sixtea8:

I’m seeing a lot of stuff recently condemning creators for “ abusing” their own characters and I have a few issues with it. 

As a content creator, I’m trying to make a dynamic story. This means that my characters will go through bad stuff. It’s to make conflict in the story. Lots of different stories need to be told. Little Red meets the wolf in the woods to teach a lesson about strangers, Lolita shows the struggle of sexual abuse, Frodo survives a war inside and out. 

If I make you feel so strongly for a character you cry- I’ve done my job as a writer. ( Its OK to cry, I cry every time I read Where the Red Fern Grows, my heart aches every time I re-read a characters death and know I couldn’t stop it if I wanted. The point is to feel.) 

Putting a character I’ve created myself, who does not actually exist through a hard time is important for telling great stories, exploring humanity- Look up, “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” its a short story about a murderer. Think critically, whats it telling you?

Looking at something bad and yelling BAD and PROBLEMATIC is not a good way to ingest media. Stories have so much more to them.

Did Coraline deserve everything that happened to her in the Book/Movie Adaptation? Was it right to put a fake little girl through all that fake trauma for the entertainment of children and adults? Not looking at it that way, that makes everyone who enjoyed the movie seem like a monster. But does Coraline show little kids and young adults that even when the monster looks like a loved one, they have the strength and will power to overcome? Yes. And that’s important. 

Really look at the media you’re consuming. Sometimes, yes- it can advocate for something not nice. But its not as black and white as Tumblr or Twitter makes it seem.