u/Apprehensive_Ring_39

Nothing will never not piss me off more is when mental health and mental illness is treated like its a cartoon or some Joke and I wish more show writers and storytellers took that shit actually seriously.

I really hate it when topics like Suicide and trauma and mental health are just either romanticized or full on make the characters unlikable and the problem isn't even being unlikable.

You can have unlikable traumatized characters, you can have them as main leads or side characters and even if you don't root for them overall, you have to give the audience something to be invested in with them and the problem is when some writers just either don't care or don't understand but I'm gonna get to that more later on.

Mental health and mental illness are all very real things and very important and dangerous things that need to be treated with respect and it honestly disappoints me when they almost never are cause these are things that needed to be treated with some hints of respect.

I really don't know why certain story writers will fill out treat mental health/illness like it's some damn game or toy or something that's cool and badass or treat it like it's a excuse and reason why certain characters shouldn't be called out/held accountable.

First example of those post is Chloe Price from Life is Strange(Kate Marsh too but her issues are more complex)and the main issue with Chloe isn't that she's a unlikable character.

You can have unlikable characters with trauma and they still can be good characters but here is the issue with Chloe,you're not allowed to really dislike her.

Oh trust me, you can fucking try and it's not like there's not options but tbh,the game is unfortunately set up in a way to where you aren't really allowed(or supposed)to talk back to her or ever call her out on her bullshit cause that Apparently makes you some bad and awful friend for not holding her accountable for her own actions and choices and mistakes and it's really like she ever improves or develops as a character which(Again)isn't necessarily a badly written or awful thing in concept but it's not like the writers are aware of that.

And the game Essentially gaslights/emotionally manipulates you into liking her and tricking you into thinking that she's some good and caring friend who's also a badass rebel as well..and now we move onto Kate Marsh.

If I had to describe her,she's pretty much the embodiment of emotional manipulation cause again ,the game Essentially forces you to like her cause she kills herself and unfortunately, Kate is a side character when I think she would've worked better as a overall main lead and that overall would've made the themes of suicidal thoughts/behavior and befriending someone who has those issues and helping them as a friend much stronger and more impactful but the issue is you really need to go out of your way to be friends with her.

And you could genuinely be the best and overall greatest friend to her but full on none of that matters cause she still tries to kill herself and that's not the issue but the reason she does do so is if you get a trivia question wrong on her family.

Like if you don't know her entire fucking personal life,that's enough for her and I just find that really disingenuous and even full on Suicide Bait cause why would you dangle such a sensitive and important topic with a goddamn Buffalo Wild Wings trivia game style ending?

It also weirdly makes Kate look extremely Petty,like oh forgive me for not knowing everything about you and maybe if this plotline was dependent on how good of a friend you were to her, then maybe that would be something and actually be kinda impactful and teach her that life is worth living and such and maybe if the game actually focused on these 2(Max and Kate)would be more impactul then Max and Chloe but locking it off to some full on optional storyline feels like suicide bait and your choice doesn't matter at all cause she's shown to be alive in the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending.

Another example of this and this is the big one,13 Reasons Why.

Yeah ,I bet you all never thought that you would hear that show again at all but I couldn't talk about a story that shows how poorly written show-runnwrs write mental health without doing the overall poster child of it and this show has been heavily critiqued and given flack for how it basically romanticized and poorly handled certain mental health problems and topics like Suicide and many more and the way that show handles certain mental health topics is borderline disgusting,including giving a full on rapist some redemption and tragic past,like..Ew?

This show also has a extreme lack of adults and professional therapists or even therapists/adults in general in the series that could or would help these characters and it feels like so many of these characters suffer in full on silence and it also doesn't help that this show basically dragged on and on after Season 1 and like the writers were just throwing shit at the wall and praying to the Gods above that it would stick and I also feel like this show really shouldn't have shown such graphic and intense suicidal and violence cause what the hell?

What if there are people who are eithet triggered by it or what if there are people who have gone through that kinda stuff and need a damn warning?

It just feels like a huge middle finger and I really wish topics like Suicide weren't used as a way to punish and pain the bullies and not show it as the overall mental health tragedy that it was and the overall intense and overly explict images and scenes of Suicide and abuse and also the poor solutions to mental health troubles and trauma.

Like I may get flamed for this but I think Hazbin Hotel(despite its flaws)shows sexual violence and the trauma that it brings much better cause one Vivziepop isn't fucking lying to you and the kind of person Valentino is nor is she giving him some redemption arc and two,we're actually seeing the trauma and pain of Angel Dust,his victim.

Plus Valentino is a explored and fleshed out character but he's never woobified or babied,they make it clear he's a monster.

He just has other layers as a character.

We see how he suffers and how he goes through this pain and handles it and Viv has made it clear Valentino is a idiot dumbass who uses his power and authority to hurt others and I hate how people are like "oh Viv is scared to kill him off",we are only on Season 2.

It is literally not his time to be defeated and he's at the top of his world and that's gonna make it all the more satisfying when he does crash and burn as a character in his defeat,it's classic build-up and set up.

I would arguably say Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss explore mental health problems and issues really good,all things considered.

It's not perfect but it's not like a middle finger but that aside.

Mental health, mental illness and trauma + Suicide are not some goddamn game that should be treated with the grace of a impractual Jokers Prank.

Treat it with goddamn respect or don't write it at all.

For some reason, Villains are almost never treated like evil people who choose to hurt and torture and abuse innocents and others, they're almost always treated as these forces of nature that have no mind of their own.

They're essentially given a slap on the wrist and almost like they're treated like basically, again, forces of nature and that means any blame on them of what they do is more or less absolved and the hero is almost always blamed for it and never the person doing it.

