#fighting corruption

While we’re all clowning about whether or not Adrien is a sentimonster, we’re not discussing the positively gorgeous thematic content of this episode! I would like to fix that. 

First off, we have a young girl is literally afraid of her own shadow. But she’s knowledgeable and she’s passionate. And she knows something is wrong and no one is listening to her. And she picks herself up and finds her courage over and over and over and over again to speak out. 

This is beautiful guys! Because this is what activism feels like! No one cares!! 

And who is she speaking out against? 

She’s standing in the way of a giant tractor come to destroy the park. 

She’s standing up to the friggin’ mayor of Paris who would prefer to dismiss her for being young and naive. A man in a position of privilege who cannot respond to resistance or take criticism on his own. He sends the police to put this rabble rouser back in her place. 

FOR LAW AND ORDER. 

And he does it! The police officer removes Mylene and Ivan from the scene. They literally showed the police officer blatantly in the wrong! Do you know how rare that is?! And how good of a potential conversation that is between kids and their parents - to have an example where the police officer is not protecting the citizens, but rather doing the bidding of wealthy white men?

And at first, even her friends are like, “Why are you against this project that is for the environment?” 

And she explains!! That’s what they want you to think!! They say they’re going to help, but they are literally going to destroy this planet so they can sell us clean air in cans while they claim to be the ones saving it. Something that should be free - something the trees are already doing. And something that would could make better by planting more trees!! Not cutting them all down. (It even points out that solving these problems is not that simple! That we’re going to need a ton of different small ways to tackle the problem). 

(I even appreciate the Adrien bit where he’s like - I didn’t know that’s what this commercial was for. It models how we exploit our own - make them represent and fight for the system that destroy the world they are supposed to inherit). 

And then, after fighting so hard, and maybe even gaining some traction because now there is public pressure and media pressure on the politician. Asking him, is this true? Is this what you’re trying to do? After all of that, the wealthy and the powerful take over the narrative completely with literal brainwashing!! They take Mylene’s friends and family. They are now all against her. And what does she do??? 

She starts giving Marinette a pep talk about how fear is okay. It’s normal. And that we have to keep going forward anyway. 

But then even Marinette is overcome by brainwashing, and Mylene is alone. She’s lost everything. She’s in a puddle on the floor crying about how it’s all her fault! And how does Ladybug pick her up and inspire her to be a hero? 

BY REPEATING EVERYTHING MYLENE HAS BEEN SAYING THE WHOLE EPISODE RIGHT BACK AT HER!! Because Mylene just needed to hear it from someone else because she was beginning to doubt the voice in her head. 

And what super power shall we give to the aspiring activist? 

Why the ability to turn into a friggin’ army! We give her the power of many. The ability to share her message with everyone! The ability to destroy the brainwashing, and help people to see the truth. 

And the episode continues to hammer home the idea that this corruption (the powerful who are literally LEECHING off this world and all the people who live here) is so big with so many resources with millions of akumas, that it feels impossible to fight. How can anyone fight all that? 

Well, you need a really big dedicated team!! (One of which has the power to be an army all by herself!) 

Now, am I optimisitc enough to think one vague comment from a well meaning super-heroine is enough to generate public pressure to get politicians to start at least pretending to act in our interests? No, not really. But I can appreciate the optimism of a children’s show that gave so many conversation starters with a simple example to talk about real issues that affect children and their futures, that gave a simplified template for how to do something! 

This episode was amazing! In a tier with Guiltrip, and I hope is more what our filler episodes look like in the future. 

But no, go ahead and keep obsessing over this scene: 

Grant Morrison’s recently-launched Substack made the rounds a few days ago, where he commented on DC’s darker, fascistic vision of late, and how he did everything in his power to keep Superman and the Authority from going down that authoritarian path. This line stood out to me:

“… why not let comic book universes be playgrounds for the kind of utopian impulses that have in the past brought out the best in us?”

This is especially true of Superman, and Morrison would know, as I haven’t felt the need to follow any new Superman story since All-Star Superman ended in 2008. And Zack Snyder’s ugly, nihilistic take on the character in those awful movies hasn’t helped this cold direction either.

The common argument is “oh but Superman is inherently fascist… all super heroes are.” But it’s easy to forget that upon his first appearance in Action Comics #1, Superman wasn’t yet battling outer space villains like Brainiac or Darkseid, but instead standing up for the rights of workers and the marginalized who were being oppressed by evil capitalists and the corrupt politicians who did their bidding.

Read below the cut for a look at Superman’s social justice origins.

Mystery Girl let out a soft sigh as she jogged towards the briefing room she’d meant to be in 4 minutes ago, she had gotten dragged into a conversation with Beth and she hadn’t been paying enough attention to the time. She pushed open the door and silently went and sat down in the spare chair in the room, giving no apology or explanation for her slight lateness and Mr Gonovich didn’t ask for one. He just went straight into the mission briefing, handing her and. . .her partner for the mission she guessed? a file each. She kept hers closed while he spoke.

‘Akufo-Addo has been strong in fighting corruption’ – Ofori-Atta

Minister of Finance-nominee, Ken Ofori-Atta has defended the credibility of President Nana Akufo-Addo in the fight against corruption in the country. “The President [Nana Akufo-Addo] has been strong in fighting corruption. His instruction has led to increases in our allocations to all governance institutions, and they have testified to that. We have also been firm in protecting the public purse,”…