#a show trying to appeal to liberals and conservatives simulataneously. and in S1 they almost had good writing.

[andthebeanstalk]

* you could also take out any reference to Frank Castle in this post and it would still work for every American troop *

I could write a fucking essay about the bizarre centrist politics of The Punisher Netflix show. An anti-military and pro-veteran show? Yes. In a broad sense.

But also they have to make the main villain *not the US military* but actually this *one specific bad guy in the military*. No mention of the morality of the constant colonialist war in the Middle East, no sir! According to the show, Frank was completely right to have joined to do that! No no, the REAL problem! Is actually! This one guy who is a BAD APPLE! And now Frank has killed him so! We're good! NO FURTHER EXAMINATION NEEDED.

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#the punisher #netflix the punisher #jon bernthal #john bernthal #frank castle #mcu #it is absolute horse piss. anD THEN SEASON 2 HAPPENED AND. WOOF. #i cared so much about this character and i still do but they act like frank only committed war crimes as an american soldier due to #bad luck! a coincidence! #they really wanna straddle having an anti military message and also RESPECTING THE TROOPS #which. I'm all here for 'it is disgusting that the military targets poor people and tricks them and traumatizes them and throws them away' #but u can't just go halfway. you can't touch on the truth and then twist around and deflect the blame. u can't have a scene where frank #tells his son (way too violently) not to be racist to middle eastern people and then unironically goes back to war as tho to say #'i am going to kill brown people but fear not i do so not out of racism #'and i would never have killed any innocents except this one drug dealer went against the orders of the american government' #U can't say 'the government uses these young men and makes them hurt and even in some cases cruel' and then be like #'ANYWAY FRANK IS A HERO FOR BEING A SOLDIER.' #a show trying to appeal to liberals and conservatives simulataneously. and in S1 they almost had good writing. #bc a character like frank castle can either be EXTREMELY FASCIST or EXTREMELY ANTIFASCIST in his writing. #and unable to fully do either disney will never NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS produce a quality Punisher story. the guy is a dead end #as far as canon goes this well is dry and it will never again give water - if it ever truly did. #this one goes out to EVERY GAY FAN FICTION WRITER WHO WRITES FRANK AS A RADICAL ANTIFASCIST POWERBOTTOM. #i respect you more than our troops. this is the only true value in the character of Frank Castle RIP my precious blorbo i will always ❤ u #like i adore madani and it was smart to have a middle eastern character in the main cast but why does she appear to have no opinions #not about the war or her employer (the motherfucking CIA). no doubts about her absolute loyalty to the us govt. that's... weird right???