Homestuck Meta - Tumblr Posts
Something nobody ever talks about is how Homestuck^2, (or rather I suppose HS:BC now,) doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and how recreating what was possibly the most overtly toxic and abusive relationships in the comic with their new shipkids, going as far as to give them the same exact names and clearly inspired personalities, is kinda strange.
Especially when you remember those were the same people who well, I don’t know, went on tirades about how the aggressor did nothing wrong, or how the victim was “in the wrong actually” due to “being an obvious chaser,” and whatnot. It just feels like something that should be talked about more, they have the same exact names for goodness sake! The dynamic is obviously meant to be more sanitized, sure, but the fact that they’re depicted as a healthy blackrom relationship can’t just be coincidental. Like, if we’re being objective here, one could even argue that those who wrote it wanted to recreate that relationship, and from what we’ve been shown it doesn’t seem like it was done for any substantial “meta commentary.”
When the two writers of the media property said this I’m sure it had no effect on how the media property was written. I’m also positive that their opinions had no effect on the attitudes of their team at large. You’ve got my vote of confidence that they were putting such mindsets aside whenever they were preparing to write a story where TavVris^2 happens.
Vriska appearing as a prominently likable character who gets everything done in ways that are only acknowledged as “cool” and/or “badass” was just a completely separate writing decision all together. The original Tavros (now colloquially known as “gcat-Tavros” (sprite affiliation),) being poignantly excluded is also unrelated to everything as well I’m pretty sure. It’s all super cut and dry really, innocent fanfiction fun that looks to do right by everyone, no ulterior motives or underlying bias.
I just think it’s highly suspect, is all. TavVris^2, completely unproblematic and the most normal relationship they both have, done for normal reasons, brought to you by the authors that have always kept self indulgence out of their continuation.
This is one of the many reasons roxy lalonde is my favorite human kid in all of homestuck.
You ever think about how roxy is an imposter in her own friend group because she escaped to a new reality with john egbert and that essentially means *her* friends her *original* friends are still all dead and gone and theyre never coming back.
PLEASE please please talk more about psychotic jade and mituna and ocd dirk and latula. i need more
Now, I’m not the one who is most qualified to talk about Dirk and Latula having OCD, so I will just page that part over to @scalematez. She’ll respond as a reblog, and I’ll be sure to put that on my page here, too, so everyone can see it!
I can, however, talk about Jade and Mituna being on the Psychotic Spectrum. It’s a concept that’s near and dear to my heart, being a Paranoid Psychotic myself.
Jade’s severe, crippling loneliness and isolation as a child is a psychological recipe for disaster. Her circumstances growing up are a Molotov Cocktail of Mental Disorder waiting to happen. It’s a speculation I don’t feel I have to elaborate much on- the main crux of my point lies in her introductory exploration section.
Remember her “interactions” with Grandpa? Her thoroughly, concerningly going about her routines as if he, the taxidermied stuffed corpse, were still alive? There’s a simultaneous awareness and lack of awareness to it- she knows he’s dead, theoretically, and by technicality, but he’s still very much so alive to her. He’s alive and well, an active part of her life, both good and bad, and I feel as if one tried to convince her otherwise, and tell her that he’s dead and gone, it’d do some massive damage to her psyche.
Her whole method of interacting with and communicating with others with regards to how she sees the future in the Clouds of Skaia, especially considering how her peers responded to it, very much so rings of it, too. She’s very much so not really aware she has it, and her friends don’t really think anything is medically wrong with her. To everyone else, she’s just a strange and silly girl, with some very weird habits, and a penchant for saying very peculiar things, and that’s how a lot of psychotic kids can be. It’s just a very nice divergence from the typical formula used for psychotic characters- she’s not evil, just different, and she is beloved and cared for.
Mituna, meanwhile, takes a little bit more obtuse speculative extrapolation, I’ll admit, but I genuinely don’t think it’s that far of a reach. While Jade’s friends responded to her psychosis by playing along and not suspecting anything, Mituna’s friends have outright rejected him for it. He’s definitely a much more tragic direction to take, but unfortunately very real. The way he’s treated very much so reminds me of how Psychotics are often treated- often being met with a lot of Systemic Abuse and Sanism purely for existing. Cronus’s interactions with him in particular showcases this well, putting a heavy emphasis on the fact that since everyone thinks Mituna is crazy, no one will believe the fact that Cronus is abusing him.
