#mr robot analysis

[dolores-h4z3]

mr. robot: elliot & (a)sexuality

well, i have some elliot thoughts im just throwing out there (on my holy lesbian sanctuary no less). readmore for major ending spoilers below.

i was surprised that when i sought out the mr. robot fandom that the majority of content turned out to be focused on tyrelliot. this was not because it doesn't make sense to ship them (tyrell's blatant homoerotic love for elliot is, arguably, canon). i was more taken aback by the standard characterization of the relationship-- often explicit, overtly and affirmatively romantic. it is hard to shake the feeling that to portray the two of them in such a way is a distortion of elliot's character-- or at least of the source material as presented. the reason is not that i don't appreciate the appeal, but simply that it seems very obvious to me that elliot * is asexual-coded.

*we will be referring to MM as elliot to keep things simple here

for the sake of this post we do not need to get into the sticky area of justifying asexuality with abuse or mental illness. i also want to stress that i recognize elliot is portrayed as engaging in sexual/romantic relationships with other people, and that i do not think it defines whether or not he is on the asexual spectrum. however, i do believe that in most-to-all cases this behavior is driven by compulsive heterosexuality rather than genuine internal attraction.

the most obvious example of this (and i hate to bring it up) is when elliot forgets who darlene is. he recognizes the cues that the two of them are close (her showing up at his apartment, using his shower, telling him she loves him) and, when what appears to be the right moment presents itself, he goes in for the kiss. obviously the moment she freaks out and he remembers that the connection is actually due to a familial relation, he is horrified. to elliot, romance is a script. he lacks the innate drive of attraction, and so reacts rather than acts. his fantasies and relationships as such tend to be whatever is expected of him.

let's take angela for example. the two of them share an intimate connection, this much is clear. having grown up together, supported each other through some of the hardest times in their life, and stayed close enough to still see each other regularly as adults is significant. society (lol) would certainly suggest that any male-female childhood best friendship that has persevered through adulthood will, inevitably, end up together. as much as elliot loathes the constaints of society, he is demonstrably not immune to its messaging. marrying angela is a fantasy he falls into because it is what would be expected of him. the desire feels innocent, well-meaning, but not entirely sincere or passionate. the single kiss that they share is emotional, but chaste, born of temporarily heightened emotion. it does not indicate a greater romantic love to me so much as a validation of their existing emotional intimacy.

shayla is the closest thing to a classic relationship that elliot experiences. his care for her is obvious; it is believable to me that he does enjoy being with her. and yes, he engages in sex with shayla early on in the series. still, it is notable that the only time we see the two of them in bed together is under the influence of ecstasy, and that elliot seems to believe it was a poor choice. he asks her to be his girlfriend out of a sense of social obligation, and out of desire to be able to attend gideon's dinner with a sense of normalcy. the relationship is sweet and earnest but in general elliot seems more interested in her company and her wellbeing than he is concerned about physical attraction.

this brings me back to tyrell. elliot does not offer him much encouragement. i think there is an absolute case to be made for tyrobot! the entire substance of tyrelliot seems, to me, a result of genuine chemistry between Mr. Robot and tyrell. i think one can even infer that the two of them may well have had some kind of relationship. elliot, on the other hand, consistently fails to display any signs of attraction to tyrell. at most, he is very concerned with him (particularly when he suspects that he has been killed). he views tyrell as useful, but rarely gives him much emotional consideration. i think there is room for elliot to be queer; i could imagine a read on elliot suggesting that trauma and/or the same compulsive heterosexuality i posit is in play shielding him from attractiom to men. but it would be disingenuous for me to say that i think it is that simple.

elliot alderson is complicated. to the outside observer i think it is easier (and more gratifying) to simplify his reticence to sexuality as some kind of tsundere syndrome and disregard the evidence of probable asexuality. it certainly isn't abnormal in mlm shipping circles. however, it feels remiss to ignore what ultimately is refreshingly realistic representation. i'd like to see this concept understood and portrayed in a more nuanced way in this fandom. frankly, it doesn't even mean that sexual content is categorically out of character. i just think the tone of characterization could be more true.

TLDR: elliot alderson is good asexual rep and i think that fact isnt said enough

[mr-qwerty]

Same annon would you do an analysis in your opinion on how Tyrell and Vera's disturbing obsession with Elliot were different from each other and what motivated them to be attracted to him?

