this show and this story was so mind numbingly john green. by that I mean that it's stuck in the classic tropes of the 2010s, most importantly, the Cool girl. the thing male writers just don't seem to get is that Cool Girl doesn't exist, she never has, in fiction, or in real life. she's a construct of the male mind. john green FMCs are always the mysterious cool girl, they speak in quoatble riddles about the horrors of life and the peace of death, they can outdrink anyone else, and they only have guy friends.
alaska young was always gonna die, because even though the show is named after her, she's not a real character, she's a plot device. much like in every john green book, the FMC's only purpose is to teach the shy nerdy loser, the MMC, about the ways of the world. alaska had to die because she only serves purpose dead, as a memory, as a lesson. because she was never a person. the cool girl can never shatter the illusion of being perfect, she can never grow, have development, or change, so she has to die.
every single female character in this show is only a plot device. the men have stories, the women exist to enrich the stories. lara, the only sane and interesting character in this show is treated to be the anthesis of alaska, of the Cool Girl. because she is nice and kind but not mentally ill, thus does not trigger the MMC's, or every man's, hero complex. she is discarded like an old tissue by miles every single time, yet she always comes back because apparently we are supposed to believe miles is an interesting and likeble character, and then as a throwaway, she's handed over the to other guy who barely interacted with her. because ofcourse, no women's story is complete without a man. sasha, the complex girlfriend of the walking black stereotype best friend of the protagonist, had to end up with the jerk she hated. and the mother of that best friend, she will always be tied to motherhood, to her son. even the female french teacher only served the purpose of catering to a man's storyline, the principle. the male characters got to have unique, interesting endings. endings that were bittersweet or even up to interpretation. but the women, their endings are always entangled with men.
so alaska's life and death was entangled with miles. I mean he literally stopped being her friend, abandoned her, not because of the honour code of being a 'rat' but because she didn't wanna fuck him. she only exists to teach miles, and men, about the mysteries of life, and that no matter how much you suck, the pretty smart girl will always want to fuck you. I also need to mention, her feminism was also just a fetish for men. she was a feminist because it was another way she was cool and interesting, but her feminism wasn't real. she used buzzwords and spoke out about the use of 'nice breasts', but she didn't actually have any morals about women or women's rights. because men don't want that. men just want women who pretend they want that.
aside from the blatent and ridiculous sexism, it was also just a poorly written story trying so hard to be meaningful. when you try to make every sentence profound, none of them are. then you are left with clunky, unrealistic dialogue that no regular person would ever utter. but I also can see how this would translate differently on paper, in book form the dialogue and the stupid names like 'the eagle' and 'weekday warriors' might work. might. alongside this whole prank wars culture. again, painfully 2010s millennial.
there were some good parts, the professor was interesting, lara was likeble, and the mother was a good mother. thats about it.
this show and this story was so mind numbingly john green. by that I mean that it's stuck in the classic tropes of the 2010s, most importantly, the Cool girl. the thing male writers just don't seem to get is that Cool Girl doesn't exist, she never has, in fiction, or in real life. she's a construct of the male mind. john green FMCs are always the mysterious cool girl, they speak in quoatble riddles about the horrors of life and the peace of death, they can outdrink anyone else, and they only have guy friends.
alaska young was always gonna die, because even though the show is named after her, she's not a real character, she's a plot device. much like in every john green book, the FMC's only purpose is to teach the shy nerdy loser, the MMC, about the ways of the world. alaska had to die because she only serves purpose dead, as a memory, as a lesson. because she was never a person. the cool girl can never shatter the illusion of being perfect, she can never grow, have development, or change, so she has to die.
every single female character in this show is only a plot device. the men have stories, the women exist to enrich the stories. lara, the only sane and interesting character in this show is treated to be the anthesis of alaska, of the Cool Girl. because she is nice and kind but not mentally ill, thus does not trigger the MMC's, or every man's, hero complex. she is discarded like an old tissue by miles every single time, yet she always comes back because apparently we are supposed to believe miles is an interesting and likeble character, and then as a throwaway, she's handed over the to other guy who barely interacted with her. because ofcourse, no women's story is complete without a man. sasha, the complex girlfriend of the walking black stereotype best friend of the protagonist, had to end up with the jerk she hated. and the mother of that best friend, she will always be tied to motherhood, to her son. even the female french teacher only served the purpose of catering to a man's storyline, the principle. the male characters got to have unique, interesting endings. endings that were bittersweet or even up to interpretation. but the women, their endings are always entangled with men.
so alaska's life and death was entangled with miles. I mean he literally stopped being her friend, abandoned her, not because of the honour code of being a 'rat' but because she didn't wanna fuck him. she only exists to teach miles, and men, about the mysteries of life, and that no matter how much you suck, the pretty smart girl will always want to fuck you. I also need to mention, her feminism was also just a fetish for men. she was a feminist because it was another way she was cool and interesting, but her feminism wasn't real. she used buzzwords and spoke out about the use of 'nice breasts', but she didn't actually have any morals about women or women's rights. because men don't want that. men just want women who pretend they want that.
aside from the blatent and ridiculous sexism, it was also just a poorly written story trying so hard to be meaningful. when you try to make every sentence profound, none of them are. then you are left with clunky, unrealistic dialogue that no regular person would ever utter. but I also can see how this would translate differently on paper, in book form the dialogue and the stupid names like 'the eagle' and 'weekday warriors' might work. might. alongside this whole prank wars culture. again, painfully 2010s millennial.
there were some good parts, the professor was interesting, lara was likeble, and the mother was a good mother. thats about it.