His status of being a Cassandra parallel- essay linked for context- paired with the fact that he’s generally treated the same way people treat the “Town Schizophrenic,” really does not make for a good combination. I do think taking the Psychosis route for him really adds something to his character, and helps recontextualize a lot of things quite nicely.
so i’m re-reading homestuck. currently i’m near the beginning of act 5. assorted thoughts:
1. rose is so fucking funny. fanfic writers never remember this
2. speaking of rose — her classpect means that in fanart and fanfic, her mysterious seer-iness is highly emphasized. but in acts 1 through 4, the mysterious one is jade. DREAM VISIONS! ENIGMATIC HINTS AT PROPHECY! TIME LOOP BULLSHIT! jade is THE mysterious seer-adjacent character. meanwhile, rose acts like she knows what’s going on but she basically never does. as a result, fanfic especially gives the mysterious-seer attributes to rose and jade is just sort of… there. (i am kinda guilty of this myself.) my new 2024 slogan: let jade be enigmatic as fuck!
3. the first time vriska ever appears — unless you count her username appearing without being directly referenced, which happens pretty early — is at the very very edge of a panel, in which you can see one of her horns. that happens a few times pre-act-five, especially in panels that involve terezi. honestly most terezi conversations pre-act-five get funnier if you imagine vriska looking over her shoulder like ::::/ or like ::::D
4. the fandom image of karkat is highly positive. the idea of his character is kinda locked to karkat as he appears in act 6 (maybe late act 5?), and fan depictions of early karkat (pre-sgrub, or simply early act 5) seem to retrospectively plaster his later characterization onto his earlier self. his general assholery is interpreted as blunted grumpiness that no one really takes seriously. that interpretation more or less makes sense for later versions of his character, but it’s startling how genuinely mean he is in early act 5! he’s such a jerk that in a conversation with early act 5 vriska he comes off looking worse! that’s HARD. and a really interesting facet of his character!
i have a broader thesis abt this that i want to write about more cohesively at some point but it feels very crystal clear to me that kismesissitude is like. the literary concept of conflict deconstructed as a form of romance. and i hate being the guy who says "lol people don't understand a story needs conflict" because 99% of people who say that kind of shit are insufferable wankers but i do think shipping minded people have let the concept of "healthy relationships" get in the way of the obvious fact that a relationship founded on conflict is sometimes going to involve someone getting their arm blown off or shot in the chest because well um that is kind of what conflict sometimes leads to. like maybe people are actually looking at it TOO deep to see the forest from the trees with this one
Why do people call Porrim an MRA??? it's such a bad take I can't even begin to fathom the logic.
Uuuuugh. Okay, to my understanding, the logic is predicated on two concepts:
Kankri is Correct, there is no Misogyny on Beforus.
Since Beforus has a Matriarch, "complaining" about the Oppression of Women on Beforus is the exact equivalent... Men complaining about men being oppressed, despite us living in a Patriarchal society.
This is a terrible argument, because... Porrim literally explains in detail that that is not the case.
Yes, Beforus has a Matriarch... A Superficial Matriarch, where the woman in power is more of a Figurehead than anything. Law Enforcement and Politics are handled mostly by "Higher CIPs" - Ceruleans, Indigos, and Purples - which are predominantly born (hatched?) as men. ... If all of the Social Order and Politics are Enforced and Dictated by men... Then that... Is a Patriarchy.
So, we have it directly explained to us that Beforus is Superficially a Matriarchy, with a Governing Body largely composed by Highblood Men, who canonically benefit from the subjugation of women, because having women be of generally lower class than men means that... Men can cull women, potentially on the basis of being women. You know, that social system, enforced by the predominantly male-lead government that allows for what is essentially the ownership of people you deem incapable of caring for themselves as pets? The system that will take any excuse in the book? Sure, that may have been a social rule implemented by their version of HIC, Feferi fucking Peixes, but it's still being used as a weapon. Just because something was made by a woman, does not mean it cannot be used as a weapon against women in the name of misogyny. You think Alternian Culling doesn't work the same damn way?