Good question! As a preface I should say that I think I read a post on reddit about that too so idk how much I have an own opinion.

I See Elliot as a sort of middle ground between Tyrell and Vera, and I think both Tyrell and Vera were attracted to Elliot because of the different as well as similar qualities they saw in him (I'll explain).

Tyrell is overly concerned with how other people perceive him, he cares and is completely consumed with trying to please others and prove himself, because he only feels valuable when others validate him.

Vera on the other hand, is completely focused on himself. In that way he is the opposite of Tyrell, because he draws his self-worth from hurting others and causing them pain--he only feels content when others fear him.

Elliot is interesting because he's kinda a combination of the two, imo. His pursuit of changing the world is equally selfish and altruistic, because he wants to make the world a better place for himself and others, especially those who are vulnerable. In that sense, he is more congruent and whole than Tyrell and Vera, who focus too much on the outside world and their internal world, respectively. Elliot strikes a balance between Tyrells and Veras extreme mindsets and I think both Tyrell and Vera strive for that kind of balance because it makes Elliot more grounded (and, dare I say, stable?) than both of them--even though, on the surface it looks like Tyrell and Vera are each more successful in their own fields than Elliot is in his. But ofc, they both sooner or later recognized how brilliant Elliot is at what he does and the kind of power that comes with his talent.

-> Proof:

-Tyrell wanted him and Elliot to be Gods together, he thought Elliot could help him become so powerful that he'd be praised/acknowledged by others for good; maybe he also set that as a challenge to himself, as in'I do this, and I'll finally approve of myself and be independent of others opinions'..--we know he was intrigued by Elliot not caring about anyones opinion so maybe in being gods together he was also hoping to learn that from him

-Vera saw what Elliot could do when he broke him out of prison, and as he explains later Elliot was significant to him because their names were linked by the universe and Elliot was the one who closed all doors for Vera in New York, which was pretty impressive given the violence Vera was in charge of.--speaking of intrigue, I think Vera was impressed by Elliot not being scared of him when they first met

It's interesting that both Tyrell and Vera pretty much immediately related to Elliot: Tyrell said, he was exactly in Elliots place once ("just a tech"), and Vera at least tells us that the moment he met Elliot he saw the same pain he himself had been carrying on Elliots face.

But Tyrell, Vera and Elliot are all similar in their need for power over other people and for being in control of situations they otherwise wouldn't feel safe in. Of course the specifics are different for each of them--their type of abuse and corporate world vs. criminal underworld vs. hacktivist scene are obviously all very different-- but I do think they are more in need of that power and control than other characters (for example, Angela is motivated more by justice). So they have that in common. I also suspect that that might stem from their respective childhood trauma, they all seemed to have problems with their parents (we know that Tyrell hated his father, we know what Edward did to Elliot, and Vera confessed what his mother did to him--assuming he told us the truth, but I don't really know why he wouldn't've). So that could be another reason for why they were drawn to Elliot.

I think the fact that Tyrell and Vera could see parts of themselves in Elliot, while Elliot also displayed desirable qualities they wanted to have (consciously or subconsciously), is interesting. In combining of these two factors of familiarity and display of theirs goals (almost part of their dream-selfs), Elliot gave them a sense that their goals could be attainable. And I imagine it would've also just been interesting to see some of their traits play out so differently in Elliots character.

TL;DR: Tyrell is obsessed with external validation while Vera is chasing internal validation and they both think Elliot can somehow satisfy those issues for them. Their need for control and power resulted in them acting the way they did.

Alright I hope this makes sense! Sorry it took me a while to respond, I had to think about the question, it was an interesting one. I tried to find the reddit post I saw about this to make sure I was somewhat original but I couldn't find it so I hope I'm not ripping anyones ideas. Anyways yeah that's how I see these character dynamics. I would love to see Tyrell meet Vera, I can't even try to predict how that'd happen (obviously doesn't work with the timeline too well) but I think given that they are polar opposites in many ways and are both so obsessed with Elliot, it would be veryyy interesting I think. Also let me know what you think if you like! I'm not sure if I'm 100% convinced of my interpretation.

