I think Viktor didn't have issue with his physical disability until he became terminally ill, in which point he began seeing his disability as a proxy of his mortality and even humanity - and "ran" to escape it. Arcane gave an external source for this disgust embedded within Viktor - first the ableism surrounding him, both in Piltover where they actively look down on him and in Zaun where we see how important physical mobility is to everyday life and he's literally left behind, and then Singed showing him how far humanity can be twisted *before* he became disabled(and his character didn't change) and therefore making him vow off of it. Throughout Act 3 and Season 2, Viktor is torn between embracing him humanity, disability and mortality as a package deal, and running away from it in this "Glorious Evolution". It's tragic in the same way Powder triumphant falling off from the monkey bomb's backlash is, because Viktor did choose humanity repeatedly. After he changes his mind and asks Jayce to pull the plug, Jayce throws him into the Core in a desperate bid to save his life. After realizing he's still dying and his community would die with him unless he steals Warwick's blood, he chooses to restore Vander's humanity no matter the cost, until a brush with death and Singed's intervention change his mind.
As someone who has a physical disability and has used a wheelchair since I was 4, I loved Viktor when I first saw him in Act 1 and continued to love the portrayal of his disability up until that one running scene. It left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Not helped by all the comments/posts/videos I've seen praising that scene for how beautiful it is (which it is). I understand what they were trying to achieve, but it just plays into so many worn out and harmful tropes. I haven't really properly formulated my thoughts about season 2 yet. But the one thing I will say is that I liked how Viktor kept using a cane/staff even after going full glorious evolution mode. This was a good video btw
My thoughts exactly - literally, exactly. I was holding on for dear life until the running scene, then I had to throw in the towel. They somehow skirted around all the tropes until the writers then decided to slam my face into one of the worst, most overused tropes in media - disabled inspo porn. And there’s no argument that it wasn’t meant to evoke pity, inspiration, triumph over disability - the music, the framing - the fact the characters’ plot now mainly progressed solely due to his disability - everything points to a huge oversight of the obvious. I can also tell you why I haven’t formulated my thoughts on S2 Victor - he is a barely a character. He had no personality. Maybe I’ll be less harsh after a rewatch but I was genuinely asking how I’m supposed to critique a character when there isn’t one anymore - Now I’m just trying to critique themes of his sequences.
I think that you missed a really big detail where in the central narrative for victor him fixing his leg is NOT a good thing. In s2 we see that he is striving to be perfect and eliminate “imperfections” and this is wrong- the show in my opinion makes this VERY clear. The scene of him running may have been triumphant for him personally, but in the broader story I feel it was trying to show how much he’s changed. He goes from the s1 act 1 “perfect representation” of being okay with his disability, to disliking his disability and trying to “cure” it. His attitude towards his own disability and imperfection is meant to mirror that at which he harbors towards humanity. Our human emotions (flaws) make our problems and pain, but they also make us- us. The show is saying that what makes us imperfect makes us human and unique, so when viktor tries to cure his disability, he’s also removing a part of himself. (Basically, the show is making a point to say that while disability may be a flaw, it does make us human- and there’s beauty to be found in that, in our imperfections.))
i also feel as though the fact that this is directly caused by the government letting people get sick is overlooked a little. which is also a real thing that happens. people get sick, get disease or disabilities bc of their government failing them ALL the time in real and it happens in arcane, too. it's just another means of oppression
So we should not cure cancer, because it is part of ourselves. Hypertension, diabetes, do not take medication, becuase it is part of yourself. This show is just stupid. Desire to improve your owwn quality of life, to correct life changing imperfections is natural quality of every human being, that is not mentally ill.
Hello! Thank you for commenting! I did write this before s2 premiered, and I wanted to focus on the arcs that were happening in s1, and how that season focused on disabilities, and I really like some of how the story ended in the final episode of the series. I like Jayce's speech and how their stories concluded. However, like I mentioned in the video, Viktor's opinion on his disability is not really clear in season one (and I would argue s2 as well). We only get confirmation that he saw his disability as a "weakness" in that final speech. Jayce also said that Viktor's terminal illness was seen as a weakness by him. It's quite weird to equate one's opinion on their disabilities to being actively dying, and say that it was wrong for Viktor to try to save his life with the hexcore--which is what he was trying to do in Season 1 before Act 3. All in all, I love that the ending was about acceptance, beauty in imperfections, and the connection that Jayce and Viktor had, but I wish those themes were set up from the first season, to make that ending more cohesive in the overall story-line.
a bit from a video essay I'm working on: "After that point, Viktor is gone. He injects the shimmer variant onto his disabled leg, and it changes his DNA to the very core. Next time we see him, he’s at the bridge, dropping his crutch, and leaving it behind to leap like he hasn’t been able to do. He lets go of his identity as a disabled man and gets a taste of how things are on the other side. He screams in catharsis, feeling every time he felt trapped by his limitations piling up. A lot of people see this moment as a victory, but there is a very clear tragedy hidden underneath. The leg isn’t cured, it’s corrupted. It’s not Viktor." Please remember the bridge scene is the moment where Viktor can't go back and what leads to him destroying his body AND sky's death. It's not a good thing, but it also highlights that sometimes we just don't love our disability and want an ablebodied body, that's why Viktor screams in frustration. That does not mean the bridge scene is positive. It is a catalyst for things getting worse. The moment Viktor detached himself from his identity as a disabled man, he completely lost himself. Viktor and his disability are inherently connected, are one, Jayce says so himself in the finale. So it's part of the actual text of the show that Viktor "curing" his leg wasn't the right thing to do.
and even if season two wasn't here, it's obvious at least to me that the bridge scene isn't positive given literally everything that happens after the fact.
Would definitely like to see a follow up to this video considering where season 2 took his character. I dont think the show was confused, though. He was going to die, and so he started looking for a cure. He got lost along the way, and... yeah. Now his goal has been shifted into something much, much bigger, and we have more explanation towards sickness and magic. I'd love to see your opinion on his light form (im not quite sure what to call it. Basically, when hes in his head) if you have any at all. Ive seen people praise him in S2 for still using the cane/staff despite his change in appearance, but i've also seen some criticism.
Thank you for commenting! I liked where the story concluded, though I believe the setup for it in the earlier show was a tad bit weak; if it was supposed to be about beauty in imperfections, Jayce and Viktor's companionship, and acceptance of oneself, character motivations and Viktor's opinion on his disability should've been made clearer from s1, and not just a line at the end where Jayce says that Viktor say his disability as a weakness. I am planning to do a follow up that looks at the whole show more thoroughly and really break it down to it's foundations so we can map out the storytelling in a clear light.
It clearly shows Viktor’s ideas about himself and the world affected him negatively. We had multiple conversations with Heimerdinger talking about how people spend their time, and then we saw Viktor out there doing stuff always with the attitude that he has less inherent value than others (connecting it to the whole sacrifice and lack of self preservation thing). Part of the reason he started his downfall is his internalized ableism, and then we get symbolic references to the broken healer or whatever amongst the other interpretations of the themes of his arc. Spoilers below It’s a tragedy in the literary sense. Not one messed-up character fixed their issues and got the happy ending we maybe knew we wouldn’t get but still hoped for. Every therapist must be agonizing at seeing Jinx start to recover *TWICE* just to get punched in the guts shortly after both times. It even ended with the same song we saw in her previous scene! Maybe it didn’t end up exactly how the writers wanted (perhaps missing Ekko x Jinx dialogue) but it probably wouldn’t have ended with a hopeful-for-recovery message either way (she offed herself anyway or perhaps left everyone). I mean, Ekko also was offered a magical solution to his problems and decided to get back to his reality anyway. Vander got resurrected multiple times. In a sense, Viktor’s is the only one that ended with the concerning “healed his disability” element to his arc but I don’t see that as forcing his disability away, I see that as the fundamental part of the personalization of his arc: “why did he do all this?” In a response to another comment, you mentioned his interactions with Jayce and his illness. I thought it was implied his disability was connected to his illness (developmental impairment, degenerative disease or smth), but maybe I’m wrong about that. Viktor never spoke out about using the hex core to cure his disability, he just did it. Jayce mentioned using it to cure him but he was thinking about his illness, not his leg; but Viktor, while talking about saving lives and fixing the people of Zaun, was secretly thinking about his “weaknesses”; he indeed does not make it blatantly obvious what he thinks, but we can figure it out, specially after we saw him start fixing his leg first. I think your characterization of him is just a misreading, you’re conflating his mask with his inner thoughts, and his words (“simply believed in myself”) with his complex feelings (he’s still haunted by those feelings he had as a child)(no offense but, ngl the whole “everyone’s actually pretty simple” is also superficial observation, but ik not everyone will obsess over every single thing in the show lol). We can even point to Ekko’s alternate timeline, to Claggor’s method of dealing with the gases in the fissures, to see a different approach from Viktor’s. Claggor talks about a hybrid that feeds off the gases and could purify the air, but the prototype he has with him doesn’t grow enough “unless we plant a million of them”. It clearly contrasts to how Viktor sees problems and solutions. Viktor (initially) wanted to fix himself immediately, and the whole “purify the air” thing -that could help with the exact problem that he had and was vocally concerned about (even tied to the “senseless suffering” and “senseless waste”)- never crossed his mind. It ties in perfectly with the themes of technology and nature at every level (ffs Claggor’s solution was literally integrating nature, while everyone else was using alchemy, technology or magic in different ways or for different reasons). Also, at 16:55 isn’t that literally the point lol? He’s making mistakes isolated. That’s shown when Sky shows up and is surprised at whatever tf boy’s doing to himself. And finally, not everything characters say are necessarily meant to be taken at face value. S2 Viktor preaches a bit about and human nature, there we see some of the show’s themes but we also see how Viktor’s wrong about it (again, it’s a Tragedy 🎭), the show doesn’t necessarily argue that his observation is true or not, the plainly stated stuff is intentionally vague or, at the very least, intentionally broad. Could you argue the series has negative messages because obviously awful actions didn’t get punished and only “bad characters” got good endings? I don’t _think_ it’s meant to have clear messages like that. Hence the fate of the characters or the route their stories take isn’t necessarily the first message they want us to take away.
