#roscalus

Did Still Star-Crossed change your life? 

Were you left wanting more after that finale?

Do you think ABC is shady as hell?

Do you want to see more of Lashana's gorgeous face?

SavingSSC is here to fight for the little show that could. We’ve seen wonderful petitions floating around the internet, as well as countless people wondering why a show with such a beautiful, talented cast wasn’t given its fair chance. This account exists as a starting point  for what could be a campaign to get our show back. In order for that to happen, we’ll need as much man power as possible. 

Today, I’ve read an article claiming Escalus was The Villain of Still Star-Crossed and it really disturbed me. Actually, it was the last straw. Now, I need to rant about something.

Why each time there are different ethnic backgrounds in a cast, people always judge more critically the black characters comparing to the white/light-skinned characters?

I noticed it frequently in other fandoms and unfortunately, it was also the case for Still Star-Crossed with Escalus and Rosaline. #racisminfandomepisode1478795

Escalus

He’s the Prince of Verona and he loves Rosaline, a CAPULET. This is what we called a conflict of interest. So he tries all the time to find a balance between his own feelings for her and what is the best thing to do to preserve the peace at Verona. Remember, his own father did not let him say goodbye to Rosaline. And now, he must stay neutral because there is a war between the Capulets and the Montagues. In this situation, choosing a Capulet, is like a declaration of war against the other family. If you don’t understand what I mean, imagine what would happen if prince Harry would married Jeremy Corbyn's niece.

So in a world with rules and conventions, it’s complicated to trust someone just because she’s your former girlfriend. We are viewers, we know the truth. But not him. But at the same time, He has still feelings for the Capulet. All these contradictions is precisely what makes this TV series interesting and addictive.

Some of you said Benvolio was less jealous than Escalus and respected her more than him. Giiiiiiiiirls, let’s be honest, the only reason why Montague was not SO jealous  is because he was seeing Stella at the same time. Contrary to Escalus who had only one person in her heart.

Stop making us believe that Benvolio is the perfect guy please.

Like Escalus, he’s not flawless, he has to fight his own demons, but strangely, you refuse to see them.

He proposed his cousin to go to a tavern just after his wedding with Juliet.  He spends his time in brothels.He asked Stella first to leave the city before asking Rosaline, which means if Stella had accepted to leave with him, Episode 5 would not exist. Nowadays, this is what we call a fuckboy, a nice fuckboy but still a fuckboy.

Also, when you compare Benvolio and the first boyfriend of Rosaline, you forget Escalus is not a “normal “person. Maybe it’s strange for you but even if he’s black, he has more responsabilities than Benvolio Montague who goes everyday to the brothel.

Escalus came back to Verona to replace his father in a hurry to handle a political crisis. He’s young, he’s learning, he’s just a being human.

In missing all these details, you are missing the complexity of Still Star-Crossed.

Also, y’all who are caping for Princess Isabella to replace her brother on the throne, even if she’s harder than him.

Have you forgot how she pushed the wedding between Rosaline and Benvolio ?

And how she told Escalus he has to do the right thing for the kingdom even if it means killing Benvolio?

She’s harder and less indulgent than her brother. So why don’t you judge her the same way?

You are only blaming Prince Escalus when theses decisions are inspired by her sister, as if unconsciously, you can’t stand a black man to run a city in Europe.

Same thing for Rosaline

 The Count of Paris threatened her with a knife to force her to say that Benvolio had kidnapped her. But people still judged her severely when she lied to save everyone. Although she did a lot of things for Benvolio before (read my rant).

It’s such a shame that even with a multicultural casting, people keep their uncounscious racial biases, only caping for the poor white boy or the light skinned character, even when they’re also doing dumb things like following a woman who repeated she did not want to be saved. I also remember when we discovered Count Paris was evil. Some people were still shipping him with Livia. Escalus has never been as evil as Paris, but strangely, you are less indulgent with him, because black people can’t take risk and make mistakes for you.

People really need to work on their racist uncouncious racial bias against dark-skinned people.

Non black POC included + some black people with their internalized racism.

Also read 1 2 +3) and @nerdsagainstfandomracism + @nyxelestia about this topic.

It’s not because you like a show with diversity, that means you are less racist than people who didn’t want to watch #SSC because of this diversity.

If you’re blaming and judging harshly the only dark-skinned POC characters of the show while giving a standing ovation to the others, don’t cry when your show is cancelled, because you are not better than ABC.

We really need conscious critics and journalists to educate people, because I am very tired of all this anti-black racism.

Now that I finished saying what I had to say, can we go back to Rosaline and Benvolio and commenting their relationship without insulting Prince Escalus?

Like why Benvolio said “I love you” to Stella but not to Rosaline? For those who think “In Verona they don’t say “I love you”. They say “I trust you”.

Look at what I found on Twitter! 

Tonight is the series finale of our beloved Still Star-Crossed! As usual, it comes on at 10PM ET on ABC. Make sure you set your DVRs! If you can't watch it live, you can stream it (usually the next day) on ABC.go.com, the ABC app, Amazon Video*, Google Play*, YouTube*, Hulu*, and Vudu* (*Paid Subscriptions). Since this is the final episode, now would be a great opportunity to live tweet with the cast. They're all really sweet and interactive with the fans. It was a pleasure to watch this show with you guys! Even though it didn't get the attention and time it deserved, the show had a really loving and dedicated fandom. It was super nice to see the handful of people stick with the show, even when we knew it wasn't going to last. Until next time!