Critic - Blog Posts
Critica a lore of olympus ( voy en el cap 189 , temporada 2 , para aclarar )
Ok, esto no será lindo, pero mientras más leo el cómic, y más leo opiniones negativas y positivas del tema , me quedé de acuerdo con unas , con otras no tanto y llegué a crear opiniones propias , pero me centraré más en el lado negativo de sus enseñanzas y valores con respecto al género ... porque seamos justos, a todos nos gusta ver todo del lado negativo , pero no me mal entiendan, me gusta el cómic,pero también creo que un ejercicio mental bueno, es necesario criticar lo que te gusta , para que el arte pueda florecer de forma diferente, y podamos crear algo mejor en un futuro no tan lejano... a si que empezemos la masacre
. Los roles de género de hades y persefone: no puedo evitar darme cuenta de el como , a pesar de que el cómic busca dar valores en contra de estos , su pareja principal es demasiado estereotipada , lo vemos en la caracterización de persefone, al ser ultra femenina, es casi una princesa Disney, y el estereotipo de la chica perfecta (como isabela madrigal pero ella buscaba criticar este estereotipo), es completamente rosa , es más hermosa que el resto , es más inteligente (aunque esto sea más una excusa o una característica informada en casi todo el cómic), pero también es muy ingenua y delicada , y toda característica no necesariamente femenina llega a ser negativa, como el pelo corto (que de paso, la única mujer con el pelo corto y que le guste , es atenea y eris , y la primera es el estereotipo de lesbiana masculina , y la otra es el tropo de mala mujer) , también su enojo ,que es lo que impulsa un trauma que marca el personaje , la chica solo llega a enojarse cuando es su punto de ruptura,y hasta eso , cuando lo hace por defender a sus amigas es vista como un monstruo, mientras que es para defenderse a ella misma , termina siendo defendida por un hombre , luego esta hades , el cual es el estereotipo de millonario de cualquier novela romántica, siempre le compra cosas a persefone, es muy atento , le vale la diferencia de edades , que por cierto, talvez a la hora de discutir de relaciones con gran diferencia de edad , deberíamos de cambiar el estereotipo del hombre mayor con mujer joven , porque se tiene más estigma de ser al revés (busquen todo el drama de Reeaves y Grant , y eso que son casi de la misma edad ... y creo que ella es menor ) siempre se busca la juventud en las mujeres , mientras que los hombres , solo son vistos como el estereotipo de sugar Daddy, además de que no entiendo porque el colo azul, digo , el azul no está tan relacionado con la muerte, uno esperaría colores más grises o negros , el rosa medio lo entiendo , aunque se lo hubiera puesto a Afrodita,pero porque necesariamente rosa y azul ?, porque no , verde y negro ? , por ejemplo, tiene más lógica y no se ve tan estereotipado
. La ninfa en el refrigerador: ok, el estereotipo de mujer en el refrigerador,es básicamente, crear a un personaje femenino que solo esté destinado a morir, para que sintamos culpa por un personaje masculino, aunque el debate de si esto puede pasar con otro personaje femenino sigue abierto,pero un ejemplo de esto, lo fue con la película dulce venganza, donde el personaje de nina solo está marcado por su pasado trágico, y porque la protagonista toma venganza por ella , pasa algo similar con la amigas ninfas de persefone (que ni nombre tienen), porque solo mueren para darle un impulso narrativo a la historia, y para que sintamos lástima por persefone, fuera de eso , no sabemos nada de ellas, y algo similar pasa a con menthe, porque el que haya sido herida por persefone , es solo para sentir lástima por la culpa de persefone, aunque no entra como tal en este tropo , porque de ella si sabemos más cosas , pero igual se quita completamente la perspectiva de alguien que conocía a la mujer de forma medianamente positiva, para sentarse en la perpetradora, y hacerla ver de forma inocente
. Las ninfas también importan : hay que hablar del aspecto racial en el cómic, la codificación sirve para dar a entender ciertas realidades, a través de ciertas metáforas o representaciones, y llámenme loca ,pero las ninfas, humanos y de más criaturas están codificadas como personas racialisadas, solo es cosa de ver ma sociedad del olimpo, donde las ninfas en el mejor de los casos , son solo secretarias de dioses , y en lo más bajo ,como bailarinas en clubes de mala muerte , en cuanto a los mortales, para representarlos usualmente se usan tonos oscuros, de hecho ,muchos parecen gente negra , aún si no es históricamente exacto, o si es controversial que estén en lo más bajo de este sistema de castas , además de no ponerle características de color a ningún dios , aún si esto tendría en teoría más lógica, porque los dioses no están sujetos a una rasa humana , a si que por alguna razón persefone tuviera un afro , en teoría no se podría cuestionar, a si como no podemos cuestionar que todas las diosas tengan pelo lacio , o que todos los dioses sean fortachones , además, riordan lo hizo , no veo porqué ella no
