#bc thats really the only reason I can imatine for someone to put themselves throigh such a long textpost

[mintacle]

Of course there are other characters, such as Mia Dearden or Helena Bertinelli who have similar story beats as Jason, but first of all they aren't the same story and the nuances matter to fans of any one of the characters and more importantly, Jason is kind of an exception in the rules of victims. I'm about to explain why that matters.

First of all, in the interest of honesty, I have to admit some fans are probably influenced and led by subconscious sexism in the form of caring more deeply about men than women to prefer Jason. Sure. But he's really not the exception here; see the fandoms focus on the 'batbros' or general preference of male characters. This is a whole different battle. One I'm all for, but it's important to state that the problem isn't Jason or the fans of one specific other character, but a general mentality we find both in the larger dc fandom and in the regular Population too.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let's talk about Jason as a male victim.

Victim stories are largely surpressed or expressed in euphemistic manners anyway. It's not a nice topic and it's a visceral pain, so it's easy to see why most media, when they do show the victim's side at all, choose still keep a careful distance. (And most victims in media get no voice at all actually, it's just the grief of their loved ones that matter, the wickedness of their abuser/murderer, and the detective who cracks their case. If this interests you more, you should totally check out the "Bad Women: the ripper retold" podcast by pushkin industries.)

One way of making victims feel more easily digestable is to label them as partially guilty. The victims of the ripper for example were actually homeless women living in poverty. And yes, some such women did use prostitution to earn a meager amount, but this was occasional and it is known that this does not apply to most of the ripper victims. Jason's story also changed to make him more digestable, more dismissable. "He was always too angry, too headstrong." The original Robin Jason was excitable and yes, in some occasions unaware of the immediate danger, but he was a child. He got angry on occasion, but not to a higher extent than Dick or subsequent robins would.

The next thing that happens to victims in media is who they are. Victims are white. Victims are girls. Victims are weak.

There is more sympathy for a victim who isn't such a generic cookie-cutter personality that you can stick in one story just as well as in the other. And mostly that's fine, because again, it's not really about them. It's about those who are left. (See: fridging)

But Jason didn't follow the archetype and his story didn't follow the pattern. He was not fridged, but completely meaningless, nothing changed because of his death.

if he wasn't male, then he wouldn't have gotten a plaque reading "a good soldier". Can you imagine a girl's memory being honored in such a way? No, because women still can't be soldiers and no, because we feel an obligation to be sentimental. But men aren't granted that emotional commitment by others. if he wasn't male, then he wouldn't have died the way he did.

The fact that we have a victim story told so honestly and opening the problem of who is allowed to be a victim, ergo, who gets our sympathy AND that the victim is not weak matters. Do you think real life victims want to see themselves only as poor, helpless souls or sinners who got their due? No.

It's nice to see a male victim, because I personally identify more with that and it's nice to see I don't have to be a girl to be a victim. It's nice to see a strong victim, because I want to be that too. It's nice to see a victim who commands such attention. I don't think Jason actually raises his voice and screams, I think he leaves us, the readers, and the character, Bruce, Dick, etc., No choice but to listen, even if he were to whisper it.

"It happened to me. It happened to me, not you."

So yeah, just, this is the thing about Jason.

#jason todd #ramblings #kind of wayy too long post tbh #if you read this #then Im assuming you have a crush on me #bc thats really the only reason I can imatine for someone to put themselves throigh such a long textpost #i talked about the women from the ripper case way more than intended #but their stories are SO important to understanding how we glorify abusers and abuse #red hood #dc #batman #writing this instead of studying...