In life, if one is principled they will find themselves drawn to the defense of outlets and people they otherwise hate or hold in disdain. There is no course of action to be taken other than to abandon the principles that an individual holds. In this sordid instance it is Netflix’s side that requires defending.
Nah I’m kidding, while the latest fine example of The Mighty on Yahoo trying to out-signal their virtue manages to both be pathetic and slightly cringe at the same time it is amusing to juxtapose the absurdity of it next to a serious matter of principled living. Since what is about to follow is pure lol cow.
The article opens with a brief disclaimer of what transpires in Yennefer‘s life in the show. Detailing how she was born with a hunched back and how her father detested her for this deformity leading to her being regularly beaten by her father as a child. Largely falling in line with the book and game’s rendition of her life where her father blamed her mother’s elven blood, magic, and past abortion for the deformity. An accusation that could actually hold weight in Witcher universe and one that he used to justify beating her before abandoning them both. Whereupon her mother started beating her blaming her for their rotten life.
Upon becoming an adult she met with another mage and cured her deformity and worked to become a powerful sorceress. Any normal person would look at this as triumphing over all odds story with a happy ending, but unfortunately this wasn’t woke enough for Yahoo.
“Though the message was likely intended to be empowering, this plotline actually reinforces a tired and harmful notion that in order to be successful, people must “rise above” or “erase” their physical disabilities in order to succeed.”
As someone with disabilities, and having recently needed shoulder surgery I can tell you there is a certain strength that comes from becoming okay with who you are. In not looking down on yourself for not matching society’s standards because of the hand you were dealt in life. I can also tell you that if magic were available I’d pay to fix all my problems and live a perfectly normal life in a heartbeat!
That’s the problem with these nutters. They think being disabled is somehow glamorous because it puts you high on their progressive stack. That it affords you unending amount of sympathy that they can exploit for money. In reality it sucks, it’s depressing, and is a good way to end up in a Californian Summer Concentration Camp for the Homeless.
“At some point, you get the sense that Yennefer will represent a lesson about how greatness can come from the people, women especially, who we overlook the most. Which is a fine lesson to teach, except that Yennefer is almost immediately transformed into a hot, booby witch. – Vox Quote in article”
Owe no! She’s attractive and powerful, how dare she have it all. That’s not at all a sexist sentiment to hold, but questioning lore changes, casting choices, and denouncing outright political interjection , that’s sexist.
To reinforce their point that there is somehow a consensus that the show is ableist, they managed to dredge up two stupid opinions from twitter. Considering Twitters propensity to latch onto whatever inane outrage is the flavor of the day that is a fairly low number of examples.
I was troubled by the use of physical disability as a backstory (shorthand for being abject), and by fertility as a singular motive.
Also: STOP TALKING ABOUT DESTINY. Just no. #thewitcher
— Damon Young (@damonayoung) December 23, 2019
i’m not saying that difficult content cannot be explored but it’s…ableist. I was struck with emotion, as someone who spent childhood being bullied, not considered pretty, to become “beautiful” in adulthood but I doubt that offers the same catharsis to disabled folks.
— Brooklyn Lagertha MAGfest 🔜 (@bklynlagertha) December 21, 2019
The article then concludes with signaling how they employ a disabled editor and how Game of Thrones was very woke and had good disability representation. This is what you get when you have a group of people who want to live vicariously through fictions, but are so shallow they cannot project themselves into a character unless it is nearly a one for one copy of themselves.
This is what happens when people cannot derive any meaning in their own life or its works and thus must endeavor to elevate themselves by projecting of values they most certainly don’t hold. As easily demonstrated by their nigh constant condescending nature talking down about and to those they claim to champion only to later use as a shield when people call them out.
(Thanks for the tip Pedro)