"Every therapist must be agonizing at seeing Jinx start to recover TWICE just to get punched in the guts shortly after both times." Yes! For real, imagine trying to make Jinx understand she's not cursed while those things happen 💀
I personally suspect that at least in regards to the writers of the script there wasn’t any intentionality behind Viktor’s season 1 act 1 representation, as it’s clear when looking at the story as a whole his disability always existed to be an allegory to act in service the cautionary tale about scientistic progress as well as give narrative justification for his body augmentations. I believe this was just obfuscated from first time viewers due to the fact the inciting incident for his plotline hadn’t yet begun, likewise that, in spite of the writer’s intentions or lack there of, whoever the lead character animation director was for Viktor did a phenomenal job at researching how to accurately depict a physically disabled person and the use of a walking aide. When it comes to media analysis there’s a tendency to attribute everything to the writers when the final product is always an accumulation of the input of so many different people, it’s never truly one person’s vision, so sometimes the animators are really to credit, especially if you can see discrepancies in the level of care for representation, such as the good rep being very “visual” whilst proper rep is absent from the narrative itself. The way season 2 mishandled the topic of su*cide is another strong indicator the writers were not careful or considerate with a lot of the subject matter their story touched on, inclusive of disability rep. Honestly, the writers would’ve greatly benefited from hiring a sensitivity consultant who could’ve pointed these problems out during preproduction.
Great comment ! From what I understood from interviews, there were many writters on the show tho, it is sad they didn't hire someone specialised in these topics. The suicide scenes in s2 are... hard to follow ? I don't know very well suicide in general, I just know it might hurt people and push them to commit one if they are desperate. Jinx very clearly idealizes suicide as a mean to end 'everyone's suffering' or something like that. This representation in media should probably be shown with clear intentions, clear indications, or clear narrative development, leading the viewer to understand suicide is never a good solution. I think they didn't messed it up too hard in Arcane, but I still think the de-dramatization with Ekko was... feeling weird ? I really don't know how to feel about this scene, because it de-dramatized, I even found it a bit funny, but is it really what should be done ? Showing someone rewinding time to save someone else from suicide funny ? I have no answers, and there is probably no good ones, but a suicide scene well handeled could save a life, where a one poorly executed could kill someone so it seems important writters give it some thoughts.
“Disability as an allegory for poor, oppressed pitiful people” Congrats you landed on one of the five tropes disabled characters are allowed. 😂 Honestly, the writers didn’t have the chops to pull Viktor off. They relied on tropes as a crutch. (Get it, crutch?) At first they subverted the “cripple genius” by making Jayce just as smart. They didn’t have Viktor be a vengeful cripple because he was disabled by Piltover; he was fine with helping them along with himself. He wasn’t a villian. But then the inspiration porn running scene…Okay. I want the writers to tell me what I was supposed to feel when watching that. And then, Viktor’s entire plot was solely progressed by the fact he was going to die in a month. Fell right into the trope of making the disabled character have their entire story be centered around the fact they are disabled and ill. This isn’t just a ‘social justice’ thing - it genuinely makes the story weaker. The writers rely on the fear and fascination of disability as a driving emotional force - and then added the fact he was going to die in a couple weeks. It’s a very easy way to garner the sympathy and investment of the audience. “Of course I would endanger people with the hexcore and inject myself with shimmer and decide to mingle with an evil scientist! I don’t want to be disabled! I don’t want to die!” Yes we see it was a bad idea, but the fact that this was his plot made Viktor have the least agency out of the entire cast, and it didn’t have to be that way. They could have had him get infused with hexcore/shimmer nonsense after something he was making to protect Zaun blows up. It didn’t HAVE to be him curing himself. They could have him be terminal, but make it so it’s further in the future so it doesn’t become the immediate plot. Viktor didn’t have to be an allegory. The show didn’t need it. But if it had to be there, it could have been done better. Thread the needle if you want to play with tropes. Also as a final note, they should have thrown a couple disabled people into Piltover. There’s so many characters in this damn show, and it would be realistic to have disabled characters in Piltover. They could have shown how wealth and good infrastructure can accommodate disabilities seamlessly while the oppressed undercity has poor infrastructure and people die because of it, on top of them being gassed. THERE’S AN ALLEGORY FOR YA! I always thought Caitlyn’s mom would be a good candidate for being a wheelchair lady - she likes guns, good weapon for chair users. Those steps in front of the mansion could be a rich asshole ramp with tile work. She would transfer to the council chair and have a butler taker her wheelchair away because he’s got a whole staff at beck and call. I said my four and a half cents.
19:00 I think the reason Viktor was the one to suddenly unlock the hexcore’s magic and why had that vision is because it is implied that the hexcore works with blood. Nobody had bled around it the core until Viktor coughed up blood on that railing. Him being in the powerhouse of it is probably what triggered that really strong reaction and created the mental link that drove his actions/mindset going forward.
Thank you for making this. The video is well done and incredibly important. Because Arcane is not a case of outright bigotry and not so much passive aggressive prejudice (however flawed it's portrayal of disability is, Arcane's narrative still presents deep empathy for most of its disabled characters) it becomes a lot harder to critique. And I think you managed to do so soundly. Now with praises for you valuable work out of the way I want to expand on something you touched briefly in the video: the use of sci-fi technology or magic to accommodate disabilities. Your analysis relies on examination of narrative focus (why when experimenting with hexcore said focus shifts from Viktor trying to save his life from a terminal illness to him "curing" his leg? Do writers want you to equate the two? Etc.) except for this particular part. While I understand (and fully agree) that "kickass prosthetics that let you punch real hard" are obviously unrealistic I would argue that it's the matter of presentation rather than their existence that matters. The argument of "this disability accomodation makes it appear as if a character isn't disabled at all" borders on "well, this character isn't suffering enough to be considered disabled" mentality which is this insidious flavour of ableism that can hide behind otherwise good reasoning. You yourself describe it and disagree with it here 00:39 - 00:57 (imposter syndrome and whether you "truly needed" a cane), and here 10:35 - 11:49. So I will stand by the conviction that you can have a good portrayal of a disabled character with a "cool" si-fi-esque prosthetic like Sevika. Does she have phantom pain/sensations? What maintenance does her prosthetic arm need? Is it comfortable to wear in day-to-day life or is it a "fight prosthetic"? Does her prosthetic require shimmer to function this good in a fight/function at all (which would essentially mean Sevika has to use drugs regardless if she wants to or not)? What materials is it made from, how hard is it to get them and are they 100 % safe for your body? Does she have chronic pain because of the amputation (residual limb pain)? Etc. This is only a handful of questions I think if explored properly would make her more realistic even with a prosthetic "out of this world". Not to mention you can also have an amputee character who doesn't have access to this sort of technology and has to settle for a prosthetic similar to the ones we use in our world (or maybe they can't get a prosthetic at all). This way we can have a commentary on socioeconomic aspect of disability. Did Arcane writers do it? No. But this doesn't mean it can't be done right Imo. Alright, this comment is already ridiculously long it's time to shut up. Feel free to disagree, truth is found in discourse after all. Also let me know if any of what I've written sounds a bit nonsensical, I tried, but English isn't my first language. Have a good day/night everyone.
I made a previous comment. But with this one I’d like to specify that I do have grievances with the writing of Arcane. As a person with psychosis, or as I like to call “A Blooming Skull”, I do not fw how they treated Jinx in season 2. They held their hands back and failed to give the unmistakable respect she deserves. So I understand that you’ll have stronger opinions about Viktor from the perspective of mobility issues. I connected with Viktor on his troubling observations of human nature, including what I thought were very much comments on his own self, and how that lead him to the paradoxical conclusion he decided upon.
