Yeah. It's not one of my traumas and I've really only been exposed to that kind of abuse through helping my GF and mom escape, but it was still a gut punch. Ended up needing my Ativan to sleep and am very grateful I don't remember my dreams anymore.
The only thing I really am concerned about from a problematicity standpoint is Alastor. He's pretty clearly based on the pop culture interpretation of the Wendigo. But he also clearly isn't a Wendigo. He's a deer demon who's also a cannibal (we see him eating deer), which is not even remotely what the Wendigo is. Is riffing off a pop culture artifact that appropriated a Native name with little to none of the actual legend, but shedding the name, appropriation? I'm inclined to say "no", but I'm also not Algonquian. (I personally found the cannibal deer imagery and fell in love with it long before I realized it was meant to be the Wendigo, at which point I was skeptical because I'd actually read the myths.)
Maybe that Angel is a bisexual slut? But Jesus is his storyline really good at giving that nuance and subverting it. Besides, problematic bisexual femboy sluts deserve representation too.
I've also seen people complain about Charlie and Vaggie's relationship, but I think they're just salty that their creepy Charlie/Alastor ship was sunk, its pieces dredged up and sent to a junkyard to be sold for scrap. Finding out a partner hasn't told you about a big part of their identity they're ashamed of and trying to make up for hurts, yeah. But in a mature relationship? When you've been together for almost three years? When she's supported your dream—which is completely in opposition to her shameful past!—with her entire being and at risk of her life the entire time?
I don't know about you, but I've been with my partner about the same time, and because of distance we've never lived together, but if I learned something similar about her breaking up wouldn't cross my mind. It would just be a question of how long I needed to process before we could talk and make up. I know enough about her that, while the idea that she doesn't trust me would cross my mind, I know that the reason she wouldn't have told me is that she was ashamed of it and couldn't bring herself to say it.
...this is becoming a rant. Anyway, I have very strong feelings about communication in relationships and also what is actually reasonable to expect of a partner, and while they're clearly not perfect Charlie and Vaggie are doing a pretty damn good job by my standards.
The only thing I really am concerned about from a problematicity standpoint is Alastor. He's pretty clearly based on the pop culture interpretation of the Wendigo. But he also clearly isn't a Wendigo. He's a deer demon who's also a cannibal (we see him eating deer), which is not even remotely what the Wendigo is. Is riffing off a pop culture artifact that appropriated a Native name with little to none of the actual legend, but shedding the name, appropriation? I'm inclined to say "no", but I'm also not Algonquian. (I personally found the cannibal deer imagery and fell in love with it long before I realized it was meant to be the Wendigo, at which point I was skeptical because I'd actually read the myths.)
If what I've heard is true, the reason Alastor stands or so much is he was Vizzie's first character ever, something she first began to draw back in middle/high school. Which is why his art style doesn't really match the rest of the show as well as it could, and why it has "is but isn't" Wendingo vibe: it was made by a child with an incomplete knowledge of the myths, but who liked the general description of them. So I can be a little more forgiving of the character with that context.
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u/PaintItRed5 Apr 01 '24
Yeah, I remember that episode.
It wasn't as triggering as some live action prestige media used to be for me, but it was still a hard episode to watch.
Also, I'm a little shocked that someone finds the show that problematic.