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🖤 Whether or not a taboo, unpleasant, or illegal subject in a piece of fiction has been ‘romanticized’ or ‘glorified’ is an entirely subjective opinion based on a personal reading of the text.
🖤 You cannot assume that an author is trying to make a taboo, unpleasant, or illegal subject seem appealing just because their writing made you feel like it was appealing.
🖤 ‘Glorifying’ or ‘romanticizing’ a subject is not a good reason to say that a piece of fiction should be censored, or that the author or people who enjoy it should be harmed or punished.
🖤 Your personal interpretation of a piece of fiction does not reflect on the morality or psychology of the author of the fiction.
🖤 It is authoritarian to want to censor fiction based on your interpretation that the fiction is ‘romanticizing’ or ‘glorifying’ an unpleasant or illegal topic.
🖤 An author has no moral obligation to explicitly condemn taboo, unpleasant or illegal actions by characters in their fiction.
🖤 It is perfectly fine for an author to present terrible actions and events without holding the audience’s hand to make sure they know they’re wrong.
🖤 There is nothing wrong with writing a protagonist who does evil, immoral and illegal things without the author taking pains to make certain that the audience knows that they’re wrong.
🖤 If you read a book and see taboo, criminal, or immoral actions as romantic, glorious, or something to aspire to, that is a you problem, not the author’s problem.
🖤 An author is under no obligation to be their audience’s morality teacher.
I try not to use the word hate lightly, but I truly hate that a post like this must be written, and that this rancid, puritanical way of thinking about and consuming media even exists. It’s 2024. I shouldn’t have to see fic with morality disclaimers tacked on. People who believe that an author writing about immoral/taboo/unpleasant/whatever subjects/behaviors = that author condoning those subjects/behaviors, please unclench and think critically for half a second.
#i think what happens when people angrily yells that a piece is romanticizing or glorifying a bad thing is simply this:#they read something taboo that they rationally do not approve of#they perceive it as romantic or exciting or interesting or whatever#they freak out because they cannot accept these feelings/do not realize it’s perfectly normal to feel things differently#than you usually do in real life when you engage with fictional content#so in order not to feel bad about themselves they go full conspiracy-mode and attack the author for#like#’forcibly’ putting these disturbing feelings in them#which obviously they would NEVER feel unless someone was purposely and maliciously trying to force their twisted views on them#they’re literally angry at themselves because they can’t conceive being so engrossed in a story#that you are momentarily detached from your own perspective/feelings/morals#and just experiencing the story through the characters and situations in it (and their biases) rather than through your own filter#which is a sign of a writer being good at what they’re doing!#not a sign of you being corrupted by the author’s sinful morals lol#i think a lot of these people just genuinely have no idea how to enjoy fiction normally anymore#and they panic when they ‘accidentally’ engage with it the right way#purity culture#sometimes i talk too much
i think what happens when people angrily yells that a piece is romanticizing or glorifying a bad thing is simply this:
they read something taboo that they rationally do not approve of they perceive it as romantic or exciting or interesting or whatever They freak out because they cannot accept these feelings/do not realize it’s perfectly normal to feel things differently than you usually do in real life when you engage with fictional content
so in order not to feel bad about themselves they go full conspiracy-mode and attack the author for like ‘forcibly’ putting these disturbing feelings in them which obviously they would NEVER feel unless someone was purposely and maliciously trying to force their twisted views on them
they’re literally angry at themselves because they can’t conceive being so engrossed in a story that you are momentarily detached from your own perspective/feelings/morals and just experiencing the story through the characters and situations in it (and their biases) rather than through your own filter which is a sign of a writer being good at what they’re doing! not a sign of you being corrupted by the author’s sinful morals lol
i think a lot of these people just genuinely have no idea how to enjoy fiction normally anymore and they panic when they ‘accidentally’ engage with it the right way
I needed these tags to be louder. Thank you. <3
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