an absolute mess

This is not to say that white, abled women cannot write characters of color; this is not to say white women cannot write disabled characters. I got so excited to see Lenore using walking aids, as someone who cannot walk without them. I wish that her disability lasted as it was into the afterlife, because it felt a little bit like having that representation snatched away from me. 

And then I thought about the implications of what I was thinking. Do we want white women to write our main characters, the people we are meant to be rooting for, being racist? Do we want them to act in a way realistic to a time period that they, at the beginning of the story, don’t even remember? That so far, as we haven’t seen many of them even remember interacting with POC in their living memories, some of them probably don’t even know how the world was unkind in that manner?

If they don’t remember it as the story begins, we’re saying that racism is literally part of them, that they can’t help it.

So I want to break that down with what I learned in my whole ass college biology and sociology classes and think about that conclusion for a second. What you’re arguing is that the genes someone is born with determine how they act, something called biological determinism or biological essentialism. And if you look at the first paragraph of Wikipedia for that, to do the most cursory amount of research possible, you will find that this line of thinking is linked to eugenics and scientific racism.

But okay, this was covered in another essay. That they would still remember the racism because they do remember their values, including what they consider “desireable” versus “undesireable.” So, let’s examine the other side, and assume that they do remember and realistically, would discriminate against Berenice, Duke, Eulalie (and, as noted and according to the time period, Prospero; I am excluding him from prior because Red has noted that she is of a similar or identical background, though I cannot remember the specifics, and thus has rights to reclaim and tell that story. I will also be excluding Morella, as I am not as familiar with the historical treatment of the Irish as I would like to be). 

So, regarding Berenice, Duke, Eulalie, and racism- does anyone want to read that story as written by two white women? 

One of the other essays said that they did not know how to fix the issue, and I found I was having a similar issue. I also took it as a challenge. So now, I want to go down the options I can think of for how Red and Flynn could fix the problem the fandom is presenting as a checklist, noting what I would worry about with each one.

They incorporate suggestions and add period-accurate racism, segregation, and discrimination into the story. This is what I would like to call the “Tarantino approach,” given that it would surely include use of slurs (do we want the white women to write characters saying the slurs? Really?). It may also include racial terror and racial violence, written, again, by white women. 

Berenice, Duke, and Eulalie are revised to be white characters. I should not need to tell you how this is a problem.

Berenice, Duke, and Eulalie are removed from the story entirely. I should not need to tell you how this is a problem.

The story moves to focus on Berenice, Duke, and Eulalie as main characters, allowing them to be sympathetic and people we can root for, while the white members of the cast are recast as people we are not supposed to root for. This is no longer Nevermore; this is no longer the sapphic love story between Annabel Lee and Lenore that was promised to us. This is now a different story.

We have flawed main characters Annabel Lee and Lenore, who are racist and discriminatory, and who perhaps learn better and improve as time goes on. I did not hate this option when I first thought of it, but then I realized that this option means we have two white women telling people “it’s okay to be racist and grow out of it, and also, here is the exact path to redemption.” I do not want two white women telling me that XYZ is how you fix racism.

Red and Flynn gracefully bow out of Nevermore and give it to another creator to finish. This is no longer Nevermore. This is now a different story.

Nevermore ends, which does not diminish any harm, but does prevent future harm. It also ends the story completely.

Nevermore continues as is, as it was promised to us- and I will get into how it was promised to us. 

There are problems with telling colorblind stories. Many, many problems. But I would rather have a colorblind story than a story that is two white women making the tragedies and struggles of POC the center focus. There are enough of those in media; to me, they always come across as white savior-y at best, and weirdly voyeuristic and fetishistic if even slightly worse. People talk about Red and Flynn being awful now; I can’t even imagine what a world where they wrote genuine segregation, discrimination, and racial violence would look like.

We can and should be demanding better of the world, of the representation we get. We should also be careful of what demands we are making to what people. The monkey’s paw curls in, or something. 

So here is my next question: what should be expected? I believe it was laid out quite clearly from the beginning.

When I began reading Nevermore, I began like everyone else, with the first episode. It made it clear what it was: a story of two white women who had some sort of relationship, likely romantic. I went into this story not knowing if there would even be any non-white characters, if there would be any disabled characters. When I first saw Lenore with a walking aid I almost cried. Even if she doesn’t need it in the “present” of the story, having that at any point was so validating for me. Characters my age so rarely get anything besides wheelchairs in fiction at all. 

And while I shouldn’t have to be happy with crumbs, the fact is that I am, because I don’t usually get even that. When I am starving, I will not spit in the face of someone providing me food.

Plus, Nevermore is more than crumbs. It’s at least a slice of bread in the grand scheme of things. 