There's a sharp cut of irony you have to feel at the fact that Porrim literally says that conversations of Misogyny on Beforus are often shot down using "The Matriarchy" as an excuse. If Misogyny wasn't a thing, why the fuck are Rufioh, Kankri, and Cronus literally, textually, purposefully Misogynists? Why the hell is Latula like that, then? I don't think this is a 1-to-1 allegory for the real world, man- Troll World Building has NEVER been a direct, clean allegory for the real world. I do not think she was ever intended to be read as an analogue to Men's Rights Activists, I think she was intended to be read as an Alien Feminist. If anything, this feels less like an MRA, and more like someone getting shut down for trying to have a conversation about how Misogyny Exists in, like, Thatcher-Era England or something. Well, there's a Female Prime Minister, isn't there? Misogyny is over, clearly.
Porrim is constantly posed as an Exposition Fairy on the same level as Aranea, just... With Politics and World Building rather than Character Analysis. Porrim is portrayed as cool, collected, and correct. Do you think Andrew Hussie - literal Andrew Hussie - would portray a fucking Men's Rights Activist with that level of grace and style? Because the answer is no! Every time a character is a Misogynist in Homestuck, they are comically terrible! Rufioh, Kankri, Cronus, fucking Caliborn! Hussie is a lot of things, and yeah, some of these things are bad, but none of these things include the label Misogynist. Hussie is well known for... Not doing that, actually, that's, like... A major appeal of the comic. The female characters in Homestuck are known for being really, really well written and really, really well handled!! If there was a Men's Rights Activist in Homestuck, we would know about it, because that character would be comedically terrible, constantly dunked on by everyone around him, totally bitchless, and posed as a relentless fucking menace who does not deserve to breathe the same air as any of the women in the story. You know, like Cronus! And Not Porrim!!
Also, can we all take a moment of silence to ponder how much of an L it is to have your entire point of discourse be based in the idea that straight up literal actual Kankri Vantas is correct? That is capital e Embarrassing.
(following on from this)
so do clowns = masculinity?
it's implicit that in Lord English's gender paradigm, clowns and maleness go hand in hand; THEY'RE ALL MEN. BECAUSE I SAY THEY ARE. AND I WANT THEM TO BE. / ...the higher CIPs, which were generally male-do+minated castes... / oUr view of hUman cUlture indirectly inflUenced alternia’s development. in this way, Caliborn's relationship with clownhood and his father Gamzee seemingly relates to his relationship to manhood; when Gamzee/Dad feign interest in clowns to appeal to their sons, they are in fact feigning an interest in masculinity to appeal to the interests of their sons. John's rejection of clowns and clown memorabilia stems from the very same fear that causes him to reject his father's notes declaring that he is NOW A MAN.
Gamzee manifesting the clown doll in John's head, the act that makes the human universe "terminal", is in fact the imprinting of Alternian gender norms onto human culture; just like the relationship between John's fear of clowns and his father's interest in clowns is circular, so is the existence of gender, given by Caliborn to the trolls, to the humans, and back to Caliborn again.
John's planet surrounding him with imps in clown garb isn't just thanks to some mundane coulrophobia; just as we question why the blood-anonymous Karkat's land might surround him with seas of red blood, we should question what fundamental aspect of John's own self scares him so much that Sburb would use it against him in such a way.
so I suppose this makes John's freakout about his Dad not really being a clown a gender freakout in disguise? "he really just works in an office?!" = "he's not really the paragon of masculinity i looked up to"? (though Dad's true occupation seems to be intended as the platonically ideal job for a male father to have, his personal obsessions with shaving and fashion do lean toward the effeminate... indeed, as @shigure points out, second only to John in terms of admiration for the man is Droog; ostensibly "the gay one" of the Midnight Crew, especially when compared to Jack, who, destructive and uncouth, is a more emblematic example of Homestuck's "masculine" characters) despite John's inner anxiety about clowns/manhood, his father's clown/manhood is the thing he admires about him most, and discovering that not even his Dad upholds this imaginary standard of clown/manhood causes a total collapse of the ideals keeping his clown/gender anxiety in check...
Had hs thoughtz at work the other day
Ok so. Caliborn/lord English. All of homestuck exists in the first place because he wanted to be the one responsible for it all existing, even the heroes hes supposed to fight.
And then theres,,,theres vriska,,she helps create bec noir because SHE wants to be the one to kill him. English knows hes the villain and vriska thinks shes a hero,,but they basically do the same thing
Sorry if this is just word jumble. Something something character parallels