La Ron S. Readus
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Omni Man's Viltrumite Mentality is REAL! (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2021-05-12 20:01:00 +0000 UTCI honestly thought about incorporating the "THINK MARK, THINK" meme in this intro, but I mean...I'm about to make you do that ANYWAY, so... (Shrug)
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Readers, I don’t usually care whether I’m wrong or right when it comes to predictions and theories.
As you know from my first theory video regarding 2021’s Mortal Kombat, being wrong about how something is gonna go down isn’t something I mope about.
If anything, it makes me more interested in the property in question. Because now that MY idea is rejected, I get to see how another is executed and the choices SURROUNDING said idea.
And, to be fair, I’m the same way when I’m right about something, too. Because even if the thing I predicted was correct, how it affects the progression of the story is 90% completely different
That’s pretty much why I tend to disagree with people who have the mindset that if the piece of media in question is easily predictable, then it’s bad.
/At the end of the day, it’s all about execution. And one of the best recent examples that I’ve experienced was seeing and predicting Omni-Man’s ulterior motives in episode 1 of Invincible without ever reading a single issue of the comic./
Hearing Nolan tell his story to Mark about how he was sent to Earth, only to end up watching what he did to the original Guardians of the Globe at the end of the episode made me immediately realize that this motherfucker ain’t on no peacetreaty mission. He’s on some Invader Zim-ass shit.
So thanks to me not minding spoilers because -- at the time -- I thought Invincible was another story like Watchmen, Kick-Ass and The Boys that used superheroes to critique the superhero genre, I just decided to look up Omni-Man’s deal the same week the first three episodes premiered on Amazon Prime.
/And wouldn’t you know it, I was right!/
But I was definitely wrong about one thing: Invincible isn’t a story that uses superheroes to critique the superhero genre like the properties I mentioned beforehand.
Because after watching the first season -- and keep in mind that this is just my interpretation and analysis of the show coming into play -- it’s clear that it is, in fact, its own superhero story.
/But it’s critiquing...something else. Something more real. And its all thanks to its depiction of Omni-Man/
I’m not gonna lie; both before and after I initially sensed that Nolan was prepping Earth for Viltrumite invasion, I thought they were going the route of having him be a sleeper agent that was slowly yet surely being activated in order to do so.
/And that was just going off of seeing his mood swings and how he collapsed after his fight with the Guardians of the Globe in the first episode./
/I even entertained Hive Mind stimulation when I saw Mark’s sudden boosts of strength whenever he gets into a rage mid-battle, like he was tapping in to something primal that all Viltrumites are capable of./
But the more that was revealed about Nolan, the more that I realized he’s been in his right mind since the beginning. And seeing his actions after waking up from his coma with this realization, I started to notice some real-life parallels to them; specifically ones that reflect the concept of male dominance.
/Yes, there’s the outburst he makes to Deborah in the first episode. But its also the way he demanded his damaged suit after he recovered from the fight with the Guardians. There's the instance where Deborah challenges his authority when Mark debates helping Titan. But nothing spoke more to me than what Nolan said to Mark during their big fight in the season finale/ (I should have raised you as a Viltrumite)
Now, considering everything that I’ve seen Nolan say and do up until that moment
All the aggression, the displays of dominance, the way he tries to handle Mark after his powers kick in...
When I heard Nolan say that, after experiencing everything else, I couldn’t help but hear a real-world equivalent of that statement in my head.
One that I’m sure that, not just me, but other people have heard in both their communities and just societal patriarchies in general.
/What I heard was, “Maybe if I raised you instead of your momma, you wouldn’t have grown up to be such a punk-ass bitch”/
And it was in hearing that translation from my experience with the world in general that made me realize what the code of the Viltrumite is an allegory for: the generational indoctrinated strain of toxic masculinity.
The parallels are very easy to spot once you know where to look, in all honesty. As a matter of fact, it’s when Nolan gives Mark the rundown of the TRUE aspect of Viltrum culture that we get a better sense of everything we’ve witnessed from Nolan thus far.
/Viltrumites eliminated the weak from their own society and more than likely raised future Viltrumites on that same mentality of culling the weak amongst them the same way that resulted in half of their population being eliminated to do so.
/By the time Nolan was born, that aspect about their culture must’ve been so engraved into their way of life that it’s pretty much second-nature, just like the toxic elements of masculinity finds itself dripping in the overall pool of conscious mentality with real life men./
Of course there’s the obvious parallel of dominance via strength. It’s easily one of the go-to’s when it comes to comparing the way of Viltrumites to the way things work when both manhood and masculinity is represented in the real world.
