forever we could be a secret .

two people requested this in my inbox sorry i was busy but here's my take!

ALASTOR AND TOXIC MASCULINITY

disclaimer: when i say that alastor has a lot of traits of toxic masculinity within him, i dont mean that he is this extreme misogynist who is a dude-bro-alpha-male-alt-right-testosterone podcast macho man. hell, this is not even me calling him necessarily masculine. what i mean is that a lot of his character qualities and relationships are heavily influenced by the traditional gender roles he grew up in (yknow, the start of the 20th century) and that he is reflective of a lot of toxic, psychological and social behavior in men. not all behavior, just a lot of it.

to start, i think that theres this weird difference in his treatment of men and women. i dont think its as simple as the rhetoric that “he's a girl’s girl progressive feminist king and hates men because he’s a girl’s girl guys he’s so girly-pop” like a lot of people in the fandom seem to follow. even when he treats them “better” we only see him having one genuinely positive relationship involving a woman with niffty, which even then isn’t explored that much yet. he wants to manipulate charlie, has a weird imbalanced relationship with rosie, bullies and diminishes vaggi's efforts, is occasionally annoyed by mimzy and feels used by her, chatted once with velvette, insulted susan, and that’s... kinda it. he is shown to have a softer side to them, treating them with a little more reverence than men, but that does not erase the possibility of toxic masculinity. I think that he has an old-fashioned belief that women are the “fairer”, weaker sex who are no threat to him. take rosie – who is far more powerful than him. when he doesn't get his way, he freely shows his distaste, and he feels comfortable being a brat to her without being afraid of her. so far, he’s done nothing to combat her or prove his power. same with charlie, same with vaggi. he does not take them seriously enough to truly want to fight them.

 so with women, yes he gets along with them, sure, but not for the reason everyone thinks he does. i feel as though he underestimates them and does not view them as part of the power structure hierarchy, which makes him feel safer around them. 

now MEN… how he treats men is kind of a different story. a very interesting one.

you can say he doesn’t like them, but the way he expresses it is very important and specific. have you noticed that every man alastor interacts with, he… competes with them through power trips? in one way or another. like, every single one. pentious, vox, lucifer, adam, husk, – he either provokes them, attempts to show off his strength/status, and/or starts a fight with them. he doesn’t just dislike them, he almost feels threatened by their very presence. all of his squabbles with men become this sort of show of power and dominance. i feel like a part of toxic masculinity is the constant competition with other men due to fragility of status – the need to prove themselves and assert their rightful superiority. and there is no other character in hazbin that competes with others more men than alastor. 

like hear me out:

pentious: greatly enjoyed fighting and battling with him because he always won. the second pentious gets an upper hand with alastor’s coat, he loses it. 

vox: constantly provokes him and openly and publicly invites him to a fight (granted, it was for his plan, but i felt like there were better ways to do that instead of jumping into a fight). in the flashback scene, we can see just how truly alastor values power dynamics between himself and other men. when vox showed vulnerability and asked for a partnership, alastor outright diminished him and called him weak for needing help, laughing in his face.

lucifer: the very second lucifer walks through the doors, we can see the moment alastor targets him. throughout that episode, he does everything in his power to make sure that he stays on top of things and the management of the hotel, hence why he called himself the greater dad. i believe that he sees himself as the biggest “man of the house” and lucifer, being the literal king of hell, is actually threat to his established status. and so, he chooses to provoke him and starts listing off how great he is in comparison to lucifer. 

adam: this is a big, obvious one. in the last episode of the first season, alastor thinks so highly of himself, is so confident in his abilities and competencies, that he is sure he can take on the first man without hesitation. again, here’s a powerful male figure on the horizon and alastor's first instinct is to fight him and show off.

husk: because husker is powerless under his leash, alastor feels the need to constantly remind him of that, and the power he holds over him. alastor projects onto him and patronizes him, and when husk points it out, alastor YET AGAIN flips the fuck out and attempts to intimidate him back into submission by making himself bigger and scarier. hmmmmm

(alastor barely interacted with angel and zestial so im not including those two)

almost all of alastor’s relationships with men include these really weird power trips and his constant need to prove himself to them through superiority. he does not tolerate losing or seeming weak and crashes out when he does. he always escalates things into fights he is confident he would win.

another big part of toxic masculinity is suppression of emotion. alastor is notoriously known for this. smiling is all he ever does, having this confident, powerful energy that is meant to intimidate and mislead others. in the bedroom scene from episode 4, we see that he is struggling, physically, possibly mentally. but instead of asking for assistance, he would rather drink and smoke his sorrows away and push through the pain. he comes out into the lobby looking fresh and unbothered as if nothing had happened behind closed doors. and with lucifer's comment, he is reminded of how weak he is when he can’t contribute anything to the hotel, and you guessed it – instead of dealing with it, or explaining what he is going through, he crashes out and storms out. avoiding any form of assistance. not saying he shouldn't have felt disrespected, or that he was in the wrong, but his avoidance of any proximity to emotions is significant and i wanted to point that out.

back to the flashback bar scene – i find it interesting that people think that vox has more toxic masculinity than alastor because he’s more flaunty with it, more ambitious, louder, and partially due his more masculine appearance and demeanor. BUT DID WE FORGET THE FLASHBACK SCENE? vox openly compliments alastor, letting himself be vulnerable with him, and asks for a partnership because he respects him. in that moment, he is clearly emotionally open and wants to confess to his friend. WHAT DOES ALASTOR DO? he laughs at him, mocks him, humiliates him, and once again, chooses to assert his superiority and dominance over him. vox begins to get teary-eyed, and alastor takes that chance to further push him into a corner and belittle his feelings and their entire relationship. i dont know guys, this kinda sounds like a real-life toxic male friendship dynamic in a patriarchal society...

you can argue that it’s just “part of his personality” and “who alastor is” but!

 1. we don't really know his true personality. remember, this is all a facade, so there’s no way for sure this is who he truly is behind the mask.

 2. how one portrays themselves and behaves doesn't come from nowhere, it’s usually a product of their time, their identity, and the social norms around them. if it is his true personality and view of the world, it must have originated from somewhere. 

in conclusion he hates everybody in different ways

YES! And the fact that 'acting like a gentleman' is a taught societal expectation enforced upon young men that is still present in the modern day! Let alone back in the early 1900s! Just because Alastor knows how to act gentlemanly towards Rosie or Charlie, Mimzy, Niffy, doesn't take away from the fact he still harbors sexisim! I could really get into the mentality of thinking you're respectful and forward thinking, but are actually playing upon harmful sterotypes instead, but I think op did a way better job at detailing it than I could!

And the read on Alastor being painful insecure in his own social standing as a man. We could even throw in his experience being a mixed man in the 1920s and how that fed into his need to ferl like he has to challenge any and every man within his vacinity! Everyone constantly undermining your ever accomplishment simply because of you skin color is beyond infuriating! Any sign of weakness would come with several steps backward!

But... that also means NEVER showing weakness. Bottling his emotions and struggles up until it boils over or makes him collapse!

love seeing a dynamic where two prideful idiots fight over being better

A date (sort of)

long time no post, here's my yurified radiostatic. Some closeups under the cut:

Does it take a few shots for Alastor to think Vox looks tasty or is Alastor very drunk and likes looking at his own reflection in Vox’s screen here? Who knows. Who cares.