a company that “can’t afford” to pay their employees above a livable wage shouldn’t be in business.
AND YES THAT INCLUDES THOSE LIL FUCK ASS MOM AND POP STORES TOO
If more people shopped at the mom n pop stores instead of the big box stores (like, shop local movement) they would be better able to afford to pay their employees more
if a business owner is so incompetent to not budget in paying their workers a livable wage they should not go into business. it’s a crucial business expense and the answer is not “i can’t afford this so i’m going to exploit my workers”. Try again.
When my dad and stepmom started up a store, we didn’t have any workers because guess what… we couldn’t afford it! We chose instead, for the three of us and the other artists who had works for sale, to work there ourselves until we could afford to hire someone.
Unfortunately, the town we were in wasn’t kind to artists (especially those charging real prices for their work) that it eventually shut down.
We deliberately chose to work harder ourselves, than make someone else suffer because of the nature of the town and the business. And that’s how it should work. If you can’t afford a livable wage for your workers, you either do it your own self, or don’t do it at all.
I’m only being about 37% facetious. K.A. Applegate emphasizes time and again — with David, with the WWII time travel, with the Andalite Chronicles — that there’s no such thing as fighting a war in a way that is “clean” or “moral” or “glorious.” There are only bad choices left to individuals when their homes are invaded. If the Animorphs had done nothing, they would have allowed invaders to abduct and enslave all their loved ones. If the Animorphs had tried to fight the war without hurting anyone, they would not have been able to stop the yeerk invasion. If the Animorphs had used a different strategy, there’s a distinct possibility they would have lost the war or caused even more deaths than they did.
For instance, look at David as a microcosm. It would be wrong for the Animorphs to kill him; he’s just a kid who got in over his head. It would be wrong for the Animorphs to keep him on their team; he has the power to kill them all and does try to kill Tobias, even if he is only doing so in an effort to get his family back. It would be wrong for the Animorphs to let him go; he would go running to Visser Three with their identities, and the whole planet would be doomed. It is wrong for the Animorphs to trap him in morph; the punishment is greater than his crimes of ignorance demand, and it is not the Animorphs’ right to mete that punishment out. The reality is, however, that under the circumstances there’s no such thing as a right answer.
Jake manages to pull off an ending that is better than anything the Animorphs could have realistically hoped for, in that the war ends without the yeerks enslaving the planet or the andalites annihilating it. He makes some unforgivably immoral moves, to be sure (a lot of other fandalites seem most angry with his decision to flush the Pool ship, whereas I will always be angriest about him essentially forcing James and the other Auximorphs to go die for him in the diversion play), but he manages to pull off a win for his species. The yeerks leave the Animorphs, and by extension the whole human species, exactly zero good options. They invade, and the Animorphs can either do terrible things to stop them or else allow even more terrible things to happen through failing to stop them.
It’s wrong for the Animorphs to kill innocent hosts in the process of killing yeerks. It would be wrong for the Animorphs to refuse to get their hands dirty by killing hosts to the point of allowing the yeerks to kill others. It’s wrong for Jake to send James and Craig and the others to die. It would be wrong for Jake to allow the yeerk inside Tom to invade some other planet using the Blade ship because that planet isn’t their problem. So on and so forth.
That said, I also think that the answer to that question depends on what you mean by “the ending.” I think that the kids all having PTSD and/or depression was pretty much inevitable by five or six books into the series. I think that the moral decline on the team started as early as their first pitched battle in #7 and got accelerated by the events of #21, #30, and #31. I think that the structure of the series as a disturbingly realistic war epic somewhat demanded that disturbingly realistic ending, right from the start of the series.
What happens to the Animorphs isn’t fair. What happens to the yeerk hosts also isn’t fair. But I think that’s part of what K.A. Applegate is using the series to do: send the message that “fair” isn’t a great standard to judge others. It’s not to say that this series has no morality, because it draws some pretty clear lines in the sand about what is and is not okay. It’s more that this series says individuals sitting at home in times of peace do not get to condemn individuals forced to engage in violence to survive for not miraculously finding a way to self-defend without violence.
my big idea for a superhero movie is that one scene in thor ragnarok where matt damon has a cameo but it’s all the time. you have your ensemble cast of up and coming actors nobody recognizes but literally every single extra is a household name. the protagonist goes to a coffee shop and the barista is chris evans. they turn on the news and the anchor is mark hamill talking to correspondent daniel radcliffe. the final battle happens and the group of civilians the protagonist has to save is just the cast of love actually. cate blanchett has an after credits scene where she asks the protagonist for an autograph, addressed to her real name, cate blanchett. at no point does anyone acknowledge this.
Okay, so I just watched The Princess Bride again, and I had a new realization: I have always had an unfair hatred for Buttercup. I’ve always thought of her as window dressing, but she has a surprising amount of agency in this movie. Think about it:
The very first chance she gets to escape from Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo, she does it. She leaps into a sea full of SHRIEKING EELS. Mind you, this is right after she tells them they will be hanged if they are caught. Buttercup has no problem telling people off when they need it.
Then, she tells off the Dread Pirate Roberts the second she figures out who he is. And then pushes him down a hill just because she can.
After their adventures in the fire swamp, she agrees to go with Humperdink to save Westley’s life with NO HESITATION WHATSOEVER. Just because that is the only way she can save him.
And then is my favorite part: she tells Humperdink off. She confronts him on his cowardice, knowing that he legally owns her at this point. And she doesn’t care, because that fucker needs to know what she really thinks of him.
After Westley is seeming killed, and she is forced to marry Humperdink, she decides that killing herself is the only form of agency she has left. And she’s fully prepared to do it. Until Westley is there to remind her that she has perfect breasts (he’s got a point).
And then Westley gets all the points for understanding that this was not a consensual marriage for Buttercup. “You didn’t say it, you didn’t do it.” Can we get that on t-shirts?
Buttercup is not an action girl. She’s not going to pick up a sword and start beating up on those that hurt her, but that’s not a reason to hate her. Every chance she gets, she tries to be an equal partner in this relationship. And, let’s be honest, this movie isn’t even about her. The agency she has in this movie is really impressive.
This is important because we need a wide range of women in our media. They can’t all be Xena Warrior Princess because that’s not what all women are like. But we need to appreciate the other types of women out there. The ones who won’t fight or do anything that’s considered traditionally masculine, but still deserve respect anyway.
thisacelovesheadcanons 