19:23 "Jinx kills her second father, …" I think Vander already was the second. Silco was her third one. So Jinx finally got ahead of Vi on her highscore of losing families … (sorry for the dark humour)
@@zerere_ Yeah, I agree. Powder had a vague respect for Vander and Vander had a vaguely kind attitude towards her, but they straight up didn't know each other, and Vi (through absolutely no fault of her own) kept either of them from really caring enough to learn more about each other. Vander saw himself in Vi more in a bunch of ways, and Powder would need therapy after what happened to their parents if she wanted a healthy connection with anyone.
@@justarandomgirlvx3578 I guess so lmao. I don't think the group hug they had changes the fact that they know basically nothing about each other, but they clearly cared in some meaningful way.
What I think is interesting about jinx is she’s effectively the main villain in basically every other characters story, but her story follows the heroes journey arch beat for beat.
Tragedy: heroes fail and fall. Paradoxically, the villain rises, morally speaking. Oh, Silco remains a villain, but self-sacrifice, absolute, unconditional love and acceptance make his death also sublime, another moment of agnoreisis when he realises how much loving Jinx has transformed him: Zaun - he's given up on his dream for her. Betrayal - betrayed, again, by the person he loves most, but this time he forgives her, if there is even a place for resentment or vengeance in his last breaths. "Jinx" - he had to endure seeing his daughter choose her sister over him. Who knows, perhaps Powder won out. So, it's not "Jinx is perfect", it's "you're perfect." Whoever you decide to be. Silco didn't groom Jinx to be another version of him. He could at least find some selfish comfort in the tears she sheds, but no, he tells not to cry over him. Rage - in his final moments, he stops fighting, lets the waters take him, the monster rest. "Have you had enough?" He has now, and goes gentle into that long night.
Vi never struck me as particularly prideful. The character flaw standing in the way of her primary goal, which was finding and "saving" Powder, was her refusal to acknowledge who/what Powder had become (i.e., Jinx), which only served to drive Jinx away. Her only other goal was subordinate to that one, and as far as I can tell, her anger and obsession with taking down Silco did not undermine the primary goal in any way; if anything it was synergistic with her primary goal.
i see what you mean! i see her pridefulness as more about her pursuit of vengeance despite being warned not to, a sort of arrogance. and when combined with her anger and obsession, it brings her to a boiling point. i also don't think fatal flaws necessarily have to undermine the character's goal, but lead to a characters downfall in some way (whether that be mental, which i think happens in the case of Vi in the events leading up to the dinner scene considering her screams of anguish). I'm going to use another example! In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's fatal flaw is her ruthless ambition. Her ultimate goal is to become Queen of Scotland, and her fatal flaw doesn't hinder that at all, in fact it helps her to achieve that goal. However, the guilt over the actions she took to fulfill that ruthless ambition drive her to madness and cause her to kill herself. So her downfall wasn't that she couldn't achieve her goal (she did, and her flaw directly served that goal), her downfall was that in pursuing that goal she bent her mind past the breaking point. Obviously I don't think Vi and Lady M are the same but I think you can also see how the anger and pain Vi feels have begun to catch up to her (her reaction at the Shimmer factory, her fight with Sevika and her scream afterwards) despite her anger and arrogance ultimately serving her goal of getting revenge on Silco and reuniting with her sister. I do totally agree with you though that her love of Jinx is one of Vi's fatal flaws in the same way that Jinx's love of Vi is one of Jinx's fatal flaws! That's a really great point, thank you!
also kind of seems like VI's personality and demanding responsibility for her sister prevents her from really having a fully formed healthy life. forming her self as the protector of her sister, doesn't seem like VI has permitted herself to live for her self. Jinx is a shattered individual to say the least but it looks to me like it would only take several well placed psychological haymakers to send VI to some measure of crazy town too, and I do mean hay makers she wont go down from a simple few hits we've seen her strength.
@@derekmarshman6154 Her need to punch her way through her problems is brought up as an issue, not her pride. While it's _technically_ prideful of her to think she can fight against Piltover or Silco without any help, that isn't what Vander tries to warn her about, and she ends up being almost-correct.
This was such an amazing analysis. My sister asked me why i keep on rewatching Arcane (on my 6th watch right now) if it always makes me cry at the end, and now I know - its about the *catharsis* Thank you so much for this video! ❣️❣️❣️
Love the analysis! I have to add, even though you mentioned that the chorus no longer exists in modern media, if you look at both Goodbye and What Could Have Been in particular, the song titles and lyrics perfectly encompass both act 1 (“Won’t ever leave my memory bloodshed all around”) and act 3 (“and worst of all, for me to live, I gotta kill the part of me that saw that I needed you more”). And furthermore, all of the songs in the soundtrack serve to establish something in terms of developing the setting or a character (e.g. Welcome to the Playground, Misfit Toys, etc.). So in a way, I feel like Arcane even attempted to bring that aspect of the Greek tragedy into the show as well!
wow, great observation! i didn't even think about the role that soundtrack has played in essentially serving as the chorus in modern media, i love that! thank you so much!
Thank you, this is great! In my mind I've been calling this show "The (Greek) Tragedy of Jinx (A.K.A. The initiation of the Piltover/Zaun War)" because Jinx undergoes that full tragic arc. I love the way you laid it all out. I drew a tragic arc for Vi too, but it didn't occur to me to draw one for everyone like you did!
yeah jinx & vi (as well as viktor but he hasn't fully reached his downfall yet) are the main tragic heroes for me, but the show is so interesting because so much of the main cast has elements of those arcs! it truly is an archetypal tragedy and i'm so obsessed with that
This was absolutely incredible. I truly wish I could sit down with you and just talk media analysis like this with you for hours. You really piqued my brain at several points that could be applied to so many other things I like to analyze. The small bits of humor and personality you brought to this to make it your own we’re also quite enjoyable. Wonderful job all around. More specifically to the video, I think you truly nailed down each character as you talked about them. Especially at with Jinx and Vi. The whole catharsis thing with fish ones makes sense. I also Jinx had being doing the same thing on a smaller scale with all her bombs and explosions and gadgetry up to that point as a way of catharsis of dealing with her trauma from the monkey bomb. I have more to say there but my mind just went bleh. I think you are also right in that Jinx is the only character with a complete character arc in season one, but I think and argument could also be made for Jayce. But the end of one arc for both of them is just the beginning of new one for season 2. Furthermore on this the point that all these characters greatest downfalls, their biggest enemies are themselves, is just itching my brain in how they will continue to tear themselves down in season 2 and what will be the tipping point to where each character will start to build themselves up again, or like Jinx abandon a part of themselves to a darker truth and forge themselves anew in that darkness.
thank you so much, this comment genuinely made my day! i'm glad that you were able to take so much from this video (and trust me, media analysis is going to be the theme of this channel!) I agree with you about Jayce! Now that I think about it his arc did resolve as well. I can't wait to see how these characters interact and either put back the pieces or completely self destruct in season 2!
@@honorablefroggery You’re very welcome! I look forward to whatever other things you create in the future. I have a theory on how Viktor’s character arc might go in season 2, but I don’t know if you want to hear about that kind of speculation. But furthermore, what you say about Mel’s arc unfolding backwards in the show? Like in the timeline of her character we don’t really get to see who she is or why she is until the later episodes. Instead of building up her character they kinda destructed her, which is also think is very clever way to subvert the trope that she fills in the beginning.
@@jessigaisbauer539 I welcome speculation! It's my favorite thing. Honestly I loved how they did that with Mel -- she's such a controlled character from the start (both in terms of keeping her motivations very close to her chest and also the control she has over other people) and saying she unraveled over the course of the season is the perfect way to describe it, because we learned more about her and we also saw her become more and more vulnerable. I'm a *huge* believer in the Mel/Locket of the Iron Solari theory (I made a tiktok video about it!) and I'm pretty much convinced we'll be seeing more of her and the other Medardas in season 2 and I can't wait to see where they take her character!
