I have so many mixed feelings about this movie I can't even rate it out of ten.
This movie had so much potential, the idea is brilliant but it's badly excuted and so eroticized and fetishized.
Yes, I know the movie is about feminine puberty and sexual discovery. But it's shown so much more how Valeire discovers that she's seen as a sexual object and not a child anymore, instead of her own discoveries about her body and sexuality.
The movie as a whole is so confusing, you never know what's real and what's not, you have to analyze every single thing and character to find it's meaning, but also have to watch incest and pedophilia and hope it is another metaphor (it isn't).
You can't convince me that it isn't a fetish, her very older brother trying to convince her that they're not siblings so they can be together, and everyone kissing everyone on the lips.
The plot itself (disregarding the metaphors) is amazing, I love vampire movies. And the topic is extremely important, feminine puberty is not talked about enough, but it's pictured so badly in this movie, I'm sure it would be a perfect if it was directed by a woman, I'm tired of seeing feminine puberty being always being represented by horror and eroticization.
Valerie grew up in Egrusha, a predominantly Hollow mining town. She comes from a family of mercenaries and spent years as one herself before walking away from that life. She attends the Halidom to study combat, reaching for a rank the academy has never handed a Hollow. She’s quiet, watchful, and near impossible to read. She doesn’t say much about her family, and it will take her time to warm to you. But if you’re willing to put in the work, she’s the one who will teach you how to survive.
Nothing gets past her.
✧ Birth month: November
✧ Sign: Sagittarius
✧ Height: 5’5
✧ Love Language: Quality Time
✧ Likes: butterflies, storms, training at night, daggers, traveling
This is just going to be about the main things I see people hating on River for. I'm going to be dismantling them and proving why these are not actually valid reasons to be completely slandering this man for.
Firstly, we have the "He's a cop" argument. Typically when I'm talking about River and somebody says this, I give up on the conversation because I can tell they paid zero attention to his questline. River being a cop is a core part of his storyline. His quests are quite literally showing you what happens to cops who try to fight and do good in a morally corrupt system. River, after discovering the truth about the mayor's death, attempts to reopen the case. This results in him getting suspended from the force. During 'The Hunt', we see River, who had previously been strictly law-abiding, going around the law to try and save his nephew. In his final quest, 'Following The River', he quits his job at the NCPD and tells us he's becoming a PI. A PI and a cop are not the same thing. He creates his own firm (a romanced River will text you asking for name suggestions) so that he can actually help people. He realises that he cannot do that in the corrupt NCPD system, and any effort he does to do so will not have the results he wants. Yes, it is slightly naive thinking from River that the NCPD would be morally sound, but people don't get nearly as angry at other characters for displaying naivity.
Argument two, "His romance is forced". This is another one that bamboozles me. It is purely double standards and, in the way I see it, people thinking that just because they're not attracted to a character, that makes the romance forced. I have also observed this same thing being said about Kerry, but I haven't seen it being said about Panam or Judy nearly half as much. I do not think that people even understand the terminology they are using, since if they did, they should be saying this about Panam, not River. Every single romance is programmed to flirt with V in some way during their final quest, it was simply unfortunate for River that CDPR's favouritism came up and they only gave him 3 quests, unlike the others who have more. To call River's romance forced and then say nothing abour Panam's is hypocritical. During almost every single one of her quests there is some option to flirt with her and she flirts with you, but of course, majority of River haters are Panam fans. Since they're attracted to her, they don't view her romance as being forced, at least this is how I've come to see it. There is nothing forced about River's romance that you couldn't say was also forced for the other romances. All that he does is ask if you reciprocate his feelings. He does not push if you reject him. You do not have to reject him twice (I argued with somebody about this, and they confessed that they didn't know whether that was actually true, so yet again another example of people making stuff up in their heads about him so that they can hate).
The third and final one I'll be discussing is "He made his family hit on V for him". Sounds crazy. Real thing somebody said. This is simply untrue and shows me that people did not look at his reactions. His sister outs his crush on V without his consent. He had nothing to do with it. And then the kids, being kids, do a vote. The moment is supposed to be awkward, slightly cringe and embarrassing. It's a normal thing for kids to do. If you look at River during this moment you cam very clearly see how embarrassed he is about it (note that no matter what you answer here it changes nothing about his romance. This is separate to River and had nothing to do with him, it was kids being kids).
These are the three main things I see people slandering him for, and I'm honestly getting tired of it. You don't have to like him, but stop making stuff up and purposefully misunderstanding the entire point of his character simply for reasons to hate him. I'm not a fan of Panam, yet you don't see me making stuff up about her and slandering her under every video that mentions her. No romance is objectively the worst or the best.
