#fuck your racism classism and white mediocrity

[himikou]

ok so it's me again and honestly im glad tumblr ate my earlier ask cause it was VERY long but essentially i dropped yoi because i was pissed jj the canadian jetplane won gold while pichit, absolute king of everything, didn't even place i think not sure i haven't watched the show since the finale

i was also mad that the writers has the perfect opportunity, SEVERAL TIMES, to address or make a commentary on the racism and colorism in the professional ice skating scene, but NoOoO we just gotta let the white man with the mediocre performance win bc of "personal growth????"

the more i talk about this the more you'd think the writers DID sneak something in and i missed it, but i'd say i had pretty good critical thinking skills 2 (3? 4?) years ago so i should have picked up on it

another point, it's anime and that garbage industry is infamous for it's racism and colorism (among other things) so. fuck it all (obv im not saying every anime is racist/colorist but like. pichits a side character, clearly shown to be important to yuuri, shown to be on par and even above in skill to yuuri, kind, compassionate, full of art and life and love and he made SIXTH despite "a near flawless performance" so.)

Hi, I’m so glad you’re back!! 💗 Also, I found the previous ask once you sent this one; I just never got any notif for some reason? I’m putting this under a cut because it’s kind of long and not bnha related lol

Yeahhh that totally makes sense. Do/did you follow figure skating? From like 2011-2017 I was really into figure skating and gymnastics, and I definitely agree with you. They’re beautiful sports, but the judging is so corrupt. (Case in point: The Sotnikova/Kim controversy in Sochi 2014) Among skaters/coaches/etc, colorism, racism, and classism are all huge problems, too. I wasn’t really thinking about that when I was watched it originally, so I’m really glad you pointed it out.

I haven’t watched YOI in a while, but I genuinely can’t remember there being any commentary on these issues in it. Which, on one hand, does make sense. It’s meant to be a pretty upbeat show that centers Yuuri’s relationships and growth; obviously they’re going to steer away from portraying major controversies. On the other hand, Phichit was robbed for no reason.

It makes no sense to focus on JJ’s development over Phichit’s, especially when his success came at Phichit’s expense. JJ’s backstory is interesting, and I did enjoy it at the end, but there’s no reason for him to have medaled. (I checked and at the GPF, JJ got bronze, while Phichit was second to last :/) Arguably, it would have pushed more character development for him to have given his best after moving on from his mistakes and it still not being enough. It would have forced a lot more self-reflection, you know?

Or, they could have kept that storyline, but had some commentary about the judges favoring certain skaters/countries and intentionally boosting their scores (ie., Lipnitskaya’s solo performance in Sochi resulting in fifth place despite a disastrous short program). Especially considering that JJ is from Canada, a country that’s fairly influentially/favored by the ISU, while Phichit is from Thailand, a country that hasn’t made any major contributions to figure skating. (Note: I’m pointing this out because judges are known to favor skaters from countries that can contribute more financially/etc to figure skating at large. Basically, there’s no benefit to boosting a Thai skater, but they would have an incentive to boost a Canadian.)

Towards the end of the series, Phichit also takes a back seat to JJ’s development. Like you mentioned, he’s actually important to Yuuri, and he’s been in the show from the beginning. It is weird that he kind of fades into the background as the series reaches its climax. It’s especially frustrating because one of Phichit’s main goals is to make figure skating popular in his country, and he knows that in order to do that, he needs to become a very successful skater. JJ’s goals are just focused on himself. It’s fine to be selfish; I’m not judging that. But Phichit’s goals are more compelling, and I wish we had seen him succeed more.

Anime definitely has issues with racism and colorism, and it’s important to point that out here. When you’re surrounded by these prejudices, it’s going to affect your work. It’s important to critique it or you’re also going to absorb those biases. It’s definitely likely that colorism had a role in Phichit’s and JJ’s placings. It reminds me a lot of how female characters are randomly deprioritized to make way for a man. The exact same thing happens with key brown/black characters being downplayed to allow a white/light-skinned character to succeed. It’s so shitty, and we do need to discuss it. You can’t do better until you’re willing to acknowledge your current and past mistakes.

I’m so glad you sent this ask anon!! Thank you for sharing your perspectives on the series. When I first watched YOI, I was definitely not in a headspace to critically evaluate it. I’ve actually been planning on rewatching YOI for a while now, though, and I’m really excited to watch it with these thoughts in mind. I do love the series, and I think it’s vital to critique the things you love. Definitely feel free to send me more asks about it, or dm if you want!! Thank you again; this was so much fun, and it reminded me of how much I adore Phichit.

