Moon Knight: An Analysis

Comments · 11

• MA

  @Marty._.Murdock · 3 years ago

  Great vid Expy, I’m a system myself that also is a longtime reader of the comics &amp; it makes me happy to see people giving this character / narrative credit for doing some really good things. However, there were a few mistakes I picked up when it came to the discussion of DID in relation to the show itself partly this is due to the sources making a few mistakes / leaving things open.<br>-<br>[1] Marc’s “willful” creation of Steven (&amp; maybe Jake). <br>Marc doesn’t create Steven intentionally, the very over dramatic eye roll is just a common trope used to indicate the switch occuring at all. I get why you &amp; the people who wrote the article saw it that way, &amp; it’s exactly why I’ve criticized the show before for using that as the method to show it because it looks like a possession more than anything. If they used a more subtle method, like a blank stare or maybe just a blink to show how quick I switch can be people would’ve gotten it. With that said, alters don’t come from nowhere. There are various types that each have varying roles, but all have an inspiration to some extent, at least as far as I’m aware. As far as Steven goes, he’s a fictive based off of a B-movie character Marc confided in (as you pointed out) because of the traits we see of Steven himself (which you describe perfectly); Steven is someone who most of us would be happy to be around / comforted by, so it makes sense this would be a source of inspiration as an escape from abuse. The reason I note Jake however is because he likely has some inspiration of his own, though, you <b>really</b> messed up in terms of Jake’s analysis. He’s not a psychopath at all..<br>-<br>[2] Jake is a protector, not a psychopath.<br>Just like the willful creation, I get why you &amp; some others would <b>think</b> Jake is a psychopath given his snarky smirk towards Harrow, however, I think there’s a much more interesting reason as to why he responded this way, &amp; Jeremy Slater, the producer of Moon Knight agreed stating: “&quot;I think that making Jake a generic evil guy would probably be the least exciting, or least interesting, direction to take that character in the future. So, I have no idea where Jake goes from here, and which writers and directors will bring him to life, but, I think there’s a lot of potential. I think we’ve only teased the existence of this character at this point. We kind of still don’t know anything about him… I don’t think he’s evil. It’s Marvel’s decision, not mine, but I think calling him evil would be a mistake at this stage in the game.” From the way he speaks, you can tell they didn’t intend to make Jake evil, however, per MCU interview they’ve always got to leave a vague area because they don’t want to say the wrong thing or just in general don’t have final say, but it’s important to know as far as we’ve seen Jake isn’t evil nor a psychopath. I think the question should more be whether Jake is classified as a protector or a persecutor. DID-research.org defines protectors as: “alters that protect the body, system, host, core, or other specific alters or groups of alters”, from what is implied in the show, Jake does the dirty work which Marc &amp; Steven can’t bring themselves to do. He most likely first appeared during his time in the military to protect him from the dangers of the battle &amp; help him pull the trigger when he knew they had to but Marc didn’t have the mental capacity to do so. I think the children weren’t just a random dark note for edginess sake, I think it says a lot as to what they had to do. If Marc killed kids without dissociating, how bad are the things Jake was forced to take over to handle? <br><br>[2b] I’d say if Jake was one he’d be a physical &amp; emotional protector. He comes to help the body survive things Marc or Steven aren’t strong, skilled or emotionally stable enough to handle. But on that same note, he could be a persecutor, which DID-Research defined as: “Persecutors are alters that purposefully harm the body, system, host, core, or other alters, sabotage the system’s goals or healing, or work to assist the system’s abuser(s).” The evil alter trope came to light to the violent tendencies these two types of alters can have. Protectors can be outwardly violent to protect them perceived danger, sometimes that being lethal, but persecutors can also, in a rare, &amp; I mean <b>rare</b> instances actually harm those in their lives physically though this has to ultimately have a self-destructive purpose; they either want the body dead, or alone to sort of punish them for the abuse they went through etc. but again, seldom is this outward, yet alone physically outward. So, if this was the case it would be another instance of drawing out niché possibilities for the sake of narrative. But ultimately I’d say the protector is most likely &amp; I think the biggest indication was the dialogue: “Today is your turn to lose.” If Jake was a psychopath he’d for one, wouldn’t be working under Khonshu who ultimately is a force of lawful good to the extent they will do morally gray things to make sure that happens; he would be seeking to destroy Jake if that was the case; more importantly though, the line he says implies a vengeful nature. Think about it like this, imagine your little brother was bullied in school, but then when they had the chance to fight back they let it go. How would you feel if you finally got your hands on the fucker who did that to you? That abused your little brothers? That smirk was done through gritting teeth, his look to me is more aggressive &amp; enraged. I also think this is playing off the versions of Jake who have been shown to be more willing to do violent things for the sake of the system, sometimes even getting a thrill out of it; it feels good to finally get sweet revenge on people who mistreated you for so long - - at least for some.<br><br>[2c] I think that’s a more logical, if a bit imperfect reading of the scene (as even they aren’t fully sure where they were going to go), to which I think Jake being a protector is almost 100% guaranteed unless the next writer wants to forget respect &amp; accuracy to the disorder. I also think it’s worth noting Khonshu is consistently used as a metaphor for the lingering presence of the abuser in the traumatized lives; he has a very, spooky, monstrous look to him &amp; presence that is masked in divinity, which is sort of how abusers can be. They will do the most crazy things to you or make you do the most crazy things &amp; act as if it’s all going somewhere divine &amp; you’ll end up better for it.<br>-<br>[3] &nbsp;Some little dialect stuff:<br>This is probably the one most would overlook, but referring to them as “shattered” &amp; “broken” not only can be triggering for systems (as it makes them feel like they’re only part human, or just generally broken or weak in some way etc. - - I’ve heard varying stories) it’s also partly inaccurate as (far as I know) the theory of structural dissociation &amp; the development DID is pushing further towards the idea that there isn’t really an “original” at all, just one alter who identifies with the body, &amp; that alter might not be the host; it’s confusing I know bu at the end of the day the new meta seems to be leaning on the concept that there isn’t really a “fracture”, nothing really “broke”, I’d maybe argue the opposite: we developed the way we are to adapt to the harsh climate we were in. Just like any other animal, humans adapt to survive, that means developing new skills / physiological adjustments to better survive, like how we get our tolerance to temperature. For us, we realized this was too heavy of a load to lift, so more people came to help; two hands are better than one. We aren’t just all parts of the one who identifies w/ the body, we aren&apos;t all just “Marty” under different names &amp; faces. We are entirely separate individuals who developed that way; the tree of identity usually only grows one branch, ours grew multiple. I’m me &amp; they&apos;re them. I 100% get what you were saying, but I just wanted you to keep that in mind. Again, love the video! Sorry for this being so long!