17:45 I thought Heimer was implied to be responding like this due to his previous experiences (PTSD). And Viktor’s “corruption” here is not as vague as you imply, but it _is_ only made clear on S2 once he’s further into it (but it was there all along, he’s got a whole flashback! you barely read into that). I honestly don’t understand what you said about Viktor being the only character like this we see. Following this logic why is Jinx the only severely troubled character we see if hundreds of people in the under-city are probably dealt the same cards and end up better/worse? They’re personal stories, they give hints of larger phenomenons while following these specific people because they’re relevant to *this* story. The whole “it could be any of us” thing or smth. This sounds like a pet peeve
Really well-done video! I feel a little ridiculous for not realizing that Victor 'curing' his leg with the hexcore didnt really make sense if his motivation was to cure his disease/not die - I absolutely fell into the trap of thinking of them interchangeably, and when you pointed that out it felt like a lot of things clicked into place. I agreed with everything you were saying at the end about s2 as well (especially with Iisha, I need my friends to finally watch s2 so I can monologue about her lol). I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on s2 Viktor and the ending, it felt to me like they tried to retroactively say how Viktor feels about his disability without actually having scenes that show it, but I know I've seen a lot of people say that the ending really resonated with them
Hey hello ! That's maybe asking for a lot, but, why does people don't like Isha ? did I miss something ? Narratively speaking, she is really important, and the only thing that I could reproche the show about her is her lack of screentime. But for me, it felt like enough, at least enough to have tears in my eyes at the end of s2 ep6. So, could you explain me what is done poorly with her character ? Thank you in advance if you take the time to answer !
It does make sense though, the leg is basically a test run (just realized that's very literal/a pun in this case, not intentional). If you're trying out weird experimental magic-technology for the first time you wouldn't want to test it on your lungs bc if it it would go wrong you'd probably die. If the experiment with the leg goes wrong it wouldn't be so bad in comparison
@@bpie_ef3967 hmm I cant speak for other people. What I was quite angry about with Isha was how, in the story, she soleley existed to, in her death, hurt Jinx. They didnt give her goals, or much agency that was not solely related to Jinx. And when she dies SHE IS BASICLY IGNORED. She is not mentioned afterwards, hell Riktus (Ambessas Bodyguard) gets a funeral, and Isha just vanishes. I think that was a textbook case of unempathetic fridging. And absolutely, she is just such a lovable character, her death was DEVESTATING to me, but how she was treated by the story and the writers was cruel and disrespectfull. Does that make sense?
@sportenapfeltorten2095 yeah it does make sense. Personally after I watched Schnee's video about Jinx in s2 acts1 and 2, I think I understood better her place in the narrative. It is a shame she existed to die, but also I don't think she was entirely devoided of goals. She wanted Jinx to be a hero, she also impersonated her to give some hope to Zaun's people. I understand that she might be seen as a "child" in the fridge character, but also I am really thinking she is more than that. Her goals revolve around Jinx but it is kinda logical, it's like how Powder's goal revolved around Vi as a child (and Isha has many parallels to Powder). Now maybe the problem revolves in her screentime or mutisme. I'd say it was harder for me to find her a personality because she does not speak (at least at first watch). That's a shame but what I was basing most of my analysis on to find a character's personality was the speach. I got more aware of her behavior and noneverbal communication when I rewatched it, and even without being good at this type of analysis, I found her character to be interesting when given a closer look. No what really was a problem imo was her screentime. She had her moments even before she blew up, and I was attached to her character, but not enough. And her death, even if obvious, could have been more impactfull if we had spent more time with her. But maybe I am dumb and she is just poorly written too. I really can't say x). All I know is that she was neat but I didn't cry and I am sad I didn't cry. So yeah I think I understand why people are mad she looks like a "child" in the fridge. Its a shame the writters could not made her more than that in the eyes of many fan :/ Ps: I think the main problem is that she came out of nowhere and people weren't expecting her to survive. She kinda had to die for Jinx character development to get all over the place. Arcane was often pretty obvious in S1, but the way to the scene everyone predicted was always somehow surprising, or the even the scene we were expecting had characters we didn't expect in them. It made the right mix between satisfying expectations while creating surprise. Isha was a surprise but as soon as she hit the screen I think most people could guess the ending of the arc, but also the big lines of the path to go to it. So I guess she felt from the moment she appeared on screen to the moment she died like a "child in the fridge"
Thank you for the video. It's a great and thorough commentary on disabilities in the show and honestly it should have more views. Some counterarguments though, if I may. Like you said, it's a really compact story with way too many main characters and plot points. That also means it does not live in a vacuum. You mentioned that Viktor pointed out how he overcame a prejudice of his disability but also his background. Undercity means so much to him that I always just intuitively thought that was the main drive for his actions. The scene of him running is actually only scene of his later actions painted in a positive light. And it describes his own feelings, not the problematic side of this. He feels ecstatic not only for himself, but because he may have made a difference in the world and in his eyes this could help his people. He lamented about this to Haimerdinger. His breakthroughs aren't only internal but mainly external. At least that's what I got from it. Like you said, there isn't much time to build every single character so who knows. Second point IS the class itself. Having undercity have much more disabled characters is logical based on their environment. Having those characters be more antagonistic also makes sense, because everyone knows that minorities have to deal with much more shit which often makes them think they must act tough or even brutal sometimes. They are convinced they don't have the priviledge of being kind. But also, I thought that undercity citizens were painted with much more empathy than rich people in Piltover. I liked Silco and empathised with him much more than the pricks from the council and I regarded them more as villains (if there is such a thing in arcane). Arcane also used their disability to flip the narrative. These are people who stereotypically look like villains (awful to use disabilities for it i know) and they do some awful things, but they are the underdog, we are supposed to root for them. But overall I agree with all your points, just adding some nuance. Looking forward for more videos.
Awesome video!! I especially love how much you were able to break down Arcane's failures in pacing character development through the lens of Viktor and his disability and illness. He's my fave character by far, but there's so much going on in the show that I think Viktor especially really suffers from his lack of screen time, and the narrative forces us to make a lot of assumptions about him retroactively to the detriment of his portrayal as a disabled person. This whole video was extremely well said, can't wait to hear more of your thoughts on the show as a whole!
Thankyou so much for this video! I was actually googling for analysis of Viktor's disability in Arcane to learn more about this kind of thing, and your video is the most thorough analysis I've found Coming from a collaborative creative background, I have a suspicion. It's possible they had the vision of that "Boat comparison" (Chasing and then outrunning), and their attachment to that idea got in the way of handling things better Like you say Viktor's "fixing" of his leg does seem to come out of nowhere to an extent It feels like they either re-wrote Viktor at some point and those scenes had to be kept in, or they were added in to make that visual work, and in either case Viktor's disability being handled well was secondary in that moment Sometimes big collaborative projects like this can get muddled, and I'd bet there are people involved who were also unhappy with how that moment was handled Thankyou for the insight!
How I saw the scene in S1 E8 of him breaking into a run is that it was more of a subversion to me. At the start of the scene Viktor is simply following the scientific method, he performed the experiment and now he's testing the hypothesis, the thing is though that it's centered around something deeply personal. The scene starts off slow with Viktor taking steps cautiously, after he realises that his ailment is magically gone he loses sense and all his desperation and suppressed emotions lead to him in the next scene carving the runes all over his body to see if he can "cure" himself entirely. Secondly the Hex core is clearly a sinister force and the show didn't dance around this at all prior or after. (obviously) Yes, the scene is triumphant and emotional but it's about how the character is feeling in that moment, it's not about him suddenly being better and that being a cause for celebration, the audience is scared of the Hex core. That was just my interpretation though. (Also... defending this show after season two character assassinated Viktor pains me... The first season was mature and complex and it dropped the ball so hard.)
I think this video's very well done! You managed to put into words a lot of the discomfort i didn't know how to voice around how arcane dealt with its disabled characters and how they were weaved into the story. I've seen in your replies to other comments that you're planning to do a video on s2, so I'll be looking forward to that and to more video essays from you!
17:41 exactly… he WAS tired and dying, now he’s all energized and optimistic (that’s what changed because of the magic) Not the face of someone being corrupted by malicious magic? The road to hell feels like heaven, the road to heaven feels like hell. The hexcore is a demon disguised as an angel, granting all wishes in exchange for oh… I don’t know, maybe a little thing you wouldn’t even miss if it were gone like… human souls? Without the addition of Shimmer the hexcore takes Sky completely away from the physical realm, when it heals people of their physical wounds it destroys their mental/spiritual body in exchange… clearly it’s not a purely good thing to inject shimmer and mess with magic, even if in the short term it makes you feel strong or manic instead of weak or depressed
I think the "Victor is dying" thing was less the goal and more a spur to Victor's existing ambitions about helping others. When Heimerdinger asks "you've changed, what did you do?" I think it's precisely because Victor *is* looking so much better, and the Hexcore has done stuff to his blood and body that's improving his overall health. When it "punishes" him for trying to destroy it, he goes back downhill, rapidly, grey skin and darkened eyes. I think you're right on the money where much of Arcane's exposition is delivered through implication, and I think it's a weakness here because of how unclear it is. I suppose they had to keep it vague so that Victor's work isn't immediately criminalised. I'd felt a bit uncomfortable about the "red right hand" trope with Victor and Silco too, thanks very much for exploring and explaining with such skill.
