This video analysis is absolutely valid and I want to rant about it.
TW: child abuse, child exploitaton
This is the type of fictional trope I hate the most. Not because I think it should be "censured" or because people cannot enjoy this media, no, on the contrary, enjoy and consume the media you like, but also, be critical of it. In all of these "spooky little girls" (western*) movies, we're met with the same premise: these little girls may seem like victims, but they're actually spiteful little bitches and dangerous monsters that need to be punished. The abuse done against them is justified!
*I'm not entitled to speak about oriental movies because I'm not oriental nor am educated in oriental culture/pop culture, but I'd like to point how the original Japanese "Ringu" presents Sadako as victim, an intersex woman that suffered crimes, was abused and killed for being different, while her American version is an "evil little girl that not only deserved, but needed to be abused, isolated and killed." This is one of the many reasons that make the American version inferior.
Take Case 39 as an example (not mentioned in the video essay, but the finest example of this trope): Lilith's parents try to burn her alive in the start of the movie, and their action is not only justified, but also seen as necessary. Lilith is a demonic little girl that needs to be killed. The protagonist, Emily, is a social worker that wants to protect the little girl, but is later haunted by her, a karmic consequence for her compassion. Lilith has lines such as:
"We need to learn healthier ways of resolving conflict (...)" a mockery of non-abusive parents that don't punish nor hurt their child when they do something wrong. A parent communicating with their child? Admitting when the mistake is actually theirs? Not beating up their child? Actually explaining why X and Y is wrong and why A and B is right instead of yelling "obey me"? No, this is useless. The result of a non-abusive education is a demonic little kid.
"Most families don't even know they have a problem, until it's too late." The neglect of a child is actually the child's fault, not the parent's!
"I want what you wanted from your mother. I want you to love me." Ah yes, the old and good trauma cycle. Emily has her own trauma with her mother, she is depicted as the good victim while Lilith is the bad one. Often, abusive parents use their own trauma as an excuse to how they treat their child. "I was raised this way and I'm alive and good!", right? If you were abused in the past by your parents, it's okay to do the same with your child. You're alive, after all. It's ok to discount your own frustration on them.
"You have to do what I say. If I say I want to go to a group, you have to do it. If I say I want a new dress, you have to do it. If I say I want ice cream, you have to do it." So scary and demonic, a child demanding basic attention.
The whole point and plot-twist of Case 39 is that it was foolish of Emily to care for a child being abused and nearly killed. The 'child' is not even human, she is a demon that disobeys adults and cause harm. A karmic consequence. In the final scene where she finally kills Lilith, Emily mockingly asks "are you scared?". Killing the little girl that caused you trouble is funny. It should be mocked. Punishment against children is "right and necessary". It's funny to watch a child be punished for misbehaving. This is why child exploitation content on the internet is so popular.
Abusive parents aren't anything new, but the way abuse against children is being filmed and made public to the internet in recent years is not only disgusting but also worrying. I'm absolutely against exposing children (specially small children) on the internet for any reason, but SPECIALLY when abusing and humiliating them for hundreds and thousands of people to watch. People with the same abusive tendency that agree with the parents, mock the children and share their humiliation with friends, in their own social media, etc. The amount of "I hate kids" speech that it's getting popular in recent years is horrifying, especially when hidden with a "progressive" mask. Abusing children is not progressive. Humiliating children is not progressive, and hating this group of people that are treated as literal property is not progressive.
Brasil-related part of the post: I just watched a video narrating a horrific incident in Brazilian Tiktok media. An abusive, putrid "mother" forced her daughter to drink an unhealthy amount of juice until she cried and almost vomited, filmed the abuse, posted it on the internet, thousands of people watched her video and glorified her abuse. This disgusting human being was giving her child a "punishment", the reason: her daughter visited her aunt and said she wished her mom bought her juice. This is the reason. Her mother's ego was hurt because how dare my daughter want things, and abused her in front of a camera to gain money. This is what 's been posted online for years. This is being normalized. People online are glorifying, giving money to and supporting abusers. People online are mocking abused children. Children were always treated as property, and I doubt this is going to change any time soon. Anytime a responsible parent opens up about a positive, respectful, loving and humane way to raise their child, they're met with mockery. Anytime an isolated case where a child acts violently (for literally any reason), the same rhetoric is used as a "solution": "abusing children is right because it keeps them in line, and not abusing them will cause them to disobey you and turn evil".
This isn't just fiction. This is real life. Children should not be abused, even less exposed in social media. Abuse against children shouldn't be mocked, normalized or seeing as justifiable. Abused children can and most likely will lash out, but they are not responsible for being abused. The parents are. I'm not naive to think that "making fiction about abusive parents being held accountable instead of the abused children" will change society and free the oppressed youth, but I do think we must have this conversation more. Mainly, report and call out abusive parents, especially when they post their abuse in public online spaces. Because demonic, evil, super powerful little girls are not real, but abusive parents and abused children are.
You know what trope I hate in media? Where you have an abused child or a member of an oppressed class being treated unfairly. And the story seems at first to be about rescuing the kid or vindicating the woman/lower class person/racial minority person, etc.. But then there's a twist! The abused person was possessed/is a literal demon/is just plain evil/something else that ends up justifying their treatment, and I just hate it. Because these are things abusers/misogynists/racists/etc. already believe about their victims. And I don't like seeing that validated in media. Like, if you're going to have a twist like that, you also need to make the opposition to the abuser clear. Like, I don't know, make it so that the child became a demon in self-defense. Make it so that a member of the racist's family turns out to be just as evil. Something.
