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Helluva Boss is NOT Normal About Women — Transcript

by Rottika · 14,356 words · 2,083 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:05Every time I think I've made it out,
0:07something pulls me right back down to
0:10hell. Hey everyone, I didn't exactly
0:12expect to be sitting here ever again,
0:14hunched over my computer desk in the
0:16cramped closet I record in talking about
0:18hell of a boss of all things. After the
0:20last video that I made on the topic uh
0:23two years ago, what the [ __ ] I put the
0:25show entirely out of my mind for a
0:27while. I didn't so much as touch another
0:29episode and blissfully avoided most of
0:31the discourse. But lo, all good times
0:34must come to an end because here we are
0:36again. See, as much as there existed a
0:39part of me that wanted to move on from
0:40the topic permanently on account of the
0:42draining nature of dealing with both the
0:44fans and the haters of the hellverse
0:46alike, there has been a particular
0:48aspect of Hell of a Boss's writing
0:50stirring in the back of my mind for
0:52multiple years now. one that I always
0:54wished that someone would make a
0:55comprehensive video about. But as time
0:58marches ever forward, and I have still
1:00yet to see the kind of analysis I'm
1:02craving, I figure that this might be the
1:03opportunity to get up off my ass, roll
1:06up my sleeves, and tackle it myself. So,
1:08what is bothering me so much that I'm
1:10returning to talk about this show one
1:12final time? Well, Hell of a Boss is
1:14misogynistic. Incredibly misogynistic.
1:17Like, so deeply misogynistic, it's
1:19coconuts. Yes, we're going there. I am
1:22acutely aware that I'm poking a beehive
1:24right now, but if no one is gonna come
1:26out and just say it so plainly, then I'm
1:28willing to get stung. Now, don't
1:30misunderstand me. I do not intend to
1:32imply that no one in the hellverse
1:34critical zeitgeist or even the YouTube
1:36sphere has pointed this issue out. I am
1:38aware of several different people who
1:40have mentioned it in tweets, videos, and
1:42posts here and there, and there are
1:43probably a lot more that I haven't seen.
1:45Critiquing Hell of a Boss for its sexist
1:47writing is not a wholly unique venture
1:50on my part, and I don't want to claim
1:51that it is. Rather, I am merely
1:53unsatisfied with and disappointed by
1:55much of the coverage that I have seen.
1:57Generally, I found that the subject of
1:59misogyny tends to one, get buried
2:01underneath other complaints, two, not be
2:04expanded on in its entirety, or at
2:06worse, three, be employed by certain
2:08individuals as a rhetorical tool to get
2:10an own before they then proceed to
2:12weaponize the very same prejudice that
2:14they were just complaining about against
2:16other people. Don't worry, I will have
2:18words to say about that later. Trust.
2:21Whether it's people who love Hell of a
2:22Boss or people who hate it, the
2:24discussion around the show is a realm
2:26made up of primarily queer or otherwise
2:28progressive people. And as your local
2:30neighborhood dollar store transsexual
2:32woke, such open and rampant sexism and
2:35femophobia and horobia being so casually
2:38permitted by both sides is frustrating
2:40and concerning to me. That friends is
2:43why we're here today. My name is Victor
2:45with a K, though I also go by Rodica or
2:47Rot here on the channel. And in this
2:49video, I want to analyze each and every
2:51aspect of the misogynistic writing that
2:53I found present in Hell of a Boss. But
2:56before we jump down that rabbit hole, I
2:58want to issue a couple of brief but very
3:00important disclaimers. Number one, I am
3:04here to analyze a piece of art, a
3:06collaborative piece of art, no less,
3:08that many different people have worked
3:10on. I am not here to accuse any of the
3:13specific individuals who worked on or
3:15are involved with the show of being
3:17misogynists or bigots in general. Even
3:20if I thought that they were, my concern
3:22is not so much about the creators behind
3:24the curtain as it is about the creations
3:26that they put out. While taking into
3:28account the authors behind our favorite
3:30works can sometimes lead to a better
3:32understanding of them. I am very much
3:34disillusioned by the weird parasocial
3:36vitriol that some critics tend to have
3:38for the people behind the works that
3:39they cover. My channel is about creative
3:41works that I think are interesting, not
3:43about starting public fights with
3:45strangers. The drama focused obsessive
3:47digging up of every facet of problematic
3:50[ __ ] that a person gets into online is
3:52weird and creepy in my opinion. And I
3:54think we all in this media commentary
3:57community space have to get better about
3:59squashing the inner gossipy kiwi farmer
4:01that lurks within us all. Number two,
4:04just because I am criticizing a work of
4:06art does not mean that I believe it
4:08shouldn't be allowed to exist. When I
4:10made my Stolits video, I noticed that a
4:12lot of people assumed that my criticism
4:14of it equated to a call for
4:15deplatforming or censorship of the show.
4:18But rest assured, this is not my
4:19intention. I am firmly anti-ensorship.
4:22And just because I dislike something,
4:23doesn't mean that I think it should
4:25disappear. Hell, as much as I don't like
4:27Hell of a Boss, I'm actually very glad
4:29it exists. More art is always better
4:30than less art, even if not all the art
4:33that gets made is to my particular
4:35tastes. and indie animation means a lot
4:37to me and always has even besides that.
4:40And finally, number three, like my
4:43earlier point about this video not being
4:45a personal attack on the creators of
4:46Hell of a Boss, I want to clarify that
4:48it's not meant as an attack on the
4:50people who like it either. I am aware
4:52that there are likely many fans who are
4:54completely nice people, and it would be
4:55very hypocritical of me to assume that
4:57enjoyment of a piece of media is
4:59indicative of an inherent endorsement of
5:01everything within it. I'm an anime fan.
5:04I know what it's like to love and
5:05connect with a piece of art, in spite of
5:06problematic, misogynistic aspects being
5:09present within it. Furthermore, I don't
5:11think that people who are sensitive to
5:13criticism of the things that they care
5:14about need to subject themselves to that
5:16criticism all the time. I think it's
5:18very cool and important to be
5:20open-minded, but at the end of the day,
5:22I'm not here to ruin people's enjoyment
5:24of a show that they might be, you know,
5:26very personally connected to. So, if you
5:28think that this video is going to make
5:30you feel upset or maybe it will feel
5:32like a personal attack on your
5:33character, then there is no shame in
5:35clicking off and deciding to watch
5:36something else instead. No shade to the
5:38people who like Hell of a Boss or to the
5:40people who like the Hellverse in
5:42general. After all, even if it's for
5:43different reasons, I think we can both
5:45agree that the show is very interesting
5:47to think about and to talk about. That
5:49all out of the way, hold on to your
5:50throats, divas, because we're going to
5:53get into it now.
5:58The first thing that I want to take the
6:00time to discuss is humor. Particularly
6:02because of how often the it's just dark,
6:04edgy jokes excuse is used as a tactic to
6:07indulge bigotry. And I'd rather nip this
6:10in the bud as fast as possible because
6:12it's a tired, ignorant, and uncompelling
6:14argument. Sorry, not sorry. Humor is,
6:17after all, only one of the most powerful
6:19rhetorical tools used to strengthen and
6:21reinforce already entrenched ideas and
6:23to inform new ones. Think for example of
6:26how right-wingers use jokes and memes
6:27that mock minorities as a way to signal
6:29allegiances and affirm prejudices in
6:32others. Or all that boomer I hate my
6:34nagging wife humor that when boiled down
6:36to its core is rooted in obvious sexism.
6:39Unlike those examples, I don't think
6:40that hell of a boss's streak of
6:42misogynistic jokes are intentionally
6:44malicious or are included as a conscious
6:47effort to make a statement about
6:48something. I think that more likely it's
6:50a writer blind spot. But whether or not
6:52it is intentional, Hell of a Boss has
6:54consistently, from its start all the way
6:56to its most recent episodes, featured
6:58extremely misogynistic, nasty, and
7:01demeaning jokes at the expense of its
7:03female cast. It is constant, let me tell
7:05you. Most of it just boils down to the
7:07women being called [ __ ] [ __ ]
7:09[ __ ] [ __ ] cows, and other sexist
7:12poratives. By the way, I don't think a
7:14single one of them escapes this
7:15treatment. The experience I had
7:17re-watching the show from the beginning
7:18and delving into even the newer episodes
7:21can be described as a long string of me
7:23wincing at one uncomfortable joke after
7:26another after another after another. I'm
7:28not exaggerating. It's genuinely awful
7:31to watch. I decided that the best way to
7:33really get my point across about the
7:35severity and frequency of it would be to
7:36edit together an extremely long and
7:38tedious series of clips featuring each
7:41and every single time a woman in Hell of
7:43a Boss is called a [ __ ] [ __ ] skank,
7:45or [ __ ] or any other demeaning
7:47gendered insults of that ilk. This
7:49compilation is not exhaustive, by the
7:51way. I decided not to include examples
7:53in which the character doing the name
7:55calling is portrayed as in the wrong for
7:57doing so. And for simplicity, I also
7:59decided not to bother with visual gags
8:01or any examples of more complex writing
8:03that bears further analysis and
8:05explanation deeper than merequick clips
8:07can provide. I will be covering all of
8:09that later. Instead, this is just the
8:11obvious stuff, the casual misogyny. As a
8:14quick note, while I was re-watching
8:16these clips and just letting all of it
8:18wash over me like a title wave of raw
8:20sewage, I came to the realization that
8:22this comp is so unpleasant that it could
8:25even be possibly triggering to some
8:27people. Like unironically, if you are a
8:29survivor of patriarchal, misogynistic,
8:31and/or sexual violence, some of these
8:33clips, especially all backtoback like
8:36this, could have the potential to
8:37seriously upset you. Even for people who
8:40haven't been on the receiving end of
8:42gendered violence, this stream of
8:43straight misogyny lasts like a while.
8:45So, even for the average viewer, it will
8:48probably still be very bad. For those of
8:50you who want to skip the compilation
8:51because you think it might be too much
8:53for you or just otherwise don't want to
8:55subject yourself to this
8:59>> of course that [ __ ] [ __ ]
9:01>> I've included a time stamp on the screen
9:03for everyone else. Hold on to your butts
9:05because this is going to be a gnarly
9:07one.
9:08>> No, HE'S NOT. YOU [ __ ]
9:10>> THAT'S YOUR HUSBAND. I figured you for a
9:13[ __ ] but I didn't know you need a dick
9:15that bad. I had a hard time
9:17understanding the unprompted melodrama
9:19you just spat at me, tits.
