#ashley posts

Dead Poets Society bonus: Getaway Camp

Dazed and Confused Stranger Things

I'M NAVIGATING, I'M NAVIGATING, MY HEAD

DISASSOCIATE

I'M NAVIGATING, I'M NAVIGATING, MY HEAD

GIVE ME SOME ADVICE

I AM WASTING ALL THIS TIME

The other day I saw a post comparing Alina Starkov and her love interests to Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice and her love interests, and since then I’ve been thinking about that concept a lot. In that post they rightfully claimed that the Darkling would be Mr. Wickham, dazzles everyone with his charm and good looks then turns out to be a liar and is only interested in the heroine for personal gain. But the post then went on to say that Mal would be the Mr. Collins equivalent and Nikolai would be Darcy. Their reasoning for this was that Mal always felt “entitled” to Alina, like Collins was with Lizzie, and that Nikolai would be Darcy because he’s the most moderate of the three men, less callous than the Darkling but more exciting than Mal. While I can see why someone would think that Nikolai is the most neutral choice for those reasons, I think they’re missing the fact that he was written as almost an antithesis to the Darkling, there’s literally a line in Siege and Storm that Alina says to Nikolai, “I hate it when you talk like that. You sound just like the Darkling.” (p.250) Both wanted Alina for their political gain, Nikolai to bring all of Ravka together, the Darkling to control the rest of the world, Mal was the only one who wanted Alina for herself. 

Despite what that post said, Mal very clearly never felt entitled to her. Alina wanted him, chose him, but still he told her to be with Nikolai because it would be better for Ravka. And even before then, what I think people see as Mal’s “entitlement” to Alina, is them being in a relationship, never seeing each other or spending time with one another, and Mal being upset about it. In S&S, Alina decides to go to Os Alta and just assumes Mal is of the same mind, she doesn’t consult him or ask him if he’s coming, she just knows that he will follow her and he does because he loves her and wants her to fulfill her destiny, even though he doesn’t really believe in it at that point. Once there, he becomes her bodyguard but they still never spend any time just the two of them. He has to stand sentry while watching Nikolai blatantly flirt with, propose marriage to, and kiss Alina and through it all he still says nothing. And then one day he tries to kiss Alina and she doesn’t kiss him back. He’s heartbroken because he could see that she was lying to him about something and now this, so instead of forcing a relationship that he thought she didn’t want, he broke up with her. He walked away from the woman he loved because he thought she didn’t love him anymore. 

His entitlement in their relationship wasn’t an entitlement to Alina. As her partner he felt entitled to her love and attention and when he didn’t feel that from her he walked away. What people see as Mal being “entitled” is actually just what he, and most of us, expect from a relationship. Do you not want to spend time with your partner? Do you not want to feel like your partner also loves you and considers your feelings? And if you feel like they don’t, would you not be upset? 

 But his lack of entitlement is not why I think that Mal is the “Darcy” option because let’s be real, Darcy IS entitled. He’s a rich eligible bachelor and completely expects Lizzie to jump at the chance to marry him and when she doesn’t he’s shocked. But the reason that Darcy and Mal are so similar to me is that they both go through realistic personal growth and end up in the same place, drinking their respect women juice. Darcy and Mal both end up essentially backing off of the heroine and saying, “I love you but if you don’t love me that’s cool.” They both thought they had been rejected and instead of pestering their heroines or getting angry or bitter, they took a step back and looked at themselves. 

.

Both of them grew up hating the Grisha, for different reasons and Matthias to a higher degree, but neither of them ever thought that was something they would change their minds on. 

Both of those beautiful himbos proceeded to fall in love with their powerful Grisha babes and were forced to change the way they looked at the world as a consequence. 

They both then deserted, abandoning the only lives they’d ever known because they would do anything for their Grisha girlfriends.

Then, of course, they both had rough patches in their relationships. They ended up in positions they didn’t want to be in, Mal at the Little Palace and Matthias at Hellgate, and lashed out, hurting the women they loved. 

Chris and Lin

If y'all feel like the world has gone shitty, just read this post from a Nintendo-themed Facebook group printed on a black shirt. You'll have the biggest laugh ever, at least for a while.