#[dons tin foil hat] [retreats into bunker]

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

There’s a lot of grossly simplified, unsympathetic, or outright misinformation-filled media about the Yeerk war and the Animorphs in the years following the end of the war. Does anyone write something that is actually truly resonant with the survivors and victims?

Huh. I feel like this is a classic case of "tastes vary."

Sometimes a play can depict a real experience so well it leaves you sobbing cathartic tears — but it leaves your friend with the same experience checking their phone every 5 minutes. (True story.) Some people love dark humor about their own trauma. Some people will find dark humor about trauma disturbing and disrespectful. I dislike Glass Onion because its discussion of COVID and classism is about as substantive as cotton candy, but I have friends who felt it was exactly the cotton candy they needed after the horrible years of eating road salt.

I remember my grandmother getting upset when Twilight Zone played an air raid siren — she lived through real atom bomb drills, and said repeatedly it was "inappropriate" for a fictional show to use that noise. But then I've had a few close calls with tornadoes, and I've only ever felt a shiver of anticipation when storm sirens go off in movies. It varies by experience, it varies by person, it varies.

It's hard to say what will resonate with survivors after the Yeerk-Human War. The obvious answer would be anything written by a fellow survivor — Jake's memoir probably rings truer than some civilian's post-hoc biography would. Even then, historical inaccuracy can be deeply cathartic (R.F. Kuang's Babel). Or it can be disturbing enough to ruin a story (Our Flag Means Death). It's hard to say, and you only need look at Goodreads to know: one person's offensive schlock is another's favorite reflection of their own experiences.

#animorphs #animorphs spoilers #media #sci fi #catharsis #trauma #poo pooing on TWO (2) of tumblr's most beloved media properties in the same post? #guess i'm feeling reckless today #[dons tin foil hat] [retreats into bunker]