. El estereotipo de la buena y la mala mujer : es curioso como también hay tríos románticos con características curiosas, comparemos toda la trama de apolo, con la de menthe , aún si tienen ciertos parecidos , a apolo no se le ve como "un mal hombre ", se le ve como un monstruo, alguien que hizo algo terrible, que si lo hizo , y si bien menthe también las hizo (aunque no tan malas como una violación), se le pone más en el papel de enemiga de persefone, como como una villana de verdad , no es tanto una antagonista , es solo una rival por el corazón del rey del inframundo, no se ve temible como apolo , cronos o incluso zeus , si no como decallente, un estereotipo propio de las villanas Disney como la reina de Blancanieves, menthe es la antítesis de persefone , menthe es madura , sexualmente activa , enojona y no pertenece a las clases privilegiadas, a diferencia de persefone que es inocente, vida sexual básicamente nula , trata de estar siempre feliz y es básicamente rica , y curiosamente las 2 sufren de padecimientos mentales , pero solo la que pertenece a las clases privilegiadas termina recibiendo ayuda de verdad , no es el único ejemplo, miremos a las diosas vírgenes, donde artemisa es vista como una santa por seguir las reglas, aún cuando no entiende que es complicado, incluso se enoja cuando descubre que que atenea y hestia son pareja , que si , hestia fue hipócrita, pero en vez de hablar con mujeres con las cuales convivió por mucho tiempo, y el cono están cometiendo errores , solo las ve como hipócritas y se va , talvez el único ejemplo neutral es Afrodita, donde si bien es antagónica con persefone, como tal que sean opuestas no la hace villana ... si bien su intromisión en la relación de eros es muy tóxica, no es realmente vista como una villana , somo como alguien impulsivo que al igual que otras sufre los estragos del sistema, es verdugo y víctima , como lo son menthe , hestia ,Atenea, etc
Otras cuestiones (no necesariamente críticas)
. Lo que si pondré como un punto positivo, y es una de las razones por las cuales amo el cómic, es su representación del trauma sexual, con Afrodita me gusta mucho , porque usualmente este tipo de abusos se desestiman si la víctima era sexualmente activa, pero aquí no , se nos dice que ella no se sintió contenta con lo que paso , que lo que vivió con zeus no estuvo bajo ninguna circunstancia bien, aunque admito que me identifiqué más con lo de persefone, porque si bien no sufrí como tal de violación, si llegué a hacer cosas por precion de la pareja, cosas que trataba de convencerme de que estaban bien, cuando no ,o me preguntaba si era normal
. Duda ... que carajos estudia persefone ?, digo , si mal no recuerdo tienda química (o algo parecido ), pero ya en su juicio dice que quiere estudiar derecho , no entendí bien si como una maestría, o si se quiere cambiar de carrera , si alguien lo sabe por favor comente , que no entiendo
. Hubiera sido más divertido que en ves de hacer un hombre de negocios que aparte es líder político ( no se porque me recuerda a trump ), lo mostrara más como un tipo emo ... porque amo a los emos ,y a si con cada personaje, hera como la maldita que amo , atenea más nerd y no tan simpática, talvez no poner a apolo como abusador sexual,digo , eso hubiera quedado más con zeus ( y de hecho si ocurre en los mitos )
. Más representación lgbt,solo tenemos el queerbating de hestia y atenea , y creo que la psicologa de persefone era trans , escuché por allí que se confirmó a eros como bi, pero se puede hacer mejor , pon un personaje que no esconda su sexualidad, pero que importe , no se , apolo a tenido relación con hombres, si quitaramos el hecho de la violación, lo acercaremos más a la mitología griega, imaginene una relación interracial con Jacinto
. Hay un au donde se cambia a persefone con menthe, porque en la mayoría de mitos se nos dice que hades ya estaba con persefone cuando la conocío ... y hubiera sido más interesante, digo , allí tendríamos una crítica más lógica a problemas como racismo , sexismo, abuso sexual y lucha de clases
The Classism, Sexism, and Mishandling of Slavery theme of the Remarried Empress ((pt 1. of why I might divorce the remarried empress series)) WARNING: SOME SPOILERS INSIDE
Note: this story/review was written by someone from the western hemisphere, so yes I am well aware that cultural differences is most likely a definite factor in this. However, this is my opinion on how this series kinda rubs me the wrong way. I will admit that I am behind on the series, and some of the info I got was from spoilers so it might be outdated, as I stopped at episode 85 on webtoons, and read some spoilers, if this is the case, I am prepared to address what I’ve said in a new post ( a reblog of this) to make things more fair.
