I don't think it goes without saying but
representation is important for any
source of fiction people of a particular
group want to feel seen and understood
and most of all not feel like they are
alone and that's why good representation
is important it can help people feel
Sean while also educate those who are
unfamiliar with a certain group of
people but because it is so important
it's also a tragedy in most cases when a
piece of media has bad representation it
creates a harmful caricature that
reinforces negative stereotypes
stereotypes that bleed into real life
most people won't even be able to tell
if those stereotypes or traits are
harmful or not because they are just not
properly educated on the particular
group of people that is being poorly
represented and that's why it is crucial
to have good representation you do not
want to create a false narrative because
of bad writing but unfortunately there
are some stories out there that create a
bad narrative through poor
representation case in point angel dust
from hasbin hotel this body was made to
be exploited
pinky come on keep talking dirty now I
don't think I've ever come across a
character so poorly represented but also
so greatly praised by the general
audience Haspin hell is already a pretty
controversial show for valid and unvalid
reasons and no the show isn't bad
because the word [\h__\h] is used more times
than a drunk in an Irish Pup I feel that
a lot of my own personal problems with
the show boil down to one of its most
popular characters and I feel that way
because it does a good job at
representing the exact issues the show
has angel dust is one of the only
homosexual characters in the entire show
his entire gimmick is that he's a washed
up porn star/ prostitute drug addict
already his character is just
reinforcing negative gay stereotypes it
was a pretty big red flag for me
starting the show and one that I
couldn't really shake away The
Stereotype of gay men being heavy drug
users with insanely high sex drives is
older than the creator of the show is
this is a stereotype that was being
criticized in the '90s this is a show
that came out in
2023 it is wild to me that a character
who is written like this is in a show
that came out just last year it wouldn't
even bother me that much if angel dust
being a party andplay gay wasn't his
entire personality but just about every
scene he is in with a few exceptions has
to have humor or comments relating to
him being a porn star or him liking
drugs and in between all of those scenes
you have him basically sexually
harassing every male character and
trying to make Advan is towards them no
matter what their sexuality is in your
bedroom maybe under the covers maybe we
can go look together don't come on I bet
I can make those wings which is also
another negative gay stereotype now
since I already know the rebuttal to
this no the show taking place in hell
isn't an excuse for characters like this
more often than not I see people use the
it takes place in Hell excuse to justify
offensive characters or bad writing but
when you have systems like that in place
to fall back on when criticism is made
then it's more of a crutch for your
writing rather than an actual World
building tool angel dust is just
offensive for the sake of being
offensive but truth be told I don't even
think Vivy poop realizes that he's
offensive I think she genuinely just
doesn't know that he's a negative gay
stereotype and call me a snowflake all
you want but when your general audience
of the show is like below the age of 13
then I do think it's important for you
to have good representation
in order to not send a bad narrative
kids are really [\h__\h] impressionable
and if we learned anything from the
internet in the past several years it's
that the content you put out will have
an effect on people negative or positive
the landscape for queer people both on
the internet and outside of it is
already really really hard the last
thing that we need right now is for more
people to have reasons to hate us I'm
giving Vivy pop the benefit of the doubt
that she doesn't know that angel dust is
a negative gay stereotype because I
assume in good faith that she isn't
trying to be like that but it still
doesn't take away from the fact that
this is still the character she wrote
regardless but that being said this
isn't the worst problem that I have with
angel dust when I say come you say yes
Valentino when I say you are [\h__\h] 20
guys before lunch you say yes Valentino
see Vivy poop decided to make angel dust
a victim of sexual assault his recovery
is a plot line in the show and I don't
have an issue with this on paper not
only do I think it's important to
represent male victims of abuse but also
queer men who were victims of it men
both gay and straight have been victims
of sexual assault and it's something
that hasn't been properly recognized in
society which is why the execution of
angel dust and his abuse story line
upsets me to an endless degree now
before I open this can of worms and talk
about my issues with this character I
should rip off the Band-Aid because I
already know people are going to ask me
in the comments yes I am a victim of
this kind of abuse myself and I don't
owe you or anybody else watching an
in-depth explanation of it it's my story
to tell and I'm not going to tell it
here I'm bringing this up to make it
clear that I have valid criticisms of
this show and this character as a
Survivor myself I also want to make it
clear that this is not a review of the
show itself but more so a critique of
one of the characters I haven't finished
a show and I don't plan on doing it I
just want to talk about the character
that made me stop watching halfway
through without other way we should
start talking about this angel baby come
home it's not the same without you here
I miss you come back Angel you [\h__\h] if
