Iâm going to give a story of what Iâve witnessed. Iâll use Arcane as an example.
Arcane is a show about the cycle of violence in society. The main two cities in the show Piltover and Zaun are at odds with each other. Piltover oppresses Zaun, so Zaun retaliates, violence ensues. Each time Zaun hurts Piltover, Piltover hurts Zaun back. The show follows several characters across both cities and heavily focuses on how choices made before they even were born influence and perpetuate this cycle of violence. Caitlyn for example is a Piltover cop. Sheâs wealthy and respected, but she knows nothing about how bad life in Zaun is because sheâs not allowed to go there and experience it for herself. Sheâs is heavily biased prejudiced, and it takes falling in love with a Zaun citizen named Vi to finally start to open her eyes. But thatâs not enough to eliminate bias entirely. When Viâs sister attacks Piltover and ends up killing Caitlynâs mother, Caitlyn becomes fixated on trying to capture her and ends this conflict with Zaun entirely⌠which she ends up doing with more violence. Even though sheâs tactical about her approach and only uses violence to strategically take out key bad figures like drug lords and corrupt people in Zaun, she still ends up inflicting violence on the populace anyway. She is obviously wrong in her approach, the narrative makes that very clear. The series is using Caitlyn to show how even people who act with good intentions can end up perpetuating violence and making things worse. In the end the solution isnât one side against the other, but instead to be the bigger person and set aside your pride and pain to work together to bridge the gap between both sides. This is not an easy thing to do and itâs shown time and time again that working with people you donât like is NOT forgiveness. Trust needs to be earned, and the series ends with the two cities still at war with each other⌠but thatâs thereâs a CHANCE for the two cities to come together eventually, if people are vigilant and willing to dedicate their time to ending the cycles of violence.
Arcane is a very NUANCED show with a ton of lore and character analysis you could do. Itâs not perfect, season 2 suffers from a rushed story as a 3rd season wasnât greenlit and they had to essentially cram 2 seasons worth of content into one. Some of the lore is difficult to parse out, and some of the characterization feels a little flat sometimes. Thereâs also a heavy emphasis on âshow donât tellâ that occasionally goes a little too far, and having characters stop and explain things couldâve helped the story make sense here or there. But overall, amazing show that won a ton of awards and despite the flashy action and setting has something deeper and meaningful to say about the human condition.
You know what the Arcane Critical hashtagâs takeaway was?
THIS SHOW IS PRO-OPPRESSION BECAUSE ZAUN DIDNâT RISE UP AND KILL PILTOVER! CAITLYN IS THE DEVIL CHARACTER AND ANYONE WHO LIKES HER IS EVIL AS WELL! ZAUN IS PALESTINE AND PILTOVER IS ISRAEL! COMPROMISE IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE, PILTOVER DOESNâT DESERVE TO ECIST! ALL OF THE CREATORS ARE FASCISTS, YES EVEN THE QUEER WOMEN WHO WROTE THE QUEER CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW! THESE QUEER CHARACTERS ARENâT PERFECT CINNAMON ROLLS AND THEREFORE THE WRITING IS BAD AND I HATE THEM. IF YOU GIVE CHARACTERS FLAWS YOU ARE BAD WRITER.
Thereâs many things you can criticize about the show, but that legitimate criticism was obscured by absolutely bonkers hatred in the Arcane Critical hashtag. Allegations of wrongdoing, unsubstantiated speculations about the creative teams, outright harassment of the cast and crew. None of it justified or in good faith. The Arcane Critical hashtag was a cesspool of spiraling oroboros style negativity, feeding in on itself and distorting the events of the show until it was unrecognizable.
And I see this same thing happening in EVERY â______ criticalâ hashtag across multiple fandoms. Iâve seen this happen in the Steven Universe fandom, Arcane, TADC, The Owl House, She-Ra, Voltron, etc. And one of the things youâll notice is that most of those shows, while meant for kids, are also shows that either were, or attempted to be, inclusive and nuanced. The people in the critical hashtags donât like nuances or representation that doesnât fit a very narrow definition. Critical hashtags may have started from a place of love of the show and genuinely being critical of things in them, but they are so very often co-opted and overrun by people who act in bad faith and are using the inclusiveness of the fandom as a shield to perpetuate their toxic behavior and attitudes.
Iâve been critical of Arcane in the past. Iâve done tons of analysis on the characters, the setting, etc. But attacking creators and voice actors just because you didnât like something in a show isnât being critical, thatâs harassment. Perpetuating that hatred by wallowing in like-minded spiteful individuals is a pipeline towards bigotry. The people building this âus-vs-them: mentally are people who refuse to engage with the media and attack anyone who supports it.
And I think it should be our duty as fans to call that shit out when we see it.