@@honorablefroggery Oh cool. So here’s my Viktor prediction; I think he’s going to get seriously injured from the Fishbones attack. However, since he has already undergone some of the transformation progress with the hexcore, it will sustain him and Jayce won’t be able to destroy it like he promised. I also think that maybe Viktor will transform a little more as the hexcore tries to patch Viktor back up, kinda as sentient being itself trying to take care of its host since it seems bonded with him (also I think this ties into “glorious evolution”). But since we see the hexcore knock Viktor out when he after he tries to destroy I think it also has mental connection to him, and the further he becomes transformed and dependent on it it starts to corrupt his mind, feeding its own sentience and motivations into his mind and kinda taking over him which leads to him falling from the grace of Piltover and eventually cutting ties with Jayce and Viktor will lose his original ideologies and self. Yes, I have seen that theory. I think it’s very plausible. I also feel like they won’t just kill her off like that because of the way they did her character arc in a reverse kinda fashion it really feels unfinished. It can’t just end with her dying so soon, even though that would add some interesting conflict from Noxus and her mother. I just can’t believe her role is played out yet and I expect much more from her in season 2.
I've been binge watching video essays about Arcane since the show came out, and I'm sure you know there are no shortage of them. But wow this one is something else! A true lesson and analysis of classic narrative tropes, what a treat! I was shocked to see that you had barely more than 300 subs, but after watching this video I am now proud to count myself among them. I can't wait to see how this channel grows! And wow, would you look at that! You made a video about my other favorite Netflix original show, She-Ra! I will be watching that one right now thank you very much 😁
You're brilliant. Just finished arcane. I feel like such a fool for waiting this long. I love tragedies but damn my heart is torn for jinx. That's why the show is so good though.
I've seen more analysis videos for Arcane than I can count at this point. THIS? This is BY FAR the BEST I've ever seen! It... I had struggled so hard to articulate what about this story and these characters resonates so hard with so many people from diverse backgrounds (I've watched reactors from all over the world watch the series), but thinking of it as a Greek Tragedy just... FITS. Wow. Thanks for this.
Hi, it's me again haha, this video made me cry too :), specially in the part where you said "She would always love her sister, therefore, she would always be a jinx". The comparison you make between this character's story and the greek tragedies is just one of the most amazing things i've seen about this show. Arcane already has touched my heart in multiple ways for different reasons; being the psychological driven situations, Vi's and Jinx's character arc's and the dynamic/relationship between Vi and Cait the ones that have touched me the most. I really love how this analysis dives in how tragic but beautiful made are this characters and this story. For some reason this show makes me really emotional, and watching this has reinforced the affection and attachment that I have for this story and these characters. You are really good doing this type of video essays, it would be really cool if you could make something like this but talking about like the dynamic between Caitlyn and Vi, I would love to hear your thoughts about them.
An absolutely lovely video, I've just watched the series for the first time and have felt so depressed thinking about the show, I've genuinely struggled to deal with the emotions that the show has left me, no other show or film has ever affected me like Arcane. Other forms of media have left me emotional before but nothing to this extend, watching Arcane literally shut me down for a good few days. I was recommended this video as a way of processing those feelings and this video was a brilliant watch and I just want to say thank you
Very lovely job- I've been calling this a greek tragedy since I saw it, and you just summed up the reasons why with FAR more concise vocabulary- stellar job!!!
Wonderful video, a few nitpicks. While you touched on it, I think that the "moment of near triumph" is a fundamental aspect of peripetea. The near triumph makes the sudden reversal of fortune all the more impactful.
This was so good!! I loved hearing the history behind the genre and your analysis was fantastic! That one line though. “She will always love her sister and because [of that] she will always be a Jinx.” That line hit me so hard. 😭
Loved the analysis! You were spot on with your points and the comparison with an actual Greek tragedy to display the tragedy characteristics was a great choice. Only note I would make would be not to include a rapid-pause section in the video. I tend to watch these sorts of essays while I do housework and such, and it takes me right out of focus having to interrupt the video and my work. Read it out! A bit more runtime is totally fine if it's part of the point you're making.
@@honorablefroggery Coming back to actually discuss your topic, your choice of story to compare with Arcane here is spot-on, because Jinx's story and that of Oedipus have some interesting parallels. Jinx kills not one, but both of her father figures. She has a really toxic relationship with Silco that harms both them and the people around them. (Like when Sevika called Jinx his "daughter", I wanted to shout NO, that is NOT like a daughter!) Her love for Vi unravels her in the end. Of course it's not the same sort of love as Oedipus, but it is still a completely devastating turn, and is fueled by Vi 's romance with Caitlyn. Her choosing to work with the man causing a plague on the weaker Zaunites (and their frankly disturbing "father-daughter" dynamic) feels like the curse Oedipus casts on Thebes. Even the prophecy aspect is there, Jinx being known as a game character IRL. In world, her family calling her a jinx in act 1 catalyzes her effort to be useful and valuable, which lets her be manipulated and prove that label right almost every single time. Similarly to how Oedipus running from his "parents" to avoid his prophecy leads him right into fulfilling it, because his real parents also wanted to avoid that horrible fate. Incredible how every character has an arc that is just as crushing and somewhat self-inflicted, but also reliant on the actions of everyone else in the story. So few stories nowadays can even begin to do that with one character, but Arcane nails it with multiple.
this was amazing! i disagree with the commenter saying they don't see vi as prideful.. she very much is, she takes pride in the undercity and wants to fight for it. i hope you make more videos about arcane!
Well yes but actually no. Vi hates the undercity, and it only gets more intense later on. It's dirty and hungry and full of mean people and every physical altercation she ever gets in is with a Zaunite. "I grew up knowing I'm less than them, that my place is down there. I want Powder to have more than that and I'm willing to fight for it". She sees living in the undercity as a symbolic representation of Piltover's negligence and lack of sympathy for people like her. She takes pride in her *family*, and wants to fight for it.
Loved the video amazing insight, would love to see a video on the psychological effects each character has on each other (eg. Silcos effect on Powder) and just a general analysis.
thank you so much, and thank you for the suggestion! I think that would be a really good series to explore, all the different ways that the characters impact each other!
Great video! One minor disagreement tho: silco's fatal flaw is that he loves that which he cannot control, in spite of his controlling nature. He loved Vander, who turned on him, he loves Zaun, a nation that is fundamentally chaotic, and he loves Jinx, even though she is 100% out of control, to the point that she can't even control herself. So he tries to control the things he loves and always ends up harming them with his methods. Then he gets desperate, and pays the ultimate price for his last attempt to control Jinx by killing Vi.
This is by far the most interesting analysis of arcane I have watched and I am so eager to see more of your analyses, even outside of arcane. Keep up the great work :D
thank you so much for this! I've been obsessed with Arcane but I never thought of it this way, damn this is good~ also if I had watched this when I read Aristotle's Poetics I wouldn't have hated it so much lmao.
Thanks for the analysis, I liked it very much. I saw a similar analysis earlier with references of Greek Tragedy, but paints Silco as a absolute monster even during his last words were calculated to poison Jinx mentally. Although that analysis was good I felt Silco's love for Jinx is real but distorted with his own distorted values. BTW, I watched dozens of Arcane analysis so far the best one are made by females creators unfortunately many of them are small ones. But you just earned another subscriber.
