[ SECRET POST #5798 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5798 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



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03.
[Jeeves and Wooster]


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04.
[Devil May Cry V]


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06.
[Vanderpump Rules]


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07.
[Arcane]












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 40 secrets from Secret Submission Post #830.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I disagree, not only because of what other comments have already mentioned about the show implying it, but also because Stede is distinctly white in a way that impacts the show's central romance.

Stede feels very deliberately written as a well-intentioned rich white guy who is often blind to his own privilege, and that ultimately causes harm to Ed in the last couple episodes when Stede runs back to his old life. He has the privilege of both upward and downward mobility. He can choose to LARP as a pirate despite others being forced into it, and he can assimilate back into “proper” (i.e. colonialist) culture once he gets in too much trouble for trying to rebel against or escape the system that oppressed him for decades as a closeted man forced into an loveless marriage. Ed probably will never be able to have the freedom of mobility Stede does, even if no one knows he’s Blackbeard (as emphasized by the fancy party episode where the other attendees treated him like a novelty). As an indigenous man with power and wealth who openly rules the seas, he's a threat to the systems that white people privilege from, so he’s forever stuck as an enemy (or monster) that must be vanquished because he’s a threat to “decent society” (i.e. the European colonizers who pillaged the Americas for their own benefit, basically doing a lot of the same shit pirates did except on a much wider scale, and except it was seen as “good” and legal because those atrocities were committed under the name of a monarch). Season 1 essentially ends with him resigning himself to this fate, now that his one hope that he could be seen and valued as something more than the stereotypes forced upon him by others has abandoned him.

Ultimately, OFMD is very good at examining systemic oppression for a 10-episode-long comedy, both in terms of queerness and race, but I think a lot of the race part goes over a lot of white viewers’ heads because they tend to see racism as something that “bad individuals” do rather than something fundamental to British colonialist society that impacts everyone, intentionally or not. Meanwhile, a lot of those white viewers identify as queer, so they’ll much more easily pick up on the systemic homophobia that keeps the two leads from fully embracing themselves and their relationship. Still, I don’t think struggling to identify subtle hints that point towards the existence of systemic racism makes someone intentionally racist, as most mainstream media (and a lot of educational material, for that matter) portray racism as an individualistic viewpoint that “bad” white characters hold, while “good” white characters are accepting and kind and therefore not racist regardless of any privileges they may have for being born as white. In many other shows, Stede would be that “good” character, but he isn’t, and that’s great. Despite his efforts to be an ally, despite his sexuality, despite his behavior that ostracizes him from his peers, and despite his attempt to run away from an oppressive life he never chose for himself, he still is vulnerable to the expectations and benefits that arise from the inherent privileges that he was born into as a white landowner in a colonized 18th-century settlement. Racism can’t be solved by a select group of white people being nice. Instead, racism is so baked into power structures and history that laws and systems have to fundamentally change to make a proper impact. Same goes for homophobia, for that matter.

[(Anonymous)]

Wonderfully said!

OP here

[(Anonymous)]

This is an excellent and convincing take! Thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent post!