9:21>> That [ __ ] [music] survived. How does it
9:23feel to have survived such a crazy
9:25[ __ ]
9:26>> And don't worry, we'll get that skank.
9:28>> And I got you, [ __ ] Listen to your
9:31homox.
9:32>> Listen up, YOU UNORIGINAL PINK TONGUE
9:34DUMP.
9:35>> I can smell fish for miles, which is odd
9:37because I believe the nearest ocean is
9:40three rings down. I'm surprised they let
9:42your fat ass out of rehab. If I could
9:44see you're still a drunken [ __ ]
9:46clutching onto that Beza juice bottle
9:47like it's the last [ __ ] in hell. Godamn
9:50it, [ __ ] You will not let that go.
9:52>> I wasted so much time with a bag of
9:53holes like that. Ah, big man. Where's
9:56your [ __ ] bag of an employer? Oh, no
9:58you don't, [ __ ] We rub it in that
10:00sloppy bitch's drunken [ __ ] ass face.
10:03That's nine kills in the bag. I'd like
10:04to see that why snatch orgasm that many.
10:07GOD DAMN IT. THAT [ __ ] STARTED her
10:09goatish mating call. Oh, perfect. That
10:13must be the [ __ ] in your face, [ __ ]
10:17You
10:17>> judgmental cotton candy tit [ __ ]
10:21>> Millie, I am not above hitting a female
10:23in front of her daddy.
10:24>> Wait, what [ __ ] IS TALKING [ __ ] ABOUT
10:26ME?
10:27>> OKAY, I'm going to stop you right there,
10:28[ __ ]
10:28>> Well, maybe it's cuz I'm in the presence
10:30of a massive [ __ ]
10:32>> Darling, can we not talk about this now?
10:34Your mother's being a real [ __ ]
10:39>> Well, how was I supposed to know you can
10:40sell? YEAH. AND THEN THAT [ __ ] HIT HER
10:43HEAD ON THE WAY DOWN AND SHATTERED her
10:45skull. Chris [ __ ] how the [ __ ] you
10:48[ __ ] up that bad anyway? Titty H.
10:50>> Oh, I can't spell.
10:53>> I can't read either.
10:55>> THE HELL BEES SHOT. YOU [ __ ] really
10:58can't say that word anymore. You got a
11:00problem with me?
11:02>> I kill people. How does a two for one
11:04special sound, [ __ ]
11:06>> No, YOU STUPID COW. YOU DID NOTHING.
11:10You're so lucky you're attractive.
11:13>> Your royal says she don't want you dead
11:15no more.
11:16>> You know I kill people for a living,
11:18right, [ __ ]
11:19>> Pick her like a couple of teen skanks.
11:21>> Should have been faster.
11:22>> Poor slow ass [ __ ]
11:24>> It's pretty telling that you snatches
11:26can't even keep your stupid mirror stick
11:28together. Pile drive those [ __ ]
11:31>> And here I am standing on top of the
11:34world with some [ __ ] to defeat.
11:40WELCOME TO HELL, [ __ ]
11:42>> BARASICA.
11:44Of course, that [ __ ] [ __ ] Sorry for
11:46the comment I made at your sister's
11:47wedding, though. She did deserve it.
11:48She's a [ __ ] Yeah, get that spooky
11:50ghoul [ __ ] [ __ ]
11:52>> [ __ ] BEAT THE NAZIS. AND I'LL BEAT
11:54YOU, TOO, [ __ ]
11:56>> AND IT is mine, [ __ ]
11:57>> You are so lucky. You are hot, Stella.
12:01>> All right, fine. We'll do your shitty
12:03job, but you're paying us double, [ __ ]
12:05I'm your worst [ __ ] nightmare,
12:07[music]
12:07[ __ ]
12:08>> [ __ ] can we hurry this up?
12:10>> Now, wasn't that just the worst minute
12:12or two of your entire life? It's
12:14honestly kind of hilariously depressing
12:15to me that oops, you know, season 2,
12:18episode 6 being the only episode in the
12:20show where there are no female
12:21characters who make an appearance, still
12:23manages to have a misogynistic line like
12:25this.
12:26>> Pick her like a couple of teen skanks.
12:28How in the fresh hell did they even Back
12:31when I made my original critique on Hell
12:33of a Boss talking about Stolits, I
12:35vaguely mentioned the sexism in the show
12:37towards the beginning of the video.
12:39Yeah, the other writing issues and the
12:40misogyny elephant in the room are
12:42objectively bigger problems. There's no
12:44doubt about that. At the time, I got
12:46several comments from fans asking me
12:48what I was talking about. And even
12:50outside of my own personal experiences
12:52and interactions, I have seen many fans
12:54asking others what they mean when they
12:56say the show is misogynistic. So, I know
12:58that it may have come off as excessive
13:00or perhaps very pedantic to some people
13:02of me to have painstakingly included all
13:04of these clips, but I sincerely feel
13:06like the best way to convey to you the
13:08scope of anti-woman vitriel we're
13:10dealing with here is to simply show you
13:12whether these fans that I mentioned
13:14before were asking others what misogyny,
13:16facitiously or not, I hope that I have
13:18thus made it clear that the prejudice
13:20and bigotry here is absolutely
13:22undeniable, especially when viewed in
13:24its entirety. While every woman on the
13:26show ends up on the receiving end of
13:28some of this nastiness, most of the
13:30examples of sexist remarks I noticed are
13:32meant to be humorous for the viewer
13:34because they are directed towards
13:36antagonists. Even when the insult isn't
13:38supposed to be inherently funny on its
13:40own, being that these misogynistic
13:42comments come from primarily characters
13:44we're intended to be rooting for, Blitz
13:46especially, and at the expense of
13:48usually unlikable female characters, we
13:50are encouraged to uncritically join in
13:53on the show's contempt for women. I
13:55think that one of the best examples of
13:56this comes in season 1, episode 3 during
13:59that terrible opening scene of Spring
14:01Breakers. We are supposed to jeer and
14:03laugh along with Blitz when he calls
14:04Verasica a [ __ ] a [ __ ] an alcoholic
14:07who clutches her flask like it's the
14:09last [ __ ] in hell. What the [ __ ] And
14:12because she's the antagonist for this
14:14episode, because we are intended to root
14:16against her, it's supposed to be totally
14:18kosher to degrade her for being
14:20promiscuous and being an addict, which
14:22is last time I checked, something that
14:24Hell of a Boss's sister show, Hasbin
14:26Hotel, was trying to say was bad to do
14:28with characters like Angel Dust. Oh, but
14:31he's a guy, so it's totally fine when
14:33it's a woman we're not supposed to
14:34sympathize with being caught in the
14:36crosshairs. I guess the vibes are
14:39honestly so viscerally icky to watch
14:41that it makes my skin absolutely crawl.
14:44The female cast is frequently at the
14:46receiving ends of these sorts of remarks
14:48all throughout the show because the
14:49writers seem to think that it's
14:50automatically entertaining when a woman
14:52is slutshamed and venomously called a
14:55[ __ ] over and over again. I assure you,
14:57uh, it's not. Oh god. [clears throat]
15:00Prepare yourselves. I think that it's
15:02very important to mention here that the
15:04B- word is a misogynistic slur and the
15:06flippant usage of it, especially in the
15:08venomous, nasty way that it is often
15:10employed in Hell of a Boss, is
15:12absolutely unacceptable. It is a
15:14pjorative imbued with a lot of heavy
15:16historical and modern implications and
15:19is a word often used before, during, or
15:22after committing acts of patriarchal
15:24violence, whether those violent acts are
15:26physical, sexual, or even deadly. I was
15:28initially hesitant to include this point
15:30in the script for fear of backlash due
15:32to how normalized it is to use this word
15:35in wider discourse and even wider
15:37society, but in watching these clips
15:38back in editing, feeling sickened by
15:40them and really pondering how important
15:42this issue is to me personally, I feel
15:45like this is a necessary addition. At
15:47the gleeful risk of sounding like an
15:49unhinged SJW, I have grown increasingly
15:51tired of how comfortable people are
15:53using it uncritically, even in queer or
15:56otherwise progressive spaces. To give
15:58everyone the benefit of the doubt, I
16:00don't think that most people realize the
16:01gravity of this word, including many
16:03women or feminine people, too. And so,
16:06by stressing this point, I hope to maybe
16:08open some eyes to the reality with my
16:10commentary. [ __ ] when used to silence,
16:13oppress, and harm especially is a dirty
16:15word that makes women feel unsafe. I
16:17think it's important for us all to
16:19unpack that truth bomb, reflect on it,
16:21and grow as people. That heaviness out
16:23of the way, not only are these jokes
16:26weird and gross, but they're also just
16:28incredibly lazy, too. Like, come on,
16:30guys. You aren't even trying here. And
16:32the misogyny doesn't start and end with
16:34gendered insults directed at the main
16:36cast. Oh, no. Even many of the female
16:38background characters are usually
16:40reduced to sexist stereotypes, like the
16:42receptionist woman in Western Energy who
16:45Blitz calls a titty haver and almost
16:47calls the rler because haha, isn't it so
16:50funny that she can't read? Or what about
16:52nurse [ __ ] face? I think this one is
16:55self-explanatory, really. Or all of the
16:57teenage girls in Unhappy Campers being
16:59dumb, shallow queen bee stereotypes. or
17:02Emberllin Pinkle from the Weeaboo Boo
17:04short being seen as weird, cringe, and
17:06ugly because she's short, chubby, and
17:08eccentric while also being sexually
17:10enthusiastic. It's an ugly pattern, one
17:12that is consistent from episode 1 to
17:14episode done. Then, of course, there's
17:16the show's very weird habit of excusing
17:19or justifying sexual harassment and even
17:22coercion and assault as long as there's
17:24no penetrative sex involved, like
17:26Blitz's numerous rape threats directed
17:28at Moxy, for example.
17:29>> Apology accepted. But if you ever pull a
17:32stunt like this again, I will [ __ ] you
17:35and YOUR WIFE.
17:36>> ALRIGHTY, JOB WELL DONE. NOW, let's get
17:38on.
17:38>> Or the scene in Spring Breakers where
17:40Moxy is assaulted by the succubi. Both
17:43of these things being played off as
17:44jokes at the expense of Moxy. Poor guy.
17:46Or of course, who could forget Stalles'
17:48sexually coercive dynamic with Blitz
17:50never being meaningfully addressed in
17:52the narrative and even being portrayed
17:54as funny because Blitz is the top in
17:56their relationship and therefore can't
17:58be a victim of rape. See my old Stolitz
18:01video for more context on that if you're
18:03interested. I guess none of it is funny
18:05and all of it is misogynistic.
