My "Loki feels", I guess
In the end, I'm too much of a coward to post any of this on Tumblr. The Hiddleston fangirls would eat me alive! Plus it's awful etiquette to tag stuff that is not entirely positive/fannish.
So here we go.
I actually don't dislike Loki. But strangely enough, I digged his character much more on Avengers than in Thor, when it should be the opposite. He was throwing hissy fits and acting like a diva and manipulating the shit out of everyone without lifting a finger... and it was fun to watch! Villains and tricksters in general are fun when they're over the top. This was a big movie, so he had to act like he was a mean big ham. And really, almost all I reblog on Tumblr with Hiddloki are jokes and gag fanart, because it's even more fun to make fun of him. Hell, even Hiddleston mocks him almost as much as he fanboys him.
About his subplot in Thor... I do appreciate they give a large priority to his situation, because it gives this universe more humanity (so to speak). Usually Marvel!Lokis are evil petty jealous cretins, and Hiddloki is one, but unlike comics we see his side of his story and it's as relevant as Thor's time on Earth. Marvel writers usually save Loki's feels for spinoffs, one shots, and AUs. It's good that they thought it was important to make this Loki's story too. Just in that, they're building him up better than most incarnations of Marvel!Loki.
...He's just not my kind of character (or even villain), that's all. Too angsty, maybe. I think I watched Thor with high expectations, with everyone saying how awesome/adorable he was and spamming with gifs of his facial expressions. He's sympathetic, sure, but overly hyped for a broken brat. And the long dissertations I see around tend to confuse me more than shedding light on the universal love he gets. He might be more of a woobie than, say, Classic Loki, but he's still as much of a nutjob as the other leather pant-wearing villains people overdefend.
It's a bit strange to read most of the meta, because sometimes I'm not sure if people is extrapolating a lot from some scenes -because they relate it to their own lives or want to justify Loki's "innocence"-, or I just missed some big detail when I was watching, or what. All I agree is that Loki likely had huge self-esteem issues from way before, and this really affected the way he interpreted/did things when he found out the truth and onwards. I've never had good self-esteem, so I can see how he can think of himself as superior or equal to someone else, yet being repulsed by himself and believe no one really loves him.
[I do wonder how much he was actually disliked in Asgard (before the events in Thor). In the comics, most people looked down on Loki because he was a jealous creep and practiced magic. But the scenes in the movie where people point out that everyone wants him to shut up, I just didn't see it. They're moments when both Thor and Odin are really pissed off. We've seen (especially in the extended scenes) that despite being a spoiled jerk, Thor always loved Loki. And about Odin, a lot of fans keep going about how big of a douche parent he is, so mean or neglectful to Loki... we've just seen three scenes of Odin-Loki, and I didn't think they truly represent the kind of father he was. We know jack about Odin's normal behavior to Loki. I think it could be either way: maybe he was the "son I am disappoint" dick fandom sees, but maybe he was a good enough dad (despite an obvious favoritism to Thor, an overprotection of the truth, and TBH it would've been an impending scandal to make Loki his heir), and Loki's low self-esteem is talking here. As long as there's not enough data, I give Odin the benefit of the doubt -and mind you, he's nowhere near comic!Odin's epic douchebaggery to even Thor. In the extra scenes and the original script, all Asgardians tease each other, it's not only directed at Loki, so I didn't see them particularly mocking or hating him. They only started to suspect his actions after Jotunnheim.]
So I don't know. All these deep analysis can be interesting in occasion, but perhaps they're taking Tom Hiddleston's wishful thinking as a fact. The fandom turns me off Hiddloki, at least beyond the jokes. This movie and the relationships in it (especially after all they cut out) are very open-ended, and I don't buy that this is a 100% abusive family full of bullies a la Dursleys. My theory? I like to think it was both sides at fault: the House of Odin could've paid more attention and encouragement to Loki's good qualities so he knew for sure he was loved, but suspect that Loki still prefers to see things a lot more distorted than they were. And the sudden knowledge of being a monster was what turned him from a quiet and slightly creepy kid from issues, to a mad man who suddenly had a seat of power and just didn't give a fuck about moral or common sense anymore. You know it is okay to like someone with flaws, right? Particularly if his flaws tend to villainous deeds. It's okay to love bad guys, I promise.
You know what's funny, though? All this debate about evil asshole vs. misunderstood baby is eerily similar to academic analysis about the mythological Loki. Okay, you don't see MY POOR PRETTY WOOBIECAKES popping up in myth books, but you get my point XD
So there's that. I don't really want to argue about different points of view, just wanted to get this out of my system. Sadly, Hiddleston and Hiddloki won't get out of my dashboard. But that's another story.