I'm definitely interested in your take of season 2! I had a lot of similar thoughts/feelings about the first season of arcane, but I think I overall came away a bit more positive, probably because I was expecting way worse. The bar on disability representation is so low, lol. I think one of the things that made me look more fondly on this show is that it is a adaption of the game. The LoL game is so trope-y on it's character design, and it leans heavily on the disability=evil language. So when Arcane took those same characters and said, actually, they are people! With feelings! Also, a lot of their disabilities are worsened/caused by the structurally inequalities of the state, I was impressed. It was interesting seeing the reaction to that Victor scene online. The first time I watched it, I was like, "oh no, he's messing up." Like, I straight up didn't interpret it as inspiring or whatever. IDK if this was intended, but since Victor is running toward the right of the screen, I was interpreting it as he had lost his way, like he was running away from his original goal. But, it might just be me coping, lol. There are a lot of positive/progressive readings of the show, but since it's not all explicitly stated, it can be overlooked, or interpreted in another way. So, that's a bit disappointing.
I essentially took what you said was the logical interpretation of the leg fixing. Viktor more or less has 3 obvious options; his leg, spine and lungs. If the experiment fails or goes horribly wrong as he has no idea what he's doing, he can survive without the leg not so much the lungs or spine. But you have a point that it all gets muddy without dialog or explanations and then the resulting actions. I think the fundamental issue with the way they present the show is a deepseeded fear or inability to show Piltover for what it is, an Oppressor. Lowkey, Piltover itself should've been the final boss, but they can't do that because those guys are supposed to be the heroes. It turns it all into a mess. Though, in hindsight, I suppose it is heartening possibly that Viktor is The Most Important Character for the entire plot 😅.
That's a very good video. I am kinda sad my fav show is flawed, but I guess nothing is perfect ughhh. I kinda think S2 is great and has a better rythm than s1 (at least I am way more addict to watching s2 than s1), but like, it also feels even more rushed in its character development than s1 did... I think Viktor wasn't bad in s2. But. He feels like an entirely different character than in s1. His whole commun thing is portrayed as bad overall, like some kind of hive mind society that so slightly stripes people of their personalities, that it is scary. But yeah, he basically heals people's addictions and disabilities ? I could probably read that as him considering he "healed" himself, so now he wants to "heal" others the same way, but doing that he subjugates them to the corrupting power of the Hexcore, so like, it is weird because he also wanted to destroy the Hexcore prior to his transformation, AND he is ressentfull toward Jayce not to have done it after it saved him ? So like, he didn't want to be saved from death by it, and now he is using this power he feared to help people.... that's a real headach. And also he is a confirmed eugenist now ("humanity will suplant nature blah blah"), and overall it acknowledge he was wrong in the end, but his character is really weird in s2. Anyway. This show is a mess, and I love it nonetheless. Ps: i kinda disagree about what said in the end credit, and I kinda ranted about it here, but I think your analyse for Viktor's character in s1 is really interesting. I didn't really spot the subterfuge of characters traits and disabilitied being used as plot device rather than human attributes. I think it shines particularly well with Jinx's treatment of her mental troubles. The more I watch s1 the more I feel like it is weird how she went from being very mentally unstable to totally stable in s2 *by killing her adoptive father* ??? (And I love her in s2, but the transition just feels rushed). Anyway. Pss : From what I understood, Viktor didn't spend 7 months in transformation, he build his commune during the 7 months gap between arc 1 and 2. He only spend a few days in it. I love timelines :) ANYWAY man this text is a mess going in many directions with no real conclusion to any of them, sorry ig :)
I think Viktor acquired a savior complex after discovering he could heal people. One of the reasons he wanted Jayce to destroy the hexcore was "It killed Sky, Jayce" as he says in episode 2. But after seeing she's with him ethereally in the undercity, he probably forgives the hexcore and himself a bit. Also, the hexcore itself is probably changing him and his mind, kinda like the one ring from Lord of The Rings. Lastly, describing Jinx as "totally stable" in s2 is pretty inaccurate. She wants Vi to kill her in episode 3, she almost has a mental breakdown in episode 4 after thinking Isha abandoned her, she talks to Silco multiple times despite him being dead, and Ekko had to stop five suicide attempts before she was willing to talk.
/!\ spoilers from s2 ep1 to 6. @Jonas-ox7eo yeah you probably right about Viktor savior complex and the Hexcore corruption on him ! I could even theorize he only realised how wrong he was with his commune after Jayce destroyed the hexcore-d part of himself. About Jinx, well, it might be late to say it but I have yet to watch the 3rd arc of s2, so ugh, you didn't know it but I think I forgot to mention I don't want to be spoiled x). But yeah it was a strech assuming she was stable in s2 even prior to Isha's death. What I meant is that she is depicted as grown up and more stable in the first part of the season, even if she is not totally stable. I think part of it has to do with Isha, but also prior to Isha she just seems very depressed, but calm. So it clashes with her anger burst in the end of s1. And honestly it doesn't feel unreal to have a depressed Jinx after a traumatic event and a burst of anger, but it was unexpected. At least for me. I really thought she would blow up everything
Thank you for commenting! For the pss: I was talking about Jayce in that clip, sorry for not being clear! That last segment was an unplanned rant of where my head was at before Act 3 came out. But yeah, Season 1 and Season 2 are two different beasts altogether. A lot more was happening in s2, and it had very little time to explore it all at a good pace. I need to rewatch it, but it seemed as though the way Jinx was written in s2 differed greatly from s1. Re: "I could probably read that as him considering he "healed" himself, so now he wants to "heal" others": I think one of the biggest issues Arcane has is that the character motivations can be interpreted so freely, when motivations is something that should be clear in order to make a more cohesive story.
@@kaisuzapata3595 I can't wait for a follow up video about season 2 Viktor now (or any other characters really)! I honestly think season 2 was overall worst than season 1, as I felt it was rushed (especially eps 8 and 9), but the characters seemed to have gained lot of depth (exept for Mel but that's probably because of poor execution). So I really wonder if the characters relationships with trauma, disability (hum hum Salo, hum hum) and mental health issues (like depression) was respectfull of people who live with them in the real world. I love to analyse this show, but this domaine is not my expertise and I really count on vids like yours to help me and other people understand what should be avoided when writting fictions ! Once again, thank for this vid, and good continuation !
hey this was really interesting, i'm glad i clicked on this video i'm mostly just absorbing what you said, but i'm gonna try to make sense of a few things i interpreted differently too: • when heimerdinger said that viktor changed i don't think we were supposed to take his side? we've seen that he's very very cautious about magic and we're not really sure if he's overly cautious or not, and him being so suspicious and seeing previous patterns in viktor just being hopeful made me lean towards him not seeing the situation clearly. or thinking back now maybe it's that the previous magic users he saw misusing magic were desperate too? idk • with the little info we had, after the timeskip i assumed that viktor's self worth was affected by his disability all along but that that was 'dormant' when he was doing well? afterwards he seemed to have issues with powerlessness and making a difference in the world, but during act 1 he was doing well enough power-wise: he found a way into the academy despite being from the undercity, and you can see that he's very indifferent to obstacles and used to going around them to get things done. he's overcoming all odds and on the way to making a difference, there's no reason for him to feel powerless because of his disability because he's very pointedly not powerless. but when he doesn't have that anymore that's when these issues resurface. in general i think that's pretty realistic? it's easy to like yourself when things are going well. • but from what i'm understanding it's better to explore things like that 1. only if that's not the only thing you have space for in their character arc or 2. you have other disabled characters who have healthier/more developed outlook 3. or better yet write them with this healthier outlook in the first place, because currently media is oversaturated with the portrayals of the other kind? if you had more thoughts on s2 i'd definitely watch them. i liked the ending with viktor too, but i thought that it was kinda weird that this whole glorious evolution thing wasn't really his own decision, since his will was affected by the arcane?? so sure, those decisions were colored by the biases he had before but he wouldn't have done any of that
One thing that massively bothered me the whole time was him misusing his cane. When he was a kid from zaun, thats absolutely viable. Not knowing how. But when hes older, and with piltover and money, he should know. It doesnt take much research to find thay walking in step with your cane or crutches will cause more problems longterm than using it in the oposite hand to the leg thats weak.
Hi ! Disabled (physically and mentally) trans POC cane user here (She/They). First of all, pleasure, love your vibe, love your cane's name, mine's Jane (well Jeanne), for the rime and for some french referencial jokes. I just finished season 2 and I don't really know what to do with Viktor Jesus's hive mind glorious evolution time loopy thing. I thought his all deal was very contradictory, especially concerning who he associates with. I thought they kinda flip flopped around his morality like they want to have their cake and eat it. What do you think ?
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I think Viktor didn't have issue with his physical disability until he became terminally ill, in which point he began seeing his disability as a proxy of his mortality and even humanity - and "ran" to escape it.
Arcane gave an external source for this disgust embedded within Viktor - first the ableism surrounding him, both in Piltover where they actively look down on him and in Zaun where we see how important physical mobility is to everyday life and he's literally left behind, and then Singed showing him how far humanity can be twisted *before* he became disabled(and his character didn't change) and therefore making him vow off of it. Throughout Act 3 and Season 2, Viktor is torn between embracing him humanity, disability and mortality as a package deal, and running away from it in this "Glorious Evolution". It's tragic in the same way Powder triumphant falling off from the monkey bomb's backlash is, because Viktor did choose humanity repeatedly. After he changes his mind and asks Jayce to pull the plug, Jayce throws him into the Core in a desperate bid to save his life. After realizing he's still dying and his community would die with him unless he steals Warwick's blood, he chooses to restore Vander's humanity no matter the cost, until a brush with death and Singed's intervention change his mind.