18:10Before I pivot this conversation off of
18:12the humor and start to dive into the
18:14more deeprooted misogyny present in
18:16things like framing and character
18:17writing, I want to take a quick detour
18:19to discuss a specific aspect of the show
18:21that really bothers me. Moxy. For a
18:24minute, I considered including him as a
18:26side note later in the video while
18:27talking about the female characters in
18:29more detail. But considering he's a man
18:31and that most of my issues with them
18:32have to do with jokes made at his
18:34expense. I feel like this conversation
18:36serves its place better here, sort of as
18:38an ending bumper to my discussion about
18:39the comedy. Allow me to explain what I
18:42mean. Moxy may be a part of the male
18:44cast, and he is therefore not nearly as
18:46shunned by the narrative as many of the
18:48women are. He doesn't get it a quarter
18:49as bad as most of the ladies do, to be
18:51honest. That being said, a lot of the
18:53sexism in the writing even seeps into
18:55how he is characterized and framed
18:57throughout the narrative. In contrast to
18:59many of the other dudes on the cast,
19:00especially his boss, Blitz, Moxy tends
19:02to lean a bit more traditionally
19:04feminine in character. Unlike Millie,
19:06who fights in close quarters with an ax
19:08or her bare hands, or Blitz, who revels
19:10in the thrill and power of killing
19:12people, Moxy is much more sensitive and
19:14generally a great deal more emotionally
19:16involved with the actual murder part of
19:17the immediate murder professionals. The
19:19first episode is all about how he
19:21struggles with the idea of killing a
19:22mother and wife for fear that her family
19:24will suffer her loss. The Harvest Moon
19:26Festival is all about him trying to
19:28prove his worth to Milliey's parents who
19:30value a more traditional sexist
19:32understanding of masculinity as hard
19:33physical power and find Moxy to be a bit
19:36of a scrawny dork. Two episodes after
19:38that in Aussies, Moxy is mocked by both
19:40Osmodius and the clientele in the sex
19:42club when he sings about more romantic,
19:44gentle intimacy with his wife instead of
19:46getting really vulgar about it. Even
19:48besides that, he has a lot of interests
19:50and quirks that heir to the less
19:51masculine side of things, like his
19:53aggressive love for musicals, his
19:54pedantic nerdiness, as well as his
19:56tendency towards wearing more fem
19:58clothing in quite a few instances. All
20:00of these are things that Moxy is mocked
20:02relentlessly for, and that the audience
20:04is supposed to laugh about, too. He gets
20:06it the worst from Blitz, who always
20:08sounds like he's one shot of tequila
20:09away from calling Moxy a [ __ ] [ __ ]
20:11throughout pretty much the entirety of
20:13season 1.
20:14>> I said, "Shush your dick sucking lips,
20:16Moxy." He's bullied every time his
20:18passion for music is brought up. And who
20:20could forget that hilarious reoccurring
20:22joke about how funny it is that Moxy
20:24likes to be pegged by his wife.
20:26>> I love that woman.
20:28>> She totally pegs you, doesn't she?
20:30>> Uh, does Millie ever peg you
20:31>> sometimes? Wait. Ew. [ __ ] [screaming]
20:34Why that? [singing]
20:36>> Moxy. Why do you have Millie put it in
20:40your body?
20:44>> The world is your anus. [singing] peg it
20:46with honesty.
20:48>> I wish I could forget. I'm going to be
20:50real for a second. This insinuation that
20:52being the recipient of penetrative sex,
20:54being a bottom, per se, as a man is
20:56inherently degrading and shameful is the
20:58type of restrictive, heteronormative,
21:00and debatably [music] very conservative
21:02view on sex that we should not be seeing
21:04in a modern cartoon created by and for
21:06queer people. But here we are. Speaking
21:08of things that we shouldn't be seeing in
21:10a modern queer positive cartoon, let's
21:12talk for a second about what very well
21:14might be my least favorite episode of
21:16maybe any show. Unhappy campers. This
21:19little dog turd on a silver platter is
21:22primarily about Moxy and Millie
21:23traveling to the human world to take on
21:25a job for themselves. Finding the person
21:27who murdered their camp counselor client
21:29and promptly assassinating them. To do
21:31this, the two of them dress up and
21:33disguise themselves as human. Millie as
21:35a teenage boy and Moxy as a teenage
21:37girl. The result is, well, maybe this is
21:40what Trump meant when he was screeching
21:42about transgender experiments on illegal
21:44aliens. Okay, but seriously, this whole
21:47episode is one big [ __ ] Sunday of
21:49blatant sexism topped with a cherry of
21:52what feels like underlying trans
21:53misogyny. It's all about Moxy failing
21:56femininity. He attempts to present
21:58himself as female, and the other teenage
22:00girls see right through him. He's mocked
22:02relentlessly by the whole camp for being
22:04ugly, overly madeup, and ridiculous. And
22:06the worst part is that this is all
22:08contrasted by Millie, whose performance
22:10of masculinity is praised by the
22:12campers, celebrated to the point that
22:14her male alter ego, Miller, practically
22:16becomes a minor celebrity. This episode
22:19is so stupid on God. This is a form of
22:22misogyny or sexism, often referred to as
22:25femophobia, which is the belittling of,
22:27aversion to, or contempt for femininity,
22:29regardless of the gender of the person
22:31performing it. The underlying message,
22:33whether it's intentional or not,
22:35presents femininity as artificial,
22:37goddy, and unnatural, especially when
22:39embodied by a man. Whereas Milliey's
22:41masculinity is seen as effortless,
22:43[music]
22:43natural, and charismatic without
22:45seemingly much effort on her end. This
22:47imagery of Moxy being portrayed as an
22:50ugly, creepy alien to be jered at is to
22:52me very reminiscent of transmisogynistic
22:55caricatures that you might see in ' 80s,
22:57'90s, and early 2000s films. These
23:00characters were often used to mock trans
23:02women who were denigrated as creepy men
23:04in dresses and made objects of disgust,
23:07ridicule, and scorn. I do not think that
23:09this is intentional, being that they do
23:10have a transwoman character on the cast
23:12in Sally May, who is fine in my opinion,
23:15but this is blatant trans misogyny, even
23:17if that's not the intent. All of this is
23:19to say that despite being a dude, Moxy
23:22is a constant target of the show's
23:24immature sexist humor. the constant
23:26bullying or actually okay maybe this is
23:29a bit of a reach and a tad bit off topic
23:31but this will be my final time ever
23:33talking about hell of a boss on the
23:34channel hopefully so I feel like I have
23:36to mention this here but Moxy tends to
23:38read to me as kind of autistic coded or
23:41just otherwise neurode divergent coded
23:43you know he's socially awkward a bit
23:45geeky often speaks overly formally likes
23:48to irm Ashley people has a lot of
23:50compassion and he's very energetic about
23:52his personal interests and obsessions
23:55The constant bullying of him from the
23:57rest of the cast is honestly kind of
23:59triggering to me. I don't know. It reads
24:02as a tad bit abbleist due to his ND
24:04coding and it reminds me a lot of
24:06autistic kids being bullied for being
24:08socially clueless and obsessive about
24:10their interests. But even if that is a
24:12bit of an out there take, I maintain
24:14that this treatment of him is still very
24:16misogynistic and indicative of the
24:18writing's disdain for women and
24:20femininity in general.
24:24With the unabashed misogyny and [ __ ]
24:26tier juvenile humor's clothing now out
24:28of the way, I want to start dissecting
24:30the female characters in their
24:32portrayals within the show in detail.
24:34Because the nastiness that lurks on the
24:36surface is one thing, but the sheer
24:38scale of how deep it penetrates every
24:40facet of the writing is a whole other
24:42beast. For simplicity's sake, and for a
24:45little drama, of course, got to edge you
24:46guys on my eventual Stella Crash Out, I
24:48want to start by first talking about the
24:50more minor women on the cast. Excluding
24:52background or dialogue list characters,
24:54because it's understandable that most of
24:56them don't have a lot of depth, I'll be
24:57focusing on the ladies with enough
24:59screen time or relevance to the story to
25:01be noteworthy, but not enough to be
25:03considered major quite yet. All of them,
25:05I have noticed, tend to fit into one or
25:07more sexist character tropes. Some are
25:09what I like to call the mega [ __ ]
25:11stereotype in that they are the tired
25:13onenote queen bean diva or nagging
25:15psycho [ __ ] archetype and their role in
25:17the story is generally to be so
25:19insufferable or unpleasant that it
25:21justifies them being treated like
25:22punching bags for misogynistic name
25:24calling. Some are sex objects meant to
25:26do or be very little more than an object
25:29that appeals to the male gays. Some are
25:31cardboard cutout nothing burgers with
25:33little personality and development even
25:35in situations where they are major or
25:37important characters. And finally, some
25:39are accessories meant to serve the
25:41development of male characters first and
25:43act as independent characters with their
25:45own agency second, if at all. So treat
25:48it like an eye spy game and take a shot
25:50for each one as we go if you're a
25:51massochist. Starting with Verasica
25:54Mayday. Oh boy. I spoke a little bit
25:57earlier about the horrendous gendered
25:59insults that she's subjected to, but to
26:01expand on that point a little, Verasica
26:03is a succubus and in universe she is
26:06established as a sex icon of the pop
26:08industry as well as a fairly sexually
26:10liberated person in general. Both of
26:12these aspects of her character are fine
26:14on their own, but the way that the show
26:15frames her for these things is not fine.
26:17Whereas male characters like Blitz,
26:19Aussie, and Stolas are also sexually
26:21enthusiastic, especially Blitz, whose
26:23every third line is a sex joke of SOME
26:25KIND.
26:27A NEW HOLE.
26:28>> They are not shunned by the narrative in
26:30the same way. Our introduction to
26:31Verasica is first as an antagonist and
26:34is essentially a long drawn out stream
26:36of [ __ ] and sex shaming horobia, mocking
26:38her for being a promiscuous alcoholic.