While this is less relatable to me, I also think to the people I know who use walking aids intermittently and not all the time, and I think back to the panel where Lenore drops from a tree and irritates her bad hip. I cannot speak on this but I do have to wonder if perhaps her having an intermittent injury rather than a more consistent one makes her more relatable to some people. If so, I wouldn’t want to take their representation away.

But anyway. Show of hands. How many people have picked up a Webtoon or another piece of media and realized partway in that they were encountering no one besides white characters? Awful shit, and for all that I wish Nevermore was doing, I’m glad it’s not doing that.

Not that “it could be worse” is a good argument, but I want to reiterate that Nevermore never promised much of anything in its opening besides two women with a relationship, a stag, and some spooky buildings. To want something more is all well and good; to act like it was promised and then reneged on is an entirely different beast.

Anyway, to conclude, all of this, both the arguments and the conclusions I’ve drawn, makes me wonder why people are so hard on Nevermore. Again, I have a list to consider.

As the rabid Patreon fans say, people are “out to get” Red and Flynn. This sounds paranoid, I’m going to dismiss it off the bat. No decent person is going to spend this much energy on someone they claim to hate.

The setup of the story was faster paced in terms of plot, leaving no room for issues to be explored in the way that many would prefer. Now that the story has a pause for character moments and exploration, people are realizing it is not the perfect thing that they had decided it must be, a thing that caters purely to their own thoughts of what is good. Unfortunately, there’s a sunk cost fallacy at play, so rather than leave, there is a demand that the story become what they thought it always was, which was not what Red and Flynn had promised.

A lot of people are genuinely swept up in the sea that has swallowed the community, and the attitude of “get with it, or get out.” I would argue some of these people are also afraid of being targeted themselves, as there have been nasty messages sent to anyone that people see as being on the “wrong side” of whatever stupid fandom drama happened years ago. For many, I believe there is a performative aspect to many of their alleged beliefs, and they believe the performance protects their friendships and their status as a good person.

Red and Flynn paid people to cause a scene to draw attention to the story, under the idea that no publicity is bad publicity. Frankly, this seems unlikely to me, simply because if they had hired professionals, many of the posts would be spelled better. But I did say that I would consider every option.

Personally, I’m looking at 2 and 3 as my most likely options, but draw your own conclusions.

With that in mind, I did bury the lead a bit I suppose in that beginning thesis statement. Some people should not stop reading, supporting, or advertising Nevermore. But some people should. The people who only see what they want it to be and not what it is. Not what it can’t be. It’s making you miserable, and it’s making other people miserable, and you are the specific people I was speaking to at the beginning there.

Speaking back to everyone regarding this essay, I think that perhaps a better thesis statement is that it is okay to not like Nevermore. No one is going to get mad at you. And I would even say that it is okay to keep up with it casually as a hate read. But you don’t have to convince yourself you like it to do so. Because that’s what I see over and over and over. I see people who list all of the reasons they don’t like Nevermore and then claim that they love it, that they are the real fans of it, that it can be so good if it only changes to their specifications. 

Many (though not all) of the critical “fans” are not fans of Nevermore at all, but rather fans of some nebulous theoretical they have built in their heads. They have made their perfect story, a beautiful fanfiction, and then diminish the work of the creators (and I want to be clear here, I only wish to discuss their work, not their actions as human beings outside of the creative space, because that is an entirely different topic) for not being up to par with what they’ve made in their heads. 

My hot take is that some critical fans (and again not all of them) need to either take a break and reevaluate what they are looking for, engage solely with the fan content that aligns with their headcanons, or simply leave the fandom and find another piece of media they are more aligned with.

I doubt this will happen, frankly. If I had to predict, I would guess some people read this and get to the end and think I tricked them and am taking the wrong side, or that this is bait, or any of the things I see endlessly within the main tag. I’m prepared for this, because I simply hope this appeals to the critical fans that I was addressing in the above parentheses. The ones who take things with a grain of salt and are critical, definition “expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of literature, music, or art.” The ones who give incredible commentary, detailed analysis, notes of what they liked as much as notes about what they didn’t, and who fill the community with vibrance, intelligence, and the kind of life the main characters no longer have.

To you all, I say thank you and wish you on your way, regardless of where you fall in all other fandom manners.

But frankly, for the fans who are critical, definition “expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgements,” I could care less. You have not shown the barest bit of courtesy to the fandom as a whole by posting your drama in the main tag. And ultimately, at the core, this is why I felt the need to write a 2550 word essay; because I can’t even view any art without coming across negativity. Go use the nevermore crit tag, or the nevermore drama tag, or something. I don’t care. You contribute nothing to the fandom but negativity, I recommend that you go ask the adult you most admire what they think of you. If that adult validates you, go get a better adult.

(I think it will be interesting to see who thinks I’m speaking to them with that last paragraph, because so often people give themselves away).