention was Shauna’s violence in all this. When Shauna finally cracks, Lottie takes the beating, telling her to “let it out”
Van tells everyone that there was a darkness in Shauna that Lottie had removed. That Lottie had heroically sacrificed herself to save Shauna. Instead of attempting to self harm or commit suicide using Shauna. This leads to the belief that if Shauna can beat Lottie, she can commit murder and chop up Javi
Melissa seems surprised that Shauna wanted to bring blankets to Lottie. Mari blames her for causing this, ignoring the fact that they could have stopped it
Once again, they create a story to make themselves feel better. Shauna was just too strong, too full of darkness to beat. After all, she beat up Lottie, their prophet, who had killed a bear!
Remind you a little of the fandom?
Shauna’s not only super strong and superhuman, she has a darkness in her, an evil that has corrupted her soul. She needs to return to Jesus (the wilderness) or face eternal damnation.
It makes it easy for the others to dehumanize her, whether it’s Mari constantly egging her on and poking at her, or Lottie spinning tales, and the others worshipping her son and ignoring her delusions of them eating her son.
Akilah putting a crown on her head after she refused to wear it. Having to wear a costume in a play about her son. She is made to do things that harm her for the sake of the others comfort.
“But she didn’t say anything!”
She did! She said it over and over! She wrote in her diary about it! She made it clear how uninterested she was! She was angry all the time!
And the fandom, just like the Yellowjackets call her crazy, and a problem for it. She needs to shut up and stop whining cause other people have it worse
I saw a TikTok about how Shauna needed to stop whining about her baby. I saw skits making fun of her dream of the others eating the baby.
Shauna is expected to know better, to be better. To stop whining and just listen to them. They are never expected to do the same. They can ignore her well being when it benefits them, but Lord forbid Shauna do the same.
The others now realize that Shauna is capable of violence and use it to their advantage. When Misty realizes that Natalie is lying about Coach Ben, she goes to Shauna, knowing that something will happen. When it does, she is nowhere near the scene of the crime.
Until Shauna rats her out, which surprises her. This showcases the hypocrisy in how they expect things from Shauna that they do not have to return. Misty expects Shauna to keep her secrets after ripping her to shreds on the stand and targeting her even when she had no reason to (“Shauna would’ve left Mari to die”)
Because Shauna was supposed to keep Misty’s secrets, and she did not. Therefore she needs to be punished. This happens again in the adult timeline, when Misty is not expected to apologize for attempting to kill her, but seems to expect Shauna to grovel and apologize to her when she insults her and makes her walk home.
The others hold her to the same standard. Mari gets angry when Natalie punishes them both after Mari had started the argument earlier in the day and had egged Shauna on (“I should beat your ass”)
Mari is innocent, Shauna’s the crazy unbalanced one, why should she be punished with her?
Mari gives Coach Ben’s location with barely any pressure, most likely telling herself, with no real evidence to back her statement that Shauna would have hurt her otherwise.
All Shauna did was point out a discrepancy in the story (“if your knee’s so fucked, how did you get out?”) She did not threaten her, and there is no other time that Shauna has beaten someone who hadn’t asked for it, but they had already rewritten the events in their head to make Shauna look dangerous.
When Misty states to the crowd that Shauna would’ve left Mari to die, only Tai defends her, Natalie, whose life was saved by Shauna twice agrees with Misty. This showcases how they view Shauna. Long before she became the antler queen, they treated her like the antler queen.
And their self fulfilling prophecy comes true
Shauna did not actually scare anyone into changing their vote. But Melissa and the others tell themselves that. It’s easier to put it on Shauna, who is the most vocal and angry, then accept that they are as bad as her.
When Melissa seems to understand Shauna, she starts a relationship with her. She assumes that Melissa understands her, and gives her the same advice that she gave her. Melissa tells her that her acts of violence that she has felt guilty about are okay. That she was powerful and special
I find it funny when people switch their roles, Shauna was the vulnerable one, don’t let the resting bitch face fool you. In spite of Shauna’s claims, Melissa had friends who saw her as a human being and would take her side when push came to shove. Shauna had Tai at best.
That is abuse, Melissa is abusing Shauna, she is taking advantage of her mental illness and violent tendencies to get what she wants.
Obviously Shauna does end up abusing Melissa in turn, but it’s aggravating when people say that Melissa tried to fix Shauna, she didn’t! She was trying to make her worse, that was the point!
