But then I see the words "weaponised cuteness", and I want to punch something out of sheer contrariness.
Ugh, this. I see hope and optimism in stories, and sometimes it works for me. I see people in Tumblr talking about hope and optimism and how it's all part of some big Cute Soft Nice all-consuming morally-obligatory thing, and I want to hit things until something breaks.
I see a lot of black and white thinking bound up in "hopepunk". A lot of "I like it, and I found value in it, therefore it is optimistic and hopepunk, and self-care is hopepunk, and so are kittens and memes".
Yeah, there's way too much putting a specific moral spin on things to argue that they're Good or Bad, rather than they have good and bad elements and also elements that aren't assessed on a moral scale. (There's no moral obligation for a story to be optimistic or hopeful, and sometimes the best way to go with a story is dark. A bleak story can be badly told or not to someone's taste, but there doesn't need to be a movement about it.)
no subject
Ugh, this. I see hope and optimism in stories, and sometimes it works for me. I see people in Tumblr talking about hope and optimism and how it's all part of some big Cute Soft Nice all-consuming morally-obligatory thing, and I want to hit things until something breaks.
I see a lot of black and white thinking bound up in "hopepunk". A lot of "I like it, and I found value in it, therefore it is optimistic and hopepunk, and self-care is hopepunk, and so are kittens and memes".
Yeah, there's way too much putting a specific moral spin on things to argue that they're Good or Bad, rather than they have good and bad elements and also elements that aren't assessed on a moral scale. (There's no moral obligation for a story to be optimistic or hopeful, and sometimes the best way to go with a story is dark. A bleak story can be badly told or not to someone's taste, but there doesn't need to be a movement about it.)