apparently, this is my new posting format. idk. it just sounds right to me, mrow!
buuuuut..
representation has been something that's been on my mind recently, and a recent conversation made me want to yowl about it, and..
i am very tired of that surface level representation where everyone gets treated the same.
call me a stray, but.. it's not enough anymore. hearing about all of these mystical societies where everyone just magically gets treated the same and is just fine just doesn't cut it anymore.
that style of story has been done to death, and to be honest. I want to feel seen.
I want to stick with those rough and tumble stories where things aren't 100% fine but not actively be treated like i'm sick in the head.
and that realization came from watching Delicious in Dungeon approximately too many times.
Watching that show made me realize that, what I want out of stories and representation is to feel seen, and time and time again, all I really get to see are fantasies where nobody sees color (how.. amazing..) and societies where nobody has different struggles, only the main characters do.
and we don't get to see people have meaningful discourse that comes up without being the focus of the show!
If I were to make a show about all us mixed and black people, well. Fuck. I'd have to talk about race as my primary focus!
That's all anyone ever talks about, but otherwise
I get two choices, which may be a little bit of a hyperbole, but..
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kitty cat gets shown just the most racist, stereotypical shit on the block, or..
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kitty cat exists in a fantasy where the racism just never happens, ever! everyone is just magically fine now!
But in Delicious in Dungeon, or as we'll be calling it, Dungeon Meshi paves another way.
In Dungeon Meshi, we meet our main crew, Laios, Marcille, Senshi and Chilchuck, of whom Laios will be relevant for now today.
He's our main character, and mrow is he just the most adorable thing he's autistic as fuck. Just like me.
but the show never addresses it as something more than it is.
It's not the crux of who he is or who he needs to be, and it doesn't impede everyone on their way down the dungeon.
but it also doesn't not exist. characters and others react and interact with this weird quirk of his, but don't treat it like its anything more than just a piece of him.
And that's somethin' special.
they call him weird and maybe sometimes judge him for his overzealousness when it comes to monsters, but cat feels seen when he does that.
and, every other character in that show is kind of like that.
In the opening episode, when Marcille talks and complains about not wanting to eat monster, Laios is not only willing, but actively offers to get something different for her solely so that she'll be more comfortable, even if he can't acquiesce to her the monster eating part.
and in the end, everyone gets what they want, something that doesn't make Marcille immediately uncomfortable to the point of resistance, and Laios gets to eat something monster-y. And that's really lovely.
and as the show progresses, we get introduced to another character. SPOILERS, but..
Izutsumi joins our party as the second picky eater.
She can't eat the same food more than twice in a row, and basically doesn't eat anything! has some major food sensitivity stuff! (just like me!)
But, while the characters try to tell her that they may not be able to sustain this, and that she needs to eat more if she wants to be healthy, they do not begrudge her for even being a picky eater.
They instead, consider her and make sure she gets something to eat without just being ignored or forced to do anything.
This isn't to say that they're always giving, though. Marcille is our first picky eater of the group, and they get on her case a-lot.
However, the difference (at least in this cat's mind..) is that Marcille is not being picky because she needs it, or has to.
She's picky because of a moral and perceptual misgiving with monsters, which is a little different. and is being resistant despite agreeing to the fact they were going to have to do that anyway, which is a different situation altogether from Izutsumi.
And all of this, was a breath of fresh air. After seeing so many things about neurodivergent characters, or people who act like me, it's always been some form of Robot, non-human thing with really being that way because they are inherently just like that, but never in a way that recontextualizes it as not being a person, because despite being a cat..
I'm still stuck with a human body, and would like to be recognized as such.
and then, moving into race. Dicey, I know.
But, Dungeon Meshi also leans into the races having relations and being discriminated against, including history and a depth of reasons as to why people may think that way about each other.
The orcs being chased downwards and the argument with Marcille, Laios and the Orc Chieftan are one of my favorite moments in the show, punctuated by Laios being asked if he has an opinion on wether Elves or Orcs fucking SUCK and are inherently evil, and being judged for not really having one, much like in real life.
But, it also touches on how real world racism is kind of like a collection of preconceived notions based on things that happened in observation unjustly.
In this example, it's Marcille assuming that every Orc is just evil and dangerous just because the Orcs pillaged on the surface for survival.
and that depth is passing. It's not a main plot point of the show (yet?), but it makes everything feel so much more alive.
and that brings me to what sparked this whole tirade to begin with.
Zenless Zone Zero.
Now, I'm not sure if I'm really planning on playing this game, but my friend was talking about how awesome it was that the robots and furries are not treated any differently, they're just people that happen to be those things.
And I think that's great, but I'm left wishing for more. I'm left wishing that being a furry in that world actually meant something against being a human.
I'm left wishing that, the robots actually do have some weird baggage with people or really whoever made them (Because robots are not born. they are made.. at least. I think.)
And I wish those background details existed, it makes it feel like our struggles, the ones that exist in the real world are not just some fantasy I dreamed up, but in fact something that exists that people actually have thoughts about.
And I wish more properties did it like Dungeon Meshi did.
I'm left thinking about all of those world things that don't leave me with something to chew on or something to look at, and I'm left with only an aesthetic decision as to which characters I like, because they're not weird, they're not different, and they're certainly not for me.
I'll just be a blank default. it's fine.
anyways, I don't like being super negative. So, that's about where I'll leave it for all this!
(and maybe i won't feel so weird for thinking like this)