you don't come home you will be [\h__\h]
greasy truckers for the next year angel
dust works as a porn star for a
character named Valentino who has him
under contractual obligation and takes
advantage of him Valentino's entire
character is meant to be this pimp and
as a villain I don't have a lot of
issues with him although I think giving
a rapist character musical numbers is a
bit tone death in my opinion I don't
have a strong opinion about how
Valentino is written one way or the
other I think he's very Bland a lot of
my main issues stem from one episode and
that being masquerade it's the fourth
episode of the show and it's the one
that got me to stop watching entirely in
the episode angel dust has to deal with
balancing his life at the hotel and his
life at work Charlie tries to get
involved but when she does [\h__\h] hits the
fan and it results in angel dust getting
physically assaulted by Valentino see
because Angel Dust is under valent in's
contract he has to obey his command even
if he doesn't consent after being abused
angel dust kicks Charlie out in order to
avoid being harmed more the one good
thing I have to say about the writing
for this episode is that a lot of this
abuse is comparable to the real life
abuse that the porn industry conducts on
actors and to give credit what credit is
due the show does a good job at
portraying that even if it's a little
over the top this scene on its own would
be completely fine if it wasn't ruined
by the musical number that follows It
the song poison is just angel dust
singing about being abused and how he is
helpless to it is it a sad melodramatic
song with slow and meaningful
instrumentals no it's a techn Dan song
that removes any sort of seriousness
that the song may have it doesn't help
that the music video has scenes of angel
dust essentially being abused right in
between scenes of him dancing like it's
aesha music video and look I get that
there are songs out there with serious
lyrics and messages that sound upbeat
and cheerful
[Applause]
[Music]
but the biggest thing that sets those
songs apart from Poison is that poison
is created for the sole purpose of a
cartoon character whose entire gimmick
is being [\h__\h] and provocative while
other songs are made with a purpose of
conveying a serious message Foster of
people didn't write Pumped Up Kicks
because they wanted to create a cartoon
character about a school shooter they
wrote it because it's an actual song
with a message behind it any sort of
message that's in Poison is completely
lost in translation because of this
music video what also doesn't help is
knowing that this music video along with
many many other scenes is storyboarded
by somebody who has an actual rape
fetish
[Music]
somebody that Vivy poop frequently
defends on a regular I can't watch this
music video and assume that it's being
made in good faith when part of it is
being made by somebody who thinks that
the abuse that angel dust suffers is hot
so when somebody who isn't a victim of
sa themselves and has a fetish for nonon
is hired by somebody to storyboard for
scenes of the character in the show with
an essay storyline then at that point I
can't assume that vizzy isn't ignorant
to what she's doing this episode doesn't
get any better by the way the next SC
has angel dust having a freak out over
husk calling his flamboyant horny act
fake so he storms off to a random bar
only to be picked up by husk after he
almost got himself roofied when hus
confronts the self-destructive Behavior
Angel DUS opens up in saying that it is
a way for him to forget about everything
in the hopes that him getting high and
wasted will ruin him enough that
Valentino will lose interest I can ruin
myself enough in the process if I end up
broken I won't be his favorite toy
anymore
and maybe he'll let me
go abuse and especially sexual abuse
leaves people with a lot of trauma and
the ways in which they cope with the
trauma can be unhealthy Angel dust's way
of coping with it is undeniably
unhealthy and it really doesn't help
when this unhealthy coping mechanism is
so glamorized throughout the entire show
that jokes are being made about it
constantly let me make this very clear
this is not okay self-destructing is not
how you deal with trauma it will only
make things worse I'm saying this
because it's very obvious the show is
afraid to explicitly say it and I know
that hearing me say it does not mean
that it's easy to change because I get
that it's hard but when shows like these
that glamorize these unhealthy coping
mechanism start to get popular and more
and more people start seeing it then
people will start have this idea that
this is normal and it's not the show is
more comfortable showing the ACT
actually happening while adding Sparkle
on filters in order for people to make
scen compilations of angel dust slain
angel dust opening up about his abuse
and his unhealthy coping mechanism is
fine on its own but when you follow that
up with another musical number then it
sort of cheapens those serious moments
loser baby isn't as bad as poison but
it's still really toned deaf it's
another upbeat song except this time
it's about how your abuse isn't unique
and you need to stop whining like a
[\h__\h] and find company and other people
who are in the same situation as you
what a great message to send it doesn't
even work in this Show's context because
it's comparing Angel and husk situations
like they are at all similar I'm sorry
but Angel does being forced into sexual
actions against his will is not the same
as husk betting all on black and losing
I know what you may be thinking and no I
don't hate musicals haspen hotel is just
a bad musical end of story if I need to
show how to properly handle sirious
moments in a story while still being
musical then we need to talk about rent
rent is a musical from 1994 that had a
2005 film adaptation with the original
cast the musical is about a group of
