Before I dive in, I would like to thank @popmatchburn for being the best partner, supporting me in all things, listening to my rants, proofreading this, and adding the conclusion to succinctly pull together all the big points. <3 You're one in a million and I love you.
I have seen a lot of content regarding Booth, and how people can't like him (and in severe situations judge other people for liking Booth) and like a buzzing fly, I would like to add my opinion where nobody asked for it.
So, this is a "Booth is one of Eldrich's favorite characters in television, and this is why":
One of the main reasons that I have seen people being anti-Booth is because he's pro-military, pro-cop, pro-government. Which, firstly, is that really all that we're judging people and fictional characters on? I'd say especially fictional characters.
Before I delve into the analysis, I firstly think that dividing a world into such extreme factions is an extremely single minded thing to do and perpetuates the problem we see in extreme first world countries like America and their split between Democrats and Republicans (but, that is an argument for people who know more than me and are more eloquent in these issues).
To the analysis!
Seeley Booth. He is an extremely complex, layered character and I think that he's not given enough credit for the complete role that he plays in the series.
Booth is the bastion of morality that the show revolves around, and in the sense of community and with what a large character set we're dealing with, that is something that's absolutely crucial for a microcosm of the Jeffersonian and the spaces which they occupy.
So, onto Booth and why he is the way he is.
He's going to hate the psychology of this analysis, but I feel like in the spirit of an intellectual query, he can deal with it momentarily.
As we know, Booth comes from a very tumultuous home life in his childhood. With his mother abandoning them with their abusive father, him switching his abuse to Seeley (and potentially Jared). In that situation, it makes sense that Booth became a sort of an authority figure for Jared. Keeping him safe, and protecting him from their father.
That leads to Seeley's grandfather telling his father to leave, and yes, they went to live with their direct grandfather, but losing your parents in any sense can leave an orphaned feeling, psychologically (if there is anyone that can add to this, I would appreciate the add-on, because I'm only taking a distanced approach based on textual evidence).
So, in his childhood, he already had this feeling of loss and instability that could have cemented his Catholic faith since trust in an invisible guy in the sky was better than the trust in the people around him.
Then, he joined the military when he was 19 - 21 after losing his athletic scholarship. Which, during that time, was a very fine option for a young man. As we know, that is a prime red pill age, but if we ignore "new" age post-2010 terminology, he still went into the military at a very impressionable age in the male psyche.
And, going into the active war zones as frequently as he did, if he didn't have 100% trust in his government. In the people that sent him in there, his life would probably be in danger 24/7. It was trust by necessity.
And, this trust in his government could have been further cemented through his very devout Catholic faith. And, when it comes to Catholicism, even more so than traditional Christianity since the specific offshoot is important, he has to trust an entire system of religious leaders. And, even in his faith it is already clear that he doesn't follow the scripture or tenets the way that, given his history, you can assume that he would.
So, if you look closely, his entire life is built upon trust by necessity. His grandfather. "God". Government. There was no different choice for him. Given all of the parameters in his life, he had no choice but to be pro-cop, pro-military and pro-government by design.
And then, with the case of Gemma Arlington, he gets partnered up with Bones, that would lead to a years long partnership. A woman who is, yes, very atheist, but still extremely rational and set in her ways. She is so set in her ways, rationality and empiricism that she wouldn't even consider a real shot at a relationship with Booth until she over-identified with a murder victim and Booth was with Hannah.
Further, the fact that he fell in love with someone as rational and religiously ambiguous as anyone he's ever met, is a wonder and shows towards his mental flexibility.
And given Sweets, Angela and everyone else's influence, it is really grating and doesn't allow any space for Booth to grow mentally or emotionally. He gets pushed, and he gets prodded, but he doesn't actually get given space.
YET, he has so many interactions where he does show that he's not as rigid as people put him down to be.
To me, he's much more towards the center than people give him credit for, example:
He wants as much justice for gay victims, as he does for straight victims. He might have struggled with the pronouns of the trans pastor for a while, but he still treated her like a woman. These aren't anomalies, but rather, consistent behavior that he shows throughout.
Booth can assimilate with liberal people. He can endure a years long partnership with someone who is the opposite of all of his moral and ethical values, and even fall in love with her and wanted a future with her.
I would even argue that in many ways, Booth is a lot more flexible in his ethos and religion, than Bones is in her empiricism.
In conclusion, Booth’s ability to embrace the entropy of situations, instead of plant himself in a static mentality, shows he’s capable of great character development and growth.
He is the glue—more-so, the heart that holds the soul of the show together.
