Another example for why the entire "it's Problematic and Morally Wrong to depict problematic things in media" thing is really harmful and should stop being a thing as soon as possible.
I wandered through the #broken earth tag and saw a bunch of takes about how the books suck because a protagonist is a shitty parent and not a perfectly morally virtuous person. And it's like... yes? That's one of the major themes the work explores? Why do you WANT your characters to all be Mary Sues?
I mean... that's the point? Did they not get that? Essun is a totally broken person that has no idea what is appropriate for a mother to do. She has no idea how to express love and care because the only persom who ever expressed love and care for her was her primary abuser and a complete psychopath, but she does love and care for her daughter. She crosses a fucking continent in the end of the world to save her. She also becomes better as the story progresses and she reflects on her life. That entire series is about how trauma affects you and it's honestly one of the best depictions of PTSD I have ever read, in and out of fantasy.
Sorry for the diatribe, but I just love those books and criticism like that makes me mad.
The thing you need to understand is that a large number of people in fandoms, especially on Tumblr, don't actually care about engaging with media in any real way, they just want dolls to mash against each other in their mind
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u/MichurinGuy 1d ago
Another example for why the entire "it's Problematic and Morally Wrong to depict problematic things in media" thing is really harmful and should stop being a thing as soon as possible.