MUTANT

Sooo I've played the 5th chapter, and I have thoughts. Not a coherent analysis per se but... thoughts.

Something something the real villain of this chapter was amatonormativity of it all. How suffocatingly normative the festival felt... How all attractions were for two, "King and Queen" voting even though everyone in Hometown knows Nonbinary People Exist... The norms and expectations of romance Suzie immediately puts on not even knowing how it works and why it works...

When your closest friend in the world makes you a lesser priority for a new romantic partner, because it's "normal" and expected. Romance is more than friendship, after all. So this black hole in your chest and jealousy and feelings of loss are wrong and should be dealt with👍.

Does anyone else think that there's something fundamentally broken in this system or is it just me?

I'm not blaming any of the characters, hell no. They're trying their best. It's just these romantic norms... They feel almost just as oppressive as the prophecy itself. "Love will find its way to the girl" as in you don't have a choice, you WILL find your "right one", you WILL marry and be each others' only ones forever till you die, you WILL walk this road because it's NORMAL and what EVERYONE does.

Who is this spectacle even for? Noelle "Let's do something crazy" Holiday, who is in love with Suzie BECAUSE she is so not-normal, breaking rules and feeling like FREEDOM from it all? Suzie who is holding the white pen of hope? Who's aiming to save the world and be happy with her friends forever?

What the prophecy seems to imply is that this LOVE that the girl finds will be a mechanism of proceeding with the narrative --> Kris pulling away from friends and sticking to the evil shelter groupchat to reenact the prophecy further.