So, I am watching The Sandman for the first time with my boyfriend because he's been dying to show me, and by popular demand. Halloween seemed like the perfect time.
And. Y'all. Esscuse?
Morpheus?!?!
I might have an existential crisis for the next 24 - 48 hours.
After that, I may have some essay worthy rants when my brain has processed exactly who and what he is...and what I am busy watching.
I left Twitter because it became even more alt right than I could have ever imagined. And, I've been struggling to write since then.
No, none of the comments from antis were directed at me. None of my content has come under fire, but even though I wasn't directly involved. I see what is said about proshippers, about darkfic, about everything that I find comfort in writing.
I see everyone forgetting what proship, and profic means at the core, and rather scream for censorship and AO3 closure.
I started projecting the hate onto everything I was writing. I started to hate it all. Everything I've written in the past. Everything that I was busy writing. Everything that I wanted to write.
So... I left.
I stopped writing too. I stopped reading. Most of all. I stopped interacting with fandom.
But. After two years. I realized, with the help of my partner, that I do love writing. It's a coping mechanism. It's a way for me to talk, and heal. So. I came back to the place that started it all.
I realized that to fill the hole of writing, I got addicted to instant gratification, and that was the next thing I cut down:
I stopped watching TikTok videos that would keep my attention for a minute, but it would fill me up with so much anger that I couldn't do anything with. It filled me with melancholy and it made me feel useless to everything that was happening. So. I unplugged. And I'm trying to retrain on how to appreciate delayed gratification. In reading longer fics and books again. To write the behemoth stories that I love to write, and create universes, that aren't just 300 words of the conclusion of the story.
Fast forward, to my partner who listens to all my rants and fears, no matter how many times I go over them. And, he suggests that we send each other songs to write to.
If there ever was a knight in shining armor, it'd be my partner. He ran into the darkest depths of my soul, and pulled writing from the clutches of depression, fear, and anxiety, and he brought it back to the forefront.
If you read this, you don't know me, and you probably never will.
But this is a living reminder that what you surround yourself with matters.
Also: Fuck Pro-ship-chan. Who cares. Write your noncon, incest, CNC, age gap, student x teacher. If it's how you heal, and make sense of the world then it matters to someone.
My mother got into genealogy a couple of years ago. And for the longest time I was only superficially interested. I will admit, part of it was because I had always been put into a box of what and who I am, and I accepted it without too much argument.
Then, as most of these stories start, my boyfriend crashed into my life. And he's such a bright light, unrestrained, and my soul started yearning. To know who I am, where I come from.
See, the big secret is that I've always felt unmoored. Alien in the country where I was born, while my soul yearned to be some place else. That's why, being with my boyfriend, I realised what has always been missing. So, I got interested in this entire family tree that my parents were setting up.
Only to be met with disappointment.
I would ask what they've come up with, only to have my mother have an emotional breakdown because there was a very small link to Vlad the Impaler (and how can such a "Christian" family be descendants of someone like him? But, I have to admit, if it would have been true in any way, I'd have thought it was really cool).
Then came the stories.
On my father's side: A man fighting for Scottish freedom, beheaded by a bitter king. Soldiers who left their country to find peace and solace in a new country, and to fight with their new brethren against colonialism. Workers who burned churches during the French Revolution, and having to flee. Others, hired to work on boats to bring the explorers to new countries. And in their new country. A husband killing himself and his wife (after having sent his children away to friends). A wife, killing her husband with the help of their son to cut the wife's son out of a trust (yes, the husband knew the child wasn't his, but trusted and loved him like his own).
On my mother's side: Witches who sacrifice and use blood rituals. Slotting themselves into the right place, only just in the shadows of aristocracy so their names wouldn't be remembered, but to the point where they would still curry favor. Whispers of magic and curses, and each generation having one young woman that dies young with no record of illness. Some who fled from famine and persecution. Others who, when they were reminded of their old homelands, turned traitor anew and got some killed in war.
And then we get to me.
Ninth generation. A melting pot of love, treachery, peace, war, solace, displacement.
I don't have the privilege to have direct knowledge of where I'm from before my families displaced themselves to other people's lands. No tether to a culture or tradition that's not pasted on with soft smiles and harsh hands.
Yes. I know the lands where I live aren't mine. I feel it every single day. I feel the call, but no way to get home. To follow back the routes that led us here. And it's a pain that is so distinct, so hollowing, that mostly I feel stupid just trying to talk about it. My story is not a unique one, not by a long shot. It's not traumatic. All it is is a cloying hollowness that I have to try to live with.