When Melissa calls Shauna crazy in front of everyone and asks why she can’t be a good person, it sounds like an insult. I don’t think Melissa was trying to manipulate Shauna here, but you can’t tell me that you wouldn’t have felt betrayed and heartbroken if you were Shauna
Melissa had built her up, given her love and affection, had praised her and called her special. She had promised that she was unafraid of her dark side. Only to call her crazy in front of everyone. To deny having feelings for her as an adult, to say “you scared the shit out of me” when she had, in their first meeting said that she was not afraid of her.
That sounds a lot like grooming to me. The behavior continues into adulthood as well with Alex, so it’s not a one-off thing
Again, I like Melissa, I just hate when people infantilize her to make Shauna seem like some sort of demon. They both abused each other.
Shauna might be Melissa’s abuser, but Melissa is Shauna’s abuser as well.
Tai also uses Shauna’s anger as a Hail Mary to win the trial. She reminds Shauna of her birth, knowing it would make Shauna angry, and Shauna can give some good speeches when passionate enough, which is what she was counting on.
Obviously Tai wasn’t trying to cause harm, but it does show how normalized it is amongst the group to rile Shauna up and disregard her feelings for the sake of their own wants and needs.
When Coach Ben is to be maimed, they send Shauna out. Shauna finishes the job and finally seems to be acting in the way they described her. She showcases a lack of guilt, which finally is enough to justify their stories.
Shauna is evil, she is superhuman, she is not one of us, she is something special.
She is the wilderness vessel
There was an interesting discussion about how the wilderness represented Lottie’s abuser, or how Shauna is like Natalie’s father, which was interesting until they called Shauna their abusers. Which is untrue.
I kind of believe that Lottie sees the wilderness as an abuser of sorts, but Shauna was not the wilderness. Shauna is not Natalie’s father. She does not know about Natalie’s father, she is not purposefully attempting to emulate him. Shauna has rejected the wilderness over and over again, Lottie pushes it on her.
Once again Shauna has a title forced on her without her consent and she’s forced to carry the weight of it.
She is now viewed as a monster by the others, the wilderness bogeyman
And once Shauna keeps them from leaving, they turn on her.
It’s been mentioned how Lottie is spoken to kindly while Shauna is yelled at and shamed. But nobody seems too interested in understanding why.
Lottie is their prophet, and responsible for their blessings. She brought them the bear, and Javi and kept Shauna alive. Shauna is the bogeyman, full of darkness. Her reasoning for wanting to stay is not seen with human empathy, it is explained away by the excuse of “the darkness within her”.
Tai and Lottie’s reasoning is understandable to the audience and to the characters, but Shauna, whose reasoning was a mix of the two, could not explain with her words the way they could, and even if she could, she would still be ignored.
Which is why she turned to violence in the first place, because that was the only way anyone paid attention. She could not use her words, so she used the gun.
Both Tai and Lottie want to stay, but only Shauna is blamed.
Tai helps Shauna keep Hannah and Kodiak, she helps to pull Natalie out of her room, she aids in hunting Mari. Yet, she’s seen as the rational one.
When Mari, Gen, Melissa and Akilah make their plan, they are not heroically sacrificing themselves for rescue, they have no idea rescue is even coming.
Natalie has no idea what they’re planning, so it’s obvious that they are not working together.
They make their plan based on who they believe deserves to die, and that’s Shauna. Akilah goes rogue to kill Lottie.
They do not want to capture her peacefully, they do not want to deescalate, they want her dead, and are willing to carry it out
So does Tai? So does Lottie? But they don’t plan to murder them do they?
Tai is just as crazy, where’s the murder plan for her?
Mari and Akilah also assaulted Travis? Should they be punished?
Mari gave Coach away after promising not too and aided in his torture and death. Akilah told them that they had to get him when they faltered in front of the cave. Shouldn’t they be punished?
Melissa and Gen both voted for Coach’s death and both outright stated that Natalie should be punished when she killed him and ate his meat. Shouldn’t they be punished?
Kodiak’s head has arrows in it, meaning that Mari, or someone who could use it helped in putting him there. I highly doubt they were going to hand their only weapon to Shauna
They played a role in this situation, so by your logic, they should be killed and cannibalized as well right?
C’mon guys? I thought we agreed, if you do something bad, the reason does not matter, all that matters is that you deserve to be punished in a brutal way?
