First thing we see Sylvie doing in a series - murdering by burning people alive.
Last thing we see her doing - murder.
How is she a hero,no idea.
You made me think how it is about other characters:
(Written from memory, might include mistakes)
1. Loki (antihero)
-first appearance (Thor): encouraging Thor
-last appearance (Thor): spying on Selvig
-last appearance (IW): getting killed
-Last appearance (Loki): getting overwhelmed by the differences of the TVA
2. Thor (hero)
-first appearance (Thor): being nervous about the coronation
-Last appearance (Thor): thinking about Jane
-last appearance (EG): giving the throne to Valkyrie and joining the Guardians (not sure if that was really his last moment. I tried to banish EG from my memory)
3. Thanos (villain)
-first appearance (the avengers): being revealed as the man behind the invasion
- last appearance (EG): being dusted by iron man to prevent him killing millions (again).
So, well, You are kinda correct that her portrayal so far starts and ends on scenes that are much more violent than the ones of the heroes and resemble those of the villains more. ♀️ I don’t get what Waldron and Kate were thinking, building her arc.
Men as victims - what makes the reactions to the Loki show so telling
Recently, I noticed something concerning on Twitter. There are several categories of people who liked and support the Loki show (2021), varying from casual fans who knew nothing about Loki before, over fans of the general MCU who perceived Loki mainly as a villain in The Avengers (2012), to rabid show fans who generally call everyone a misogynist who dares to admit they didn’t enjoy the show. Now, while I normally find some kind of common ground with people who are part of the first two groups, the last one belongs to a special kind of people. I noticed their habit to turn to verbal abuse quite fast (like so many others), but now there is something more they have in common: most of them believe and supportAmber Heard.
There are people on Twitter who love the show (by loving Sylvie as a proxy) to a degree it becomes meaningless to them if they thus support torture, abuse, and other crimes that are framed as morally acceptable. And they treat the Heart vs Depp trial just the same, attacking both Depp and people who believe him. They do so by utilizing ad hominem attacks, like calling people misogynists, social rights warriors, or men’s rights warriors, abusers, and toxic. They are trying to refute rather by character defamation instead of arguments. A frequently used move is to switch the abuser/victim dynamic and call everyone speaking up for Loki or Depp a victim blamer. To support their claims they apply other manipulative tactics, such as twisting facts.
Here is one example: after the show aired many fans of Loki (the character, not the show) pointed out that the relationship resembled autogynephilia, a harmful hypothesis that claimed trans women would want to adapt their gender because they were attracted by the idea of themselves, but as women. The pro-series fans claim to point out this would be actually transphobic (reversing the accusation), citing an article written by Julia Serrano (a famous trans-women who works in science). But if you check what she actually said about the matter, the article does not support the claim. She argued a dislike of the relationship could be caused by subconscious transphobia because people might perceive Sylvie as trans since she is the only female Loki variant. When genderfluid fans pointed out to her on Twitter that they did not feel comfortable with the Loki show, Serrano herself cited a tweet where she points out the flaws of the genderfluid representation herself. In conclusion, 1) fantasies about one’s own body but of another gender are normal, not limited to trans-people and not to be looked down upon! 2) presenting the relationship in the show in a way it will inspire discrimination against non-binary people because it reminds us of the harmful claims some “scientists” have made in the past is not a good representation. 3) pointing out this fact is in support of GF fans, and certainly not transphobic.
At the same time, men face much greater problems being believed when they get abused by women than the other way ‘round. Still, those people close their eyes from the abuse and support the abusers and in case of the Loki series, the framing of torture and abuse as being just. (While I am not a fan of Sylvie, since Loki was mainly disparaged to make her look superior, she is not mainly responsible for his abuse. That would be Mobius doing the death threats and the gaslighting, and ordering the groin kicking.)
Now why is this important? I think there is a social current happening we should be aware of. Women who hate men just because of their gender, who fight for increased discrimination under the guise of feminism and even pretending to act to protect trans-people. This is just as bad as patriarchy.
So, if you ever happened to be in a situation you were discriminated against and wanted the support of someone who would be believed where you wouldn’t you should fight this social current. I recommend doing so by asking if they liked the show. If they do, explain the torture, the transphobic representation, and the disparaging, and ask again. If they still stand behind it, that’s a bad sign.
On a side note: 1) those people are giving both feminism and LGBTQIA+ supporters a bad name, and I am getting annoyed by that. 2) I agree that the public defamation of Heard is not ok, and needs to stop. For one thing we should be over lynching in 2022, and secondly, it only contributes to the hardening of the fronts. Instead, we need to think about how we see people who have been convicted and that it is still a crime to abuse them.