21:30 I knew someone once who was a much older person... had a plethora of experiences, from witnessing bombs in city centers in Africa to international conferences across Asia, probably been to every continent, went from rags to riches and back to rags and then riches again, and they said once that of all their years, one of the highest valued points of advice, the million dollar sentence: was that hurt people hurt... I myself still contemplate on how much I agree with the statement, but nevertheless I wanted to affirm what you were saying, as someone I once knew who was a veteran of so many things had iterated that same thing
Great video! If you like tragedy, I recommend berserk. The Golden age ark is probably one of the greatest modern tragedies ever written if you ask me. You'll get the gyst if you watch the movies, you'll get a more detailed idea of the characters if you watch the old anime, and you'll experience the true story in all its glory if you read the Manga. Hope to see you cover it.
Oooh I love this! I truly do. Threw me right back to English class (and that's a compliment I especially enjoyed this topic while reading Macbeth hehe) Thanks a lot and I hope to maybe see more stuff in the future if you have fun and more to tell^^
thank you so much!! that is a huge compliment, i was the nerd who loved English classes in school lol! and more videos are definitely in the works! i have several outlined already!!
I have listenned through all your video and it was so great ! Thankx for sharing your thoughts, of course there are some parts with which I might not agree entirely, but I agreed with most and learned a lot, it was a really cool video. Thankx for sharing your knowledge about greek Tragedy with us!
One of my favourite video-essays EVER. This was such a compelling video, with so many interesting insights. Beautifully said, thank you so much for this fantastic analysis!
Oh wow this is really good, I just watched the show the other month and I know nothing about League but even still definitely a good watch and this was a great take on it. Your delivery, editing and presentation is really good and anything critical i have to say I can honestly see being ironed out with just more practice so just keep doing what you’re doing, this honestly reminded me of a Wisecrack video so you’re definitely on the right track
I have been feeling the onset of a minor depressive episode for a few days… and THIS video felt like, Catharsis. Thank you. Listening to you talk about this and Greek plays also made me really curious what a stage adaptation of Arcane would look like. 🤔 🧐 I could actually see it being really great, so many of the best scenes are a few characters bouncing off each other. And the moments in the show where it cuts back and forth quickly between different locations (see GunsForHire) would translate gloriously to a stage. Imagine Jinx on a raised slowly rotating platform silently raising the flare while Vi and Cait run from Silco and Marcus seals the bridges, all while the orchestra swells. 😘 👌
Wow! That was really interesting! No, really, as a person who has read multiple greek tragedies and just recently watched Arcane, now I can see the very interesting, and certainly valid connection! I actually have watched another show, that, in my opinion, can easily be called a modern greek tragedy. It's the anime "Fate/Zero". If you didn't watch it, definitely give it a watch! It only has 25 episodes and you certainly will be shocked at the amount of connections this anime also has to greek tragedy! Btw. What's also interesting to note is the distinguishing between "just" a tragedy and a greek tragedy! What makes them different from each other? Well, to put it short, it's the different ideological motives, that the characters have! The audience can't decide if any way to act is the right or wrong one! That's the distinction! And, well, if you look at Arcane, it perfectly fits! (People of the upper city vs. people of the under city, etc...)
I read so many comments on UA-cam about Silco being a caring father. I doubt he would have ever confessed to Jinx that, given the chance, he would have killed her whole family. Of course, Powder took care of most of them, but none of this would have happened if Silco had no need for power.
i agree -- i'm actually scripting a video about Silco and Silco apologists! i hate reading comments that imply that he was a good guy or a good father -- he's a great character but a terrible person.
@@tompatompsson Yes, obviously. But Piltover wasn't responsible for the means that Silco was willing to use to achieve power on order to create an independent Zaun. Silco was willing to create a greater misery of his own people (shimmer) to get richer and more powerful to that end.
I just watched your video about Catra in comments I said I'm obssesed with her character well, Powder (I know, she call herself Jinx, but she will never be jinx for me) is next character, that I love with all my fucking heart. Next perfect written psychopath so I'm glad I can watch this (also, can we just talk about simmlarities between Catra and Powder?) btw, it's second video you made that I'm watching, but it's very good if you read this, know, that you are so fucking good at making videos and analisys of characters from shows
Thank you for this essay!!! Why is there a metronome running at around the 18:13 - 18:40 mark??????????? I have never heard this before. It goes in and out after that for a bit. Also what does it mean to be addicted to Catharsis lol........because I am absolutely obsessed with Arcane.
thank you! i am also completely obsessed lol! and that's actually from the background track! the background music was lowered for the clip and I guess the only sound that still came through was from the beat lol
Love this video and analysis! And something so tragic about Vi especially is that she was so close to overcoming her fatal flaw, internalizing Vander's teachings in her own way and giving herself up for her family, but then episode 3 happens and she gets stuck in punching mode for the rest of the series. Anyways just my 2cents have a good day
liked and subscribed! I love thinking about anagnorisis in this show, and I would argue that there are moments when other characters experience "coming face-to-face with their true selves". The first thing that comes to mind is Jayce, after he has killed the kid in the Shimmer lab, and he has to confront his own blindness, realizing how naïve he was. Viktor has his moment when he accidentally kills Sky in his blind pursuit of progress, realizing that he was not so different from Singed after all. Also, something about Powder/Jinx and her moment: in her moment of confronting her true self, killing Silco to save her sister, she fully embraces Jinx as her true self, but it begs the question: why is this her true self? Is it because we have revealed this is who she really is? Or is it because of her toxic relationship with Silco, who literally and figuratively gave her drugs and encouraged her to define herself as a victim? I could rant about this show forever, but anyway, I loved the video. Great discussion, very thought provoking
I agree! In the original draft of this video I went over Jayce's moment of realization but it ended up on the cutting room floor, but I totally agree with you on that one! It's one of the best ways that the show hammers home it's theme that the characters cause their own downfalls and are capable of committing terrible acts to achieve their goals (even if unintentional!) As for Jinx's true self, I think its a combination of years of Silco's manipulation (plus his final act of manipulation, whether intentional or not, calling her perfect -- a direct throwback to the "baptism" scene when he tells her she has to let Powder die because Jinx is perfect) and the fact that she'd do anything to save her sister based on pure instinct. It's like the story (and particularly Jinx's character arc) rhymes with itself -- she commits patricide twice to save Vi. Like I said in the video, the first act that made "Jinx" was Powder blowing up the warehouse and accidentally killing their whole family in an attempt to save Vi, and so the act that cements Jinx as being Jinx is killing Silco in an attempt to save Vi. So the revelation of her true nature isn't necessarily that she was always destined to become Jinx, but that she will always try and save Vi, and because of her mental instability, trauma, and years of being conditioned by Silco, this means she'll always be the Jinx we know in the show. I hope that makes sense! I totally agree, this show is so thought provoking and I could absolutely ramble about it for hours! it's a total masterpiece! thank you for commenting!!!
@@honorablefroggery About Jinx. I agree that she feels trapped in this Jinx persona at the end, that she feels cursed, but why does that alienates her from her sister, in her mind? Because she killed two fathers to save her and doesn't want to do MORE damage? She doesn't think she can live a normal life with her? There's also that line : "you've changed too"... did you address those questions somewhere? That damn show. ^^;
@@SCharlesDennicon i agree! i think she feels trapped and alienates her sisters both because she wants to avoid further damage and also because I think to some extent she resents both her love of Vi and Vi herself because it started the whole mess in the first place! I didn't tackle the "you've changed too" line but it breaks my heart, and I think she's referring to the fact that as an adult Vi isn't willing the sacrifice the other people she loves for Jinx (the way Jinx sacrifices Silco, even though it's instinctual.) I'd love to hear other interpretations though!!
