IF GOD WON’T SAVE YOU I WILL

why are people so hyped up over the darkling asking alina if she’s sure before kissing her because “omg consent is sexy 😍😍” i think it’s also very sexy to not melt a stag’s antlers into someone else’s collarbone without their consent and in doing so robbing them of control over their power

Exactly…

These are some excellent tags

This. Their whole relationship is how breaking consent is horrible and abusive, and not only being physically able to say “yes”, but the importance of having all the information needed for that yes to actually mean something.

We got the kiss consent scene not because he respects Alina, but because as we aren’t in Alina’s head, we aren’t able to see how much she is into him unless she says so. Which is great, because we see how far his deception goes, and how consent goes further than saying yes. Only people in the same position can actually consent, and the Darkling never treats her as his equal.

He isolates her, breaking any relation she has outside the Little Palace, like literally her best friend was sent by him to spy on her. He lies to her about his motivations and his past, because he knows it is the only way she would willingy follow him. Alina was attracted to Kirigan, but not to the Darkling.

As soon as she realices who he truly is, that illussion of choice dissapeared and she loses her agency and freedom because of him, basically transforming her into an slave, and yet he has the audacity to speak for her feelings and say that she will eventually will forgive him because he will be the only one left for her.

I’m really happy to see this relationship in tv because they protray him as a villain, while a lot of shows have similar behaviours of the Darkling being romantized.

Kaz Brekker to Ben Barnes probably: you gaslit and manipulated a girl to steal her superpowers, i gave my girlfriend knives to protect herself and sold off my criminal empire to pay for her freedom, you and i are not the same

shadow bone… 

just because Alina is giving consent in the show doesn’t mean people should be excusing alarkling. other than that there are much more problematic elements to it.

also this form @kirsbataar!

Yea I’m!! Genuinely kind of wondering if they knew it wouldn’t actually make the situation better? In both scenarios I can only see how Alina is still coerced and manipulated into consent. Sure, making it more “consensual” (which, she still cannot do as a minor) makes it less uncomfortable for the audience to watch it at first but...the point was to never be quite comfortable in the first place. We’re supposed to watch Alina get swept up in the darkling’s world and have it happen so fast and miraculously that it’s SUPPOSED to make us not stop for questioning until it’s nearly too late. Darkling intentionally stops Alina from prying into unwanted places by taking over her decisions entirely and then making it seem like it was her intentions and wants all along.

So idk, it feels like temporary comfort over the purposefully placed discomfort that was there first. It’s looking at the framework of an abuse story and the elements of the formula and saying “Wait, make this element taste better.” But it’s still poison at the end of the day.

also their whole “romance” in the first book is all about INFORMED consent. like @saintprivateer said, alina is attracted to him, but that’s literally bc of his manipulation and grooming. she cannot give informed consent bc what she initially consents to is a lie the darkling has created in order to gain power over her. fingers crossed the show addresses that so that ppl will finally stop using her (uninformed) consent as a get out of jail free card for this abusive relationship

just because Alina is giving consent in the show doesn’t mean people should be excusing alarkling. other than that there are much more problematic elements to it.

also this form @kirsbataar!

Yea I’m!! Genuinely kind of wondering if they knew it wouldn’t actually make the situation better? In both scenarios I can only see how Alina is still coerced and manipulated into consent. Sure, making it more “consensual” (which, she still cannot do as a minor) makes it less uncomfortable for the audience to watch it at first but...the point was to never be quite comfortable in the first place. We’re supposed to watch Alina get swept up in the darkling’s world and have it happen so fast and miraculously that it’s SUPPOSED to make us not stop for questioning until it’s nearly too late. Darkling intentionally stops Alina from prying into unwanted places by taking over her decisions entirely and then making it seem like it was her intentions and wants all along.

So idk, it feels like temporary comfort over the purposefully placed discomfort that was there first. It’s looking at the framework of an abuse story and the elements of the formula and saying “Wait, make this element taste better.” But it’s still poison at the end of the day.

back with not one but two hot takes today! saw a post on my dash about midsommar & how it seems like a slightly fucked-up girl power movie on the surface to some people. but should be viewed more as a litmus test for how susceptible you are to cult indoctrination tactics disguised as #feminism or other progressive ideologies. (i really recommend reading the post as well as some of the reblogs!)

anyways. i noticed how much of this is applicable to darkling/darklina stans.  because those who view the darkling’s lines as romantic are falling prey to the point: the darkling as a whole is engineered to seem romantic, but only at first. we’re supposed to go wary of him -> in awe of him -> idolizing him -> realizing something’s fishy abt him -> wary of him again -> denouncing him, but so many people got stuck on idolizing.

& it scares me the way that some of you defend him because it sounds so much like the way people discredit abuse survivors. pulling out unrelated strawmen like “he’s immortal” or “he’s literally not human”, as if that’s not part of this abusive power dynamic in the first place. “oh but it’s just fiction” is even worse, because if you can’t even recognize this textbook definition of abuse & exploitation, then how are you going to support and uplift abuse survivors in real life?

like, the darkling is a litmus test just like midsommar is. if you find his lines to be romantic—as they’re specifically engineered to seem romantic while creating an unhealthy power imbalance—then maybe you’re so easily susceptible to that rhetoric. or maybe you won’t fall for it yourself, but you still lack the critical thinking skills to recognize when it happens to someone else. 

in fact, you’ll defend the abuser over the victim in real life, just like you do here on tumblr.