#tidethought

[sandsoftide]

the issue with Caitlyn and caitvi in arcane s2 is that acts 2 and 3 in particular treat fascism as a personal dispute. The background zaunites quite literally cease to exist. They either get swept up into the convenient little hive mind or just sort of… become extras with blue hair. By act 3 there is literally NO DIFFERENCE between a piltie and a zaunite, you might not even KNOW the distinction exists if you only watch only the last 3 episodes. And this is probably bc of the centrist “we’re all the same let’s just get along” message they tried to preach which you can’t even pretend is true when the previous 12 episodes of your show were spent setting up a complex political narrative about how systemic oppression and classism are pervasive and deliberately upheld.

It’s easy to say Caitlyn’s redemption was rushed (or even nonexistent). But the truth is that the writers really did write in an arc! They just didn’t understand what she did wrong. Unnamed background characters don’t exist. Piltover and Zaun don’t exist. What matters is that Caitlyn hurt individual major characters (league champions) so all she has to do is make it up to them!

Caitlyn hurt vi. So she redeems herself by helping vi take down ambessa! Caitlyn tried to kill jinx. So she redeems herself by advocating for her and then letting vi free her! It’s as simple as that because vi and jinx are no longer zaunites, Caitlyn is no longer from piltover! They’re just individuals with no sort of power over the other. Wrap it up nicely with a bow

and that explains the “dirt under your nails” line TOO. Because if you think about it (and nothing else) it parallels “oil and water” NICELY it lets the characters come full circle! Vi doesn’t have to view herself and Caitlyn as fundamentally separate anymore! They’re linked together! Except that’s not how it fucking works bc nothing has been solved, Caitlyn’s chemical warfare against civilians isn’t addressed, the power dynamics are ignored, because these characters are no longer products of their environment or pasts. They’re just actions taken by league champions against league champions

[waningrivulet]

do you ever think about how Behrad Tomaz grew up in a police state and Behrad Tarazi was afraid of being on TV. Do you ever think about how Zari Tomaz forced herself to hide any and all vulnerabilities but Zari Tarazi shared every exaggerated emotion with the world. Do you ever think about how Charlie hated being imprisoned but Clotho trapped her friends in scripted TV shows to keep them safe. Do you ever think about it. because I do

[sandsoftide]

and then I think about harrow’s river bubble and how it was an attempt to trap herself in the only period of her life where she was in any way happy even as her own memory twists it into something void of any of the comfort she originally found in it.

And how John sits on the beach and recites his sins to Alecto before trying to rebuild the world so that he can relive that little period of time where he had friends by his side and felt like he was making a difference but in the end his resurrections are all marred by his own trauma and insecurities, and the world he creates holds only the worst of the one he loved.

and they call the thread that ties the universe together the river and no man can step in the same river twice and to be love is to be changed. You can’t hold onto a dance card forever and you can’t forget and move past so your only option is to be consumed or to wait an eternity. You know

[sandsoftide]

the caitvi kinktober discourse is actually such a fascinating look at shipping dominated fandom spaces. It’s like that one post about how ships become popular in large part due to how easy they are to break down into Typical Fandom Archetypes. And that sort of attitude (+ defensiveness bc of criticism of s2’s shitty writing) is how just under a year after s2’s release you have people trying to run a kink event for the rich cop / poor criminal ship that bans power dynamics. Because it’s not about arcane anymore, it’s about mashing together pink and blue action figures.

and that only furthers the feedback loop! “People are calling our ship copaganda” -> “no they’re healthy and endgame, we aren’t bad people for liking them” -> “in fact caitvi and caitvi fans are so Good and Healthy that we won’t allow anything that could be misconstrued in our event” -> source material no longer follows fandom event guidelines -> fanon becomes even more disconnected from canon

Obviously this isn’t a huge deal or anything it’s just one Twitter event with some stupid rules but this isn’t an isolated incident, I’ve seen and heard of many examples of fans being very resistant to discussions of more sensitive topics that do exist in canon, usually through ship discourse (although that’s not always the case). it interests me. Feels like a more recent development in fandom culture alongside the whole moral grandstanding with ship wars thing

[sandsoftide]

The way Misty talks about Travis/Lottie compared to Nat is SO funny. "we haven't seen Travis in like 25 years he's probably crazy now" and "you mean Lottie?? from the mental institution in Switzerland????" but Randy makes one negative comment about Nat and Misty tries to beat him up Ratatouille style

[waningrivulet]

do you ever think about how Cleo was controlled as a thrall for 80 years and then immediately after they were turned they went back to town and suddenly everyone started thinking highly of them and voted for her to be mayor and put them in a position of power without any rational justification. Do you think she was afraid of what she had become

[waningrivulet]

anyways the adult tl is literally the entire point. it's an essential part of the show. yellowjackets is a study of the effects of unaddressed trauma and repression. is the writing often worse than the teen tl? yes. that does not mean it should not exist. knowing who survives does not make the show worse. you're asking the wrong questions! it's about what they had to do to survive, not who made it out alive

[sandsoftide]

what if you spent your entire life yearning for something that was never real and i spent my entire life mourning something i never had. you were the worst of it to me and i was the best of it to you. i blame you for everything that's ever gone wrong in my life and you worship me for never hating you for it. you saved my life and i hated myself for it but you still managed to make me laugh. it's been us at the beginning and the shift and the end. you’re my purpose, my guiding light. i watched as you were born into the person you are today. you held me as i died in your arms. you would carve yourself into me before you’d ever let me go. and we were both girls