@@honorablefroggery I've heard that take in another great video, and after careful research, it appears to be the right on imo. :D I mean, there aren't a lot of other interpretations, since Vi is LITERALLY the character who has changed the least, like trapped in time. Although it surprises me a bit because seven years in jail isn't nothing. By the way, I don't know for you, but the complete lack of information about what happened between episodes 3 and 4 is my only, but substantial issue with this first season. I'm writing this comment listening to Carter Burwell's Trial of Ed Crane, which has nothing to do with Arcane BUT fits the mood, and thinking that Jinx IS one of my favorite tragic characters ever. ^^; (Not including literature, suffice to say.) Anyways.
I loved Greek tragedies before knowing what one is, Fate/ Zero last year and this year Arcane. It's not just about Greece or about being tragedy. It's the characters in these stories. They aren't pure villains, they aren't pure heroes. They are complex entities chained to their beliefs and actions, which mades them unable to change their fate. You know from the start where these characters will end, but the journey is extremely enjoyable and the catarsis is everything someone can want from a story. I didn't expect much from the Jinx from the game. Arcane made her my favorite. You can see every step of the way how she struggled in showing her skills and how much she loves her sister. *Spoilers ahead The ending has irony in it, at the meeting where peace was made with Undercity and its independence was accepted. Jinx sent the bomb that will most probably set up a full new war and the possible death of some members from the meeting. Like the irony from the end of F/ Z, where the Holy Grail War not only did not accomplish his wish for world peace, but it was the cause for the death of a lot of people in the area and his slow, painful death just a few years after.
i like this, but i think you got viktor a little wrong hes not in persuit of cheating death; in fact, he doesnt care about himself at all. his health doesnt decline further because hes trying not to die, his health declines further because he simply doesnt care about himself this is also what he learned from singed. he doesnt try to keep the expiriment alive to cheat death, he keeps it alive, is this suffering state, going against morals, for nothing but the sake of the expiriment. nothing matters about how much pain its in, because the creature wasnt what mattered either, it was only whatever answers he was seeking that made him continue viktor doesnt continue the expiriment for his own gain. he continues the expiriment because he wants to know what in the world will happen. where it will go. yes he wants to help people, just like jayce, but he differs where its not really his main motivator. maybe his main conscious motivator, what he thinks hes doing it for, but at least subconsciously its the expiriment hes looking for. what will happen, what are the answers, and whats the next question. he doesnt care about himself one bit, and he only stops when it harms somebody else. he inherited from singed his lack of care for anything but the expiriment, but he held onto his morals, enough to realize enough was enough
I have no doubt those are the standard definitions of those terms, but if so I'm here to tell the Greeks they didn't have their notion of tragedy quite perfected. I wanna just temper a couple thoughts. First, anagnorisis, the sudden realization that everything has gone wrong, and crucially also that it's *too late to do anything about it*. If there's still a chance to change things, to any degree, the situation becomes much less tragic. It's a major reason death is tragic, because it's so irreversible. So yeah, huge moment of anagnorisis for Powder when Vi says "you did this?" at the end of act one. I would even argue there's another potent anagnorisis before the episode is over: when Vi sees Silco standing over Powder and her perception of Powder as the one who just killed her family snaps suddenly to Powder as the last remaining member of her family, and in need her protection at that moment more than ever. But the anagnorisis isn't complete until she wakes up in a cell (presumably) and realizes there's absolutely nothing she can do to fix her mistake. That's tragic. Then the peripeteia, the sudden reversal of fortunes. It can't just be that though; the true tragedy is when it was so close you could almost touch it. "So close, yet so far". If someone is born rich and powerful and eventually deposed, it's not necessarily very tragic at all, but if a person has spent their entire life trying to claw their way up and loses it all just as they're about to achieve something, that's much more tragic. So without a doubt there's a peripeteia masterclass at the end of each act. As mentioned, the tragedy of the monkey bomb ruining the escape they had almost pulled off against all odds. Act two, the sisters reunite, everything is perfect, the right things are said, Powder is at the surface, reconciliation seems at hand, but then Caitlin and the Firelights show up and it all falls apart. Then the mother of all peripeteia at the end of the season. Sting might as well be singing "peripeteia" instead of "what could have been", because that's what it's all about. When it's so close you can see exactly what might have been. The rocket through the window doesn't even really change anything unless you consider what was about to be. It's how close they were to recognizing Zaun that makes it so utterly tragic. Otherwise the rocket is just a continuation of hostilities that already existed. Sad maybe, but not so exquisitely tragic.
Why I loved this show as much as The Expanse series, there are no perfect heroes, just tragically flawed humans making judgements based on different points of view, and each is correct from that particular point of view.
i personally don't see it in the facial features much (you can also see her for a second when vi is dying in the windmill house!) but i can totally see the similarities between their eye color and dark hair (their mom is dark purple and cait is dark blue)
Thank you, I understand the concept of such a heart-breaking modern Greek Tragedy much better now, but the pain still persists 😢. My great issue with the show is that in Episode 8; Jinx disappears after Singed saves her life. I mean she didn't wake up and even talk to Silco, was the surgery so torturous that she up and left? She didn't even attack or thank Singed after the operation? He just let her go or did she escape? I'm certain if she spoke to Silco after the shimmer surgery instead of disappearing, then the whole tragedy of his death would be averted. Their bond and love as father and daughter would be solidified and she would rest assured that he would never betray or forsake her. Perhaps the shimmer worsened her mental state? I anticipated Silco's tragic death yet still can't get over it or get through it. I still can't accept his tragic death. No other show affected my emotions like this before, Jinx indeed truly is a tragic hero, and Silco is truly an excellent character. He is more like a complex anti-hero than a generic villain. This video is brilliant but I don't know why I can't accept Silco's death, I just want him and Jinx to be happy for god's sake. I need Silco to survive or be revived and resurrected, not just return as a flashback, memory or hallucination. Bring back Silco 😢
I think you're spot on, and that the shimmer worsened her mental state entirely. Remember, that was also directly after she set off Chompers on the bridge, and I don't think she expected to (or wanted to) live! Silco's death was sad, but I disagree that he was an anti-hero. He's incredibly complex and well-written, but he's still very much the villain of the show. The best villains aren't one-dimensional, and Silco is proof of that! I think he's a fascinating character.
@@honorablefroggery Ah yes you're right, she may have wanted to die on the bridge with her suicidal chompers grenade. I thought it was her last option left to counter Ekko and keep the gemstone. She still held the Hextech gemstone in her hand, maybe she hoped Silco would take it off her corpse? Her loyalty was still shown by her sacrifice. But her misinterpreting Silco's monologue next to Vander's statue caused her believe he was going to betray her to Piltover, if only she spoke to him rather than kidnap him like that. Also I still think Silco is not entirely a villain, he is the main antagonist of the show but not a completely irredeemable villain type, he is the hero of his own story. His cause for independence is noble and justified as Zaun is left behind, exploited, downtrodden and oppressed. The Enforcers impose Piltover's rule like a fascist police state as seen in the opening. Silco believed violence was necessary for change unlike Vander who submitted to Topside. To use force just as Vander used brute force and violence, and also tried to drown Silco and take control of the Lanes, even just to keep peace with Topside. Vander created Silco just as Vi created Jinx, they made their own monsters. Damn this whole show is a sad yet beautiful tragedy the more I look into it lol 😢
@@Zavrael I love how you said that they made their own monsters! I very much agree! I still do think that Silco is a true villain -- I'm making a whole video about this actually! But saying he's a villain doesn't mean that he's one-sided or black-and-white evil, it's just the role he fills in the story and the world. He absolutely does believe he's the hero of his own story -- in my opinion as a writer, all villains should! -- but he's brutal and ruthless and quick to threaten to murder kids to wield control. Like I said in the video, his love for Zaun is honorable, but he isn't good for Zaun in the long run because he further pollutes and exploits it, which is a really cool parallel to his relationship with Jinx! Overall I think he's fantastically written and I can't wait to make a full video about all my thoughts on him.