Or does that only apply to Shauna?
I guess it only applies to Shauna 🤷♀️
Anyways, they are so desperate for revenge that they are willing to kill their only ethical food source, dooming the entire group, including themselves to starvation just to have the excuse to kill, desecrate her body and eat her corpse
Yes, Mari would’ve desecrated Shauna’s corpse. The group already viewed her as the bogeyman, they all carried an anger towards her for not living up to their crazy standards and would’ve chased her happily. Based on the way they are more than willing to kill Shauna over two decades later, it isn’t crazy to think that they would’ve stripped her corpse naked and put her head on a spike.
They viewed her as subhuman, and would’ve danced around the fire like how they did with Coach Ben, celebrating their victory over Shauna’s bones. They probably would’ve plucked her eyes out and used her head for target practice. And then Lottie would’ve kept her head for mourning purposes. Or created some myth, with the help of Van, who would probably need a story to cope after Shauna died.
Tai and Van and Natalie would’ve abstained from actively desecrating her corpse, as Shauna was their friend, but they wouldn’t stop the others from doing so.
Travis would also abstain and get high somewhere
They would justify more hunts, now that they had no food supply, and kill each other until rescue arrived.
Afterwards when they would be rescued, they would, just like Shauna, feel awful for what they had done. Without the wilderness, they would have to cope with what they had done, just like Shauna had.
Simply put, Mari suffered the fate she wanted to subject Shauna to. Both of them fought each other, and Shauna won. Because Mari died, her sins are washed away. She is blameless now, an innocent victim of the bogeyman Shauna
Mari died fulfilling her self fulfilling prophecy. Mari had always been fated to die. She had created the situation that led to her own demise. Her death truly came full circle. It was Mari’s belief that Shauna was a monster that created a monster. Believing that Shauna was the villain they needed to beat killed her
It was incredibly childish, as they were children after all. Just a year ago their biggest issues were being grounded after failing a trig test.
It makes their dehumanization of Shauna feel less evil, and more like a child covering their ears when they don’t want to listen to their parents.
At the end of the day though, their dehumanization of Shauna comes back to bite them in the ass. They had created a monster, molded one with their own two hands, and now they had to deal with it.
It reminds me of the twitter post that started this whole thing
Shauna has never known who she was, she has always been molded into what everyone else needed her to be. This leads to an identity crisis, and I don’t think she ever truly understood who she was as a person and what she wanted. She had Callie out of guilt, she married Jeff out of guilt. She became the butcher out of necessity, the antler queen was placed on her. She was expected to constantly bear the weight without complaint. And she does!
For all of the “Shauna is crazy” people, she does make an attempt to hold herself together for over two decades. She tells Natalie not to give in to paranoia. She tries to keep Jeff from going to jail, tries to keep Lottie from killing herself only for Tai, Van, Natalie and Misty to attempt to kill her, knowing that the police were coming and that they would go to jail and have their secrets exposed.
It’s hilarious honestly, how people talk about how Shauna hunted people for fun when:
a) She never called for a hunt, let alone did one for fun
b) They did just attempt to murder her for shits and giggles
“But Shauna deserved it!”
It’s been 23 years my dude, and if Shauna should be killed for lying, then Tai should also be killed as well. She sent a reporter to kill whoever snitched, sending Travis into a panic that led to his death. She then lied to them about sending the reporter as well, which led to Misty killing her under the belief that she was trying to blackmail them.
But the difference in the reaction showcases who the scapegoat is. Tai is let off the hook, just like in the wilderness, while Shauna is grilled on a hot stove. Shauna is genuinely honest for once and attempts to make things right. Only for Van and Tai to call off the psych team
She pleads with them not to do this, she appeals to their humanity. Only for them to ignore her as usual. She reminds them of the wilderness and how they had all lost their minds, only for the fandom to twist her words entirely
According to them, Shauna did not believe in “it” therefore she was worse than the others. Mind you, they are attempting to kill her, over Lottie’s mentally ill ravings, that they know are caused by schizophrenia
They chase her, and have to be stopped by Shauna’s 17-year old daughter, who is holding a gun
Natalie’s death is their fault. Had they not chased Shauna with masks, Lisa wouldn’t have been afraid of them. Had Misty waited, instead of jumping to murder, maybe Natalie could’ve calmed her down.
Yet Shauna, who played no role in Natalie’s death is handed the blame.
