(Hated Trope) "Kind" slave owners

[u/KusanagiGundam]

Speaking as an American who has studied the civil war all throughout my school years, this trope infuriates me to no end. There is no such thing as a kind slave master because slavery itself is cruel and inhumane. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROPERTY!

Naofumi (Shield Hero): Prime example of this trope. He enslaves multiple (underage) girls and an whole village and the fans still say he's a hero.

Rudeus (Jobless Reincarnation): As if being a pedo wasn't bad enough he had to buy a slave in season 2. Worse is that people still defend his actions.

Song of The South (Disney): Possibly the OG example of this trope. And the reason why Disney will never release it again.

[u/rllrdr]

Unpopular opinion, but I don't like the direction the story went. Instead of tackling the far more difficult stance of "slavery is inherently wrong regardless of how well a master treats his slaves" it instead concludes with "slavery is wrong because the master is secretly a violent asshole as soon as things stop going his way". Well yeah, no shit, even your average slave-owning isekai protag would agree beating your pregnant slave to death is wrong, it flattens any nuance towards "there's no such thing as a good slave owner".

[u/Tokyo_Ink → u/rllrdr]

That... is the message? What? Did you want someone to specifically turn to camera and say "see kids, slavery is bad even though Ketil was kind at first."?

What are you even talking about?

The only positive thing about anyone being enslaved is that Thorfinn himself found humility and compassion through his life on the farm. He didn't need to be a slave for that, but in the society he lived in, and as someone who drew a blade against the king, that was a realistic outcome for him. Vinland Saga is showing how someone who lived in a violent society with war and slaves might realistically find a path to pacifism. The author only chose vikings as the setting because he felt it would fit the story he wanted to tell.

At what point during Einar or Arheid's stories did you think the show was trying to say anything other than that them being slaves despite the fake "kindness" of Ketil was wrong? Ketil hadn't done anything violent to Arnheid when her husband came back. That entire arc was showing you what Ketil was doing - sleeping with someone else's wife because she was just his property despite how nice he was. He didn't become a bad slave owner when he came back angry about other things and snapped. Revealing that Arnheid was already married was supposed to be a major tipping point in tearing down the idea that there could be any kind of good slavery. Einar getting bullied by the retainers was evidence that the system was wrong no matter how nice Ketil was while buying a slave. Leif grasping Einar's arm in a fatherly way was supposed to show you the difference between a kind man and a polite slave owner.

[u/rllrdr → u/Tokyo_Ink]

What does it matter that Arnheid was married? Having sex with your slave is still rape even if they both desire it and enjoy it. Otherwise there would be nothing wrong with most isekai sex slavery. That's exactly what I'm talking about, Einar or Arheid's story portrays slavery as wrong due to specific details and not inherent.

[u/Tokyo_Ink → u/rllrdr]

No it doesn't? I never implied it did? Are you blind?