Ok so I’m gonna do a super quick introduction because anyone, who’s anybody knows the basic premise of one of, if not the most popular manhwas next to WMMAP. It’s a manhwa that essentially has dominated on webtoon, ruled on insta and I think is even set to have it’s own movie/kdrama eventually come out.
Yours truly, was a fan of this series, especially when I got caught up in the tales of hype, and complexity of the story/spoilers, and the beauty of the novel. Like I genuinely liked this series, as the premise was easy to follow, it almost seemed like it was written from a sympathetic villainess’s pov and it just made me a fan, until I wasn’t.
The tales of Navier being an awesome strong female lead in the face of walking dung and his mistress Rashta (affectionately known by fans as Trashta- which hold on I will address that in this) was pretty good at first, until I sat down and actually thought about this series. Now I know you’ll say- hey, hey, hey, this is a manhwa (technically not isekai) why are you actually putting deep thought into this? And I’ll say, well, I have this rule when it comes to fiction.
I (the reader) will only take a series as serious, as the series takes itself. So to elaborate, this means I’m not going to sit down and waste time telling you how certain series does things on a broader or more indepth scale if it’s clearly here for a good time. No, this means that if a story wants me to take it seriously, then, um yeah I am going to do so.
Now, coming back to this series, I’m going to get straight to the point, that might upset some people, because I know there’s probably a lot of cultural differences between the writer of this story, and readers who are located on the western hemisphere, like me.
But- with all due respect.
Something about this story does NOT sit right with my spirit,
and it’s mainly the classist narration/the dealing with slavery, with pinches of sexism here and there, but let’s start with the classism.
This story feels like it’s essentially punching DOWN, like it’s telling the lower class to know it’s place, some were born to rule, others merely to serve/follow orders, and punishing the one person, Rashta, who albeit unethically and under bad circumstances, tries to create a better life for herself by somewhat breaking the social norms by climbing up, terribly. I’m not justifying what Rashta has done, nor am I condoning it, but the complete lack of empathy in the narration of a story that is praised for being complex is….well….disturbing.
In fact, if I have to be honest with you, I feel nothing but apathy vibes from the tone/way this story was written. There’s a distinct lack of empathy when it comes to the suffering of others, particularly women not named NAVIER, that I think needs to be discussed more, especially when people want to push this series as something that promotes a strong fl, because I think it pushes a strong/independent fl at the expense of some other female characters (don’t believe me- just look at how the fandom so readily vilifies a female character who gets in Navier’s way,).
Guys like Sovieshu and Heinrey are allowed to have explicitly outlined sympathetic aspects to them, whereas the women’s pov is far more subtle, before they inevitably end up doing something terrible (I’m talking about Rashta and Heinrey’s sister in law). All do terrible things, but I feel more inclined to say that the women who become antagonists in this story are more victims than the guys who willingly perpretate the acts, yet aren’t allowed the same leeway/understanding from the narrative. Get the picture?
Let’s start with the topic of cultural differences, now shall we?
PT 1. The Slavery Discussion and Rashta:
Slavery is no stranger to being apart of isekai, in a lot of stories it’s either added as a footnote to help worldbuilding in a fairly negative way, or it acts as some sort of trauma for the mcs to portray them in a more sympathetic light. But in this story, it’s handled so…strangely. Slavery is very much traumatizing, no matter in which media it is presented, or the purpose/form. The after effects/trauma of slavery is massively understated, and I for one think it should be treated with respect when it comes to playing a major role in a story like this.