As someone who has a physical disability and has used a wheelchair since I was 4, I loved Viktor when I first saw him in Act 1 and continued to love the portrayal of his disability up until that one running scene. It left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Not helped by all the comments/posts/videos I've seen praising that scene for how beautiful it is (which it is). I understand what they were trying to achieve, but it just plays into so many worn out and harmful tropes. I haven't really properly formulated my thoughts about season 2 yet. But the one thing I will say is that I liked how Viktor kept using a cane/staff even after going full glorious evolution mode.
This was a good video btw
My thoughts exactly - literally, exactly. I was holding on for dear life until the running scene, then I had to throw in the towel. They somehow skirted around all the tropes until the writers then decided to slam my face into one of the worst, most overused tropes in media - disabled inspo porn. And there’s no argument that it wasn’t meant to evoke pity, inspiration, triumph over disability - the music, the framing - the fact the characters’ plot now mainly progressed solely due to his disability - everything points to a huge oversight of the obvious.
I can also tell you why I haven’t formulated my thoughts on S2 Victor - he is a barely a character. He had no personality. Maybe I’ll be less harsh after a rewatch but I was genuinely asking how I’m supposed to critique a character when there isn’t one anymore - Now I’m just trying to critique themes of his sequences.
I think that you missed a really big detail where in the central narrative for victor him fixing his leg is NOT a good thing. In s2 we see that he is striving to be perfect and eliminate “imperfections” and this is wrong- the show in my opinion makes this VERY clear. The scene of him running may have been triumphant for him personally, but in the broader story I feel it was trying to show how much he’s changed. He goes from the s1 act 1 “perfect representation” of being okay with his disability, to disliking his disability and trying to “cure” it. His attitude towards his own disability and imperfection is meant to mirror that at which he harbors towards humanity. Our human emotions (flaws) make our problems and pain, but they also make us- us. The show is saying that what makes us imperfect makes us human and unique, so when viktor tries to cure his disability, he’s also removing a part of himself. (Basically, the show is making a point to say that while disability may be a flaw, it does make us human- and there’s beauty to be found in that, in our imperfections.))
THIS!!
especially in the last episode now where jayce outright says all this
i also feel as though the fact that this is directly caused by the government letting people get sick is overlooked a little. which is also a real thing that happens. people get sick, get disease or disabilities bc of their government failing them ALL the time in real and it happens in arcane, too. it's just another means of oppression
So we should not cure cancer, because it is part of ourselves. Hypertension, diabetes, do not take medication, becuase it is part of yourself. This show is just stupid. Desire to improve your owwn quality of life, to correct life changing imperfections is natural quality of every human being, that is not mentally ill.
Hello! Thank you for commenting! I did write this before s2 premiered, and I wanted to focus on the arcs that were happening in s1, and how that season focused on disabilities, and I really like some of how the story ended in the final episode of the series. I like Jayce's speech and how their stories concluded. However, like I mentioned in the video, Viktor's opinion on his disability is not really clear in season one (and I would argue s2 as well). We only get confirmation that he saw his disability as a "weakness" in that final speech. Jayce also said that Viktor's terminal illness was seen as a weakness by him. It's quite weird to equate one's opinion on their disabilities to being actively dying, and say that it was wrong for Viktor to try to save his life with the hexcore--which is what he was trying to do in Season 1 before Act 3. All in all, I love that the ending was about acceptance, beauty in imperfections, and the connection that Jayce and Viktor had, but I wish those themes were set up from the first season, to make that ending more cohesive in the overall story-line.
a bit from a video essay I'm working on:
"After that point, Viktor is gone. He injects the shimmer variant onto his disabled leg, and it changes his DNA to the very core. Next time we see him, he’s at the bridge, dropping his crutch, and leaving it behind to leap like he hasn’t been able to do. He lets go of his identity as a disabled man and gets a taste of how things are on the other side. He screams in catharsis, feeling every time he felt trapped by his limitations piling up. A lot of people see this moment as a victory, but there is a very clear tragedy hidden underneath. The leg isn’t cured, it’s corrupted. It’s not Viktor."
Please remember the bridge scene is the moment where Viktor can't go back and what leads to him destroying his body AND sky's death. It's not a good thing, but it also highlights that sometimes we just don't love our disability and want an ablebodied body, that's why Viktor screams in frustration. That does not mean the bridge scene is positive. It is a catalyst for things getting worse. The moment Viktor detached himself from his identity as a disabled man, he completely lost himself. Viktor and his disability are inherently connected, are one, Jayce says so himself in the finale. So it's part of the actual text of the show that Viktor "curing" his leg wasn't the right thing to do.
and even if season two wasn't here, it's obvious at least to me that the bridge scene isn't positive given literally everything that happens after the fact.
Not the church music when victor comes on screen!
Would definitely like to see a follow up to this video considering where season 2 took his character. I dont think the show was confused, though. He was going to die, and so he started looking for a cure. He got lost along the way, and... yeah.
Now his goal has been shifted into something much, much bigger, and we have more explanation towards sickness and magic.
I'd love to see your opinion on his light form (im not quite sure what to call it. Basically, when hes in his head) if you have any at all. Ive seen people praise him in S2 for still using the cane/staff despite his change in appearance, but i've also seen some criticism.
oh im stupid ure talking about it and i didnt realise bc i zoned out
Thank you for commenting! I liked where the story concluded, though I believe the setup for it in the earlier show was a tad bit weak; if it was supposed to be about beauty in imperfections, Jayce and Viktor's companionship, and acceptance of oneself, character motivations and Viktor's opinion on his disability should've been made clearer from s1, and not just a line at the end where Jayce says that Viktor say his disability as a weakness. I am planning to do a follow up that looks at the whole show more thoroughly and really break it down to it's foundations so we can map out the storytelling in a clear light.
It clearly shows Viktor’s ideas about himself and the world affected him negatively. We had multiple conversations with Heimerdinger talking about how people spend their time, and then we saw Viktor out there doing stuff always with the attitude that he has less inherent value than others (connecting it to the whole sacrifice and lack of self preservation thing). Part of the reason he started his downfall is his internalized ableism, and then we get symbolic references to the broken healer or whatever amongst the other interpretations of the themes of his arc.
Spoilers below
It’s a tragedy in the literary sense.
Not one messed-up character fixed their issues and got the happy ending we maybe knew we wouldn’t get but still hoped for.
Every therapist must be agonizing at seeing Jinx start to recover *TWICE* just to get punched in the guts shortly after both times. It even ended with the same song we saw in her previous scene! Maybe it didn’t end up exactly how the writers wanted (perhaps missing Ekko x Jinx dialogue) but it probably wouldn’t have ended with a hopeful-for-recovery message either way (she offed herself anyway or perhaps left everyone).
I mean, Ekko also was offered a magical solution to his problems and decided to get back to his reality anyway. Vander got resurrected multiple times. In a sense, Viktor’s is the only one that ended with the concerning “healed his disability” element to his arc but I don’t see that as forcing his disability away, I see that as the fundamental part of the personalization of his arc: “why did he do all this?”
In a response to another comment, you mentioned his interactions with Jayce and his illness.
I thought it was implied his disability was connected to his illness (developmental impairment, degenerative disease or smth), but maybe I’m wrong about that.
Viktor never spoke out about using the hex core to cure his disability, he just did it. Jayce mentioned using it to cure him but he was thinking about his illness, not his leg; but Viktor, while talking about saving lives and fixing the people of Zaun, was secretly thinking about his “weaknesses”; he indeed does not make it blatantly obvious what he thinks, but we can figure it out, specially after we saw him start fixing his leg first. I think your characterization of him is just a misreading, you’re conflating his mask with his inner thoughts, and his words (“simply believed in myself”) with his complex feelings (he’s still haunted by those feelings he had as a child)(no offense but, ngl the whole “everyone’s actually pretty simple” is also superficial observation, but ik not everyone will obsess over every single thing in the show lol). We can even point to Ekko’s alternate timeline, to Claggor’s method of dealing with the gases in the fissures, to see a different approach from Viktor’s. Claggor talks about a hybrid that feeds off the gases and could purify the air, but the prototype he has with him doesn’t grow enough “unless we plant a million of them”. It clearly contrasts to how Viktor sees problems and solutions. Viktor (initially) wanted to fix himself immediately, and the whole “purify the air” thing -that could help with the exact problem that he had and was vocally concerned about (even tied to the “senseless suffering” and “senseless waste”)- never crossed his mind. It ties in perfectly with the themes of technology and nature at every level (ffs Claggor’s solution was literally integrating nature, while everyone else was using alchemy, technology or magic in different ways or for different reasons).
Also, at 16:55 isn’t that literally the point lol? He’s making mistakes isolated. That’s shown when Sky shows up and is surprised at whatever tf boy’s doing to himself.
