hey. don't feel bad about writing submas angst. gamefreak did that to them. exploring that space and playing in it is entirely reasonable. it makes sense to want to look at the twins' separation, and the different ways things could go after PLA/what happened to separate the two of them. just tag it, like you would anything else, and move on your happy way.
it does not make you ableist to explore canon. and hey, as an autistic adult? ive written a power fantasy where emmet gets to be unhinged with an axe! i have 5k of nonhuman ingo human emmet written up and not posted because when i was a kid i always hoped i was some fae thing and not human! my power fantasies encompass those things and so much more.
none of this is inherently ableist. emmet did not go apeshit because he is autistic- he went apeshit because the world stole the most important person out of his life and he would not let that stand. in any of the many aus i have where one twin or the other is nonhuman, it's not because they're autistic, it's because they're copying the other twin, and there's other people in the world that are also like that! it's my personal power fantasy, and I'm going to write it! it's not inherently ableist!
finally, certainly none of this is comparable to an extended hate campaign intended to wipe autistic people out of existence. don't feel bad about writing these things. tag them, make sure you're not doing it Because they're autistic. and then don't espouse any autism $peaks bullshit and you will be fine.
if you try to argue that your experience is more authentic/important than mine i will block you. please learn about competing access needs, and move on
It’s just. It’s very important to me that the way that Mirabel saved her family wasn’t by catching the candle in time before it was snuffed out.
Mirabel saved her family not by undoing the prophecy, nor by gaining the gift of her own she’d always wanted, but by this: Offering empathy, words of affirmation, and a hug.
With Luisa, with Isabela, and then with Abuela, we see this continual pattern of relational healing: Mirabel meets them where they are, finally seeing the world through their eyes for the first time. (Luisa’s breaking under tremendous stress, Isabela’s stifled growth from perfectionism, Abuela’s lifelong wail of grief after losing Pedro.) She then verbally validates what they’re going through, and they hug, and they now know that she sees them and loves them still. It’s just so gentle and kind and good.
And even though she does all this, beginning her family’s journey towards healing, Casita falls anyway– because it has to. It has to fall in order for the family to see themselves, and their brokenness, for what they truly are. No more gifts, no more glamour. The miracle that had initially been their refuge became their tomb over time, because Abuela idolized it and lost sight of what was most important: Her family whom she’d been given the miracle to protect.
It’s so significant that the magic doesn’t get salvaged just in the nick of time– no, it has to die and be reborn in order to truly be saved. Like Mirabel says, “we need a new foundation”. And the family has to build that new, better foundation from the ground up, together, in order to learn how to thrive with their magic instead of living burdened by it.
And it would be so, so tempting for Mirabel to delight in her family losing their gifts and finally being on her level. After the way she’s felt overshadowed and forgotten all those years, it would be justified. But she doesn’t do that, not even a little bit, because Mirabel Madrigal is “patient and steadfast and steady”, and she loves her family even more than she longs for her own gift. And that just– wow. What strength of character this girl has.
The family is right, in the end– the real gift, the real miracle, is Mirabel and her soft heart and incredible capacity for empathy.
Mirabel is such a lovely character and I’m still so delighted by her and her story. What a creative and beautiful portrayal of intergenerational trauma and healing.
I hope im not just a blog you follow but also the only person with 100% correct opinions about the little mermaid