@@honorablefroggery Yeah, I think you're right, he certainly is the villain of this story. But I have always had a personal bias favouring villains since childhood since they were always cooler, more fun and more badass than boring, self-sacrificial, goody-two-shows heroes who want to keep the status-quo lol. Silco is so dynamic and unique, he is proof that villains are way better than heroes imo. I mean in terms of complexity and human nature. His need for control may have poisoned Zaun and his daughter, but he thought it was for the greater good and for independence from Piltover. Silco would rather watch the world burn than give up his daughter. She is more important to him than Zaun itself, his life's dream. A typical villain would probably sacrifice/betray their close allies for selfish gains, but not Silco. A hero on the other hand would probably think themselves, or their allies/loved ones, are a necessary sacrifice to save the world for the "greater good" and make difficult choices. Silco in a way was willing to take responsibility for Jinx's crimes, he is sacrificing himself for his daughter, kinda makes him heroic or have noble qualities. I think I confused myself lol 🤔 I'd love to watch your next video on Silco and look forward to it :)
feels the heroes fatal flaw is that they put five minutes of planning into a plan that has a .001 chance of success them getting everything they want without giving anything up. any solution requires the hero in giving something up something they are incapable of doing and are just running and blind hope things will get better which in turn makes everything worse.
small nitpick: neither comedy nor tragedy started at the Dionysia. Comedy in ancient greek means "village song" and as the name suggests was a rural tradition, while "tragedy" means "boar song" and started out as a song that was sung during a ritual sacrifice of animals. I also think that Arcane's structure is more similar to the 5-Act structure of the classical Weimar era drama. Also, I kinda disagre on the assessment of Jinx as a tragic hero. She lacks one key element that most tragic heroes like Iason, Antigone, etc. have: Agency. Most of season 1 she just gets kinda tossed around, having others tell her what to do and she just does as she is told. Actually, she reminds me very much of Woyzeck, probably the first anti hero in classical literature, a very interesting character. There are actually lots of parallels between the 2
right! i should clarify that what I meant by that was that the surviving tragedies we have were written by playwrights to be performed at those theatre festivals. and interesting! my knowledge of Weimar Republic theatre is admittedly pretty limited (my classes were primarily about ancient Greek and Shakespearean theatre), so I'm curious about that! I'll have to do some research.
@@honorablefroggery keep in mind, Im not an expert, and thats just my German literature classes :P If you are interested in literature, I can only recommend a dive in there though, as there is a lot to find and there are many interesting reads! By the way, while this might depend a bit on the precise definition of antihero/tragic hero, IMO Vi would be the tragic hero of the story. Not to say she is the main character. It seems the internet consensus is that this spot belongs to Jinx (although Vi has the most screentime out of any character) But, in any case. I do love to talk about it, since I'm also a huge Arcane fan ;)
I wouldn't say Jinx is lacking agency. This is why i love her since she's a debatable topic of basically everything including agency. Powder I guess we could say didn't have much (naturally being a child) as she mostly listened to Vi act one who'd I'd say had her most agency in that act. She did two purposeful things throwing the loot and the monkey, once she sets off that bomb I'd say she has a lot of agency. Firstly she was told not to come but she does with the monkey which sets off the events of the show. Then she stole the hex gemstone without being told by Silco who wanted her to cool off and work on her gadgetry (setting off Cait which end up leading her to Vi), then episode 6 she is interrogating Sevika and chuck over the commotion recently with mystery people (Vi and Cait) since she doesn't like Silco keeping things from her, and then sets off the flare once she's been told of Vis return. Which is an important choice and desire for her more so than just doing as she was told since she doesn't really know the context of Vi after episode 3 and she's afraid of Vi not accepting Jinx as much as wanting her back. Then she blows up the bridge with the firelight bombs and steals back the crystal once she thinks Vi is working with the enforcer/cares for her and only then which is more agency on her part than Vis as her action is purposefully causing an outcome. She then chooses to murder suicide with Ekko (its already implied she has some suicidal ideational and tendencies). Kidnapping Caitlyn, the whole tea party and then choosing Jinx in the end after shooting Silco. Her actions are derived from either Vi or Silco, but its the same with the other characters where they have their own reasonings. Hers are just connected to who she attaches herself to being a fairly co dependent person with abandonment issues. But that doesn't stop her from doing things her way or making choices. Then again she has psychosis making mylo and claggor whisper things in her ear sowing seeds of doubt she already has deeper. Does that remove some of her agency due to the plea of insanity or is she in enough control?
@@pugisherpug4366 Thank you, I guess I shouldve clarified: she lacks agency in act 1. ofc she does quite a lot in acts 2 and 3, even though she mostly acts out of impulse, but that's still agency. however, this means she displays agency only in her "villain phase", and that was my main point that the tragic hero has a tragic ending/fate because of the actions they take, not because of the things that happen to them. Antigone is a tragic hero because her death is a direct result of her consciously choosing to disobey Kreon's orders and then stand her ground against him during her trial.
A tragic hero is supposed to have a moral dimension. Hamlet's tragic realization happens on his line, "The point envenomed too!" He realizes too late that he is too moral to think like a murderer such as Claudius, so his pride in his intelligence leads to his fall. Hamlet and Oedipus are noble characters, and the classical tragic hero is supposed to occupy a great social height in order for their fall to be profound. Modern analysts expanded the definition of a tragic hero to allow for someone of lower status to fall. Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman is literally a "low man," but modern sensibilities allow that he can also be considered tragic in the context of his life and his world. His nobility is in nothing more than conviction to provide for his family. That's enough of a height to for him to fall from. Jinx is deliberately immoral. She kills enforcers without remorse. Her whole identity revolves around being able to kill people with bombs. As an audience we can empathize with her traumatic loss of family members, and her realization (anagnorisis) that she will always choose to save her sister comes at the high price of killing Silco, but it's not truly tragic. Hubris has to come from an admirable goal that has become distorted by pride in the virtue of that goal, but Jinx isn't has no admirable goals in the classical sense or even the modern sense of and everyday tragic hero. This is an excellent show and these characters are extremely well-drawn. Jinx, Vi, and just about all the other characters endure changes that or well-earned, and Jinx changes more than anyone, but she is not a tragic hero. She is an empathetic one.
Interesting insights, but I'd disagree on a couple points - first about her morality. While she isn't a "good" person, the struggle that distorts her perception of reality (the hallucinations of Mylo, Claggor, and Vander) doesn't just come from the trauma of losing family, but from the guilt of being the one to cause it. If she was truly inherently immoral, she wouldn't feel that guilt. I also don't think her whole identity revolves around bombs, at least in the show. It's the inner struggle between her past self and the good within her (Powder) and the chaotic killing machine that Silco groomed her to be (Jinx). She also doesn't kill enforcers just to kill them, she kills them because they killed her parents, brutalize the citizens of the Undercity, and because both Silco and Vi have grown up teaching her that the best thing they can do for their home is to "stick it to the Enforcers." You and I watch the show and think holy shit, that's so fucked up of her to blow up that building, but Jinx has her own motives (there are definitely moments where she loses touch on reality and kills without prejudice, but blowing up the enforcers is not one of those moments in my opinion.) I think she is also noble by Undercity standards. She was raised by the two de facto leaders (or kings) of the Undercity, Vander and Silco, and that makes her just as noble as Hamlet by Zaunite standards. Hubris also isn't the only example of a fatal flaw (although it's an incredibly common one used in classical literature) and I don't think that it is Jinx's, nor do I think it's a defining feature of the tragic hero! To me, Aristotle's quote on the tragic hero being a character who realizes his own nature perfectly summarizes Jinx's arc, along with the other statements I made in the video. Feel free to disagree and thank you for the conversation, but I think Jinx not only fits most of the points you outlined (not all) but also that the qualification to be a modern tragic hero is not so rigid as you laid out (and it shouldn't be, otherwise we'd get tired of the same stories repeated again and again without change!)
take this as a sign!! i also highly recommend looking up recorded performances of these plays (like the antigone performance i included in the video!) -- the actors are spectacular and it really helps make the plays more understandable!
