I'm rewatching OFMD with some friends and it's hitting me like a truck how awful Izzy is, how much his actions are whitewashed by a lot of fans and how capital F fandom keeps tripping over the same stone with the depiction of abuse.
The same scenario happens constantly where an abusive character played by a conventionally attractive guy, usually with dark hair and a British accent can commit the most horrific acts and fandom will treat the character as a poor little meow meow. The kicker is that a lot of the time, the abuse they inflict is upon people who are in some way bucking against fascism/toxic masculinity/gender norms/imperialism, etc. Those people are also overwhelmingly women, people of color or just vulnerable in one way or another.
Some notable examples include:
Kylo Ren: Wannabe fascist who brutally tortures the female lead in a scene that heavily echoes sexual assault. Brutalizes the Black male lead so badly he's in a coma by the end of the 1st movie. Fandomized as a PLMM immediately, treated like nothing is his fault and the real bad guy has twisted his mind. Also has Finn's every good trait slapped onto him, including the love interest role.
Izzy Hands: Emotionally and physically abuses the Maori co-protagonist. His actions include selling him out to the English, telling him he should have let the English kill him and threatening him with violence if he doesn't behave the way he wants him to. Extends the same treatment to the gender nonconforming white male lead. Fandomized as a PLMM since the 1st season and treated as a suicidal abuse victim, basically putting all of Edward's traits onto him.
Loki from the MCU. Manipulates and undermines his brother's actions out of pure jealousy. When said brother starts to break away from the imperialistic mindset he was raised into, he straight up kills him and then continues his family's streak of colonialism, despite being from a colonized world himself. Proceeds to never take responsibility for his actions all while treating every female character (who isn't his gender flipped self) like dirt. Fandomized as a PLMM immediately, treated like the read villain has twisted his mind, has all of Thor's traits and experiences slapped onto him. Are we seeing a pattern yet?
Snape and Draco Malfoy from YouKnowWhere: Relentlessly bully children and their peers, are openly bigoted against non magic users and poor people even if they meet all other criteria for blood purity and never express regret or shame in the entire franchise. Fandomized as PLMMs eventually (once the characters playing them were hot).
Do notice, those are all either media for kids/teens or media for adults that isn't exactly subtle in its message. The abuse is not hidden in between the layers. The characters act openly. And yet, there's this insistence to rewrite villains that are actively fighting to preserve the abusive status quo as noble heroes. Are we sure fandom is always progressive and righting the wrongs of canon. Are we really sure?
I don't have a solution here. I'm just describing a phenomenon. And it's driving me a bit insane, ngl.
