Jackanda Critique

I've curiously glanced fan art about this before, but I always kept a fair bit of scepticism. I fully realised the latter after finally(!) getting round to the Citadel DLC, then reading some fanfiction that ignorantly extends from canon (not necessarily all fanfics - see conclusion). 'Problematic' would be a daft understatement; abusive, misogynistic and lesbian-demeaning are accurate terms, and I felt like pretentiously explaining. Some related Shep romance thoughts afterwards. By the way ~ I'm cis-female, pansexual and Welsh (British).

Back in ME2: Jack's personal history doesn't excuse her from confronting Miranda so terribly. Miranda could justifiably ignore the core issue, but that's cancelled by her defence of Cerberus; she then goes extremely further by victim-blaming, arrogantly, in calling Jack's self "a mistake". Kidnap from mother and years of torture* are equated to bad investment that Jack deserves blame for, let alone Cerberus' fault whatsoever. ..Needless to say, it's impossible to solve this in such a contrived sliver, but that route is completely blocked and spat on by being forced to either worthlessly damage in picking a side or effectively brush it off as "girls, handbags down!"..

*Impossible to dismiss at any level. Considering the total scope -- from ME1 (+ Sole-Survivor) through to Chronos after having not helped Grissom -- it would be generous to just say there is absolutely no credibility to Pragia ever even having to "go rogue". That must have originally been intended as more pieces of Cerberus manipulation, but as it stands it's insultingly broken.

Appropriate handling of their respective progressions across games should have been utterly vital. Yet that's neglected (at best..), and despite Miranda supposedly overcoming the horrible mindset a large problem remains there. Ideally Miranda would have clearly, honestly apologised for that attitude, then Jack reciprocates, among very thorough narrative to even salvage reconciliation -first-. But that's not only un-realised; the situation is made worse..

In the pram, first served is a half-empty bottle of utterly degrading formula ("catfight"). After choosing a bib, later a spoon-feeding of rotten placebo.. Miranda says "I hate to say it, but" ......... "Cerberus were wrong about you" - merely on their opinion of Jack's future - that's fucking mockery. "You've grown, despite what Cerberus did to you" doesn't connect that, cuts Jack/mother's ordeal to a vague remark, and Miranda's crucial "past" attitude is completely ignored. That's compounded by Miranda's one-sided exposition through Pragia and Jack's files, but it becomes even more damaging, to both women..

These women's very serious issues aren't 'just' ditched miles from anything remotely resembling thoughtful narrative; Miranda's character is abused one way, whilst Jack's character and agency are obviously attacked. Finally it's all supposed to be laughed off as mere "sexual tension" - an extreme shoehorning of misogynistic fantasy, how lovely. Yeah it could be funny/positive in an entirely different fucking context; here canon inconsistency (ME2-Citadel) reflects negatively, but reasonable doubt is obliterated in this female narrative massacre. So that wasn't complete without treating Lesbianism as a petty, fickle tool...hardly surprising, as that's still such a problem generally, unfortunately.

The aforementioned problem with Miranda's character (here, not elsewhere) is, well.. Those tainted, poor comments and her never plausibly condemning Cerberus are bad enough alone. Worse still is that her defensive demeanour, and even some nostalgia, for Cerberus occurs just after: their hunting/harassment of her, the blatant atrocities with her father etc., their at least tacit support of Oriana's kidnap (suspected direct involvement), the violent KL encounter, and fact that Cerberus generally always were and are now just more overtly about that same horrible mindset. Her now having selfish sympathy for Cerberus is...far beyond disgusting.

^ Miranda's ME2 growth regarding sister/father could've diminished partially her years of fierce fealty to Cerberus, yet that path is ignored and zealotry continues unabated (see: 2nd paragraph - that requires both loyalty missions, so can easily occur a few missions before last). Then that's so stupidly discarded, and her post-base comments are less credible than Ashley kissing a Turian. Had there been some gradual disillusionment from Cerberus the base argument could have realistically had her swerve or uneasily side with Shep and tell a properly, reveallingly disrespectful TIM to sod off. Then some far better dialogue back on the ship, with stronger ambivalence if base is kept, and -closure- by and in ME3. That doesn't just fail to happen, it's abused.

..So the “press X for friendship” bit is a dollop of astoundingly stupid icing on this rotten cake. Even if I'd skipped the first two games I still wouldn't take a bite of that shit. Jackanda fans are either somehow ignoring all that or are horrendously poor judges of writing. Any fanfic people who haven’t already re-created proper reconciliation, Lesbian narrative and Miranda/Cerberus closure, aren’t worthy of being considered writers. If you have made or considered those corrections, that’s fair enough so these comments aren’t aimed at you. But without that this pairing is less sensible than Ashley & Garrus eloping; I will always deem it very below that, as the damage is too much and really irreparable.

On Shep romance:
It's awful that FemShep+Jack was cut - shoddily and later teased. She'd be the best match to my paragade by a Tuchanka mile. I'd replace the cabin scene with most of Mondo47's (female) "Walking After You" piece here: (old BSN blog) or (screenshot) . Elsewhere I've seen a few attempts to argue that MShep's gender affects her growth; that's nonsense and more disservice to her character. Progress is due to herself, either Shep's friendship and Grissom. Romance is earning further trust for her love, and largely it's done well (better than most romances really), but not completely. Crying fits her but one-dimensionally, "need someone" should be generalised, and leave it at the hug. Mondo's version fits/fleshes-out better. Of course, this woman is far more than that scene....let alone the abusive Jackanda rubbish.

Cheers.