19:23 "Jinx kills her second father, …"
I think Vander already was the second. Silco was her third one.
So Jinx finally got ahead of Vi on her highscore of losing families … (sorry for the dark humour)
I don't think that vander held much importance nor effect over for her.
@@zerere_ Yeah, I agree. Powder had a vague respect for Vander and Vander had a vaguely kind attitude towards her, but they straight up didn't know each other, and Vi (through absolutely no fault of her own) kept either of them from really caring enough to learn more about each other. Vander saw himself in Vi more in a bunch of ways, and Powder would need therapy after what happened to their parents if she wanted a healthy connection with anyone.
@@smileyhappyface5864 !!
@@smileyhappyface5864 well, this aged poorly.
@@justarandomgirlvx3578 I guess so lmao. I don't think the group hug they had changes the fact that they know basically nothing about each other, but they clearly cared in some meaningful way.
What I think is interesting about jinx is she’s effectively the main villain in basically every other characters story, but her story follows the heroes journey arch beat for beat.
Tragedy: heroes fail and fall. Paradoxically, the villain rises, morally speaking. Oh, Silco remains a villain, but self-sacrifice, absolute, unconditional love and acceptance make his death also sublime, another moment of agnoreisis when he realises how much loving Jinx has transformed him:
Zaun - he's given up on his dream for her.
Betrayal - betrayed, again, by the person he loves most, but this time he forgives her, if there is even a place for resentment or vengeance in his last breaths.
"Jinx" - he had to endure seeing his daughter choose her sister over him. Who knows, perhaps Powder won out. So, it's not "Jinx is perfect", it's "you're perfect." Whoever you decide to be. Silco didn't groom Jinx to be another version of him. He could at least find some selfish comfort in the tears she sheds, but no, he tells not to cry over him.
Rage - in his final moments, he stops fighting, lets the waters take him, the monster rest. "Have you had enough?" He has now, and goes gentle into that long night.
Vi never struck me as particularly prideful. The character flaw standing in the way of her primary goal, which was finding and "saving" Powder, was her refusal to acknowledge who/what Powder had become (i.e., Jinx), which only served to drive Jinx away. Her only other goal was subordinate to that one, and as far as I can tell, her anger and obsession with taking down Silco did not undermine the primary goal in any way; if anything it was synergistic with her primary goal.
i see what you mean! i see her pridefulness as more about her pursuit of vengeance despite being warned not to, a sort of arrogance. and when combined with her anger and obsession, it brings her to a boiling point.
i also don't think fatal flaws necessarily have to undermine the character's goal, but lead to a characters downfall in some way (whether that be mental, which i think happens in the case of Vi in the events leading up to the dinner scene considering her screams of anguish).
I'm going to use another example! In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's fatal flaw is her ruthless ambition. Her ultimate goal is to become Queen of Scotland, and her fatal flaw doesn't hinder that at all, in fact it helps her to achieve that goal. However, the guilt over the actions she took to fulfill that ruthless ambition drive her to madness and cause her to kill herself. So her downfall wasn't that she couldn't achieve her goal (she did, and her flaw directly served that goal), her downfall was that in pursuing that goal she bent her mind past the breaking point.
Obviously I don't think Vi and Lady M are the same but I think you can also see how the anger and pain Vi feels have begun to catch up to her (her reaction at the Shimmer factory, her fight with Sevika and her scream afterwards) despite her anger and arrogance ultimately serving her goal of getting revenge on Silco and reuniting with her sister.
I do totally agree with you though that her love of Jinx is one of Vi's fatal flaws in the same way that Jinx's love of Vi is one of Jinx's fatal flaws! That's a really great point, thank you!
also kind of seems like VI's personality and demanding responsibility for her sister prevents her from really having a fully formed healthy life. forming her self as the protector of her sister, doesn't seem like VI has permitted herself to live for her self. Jinx is a shattered individual to say the least but it looks to me like it would only take several well placed psychological haymakers to send VI to some measure of crazy town too, and I do mean hay makers she wont go down from a simple few hits we've seen her strength.
Her pride and need to "punch her way through problems" are prevalent in the story. Vander sees it and warns her about it. She doesn't listen.
Pride does not have to be selfishness.
@@derekmarshman6154 Her need to punch her way through her problems is brought up as an issue, not her pride. While it's _technically_ prideful of her to think she can fight against Piltover or Silco without any help, that isn't what Vander tries to warn her about, and she ends up being almost-correct.
This was such an amazing analysis. My sister asked me why i keep on rewatching Arcane (on my 6th watch right now) if it always makes me cry at the end, and now I know - its about the *catharsis*
Thank you so much for this video! ❣️❣️❣️
thank you so much for watching!
The more you watch it, the more you see, and the more it hurts. Arcane is amazing.
Love the analysis! I have to add, even though you mentioned that the chorus no longer exists in modern media, if you look at both Goodbye and What Could Have Been in particular, the song titles and lyrics perfectly encompass both act 1 (“Won’t ever leave my memory bloodshed all around”) and act 3 (“and worst of all, for me to live, I gotta kill the part of me that saw that I needed you more”). And furthermore, all of the songs in the soundtrack serve to establish something in terms of developing the setting or a character (e.g. Welcome to the Playground, Misfit Toys, etc.). So in a way, I feel like Arcane even attempted to bring that aspect of the Greek tragedy into the show as well!
wow, great observation! i didn't even think about the role that soundtrack has played in essentially serving as the chorus in modern media, i love that! thank you so much!
Thank you, this is great! In my mind I've been calling this show "The (Greek) Tragedy of Jinx (A.K.A. The initiation of the Piltover/Zaun War)" because Jinx undergoes that full tragic arc. I love the way you laid it all out. I drew a tragic arc for Vi too, but it didn't occur to me to draw one for everyone like you did!
yeah jinx & vi (as well as viktor but he hasn't fully reached his downfall yet) are the main tragic heroes for me, but the show is so interesting because so much of the main cast has elements of those arcs! it truly is an archetypal tragedy and i'm so obsessed with that
This was absolutely incredible. I truly wish I could sit down with you and just talk media analysis like this with you for hours. You really piqued my brain at several points that could be applied to so many other things I like to analyze. The small bits of humor and personality you brought to this to make it your own we’re also quite enjoyable. Wonderful job all around.
More specifically to the video, I think you truly nailed down each character as you talked about them. Especially at with Jinx and Vi. The whole catharsis thing with fish ones makes sense. I also Jinx had being doing the same thing on a smaller scale with all her bombs and explosions and gadgetry up to that point as a way of catharsis of dealing with her trauma from the monkey bomb. I have more to say there but my mind just went bleh.
I think you are also right in that Jinx is the only character with a complete character arc in season one, but I think and argument could also be made for Jayce. But the end of one arc for both of them is just the beginning of new one for season 2. Furthermore on this the point that all these characters greatest downfalls, their biggest enemies are themselves, is just itching my brain in how they will continue to tear themselves down in season 2 and what will be the tipping point to where each character will start to build themselves up again, or like Jinx abandon a part of themselves to a darker truth and forge themselves anew in that darkness.