Not at any point afterwards do they apologize to Shauna or Callie. They expect Shauna to get over it, and move on.
And so does the fandom, because apparently Shauna is a hypocrite for questioning why the hell her teammates have lost their minds. I guess she was supposed to lay down and die, orphaning her only child because she did bad things, like everyone else in the circle 25 years ago
I guess the others are innocent because *checks notes*
Completely valid excuse 👍
It makes her paranoia in season 3 feel more understandable, Tai, Van and Misty not only refused to apologize, they blame her for Lottie’s murder
Mind you, Shauna is the only one in that car who did not attempt to commit ritual murder
I would’ve crashed the car personally
Everyone remembers how Shauna ditched Van, but ignore how Misty accused her of being the bad friend, and accused her of murdering Lottie, only to villainize her when she, tired of the hypocrisy walked away
Was walking away a bad thing? Yes? But Misty, Tai and Van had not only insisted on coming along, she made her pay for the gas. They attempted to kill her, and accused her of murder.
Mind you, Misty deciding that she was tired of being devalued is hypocritical because it’s not like Tai and Van or even Natalie or Lottie treated her any better 😭💀
Van called her a psycho, Tai doesn’t want to involve her in anything, Natalie used her for her own benefit and insulted her just like Shauna.
The only difference? She expects more from Shauna, that she does not expect from anyone else.
Her anger is based in hypocrisy. Just like at Coach Ben’s trial.
Melissa stalks Shauna, leaves a note at her house, clearly wanting to trigger her so she can ruin her own life.
She sends a tape containing evidence that could send them to prison, right to her house.
But the note!
She knew Shauna, she knew that sending this to her was the equivalent of pulling the pin out of a grenade and throwing it.
She could’ve sent it to Tai, who would’ve been rational about it, not the person you know is crazy.
Shauna thinks she is dead, making any contact is going to cause a scene.
And then she has the audacity to lecture Shauna about ruining her own life, while in the process of ruining her own
If she wanted to forget, she wouldn’t have married Alex and she would’ve destroyed the tape.
She is putting her wife and toddler in extreme danger because she was bored and wanted in on the fun.
Say whatever about Shauna, but one thing she hasn’t done is put her family in danger for fun.
When Van dies, Shauna is blamed, in spite of the fact that she attempted to keep them away. She is crucified for failing to support Tai the way she did, ignoring the fact that the situations are different
Tai would slap Shauna off if she tried it, while Shauna was receptive to Tai’s comfort.
Van made the decision to walk back in to save Shauna, Shauna did not ask for that.
Just like Shauna had run into a burning plane for Van 25 years ago.
Tai makes it clear that she does not want Shauna around Van. Shauna offers to help, but Tai refuses. This is similar to when Tai attempts to comfort Shauna over the baby’s death and Shauna shakes her off and buries him alone
If you blame Shauna for not following Tai when she specifically asked to be left alone, then by that logic, you should blame Tai for not following Shauna when she buried her baby
Sometimes, people need space to grieve and all you can do is give them that.
Afterwards, Tai and Misty get together to retcon the entire series, and everyone falls for it
“Shauna is the cause of all of our problems”
“If we kill Shauna, all will be well”
What else Big Brother? Did Shauna bring down the plane too? Did Shauna put Simone in a coma? Did Shauna kill Jessica Roberts?
Of course she did! Shauna made them do it of course! They have no free will! Only Shauna has free will! Only Shauna is unaffected by it!
Shauna loved the wilderness! She thrived there!
She’s not like the others! She’s strong!
You get it right? It’s easy to create a story, but it’s hard to keep it going. Just like the tale fell apart when they returned, it will fall apart again. Tai has never been able to accept her darkness and with Dark Tai gone, she will finally be forced to reckon with herself
Shauna did bad things, but it has become normalized to view her as subhuman and hold her to higher standards
She is an imperfect victim, which makes it easy to minimize her trauma as something that is deserved.
And it showcases how easily we as human beings fall to propaganda and groupthink that can completely alter the way we see reality
When I first heard of Shauna, based on TikTok edits, and all the nicknames, I assumed the worst, only to realize that it was all a well crafted story spun to give meaning to a story without a clear enemy
In a situation like that, it’s easy to play pin the blame on the donkey, to create stories to make sense of the tragedy that has befallen you, but only when you can acknowledge the truth, will you find peace, because those who do not learn from history will be doomed to repeat it