26:41The big actiony conflict of the episode,
26:43in fact, is caused by her drinking
26:44because her magical hell flask ends up
26:46getting dumped out into the ocean where
26:48it mutates a fish, I guess. Did I
26:51mention that this show is stupid? And
26:52the ending stinger of her story, of
26:54course, has her and her succubi gang
26:56being forced to blow a bunch of police
26:57officers in order to evade arrest. Very
27:00classy. Every time she shows up or is
27:02mentioned, the audience is reminded of
27:04her [ __ ] status. Her promiscuity is
27:07weaponized as an insult portrayed as a
27:09sign of her wickedness, a sentiment
27:11strengthened every time it's brought up
27:13in conjunction to her antagonism. In
27:15contrast, Blitz's enthusiasm for sex is
27:18portrayed as charismatic and charming.
27:20His sex jokes are supposed to be funny,
27:22not because the audience is intended to
27:23laugh at him with scorn for being horny,
27:25but because we're encouraged to find him
27:27endearing or otherwise laugh at the
27:29absurdity of the kinky [ __ ] he gets
27:30into. [ __ ] even Chaz, whose whole bit
27:33is that he's a cringe fail, overly
27:34horny, pathetic, bisexual, is not
27:36sexshamed in the same way that Verasica
27:38is. This also carries over when it comes
27:41to characters like Glitz and Glam, just
27:43to a lesser extent, being that they are
27:44less important characters within the
27:46story and aren't sexed icons in the same
27:48way that Verasica is. The two of them
27:50are introduced as one-time antagonist in
27:52Mammon's Magnificent Musical Mid-season
27:54special. [ __ ] tongue twister of an
27:57episode title, Gez. And their one whole
27:59character trait is that they're kind of
28:00smug divas. They don't even do anything
28:02all that evil besides go up against Fizz
28:04in a clowning competition and act
28:06sassily confident about it. And the
28:08episode still eagerly takes every
28:10opportunity to venomously call them
28:12[ __ ] [ __ ] and [ __ ] Just like
28:14with Verica, their biggest sin is being
28:17sexually confident women in a
28:18competition against the main characters.
28:20And the gloves come off and all
28:22restraint is thrown out the window when
28:24it comes to how they're treated. The
28:25show is just allergic to having female
28:27characters that we can root against
28:28without resorting to calling them
28:30demeaning, misogynistic names and
28:32portraying them like brainless sex
28:33dolls. In terms of characters that I
28:36don't mind too much, I think that Mrs.
28:37Mayberry, Martha, and Sally May all sort
28:39of fall in that category. None of them
28:42are particularly unpleasant characters,
28:44nor do they embody extremely
28:45misogynistic stereotypes or are even
28:48likable in some instances. Like, I'm
28:49going to be real. If we got more
28:51Mayberry and Martha Yuri outside of that
28:53one quick moment, I would be all for
28:55that. Like their dynamic could
28:56theoretically be so peak and Sally May
28:59is cute and enjoyable in the cameo that
29:01she had in the first season and then
29:02again in the short featuring her and of
29:04course her scene with Millie towards the
29:06end of Sinsmiss, though I still have my
29:08complaints with them. In Murder Family,
29:10which is the episode that Martha and
29:11Mrs. Mayberry debut in, by the way,
29:13Mayberry is called Tits by Blitz in
29:16literally the first scene that she's
29:17introduced in. And throughout the rest
29:19of the episode, Martha is called things
29:21like skank, [ __ ] and [ __ ] repeatedly.
29:23This is quite similar to Verasica,
29:25glitz, and glam. Of course, more casual
29:27misogyny weaponized against woman
29:29antagonists and hell of a boss. Who
29:31would have guessed? If those were my
29:32only hang-ups, though, I might not have
29:34talked about them much at all. They're
29:35very minor characters after all, so them
29:37being underdeveloped or one-off is
29:39whatever on its own. What really bugs
29:42me, though, is their objectification
29:43when compared to how much screen time
29:45that they do get. Martha and Mrs.
29:47Mayberry only really have Murder Family
29:49to shine in and then their brief cameo
29:51later. And up until the most recent
29:52episode, Sally May only had her 20 whole
29:55seconds on screen in the Harvest Moon
29:56Festival. And a short that came out long
29:59after season 2 was already halfway
30:00finished and published. And yet, all
30:02three of these characters have copious
30:04amounts of horny merchandise produced
30:06featuring them, especially Sally May.
30:08Like, oh my god. And a lot of this merch
30:11existed long before she had more than
30:13like two lines. These women have little
30:15to no presence on the show outside of
30:17brief appearances and in Mrs. Mayberry
30:19and Martha's cases being called
30:21misogynistic pjoratives in their
30:23appearances. And yet they are heavily
30:25sexualized in the marketing. This
30:26applies to Verasica and Glitz and Glam
30:28as well. As for Verasica, ironically
30:30enough, while she's constantly shamed
30:32for her sex appeal, she is also defined
30:34by it. Her character is centered firmly
30:36around the same sexuality and flirtiness
30:38that she is repeatedly bashed for. Most
30:41of her on-screen appearances emphasize
30:42her body, and this carries over into the
30:44show's merchandise as well. Throughout
30:46all of her appearances until Apology
30:48Tour, she is a character whose one and
30:50only trait is being a [ __ ] diva sex
30:52object, something that she is also
30:55shamed for a lot. And this dichotomy
30:57between sex shaming and marketing
30:59sexualization is made all the worse in
31:01Glitz and Glam's case. Despite being
31:03intended to be clowns or maybe jesters,
31:06their visual designs reflect zero of
31:08that inspiration and instead are trying
31:10way too hard to be generic
31:12crowd-pleasing sexy bait. This being
31:14compounded further by the fact that
31:15they're also intended to appeal to that
31:18whole twinest fantasy that dudes like,
31:20which is very evident in much of the
31:22show's merch featuring them, especially
31:24that Valentine's Day one where they're
31:26practically scissoring. I mean, what the
31:27[ __ ] Call me crazy, maybe I'm just too
31:30woke, but I think that this is perhaps a
31:32little bit indicative of something.
31:34There's also a serious lack of attention
31:36put to developing these female
31:37characters relationships with each
31:39other. Like how Luna in Spring Breakers
31:41is initially mentioned to be a fan of
31:42Verasacas and is a bit starruck. But
31:45instead of using that as a way to forge
31:47an interesting connection between the
31:48two of them, Luna is Verasica's shitty
31:50ex's daughter. After all, Luna is
31:52immediately sidetracked by Vortex, or
31:55again, how Beelzeub, instead of forming
31:57an interesting dynamic with Luna upon
31:58meeting, remains a shallow sort of rival
32:01standing between her and her crush,
32:03which is also Vortex again, by the way.
32:05Or even Sally May, who in my opinion is
32:07massively underutilized as a character.
32:09I don't think that she necessarily needs
32:11a ton of screen time and emotional depth
32:13or anything, but considering what we've
32:15seen in the show and its shorts, she is
32:17the person that Millie, who I will
32:18remind you is one of the main three
32:20protagonists, has the closest
32:22relationship to outside of the main
32:23cast. And it would be really cool to see
32:25female friendships, familial or
32:27otherwise, be focused on more because,
32:29well, there [ __ ] aren't any female
32:31friendships at all focused on outside of
32:32the two of them, to be honest. Rather,
32:34most of the women on the cast have
32:36primarily connections to male characters
32:38instead, though they always get the
32:40short end of the stick when it comes to
32:42focus and agency in any given conflict.
32:44In regards to Verasica, remember at the
32:47beginning of the video when I mentioned
32:48dropping the show after I made my first
32:50video on it? Well, that means that I
32:52didn't watch an episode after I think
32:53oops until I decided to make this video.
32:56And for like a year, I heard repeatedly
32:58that Apology Tour gave Verasica some
33:00more depth and development as a
33:02character. Lo and behold, I go to watch
33:04it and what I find there is nothing. So
33:07to the people that I saw raving about
33:08how much development that she got, uh,
33:11I'll take [ __ ] that never happened for
33:13$500. This episode, Apology Tour, is not
33:16about her. It is about Blitz and
33:18Stalles. In fact, her role in the story
33:20is that she's literally the host of a
33:22party that all of Blitz's exes throw
33:24every year to celebrate how much they
33:25hate him for having been a shitty
33:27boyfriend. Not only is the episode far
33:29more about the stolits relationship
33:31conflict than it is about anything else,
33:33the development that Verasica does get
33:35is also far more about Blitz's character
33:38development and absolution than it is
33:40about hers. Like, come on. Finally, I
33:43want to include Barbie and then Blitz
33:45and Moxy's mothers here as well because
33:46they have this trait in common. Family
33:48members to a male character who exist to
33:50cause that character angst instead of
33:52being their own individual people.
33:54Barbie is only present in the show once
33:56during Unhappy [ __ ] Campers, which we
33:58have already established is an episode
34:00that I just love. The Bplot of that
34:03episode, by the way, is about Blitz
34:04hunting her down after she leaves rehab.
34:06The two of them have an argument where
34:08her struggle with addiction is
34:09mentioned, but don't get too excited
34:11about the show potentially exploring
34:12what it's like to have a family member
34:14struggling with substance abuse because
34:16it's primarily about how she doesn't
34:17want to see Blitz anymore because he
34:19[ __ ] up with her. Yep. Just like
34:21Verasica, she is yet another person that
34:23Blitz has burned bridges with. And also
34:25like Verasica, this revelation has
34:27little to do with expanding on her and
34:29all to do with expanding on him. The
34:31notable mother characters Blitz and
34:33Moxy's are very similar in that they are
34:35women in refrigerators or are otherwise
34:37frriged for drama. For those of you who
34:39are unfamiliar and aren't aware, this
34:42term was coined by the comic book writer
34:44Gail Simone to describe the fiction
34:45trope of using violence against a female
34:48character. usually deadly violence, but
34:49sometimes sexual violence, too, as a way
34:52to further the development of a male
34:53character. It's called Frriging, in a
34:55reference to a Green Lantern comic in
34:56which a dude finds his girlfriend maimed
34:58and dismembered in a refrigerator. By
35:00the way, both of these mothers in Hell
35:02of a Boss have no agency as individual
35:04characters. They solely exist to be dead
35:06and were both killed in horrific ways,
35:08no less, to act as trauma and angst for
35:10their respective sons. Blitz's mother
35:13perished in the circus fire that he
35:14accidentally started. And this event is
35:16shown to have shaped him into his
35:18adulthood. There aren't any flashbacks
35:19that feature her either. She's just
35:21mentioned to have existed, and the focus
35:23is entirely on Blitz's survivor's guilt.
35:26Moxy's mother at least does have a
35:28flashback. In her case, Crimson, Moxy's
35:30father, killed her when he decided that
35:32she was too soft on their son and more
35:34trouble than she was worth. Her death is
35:36debatably even more egregious because it
35:38doesn't even serve much of a purpose in
35:40the story at all aside from shock value.