That was a lot. Probably should have broken that up a bit more. Forgive me.
thank you so much, this comment genuinely made my day! i'm glad that you were able to take so much from this video (and trust me, media analysis is going to be the theme of this channel!)
I agree with you about Jayce! Now that I think about it his arc did resolve as well. I can't wait to see how these characters interact and either put back the pieces or completely self destruct in season 2!
@@honorablefroggery You’re very welcome! I look forward to whatever other things you create in the future.
I have a theory on how Viktor’s character arc might go in season 2, but I don’t know if you want to hear about that kind of speculation.
But furthermore, what you say about Mel’s arc unfolding backwards in the show? Like in the timeline of her character we don’t really get to see who she is or why she is until the later episodes. Instead of building up her character they kinda destructed her, which is also think is very clever way to subvert the trope that she fills in the beginning.
@@jessigaisbauer539 I welcome speculation! It's my favorite thing.
Honestly I loved how they did that with Mel -- she's such a controlled character from the start (both in terms of keeping her motivations very close to her chest and also the control she has over other people) and saying she unraveled over the course of the season is the perfect way to describe it, because we learned more about her and we also saw her become more and more vulnerable.
I'm a *huge* believer in the Mel/Locket of the Iron Solari theory (I made a tiktok video about it!) and I'm pretty much convinced we'll be seeing more of her and the other Medardas in season 2 and I can't wait to see where they take her character!
@@honorablefroggery Oh cool. So here’s my Viktor prediction;
I think he’s going to get seriously injured from the Fishbones attack. However, since he has already undergone some of the transformation progress with the hexcore, it will sustain him and Jayce won’t be able to destroy it like he promised. I also think that maybe Viktor will transform a little more as the hexcore tries to patch Viktor back up, kinda as sentient being itself trying to take care of its host since it seems bonded with him (also I think this ties into “glorious evolution”). But since we see the hexcore knock Viktor out when he after he tries to destroy I think it also has mental connection to him, and the further he becomes transformed and dependent on it it starts to corrupt his mind, feeding its own sentience and motivations into his mind and kinda taking over him which leads to him falling from the grace of Piltover and eventually cutting ties with Jayce and Viktor will lose his original ideologies and self.
Yes, I have seen that theory. I think it’s very plausible. I also feel like they won’t just kill her off like that because of the way they did her character arc in a reverse kinda fashion it really feels unfinished. It can’t just end with her dying so soon, even though that would add some interesting conflict from Noxus and her mother. I just can’t believe her role is played out yet and I expect much more from her in season 2.
ahh it’s finally out!! thank you for this video ally :) it’s been a rough day and i needed something to distract myself
thank you! i hope your day gets better ✨
I've been binge watching video essays about Arcane since the show came out, and I'm sure you know there are no shortage of them. But wow this one is something else! A true lesson and analysis of classic narrative tropes, what a treat! I was shocked to see that you had barely more than 300 subs, but after watching this video I am now proud to count myself among them. I can't wait to see how this channel grows!
And wow, would you look at that! You made a video about my other favorite Netflix original show, She-Ra! I will be watching that one right now thank you very much 😁
You're brilliant. Just finished arcane. I feel like such a fool for waiting this long. I love tragedies but damn my heart is torn for jinx.
That's why the show is so good though.
I've seen more analysis videos for Arcane than I can count at this point. THIS? This is BY FAR the BEST I've ever seen! It... I had struggled so hard to articulate what about this story and these characters resonates so hard with so many people from diverse backgrounds (I've watched reactors from all over the world watch the series), but thinking of it as a Greek Tragedy just... FITS.
Wow.
Thanks for this.
wow, that's high praise! thank you so much and I'm so glad you enjoyed!
Hi, it's me again haha, this video made me cry too :), specially in the part where you said "She would always love her sister, therefore, she would always be a jinx". The comparison you make between this character's story and the greek tragedies is just one of the most amazing things i've seen about this show. Arcane already has touched my heart in multiple ways for different reasons; being the psychological driven situations, Vi's and Jinx's character arc's and the dynamic/relationship between Vi and Cait the ones that have touched me the most. I really love how this analysis dives in how tragic but beautiful made are this characters and this story. For some reason this show makes me really emotional, and watching this has reinforced the affection and attachment that I have for this story and these characters. You are really good doing this type of video essays, it would be really cool if you could make something like this but talking about like the dynamic between Caitlyn and Vi, I would love to hear your thoughts about them.
22:49 You just perfectly described what I felt after watching Arcane first time
and second time
and third
and all 38 times
An absolutely lovely video, I've just watched the series for the first time and have felt so depressed thinking about the show, I've genuinely struggled to deal with the emotions that the show has left me, no other show or film has ever affected me like Arcane. Other forms of media have left me emotional before but nothing to this extend, watching Arcane literally shut me down for a good few days. I was recommended this video as a way of processing those feelings and this video was a brilliant watch and I just want to say thank you
5:30 - 6:27 wow someone who actually understands silco, great video!
Very lovely job- I've been calling this a greek tragedy since I saw it, and you just summed up the reasons why with FAR more concise vocabulary- stellar job!!!
Looking forward to watching this after school today!
I've seen quite a few essays about Arcane but this one was by far the most interesting and had, I think, the best analysis of the characters.
thank you very much!
Wow. I never considered that choosing Vi was Powder choose Jinx. It actually makes perfect sense.
Wonderful video, a few nitpicks.
While you touched on it, I think that the "moment of near triumph" is a fundamental aspect of peripetea. The near triumph makes the sudden reversal of fortune all the more impactful.
Best analysis of Arcane by far!
thank you very much!
This was so good!! I loved hearing the history behind the genre and your analysis was fantastic!
That one line though. “She will always love her sister and because [of that] she will always be a Jinx.”
That line hit me so hard. 😭
thank you so much! i agree, i think that's really the core of their relationship and it breaks my heart 😭
Loved the analysis! You were spot on with your points and the comparison with an actual Greek tragedy to display the tragedy characteristics was a great choice. Only note I would make would be not to include a rapid-pause section in the video. I tend to watch these sorts of essays while I do housework and such, and it takes me right out of focus having to interrupt the video and my work. Read it out! A bit more runtime is totally fine if it's part of the point you're making.
thank you for the feedback and i will absolutely keep it in mind! this was my first video so i'm welcoming all opportunities to grow!!
@@honorablefroggery Coming back to actually discuss your topic, your choice of story to compare with Arcane here is spot-on, because Jinx's story and that of Oedipus have some interesting parallels. Jinx kills not one, but both of her father figures. She has a really toxic relationship with Silco that harms both them and the people around them. (Like when Sevika called Jinx his "daughter", I wanted to shout NO, that is NOT like a daughter!) Her love for Vi unravels her in the end. Of course it's not the same sort of love as Oedipus, but it is still a completely devastating turn, and is fueled by Vi 's romance with Caitlyn.
Her choosing to work with the man causing a plague on the weaker Zaunites (and their frankly disturbing "father-daughter" dynamic) feels like the curse Oedipus casts on Thebes. Even the prophecy aspect is there, Jinx being known as a game character IRL. In world, her family calling her a jinx in act 1 catalyzes her effort to be useful and valuable, which lets her be manipulated and prove that label right almost every single time. Similarly to how Oedipus running from his "parents" to avoid his prophecy leads him right into fulfilling it, because his real parents also wanted to avoid that horrible fate.
Incredible how every character has an arc that is just as crushing and somewhat self-inflicted, but also reliant on the actions of everyone else in the story. So few stories nowadays can even begin to do that with one character, but Arcane nails it with multiple.
this was amazing! i disagree with the commenter saying they don't see vi as prideful.. she very much is, she takes pride in the undercity and wants to fight for it. i hope you make more videos about arcane!
