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I don’t know the stats now, but I do know that a few years ago, the majority of OUAT watchers were women under the age of 35. That ultimate sweet spot of advertising, between the ages of 18 and 25, was especially high. So, yes, young but I don’t think they are so young that they’ve never read/watched any of those classic moral tales. I think a lot of it (sadly) comes down to the “Twilight effect” but not the series itself. The guy is super hot, described as perfect in every way while the object of his desire is a blank slate, perfect for audience insertion. And suddenly the guy can do no wrong because of said hottness and because the reader/viewer has inserted themselves in the place of the object of affection and being told by the author how that should feel. Hook is (apparently) super hot; Emma has always been our “everyman” for the audience caught up in the mythical world. CSers got caught up in the feeling of what it would be like to be “wooed” by Captain Hook when he looks like Colin. One of the best comebacks I ever heard against CS was to picture yourself being held down, sword at throat, being told that “when I jab you with my sword, you’ll feel it” but by the Dustin Hoffman version of Hook. Now do you still ship CS? Probably not. The act both versions of Hook commit are the same but one is romanticized and becomes a shippable moment because that Hook is hot. It’s what we, as women in this society, are told is acceptable and desirable. It’s the adult version of telling a little girl that a boy picks on her on the playground because “he likes her” and she shouldn’t fight back or put up resistance because then he won’t like her anymore. Hey, look. I brought this back to rape culture.
THIS!!!! @RumplesGirl hit the nail on the head on this one!
Moral of OUAT: If the guy’s hot with a beard….forgive him for every sin and label him your true love….even if he did just try to send your whole family to Hell ten seconds ago.
What made Neal such a better choice for Emma wasn’t because he was hot, her baby daddy, or her true love…..it was because Neal was a grown man who knew who he was and what he wanted in life…..Hook is an alcoholic, morally confused, selfish man-child….and if they try to use Hook’s past as an excuse for him, let’s weigh out who had it worse….Hook whose father sold him and his brother into the military or Neal who lost his mother because of said pirate, then lost his father who couldn’t choose him over power, sent to NL where basically the root of all Stilskin Men issues lives, and was basically on his own ever since….yet Neal still managed to come out on a moral higher ground despite his far rougher background than the One-handed drunk.
And now that I think about it….CS hate Papa Hook for selling Hook off into the service, but seemed to have forgotten that it was Hook who sold Baelfire off to Peter Pan.
@RumplesGirl I feel Jessica Jones, the Librarians, and various other shows used Ouat as the poster child of cautionary tale of how NOT to do it. Seriously I bet the writers are like now we are not going to be like that one show with that crazy fandom. hahahah I think this gif personifies my idea.
ROFL!! Who would’ve guessed OUAT would become a cautionary tale for other shows!
I support Hook and/or Emma throwing themselves in front of a train
Or…being pushed…
"If you go as far as you can see...you will then see enough to go even further." - Finn Balor