35:42Unlike Blitz, who is shown repeatedly
35:44and consistently to be affected by the
35:46circus fire trauma, Moxy's mother's
35:48death doesn't even seem to inform his
35:50character much at all. If his hesitance
35:52to stand up against his father was
35:54merely about his past being abused and
35:56belittled by him and as well as seeing
35:58Crimson carry out violence against other
36:00people, the story would make just as
36:02much sense even without his mother's
36:04inclusion at all. And that's the female
36:06side cast, not including any irrelevant
36:08background characters. Disappointing,
36:10[music]
36:10shallow, objectified, underutilized, or
36:13otherwise showered in misogynistic
36:15insults. Not one of them makes it out
36:17unscathed.
36:20But if you thought that the portrayals
36:22of the more minor female characters were
36:24bad, oh ho ho, well, you best prepare to
36:26open your already abused [ __ ] even
36:28wider and get ready for the 12-in
36:30punisher that is the major ones. Let's
36:33start with Luna.
36:36Going to be pissing off a bunch of
36:38furries when I say this, but I do not
36:39like her. She is Blitz's adopted
36:41daughter and acts as the receptionist
36:43for IMP, meaning that she doesn't
36:45usually go on most of the missions and
36:46is therefore generally on screen less
36:48than the other three main imps. Her
36:50character archetype can be described as
36:52the dispassionate, moody teen girl
36:54addicted to her phone, which is an odd
36:56choice to me considering that she's
36:57supposed to be in her 20s, but that's
36:58neither here nor there, I guess. She
37:00tends to play second fiddle to most of
37:02the other characters on the main cast.
37:04But when she is allowed to be a focus,
37:05then you will probably not be all that
37:07surprised to learn that her stories
37:09always have something to do with a man.
37:10like in Spring Breakers where her little
37:12bit of screen time is all about her
37:14being interested in Vortex, which
37:15carries over into her being jealous of
37:17his girlfriend in Queen Bee. And then
37:19all of her more major appearances have
37:21to do with her relationship with Blitz,
37:22him being her adopted dad and whatnot.
37:25You will also not be shocked to realize
37:26that she has zero interesting dynamics
37:28with any of the other female characters.
37:30Despite her literally working with
37:32Millie, they hardly talk like at all.
37:35Even when the two of them are separated
37:36from Blitz and Moxy in Truth Seekers,
37:39the show does not take the opportunity
37:40to have them interact in any interesting
37:42or funny way during their mission to
37:44rescue the boys. Next to all of the
37:46in-depth character exploration of Blitz
37:48and Noxy's trauma and how that
37:50influences their strained professional
37:52relationship with one another, there is
37:54no bonding between Millie and Luna.
37:56Surprise, surprise. When it comes to her
37:58more noteworthy interactions with other
37:59women on the cast, it always has
38:01something to do with one of the male
38:02characters first and the girls second.
38:04Like in Seeing Stars when she has a
38:06heart-to-heart with Octavia, the
38:08conversation is about their fathers more
38:09than it is about either of them
38:11personally or even their emotions.
38:13Octavia starts to talk about how
38:14Solless's neglect makes her feel before
38:16Luna then pivots the conversation to how
38:19worried he is, searching for her down in
38:21LA. And then there's her dynamic with
38:23Beelzeba, which is all about their
38:25respective relationships to Vortex, of
38:27course. Luna's characterization is
38:29overall very shallow, not to mention
38:31incredibly inconsistent. She's shown to
38:33have a soft side under her rough
38:34exterior and is shown to be a lot more
38:36empathetic and caring than she likes to
38:38come off as. Like at the end of Queen
38:40Bee when she comforts Blitz after he
38:42drinks himself into a depressed stuper
38:44following his disastrous date with
38:46Stalis at Aussies. And not two episodes
38:48later in Seeing Stars, she's destroying
38:50the IMP office in an immature rage
38:52because he asked her to try and be a
38:54little bit better at her job. And then
38:55at the end of the same episode, as I
38:57mentioned earlier, she gently talks
38:59Octavia back into giving her dad another
39:01chance. Is she an emotionally
39:03intelligent, empathetic person capable
39:05of supporting other people? Or is she a
39:07violent, irrational, uncaring maniac who
39:10genuinely doesn't give a rat's ass about
39:12others? I don't know. Outside of her
39:14very confused characterization, the
39:16majority of what she does is existing in
39:18the background, adding little to nothing
39:20to anything. To be frank here, I have
39:22noticed that if you don't really find
39:24her attractive, then she doesn't add
39:26much of anything to the experience of
39:28watching the show. Like she may not be
39:30my type, but it's very clear to me and
39:33probably anyone else with eyes that she
39:35is designed to appeal to a very specific
39:38demographic of, dare I say it, furry
39:40goth girl gooners. At the end of the
39:42day, Luna's character feels like it
39:44never made it out of the first draft of
39:45conceptualization. Her implementation in
39:48the narrative is clunky and
39:49inconsistent. The ties she has to the
39:51other women are non-existent or are
39:53otherwise only there because of a male
39:55character. And in her relationships with
39:57the men themselves, she is always
39:59playing backup. And she serves more as
40:00furry bait eye candy more than as an
40:02interesting character on her own.
40:07Now we get to Millie. Oh, Millie, my
40:10poor girl. For being a part of the main
40:12trio of the show, Millie has perhaps
40:13less character work done for her than
40:15even Luna does. This is very sad to me
40:17because from what we do get to see from
40:19her, I think that she's very likable.
40:21Her main personality traits are loving
40:23her husband, being southern, being
40:25feral, and a great fighter. Oh, and did
40:27I mention that she loves her husband?
40:30That's like most of her important screen
40:32time, playing support for his character
40:34arcs and fighting to protect him. Most
40:35of what I've just had to say about her
40:37probably doesn't come off as a surprise
40:39to those of you who have been floating
40:40around the world of Hell of a Boss
40:42criticism for a while. When I spoke
40:43earlier about how some people have
40:45discussed some of the show's sexism, I
40:47was mostly referring to criticisms
40:49leveled at how Millie is written. It has
40:51been a consistent complaint among the
40:53Heliverse critical crowd for years at
40:55this point that Millie for being one of
40:57the main characters is massively
40:58underdeveloped to a degree that is
41:00almost absurd. This being a criticism
41:02leveled so often that Vivien Madrono
41:05herself even responded to it with an
41:07infamous thread saying that Millie being
41:09focused on less was the case because
41:11Hell of a Boss is a maleled show and
41:13that viewers should be patient for the
41:15at that point still unreleased Hasbin
41:17Hotel which would be more focused on
41:19women stories. apparently a hilarious
41:22statement in hindsight considering that
41:24has been still has massive issues in the
41:26male favoritism department and season 2
41:28was essentially just the box show but
41:30that's another discussion for another
41:32day. While I do understand the note
41:34about the show being primarily focused
41:35on Blitz and it being important to focus
41:38on his storylines first and foremost and
41:40develop them to a meaningful conclusion
41:42before the show has potential of being
41:44cancelled before it's finished. I think
41:46that it's worth noting that he is not
41:48the only male character who gets an
41:49abundance of screen time even at the
41:51beginning of the show. There's Moxy too,
41:53who has several episodes in the first
41:55season, even primarily focused or
41:57partially focused on his character arc
41:59and story. And even going into season 2,
42:01he has more there as well. Heck, even
42:03when it comes to the season 1 episode
42:05where the gang goes to visit Milliey's
42:07parents at her childhood home in Wrath
42:09for the Harvest Moon Festival, the
42:11emotional throughine and the conflict is
42:13about her husband, [music] not her. They
42:15visit her parents and it's about him.
42:17Oh, and of course in X's and O's when
42:19it's revealed that Moxy and Millie both
42:21have history with Chaz as a shitty
42:23ex-boyfriend. A very funny bit by the
42:25way. We learn all about Moxy's history
42:27with him and not about hers despite how
42:30upset that she is shown to be about it
42:32even to this day. And then even outside
42:33of the main IMP gang, there is Stolus
42:36who gets so much focus and screen time
42:38all throughout the show, but especially
42:39in season 2. This being in place of
42:41characters like Millie or Luna for that
42:43matter. Although he technically
42:45shouldn't be as prioritized as they are
42:47in my opinion, but whatever. To give
42:49this thread some grace though, as it
42:51says, it was made and posted only after
42:53season 2, episode 3 had come out,
42:55meaning that there would be a lot more
42:57show to cover and a lot more
42:58opportunities for Millie to shine later.
43:00So now that the season has finished,
43:02Millie must have gotten the screen time
43:04she deserves. Right. Right. No. Not
43:08counting the short Hell's Bells here
43:09because even though I like it, the
43:11shorts are specials and not a part of
43:14the main experience of watching the
43:15show. The first episode that I would
43:17tentatively say gives us a little bit
43:19more Millie screen time with what could
43:21be considered character drama for her is
43:23Unhappy Campers, which first of all is a
43:26dog [ __ ] episode. But even if it wasn't,
43:28even if it wasn't, the plot remains more
43:30about Moxy than it is about her.
43:32centering his dismay over not being
43:34liked by the campers over her feelings
43:36of being undervalued in her regular
43:38life. After that, there's Ghost [ __ ]
43:40which I will say is a bit better in its
43:42balance of giving her more stuff to do.
43:44We even get a bit of her backstory here,
43:45which is fun. Again, the episode is more
43:47about Blitz coping with his angst about
43:49Stolus post their semifallout, but I
43:52mostly like her here, so I'll give that
43:53one a pass. Finally, there is Sinsmiss.
43:56This one is largely about Stalles and
43:58Blitz, mostly Stoolus. But near the
44:00ending, she does call her sister Sally
44:02May, and we are given a glimpse of what
44:04season 3 might hold in store for
44:05Milliey's development. And she's
44:07pregnant. Dead ass. Let me get this
44:09straight. You have a character who has
44:11received consistent criticism for being
44:13underutilized, reduced to window
44:15dressing, and used as an accessory to
44:17compliment her husband. And then when
44:19you finally start teasing a more
44:21complete arc for her, the response is to
44:23get her pregnant. Dude, I hope she yeets
44:26that thing, bro. Five Bucks says that
44:28the next season we get like the Zootopia
44:30abortion comic plot line, but with Moxy
44:32and Millie. Okay, okay, enough about
44:33that. Moving away from the core cast,
44:35let's take a look at the other two major
44:37female characters on the show, Octavia
44:39and Stella Gawisha. Being that Stella is
44:42perhaps the most wormy can of worms to
44:44have ever wormed in the history of cans
44:46of worms, I think I'll work my way up to
44:48her and start with Octavia first.
