#tweos

god, Luka and Marinette are so awful; at least I can kind of understand it in Marinette's case, she thinks she can escape by performing being the perfect woman. I'm sorry the gods think this is actually how the world should be!!

not really much to be said about Luka... it's a little funny that he is so insistent on the homophobia angle, since his whole shtick does seem like the sort of thing people would blast guys in the 2000s for being too gay (i.e. too feminine). wearing eyeliner, having a large female audience (even if you are well-known for your sleeping around) + girl jeans lolol.

there's something kind of funky going on about that dynamic between Adrien and Luka, even if it's (mostly?) one-sided. not that we know much about how Luka has been received outside of his relationship w. Lucky/as Viperion. however, if feminization is the sort of thing people concern-troll him about, Luka probably does feel like Adrien is simultaneously an easier target while still being enough of "a man" to warrant ripping into as not-a-man.

I'm pretty sure Luka in this AU is not racialized/East Asian? (as is a common? headcanon? I say tentatively)—particularly because of his comment about Kagami eating dogs (but like... the number of times I've seen EAsians do it to other EAsians... you could fill a room in hell). but if he was, I think it adds to this kind of resentment/vindictiveness (inferiority/superiority) dynamic; probably feels sooo good to tear down a White guy who simultaneously ticks many of the classic boxes of masculinity* and is also an easy target. that is, if you're the worst person ever.

*as in he is, of course, White in the most European way possible; conventionally attractive; dresses archetypically 'masculine' with his, to be overly reductive, 'light academia' aesthetic, even if his public persona doesn't. (though I'd buy the argument that 'light academia' is also 'feminized' aesthetic; I've gone on long enough, though). I'll also clarify that it's probably appealing insofar as Adrien is 'privately' masculine when his public persona is feminized; the same cannot be said for Luka, who wears his aesthetic 24/7. another reason why it might feel good!

sidebar: if it is the case that Luka is the way I've described above re: racial conflict, he's a little like Alex from Elaine Hsieh Chou's Disorientation, in which he's an incel... chalk another one up to book parallels!

wow, look at that, I actually had a lot to say about Luka. whoopsie!

onto the actual star of the show, Marinette: to come back to the whole performance thing, I think it's extra juicy given she's (unknown to herself) aro but also unconsciously buys deeply into comphet (as you mention in the tags of your swap!Claudia art). to that end, Luka is maybe a little right in that Adrien's appeal is his... feminized atypical sexuality, even if Luka's just using it for boy points.

it's very classically (lesbian) comphet in that way! Marinette desires a man who is unavailable to her in both a difference of public status and difference of sexuality. even if she consciously performs a desire for Adrien and seeks to equalize their standings (and this is not to deny Marinette agency on this matter lol), it's a lot easier to like a guy who doesn't actually exist on the same romantic level.

especially when compared to Luka, who exists really undeniably, both as her 'boyfriend' and as a man (in the trappings of heterosexuality). he is proud of his sexual conquests (the bra), he (assuming Adrien's not just freaking out out of his mind) needles Adrien about sexuality during the party chapter. when faced with the choice of being functionally being sexually harassed by her own boyfriend OR escaping to a situation where, at least, she can imagine someone who is perfect and sexy and yet never extantly doing sex Unto Her, and especially not as a masculine posture thing (even if his midriff is exposed, he doesn't even take his shirt off!), it's no surprise Marinette chooses her (increasingly) minimal opportunities to own her own fantasies.**

plus, it doesn't help that both the powerful mediums of advertising and kwami mind control are basically funnelling her towards one escape. get married, and have it at least be someone who won't hurt you.

**another footnote!! spoiled for choice here. I think this comes back to what we originally (?) first talked about with regards to the three options for coping with misogynistic expectation. there's something of the nominal refusal here, in the same way those Really Makes You Think "what if the roles of men and women were swapped" skits were, if you ever saw those lol. or, to continue with the RGU theme, like if Marinette had Anthy's role with Utena's (limited) ability to push back.

not to get too deep into a comparison, but it's also a little like how Jenny Nicholson phrased her experience of watching one of the Fifty Shades movies. she was describing enjoying the experience of pretending to be someone who enjoyed the FSoG story and was happy for the characters, before realizing the assumed experience was actually being that person rather than like, roleplaying. in a similar way, Marinette (unconsciously!) maybe isn't happy for 'herself' (as in her everyday life) but for the idea of Marinette that has been promised to her. her lobotomysona. coping with her acceptance of her role through a nominal refusal, in that she "gets" to perform her part, and protecting that image with emulations of how others talk about other young women. she'll never be that way because she's self-aware! she's choosing! she's empowered! what do you mean advertising makes a thing for you to desire to sell it to you

in short... I think my interpretation still holds, but then I'll always be on the side of the girls. you have to fight against the weight of societal misogyny; who am I to deny you your coping mechanisms?

maybe read gender trouble and also some Stuart Hall on the question of advertising and representation, though.

FINAL NOTE, not about this one-shot lol but the Alya one. I really liked it!!! she deserves so much depth that I think you captured well here. I especially love when Trixx threatens Alya by saying "You cease to be Rena, and the only thing you'll be is Marinette's best friend. I don't think you want that."