#Phichit supremacy 🤝 me and anon #also: hating professional figure skating it’s so corrupt it’s infuriating #i’m gonna rewatch yoi this weekend i think 🥰 #messages #anon #yoi anon

[silenthillmutual]

Danganronpa 1 & 2 characters as High School “recommended reading” books I actually read

Makoto Naegi

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee when i read it: 5th grade for fun, 10th grade for English class did i like it? well enough yeah content warnings: thematic & period-typical racism, ableism, and sexism about: Recounts a summer in which Scout and her brother, Jem, watch their lawyer father defend a black man accused of raping a white woman in the south while balancing raising them alone. Other stuff happens, but that’s the most important plot thread.

Sayaka Maizono

Medea by Euripides when i read it: i don’t remember, maybe 9th for drama, 12th for English? did i like it? yep! content warnings: child murder, infidelity, some pretty brutal other character deaths, sexism about: Medea, who has sacrificed everything to be with her husband - even committed treason - has been left by the man so he can move on to woo and wed a princess. And she loses her shit.

Leon Kuwata

The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn by Mark Twain when i read it: 11th grade did i like it? yeah! content warnings: thematic & period-typical racism (use of the n-word), domestic abuse, classism iirc? about: After his abusive dad comes back and demands money under the threat of death, Huck Finn runs away with a fugitive slave down the Mississippi River. Being Mark Twain, it’s a comedy, although Huck’s father is genuinely kind of frightening and his friendship with Jim is kind of heartwarming.

Chihiro Fujisaki

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley when i read it: 10th grade for fun, 12th grade & freshman year of college for class did i like it? I’ve got mixed feelings; i love the book, hate most peoples’ interpretations of it. content warnings: character death, incest (depending on the version of the novel you read), unethical doctors, neglectful parents about: Thinking he knows better than literally anyone else he’s ever met, Victor Frankenstein decides it’s his birthright to play god. He robs graves to build the perfect body, and then, once he’s successful, flips his shit and refuses to acknowledge any part he played in the creation, wrecking the lives of like everyone he knows.

Mondo Oowada

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton when i read it: like 6th or 7th grade, for fun did i like it? i loved it! content warnings: abuse, thematic classism, character death about: Honestly the most obvious choice to make for Mondo. Ponyboy Curits, a greaser, recounts the last few months of his life in which, after being repeatedly harassed and then nearly killed by gang of rich kids, his friend Johnny stabs one to death. In order to keep Johnny out of prison and Ponyboy out of a boys’ home, the two run away. Considering Ponyboy is also being raised by an older brother, this totally fits Mondo.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

King Lear by William Shakespeare when i read it: twice in college (discliamer: as an english major i had to taken an entire course on shakespeare, so he shows up a lot here between that and having done theatre) did i like it? no content warnings: a surprising amount of gore for a stage play, including a guy getting his eyes gouged out and someone getting beheaded iirc about: The king’s getting up in years, so he’s hoping he can drop the workload off onto his three daughters while remaining the figurehead. His youngest, Cordelia, who he loves best, refuses to kiss his ass by saying that he’ll still have power over her once she’s married, and this pisses him off so he disinherits her. Then her sisters, annoyed with their father and his favoritism, decide that with Cordelia out of the way they can now do basically whatever they want and determine to make his life hell. Since he named them Goneril and Regan, I don’t blame them.

Hifumi Yamada

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer when i read it: college, but i wanna say i read some of the stories in it for English classes in high school? did i like it? some of the stories i did yeah content warnings: varies from story to story, but i remember unsanitary, drunkenness, and infidelity about: The overarching “plot” as such is that a group of people are making a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and decide that to pass the time they will tell two stories each. Each story is told in-character, and whoever tells the best story has to...buy everybody dinner, or something? I don’t really recall. It’s a comedy, but it’s also unfinished because Chaucer bit off way more than he could chew.

Celes Ludenberg

“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe when i read it: 11th grade did i like it? probably, i’m a fan of Poe content warnings: drunkenness, murder about: This one got memetic on tumblr for a while, but essentially this guy decides to get revenge on an old friend of his for some kind of sleight by getting him drunk during Carnival, leading him into the basement, and burying him alive. Poe isn’t one to go soft.