44:53Daughter of Stolus and Stella, Octavia
44:56is the 17-year-old heirs to the Galatia
44:58royal family. I would say that her
44:59personality archetype is kind of similar
45:01to Luna's in that she's supposed to be
45:03this sort of apathetic troubled teen,
45:05except in her case, this
45:06characterization makes a bit more sense
45:08considering her home situation and the
45:10fact that she is actually a teenager.
45:12Her main story thread, or rather her
45:14only story thread, has to do with her
45:16navigating her difficult, increasingly
45:18dysfunctional relationship with her
45:20parents, mostly her father, as they go
45:22through an extremely messy divorce. As a
45:24child, Octavia was once very close with
45:26her dad. But as the years have passed
45:28and his marriage to Stella has grown
45:30progressively more volatile, she feels
45:32disconnected from and neglected by him.
45:34Because the current string of conflict
45:36in the Galatia marriage has to do with
45:37Stalis cheating on Stella with an imp.
45:39Octavia is frequently worried that he
45:41will abandon her to run off with Blitz
45:43once the divorce is finalized. This
45:45worry of hers is only strengthened in
45:47her mind when Stoulles ends up more
45:48preoccupied by fighting with his ex-wife
45:50than he is with communicating and caring
45:52for his daughter. If this conflict
45:54sounds like it would be interesting to
45:56you and relayed in the abstract way that
45:57I just described it, then I would agree
45:59with you. Too bad that the execution is
46:01absolute dog water. Octavia, out of all
46:04of the characters on the cast, is
46:06probably the most disappointing to me.
46:08The wasted opportunity with her here
46:10hurts me even more than say Millie or
46:12Luna because what the showrunners have
46:14going with her is a little bit more
46:16realized in the show itself. But very
46:18much like Millie or Luna, one of the
46:20main reasons that the writing fails to
46:22stick the landing with her is because
46:23the story decides to center the conflict
46:25primarily around the character
46:27development of a male character. The
46:29keeping up with the Galatia's ass
46:30divorce conflict is much more about
46:32Stalis and his feelings, trauma, and
46:34angx than it is about Octavia, or god
46:36forbid Stella. Octavia's anguish over
46:38her parents' crumbling marriage is
46:40heavily sidelined in favor of
46:42maintaining a consistent focus on
46:43Stalles' perspective. Much of her screen
46:46time and even her interpersonal
46:47conflicts is more about how Stalles
46:49feels in response to her growing
46:51discontent with him than it is about
46:53actually exploring Octavia's motivations
46:55and experiences as a person separate
46:58from him. I will make this no secret. I
47:00really don't like Stalis. You'll
47:02probably see why a little bit more in
47:04Stella's section especially, but for
47:06now, just put a pin in the fact that I
47:07want to snap him in half with my bare
47:09hands like a fist full of dry spaghetti.
47:11Octavia's sole purpose in the narrative
47:13is to serve the furthering of the
47:15character development of a man, her
47:17father in this case. She has nothing of
47:19her own going on outside of him. And
47:21this becomes even more frustrating and
47:22painfully obvious when you take like two
47:24seconds to examine her relationship with
47:26her mother. If you just asked yourself,
47:28hang on a second there, Victor, what
47:31relationship with her mother? Then you
47:32already see my point. I mentioned
47:34earlier about how characters like Millie
47:35and Luna and even the side characters
47:37have very few meaningful relationships
47:39with other women. And this issue carries
47:41over to Octavia as well, but it's even
47:43more egregious in her case because she
47:45doesn't even have a dynamic to speak of
47:47with her own mother. Throughout the
47:49show, the two of them interact very
47:50sparingly, if ever. They might as well
47:53be strangers for all wear shown.
47:54Moreover, Octavia's stress about the
47:56divorce is entirely about her fear that
47:58she'll lose Stolace. She doesn't even
48:00seem the slightest bit concerned about
48:02her mother and has no connection with
48:04her to speak of. They only really sort
48:05of interact in Sinsmiss after Stoulles
48:08is stripped of his princely status and
48:10Stella gets custody of her. And being
48:12that it's implied that Stella was only
48:13interested in keeping her around as a
48:16way to secure her own position in the
48:18Gata [music] fortune, being that Octavia
48:20is the Aerys and beneficiary, it can be
48:22inferred that neither of them care for
48:24the other much at all. This lack of
48:25thought put into developing a very
48:27important mother-daughter dynamic is not
48:30only misogynistic, but is also
48:32counterproductive to exploring a child
48:34of divorce plotline. Divorce in real
48:37life is usually stressful and even
48:39traumatizing to the child in the thick
48:40of it, specifically because they
48:42suddenly feel like they're being pulled
48:44back and forth in two different
48:45directions and are expected to pick
48:47sides between the two people that they
48:49love. But heaven forbid we explore the
48:51relationship between two female
48:52characters when we can instead make the
48:54conflict all about the man in the
48:56picture. The whole thing is extra
48:57frustrating when you realize that
48:59Octavia is essentially like right about
49:01him. Actually, well, his attention being
49:03on his wife is a little bit more
49:05understandable considering the
49:06situation. Octavia is absolutely correct
49:09in her assessment that Solace tends to
49:11prioritize Blitz over her. Like in Lulu
49:13Land when in trying to take Octavia away
49:15from the conflict going on in their home
49:17life for a while, he hires Blitz to
49:19accompany them as a bodyguard. You know,
49:22the guy who is literally at the source
49:24of the marital conflict Stalles is
49:26trying to give his daughter a break
49:27from. Or in Seeing Stars, which Hot take
49:29is just Lulu Land 2. Like it has the
49:32same emotional conflict and resolution
49:34again, except a whole season apart and
49:36worse. uh when he allows himself to get
49:38sidetracked by this stupid subplot where
49:39Blitz is mistaken as a human celebrity
49:42and the two of them are dragged off to
49:43film a sitcom. Like, bro, your daughter
49:45is walking around LA all by herself,
49:47completely ignorant about how humans
49:49work and how to handle herself.
49:50Shouldn't you be more concerned about
49:52that and less concerned about rising up
49:54your ugly ass boyfriend? Dude, I hate
49:56this show. And at the end of season 2,
49:58of course, when in Mastermind, Solace
50:00steps up at the trial to defend Blitz
50:01and save him from execution. Well,
50:03that's an understandable course of
50:05action. He defends Blitz by taking
50:07responsibility for lending him the
50:08grimoire and taking his place as the
50:10guilty party with the full expectation
50:12that he is to be executed himself. Like,
50:15if he had not been spared with what was
50:16essentially a slap on the wrist, he
50:18would have died for Blitz without a
50:20second thought about how that would
50:21affect Octavia. Like, what the [ __ ] And
50:24when he realizes that his title, status,
50:26power, and money are all being stripped
50:28from him, he doesn't even try to see
50:30Octavia and talk to her after a full
50:32month of her not returning his calls.
50:34Girly Popup is 100% justified in her
50:36feelings towards him for real. And yet,
50:38the story cares about this just as
50:40little as Stalles himself seems to. Due
50:42to the writing's aggressive streak of
50:44male favoritism, Octavia's struggles are
50:46forgotten. shunt it off to the side so
50:47that the story can spend the majority of
50:49its time doing stolas apology instead of
50:51attempting to come at the conflict from
50:53a more morally gray and emotionally
50:55complex position. I think I said this in
50:57my original Hell Boss video, but I will
50:59say it again. For a show that is
51:00constantly defended from criticism of
51:02its characters behavior with the they're
51:04in hell, of course they're bad people
51:06excuse, it's very weird to me that the
51:08narrative repeatedly sidesteps nuance to
51:11justify those characters and their
51:12behavior. All in all, Octavia is an
51:14accessory to Stolas. She is his daughter
51:17first and an individual character
51:18second. Her own pain is more about him
51:21than it is about her. And her role in
51:22this story exposes what I believe to be
51:24a very telling lack of willingness to
51:26engage with female perspectives in favor
51:28of the male characters and their arcs.
51:31Speaking of the lack of willingness to
51:32engage with female perspectives due to a
51:34mixture of misogyny and male favoritism,
51:36we finally make our way to the final
51:38boss.
51:41I'm going to be real with you. This has
51:43been the most difficult part of the
51:45video to write for me. It's been on my
51:47mind for months at this point. I I just
51:49have so much to say and I want to say it
51:51in the most coherent way possible, so
51:53bear with me here. I would not be
51:55surprised if CO is hell of a boss's most
51:57polarizing character. Half of the fan
51:59base despises her and half of the fan
52:01base sings her praises and apologia. And
52:03while I understand both of these
52:05perspectives, especially the latter one,
52:07considering what this video is about,
52:09neither are as true as some of us might
52:11hope. Stella is Stolus' now ex-wife,
52:13having been betrothed to him an arranged
52:16marriage that had already been settled
52:17when the two of them were children. The
52:19two were wed in order to produce an heir
52:21to the Gisha bloodline. This being
52:23Octavia. And when the show starts,
52:25Stella and Stoulles are already on the
52:27rocks when it comes to the stability of
52:28their union. See, Stolas is a closeted
52:31gay man married to a woman that he
52:33doesn't love against his will. He has
52:35this realization about the true nature
52:36of his sexuality during a chance
52:38encounter with a childhood friend Blitz,
52:40who he sleeps with and soon begins a
52:42transactional sexual relationship with.
52:44Stella, aware of this infidelity, is
52:46angry and betrayed, taking out all her
52:48rage on Stalis and others. Most of her
52:51screen time in season 1 has her shouting
52:52obscenities at him and throwing things.
52:55At the end of the season 2 premiere, the
52:57circus, which provides background
52:58information about how Stalus and Blitz
53:00met and began their arrangement, Stella
53:02even attempts to hit him during a
53:04confrontation, but he stops her. This
53:06scene implying that this display of
53:08physical violence isn't out of the norm
53:10or surprising to him. This all in mind,
53:12I bet you can see why much of the fan
53:14base hates her. As much as I might
53:15despise him, Stoulless is a fan-
53:17favorite character, and Stella is shown
53:19to not just be a verbal and emotional
53:21abuser towards him, but a physical one
53:23as well. This is a sentiment that I
53:25agree with and why I don't vibe with the
53:27Stella is innocent crowd. I also don't
53:29like her character and I think that
53:31she's an abuser. The writing is on the
53:33wall with that one. But, and this is a
53:35big butt, Stella is not a real person.