And finally, not everything characters say are necessarily meant to be taken at face value. S2 Viktor preaches a bit about and human nature, there we see some of the show’s themes but we also see how Viktor’s wrong about it (again, it’s a Tragedy 🎭), the show doesn’t necessarily argue that his observation is true or not, the plainly stated stuff is intentionally vague or, at the very least, intentionally broad. Could you argue the series has negative messages because obviously awful actions didn’t get punished and only “bad characters” got good endings? I don’t _think_ it’s meant to have clear messages like that. Hence the fate of the characters or the route their stories take isn’t necessarily the first message they want us to take away.
"Every therapist must be agonizing at seeing Jinx start to recover TWICE just to get punched in the guts shortly after both times."
Yes! For real, imagine trying to make Jinx understand she's not cursed while those things happen 💀
@ I meant us getting punched in the guts twice.
Honestly got kinda pissed off when they played the same song on her last scene as her attempt scene.
I personally suspect that at least in regards to the writers of the script there wasn’t any intentionality behind Viktor’s season 1 act 1 representation, as it’s clear when looking at the story as a whole his disability always existed to be an allegory to act in service the cautionary tale about scientistic progress as well as give narrative justification for his body augmentations. I believe this was just obfuscated from first time viewers due to the fact the inciting incident for his plotline hadn’t yet begun, likewise that, in spite of the writer’s intentions or lack there of, whoever the lead character animation director was for Viktor did a phenomenal job at researching how to accurately depict a physically disabled person and the use of a walking aide.
When it comes to media analysis there’s a tendency to attribute everything to the writers when the final product is always an accumulation of the input of so many different people, it’s never truly one person’s vision, so sometimes the animators are really to credit, especially if you can see discrepancies in the level of care for representation, such as the good rep being very “visual” whilst proper rep is absent from the narrative itself.
The way season 2 mishandled the topic of su*cide is another strong indicator the writers were not careful or considerate with a lot of the subject matter their story touched on, inclusive of disability rep. Honestly, the writers would’ve greatly benefited from hiring a sensitivity consultant who could’ve pointed these problems out during preproduction.
Great comment ! From what I understood from interviews, there were many writters on the show tho, it is sad they didn't hire someone specialised in these topics. The suicide scenes in s2 are... hard to follow ? I don't know very well suicide in general, I just know it might hurt people and push them to commit one if they are desperate. Jinx very clearly idealizes suicide as a mean to end 'everyone's suffering' or something like that. This representation in media should probably be shown with clear intentions, clear indications, or clear narrative development, leading the viewer to understand suicide is never a good solution. I think they didn't messed it up too hard in Arcane, but I still think the de-dramatization with Ekko was... feeling weird ? I really don't know how to feel about this scene, because it de-dramatized, I even found it a bit funny, but is it really what should be done ? Showing someone rewinding time to save someone else from suicide funny ?
I have no answers, and there is probably no good ones, but a suicide scene well handeled could save a life, where a one poorly executed could kill someone so it seems important writters give it some thoughts.
“Disability as an allegory for poor, oppressed pitiful people” Congrats you landed on one of the five tropes disabled characters are allowed. 😂 Honestly, the writers didn’t have the chops to pull Viktor off. They relied on tropes as a crutch. (Get it, crutch?) At first they subverted the “cripple genius” by making Jayce just as smart. They didn’t have Viktor be a vengeful cripple because he was disabled by Piltover; he was fine with helping them along with himself. He wasn’t a villian. But then the inspiration porn running scene…Okay. I want the writers to tell me what I was supposed to feel when watching that.
And then, Viktor’s entire plot was solely progressed by the fact he was going to die in a month. Fell right into the trope of making the disabled character have their entire story be centered around the fact they are disabled and ill. This isn’t just a ‘social justice’ thing - it genuinely makes the story weaker. The writers rely on the fear and fascination of disability as a driving emotional force - and then added the fact he was going to die in a couple weeks. It’s a very easy way to garner the sympathy and investment of the audience. “Of course I would endanger people with the hexcore and inject myself with shimmer and decide to mingle with an evil scientist! I don’t want to be disabled! I don’t want to die!” Yes we see it was a bad idea, but the fact that this was his plot made Viktor have the least agency out of the entire cast, and it didn’t have to be that way.
They could have had him get infused with hexcore/shimmer nonsense after something he was making to protect Zaun blows up. It didn’t HAVE to be him curing himself. They could have him be terminal, but make it so it’s further in the future so it doesn’t become the immediate plot. Viktor didn’t have to be an allegory. The show didn’t need it. But if it had to be there, it could have been done better. Thread the needle if you want to play with tropes.
Also as a final note, they should have thrown a couple disabled people into Piltover. There’s so many characters in this damn show, and it would be realistic to have disabled characters in Piltover. They could have shown how wealth and good infrastructure can accommodate disabilities seamlessly while the oppressed undercity has poor infrastructure and people die because of it, on top of them being gassed. THERE’S AN ALLEGORY FOR YA! I always thought Caitlyn’s mom would be a good candidate for being a wheelchair lady - she likes guns, good weapon for chair users. Those steps in front of the mansion could be a rich asshole ramp with tile work. She would transfer to the council chair and have a butler taker her wheelchair away because he’s got a whole staff at beck and call.
I said my four and a half cents.
19:00 I think the reason Viktor was the one to suddenly unlock the hexcore’s magic and why had that vision is because it is implied that the hexcore works with blood. Nobody had bled around it the core until Viktor coughed up blood on that railing. Him being in the powerhouse of it is probably what triggered that really strong reaction and created the mental link that drove his actions/mindset going forward.
Thank you for making this. The video is well done and incredibly important. Because Arcane is not a case of outright bigotry and not so much passive aggressive prejudice (however flawed it's portrayal of disability is, Arcane's narrative still presents deep empathy for most of its disabled characters) it becomes a lot harder to critique. And I think you managed to do so soundly.
Now with praises for you valuable work out of the way I want to expand on something you touched briefly in the video: the use of sci-fi technology or magic to accommodate disabilities.
Your analysis relies on examination of narrative focus (why when experimenting with hexcore said focus shifts from Viktor trying to save his life from a terminal illness to him "curing" his leg? Do writers want you to equate the two? Etc.) except for this particular part. While I understand (and fully agree) that "kickass prosthetics that let you punch real hard" are obviously unrealistic I would argue that it's the matter of presentation rather than their existence that matters. The argument of "this disability accomodation makes it appear as if a character isn't disabled at all" borders on "well, this character isn't suffering enough to be considered disabled" mentality which is this insidious flavour of ableism that can hide behind otherwise good reasoning. You yourself describe it and disagree with it here 00:39 - 00:57 (imposter syndrome and whether you "truly needed" a cane), and here 10:35 - 11:49.
So I will stand by the conviction that you can have a good portrayal of a disabled character with a "cool" si-fi-esque prosthetic like Sevika. Does she have phantom pain/sensations? What maintenance does her prosthetic arm need? Is it comfortable to wear in day-to-day life or is it a "fight prosthetic"? Does her prosthetic require shimmer to function this good in a fight/function at all (which would essentially mean Sevika has to use drugs regardless if she wants to or not)? What materials is it made from, how hard is it to get them and are they 100 % safe for your body? Does she have chronic pain because of the amputation (residual limb pain)? Etc.
This is only a handful of questions I think if explored properly would make her more realistic even with a prosthetic "out of this world". Not to mention you can also have an amputee character who doesn't have access to this sort of technology and has to settle for a prosthetic similar to the ones we use in our world (or maybe they can't get a prosthetic at all). This way we can have a commentary on socioeconomic aspect of disability. Did Arcane writers do it? No. But this doesn't mean it can't be done right Imo.
Alright, this comment is already ridiculously long it's time to shut up. Feel free to disagree, truth is found in discourse after all. Also let me know if any of what I've written sounds a bit nonsensical, I tried, but English isn't my first language. Have a good day/night everyone.
I made a previous comment. But with this one I’d like to specify that I do have grievances with the writing of Arcane. As a person with psychosis, or as I like to call “A Blooming Skull”, I do not fw how they treated Jinx in season 2. They held their hands back and failed to give the unmistakable respect she deserves. So I understand that you’ll have stronger opinions about Viktor from the perspective of mobility issues. I connected with Viktor on his troubling observations of human nature, including what I thought were very much comments on his own self, and how that lead him to the paradoxical conclusion he decided upon.
I am BEGGING you to make a part two after you finish season two. I think some of your opinions will have added aspects to them
17:45 I thought Heimer was implied to be responding like this due to his previous experiences (PTSD).
And Viktor’s “corruption” here is not as vague as you imply, but it _is_ only made clear on S2 once he’s further into it (but it was there all along, he’s got a whole flashback! you barely read into that).