Bohemians who struggle with their life
in 1989 America facing conflicts with
their own personal struggles of finances
sexuality and addiction one of the
topics the musical does a really good
job at handling is the AIDS crisis in
America there's a song early on in the
film where one of the main characters by
the name of Roger sings about his
remaining motivations with writing music
One Song Glory is an emotional plea from
the perspective of Roger who Grieves for
his girlfriend and himself after they
were both diagnosed with AIDS brought on
by their drug abuse in 1989 having AIDS
is basically a death sentence at this
point in the story Roger's girlfriend
killed herself as she couldn't handle
living with it and Roger sings about
wanting to leave an impact on the world
and to not feel as though he lived for
nothing wanting to go out in a blaze of
glory with just one song it's this
motive that pushes him throughout the
film to write that one song to leave
behind when he inevitably dies from his
AIDS this song is one of the best
examples of how to handle serious topics
in a musical setting it's a dramatic and
intense song that fits the themes of not
just the lyrics but the film as a whole
throughout it Roger pushes away his love
interest not because he doesn't share
the same feelings but because he doesn't
want her to fall in love with someone
who is living on borrowed time the
musical isn't afraid to tackle heavy
subject matter and the way it goes about
it is impactful and respectful at the
same time it's a really good film and I
definitely recommend watching
it it also failed to make a profit in
the box office Hasen Hotel wants to have
serious subject matter but it also wants
every song to be something to dance to
and in most cases you can't have your
cake and eat it too in no way am I
saying that Roger from rent and angel
dust have similar struggles but I bring
up rent as an example on how to handle
serious topics while still maintaining a
musical formula having a character like
angel dust and giving him an abuse
storyline while not taking it seriously
by adding musical numbers like poison
and then having somebody who finds the
abuse from Valentino to be hot
storyboard your musical number what it
ends up doing is creating a parody of
itself that hammers in this idea that
being a survivor of abuse is girly poop
or sleigh suffering does not create
better people it just creates suffering
and I know for a fact that it is not
Vivy Pop's intention to create a
character like angel dust in this manner
but it doesn't change the fact that it
still happened and this is the character
that is being praised and looked up to
abuse is not something to be fetishized
and being a survivor of it is not an
aesthetic nor is it as glamorous as the
show tries to make it look in musical
numbers it's something that sticks with
you for the rest of your life it never
goes away Hasen otel is a show that
comes so close to expressing that point
but it fumbles it and every single way
possible everyone has their own way of
coping with abuse but the show acts as
though there is nothing wrong with how
angel dust copes with his abuse loser
baby has proven to me that the show does
not understand why this is an issue I am
tired of people talking about angel dust
like this is the best way to write an
abuse Victim Because it's not angel dust
is a poorly written character that
reinforces negative gay stereotypes
while at the same time being a harmful
representation of what it's like to be a
survivor of abuse if we have gotten to
the point where scenes of clear
fetishization and Romanticism is viewed
as powerful representation then the
Indie animation scene is in desperate
need of a paradigm shift because this is
not how abused survivors should be
written in the future as tell and angel
dust should be viewed as an example of
what not to do when it comes to
that this was not a easy video to make
but I want to ended off by saying that
if you enjoyed Hasen hotel and angel
dust as a character that's fine I don't
want you to walk away from this thinking
that you're opinion is less than mine
people have their own reasons for liking
media and the discourse surrounding the
show and the harassment that people
receive just for liking it is
unacceptable you can have your reasons
for disliking a show but people can also
have their reasons for liking it as well
everything that I have said in this
video is in relation to my own personal
life and I criticize the show because I
want to see it improve in a second
season I want it to give me a reason to
keep watching not for it to give me a
trauma relapse and feel disgusted by it
writing this video and revisiting this
show was difficult for me but I can
still recognize that this show connected
with a lot of people and in many cases
even helped them and I'm not going to be
denying that just because I have a
different experience with it all I hope
to do with this video is give people a
broader perspective on why people may
not like the show and I hope I did
that thanks for watching sorry for the
long gap between videos but I have a lot
of other different projects that I have
been working on if you want to see what
I'm up too head over to my twitch I'm
streaming there pretty often twitch.tv/
lusth slime and if you want to see more
of my other work then you can head over
to my highlights Channel where I'm
posting My Stream highlights there
that's kind of where I'm active right
now I'm going to try to put out more
video essays if I ever feel like it on
this channel but um I just kind of
wanted to make this because it was on my
mind and I wanted to put it down onto
paper while it was fresh yeah um so go
check out all that stuff and while
you're at it subscribe it would really
mean a lot to me uh have a good rest of
your day I am going to go take a
bath see that every moment
alive and I can't to make it