Sakura Oogami

“A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? no content warnings: objectification, something akin to torture about: A family finds an old man with wings lying face-down on the ground and decide to keep him like a pet. People see him and assume he is an animal, and the family decides to start charging admission like their own private sideshow, while onlookers abuse him. One of those extra depressing stories that makes you wonder why the hell you had to read it for class.

Mukuro Ikusaba

The Crucible by Arthur Miller when i read it: the first time, probably in 6th or 7th grade, and then several more times after that for a variety of other classes. it’s a theatre and English class staple.  did i like it? when taken in context, yes. but i’m also fucking sick of reading it. content warnings: infidelity, paranoia bait, period-typical racism & sexism (takes place during the Salem Witch Trials) about: The plot is a witch hunt, in which a girl who had an affair with a married man claims to have been taken over by the spirit of the devil and that all her friends and a variety of other townsfolk have too. It follows the trials as they try to determine who is and is not guilty, who will repent for their sins, and thematically is about puritanical hysteria. It’s about the Red Scare of the 50s, surveillance, the Hollywood Blacklist, propaganda, and tyrannical government. Naturally, teachers fail to provide any context for the play that actually makes it relevant or interesting. Compare to modern day callout/cancel culture. 

Kyouko Kirigiri

12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose when i read it: 10th grade (although i’d already seen the movie) did i like it? yes content warnings: thematic classism & xenophobia about: The jury of a case in which a teenager is accused of murder convene to determine their verdict. All but one man believe him to be guilty. The rest of the play covers his attempts to sway his other jurors into at least casting aside their prejudices to view the case impartially.

Byakuya Togami

The Federalist Papers when i read it: summer before 12th grade for AP Gov. yikes. did i like it? oh god no. i had to have my lawyer dad explain it to me. content warnings: legalese and it’s boring as fuck about: i mean it’s just a bunch of essays to promote ratifying the the constitution. I don’t even remember if we read all of them. that’s how bad my retention of the subject is.

Toko Fukawa

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? kind of? content warnings: bugs, emotional abuse, depression about: A man awakens one day to find he has transformed into a giant cockroach. It’s a metaphor for his depression and what a burden he feels like to his family. If you read anything about Kafka’s life, you’ll understand why he was depressed.

Aoi Asahina

Hamlet by William Shakespeare when i read it: i’ve forgotten when my first time was because i’ve had to read it so constantly. if i had to wager a guess, i’d say middle school, though i’ve read it for fun, for drama class, and for English class. did i like it? yes content warnings: character death, suicidal ideation, incest vibes (depending on your interpretation) about: Hamlet, not over the early death of his father, is enraged that his mother has married his uncle. He’s really bringing everyone else down about it, and then he starts to see his father’s ghost on top of it all. No one’s sure if he’s just mad with grief or if the ghost is for real, but he starts making life for everyone else difficult when he decides to try and expose his uncle as his father’s murderer.

Yasuhiro Hagakure

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller when i read it: 10th grade i think? did i like it? if i believed in book-burning, this would’ve been the first turned to ash in my trashcan content warnings: infidelity, mediocre white men with narcissism, suicide, not sure what else about: An aging father who thinks he was robbed of success by circumstances refuses to face facts that he is a loser by projecting his failures onto a son that now hates him and thinking real big of himself for a wash-out.

Junko Enoshima

Othello by William Shakespeare when i read it: college did i like it? it’s my favorite Shakepseare play, actually! content warnings: thematic racism/xenophobia/Islamophobia, domestic abuse, character death about: A tragedy centering around the planned downfall of Othello, Moor of Venice. He’s relatively well-respected for his heroics and generally being a pretty cool guy, but for whatever reason, Iago wants to see him suffer. And when I say “for whatever reason” - it’s because Iago never gives a consistent one, but at the end he admits the entire thing has been his orchestration and he’s had no issue exploiting peoples’ bigotry as a means to an end. One popular and pretty text-evident theory is that Iago is in love with Othello. But - causing a ruckus, bringing society to its knees, and torturing a man just for shits n giggles? Getting it all done by sheer power of charisma? That’s all Junko ever does.

