Phoenixwarrior141 wrote:We will not agree because I will go "It's fictional, so STFU you San Francisco fuckslut."
Fiction can still be bad.
I think some of the author's choices in writing this piece of fiction are horrible.
If this scene was essential even slightly in building the narrative or even just to give the story some flavor, then I have no problems.
This doesn't seem like the "Hero" of the story. I also may be naive, but I didn't see any form of misogyny against women collectively here. It's either so subtle it's ineffective, or not there at all.
The scene built up two things: the slave affected by the love potions wants to jump his bones, and he keeps saying and touching and doing things others misinterpret as sexual. Both are things that keep getting repeated over and over again, and I feel like they're both bad and lazy choices for characterization and don't work as jokes.
Those parts aren't misogynistic, they're handling sexuality in a really weird manner. "Look, kids think they'll be forced to have sex, isn't it funny?"
I don't think you specifically would find much, if anything, in the story misogynistic, but you might agree that its portrayal of women, gender stereotypes and sex is ridiculous.
Speaking of misogyny,though... One of the characters is later afflicted by a curse of misogyny - he literally sees and hears pigs, instead of women and girls. He is unable to understand them.
That's one of the themes of the series - using certain powers will cause a psychological or metaphysical curse, which takes away one's ability to think or experience certain things. One's sense of taste, ability to have gold or valuables, ability to make things, ability to talk to women...
The protagonist gets cursed with hate early on, and he teeters between "villain with redeeming qualities" and "hero using evil methods for the greater good" for most of the series.
Maybe working as intended...? Alienation is an amazing plot device in ALL media.
That was probably the intent, but I still thought it was weird and unnecessary and wasn't handled like the other, similar scenes. There's like 2 whole chapters dedicated to that. Elsewhere, there are scenes where dozens to hundreds of people are tortured to death and that only gets a few scenes that describe the protagonist's reactions ('oh, that's nasty, I guess we're not in Japan any more, they have different rules here') but nothing about what's going on.
It reads like the author just put a lot of thought and interest into how one would sexually torment a bitch of an ex, so to say, and much less interest in stuff like that elsewhere. It's creepy, because
it reads as something the author inserted into the story for his sake, instead of the story's sake.
Some people will drop the series instantly after that, and I'd totally understand.
They put Anita in the story? Fuuuuuuck.
Wait what? "Over-used trope"? How? "Negative stereotype" HOW?
There's this thing where unlikable women are often portrayed as deceiving liars who use gullible men to their advantage.
As you demonstrate, it's a label that has been stamped on real-world women too. These stereotypes exist in media and out of it, which is why having them become ubiquitous is bad. Women characters could have different, less clichéd flaws instead. For example, a scientist who ignores the societal values to push her own work on anyone willing to listen, even if others criticize her methods and tools and goals. There's a minor character like that in the series.
Obviously there are women and men who do these stereotypical things, that's why they've become such strong stereotypes.
It's a negative stereotype, just like portraying men as sex-crazed maniacs who can't focus on important stuff because they're impressing girls and chasing skirts. It's an over-used and negative trope, and, incidentally, also appears in the series.
So, wait. Other than those two (maybe 3) incidents, the story was passable. Those 3 incidents not containing any overt sexism or misogyny, albeit representing sex (as an act) negatively in a way, kinda.
I mean, those incidents are fucked up but that wouldn't change my opinion of the story.
Shit's still interesting, so if I got something wrong tell me. Cuz I feel like I'm flying a bit blind without context.
'Other than that' in this case means all the instances — there's more than 3, but they're not very common either — with the weird portrayal of sex and gender stereotypes. Sex is portrayed as something a hero wouldn't do, or something depraved, or a tool for evil. Several characters are nothing but a single, overused and cliché gender stereotype turned up to eleven and then some.
They don't change my opinion of the rest of the story that much, but since those parts are weaker than the story as a whole, having these in it obviously lowers my opinion of the story as a whole. The "ok this is nice" stuff has some problems in this regard, but I can enjoy it despite that.
The "wtf is this drivel" parts lower my opinion on the work as a whole, because they ARE a oart if the whole. Cut some of those things out and the story improves.