PS. feel free to send more questions!! :) <3

[dolores-h4z3]

mr. robot: on magda alderson & the persecutor

cw: references to csa, physical abuse, spoilers for series

chewing on the alderson siblings, their mother, and the role she plays in their trauma. to quote a comment i made on another post:

[i am interested in acknowledging] the role of persecutor as a twisted perversion of protector[, which] is so rich and often misunderstood. we see this in how he thanks his mother for getting him through prison, the complex difference in how elliot experiences her (possibly as, subconsciously, safer and more predictable than his father, possibly even an ally in resenting him) vs. darlene, who only sees her mother as villianous/doesn't quite get the complexity that exists there.

elliot clearly does not view his mother as the root of all evil. his discussions of her feel detached from emotion, neutral for the most part, which isn't uncommon in dissociative trauma responses. he recollects the maltreatment, but does not carry the passionate anger darlene expresses, or seem to dwell much in particular. once we are introduced to his position in season 2, it becomes clear just how emotionally dissociated from any blame toward his mother he is. he views "living with her" as the objectively best fantasy to cope; he finds comfort in her brand of rigidity.

"better the devil you know, right?" is especially powerful here. a quote i think helps contextualize the importance of "devil one can immediately recognize":

"In every man's heart there is a devil, but we do not know the man as bad until the devil is roused." --James Oliver Curwood

essentially, there is comfort in always knowing the devil rather than waiting for it to reveal unexpectedly. one cannot combat what they have no reference or preparation for.

of course almost everything we know about magda is filtered through elliot, both in what he tells us and what is ommitted. we must also acknowledge that the persecutor identity forms on the basis that preempting and self-allocating punishment will prevent external abuse. the fact that for elliot this takes the form of introjecting his mother suggests a subconscious association of care.

her attitude toward most things is callously business-like at best, and cruel at worst... but it is notable that she is predictable. magda, as she exists to us as an audience, does not pretend to be something she is not. she is distant and abusive, emotionally avoidant, and neglectful, as a rule. this also means there are no pockets of friendship or kindness to lower the children's guards or confuse their relationship. the abuse can be processed for what it is, and the consequenced can be anticipated. the "system" is manageable, perhaps even exploitable. or: know the rules, follow the rules, and you will be okay.

that lens considered, there is also an underlying sense of utilitarianism in magda's logic; her parenting will help her children to "toughen up". reading between the lines, magda has the air of someone carrying significant generational trauma who attributes her own survival to the harshness of her environment. to her, this is real life. there is no use in catering to or dwelling on emotion. harshness breeds "necessary" resillience. the nature, reason for, or severity of hardship is unimportant--perhaps up to and including incestuous abuse--the only thing of importance is to carry on. this is dime a dozen abuser logic, and it's not an excuse. but to a child? one who has been betrayed in the most confusing, painful, violating manner by the person they trusted the most? when compared to the father who showed them kindness, only to weaponize it in a completely unforeseeable, deeply traumatic way, magda's consistent malignance might just feel like safety.

we cannot know for sure whether magda was aware of the abuse occuring between edward and elliot. the idea that she may have become aware of, or at minimum suspected, the abuse has occurred to me. the disgust and disregard for edward may well have been in part because of this. regardless, what we do know is that for whatever reason, magda holds a vocal, unapologetic resentment for her late husband. she refers to him as weak. in some ways, this is the closest thing to allyship that elliot experiences from his mother--whether it is out of conscious awareness or not, she is the only person in the world who openly condemns the "real devil" that was hiding in plain sight.

understandably, this is a lot for a child. considering elliot would have been compartmentalized from the abuse from his father, there may not be much remaining other than the emotional imprints; the guttural bodily reaction. some part of elliot felt comfortable enough with the thought of giving into his mother's abusive structure-- something I do not believe is a coincidence, when he was physically entering a place known for high rates of male sexual assault-- because that abusive structure was both familiar and less psychologically damaging than the alternative.

i dont currently have a better way to finish this post but i really wanted to share these thoughts. i'd like to do a post on darlene's side of things at some point but this is getting long already. thanks for reading!