Monokuma

1984 by George Orwell when i read it: 10th grade for fun, 12th grade for class did i like it? yes but i don’t recommend it. i like tedious shit. content warnings: paranoia bait, sexual themes, torture, probably other stuff i’m forgetting about: Classic dystopia lit in which the government controls the flow of information to the degree of creating its own language (”newspeak”) to explain the technology used to survey its citizens and distill history-changing propaganda. Especially relevant in an era of “fake news.” Where Big Brother Is Watching comes from. Extremely difficult to get into.

Hajime Hinata

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck  when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? yeah content warnings: ableism, implied domestic abuse, character death, animal death, era-typical sexism (1930s) about: Very desolate and depressing novella about the futility of the American Dream to “make something of yourself”. Two farmhands, Lennie and George, arrive at a California farm seeking employment. They just want to earn enough money to open up a farm of their own - a rabbit farm - and things are all downhill from there. Well-written and one of Steinbeck’s shorter works.

Twogami

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald when i read it: 11th grade did i like it? yes! i loved it. but in the way that you love sleazy tabloid rag stories. content warnings: infidelity, car accidents, character death about: Stupidly rich people in New York in the 1920s being fake as hell. It’s about excess and decadence and the idea of having a rags-to-riches story, and it’s very homoerotic.

Teruteru Hanamura

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? one of my top faves tbh content warnings: alcoholism & drug usage, thematic classism & racism (ie that’s the point), sexual themes, violence, non-graphic suicide (like literally the last sentence), character deaths about: You know how 1984 is a very pessimistic dystopia about government surveillance? Brave New World is like “what if everything was a utopia because of government interference?” It’s easier to get into than 1984. It’s about a man from the upper echelon of society discovering the dirty secret of how society is able to able to function the way it does, an outsider into his world to shake things up.

Mahiru Koizumi

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen when i read it: i dunno, summer between 9th and 10th grade maybe? did i like it? yes! i loved it. content warnings: there are a couple of guys who are sort of gross but there’s nothing that bad in it about: An upper-middle class family - more the mother than the father - trying to marry off the eldest of their five daughters. It’s largely character-driven and most of the plot focuses on Jane’s relationship with Bingley, Elizabeth’s relationship with Darcy, and the problems witch judging people based on first impressions.

Peko Pekoyama

Call of the Wild by Jack London when i read it: 9th grade did i like it? fuck no content warnings: graphic animal violence. if there’s other stuff i forgot because i fucking hated this book. about: I think it’s something like a dog getting lost in Alaska and has to learn to be a wolf in order to survive? It’s incredibly brutal and is one of those media where just reading it makes you feel cold. 

Hiyoko Saionji

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? not really content warnings: man i don’t know, but it’s by Tennessee Williams so there’s probably alcoholism, daddy issues, and homophobia about: An overbearing mother embarrasses her son and disabled daughter when an old school friend comes to visit...I’m not sure if there’s more of a plot to it than that. Like most Williams works, it’s largely character-driven.

Ibuki Mioda

If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino when i read it: college did i like it? this is one of those rare exceptions in books where i read it, because i remember having a visceral reaction to it, but i can not for the life of me remember a single damn thing about it other than how stupidly difficult it was to read.  content warnings: it’s metaficiton. about: You are the protagonist. I genuinely can’t explain anymore than that.

Mikan Tsumiki

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams when i read it: 9th grade did i like it? not really, but i’d be willing to reread it content warnings: domestic abuse, rape about: Unstable Blanche DuBois goes to visit her sister, Stella, and meets her appalling husband Stanley. All Tennessee Williams plays seem to have a theme of family tragedy in them, with this being probably the most bleak example. 

Nekomaru Nidai

The Odyssey by Homer when i read it: 9th grade, then again in college for a classics class did i like it? yeah content warnings: your usual classical Greek-variety nonsense, including character death, infidelity, and partying. about: Odysseus attempts to make his way back home after the Trojan War, and has a time of it. Having pissed off Poseidon he’s gotten off-course and gotten lost another ten years, and had a whole slew of other adventures trying to make it back home and save his wife from the harassment she’s been getting since his disappearance.

Gundham Tanaka

The Tempest by William Shakespeare when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? not especially content warnings: thematic colonialism & racism...not sure what else but it’s hard as fuck to read. try reading it out loud & acting along to it. about: I didn’t totally get it but there’s something about a wizard having been banished and now people are coming back to find him for some reason? the people who exiled him & his brother & daughter have crash-landed on his island and now he might get his revenge. Thanks, TVTropes! All I remember is discussing in one class about how The Tempest managed to predict the “finding” of America and how the English would treat the native peoples. It’s a “romance”, which in that day and age meant it was about magic. Influenced some science fiction works like Brave New World (the title of which comes from a line spoken by Miranda). I should probably reread it.