The fact that Rashta was a slave who was abused and mistreated is seemingly glossed over a LOT- it is most likely the reason why she is, the way she is. She’s so naïve/willing to go along with Sovieshu’s schemes because she spent her entire life up to that point being treated worse than dirt, and now has to deal with living in constant fear of having to return to that life. She probably doesn’t genuinely know any better, as no one was there to teach her right and wrong, or guide her. That cycle of trauma and abuse is so hard to break, and probably even impossible, given the settings/position she’s in.
So she’s unable to protect herself from the schemes of those who’ve been born into the game of politics and power and are coming for her blood in order to exploit her, yet the story tries to play it off as…making her kind of selfish, and evil.
It’s almost like writing Cinderella or maybe just any slave girl (a girl who spent her life as a slave up until she got married) as some sort of pawn, without any sort of empathy/sympathy for the character from the narrative…could you imagine how heartbreaking that would be? This is pure exploitation, yet it never feels like it’s called out in a long-lasting/meaningful way for you to sympathize with Rashta, or offer the character any sort of leeway/complexity (save for the end when she’s about to be executed but even then it’s too little too late) nah it feels almost like the story is telling you that this is what Rashta deserves, she’s just another cog in the wheel for the haves to use.
I’m not saying that Rashta is completely innocent in all of this, because yes I will admit, that Rashta is a terrible person, who’s done bad things (albeit some under the bad influence of Heinrey’s friend, and others was just because of her, she’s really not a good person, at ALL)- BUT, she’s ruining others because her life was ruined, it’s probably her way of punching UP, of securing herself in a society that clearly does not want the poor to advance/better themselves. Which as bad as it sounds, isn’t completely inexcusable, given how cutthroat the story likes to play it’s politics as. ((Like look at Navier and how she’s always thinking politically, you could probably try to sell her girl scout cookies, and she’d suspect you of espionage or something))
Even in this elevated position, we see that Sovieshu doesn’t even see Rashta as a person of her own, she’s just…a plaything to him, something he’s using because he feels like Navier isn’t giving him the love he deserves. ((I’ll touch on Navier next part)). The Rashta around him depicts herself as stupid, cute and playful, because she knows that’s what he wants her to be, and there’s high possibility that the moment that he finds out that she’s not that (she’s actually a lot smarter than he thinks), he could very easily dispose of her. That brings me to the worst part of their whole relationship which a lot of fans, and Navier herself seems to miss- the unequal power dynamic-
The worst part is that he disposes of her, at the end, when it really should’ve been his head on a pike, but alas, she dies and the story doesn’t care because at this point it’s almost like it’s done more to explicitly tell you how terrible she is, than to make you somewhat sympathize with her. ((Keep in mind I’m not saying Navier had to accept Rashta with open arms from day 1, but Navier should’ve 1000% been suspecting foul play in more places than she did. I mean someone who was at most a mistress (coming from slavery, where she was uneducated) was pulling all of these political power moves like Rastha was, should’ve raised some flags for Navier, but eh, whatever I guess. Sovieshu doesn’t really seem to get the punishment he deserves.
Let’s not forget that Rashta can’t exactly say no to Sovieshu’s advances (dude’s the emperor who could have her beheaded for breathing out of her mouth wrong) and like I said before, is literally being manipulated by Heinrey’s friend. It’s sad because I know this story will probably gloss over it (I kinda know the spoilers where he ends up taking away her kids in the end after she’s executed, which is kinda good because at least her children aren’t orphans, but once again it’s just exploitation. Exploitation of a naive women by powerful men- seeing the theme here? Sovieshu uses her against Naiver, and Heinrey’s friend uses her against them both…almost feels like her main purpose is just to be a tool for others (most noticeably MEN) while having no agency of her own…))
You can say that maybe I’m overreacting about this, but like I said before the story likes to take it’s politics/characterization seriously, and I have no doubt that if Navier was a slave- we’d be exploring every traumatic aspect/long term effect of slavery. Everything Navier would be doing would be constantly sympathized with, because the story would recognize that she was a slave, and the cycle of abuse/trauma she’s faced it’s hard to break. Yet the story continually lacks that empathy for most of the female characters, in fact, the story seemingly gets a kick out of pitting women AGAINST each other. Because at the very least the fans do (I need to talk about Heinrey’s sister-in-law, remind me to talk about her for the next part).
