#so maybe this was mostly me ranting and essa being very kind amd gracious but still

[the-official-account]

An aromantic assessment of Ed and Izzy's path to recovery

A conversation between myself and @anonomouslyabanana regarding Trauma recovery from a systemic perspective, ongoing fandom wide conversations about genre and a general lovepunk vibe.

Pre reading (these are good posts)

Izzy is in the wrong genre post

The tragedy of Izzy's genre distinction

Adapted from a discord Convo. Click to continue.

@the-official-account : Systemically, what they said in the endish of the post about ed processing what parts of himself he wants to keep and leave behind like hits home. Especially because like.....it's worth noting in ofmd's median genre that ed can't fully give up blackbeard and have his safety guaranteed.

@anonomouslyabanana : Oh 100% my favorite thing in fix it’s is Stede going like “i love you including Blackbeard” etc bc even if we’re not thinking abt that, there’s something very important to me about him acknowledging the “monstrousness” instead of saying it doesn’t matter

@the-official-account : Yes!

@the-official-account : still a setting full of colonialism and homophobia. and personally I think it'd be most satisfying if the story acknowledged that, and acknowledged that the safe space in the story is not the world, but the efforts queer people make for each other and has some fun with the idea that a bit of a mean/scary reputation can help with that.

@anonomouslyabanana : YES!! And I think for me it’s also just wanting a world that they create for each other to be one where queer poc don’t have to be innocent (or only the innocent parts of themselves) to be loved in full

@the-official-account : I also have strong moral beliefs that like...in many situations morality isn't possible. If two people are locked in a room and there's only enough food to keep one alive there isn't a moral good choice. in trauma-inducing situations there are rarely moral good choices. Like, Blackbeard isn't innocent but I'd like to see Ed look inside himself and accept (not necessarily forgive) how blackbeard hurt people, and also how he's helped people (Izzy, for one. He kept Izzy safe. They've been friends for so long. god, Izzy's gotta be mourning him) and how Blackbeard's hurt and and helped Ed too.

@the-official-account : don't think defensive alters or, yk, mindsets have to be discarded through processing trauma at all, because trauma might keep happening and the world isn't perfect. but they can be accepted like facts can be accepted and healed too. like I wanna see blackbeard (alter) get to be himself (grumpy and distrustful) sometimes but in a way that's healthily communicated and doesn't catastrophize or lash out.

@the-official-account : especially because I think Ed taking on that perspective of "What i did to protect myself happened. and there may not have been eintirely valid reasons but there were reasons. And everybody fucks up. and I can regret it but eventually i gotta be happy again. and i'm safe right now" is literally the only way he can bring Izzy closer to him in the end. Because, like...Not gonna lie what ed did to izzy is really uncool from izzy's perspective. And izzy has some damn good reasons to be afraid for ed and himself. But I think to see ed not like...accept stede's "genre" in full and leave a part of himself behind (his experience is valid! why would he want to give it up? that makes me sad.) especially because stede's innocence and free flowing life stems directly from his priviledge and money and ability at the beginning of the show to ignore the bad part of the world...

@the-official-account : Like I don't think ed and izzy are good for eachother in a healthy world like they were for eachother in their strained one. But they're still good for eachother. They still spent years together and they still get it in a way nobody else is really gonna get it. I think Ed needs izzy to fully finish his arc and izzy definately needs ed. But i think the show acknowledging that Stede's decent into a grittier genre is an affect of him discovering his queerness as a white upperclass man and struggling to find a place that way, but that he still didn't and wont ever have the same fight as some of the qpoc, for whom the solidatiry of queerness saved them from a lot of the white social structures that POC can internalize regardless of their sexuality due to white imperialism.

STEDE IS WHITE. and I need the writers and the fandom to like... feel that.

@anonomouslyabanana : this!

@the-official-account : i wanna see them get to a point where ed is like "Stede, i love you man, i want you in my life forever, but tonight i am going out with the boys (including izzy[1]...and jim. Ed and jim NEED to be friends those two make me wanna cry/pos) and we're gonna gripe in some pub about how white people suck and stede will be like "understandable have fun how long should I wait before i take some people to look for you?

@anonomouslyabanana : I also think like,, Izzy and Edward could only exist as Homoerotic Besties in the world that was available to them, and now that there’s a new kind of safety, they’re stuck in limbo bc that dynamic is too well established to translate well, and part of Izzy’s arc needs to be letting go of that while forming a healthier friendship (that can still be based on years of closeness/reliance)

[1] Note. I straight up did not notice that Con O'Neill was white when I wrote this, but he is. I'm currently reconsidering how that plays into my thoughts on their relationship but I thought I'd post this barely edited to be more screen reader friendly. Keep that in mind, though. Whoops?

#so maybe this was mostly me ranting and essa being very kind amd gracious but still #also point at laugh at the fool tho thought o'niell was melinated #i know i know #still i hope you enjoyed the meta #i wonder if the folk from thw server will let me post the hypothetical lesbians convo because i care about these #fictional gay women SO MUCH your honor #edil chats #mango tag #essa tag #our flag means death #ofmd