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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   35461 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 13, 2023

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We liked that Holga is the bruiser that does the dirty work for Edgin, and he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. We also love emasculating leading men."

The thing is... it didn't have to be this way. Bards (from at least 3E onwards, I can't recall if AD&D 2E was where they were badass or not) are inherently funny. You're down there in a dungeon, playing a whistle or something, while everyone else is stabbing things! You don't have to make it "haha men".

Also, isn't there a male paladin in the upcoming movie? I'm pretty sure they're frontliners (except, you know, for Paladins of Murlynd, but I'm pretty sure WotC doesn't really care about Greyhawk anymore).

We like our male heroes to be challenged and not simply heroic," Goldstein explained

That... implies that female heroines shouldn't be challenged, which is just bad writing. Even the pulpiest of pulp heroes, such as Solomon Kane or John Carter of Mars, are challenged. All the damn time! Even Aragorn, who's already completed his character arc, is challenged during the events of the Lord of the Rings!

That... implies that female heroines shouldn't be challenged, which is just bad writing. Even the pulpiest of pulp heroes, such as Solomon Kane or John Carter of Mars, are challenged. All the damn time! Even Aragorn, who's already completed his character arc, is challenged during the events of the Lord of the Rings!

These people live in a world where white males never earn anything. Merit is a myth. Everything is just handed to them. It's privilege the whole way down. It doesn't reconcile with the heroes journey as we know it. I think it's why they write their minority characters which "fix" things the way the imagine white males have it. Arrogant, obnoxious, handed everything, and not challenged in the slightest. They think it's some sort of role reversal. It just shows their bigotry.

This mindset was well-embodied by Mr. Chavez (Todd's Latino adopted father) in BoJack Horseman when he was explaining his harsh parenting style, which had failed to straighten Todd out:

I know I was hard on you when you were growing up, but I was trying to protect you. Nothing came easy for me. It took hard work, focus, discipline to get me where I am today. Things didn't just work out. But I should have realized: you're white.

I'm surprised you didn't connect the dots here and claim they're projecting, because I can imagine they resemble this caricature of privileged white guys more than they realize.

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