You can argue well it’s just the times, so strong women really shouldn’t be working together, but then I’d say- um, no. If this story wants me to suspend enough belief that magic exists, Navier feels no remorse about breaking social standards (and being able to get away with it too) while being the main ruling force of the empire behind the scenes, with some fairly outspoken female characters- then I could totally buy the strong women working together, even in unconvential means. In fact, it’s kinda frustrating that Rashta spends the whole story getting manipulated by powerful men for their own means and she never wakes up/develops from it. Hmmm, that’s kinda…suspicious to me…
Honestly-
The fact that magic exists in this world, but Slavery is still around is just….wow, sure it’s a form to punish you for not paying off debts- but I fail to see how that works, when Rashta’s debt ridden father was able to get away from it by selling off someone else, it’s a blatant loophole that even the poorest of the poor can escape, with little consequence. What’s the point of having that system if it apparently doesn’t even work right? I think it’s almost too severe, and stupid given how many loopholes the story glosses over.
Maybe Navier isn’t that kind of an empress, why exactly has she never pushed for the elimination of slavery/increase of human rights? We know that she’s the one who’s wearing the real political pants in her empire, and the administration seems to be fine with this, as we never hear them complain. Also we’ve seen her gladly sponsor someone from the magic school, which was, a fairly expensive school, and I think the girl was from a fairly good background, unless I’m mistaken, maybe she was poor, but she had to be exceptionally good to get it. ((I’m choking on the classism here)). So it’s not like she’s going out of her way to benefit the massive underprivileged class of her empire, I kinda wonder if she knows they exist (save for the time they kind of rightfully grill her for running off to go marry the prince of the enemy empire, which sure she had her reasons for it, but I doubt the peasants would know/care about the full story, not when they have slavery and God knows what else dark ages problems to deal with).
Navier’s face when she hears the lower class cry for food. They should’ve thought about that before they became peasants!
You could also argue that this slavery isn’t exactly similar to the form of slavery in the west (which I would answer that there were other forms of slavery before the one that notoriously evolved in the western hemisphere, that were still socially degrading)- but once again, like I’m saying, if you’re going to base something off of a thing that has had traumatic/degrading long term effects socially, you should treat it with respect or don’t write it at all. I feel like there was either a blatant lack of research, or care when it was written into Rashta, which honestly would’ve been ‘fine’, if the story didn’t really try to antagonize a traumatized character while it later on tried to paint the narcissistic sexist Soviedung as complex, or sympathetic. Heck, I’m pretty sure the story is going to try to make Heinrey somewhat complex/sympathetic for trying to sabotage the empire while Navier was trying to run it! Yet Rashta doesn’t get a pass until it’s too late….
It’s like the story hates the underprivileged, which, is actually kinda funny to me.
If a westerner had tried to write something like this, it would be rightfully called out. So I’m not making any full exceptions here. You can argue that yeah cultural difference here is one thing, and I’ll say, alright, fine, fair. But then I’ll say, doesn’t it seem sexist to you that at the end the female character is seemingly more villainified/suffers more than the male character (who keep in mind is the main perpetrator) yet the story never seems self aware to call this out? So at best it’s probably just innocent ignorance, and at worst it’s just kinda sexist.
Protecting the women who you’ve been low key politically sabotaging so you can take over her empire be like:
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that slavery shouldn’t/can’t be used in fiction, but the way how the series fails to empathize with an obviously traumatized person from slavery but painting her the way it does, is just….wrong…
ESPECIALLY because the story literally tries to become a contortionist in order to make Sovieshu more sympathetic the last second. Why does Sovieshu get to have something of a redemption arc/sympathy when Rashta doesn’t??? It’s giving me classist, and low key sexist.
Know Thyself 🌀
I'm not your critic,
not your gaping wounds of the past.
I'm not your reactions
they tell your stories.
I'm not your fear
of losing yourself.
I'm not your shame & hate
for being yourself.
I'm not your fear
of intimacy.
I'm not the mirror
you mistake me for.
Thats the mirror
of yourself.