Nagito Komaeda

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger when i read it: 8th grade for fun did i like it? yeah content warnings: implied pedophilia. i’m sure there’s other stuff but i don’t remember it well enough. about: Perennial troublemaker Holden Caulfield is kicked out of boarding school, and takes a hell of a long time getting home from the place as he complains about his declining mental state, hypocrisy, and loss of innocence. It’s one of those books you either really love or really hate, and has been repeatedly challenged because Holden swears too much and might be bisexual.

Chiaki Nanami

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw when i read it: 12th grade, i think did i like it? yes content warnings: classism about: A linguistics professor makes a bet with a friend that he can take any lower-class citizen and teach them to speak formal English, well enough to pass them off as aristocracy to other rich people. It’s the plot upon which the musical My Fair Lady is based, although it was intended as a deconstruction of the kind of plot whose trope it now codifies.

Sonia Nevermind

“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl when i read it: 10th grade did i like it? yeah! content warnings: infidelity, character death about: A guy comes home and tells his heavily pregnant wife that he’s been having an affair, and he’s leaving her. She doesn’t take it well. I won’t spoil the rest of it, as it’s a short story, but it’s fun to keep in mind that it’s be the same guy who wrote classics such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Kazuichi Souda

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare when i read it: 8th grade for a book report and then again in....i don’t know. i’ve had to read it a lot. did i like it? sure, it’s got some pretty great insults content warnings: men being douchebags including stalker-y behavior, and a woman falls in love with a man who has a donkey’s head (it doesn’t last) about: Hermia & Lysander are planning to run away to get married because Hermia’s father doesn’t approve of Lysander, and she’s trying to dodge the affections of Demetrius - the man to whom she has been betrothed, because he’s an ass who, among other things, slept with her friend Helena and then ditched her. Which Helena is still hung up on, even though he’s a gross creep. At the same time, a group of actors are trying to get together a play for an upcoming royal wedding, and the King of the Faeries is trying to win back his wife. This all connects because a faerie decides to fuck around.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier when i read it: college, for an independent study did i like it? yeah content warnings: graphic violence, i think some homophobia? about: Kids and staff at a private school take a candy sale way too damn seriously. There’s basically a mafia at the school and some sort of weird popularity contest and hazing going on. 

Akane Owari

“The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell when i read it: 9th grade did i like it? i guess so content warnings: human hunting about: A man finds himself shipwrecked on an island, and is then hunted for sport. No, really.

Monomi

East of Eden by John Steinbeck when i read it: technically i’m in the middle of it right now, but that counts, right? did i like it? so far, i guess i do, but it’s mainly i care character who comes up later. couldn’t give less of a shit about adam trask, full offense content warnings: period-typical sexism & racism (set around the turn of the 20th century and published in 1952), implied pedophilia (that gets incredibly glossed over), ableism about: A combination of heavy-handed religious allegory (Steinbeck really just can’t cool it with the Cain and Abel theme naming) and family tree history. Follows the Trask family through Adam’s childhood, tumultuous relationship with his brother, even worse relationship with his wife, and horrible parenting of his children. The end (which is what the film adaptation covers) is more centered on his son Cal Trask grappling with the idea that he might be evil because of his genetics, or something. I think that’s an argument you could make of Monomi, being related to Monokuma (or at least, how i’m sure she’d feel).

#danganronpa #ok to rb

[bitterdrake]

