Recently I read both Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings, and from my perspective, I see these books as two sides of the same coin. CSW is My Neighbour Totoro as Earthlings is Grave of the Fireflies in the way that they’re twin media, with one being exponentially darker than the other.
Reading from an autistic lens, I see CSW as being from the perspective of an autistic person that easily masks and wants to fit into allistic society (or “The Factory” as they call it in Earthlings); the convenience store is a representation of larger society with the main character having found her role in it, a role that she loves despite the shit she gets for not having a “real job” in her mid-30s. She grew up with a loving family that albeit saw her as odd, she has perfectly catered her very being to please others, using scripts and practised expressions and emotional responses to fit in with others and maintain her position as a convenience store worker, aka, her place as a highly masked autistic in society.
In comparison, in Earthlings, our main character is deeply traumatised, and abused by her family. Similarly to CSW, she is seen as odd, but is treated worse since she struggles to mask and fit in according to society’s standards. The fact that she, her cousin, and her partner see themselves as belonging to another extraterrestrial race is an act of literal and metaphorical alienation by perceiving themselves as aliens for being autistic and unable to gel with allistic society — and this isn’t an uncommon occurrence for autistic people, seeing yourself as non-human! And when she grows up and we learn that her cousin “stopped believing” in being an alien, it’s not because he’s matured, but because he’s learnt to mask.
While the cannibalism and incest in Earthlings is shocking at first, especially in comparison to CSW, I see it as symbolic of them accepting who they are by fully unmasking. Since they’ve been treated as grotesque monsters their whole life for being autistic, it would only make sense to me that by fully committing to the depravity depicted in the book that it’s supposed to be representative of them embracing themselves wholly.
Something something marginalised groups treated like filth will embrace filth and find beauty in it something something
i think a lot about the algerian national anthem, how it says :لم يكن يصغى لنا لما نطقنا (when we spoke no one listened to us). how '1 2 3 viva l'agerie' used to be 'we want to be free, viva l'Algérie'. a grand total of 5.6 million algerians were killed over 132 years.
i often see comparisons made between Algeria and Palestine, especially since israel actually worked with france because israel supported the colonisation of algeria and france literally took tips on how to torture algerians from them
the point i wanted to make here was i very much think these comparisons have strength. as well, to make the point that algeria has been free for 62 years. and one day Palestine will be free. even if it takes another 132 years, never give up hope, its never too late, its never too far gone. when we look in history books, we can see so many countries who fought for their freedom
from the river to the sea Palestine will be free 🇵🇸
This unlocked my inner Madakana analysis brain because they're the character opposites. Foils even. They're the same deep down in always wanting, only being together via that wanting and always effecting the other. (The 3rd part and relationship are so meteor impact)
You're my angel, Saeran(◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
This whole convo makes me wanna fight people who think the IT genuinely hate each other
I wanted to share some songs I associate with SC (・◡・) !!
Keep reading
I'm the queen of can't read social cues (thanks, autism), but during Seven's route, especially the first time, I sensed he needed space. I was worried about him, and hurt by his actions, but I knew I couldn't just force him to acknowledge me, and that this wasn't truly him- I don't know how, but something told me he was scared and needed time to decompress, similar to how I do. In his case, he needed space to decompress not from people, but from the sudden knowledge of what really happened to Saeran and that the few people he let himself trust had in fact lied to him. They encouraged him, a literal child, to essentially leave his only brother in their hands so he could stain his own soul black with the agency. Why not just threaten to call the cops on his mother and take both twins into their care, and deal with Saejoong once the boys were out of that house?
He just received a gut punch that he failed his brother, and was basically in survival mode. When he finally lets you back in, it's after he's had a chance to process some of his trauma.
100%. All of this.
Now, I will also note that Saeyoung is extremely autism-coded. Deep Story truly is "pick your flavor of autism." So I think some neurodivergent folks will have a better understanding of what's going on with his behavior, because they may relate to processing & experiencing their emotions in a similar way or other nontraditional way that makes them go "Ah. That's what's happening here."
Obviously, neurodiversity is broad and covers many types of conditions, but those who are on the ASD spectrum or ADHD in particular will probably have an easier time dissecting these tough and seemingly contradictory days of Seven's route.
pfp creds nitoenjoyer on x— ୨୧multifandom + jus appreciating art here:)18+ stuff here, you have been worned
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