53:38There was this tweet going around a
53:40while back that read something like,
53:41"The biggest problem with Twitter is
53:43that half of the people on it treat real
53:45people like they're fictional and
53:46fictional characters like they're real.
53:48And never have I seen a more appropriate
53:50sentiment to evoke when analyzing
53:52Stella." Stella Gatisha is not real. She
53:54does not exist in a vacuum. She is not
53:56an autonomous being capable of making
53:59her own decisions. Rather, she is a
54:01fictional character who is written by
54:02real people with their own internal
54:04biases and beliefs. Someone wrote her
54:06this way. Someone chose to characterize
54:08her the way that she is. And with that
54:10fact established and stressed, I can now
54:13say that she is written as a
54:14misogynistic caricature. One so
54:16blatantly awful and stomach turnurning
54:18that it blows my [ __ ] mind. Stella
54:21embodies a common sexist trope that
54:23you'll see in a lot of Yowi, where the
54:25two male leads are impeded from getting
54:27together because of a jealous
54:28ex-girlfriend, a [ __ ] female friend,
54:30or the like. Women that exist solely as
54:32obstacles, as objects for the audience
54:34to direct their hate towards. If you
54:37analyze the Galatia divorce conflict
54:38from Stella's perspective, there are
54:40many aspects of her story that make the
54:42whole thing not as cut and dry as the
54:44narrative likes to pretend it is.
54:46Stalles is not the only person forced
54:48into an arranged marriage that he didn't
54:50want. Stella was a child with no say as
54:52well. Also, if you think about it, who
54:55typically gets the worst position when
54:57it comes to arranged marriages anyway?
54:59Oh, that's right. Women. Stalles is
55:02shown to have a purpose, a job that he
55:04does with his grimmoire as part of his
55:05geisha status, a future beyond his
55:08marriage. Stella, on the other hand,
55:10isn't shown or even implied to have
55:12anything like that. Like all women in
55:14patriarchal arranged marriages, her job
55:16was one thing, to make babies and look
55:19pretty. A lot of people like to bring up
55:21the scene in the circus where she's
55:22lambasting Stoulless for his sexual
55:25performance, which could be an
55:26implication of sexual assault. No,
55:29Stonas is terrible in bed. I swear to
55:32[ __ ] he just lays there staring at the
55:34wall and I have to do everything. It's
55:36embarrassing. I'm glad one egg fell out
55:39of me so I could stop pretending to want
55:41to [ __ ] his scrawny twig ass. I think
55:43that it's very possible to read it as SA
55:45if you want to, but the same people also
55:47fail to mention that these two both
55:49essentially had to have sex in order to
55:52produce an heir. Neither of them having
55:53a choice in the matter. Stella was
55:55essentially married off to him to be a
55:57walking womb, having already served her
55:59purpose once she popped Octavia out of
56:01her torso. Hell, it's even said that if
56:03Stoulles were to die, she would get
56:05nothing from their divorce. It would all
56:07go to their daughter. Hence why Andre
56:08Alfus, her brother, arranges the trial
56:10and mastermind to seize control over his
56:12power and fortune. Speaking of Andre
56:14Alfus, uh just based on all his really
56:16not funny and gross comments about how
56:18hot she is, isn't it possible that
56:20Stella is a possible incest victim on
56:23top of everything else? Then her husband
56:25goes and cheats on her openly and
56:27fragrantly embarrassing her and rubbing
56:29it in everyone's faces. Not going to
56:31lie, I would be pissed, too, if I were
56:33her. And before someone brings it up, I
56:35know Stalles says that he would
56:37apologize to her for cheating if she was
56:39actually hurt, but he knows that she
56:41isn't upset. Again, this line is
56:43something that the writers included by
56:45choice, presumably in response to
56:46criticism, I would assume, to excuse and
56:48justify the cheating. Because why
56:50explore how a breaking of trust like
56:52that can deeply hurt and even traumatize
56:54someone when we instead write it off as
56:55kosher because the victim is an evil,
56:57stupid woman. I don't even think it's
57:00necessarily impossible to have Stella be
57:02an abuser in the story if that's really
57:03what the writers wanted to comment on
57:05while also making her a deeper
57:07multi-layered character. There are tons
57:09of female villains that I love who are
57:10ultimately awful people but who have
57:13reason to act the way that they do and
57:15who aren't reduced to shallow sexist
57:17stereotypes whose characterization feels
57:19like it was plucked straight out of an
57:20incel message board. Rather than
57:22attempting to tackle any sort of nuance,
57:25Hell of a Boss chooses to instead
57:26trivialize Stella's emotions. Whether
57:28out of sexist malice or simply blasé
57:31laziness, she is presented in the
57:32narrative as abusive, hysterical,
57:35annoying, stupid, and overdramatic to
57:37make Stalles appear faultless in
57:39comparison. To grant it in all the more,
57:41she's also a frequent victim of
57:43misogynistic pjoratives, like maybe more
57:45than any other character, actually. She
57:47is constantly called a [ __ ] a [ __ ] a
57:49cow. And we even get comments like this
57:51from her brother.
57:53>> You're so lucky you're attractive. You
57:57are so lucky you are hot, Stella. Your
58:01honor, speaking on behalf of my
58:04aggressively attractive sister.
58:06>> It's just so gross. Like, who the [ __ ]
58:08thought this was even remotely
58:10acceptable?
58:12Stinky. Just so stinky. I just hate it
58:15so much. I want to die. No more, please.
58:17No more. Thank god we finally finished
58:20talking about the female cast. I feel
58:22like I would shrivel up like a damn
58:23prune if I went on any longer. But
58:25before we can be allowed to roll on into
58:27the end of this [ __ ] nightmare, there
58:29is a little something that I feel is
58:30pertinent for me to address just to cap
58:33off this entire experience, this awful
58:36experience. After all, in a video about
58:38the misogyny surrounding Hell of a Boss,
58:41I believe it would be very remiss of me
58:42to forgo mention of the misogynistic
58:44undertone to a lot of the criticism that
58:46I've seen directed at the show's
58:48creator. Surprise, I have [ __ ] to say
58:50about some of you people, too.
58:56Since I last talked about The Hellverse
58:58on the channel, Vivian Madano's two
59:00shows have become hot topics to make
59:02videos on. This is not to say that they
59:04weren't popular to discuss at the time,
59:06but just that the demand for videos
59:08about Hasbin Hotel and Hell of a Boss
59:10has increased tenfold. Normally, this
59:12would be great for me. You know, I'm an
59:14artist. I draw and I like to listen to
59:16long- form video essays while I draw.
59:18Nothing's better than a good analysis
59:20hating on something that I'm also a
59:21little hater about. So, why do I bring
59:23this up? Well, let me tell you. I avoid
59:25hellaverse critique like it's [ __ ]
59:27gorrhea, dog. Especially here on
59:29YouTube. It seems like every single time
59:32I click on a video, I get promptly
59:34blindsided by some of the stinkiest
59:36misogyny that I've seen in media
59:37analysis since James Summerton was still
59:39making videos. I'm not even kidding you.
59:41Almost every hellverse analysis,
59:43especially the ones made by sis dudes,
59:45that I've tried to watch in the past few
59:47years, has a moment within it where I
59:48have to click the [ __ ] off because the
59:50homie making it has something sexist to
59:52say about the creator. This is what the
59:54kids like to call absolute stink acery.
59:57Now, just to pause for a second, my
59:58intention here is not to defend Viven
1:00:01Madano. I'm not a Viven Stan, okay?
1:00:03While a lot of the [ __ ] that people like
1:00:05to say about her sits firmly in the this
1:00:07is a ripe croc of [ __ ] territory. When
1:00:09there's this much smoke for, how long
1:00:11has it been now? Like a decade, there's
1:00:13probably fire. One allocation of
1:00:15misconduct could be a mistake. Two could
1:00:17be a coincidence, but over 20, yeah,
1:00:20there's probably something going on
1:00:22here. And before someone leaves a
1:00:23comment about it, I assure you that I am
1:00:25very aware of Vivian's, I'm gonna say,
1:00:27alleged history of transphobic comments
1:00:29made specifically about transmasculine
1:00:31and non-binary folks, I know that I am
1:00:33likely speaking up for someone who one
1:00:35doesn't know that I exist, and two, if
1:00:37they did know I exist, would not give a
1:00:39lick about me and would probably vague
1:00:40me on Blue Sky or something, lmao. But,
1:00:43and maybe this is a bit of an unpopular
1:00:44hot take, but it is true. Just because a
1:00:47marginalized person has done bad things
1:00:49or is unpleasant, it does not suddenly
1:00:51make it okay to use bigotry as a
1:00:53rhetorical tool against them. I'm being
1:00:55100% serious here. I genuinely believe
1:00:58that the online hate for the hellverse
1:01:00wouldn't be as unhinged as it is if the
1:01:02creator weren't a woman. If you think
1:01:03that Vivian Madron sucks, I would
1:01:06probably agree with you. I don't like
1:01:07her either, frankly. And I don't like
1:01:09her shows either. I mean, with Hasbin
1:01:11Hotel, I kind of have like a weird toxic
1:01:13yowi thing going on. like it's like my
1:01:14abusive spouse that I keep coming back
1:01:16to no matter how hard it hurts me. I I
1:01:18don't know why I'm like this. I would
1:01:20even say that Vivian Madrono has a bad
1:01:22habit of immaturely responding to
1:01:24criticism on her platforms with all the
1:01:26self-awareness and public relations
1:01:28skills of a sea cucumber. But none of
1:01:29that makes it suddenly hunky dory to be
1:01:32sexist towards her. I don't really care
1:01:34who you are and who you're up against.
