I donāt evenā¦have words for how violated the bolded makes me feel. Justā¦gods, I never even thought of the implications of that bit until now, but jfc itās horrifying.
Gods, the more I think about this movie, the more I have a hard time seeing why the fuck Iām supposed to sympathize with the supposed āheroesā in this film. Jesus, I love Thor and the movie itself, and I donāt want to come across as leather pantsāing Loki, butā¦
I just. Loki is cast both as this socially excluded character, and asā¦well āother,ā racially. The latter is far more important, because holy fuck guys racism is a real thing that people in the actual real world have to deal with in their actually real lives.
Like, this is the shit people forget when they rave on about āLoki apologists.ā Trans-racial adoption is a thing that actually happens. The shit that Odin pulls on Loki with regards to his race is an actual thing that happens. Internalized racism is an actual thing that people have to deal with.
Yes, they deal with a fictional character and a fictional race, but they have implications in the real world - because they reflect on how we deal with it in the real goddamn world.
And this whole fucking movie, love it is as I do, reflects how white people deal with racism. It plays out for the benefit of the privileged and the status-quo, which ultimately goes completely unchallenged because obvs Loki was evil, sheesh. He was a frost giant, what did you expect?
So the heroes of this film are basically racist dickbags who ultimately learn nothing, and even worse get to prance around as if they had the moral high ground all along.
In the scene where Thor tells Loki he canāt kill an entire race? Thor is right. What Loki is doing is incredibly fucked up. My problem with this is not that I think Loki is right about committing genocide, because heās fucking not. My problem is that Odin and Thor get to dance around telling Loki how to feel about being Jotun. They get to be portrayed as morally right because they donāt think the Jotun deserve to be wiped out of existence (never mind that you raised Loki to believe theyāre inferior, Odin).
You donāt get fucking cookies for basic decency, guys!
So Loki basically gets cast as the villain for being āother.ā For not reacting well to the revelation that his entire life is a lie, and that heās a member of a race he was raised to view as inferior.
And donāt even get me started on how mad I get with people who tell me I should be sympathetic to Odin. Donāt even fucking start. I am so fucking done with people who claim that Loki is ātwistingā Odinās words in this scene. Because this scene is not about Odinās pain.
Look. This shit is hard for me to deal with as an Asian-American, okay? You canāt ask me to sympathize with Thor who is blonde, blue eyed, and of the dominant race. Heās at the top of the food chain. You canāt ask me to sympathize with Odin when the way he raised Loki (wrt his race) is frankly deplorable. You especially canāt ask this of me because I know how Loki feels.
I know racism, and I know internalized racism. Iāve gotten away with passing myself off as the dominant race, too (see: internalized racism). Itās something Iāve only very recently come to terms with, and it makes me angry and upset. Yes, with myself.
This movie basically gives me this character I identify with (who yeah, is played by a white actor but thatās a different discussion), and then casts him as the villain for these things both he and I have had to struggle with.
And hey. Lokiās reaction to this knowledge is pretty fucked up, Iām not arguing that. The shit Iāve pulled in the past wasnāt right either. I look back on some of my actions and cringe in shame. Iām really glad Iām not that person anymore!
But Thor, member of the dominant race, who was also genocidal and started a fucking war because some dude insulted his masculinity gets a chance to make amends. He gets the chance to be a better man. Iām glad he did, because I love Thor, but uhā¦
Then Loki, weāre supposed to believe, is just a bad egg? Why the double standard?
Right, because Loki is a frost giant and so heās just evil like that. :/
Oh, and for the record? I think Odinās decision to banish Thor so some other people could deal with his sonās problems - to send him off to live with āthe mortalsā to learn humility - is pretty fucked up, too.