(Dreamwidth copy over there)
So here we go.
I actually don't dislike Loki. But strangely enough, I digged his character much more on Avengers than in Thor, when it should be the opposite. He was throwing hissy fits and acting like a diva and manipulating the shit out of everyone without lifting a finger... and it was fun to watch! Villains and tricksters in general are fun when they're over the top. This was a big movie, so he had to act like he was a mean big ham. And really, almost all I reblog on Tumblr with Hiddloki are jokes and gag fanart, because it's even more fun to make fun of him. Hell, even Hiddleston mocks him almost as much as he fanboys him.
About his subplot in Thor... I do appreciate they give a large priority to his situation, because it gives this universe more humanity (so to speak). Usually Marvel!Lokis are evil petty jealous cretins, and Hiddloki is one, but unlike comics we see his side of his story and it's as relevant as Thor's time on Earth. Marvel writers usually save Loki's feels for spinoffs, one shots, and AUs. It's good that they thought it was important to make this Loki's story too. Just in that, they're building him up better than most incarnations of Marvel!Loki.
...He's just not my kind of character (or even villain), that's all. Too angsty, maybe. I think I watched Thor with high expectations, with everyone saying how awesome/adorable he was and spamming with gifs of his facial expressions. He's sympathetic, sure, but overly hyped for a broken brat. And the long dissertations I see around tend to confuse me more than shedding light on the universal love he gets. He might be more of a woobie than, say, Classic Loki, but he's still as much of a nutjob as the other leather pant-wearing villains people overdefend.
It's a bit strange to read most of the meta, because sometimes I'm not sure if people is extrapolating a lot from some scenes -because they relate it to their own lives or want to justify Loki's "innocence"-, or I just missed some big detail when I was watching, or what. All I agree is that Loki likely had huge self-esteem issues from way before, and this really affected the way he interpreted/did things when he found out the truth and onwards. I've never had good self-esteem, so I can see how he can think of himself as superior or equal to someone else, yet being repulsed by himself and believe no one really loves him.
[I do wonder how much he was actually disliked in Asgard (before the events in Thor). In the comics, most people looked down on Loki because he was a jealous creep and practiced magic. But the scenes in the movie where people point out that everyone wants him to shut up, I just didn't see it. They're moments when both Thor and Odin are really pissed off. We've seen (especially in the extended scenes) that despite being a spoiled jerk, Thor always loved Loki. And about Odin, a lot of fans keep going about how big of a douche parent he is, so mean or neglectful to Loki... we've just seen three scenes of Odin-Loki, and I didn't think they truly represent the kind of father he was. We know jack about Odin's normal behavior to Loki. I think it could be either way: maybe he was the "son I am disappoint" dick fandom sees, but maybe he was a good enough dad (despite an obvious favoritism to Thor, an overprotection of the truth, and TBH it would've been an impending scandal to make Loki his heir), and Loki's low self-esteem is talking here. As long as there's not enough data, I give Odin the benefit of the doubt -and mind you, he's nowhere near comic!Odin's epic douchebaggery to even Thor. In the extra scenes and the original script, all Asgardians tease each other, it's not only directed at Loki, so I didn't see them particularly mocking or hating him. They only started to suspect his actions after Jotunnheim.]
So I don't know. All these deep analysis can be interesting in occasion, but perhaps they're taking Tom Hiddleston's wishful thinking as a fact. The fandom turns me off Hiddloki, at least beyond the jokes. This movie and the relationships in it (especially after all they cut out) are very open-ended, and I don't buy that this is a 100% abusive family full of bullies a la Dursleys. My theory? I like to think it was both sides at fault: the House of Odin could've paid more attention and encouragement to Loki's good qualities so he knew for sure he was loved, but suspect that Loki still prefers to see things a lot more distorted than they were. And the sudden knowledge of being a monster was what turned him from a quiet and slightly creepy kid from issues, to a mad man who suddenly had a seat of power and just didn't give a fuck about moral or common sense anymore. You know it is okay to like someone with flaws, right? Particularly if his flaws tend to villainous deeds. It's okay to love bad guys, I promise.
You know what's funny, though? All this debate about evil asshole vs. misunderstood baby is eerily similar to academic analysis about the mythological Loki. Okay, you don't see MY POOR PRETTY WOOBIECAKES popping up in myth books, but you get my point XD
So there's that. I don't really want to argue about different points of view, just wanted to get this out of my system. Sadly, Hiddleston and Hiddloki won't get out of my dashboard. But that's another story.
(Dreamwidth copy over there)