You have to show that you’re not a punk, or a coward, or a pussy when someone threatens or challenges you.
/And depending on how the toxicity of masculinity has already boosted your ego, you judge and look down on others who you deem lesser because of your preconceptions regarding how society states your manhood should be perceived, which is something Nolan does CONSTANTLY./
But then emotions and feelings come into play, and -- just like that of Viltrum society -- they’re just as intolerable in society as being perceived as weak, because REAL men don’t FEEL. REAL men don’t cry. REAL men don’t partake in actions that would allow them to willingly emasculate themselves.
So now it's not just the weak that’s frowned upon in this allegorical comparison. It’s also the feminine and the queer at the most basic understanding, even though both of the things I just mentioned are just as old as the concept of masculinity itself.
/Just like the toxicity and fragility of real life masculinity, the doctrine of Viltrumites has Nolan locked in this prehistoric mentality of Might Equals Right that constantly evolves into something worse than what it originally is. And that evolution of fragile and toxic masculinity indoctrinates its constituents in ways that makes it REALLY hard for men -- and women who are so used to the traits play out that they consider anything else outside the norm -- to break free from, because any display of a mentality that CHALLENGES what they have come to believe about not just masculinity, but manhood in general, would be considered soft, or weak, or embarrassing./
Once upon a time back when I was in Middle School, I had this classmate that I surprisingly shared 6th, 7th and 8th grade with to my dismay.
He never picked on me, but he was a tryhard class clown so I naturally found him absolutely insufferable.
One day in 8th grade, we were either given an assignment or asked a question from our homeroom teachers regarding why it was important that fathers be present in children’s lives.
When it was his turn to answer, he did so with “It’s important because if you’re a guy your dad can teach you how to be a man. If it's just you and your mom, then you’re gonna end up being a sissy.”
Now like I said, he was the tryhard class clown of my homeroom. Having to deal with this dude for 3 years straight, I could tell when he was saying things for laughs and when he was serious. He was DEAD serious.
And as someone who recently had an awakening regarding what people like him would classify as the beginning of my eventual sissification, despite having my father play an active role in my life for 24 years...
I couldn’t help but witness the thought process of other individuals with the same mindset as the wannabe class clown of my Middle School class as I got older.
People who think that taking a pic with another dude with their arms around each other's shoulders is showing too much affection for either one of them to be considered straight.
People who actively laugh and challenge another man’s sense of masculinity when they hear he’s been raped by a woman, which -- spoiler alert -- happens to Mark in the comic.
People who immediately think that another individual is either a punk or bitch-made when they either REFUSE to solve their problems with their fists or are unable to.
/People, who -- for better or for worse -- find themselves attracted to shows and stories like Invincible because of what it delivers to their mentality ON THE SURFACE, but they immediately scoff at once they’re forced to realize that the narrative was never about reinforcing their toxic takes on masculinity, but actually dissolves it right in front of their face and shows them why their way of thinking is wrong./
Because I’ve met, seen and have been exposed to so many people who have the mindset of Omni Man.
They feel like their very manhood is challenged every time someone checks them on something.
They criticize others based on a self-established sense of dominance.
Even if they have the means to back it up, they’re quick to threaten others when they’re being forced in a corner.
They see empathy, compassion and emotions outside of the ones usually associated with dominance as weakness, and are conflicted when they experience them because processing such emotions is such a foreign concept to them.
Invincible -- both the show and the comic -- holds a mirror directly in the faces of these individuals with how it handles Omni Man, in order to show that these toxic traits they’ve been brought up to believe are true about manhood all these years is not the TRUE strength and masculinity they seek.
Some can understand the critique enough to start challenging and unlearning the things they were brought up to learn about masculinity, while others just double down and blame Mark for not being physically strong enough to perpetuate the cycle of violence toxic masculinity instills as a way of stopping his father.
Some even go further, by questioning and emasculating every decision Mark makes afterwards if they decide to pick the comic up where Season 1 leaves off, because they don’t like what they see when Invincible tells them to “do better.”
Because Season 1 of Invincible is only the TIP of the iceberg.
/And considering how much Amazon has allowed the show to cover from the comic so far, then the mirror that is Omni-Man that’s been directed at a specific group of individuals is about to get a hell of a lot closer to your faces./
But, I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what YOU thought about Invincible season 1 if you’ve seen it.
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, a show you thought did a good job at subtly -- yet thoroughly -- showing the dangers of toxic masculinity.
Whichever you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.