[dolores-h4z3]

mr. robot: dom dipierro & neurodivergence

had some thoughts about dom rattling around today...

disclaimer: i have seen people mention that dom's character and some of her beats make reference to other pieces of media. i can't personally speak to that, but i'm open to hearing what other people have to say.

that acknowledged, agent dom dipierro is not an unfamiliar archetype. it is obvious that dom is somebody who, unlike most of the other characters, could have come from just about any cop drama. this is a point of frustration for many when by and large, mr. robot does an excellent job of subverting our expectations. dom is not a bad character; her presence in the plot is a major part of my enjoyment in the show. but, in a work known for its sharp political commentary, realism, and reticence to follow industry norms, it is hard to ignore that at times the nature of her character draws attention.

well. it could just be an oversight in writing. but as someone who likes to parse source material as it exists and try to make sense of it, i have found the most peace in reading dom as autistic coded. rewatching the show recently, my impression of dom was that she was neurodivergent in an "undiagnosed, highly effective in her field, masks very well" kind of way. at least this is the read that makes her character the most understandable to me. i have said before that dom is a character that i was not immediately fond of-- which i think is intentional. she reads as-- for lack of a better phrasing--a quirky, mildly out of touch white girl girl-boss archetype. as i suspect she was meant to. this is the mask she has grown to wear.

dom is deeply lonely. we see this early on in dom's interactions with ahmed at the deli. they come across as performative and awkward, and we come away recognizing the relationship is hardly as mutual as she believes it to be. later, we see her chastise a coworker for not calling out sick, something that while entirely justified, suggests a simplified view of problems and solutions. (i laughed at that because in my experience, coworkers coming in sick because they can't afford to call out again is the standard. if one peer said that to another in my workplace, we would assume it was a joke. it would be cause for an entire conversation about the ever-choking grip of the invisible hand.)

when she faces adversary in her workplace, it's a familiar scene; thinly veiled sexism, gaslighting, general discouragement, all because she was just doing her job. correctly. which she is acutely aware of. the fact that she takes this on the chin as long as she does, to me, reads as a lifelong pattern of response to being told that something that came naturally to her was wrong. she learned that being wrong was the same thing as being bad, and became an emphatic enforcer of the status quo rather than let herself be rejected for failing to be, or do, good. for a lot of us, with time, we question these taken-for-granted, written or unwritten social contracts and begin to see the many shades of gray that exist outside of The Rules. but dom?

from the beginning, dom is painted as someone concerned with morality. clearly, she buys what the FBI is selling. that is to say, she genuinely believes that her job is improving the world. i believe this is a result of the fact that she clings to dichotomy to make sense of life. something like:

"Good" vs. "Bad" "Right" vs. "Wrong" "Correct" vs. "Incorrect" "Just" vs. "Unjust" "Legal" vs. "Illegal"

which leaves us wondering how this "good cop" has failed to recognize the mundane, inherent corruption and violence of the organization she has pledged her life to. when we are told time and time again that she recognizes something "isn't right" by season 3, it is hard to understand why it took so long for her to notice.

so what gives?

dom prioritizes, first and foremost, the technical. that includes details involved in the case--finding the correct answer, or enacting justice-- but it also includes following the rules. rules, in this case, are written law and policy. in her mind, optics, personal grudges, bureaucratic dramas, emotional bias or any other number of meta factors are irrelevant so long as everything is up to protocol and the goal is met. this is a double edged sword. it means she does not believe those things should be allowed as a barrier to procedure (eg. santiago's refusal to report issues to the director was a problem)--but also that she believes that they are permissible if they are in service of procedure. so she has no problem with letting mobley sit for hours in an interrogation room to soften him up for questioning (arguably bad and wrong, but correct), or threatening obstruction of justice charges against tyrell for refusing to answer questions due to his status as a suspected ringleader (debatably correct, but maybe not right).

we know that when it came down to it, she could not kill darlene when she did not think it was justified, even though it would mean the probable death of her own family (good, right). we also know that she was willing to kill the dark army members who were holding them hostage and posed a threat to their lives (bad, but right, just). she is willing to get deegan's charges dismissed on a technicality (!) and have her own family kidnapped for their protection, which is pretty plainly not right or just, but also plainly the correct thing to do for their survival.

all of these things have one commonality, and it is that regardless of the details, they are, more or less, legal.