This isn't like a Joker and Harley Quinn Type shit but I mean is villains are always treated like they're basically not humans who are choosing to Sadistically hurt and torture other people for their own gain or amusement and that's where a lot of media issues come.

People say that they know their favorite villain is a villain but will almost absolve them of blame and blame the victim for put all the blame on them.

The first example of this is My Hero Academia and please tell me why there were people who were genuinely mad that Aoyama(when he was revealed to be the UA traitor/mole),the Victim who said that if he didn't comply that his parents would get murdered,didn't have the entire UA cast beat his ass and kill him.

Like dawg..HE'S THE VICTIM!

He is actively the victim in this scenario and was forced into it,I think it makes more sense that people would be more mad at the monster of a man doing the manipulating as opposed to the monster of a man basically putting a Gun to the heads of his parents + the parents who trusted AFO in the first place(granted ,they were manipulated too)and Aizawa even said that Aoyama is still gonna face some consequences for what he did but he can't just run away and hide.

The guy literally left UA at the end to properly atone for what he did and y'all be acting like the guy willingly did this with a smile on his face.

Another example is Hazbin Hotel and just cause Charlie was making some mistakes here and there in S2,please tell me why people put all the blame on her and not the sociopathic TV headed CEO lunatic who was doing the harassment,abuse and all that nonsense.

Like nearly everything could be blamed on Vox for his actions and I'll be seeing everyone be blamed except for him and I'm not gonna act like they didn't make mistakes and rough choices but dawg,there just feels like a major lack of foresight or whatever cause dawg...what am I missing?

Like fandoms have such a weird lack of sympathy towards Certain characters, it's insane.

And the dumbest ones of all is when Batman is blamed by his haters for what his villains do..as if Batman is the guy who tells them to get dressed up in these outfits and go out of their way to kill and hurt people and acting like he isn't the guy to stop them from doing that and it just gets on my nerves hugely cause he throws them in Jail/Prison and if they aren't getting the death penalty/electric Chair,that is literally on them..not him.

People be blaming Batman for all of what he did and placing the blame on him and not the guys who are straight up going out to do that and it's almost always "oh Bruce beats up the mentally ill" as if he isn't somewhat himself.

It's always "Batman should put more focus into helping people as Bruce Wayne" as if he doesn't do that already.

"Why hasn't Batman killed the Joker-" he has literally tried numerous times and was either stopped or Joker survived via some massive and I mean massive plot armor.

Batman could kill Joker and the clown wouldn't stay dead.

People are almost never gonna blame the actual villains and only blame the victims and that's a real shame.

It feels like nowadays if a story doesn't IMMEDIATELY grab your attention and focus and Is extremely plot relevant and impactful every episode,it's passed off as filler of unimportant and I understand there's a fear of your show or even media getting canceled if that's not the case but stories need moments where the cast can just..breathe.

We ,as a audience, need slower moments and moments where the characters just relax and bond with each other and get to know each other and all that cause that allows them to feel more human and therefore,we feel more connected to them overall.

Not every episode or portion of a game or whatever has to be extremely keys jingling plot relevancy or intense deep dives/trauma dumping or whatever, sometimes just getting to know our cast when they're not in life threatening situations and scenarios is nice cause it..again ,it allows up to connect with our cast and see them in moments that aren't life threatening BS.

Like show more moments of the cast like just going out to eat or hanging out at the beach or going to the mall or just doing small missions,that stuff is fun and allows us to see more of them in fun or regular human situations, not everything has to be some trauma dumping or intense battles and arcs.

I unfortunately get why more stories don't do it cause they're probably afraid of getting their media canceled and they need to grab their attention as quick as possible + there's also a subconscious fear of becoming the next Simpsons or SpongeBob in dragging on too long but still.

Jujutsu Kaisen is the prime example of a series that genuinely suffered from a lack of downtime cause this series is so goddamn rushed.

It's not even like terrible but holy shit,it suffers so much from a lack of downtime and character interactions and these are all very colorful characters with big personalities, it wouldn't have hurt to see the main cast like doing regular shit but the only time I can think of any downtime was with the Ozawa chapter and Gege more or less writes like he has a shotgun to his head and that if he even does downtime, he'll get his brains blown out but doing so causes the story to feel so damn rushed and God forbid i want to actually know these characters beyond trauma + hype moments/Aura.

I also feel like TADC(The Amazing Digital Circus)suffers from this cause this show has so little downtime ironically and that causes it to feel really rushed.

And the episode length isn't necessarily the issue cause Over the Garden Wall had 10 episodes and felt less rushed and messy but the problem was Gooseworks essentially crammed so much stuff in the final episode while also giving us the bare minimum of exploring the rest of the cast beyond basic info and it also becomes apparent that really no one in this cast talks to each other unless the scene/plot demands it and that causes the story to feel so condensed and rushed and it was already 9 episodes.

Hazbin Hotel also suffers from this and its clear Viv and crew are trying cause it's not their fault they're only given 8 episodes(let's hope that gets changed in S3 + onward)and I also feel like giving this show shorts and a comic to just show the cast doing their own thing wouldn't hurt but Amazon and A23(think that was their name)are too impatient and greedy to consider that and I'm not saying this show is perfect but a good amount of the flaws could be solved if you gave them like..10-13 episodes.

Stories need downtime and they need moments where the cast should be allowed to be themselves and shouldn't have to worry about almost dying or having their trauma dug up every damn situation.

I also slightly blame Naruto cause due to the massive amount of filler,it has to have given people trauma on the idea of downtime and such in general and causes them to get it mixed up.