something that I find so interesting about amber is.... I'll start by talking about foreman, actually: foreman is someone who genuinely, sincerely believes in the meritocracy. everyone can achieve great things and overcome their circumstances if they just work hard enough. of course, this isn't actually reality, this isn't how the actual world works, but it's what foreman believes. foreman believes in some kind of fairness, right? that if you just work hard enough, you will win and achieve, you will be accepted and respected. foreman doesn't believe this only for himself, he believes this for everyone.
enter amber. for a lot of people, amber isn't the first character when you think of someone who believes in fairness and wants to play by the rules, but remember: technically, nothing amber ever does is explicitly against house's rules. even if it's in a manner that is manipulative and cutthroat and ruthless, it's still being obedient to the rules of the game, even if on a technicality. but the thing is, amber doesn't really believe in the meritocracy, at least not like foreman. amber knows that the system is set up against her, that it's set up against women (97 seconds), but instead of being opposed to it or working together with other women, she still chooses to go along with the game, to get herself ahead. to be the exception.
and it ties with the fact that amber does seem to actually... be concerned with fairness. it's why she's rather shocked when she sees kutner come back after he gets fired: it's not fair for kutner to get to come back after house fired him. and it's not fair that house hand-picked dr terzi (the CIA doctor) and brought her into the game so late.
and it's interesting! because amber is aware of how, well, there are circumstances you cannot overcome no matter how much you work. but she also wants to be the best, wants to be right because she bases her self-worth on it (she thinks she cannot be liked for who she is but instead of being, like, miserable about it she just settles for being right instead). amber knows the game is "rigged", but she's learnt to play. to try to earn respect, to be the exception, because, well, "You gotta be right, or you're not worth anything."
kaledo-art
areudirty
tangentwithtanner
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
izzy806