essentially, dom reads as having falsely processed these black and white dichotomies as equivalent. she fails to take into account that law is not fundamentally moral, and actively includes it in her ethical framework. law is unique in this case, because it can be extensively studied, and there is a correct answer for every question. in that sense, it trumps all other categories for dom, because it is the easiest to completely understand. the danger then becomes the assumption that if something is legal, then it must also be right, just, good, etc. if that is true, what could be more good than law enforcement?

the obvious journey for dom is the realization that life is not black and white. that her job, in fact, is not always doing good. that there are agendas far beyond the written job description--ones that at times, actively harm the american people rather than simply keep them safe. the problem of course ends up being that we don't quite see her come to process the true issue with the FBI.

i get the impression that dom struggles to see the forest for the trees as much as she has a talent in piecing things together on paper. like, i often think that dom having individual faces (eg. santiago), or specific boogie men (like the dark army) to put to the instances of corruption she witnesses actually enables her deep belief that the FBI is fundamentally good. she believes they are worming out the "one bad apple", so to speak. i understand why leaving off with her character still very much pursuing an earnest job at the bureau feels static to some. i think it is consistent with the moral complex, justice sensitivity, rigid rule adherence and tunnel vision; basically to be entirely disenfranchised with law enforcement would be genuinely world shattering for dom at this point. beyond just having a job, it is her whole identity. i think if/when she truly processes all of that, it's a pretty brutal process.

but i do think she experiences growth over the course of the show, and that her moral framework does become more complex. it's just much subtler than the difference between the first and last appearance of most of the cast.

this was. much longer than i meant it to be. and yet i feel like i didn't even say everything i wanted to say. open to feedback from anyone though! thanks for reading!

[mr-qwerty]

After reading your analysis on Tyrell, his HPD and his love for Elliot...will you try out doing an analysis of Angela in your opinion. Based on her obsession with revenge and power and how she grew to be jealous of Elliot and hated him at the end.

There was a post on reddit like a week ago (that I'd guess you know about) about this, and I think the discussion there was already pretty good. Tbh, personally, I didn't really feel like Angela was jealous/hateful towards Elliot at all (though that's just my interpretation and if you have evidence for the contrary I'd genuinely love to hear it and consider your point!!). I felt more that she was hurt from being shut out by MM from Elliots life (as we see in the first season when she's like "you're not the same, and this happened before Shayla... we don't talk anymore" --or something like that) and later she is just completely delusional due to being brainwashed by white rose, at that point she is just completely convinced that she's doing whatever she needs to and I think anything else has just become... unimportant or wrong or senseless to her, she can't see that what she's doing is wrong. I don't really think that her treatment of Elliot had much to do with him himself at all. If anything, I thought she was upset because he didn't see what she saw/disagreed with the carrying out the plan like that.

The closest we saw her to being jealous was maybe when she said that Darlene and Elliot always acted like they were smarter than her, but imo, that speaks more to her feeling excluded by them and less to her being envious; maybe you could also say she acted jealous when she got upset that Darlene wouldn't answer her questions, but I felt like that was justified as well (from her point of view anyways, I would've wanted to know what was going on too).

And in terms of her obsession with revenge and power, I felt that that was just the driving force behind her character--she (understandably) never really got over her mothers unjust death, which really forged the trajectory of her life as she tried to compensate for what happened. And eventually, once she gained a certain level of power in her quest for revenge that exposed her to white rose/the deus group/dark army and made her a threat to their plans, white rose used the power Angela had gained (for white rose, inside knowledge, access/relationship to Elliot..) and brainwashed her by exploiting her driving force.. White rose made Angela believe that Angela could get what she really wanted, thus redirecting her striving for revenge into Angela pushing forwards white rose's own agenda/plans/goals... Angela's obsession with power/revenge made it possible for white rose to completely brainwash Angela, because Angela wanted to believe white rose so badly.. and then, all of Angelas obsession was directed toward seeing that next stage trough, she was completely caught up in her tunnel-vision...

Anyways those are my (rough) thoughts on this. I hope this made sense/adressed your question, if not please reach out again and I'll try to clarify!! I think Angela's really interesting and I love Mr. Robot analysis so I'm always happy to talk about it :) I'd also love to hear your thoughts/interpretation/standpoint!! Anyways thanks for the question :) <3