View Single Post
Old 2012-11-04, 15:06   Link #138
Orange Duke
オレンジ色の王
*Author
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Age: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako View Post
Again, you're misconstruing my point. I'm talking about how rape in fiction differs from reality -- I'm not saying that real rapes are absurd, only the way authors distort them for the purposes of stories. Fictional depictions of rape are almost always the kind we're getting here -- obviously evil guy kidnaps woman and abuses her, or attacks in an alley. It creates a false impression of what rape is -- it's not your college roommate doing it to a girl he picked up at a party, or a coworker who has sex with his girlfriend whether she's in the mood or not. Kawahara is feeding the notion that all rapists are disgusting guys who are clearly bad instead of ordinary guys who don't take "no" for an answer.
Now, usually I keep to the Accel World forums, but I thought I'll change my game for a moment and go back 20 years into the past.

From what I read, you're saying that rapists aren't clearly bad? That they just can't take no for an answer? Yes, not being able to take no for an answer isn't an inherently bad trait in itself, but taken in this context, rapists are trampling on the basic human rights of their victims. They are denying them of their right to free will by forcing themselves upon them. That, no matter under what circumstances, is simply despicable. Yes, we can prattle on for example about how this guy was subjected to constant abuse as a child thereby making him into the serial rapist he is today blah blah blah but two wrongs don't make a right. It might be easy for you to talk about rapists like that, but their victims know otherwise. They were at the receiving end of the abuse. They experienced firsthand what horrors these people were capable of unleashing upon them. So complaining about Kawahara contributing to the notion that all rapists are disgusting is like complaining about how the Bible portrays demons as evil. They simply are.

You complain about why the arc turned out this way, but I ask you: why not? We see more of Asuna's backstory with the introduction of Sugou as the main villian, we see how little Asuna's family knows about her, what she actually wants, who she actually is. We see more about Sugu, Kirito's beloved little sister whom he mentions on multiple during the events of SAO, who she is as a person, a little bit about her backstory in school, the relationship she and Kirito share. We even get to see the effect a VRMMO has in others with the removal of the death penalty, what happened to ARGUS because of SAO, so many things. How would the alternate paths you listed be able to accomplish all these? Do you really think Asuna's parents object to Kirito and her being together? They don't even know they have a relationship beyond being good friends. In fact, it seems likely that they arranged Sugou and Asuna's marriage thinking that it was what she wants. Would ALO as an alternate reality escape introduce more about Sugu like we did now? Not to mention ALO belongs to RCT, which belongs to Asuna's father. If he had indeed objected to them being together, do you think he would do nothing about it and let them continue their relationship on his company's property? Keep in mind Asuna would still be living with her parents, and ALO is very likely the only other VRMMO besides SAO due to RCT owning the servers. It isn't possible for her to play in secret.
Orange Duke is offline   Reply With Quote