I honestly don’t understand what you said about Viktor being the only character like this we see. Following this logic why is Jinx the only severely troubled character we see if hundreds of people in the under-city are probably dealt the same cards and end up better/worse? They’re personal stories, they give hints of larger phenomenons while following these specific people because they’re relevant to *this* story. The whole “it could be any of us” thing or smth. This sounds like a pet peeve
Really well-done video! I feel a little ridiculous for not realizing that Victor 'curing' his leg with the hexcore didnt really make sense if his motivation was to cure his disease/not die - I absolutely fell into the trap of thinking of them interchangeably, and when you pointed that out it felt like a lot of things clicked into place.
I agreed with everything you were saying at the end about s2 as well (especially with Iisha, I need my friends to finally watch s2 so I can monologue about her lol). I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on s2 Viktor and the ending, it felt to me like they tried to retroactively say how Viktor feels about his disability without actually having scenes that show it, but I know I've seen a lot of people say that the ending really resonated with them
Hey hello ! That's maybe asking for a lot, but, why does people don't like Isha ? did I miss something ? Narratively speaking, she is really important, and the only thing that I could reproche the show about her is her lack of screentime. But for me, it felt like enough, at least enough to have tears in my eyes at the end of s2 ep6.
So, could you explain me what is done poorly with her character ?
Thank you in advance if you take the time to answer !
It does make sense though, the leg is basically a test run (just realized that's very literal/a pun in this case, not intentional). If you're trying out weird experimental magic-technology for the first time you wouldn't want to test it on your lungs bc if it it would go wrong you'd probably die. If the experiment with the leg goes wrong it wouldn't be so bad in comparison
@@bpie_ef3967
hmm I cant speak for other people.
What I was quite angry about with Isha was how, in the story, she soleley existed to, in her death, hurt Jinx. They didnt give her goals, or much agency that was not solely related to Jinx. And when she dies SHE IS BASICLY IGNORED. She is not mentioned afterwards, hell Riktus (Ambessas Bodyguard) gets a funeral, and Isha just vanishes. I think that was a textbook case of unempathetic fridging.
And absolutely, she is just such a lovable character, her death was DEVESTATING to me, but how she was treated by the story and the writers was cruel and disrespectfull.
Does that make sense?
@sportenapfeltorten2095 yeah it does make sense. Personally after I watched Schnee's video about Jinx in s2 acts1 and 2, I think I understood better her place in the narrative. It is a shame she existed to die, but also I don't think she was entirely devoided of goals. She wanted Jinx to be a hero, she also impersonated her to give some hope to Zaun's people. I understand that she might be seen as a "child" in the fridge character, but also I am really thinking she is more than that. Her goals revolve around Jinx but it is kinda logical, it's like how Powder's goal revolved around Vi as a child (and Isha has many parallels to Powder). Now maybe the problem revolves in her screentime or mutisme. I'd say it was harder for me to find her a personality because she does not speak (at least at first watch). That's a shame but what I was basing most of my analysis on to find a character's personality was the speach. I got more aware of her behavior and noneverbal communication when I rewatched it, and even without being good at this type of analysis, I found her character to be interesting when given a closer look. No what really was a problem imo was her screentime. She had her moments even before she blew up, and I was attached to her character, but not enough. And her death, even if obvious, could have been more impactfull if we had spent more time with her. But maybe I am dumb and she is just poorly written too. I really can't say x).
All I know is that she was neat but I didn't cry and I am sad I didn't cry.
So yeah I think I understand why people are mad she looks like a "child" in the fridge. Its a shame the writters could not made her more than that in the eyes of many fan :/
Ps: I think the main problem is that she came out of nowhere and people weren't expecting her to survive. She kinda had to die for Jinx character development to get all over the place. Arcane was often pretty obvious in S1, but the way to the scene everyone predicted was always somehow surprising, or the even the scene we were expecting had characters we didn't expect in them. It made the right mix between satisfying expectations while creating surprise. Isha was a surprise but as soon as she hit the screen I think most people could guess the ending of the arc, but also the big lines of the path to go to it. So I guess she felt from the moment she appeared on screen to the moment she died like a "child in the fridge"
Thank you for the video. It's a great and thorough commentary on disabilities in the show and honestly it should have more views.
Some counterarguments though, if I may. Like you said, it's a really compact story with way too many main characters and plot points. That also means it does not live in a vacuum. You mentioned that Viktor pointed out how he overcame a prejudice of his disability but also his background. Undercity means so much to him that I always just intuitively thought that was the main drive for his actions. The scene of him running is actually only scene of his later actions painted in a positive light. And it describes his own feelings, not the problematic side of this. He feels ecstatic not only for himself, but because he may have made a difference in the world and in his eyes this could help his people. He lamented about this to Haimerdinger. His breakthroughs aren't only internal but mainly external. At least that's what I got from it. Like you said, there isn't much time to build every single character so who knows.
Second point IS the class itself. Having undercity have much more disabled characters is logical based on their environment. Having those characters be more antagonistic also makes sense, because everyone knows that minorities have to deal with much more shit which often makes them think they must act tough or even brutal sometimes. They are convinced they don't have the priviledge of being kind. But also, I thought that undercity citizens were painted with much more empathy than rich people in Piltover. I liked Silco and empathised with him much more than the pricks from the council and I regarded them more as villains (if there is such a thing in arcane). Arcane also used their disability to flip the narrative. These are people who stereotypically look like villains (awful to use disabilities for it i know) and they do some awful things, but they are the underdog, we are supposed to root for them.
But overall I agree with all your points, just adding some nuance. Looking forward for more videos.
Awesome video!! I especially love how much you were able to break down Arcane's failures in pacing character development through the lens of Viktor and his disability and illness. He's my fave character by far, but there's so much going on in the show that I think Viktor especially really suffers from his lack of screen time, and the narrative forces us to make a lot of assumptions about him retroactively to the detriment of his portrayal as a disabled person. This whole video was extremely well said, can't wait to hear more of your thoughts on the show as a whole!
15:03 PAUL JUMPSCARE. PAUL. WHAT??? The special interest and hyperfixation r holding hands rn thank you!!
Thankyou so much for this video! I was actually googling for analysis of Viktor's disability in Arcane to learn more about this kind of thing, and your video is the most thorough analysis I've found
Coming from a collaborative creative background, I have a suspicion. It's possible they had the vision of that "Boat comparison" (Chasing and then outrunning), and their attachment to that idea got in the way of handling things better
Like you say Viktor's "fixing" of his leg does seem to come out of nowhere to an extent
It feels like they either re-wrote Viktor at some point and those scenes had to be kept in, or they were added in to make that visual work, and in either case Viktor's disability being handled well was secondary in that moment
Sometimes big collaborative projects like this can get muddled, and I'd bet there are people involved who were also unhappy with how that moment was handled
Thankyou for the insight!
How I saw the scene in S1 E8 of him breaking into a run is that it was more of a subversion to me. At the start of the scene Viktor is simply following the scientific method, he performed the experiment and now he's testing the hypothesis, the thing is though that it's centered around something deeply personal. The scene starts off slow with Viktor taking steps cautiously, after he realises that his ailment is magically gone he loses sense and all his desperation and suppressed emotions lead to him in the next scene carving the runes all over his body to see if he can "cure" himself entirely.
Secondly the Hex core is clearly a sinister force and the show didn't dance around this at all prior or after. (obviously) Yes, the scene is triumphant and emotional but it's about how the character is feeling in that moment, it's not about him suddenly being better and that being a cause for celebration, the audience is scared of the Hex core. That was just my interpretation though. (Also... defending this show after season two character assassinated Viktor pains me... The first season was mature and complex and it dropped the ball so hard.)
I think this video's very well done! You managed to put into words a lot of the discomfort i didn't know how to voice around how arcane dealt with its disabled characters and how they were weaved into the story. I've seen in your replies to other comments that you're planning to do a video on s2, so I'll be looking forward to that and to more video essays from you!
17:41 exactly… he WAS tired and dying, now he’s all energized and optimistic (that’s what changed because of the magic)
Not the face of someone being corrupted by malicious magic? The road to hell feels like heaven, the road to heaven feels like hell. The hexcore is a demon disguised as an angel, granting all wishes in exchange for oh… I don’t know, maybe a little thing you wouldn’t even miss if it were gone like… human souls?
Without the addition of Shimmer the hexcore takes Sky completely away from the physical realm, when it heals people of their physical wounds it destroys their mental/spiritual body in exchange… clearly it’s not a purely good thing to inject shimmer and mess with magic, even if in the short term it makes you feel strong or manic instead of weak or depressed
I think the "Victor is dying" thing was less the goal and more a spur to Victor's existing ambitions about helping others. When Heimerdinger asks "you've changed, what did you do?" I think it's precisely because Victor *is* looking so much better, and the Hexcore has done stuff to his blood and body that's improving his overall health. When it "punishes" him for trying to destroy it, he goes back downhill, rapidly, grey skin and darkened eyes. I think you're right on the money where much of Arcane's exposition is delivered through implication, and I think it's a weakness here because of how unclear it is. I suppose they had to keep it vague so that Victor's work isn't immediately criminalised.
I'd felt a bit uncomfortable about the "red right hand" trope with Victor and Silco too, thanks very much for exploring and explaining with such skill.