1:01:36Bigotry is bad across the board
1:01:38regardless of its target. The way that
1:01:40some of you in the hellverse critical
1:01:42community act and talk about Vivian
1:01:44Madano in your videos is scarily
1:01:46reminiscent of like how Lily Orchard
1:01:48talked about Rebecca Sugar in her
1:01:50Trashfire Steven Universe video from
1:01:52like almost a decade ago. I'm not even
1:01:54playing. I'm going to be for real. It's
1:01:55very parasocial and weird and I don't
1:01:57like it. And it shocks me that I have to
1:01:59say this. If it was just a bunch of
1:02:00weird anti-woke right-wingers doing it,
1:02:03I'd probably just throw up my hands and
1:02:04say whatever, fork found in kitchen and
1:02:06move on. But I've seen this rhetoric
1:02:08coming from a sensibly leftist
1:02:10commentators, too. Those who are
1:02:12attempting to critique Hell of a Boss
1:02:13from a progressive lens, which gets
1:02:15really fascinating and spicy when you in
1:02:18live time get to witness the cognitive
1:02:20dissonance required to critique Hell of
1:02:21a Boss for its misogynistic writing and
1:02:23frankly dog [ __ ] female cast for it all
1:02:26to be blamed on the one woman writer on
1:02:27the team in the same breath. Oh, and
1:02:29they'll call her a [ __ ] too, just for
1:02:30good measure. You can't make this [ __ ]
1:02:32up. The level of inflammatory,
1:02:34obsessive, misogynistic hate that I've
1:02:36seen from some self-proclaimed
1:02:38progressive creators sounds like it
1:02:39comes from the mouths of straight
1:02:42frothing magat lunatics. And this is
1:02:44coming from someone who also strongly
1:02:45dislikes her bro. Like, calm the [ __ ]
1:02:47down, please. I realize that Viven is
1:02:49the creator and the director of the
1:02:51show. I get that it all gets uploaded to
1:02:53her channel and I get that she is the
1:02:55main creative, but the hyperfocus on her
1:02:57specifically is honestly so ickinducing
1:03:00that it makes me want to squirm out of
1:03:01my seat when I see it. Don't get me
1:03:03wrong, I think that it's very possible
1:03:05that she is responsible for some of the
1:03:07misogynistic writing choices. I think
1:03:09that it's likely even. But like I said
1:03:11all the way back at the beginning of the
1:03:13video, Hell of a Boss is a collaborative
1:03:15work of art. There are two other main
1:03:17writers on the team, male writers in
1:03:19fact, those being Brandon Rogers and
1:03:21Adam Nalen, and neither of them are ever
1:03:24scrutinized as heavily as Viven is for
1:03:26the misogyny present in the show. It is
1:03:28rare that I even see them directly
1:03:29addressed in a lot of critique. When
1:03:31Brandon specifically is brought up as a
1:03:33guy that exists, it's usually more about
1:03:35his vocal performance as Blitz than how
1:03:37he is as a creative. And this is with
1:03:39the fact that Brandon Rogers and Adam
1:03:41Nen by extension being that he was also
1:03:43a writer on Brandon's channel for a time
1:03:45has a notable history of sexist jokes
1:03:48and caricatures in his own comedy skits
1:03:50and videos. So why is everyone so
1:03:52fixated on Vivian Madano? Why blame her
1:03:54specifically for all the sexist rhetoric
1:03:56found in her work when she herself is
1:03:58the very type of person who that
1:03:59rhetoric negatively impacts? I ask
1:04:01facitiously, of course, because I know
1:04:03the answer. The answer is also misogyny.
1:04:06The truth of the matter is that sexism,
1:04:08misogyny, horobia, femophobia,
1:04:10womanhating, it's all part of the most
1:04:12universal prejudice. And especially
1:04:14right now when we're in a sort of
1:04:16anti-feminist epidemic brought about by
1:04:18the success of many creators like Andrew
1:04:20Tate and with our American president
1:04:22being a noted sex pest, misogyny is also
1:04:25fairly socially acceptable in the
1:04:27western cultural zeitgeist, if you want
1:04:29to call it that. And this remains the
1:04:30case even in leftist spaces,
1:04:32unfortunately. Sure, in those
1:04:34progressive spaces, it's usually a
1:04:36little bit more covert, but it's clearly
1:04:37a problem if we're getting supposedly
1:04:39left-wing and liberal men calling women
1:04:42[ __ ] and [ __ ] harassing them,
1:04:43degrading their interests as being
1:04:45stupid and frivolous, deriding their
1:04:46intelligence and appearances, and in
1:04:48Vivian's case, even sexualizing
1:04:50everything that they do and making
1:04:52really gross, invasive comments about
1:04:54what they like to masturbate to and what
1:04:56their sex life looks like. No, I'm not
1:04:58kidding. That has happened to her
1:04:59multiple times that I have seen with my
1:05:01own eyes. I don't want to name names
1:05:03directly because I really don't want to
1:05:05start some sort of stupid drama with
1:05:07some ass cracker. But there was an event
1:05:09recently where someone thought it was
1:05:11somehow appropriate to quote unquote
1:05:14redesign an outfit that Viven was
1:05:16wearing herself, like in her red carpet
1:05:18photos. And then there was another
1:05:20incident in which a YouTuber known for
1:05:22criticizing the hellverse encouraged his
1:05:24fans to make hateful wjack-esque
1:05:26caricatures of her based on a picture of
1:05:28her. What the [ __ ] This is genuinely
1:05:30deranged behavior. I hello. And before
1:05:33some dumbass could open their mouth to
1:05:35say it, brother. Tactical misogyny not
1:05:38real. Being bigoted in response to
1:05:40bigotry is not what # darkwoke is.
1:05:43You're just unironically doing the
1:05:45thing. If you actually give a single
1:05:47solitary flying, frosted, fergalicious
1:05:49flamingo about social justice, then do
1:05:52not add to the problem. No. Doy. And
1:05:55this is not to say that marginalized
1:05:57people can't be criticized. This is not
1:05:59to say that Vivian Madano is above being
1:06:01criticized. If anything, it's the
1:06:03opposite. You can and frankly should
1:06:05criticize her and other people if there
1:06:06is something worthy of calling them out
1:06:08for, but I am tired of people using the
1:06:11guise of progressive leftist critique as
1:06:13a way to shield themselves from backlash
1:06:15for being bigoted little goblins in
1:06:17their own right. In short, being
1:06:19misogynistic towards cartoon women may
1:06:21be bad, but being misogynistic to real
1:06:23women, even if they suck, is worse.
1:06:26Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
1:06:28Dear [ __ ] Lord, that was a long
1:06:30section. I am so sorry. But considering
1:06:32how well my last video about Hell of a
1:06:34Boss did and how well videos about the
1:06:36Hellverse in general are doing lately, I
1:06:38feel like it would be irresponsible and
1:06:40even negligent of me not to take some
1:06:42time to make this point in a video that
1:06:43is literally about misogyny in the
1:06:45Hellaverse. Because man, people are way
1:06:47too comfortable being openly awful these
1:06:49days.
1:06:51And with that spark of rage, this is
1:06:53going to do it for this video. A bit of
1:06:55a harsh note to end on, I know, but I
1:06:57really think that it needed to be said.
1:06:59I want to take a moment to remind
1:07:01everyone that if you happen to be a fan
1:07:03of Hell of a Boss or if you are involved
1:07:05in the show in some sort of way, then
1:07:06that's completely fine. Like I said
1:07:08during the opening disclaimers, the
1:07:10point of the video isn't to accuse
1:07:12anyone of anything in particular or to
1:07:14ruin something that you care about and
1:07:15have invested a lot of emotional energy
1:07:17and time in. I can also say openly that
1:07:20I know that a YouTube cartoon or I guess
1:07:22a prime video cartoon now having poorly
1:07:24written female characters and a lot of
1:07:26sexist jokes is not the end of the
1:07:28world. Nor is it the most important
1:07:30political issue facing modern society
1:07:32today. That would be stupid. That being
1:07:34said, we are all able to advocate for
1:07:36things that we care about, no matter how
1:07:38small the ways we choose to tackle them
1:07:40might seem from the outside. And in my
1:07:42case, I genuinely care about misogyny
1:07:44and how it impacts the world that we
1:07:46live in and the communities that we are
1:07:48a part of. I might be physically
1:07:49transitioning to manhood, but as of
1:07:51right now, I don't pass, which is
1:07:53probably very evident in the way that I
1:07:55sound. I still remain the target of
1:07:57misogyny and transphobia in much of my
1:07:59everyday life. And even when or if I
1:08:02ever reach a place where I am able to
1:08:03fully present as a cisgender man, I will
1:08:06never forget what it was like to be
1:08:07treated like garbage, to be harassed,
1:08:09and to be belittled for being born
1:08:11female. I have no delusions that this
1:08:13video will suddenly vaporize the sexism
1:08:15and femophobia so normalized in the
1:08:17queer hellverse commentary sphere or the
1:08:19fandom sphere, much less the larger
1:08:21commentary or fandom community umbrellas
1:08:23that these spaces exist under. As much
1:08:25as that would be great, it's also silly
1:08:27to hope for that. But on the off chance
1:08:29that the algorithm gods decide to bless
1:08:31this video, it would be very cool if it
1:08:33could encourage some people to maybe
1:08:35think more deeply about the things that
1:08:37they say and how they affect people.
1:08:39Because as we covered in regards to how
1:08:41people treat Vivian Madrono or use the
1:08:43B- word to subjugate people, this stuff
1:08:45is bigger than a cartoon. It might start
1:08:47there for some people, but if left
1:08:49unressed, it can easily [clears throat]
1:08:50seep into how we treat other human
1:08:52beings, intentionally or not. And that
1:08:54[ __ ] sucks. I don't want to see it
1:08:56brushed off and excused as normal,
1:08:58appropriate, or okay anymore. Thank you
1:09:01all for making it to the end of this
1:09:02video, especially if you're a fan of the
1:09:04hellverse. Like, damn, you are a real
1:09:06one. It's great to be critical of the
1:09:08media that we care about. That's
1:09:09awesome. And if you have any thoughts of
1:09:10your own, feel free to share them down
1:09:12in the comments below. Just try to be
1:09:14nice to each other. God bless. This
1:09:16video will likely be demonetized
1:09:18considering the heaviness of the subject
1:09:20matter and all the swearing, but we can
1:09:22cross our fingers, chat. I'm going to
1:09:24try. Even so, I'm considering making a
1:09:26Patreon or something down the line so I
1:09:28can still, you know, live maybe make
1:09:30some dough for my hard work, you know.
1:09:32As for right now, if you feel the
1:09:34inclination to support me, I have a Kofi
1:09:36and other social media where you can
1:09:38follow me if you want. Wink wink. I also
1:09:40drew the thumbnail to this video. Uh,
1:09:42and if you like it, maybe uh you would
1:09:44want to commission me for some art.
1:09:45Tehe, my commissions are always open, so
1:09:48just just just message me. Yeah. Okay.
1:09:50Shameless self-promo out of the way. I
1:09:53hope you all have a great rest of your
1:09:55day and thank you all again for
1:09:56watching. Bye.

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