This blog is the 3rd blog of the Arcane series. You can start the Arcane blog series here.
Disclaimer: This blog involves a story that includes suicidal ideation. Discretion is advised. Read at your own pace.
Our last blog ended with Jinx attempting suicide. She’s alive but in critical condition. Her adopted father (named Silco) finds her unconscious and immediately takes her to an underground doctor. The doctor prepares for emergency surgery.
I am your ghost, your fallen angel.
You ripped out all my parts.
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Jinx was raised in the harsh, dark, cannibalistic slums of the undercity. Her ___ would cause her to develop very pale skin. The only so-called “supportive” relationship she had was a toxic relationship with her surrogate father (Silco). The lack of support and severity of mistrust effected her to the point she develop self harm and suicidal tendencies.
There are various types of phobias. We all have them: Fear of heights. Fear of flying. Fear of spiders. Fear of snakes. On and on… It’s a type of fear characterized by a lack of control. It’s an uncontrollable source of distress and uneasiness. Jinx can relate with having a fear of her own. Let me remind you of Jinx’s greatest “phobia” and worst fear:
The Fear of Abandonment.
Even without ever having a relationship with her sister, Jinx still finds a very __ uneasiness about ___. ___ The combination of ___, lack of trust, and __ manipulation led her to a visualized relationship with her sister. If she could only find the love of her sister, then everything in life would be right again. Or so she believes… Jinx’s experience is an unfortunate one. She’s putting her sister on a pedistal that Vi is unable to ___. So this can be valid in two ways: It makes sense that Jinx desires for an uncompromising, unconditional relationship. It also makes sense that Vi can never provide that type of love. ____
There is a solution to this… The good news for Jinx is that there is an available solution to this complex dilemma. It doesn’t __ in __. Nor does it __ in __. So let me present the potential solution with a question… Is it possible for Jinx to find __ within herself? Our society frames ___ and therapy as a __ funny joke. But when it’s your head on the chopping block, then you won’t find it funny anymore. No one wants to experience what Jinx has went through. Yet, we have a society who is ignorant of that fact.
Jinx undergoes emergency surgery. There is no anesthesia. There is no ___. The underground doctor resorts to a street drug that causes Jinx to heavily hallucinate. These hallucinations reflect her greatest fear… The fear of abandonment.
I am the monster you created,
You ripped out all of my parts.
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And worst of all, For me to live,
I have to kill the part of me that saw,
When I needed you more.
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(plainly talk about what’s going on with Jinx… She attempted to kill herself, & now she’s in emergency surgery.)
(talk about what’s going on WITHIN Jinx…
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(revisit the purpose of this blog series… tell the uniqueness of this show (anime is the opportunity to emphasize emotions and show inward dialogue / personal symbolism) & the show’s lesson centering around AMBIGUITY)
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To put it short: The Netflix series called Arcane had a significant opportunity that had the ability to do so much positive stuff. It had the potential to emphasize the desire for understanding mental illness. It had the potential to drop stereotypes and show that ALL people have the ability to show compassion and a desire to understand. Just because we don’t understand the experience of another doesn’t mean we can’t show them compassion. It doesn’t mean we can’t generate a desire to understand them. Such a message is what I was expecting. Would I travel down the road that the writers’ took for the same message? Not really. Based on my strong spiritual convictions, I would take a different route. And yes, the road we travel is of such significance. With that said, perhaps it can be argued the destination is more important than the journey itself. Nonetheless, the show’s writers reached the opposite destination. They traveled down a similar road, yet ___. This is why I wish to give the writers a (figurative) slap in the face.
Alas, we are getting closer to the moment which inspired me to write this blog. A moment which ignited my desire to give the writers a well deserved Will Smith-style slap to the face (absent of the controversy, lol).
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(write the main lesson of this blog here… This blog’s main lesson: “__”)
(MAYBE write here to set up for the “tea party” video)
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There’s something important to keep in mind: It’s best to not remind a trauma survivor of their trauma. In the case of Jinx, she tries to scrobble over the visions with childhood scribbling. We only get a small glimpse during the show of what is behind these scribbles. But if you slow down the scene, you begin to realize why Jinx wants to scribble over the images… She sees her past family as either dead corpses or disfigured monsters. It’s a heavy reminder that the death of her family was at her own hands. Vi doesn’t realize this.
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(MAYBE write here to set up for the “tea party” video)
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I want you to hurt like you hurt me today,
I want you to lose like I lose when I play,
“What Could’ve Been”
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Copyright Disclaimer: This blog post features short, heavily edited video excerpts for the purposes of criticism, commentary, and analysis. Such use falls under the protections of Fair Use. Every effort has been made to use only the minimum amount of material necessary to support the commentary. To view the original series in its entirety, please visit Netflix.