I'm definitely interested in your take of season 2! I had a lot of similar thoughts/feelings about the first season of arcane, but I think I overall came away a bit more positive, probably because I was expecting way worse. The bar on disability representation is so low, lol. I think one of the things that made me look more fondly on this show is that it is a adaption of the game. The LoL game is so trope-y on it's character design, and it leans heavily on the disability=evil language. So when Arcane took those same characters and said, actually, they are people! With feelings! Also, a lot of their disabilities are worsened/caused by the structurally inequalities of the state, I was impressed.
It was interesting seeing the reaction to that Victor scene online. The first time I watched it, I was like, "oh no, he's messing up." Like, I straight up didn't interpret it as inspiring or whatever. IDK if this was intended, but since Victor is running toward the right of the screen, I was interpreting it as he had lost his way, like he was running away from his original goal. But, it might just be me coping, lol.
There are a lot of positive/progressive readings of the show, but since it's not all explicitly stated, it can be overlooked, or interpreted in another way. So, that's a bit disappointing.
Hey man, this video is great! I'm surprised it doesn't have more views.
Thank you so much!
I essentially took what you said was the logical interpretation of the leg fixing. Viktor more or less has 3 obvious options; his leg, spine and lungs. If the experiment fails or goes horribly wrong as he has no idea what he's doing, he can survive without the leg not so much the lungs or spine. But you have a point that it all gets muddy without dialog or explanations and then the resulting actions.
I think the fundamental issue with the way they present the show is a deepseeded fear or inability to show Piltover for what it is, an Oppressor. Lowkey, Piltover itself should've been the final boss, but they can't do that because those guys are supposed to be the heroes.
It turns it all into a mess.
Though, in hindsight, I suppose it is heartening possibly that Viktor is The Most Important Character for the entire plot 😅.
That's a very good video. I am kinda sad my fav show is flawed, but I guess nothing is perfect ughhh. I kinda think S2 is great and has a better rythm than s1 (at least I am way more addict to watching s2 than s1), but like, it also feels even more rushed in its character development than s1 did...
I think Viktor wasn't bad in s2. But. He feels like an entirely different character than in s1. His whole commun thing is portrayed as bad overall, like some kind of hive mind society that so slightly stripes people of their personalities, that it is scary. But yeah, he basically heals people's addictions and disabilities ? I could probably read that as him considering he "healed" himself, so now he wants to "heal" others the same way, but doing that he subjugates them to the corrupting power of the Hexcore, so like, it is weird because he also wanted to destroy the Hexcore prior to his transformation, AND he is ressentfull toward Jayce not to have done it after it saved him ? So like, he didn't want to be saved from death by it, and now he is using this power he feared to help people.... that's a real headach. And also he is a confirmed eugenist now ("humanity will suplant nature blah blah"), and overall it acknowledge he was wrong in the end, but his character is really weird in s2. Anyway. This show is a mess, and I love it nonetheless.
Ps: i kinda disagree about what said in the end credit, and I kinda ranted about it here, but I think your analyse for Viktor's character in s1 is really interesting. I didn't really spot the subterfuge of characters traits and disabilitied being used as plot device rather than human attributes. I think it shines particularly well with Jinx's treatment of her mental troubles. The more I watch s1 the more I feel like it is weird how she went from being very mentally unstable to totally stable in s2 *by killing her adoptive father* ??? (And I love her in s2, but the transition just feels rushed). Anyway.
Pss : From what I understood, Viktor didn't spend 7 months in transformation, he build his commune during the 7 months gap between arc 1 and 2. He only spend a few days in it. I love timelines :)
ANYWAY man this text is a mess going in many directions with no real conclusion to any of them, sorry ig :)
I think Viktor acquired a savior complex after discovering he could heal people. One of the reasons he wanted Jayce to destroy the hexcore was "It killed Sky, Jayce" as he says in episode 2. But after seeing she's with him ethereally in the undercity, he probably forgives the hexcore and himself a bit. Also, the hexcore itself is probably changing him and his mind, kinda like the one ring from Lord of The Rings.
Lastly, describing Jinx as "totally stable" in s2 is pretty inaccurate. She wants Vi to kill her in episode 3, she almost has a mental breakdown in episode 4 after thinking Isha abandoned her, she talks to Silco multiple times despite him being dead, and Ekko had to stop five suicide attempts before she was willing to talk.
/!\ spoilers from s2 ep1 to 6.
@Jonas-ox7eo yeah you probably right about Viktor savior complex and the Hexcore corruption on him ! I could even theorize he only realised how wrong he was with his commune after Jayce destroyed the hexcore-d part of himself.
About Jinx, well, it might be late to say it but I have yet to watch the 3rd arc of s2, so ugh, you didn't know it but I think I forgot to mention I don't want to be spoiled x). But yeah it was a strech assuming she was stable in s2 even prior to Isha's death. What I meant is that she is depicted as grown up and more stable in the first part of the season, even if she is not totally stable. I think part of it has to do with Isha, but also prior to Isha she just seems very depressed, but calm. So it clashes with her anger burst in the end of s1. And honestly it doesn't feel unreal to have a depressed Jinx after a traumatic event and a burst of anger, but it was unexpected. At least for me. I really thought she would blow up everything
@@bpie_ef3967 Sincerely sorry about the spoiler, should have thought about that.
I promise that there's still so much more to discover in act 3
Thank you for commenting! For the pss: I was talking about Jayce in that clip, sorry for not being clear! That last segment was an unplanned rant of where my head was at before Act 3 came out.
But yeah, Season 1 and Season 2 are two different beasts altogether. A lot more was happening in s2, and it had very little time to explore it all at a good pace. I need to rewatch it, but it seemed as though the way Jinx was written in s2 differed greatly from s1.
Re: "I could probably read that as him considering he "healed" himself, so now he wants to "heal" others": I think one of the biggest issues Arcane has is that the character motivations can be interpreted so freely, when motivations is something that should be clear in order to make a more cohesive story.
@@kaisuzapata3595 I can't wait for a follow up video about season 2 Viktor now (or any other characters really)! I honestly think season 2 was overall worst than season 1, as I felt it was rushed (especially eps 8 and 9), but the characters seemed to have gained lot of depth (exept for Mel but that's probably because of poor execution). So I really wonder if the characters relationships with trauma, disability (hum hum Salo, hum hum) and mental health issues (like depression) was respectfull of people who live with them in the real world. I love to analyse this show, but this domaine is not my expertise and I really count on vids like yours to help me and other people understand what should be avoided when writting fictions !
Once again, thank for this vid, and good continuation !
hey this was really interesting, i'm glad i clicked on this video
i'm mostly just absorbing what you said, but i'm gonna try to make sense of a few things i interpreted differently too:
• when heimerdinger said that viktor changed i don't think we were supposed to take his side? we've seen that he's very very cautious about magic and we're not really sure if he's overly cautious or not, and him being so suspicious and seeing previous patterns in viktor just being hopeful made me lean towards him not seeing the situation clearly. or thinking back now maybe it's that the previous magic users he saw misusing magic were desperate too? idk
• with the little info we had, after the timeskip i assumed that viktor's self worth was affected by his disability all along but that that was 'dormant' when he was doing well? afterwards he seemed to have issues with powerlessness and making a difference in the world, but during act 1 he was doing well enough power-wise: he found a way into the academy despite being from the undercity, and you can see that he's very indifferent to obstacles and used to going around them to get things done. he's overcoming all odds and on the way to making a difference, there's no reason for him to feel powerless because of his disability because he's very pointedly not powerless. but when he doesn't have that anymore that's when these issues resurface. in general i think that's pretty realistic? it's easy to like yourself when things are going well.
• but from what i'm understanding it's better to explore things like that 1. only if that's not the only thing you have space for in their character arc or 2. you have other disabled characters who have healthier/more developed outlook 3. or better yet write them with this healthier outlook in the first place, because currently media is oversaturated with the portrayals of the other kind?
if you had more thoughts on s2 i'd definitely watch them. i liked the ending with viktor too, but i thought that it was kinda weird that this whole glorious evolution thing wasn't really his own decision, since his will was affected by the arcane?? so sure, those decisions were colored by the biases he had before but he wouldn't have done any of that
17:31 what episode was this scene in? The one where the camera spins while he's in a chair, I don't remember that scene
Good video! I'll be waiting on your opinion on season 2! I still don't know how to feel about it
Thank you! I'll be working on a followup that looks at the show as a whole and what it was trying to do.
One thing that massively bothered me the whole time was him misusing his cane. When he was a kid from zaun, thats absolutely viable. Not knowing how. But when hes older, and with piltover and money, he should know. It doesnt take much research to find thay walking in step with your cane or crutches will cause more problems longterm than using it in the oposite hand to the leg thats weak.
Hi ! Disabled (physically and mentally) trans POC cane user here (She/They). First of all, pleasure, love your vibe, love your cane's name, mine's Jane (well Jeanne), for the rime and for some french referencial jokes. I just finished season 2 and I don't really know what to do with Viktor Jesus's hive mind glorious evolution time loopy thing. I thought his all deal was very contradictory, especially concerning who he associates with. I thought they kinda flip flopped around his morality like they want to have their cake and eat it. What do you think ?
amr disponibiliza legenda s2
Citizen Cane 🥹