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𝕠𝕙, 𝕙𝕚!

𝕚’𝕞 𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕙 ∠( ᐛ 」∠)_

31 | she/her | midwestern | disaster bisexual | gemini | touch o’ the ‘tism | socialist | occasionally writing | mostly lurking

𝒾𝓃𝒷𝑜𝓍 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝒽𝒾 𝑜𝓇 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓂𝓈

minors, racists, queerphobes, terfs, swerfs, zionists, conservatives, ai enjoyers & bigots of all kinds do not interact.

𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥

𝟷,𝟹𝟶𝟶 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚎𝚌 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝

***writers in this post being a catch all for writers/creators/producers okay you think john wells and nw don’t have say so as eps? c’mon now

if the writers were intentionally writing robby to be as sexist/racist/problematic/etc as he can be/is perceived as, and the audience hated him for it, that’d be one thing (using other tv characters for example, smurf in animal kingdom is written as a terrible horrible very bad no good incesty Boy Mom™️ and the audience doesn’t root for her within the plot, but people still acknowledge that shes a banger of a character).

if the writers were intentionally writing robby to be as sexist/racist/problematic/etc as he can be/is perceived as, and the audience was excusing him despite the writers not intending for that, even that’d be one thing (see: walter white in breaking bad. by the end he’s literally written to be a Bad Person and does Bad Things no longer for good reasons [“i did it for me”/“i’m in the empire business”/“are you really gonna walk away from a million dollars?”], yet the older men audience excused his actions to high heavens, and actively hated skylar for her “bitchiness” re it all).

but here’s the thing: DO the writers think they’re writing robby* as sexist/racist/problematic/etc? and, at least to me, i don’t think they do.

wait hold on wait

if that was the case, it’d make sense how the writers are double triple quadrupling down that robby’s just written as “realistic” or “just hurting,” but not sexist/racist/problematic, because like, they wrote him like that, their biases, subconscious or not, are what’s slipping through the writing, and they don’t wanna think that they’re (also) in the wrong.

sure, they’ve written (and admitted to writing) him as asshole-ish, but justify it by citing his mental health struggles** and excuse it by saying “that’s just how he shows he believes in and cares for x character” or “i use my [also wealthy and white] son as a barometer to make sure it’s not too bad,” but the issues people (generally) have isn’t that he’s an uwu meanie poo poo head to their fav :-(((, it’s that robby’s actions can be and are taken as beyond asshole-ness, but as racist and/or sexist.

**mental health struggles may explain being a dick, but not being sexist/racist, like c’mon people

(also, for the writers brush off those valid criticisms as “realism” or “normal” or whatever the excuse of the day is, that’s a little……..hmmm. for journalists to say the female cast has “brainrot” for saying that yeah, robby’s a lil misogynistic is ew. [and the subset of the part of the fandom also brushing off those valid criticisms and like full on coming for the part voicing them is….um……yeah not great])

like…just because you don’t think something is racist, doesn’t mean it isn’t or can’t be interpreted as so. just because you don’t think something is sexist, doesn’t mean it isn’t or can’t be interpreted as so.

just because you think pieces of the content are problematic doesn’t mean you can’t still overall enjoy it, so long as you can also acknowledge that said pieces are/can be taken as problematic.

but idk i’m just a lowly court jester who does luvs da pitt and robby as a character but doesn’t necessarily like the path the writers are venturing down if it isn’t intentional (and, again, i don’t think it is)

(also this doesn’t really take into account the problematic behaviors/opinions of the creators from their personal lives and/or involving the cast, that’s a whole other thing. [tl;dr if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck, even despite it sometimes meowing like a cat ja feel?])

* it’s also not just robby with those problematic lines/moments/etc, he’s just the main focus of the discourse. but other examples that come to mind: langdon saying “and what a beautiful blessing namaste” to princess in s1–was that just meant to be funny and maybe show he’s a little douchey but in a likable way or did the writers intend to make langdon come across as a little problematic? robby asking “al hashimi? what is that?” and shen replying “irish?” in s2–was that just meant to be funny and showing robby’s current headspace through guys joking around or did the writers intend to make robby and shen come across as a little problematic? me personally, i believe both were 100% intended as jokes, but also know that they actually came across as an “ohhh that’s not…” moment to a lot of people. edit: good post

tl;dr discoursing over a character’s in universe behavior is much less productive than discoursing over the ones making said character behave like that, and how interpersonal relationships between the creatives and actors seem to affect said actor’s character in universe

I know he probably meant well and intended it to be lighthearted but someone please get him (and a few other cast members) some better media training and a book on social justice😭😭