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• PR

  @princesscoco6434 · 3 months ago (edited)

  As someone with DID I have a very love hate outlook on Moon Knight for every step forward his character makes its almost always followed up by two steps back, and I freaking love some scenes of Oscar Isaac some even made me cry but the whole time I was sighing cos of how off they get some things, and for a long time I&apos;ve been thinking about how they could do it better and I think I may have come up with something, my main issue is it&apos;s very rare personalities interact or talk to eachother and even when they do it&apos;s like trying to make out a conversation through a wall so have the episodes character divided and don&apos;t have them interact unless they&apos;re in the weird mindscape area, imagine episode we follow Steven with a few black outs and show he just thinks he&apos;s going on autopilot cos he&apos;s getting where he needs to go just can&apos;t remember how he got there and notices he&apos;s managed to get some bruises and a black eye from somewhere he doesn&apos;t remember, then for episode 2 we follow Mark which would show what happened when Steven blacked out showing some Moon Knight action, Steven and Mark would never speak, Mark knows what&apos;s going on but Steven doesn&apos;t, Mark wants to complete Moon Knight business without letting Steven know anything is being done, and Steven would just be trying to live his life and if Mark gets too active he risks Steven checking into a mental hospital and learn what&apos;s happening and maybe want meds to try to fix it, so each odd number episode would be Steven pov and every even numbered one would be Mark pov of the same day or events, and the only time they&apos;d speak outside of some mental liminal space should be on paper, you write something down, you switch then they respond and go back and forth like that, like how most DID patience actually do it. Then the scarab chick could be alot more important being the messenger between these two aswell as everything she already was and please for the love of god no-one should ever do a love triangle between personalities there is so much nuance and complexity when it comes to something like that it&apos;s not funny. Also I think the series would have been alot more fun if Steven was left in the dark about most things only being told the bare minimum and being sceptical of the whole thing start to end cos he never actually gets to see any cool stuff happen just the aftermath, and just Steven think&apos;s he&apos;s going on a work trip to Egypt like I genuinely want him to know barely anything. Then the Jake reveal could be cool cos it would be a personality doing to Mark what Marks been doing to Steven all season. <br>(Edit) I wrote that last thing before finishing the video and just saw the last section and freaking yes, I was thumbs upping the air and clapping through that entire section, amazing video, this is the first of yours I&apos;ve seen but I&apos;m definitely excited to see what else you&apos;ve talked about.

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• EV

  @EverythingIcanDoForMe · 1 month ago

  how is this not more appreciated

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• LO

  @lostanimation7823 · 3 years ago

  Great video, I enjoyed the commentary.

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• AS

  @ASJ017 · 3 years ago

  Really interesting video.Keep doing it.

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