2023-04-14 6:08:26 ¶ ● ⬈

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Is jonelias not FAR more toxic than jonmartin?

elias-rights:

> I’m critiquing a story, not giving romantic advice to my real-life friend who works in an archive and is being manipulated into ending the world. Toxic intimacy is a common feature of dark, gothic literary relationships that we’re drawn to because of how romantic (as in idealised, remote, and dictated entirely by turbulent subjectivity) they are. With Jonmartin, there’s no intimacy, toxic or otherwise. My problem with Jonmartin isn’t just that it’s toxic; it’s that it’s (1) toxic in a tediously mundane way and (2) rewarded by the narrative.

> Kissing someone who conspired to unwillingly turn you into a god and stripped you of your autonomy just to hand you power is a scenario that is both thematically juicy and enticing in its lack of mundanity. Staying with your whiny, manipulative boyfriend who doesn’t even see you for who you are is a Hallmark Christmas movie.