#darry tag

[jackballantyne]

darry caring for pony isn't solely something that's from the heart or because he simply is a "good" older brother — he is caring for ponyboy out of obligation, obligation that is tied up in his sense of masculinity and adulthood. to say that he's raising ponyboy purely from the depths of goodness in his soul ignores that darry's "parenting" of ponyboy has been violent, has had all the hallmarks of silent gen's viewpoints on masculinity and honor, and that if he failed to parent ponyboy, he would in essence be failing to be a "real" man. if he fails to care for ponyboy, his masculinity, his reputation, and pride is in jeopardy. that's a fact of the matter, and it is a huge piece of why their relationship is entirely so dysfunctional because if there was a societal acceptable way for him to give pony up that didn't also sacrifice his ties to masculinity, worth, and pride, i believe he would do it. pony is an extension of his manhood, of his ideas of how men govern themselves, of how darry is perceived. and he simply can't let him go so he's forced to do what's right even if "doing what's right" is actively fracturing their relationship.

[theoutsidersasvines]

Darry is the mom while Dally is the guy

[jackballantyne]

i think modern fandom finds it hard that darry didn't like movies or tv and try to force him into those headcanons and none of them work for me whether it's that he's secretly a trekkie or he is into cerebral movies. some of that is because we're fandomites who love media and we live in the time of the cellphones and apps but... legit it's normal and fine for him to be a guy simply not into fictional entertainment.

[jackballantyne]

i think one of the reasons there's a very different outlook on darry is due to generational lines more than anything — mostly that for anyone who's a millennial and up, our version of adulthood is vastly different in conception from zoomers on down. it's stark that a lot of gen zs and the few gen a's around really do view being twenty years old as an extension of childhood or long to still be considered a child at the age of twenty years old because that's what they desire or have grown up around. millenials and gen xers and above did not have that experience. most of us desperately wanted to be adults, we were learning how to be adults at younger ages than the ones coming up after that.

bigger than that though... our parents were/are boomers. we've had way more interactions with boomers and silent gen; darry is silent gen and the rest of the cast are boomers. their version and outlook of childhood and adulthood are vastly different which is why, i think, a lot of older fans are a lot less forgiving and tolerant of darry's flaws and a lot less accepting of some of the headcanons around him particularly his treatment of ponyboy and how he's failing to be a parental figure.

being twenty years old in 1965 is not being twenty in 1975 or 85 or 95 or 05 or 15 or 25. twenty years old? you're an adult. but in 1965, there was a much different standard of adulthood and what that meant. if darry were a real person and reading some of these headcanons he'd explode because he'd be angry at the way he's being talked about or perceived to be a child (someone referring to him in all seriousness as a twenty year old minor is insane to me in the first place; if he read that line he might have lost it.) when he's a man who is two to three years out of high school, is holding down not one but two jobs and likely is paying a mortgage and is most certainly paying taxes and providing for two others.

i think what i'm getting at here is you can't wholly apply your current status with his — darry curtis was born in 1945, he would not in any way, shape or form agree to the way fandom infantilizes him or things of him akin to like, a fresh eighteen year old. it would be insulting and it's totally decoupled from historical context. i'm not saying that the way society was back then should be now but i am saying that in universe, darry curtis is a full grown Adult and i wish fandom would remember that.

(and even by today's standards... fandom does do a lot to excuse him in ways that don't make sense. it just makes a lot of people in fandom look ridiculous.)

[theoutsidersasvines]

Darry: 911 is it an emergency?

Dally: No

Darry: What is it?

Dally: I,, ITS DIGIORNO

https://youtu.be/RHWI1v1-RFQ

[jackballantyne]

i'm just archiving this for the next time a darry stan tries to act like fandom is too mean about him because i think this takes the cake for most unhinged post in this fandom in a looonnggg time.