Big Boy Rant

guilty pleasures shouldn't exist. u should be able to love whatever u want without feeling guilty about it. however that doesnt mean u shouldnt call out the bullshit that comes along with it. for example i LOVE the vampire diaries. yet i can still acknowledge its unoriginality, mary/gary sue characters, repetitive plots, and how it jumped the shark by like the third episode without getting all butthurt. i know it has little to no real quality. i hardly gain anything from watching it. but bitch i still like it! YET IM AWARE! what i'm really sick of is the glorification of all these mediocre and bland shows that get off the charts ratings just because people are so obsessive with so obnoxiously fake characters. i'm talking about shows like pretty little liars (great plot at the beginning but do not try to tell me it didnt go downhill after the second season), riverdale (i love this show but there is not one even slightly original thing about it), thirteen reasons why (great actors, horrible everything else), orange is the new black (amazing characters, amazing plot, but the writers absolutely slaughtered everything that was good about it by the end of the third season), etc. etc. etc. then you have, like, second tier shows that are written brilliantly like shameless (hyper realistic dialogue, imperfect, relatable, original characters, representation of a ton of communities, call-outs on gentrification and aristocracy), SKAM (realistic representation of modern youth, somewhat typical yet interesting characters, pretty good representation of the gay community also im norwegian so im biased), game of thrones (aint even gonna explain its very well done) that are new and classic but with primarily white characters (before u come at me: shameless has two black main characters, one of which has like two lines total in seven seasons. skam has one muslim actress. everybody is white in game of thrones except for the tribe of people known to be savages and the other kingdom of people made out to be "middle eastern"). while thats pretty typical of western television, it lacks the ambition and fails to demand critical thought from its massive audience. all of the shows mentioned above flourish because of plot twists and like able characters. not strictly unworthy of watching, but not incredibly impressive nor thought-provoking, either. but they're super successful so they don't need to worry about shit that won't make them money. then you have god-tier shows that are cancelled after the second season. lemme just talk up the get down real fast. it's directed by baz fucking lurhmann. love him or hate him, he's super artistic and completely revolutionizes the way certain scenes are filmed. you have actors like jaden smith, justice smith (up and coming actor who was in paper towns and is hot ASF), herizen guardiola (first time actress who is just as amazing acting as she is at singing), jimmy smits (from the west wing, sons of anarchy, and dexter), and giancarlo esposito (gustavo from breaking bad!!). all of the main characters are refreshingly people of color representing both the ghetto and the middle class of the bronx in the 1970s. the plot line is super complex yet easy to follow. the dialogue is equally hilarious as it is heartbreaking. BROTHER U GOT FUCKING MUSIC! this show centers around disco and the very start of rap and hip hop. jaden smith is a closeted gay poet/artist whose story line does not revolve around being gay(!!!!). justice smith plays a young teen named zeke who is a mf good will hunting genius in the making who unapologetically writes honest poetry. the love interest mylene cruz is gorgeous, talented, yet painfully imperfect. her story does not revolved around zeke at all- she focuses on her career as an up and coming disco star and the struggle between fulfilling her dreams and pleasing her abusive, uber christian father. the "mentor", shaolin fantastic, is a drug dealing DJ and graffiti poet who recruits a bunch of high school sophomores (zeke and company) to be word smiths (rappers) for his spinning (DJing, otherwise know as The Get Down!!!). shaolin, peppered in hilariously cheesy bruce lee references, struggles with living authentically and obtaining money via coke dealers. the writing is fresh. its funny. its heart wrenching. its relevant, even though the show takes place in the 70s. just from watching this show i know who tf edward koch is who was actually a huge part of the history of new york and a big reason why racism is pressed into the art of graffiti, thus emphasizing the importance of expression within the black community. that being said, this show isn't anti-white or whatever the fuck u "reverse racists" try to pin it as. there are white graffiti artists, white businessmen who play a huge part in zeke's life, and white helpers of the puerto rican uncle trying to make a difference in the bronx. the issues of classism, racism, censorship, and familial struggles are addressed without being one-sided. this show educates you. it makes you laugh, cry, and most importantly makes you think. and it got cancelled cause yall motherfuckers are too busy losing ur shit over stupid drama and okay looking white actors (cole sprouse aint got shit on justice smith and thats the mf tea on that!) don't get me wrong: like whatever u wanna like. but u simply cannot deny the blandness of popular television when there are a variety of amazing, less popular shows that you can actually get something out of. with great power comes great responsibility !! when your audience is that huge, you have the opportunity to spread deep and worthwhile messages to the masses. i'm not saying make all shows political or whatever. i feel like the main message (that is often took for the opposite due to its romanticization of gossip) of pretty little liars is to not be a fake bitch!! idk what the FUCK riverdale is trying to say, and dont u dare come to me saying 13 reasons why is trying to bring awareness to depression bc that is some neurotypical bullshit, and yes not all shows need to have some higher meaning but isnt that the appeal of story telling? the bible? cant stop yall from having bad taste and like you do you but i want you to know that im fucking pissed the get down got cancelled and thirteen fuckers why is getting a second season that is all goodbye

#sorry this is hella long #im pissed tho #rambly and pissed