its late im tired ive had a busy week so im not in my right mind but idfc.
Insinuating that Lace is A Child because that is what she Was Made To Be and Is Supposed To Be regardless to evidence of the contrary is, and I don't know how else to put this:
Completely de-fanging Silksong of it's critique on religion, ESPECIALLY in regards to how Women Specifically are treated.
Hey pal! Did you miss how much of Silksong utilizes a lot of (ESPECIALLY CATHOLIC) religious terminology? Hey bud! You know how there are a lot of parallels between Pharloom and a lot of religious institutions? What do you think Lace may have been an allegory for? What other demographic is ""Supposed To Be Pure? Made to Obey?"" Thaaaatttssss riiiiight!!!
So you notice how when you reduce the character who is an allegory for Women into what they are ""Supposed to be"" it also minimizes the very persistent critique on religion and how it is used as a tool of oppression against women and that perhaps. Perhaps taking the narrative of Religious Sexism and Misogyny out of Silksong, a game with almost exclusively a female cast and a game About Women is. Not a good thing! (And yes it IS in fact reductive to strip a character of their subtext so they may fit a misogynistic trope.)
Like forget shipping for a minute. Put it aside throw it out the window i dont care. All of the above does not have shipping in mind.
Maybe being ex-religious (and an ex-something else #mytransition #mypronouns ahahah IM TIRED) makes me take notice of this. idk. but when I see a character be labelled by other characters as "Made/Supposed to be [THING]" and then very clearly isn't [THING], I go "Ah! The character is not in fact [THING]! How clever of the story to show us the basis of this character and what their conflict is going to be!" AND THEN SEE SOMEONE LIKE "Aha! They are [THING], because that's what they were Made To Be! Because an Authority figure character said so!"
And it's uniquely infuriating when said character is an allegory for how women are ""supposed"" to be subservient. are meant to act a certain way. seen and not heard. spun loyal spun pure spun to witness but never to be witnessed CAN ANYONE HEAR M
AND ITS MADE DOUBLY WORSE. Its made SO much worse due to Lace exhibiting very clear neurodivergent symptoms. And then the fandom spinning it around to be "Lace is so bratty and annoying uwu."
Hey so do you think "Manic" is a cute little quirky thing they slapped in the HJ for fun. A small little personality trait for your small little character?
How about the implication that Lace self-isolated? Or how her persona is a mask that she wears, one that comes off after fighting her in the cradle? So do you think that self hatred came from anywhere, maybe? Or could be a symptom of something? Either from external teachings or internally?
Could you imagine if Lace were a male character. I mean change nothing but pronouns. He/Him Lace same design same dialogue just switch 'daughter' for 'son'. We would have so SO much more people talking about the intricacies and nuance and theories and. A male character wouldn't have so much vitriol. HELL. A MALE LACE WOULD LIKELY BE MORE POPULAR THAN LIKE. LONGTIME FANDOM FAVES. LIKE MORE POPULAR THAN GRIMM OR PK.
Aanyway. I think that Silksong has a very and i dont know how else to put this mature(??) message and themes that can get ideologically messy and morally ambiguous and. I don't know. I don't want to see another story about women be declawed.
oh i am running out of energy. Okay part one done. Reminder that the above has nothing to do with shipping! Okay? Can we understand that? Yes? Good? Okay!
All the below does pertain to shipping. While this does apply to the ship you probably hate it's more generally a critique of how shipping itself is treated, particularly how f/f pairs are viewed as opposed to. f/m or m/m.
I think the Silksong fandom is the only fandom on here to have a unique hatred for shipping.
Yesyes fine I'll adress the bellbeast in the room Lacenet whatever. Yes. I like Lacenet and YES. I am aware it is not canon. You may be surprised, but shippers can discern the things they make from things that are in the source material. Blabla popular ship you know the drill. I am aware shipping is not universally liked as a concept and I am aware some people have a distaste for it for numerous reasons and that is perfectly fine.
It is unusual, extremely so, to see concentrated contempt for one particular ship and moreover shippers. and no others.
It's not a secret at this point that my stance on the matter is: A lot of Lacenet hate stems from homophobia and general discomfort around sapphic ships of any kind. Lacenet is simply the current punching bag because it is more recent and more importantly popular.
It's the usual. I think two women being romantically intimate is seen by some as being uniquely perverted in a way that other pairings are not.(A lot of Lacenet isn't really depicted in a suggestive way either, so it's not that!)
You would be surprised but a looooooot of f/f ships are met with "But why can't they be frieeendsss???? :(" because usually female characters aren't allowed to have complex dynamics with each other, and romantic relationships have a lot of potential to get messy and strange. While "Traditional" female roles are either "Mother and Daughter" or "Sisters."
And yes while those CAN be very interesting dynamics i don't literally mean mothers daughters and/or sisters. I mean the oversimplified tropes that women are often boiled down to that consist of their placement in a nuclear family structure. Usually in regards to/as set dressing to the more important, complex male characters who are given identities outside of those things.
And I never see "But why can't these two MEN be friends???" EVER.
So to see women act outside of those roles without the involvement of a male character, especially in a romantic or even just a non-platonic context is generally what sets people off. (As an aside. They aren't related, either. The weavers share no blood connection to GMS nor does Hornet consider the silkspun kin of any sort. It's not incest. I can't believe I have to say that. Lace is neither Hornet's aunt nor her little sister. Nor both simultaneously like I have seen some try to argue. Much to my bafflement.)
And some are generally just blatantly homophobic and complain that the Woke is trying To Ruin Silksong With Gay. And post that. Unironically. For all to see.
Like dude did you play the game with your eyes closed. It's a critique on religion. It's centered on women. We couldn't make it more 'woke'.
Back to shipping. I get not liking shipping. Or certain ships. I think that sometimes it can fall into amatonormative ideas on what love looks like. I think there are fair criticisms to be made toward shipping culture as a whole.
I don't get, however, leaving nasty passive aggressive comments under art, or hurling petty, cruel insults at shippers under the ship tag. Hey! Hey! Don't do that shit! Ever! You should feel bad if you do that! And you should stop doing it!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. BE NICE TO EACH OTHER.
