(first of all, i know not what the fuck. I’m tired. That being said.)
Thor’s characterization in Ragnarök is a fucking joke. A bad joke.
Take the infamous scene with Loki and the obedience disk. You know why it feels so utterly, terribly wrong? Why it’s upsetting and disturbing beyond issues of how much it hurts or doesn’t, how much Loki had it coming or didn’t (he didn’t), if it constitutes abuse or whatever the fuck?
Because it’s villains who stab people in the back, and then hover around gloating as their enemies hurt and bleed. It’s villains who smirk while watching another twitching in pain. It’s villains who stand there, enjoying the sight of the helpless foe they have defeated, relish in their cunning and their callousness, give a speech expressing their contempt and their superiority, and probably make a point that “you are the way you are and you can’t help it, that’s why you FAILED, mwah hah hah.”
And we are coded, as we damn well should be, to read that scene in a certain way. Villains do these things, and the one twitching in pain on the floor is the hero, defeated by the betrayal of someone they trusted. That’s usually where the cliffhanger goes, with the villain walking away cackling as the hero is left helpless on the floor, and it seems that all is lost. WILL OUR HERO GET FREE BEFORE THE VILLAIN MANAGES TO CARRY OUT THEIR EVIL SCHEME AND DESTROY THE WORLD? DUN DUN DUNNNNN…! SEE IT IN THE NEXT ISSUE!
Thank you so much for this, @incredifishface. The last part in particular was beautifully written; it’s a Thorki manifesto with the eloquence and heart you’ve brought to your Thorki fics over the years. Still, the paragraph I’m going to excerpt is this one:
In fact, this is all so wrong, that the film would work best as a story in which old timey, classic comics!Loki was trying to pull a scheme by taking his brother’s appearance, and then went around manipulating and fooling his friends (very poorly), to try and destroy Thor’s reputation and his character. (Good plan, Lo, you totally pulled it off! Nobody could like or love that fucking asshole!)
Because you are so fucking right. @fuckyeahrichardiii, I thought you might get a kick out of that.
Loki is the Philosopher King 