Well yes but actually no. Vi hates the undercity, and it only gets more intense later on. It's dirty and hungry and full of mean people and every physical altercation she ever gets in is with a Zaunite. "I grew up knowing I'm less than them, that my place is down there. I want Powder to have more than that and I'm willing to fight for it". She sees living in the undercity as a symbolic representation of Piltover's negligence and lack of sympathy for people like her. She takes pride in her *family*, and wants to fight for it.
Loved the video amazing insight, would love to see a video on the psychological effects each character has on each other (eg. Silcos effect on Powder) and just a general analysis.
thank you so much, and thank you for the suggestion! I think that would be a really good series to explore, all the different ways that the characters impact each other!
This was very eloquently put! Loved the parallels and analysis.
thank you very much!
Thank you for sharing this! helps to understand the show on incredibly different level :) thank you!
Such an impressive video. I'll be coming back for more. Looking forward to other stories you have to tell.
thank you so much!
absolutely sick. well written, well argued.
thank you so much! i'm a huge fan of your videos!
@@honorablefroggery right back at you. stoked to see what you make next!
Great video! One minor disagreement tho: silco's fatal flaw is that he loves that which he cannot control, in spite of his controlling nature. He loved Vander, who turned on him, he loves Zaun, a nation that is fundamentally chaotic, and he loves Jinx, even though she is 100% out of control, to the point that she can't even control herself. So he tries to control the things he loves and always ends up harming them with his methods. Then he gets desperate, and pays the ultimate price for his last attempt to control Jinx by killing Vi.
Excellent point, thank you!
I hope you make more of these, I love high quality video essays
This is by far the most interesting analysis of arcane I have watched and I am so eager to see more of your analyses, even outside of arcane. Keep up the great work :D
thank you so much! i'm so glad you enjoyed, and I'm excited to share more content!!!!
thank you so much for this! I've been obsessed with Arcane but I never thought of it this way, damn this is good~
also if I had watched this when I read Aristotle's Poetics I wouldn't have hated it so much lmao.
Thanks for the analysis, I liked it very much. I saw a similar analysis earlier with references of Greek Tragedy, but paints Silco as a absolute monster even during his last words were calculated to poison Jinx mentally. Although that analysis was good I felt Silco's love for Jinx is real but distorted with his own distorted values.
BTW, I watched dozens of Arcane analysis so far the best one are made by females creators unfortunately many of them are small ones. But you just earned another subscriber.
"The best one are made by females creators"
=> Aaaah, identity politics.
21:30 I knew someone once who was a much older person... had a plethora of experiences, from witnessing bombs in city centers in Africa to international conferences across Asia, probably been to every continent, went from rags to riches and back to rags and then riches again, and they said once that of all their years, one of the highest valued points of advice, the million dollar sentence: was that hurt people hurt... I myself still contemplate on how much I agree with the statement, but nevertheless I wanted to affirm what you were saying, as someone I once knew who was a veteran of so many things had iterated that same thing
Great video!
If you like tragedy, I recommend berserk. The Golden age ark is probably one of the greatest modern tragedies ever written if you ask me.
You'll get the gyst if you watch the movies, you'll get a more detailed idea of the characters if you watch the old anime, and you'll experience the true story in all its glory if you read the Manga. Hope to see you cover it.
thank you for the recommendation! i love tragedy so I will have to check it out!
For Jayce I'd add that his pride is also what has him give into manipulations by anyone. To make him feel grandiose and important and right.
definitely! great point!
@@honorablefroggery Thank you for the video!!
Ive been thinking that for weeks and I'm so happy to find a video seeing that beautiful show like that !!
thank you so much!!
This is brilliant :) thank you for this wonderful piece
9:43 If catatonic state can be called life...
That was surprisingly pretty good and on point
Great job, Froggy. Very, very pertinent. I've read my share of tragedies but didn't think it went that far.
An admirer from Paris. :D
merci beaucoup!
@@honorablefroggery Ha ha, de rien. :)
oh my fucking god. season 2 is shot for shot what is described in this video
Oooh I love this! I truly do. Threw me right back to English class (and that's a compliment I especially enjoyed this topic while reading Macbeth hehe)
Thanks a lot and I hope to maybe see more stuff in the future if you have fun and more to tell^^
thank you so much!! that is a huge compliment, i was the nerd who loved English classes in school lol!
and more videos are definitely in the works! i have several outlined already!!
All I can say is wow! Your video is just amazing, it blew me away!
This is truly amazing! Thank you so much!! I’m in the process of writing my own script and this has been incredibly helpful!!
best of luck with your script!
I have listenned through all your video and it was so great ! Thankx for sharing your thoughts, of course there are some parts with which I might not agree entirely, but I agreed with most and learned a lot, it was a really cool video. Thankx for sharing your knowledge about greek Tragedy with us!
One of my favourite video-essays EVER. This was such a compelling video, with so many interesting insights. Beautifully said, thank you so much for this fantastic analysis!
wow thank you so much!!!! that's high praise, I'm so glad you loved this video!!
Oh wow this is really good, I just watched the show the other month and I know nothing about League but even still definitely a good watch and this was a great take on it. Your delivery, editing and presentation is really good and anything critical i have to say I can honestly see being ironed out with just more practice so just keep doing what you’re doing, this honestly reminded me of a Wisecrack video so you’re definitely on the right track
thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed and I love channels like Wisecrack so that's definitely a good sign!
Wow this is phenomenal! Please please do more of these analyses (of Arcane and/or other shows/books/video games/literally anything)!!
thank you so much!! I definitely plan to -- I'm scripting one right now!!!
Excellent essay!
It’s funny how two of my favorite shows of all time (fate/zero & arcane) are greek tragedies
Thx for your great analysis :)
I have been feeling the onset of a minor depressive episode for a few days… and THIS video felt like, Catharsis.
Thank you.
Listening to you talk about this and Greek plays also made me really curious what a stage adaptation of Arcane would look like. 🤔 🧐 I could actually see it being really great, so many of the best scenes are a few characters bouncing off each other. And the moments in the show where it cuts back and forth quickly between different locations (see GunsForHire) would translate gloriously to a stage. Imagine Jinx on a raised slowly rotating platform silently raising the flare while Vi and Cait run from Silco and Marcus seals the bridges, all while the orchestra swells. 😘 👌
Wow! That was really interesting! No, really, as a person who has read multiple greek tragedies and just recently watched Arcane, now I can see the very interesting, and certainly valid connection! I actually have watched another show, that, in my opinion, can easily be called a modern greek tragedy. It's the anime "Fate/Zero". If you didn't watch it, definitely give it a watch! It only has 25 episodes and you certainly will be shocked at the amount of connections this anime also has to greek tragedy!
Btw. What's also interesting to note is the distinguishing between "just" a tragedy and a greek tragedy! What makes them different from each other? Well, to put it short, it's the different ideological motives, that the characters have! The audience can't decide if any way to act is the right or wrong one! That's the distinction! And, well, if you look at Arcane, it perfectly fits! (People of the upper city vs. people of the under city, etc...)
Thank you for the recommendation! I'll have to check it out!
I read so many comments on UA-cam about Silco being a caring father. I doubt he would have ever confessed to Jinx that, given the chance, he would have killed her whole family. Of course, Powder took care of most of them, but none of this would have happened if Silco had no need for power.
You mean if Piltover didn't oppress the undercity?
i agree -- i'm actually scripting a video about Silco and Silco apologists! i hate reading comments that imply that he was a good guy or a good father -- he's a great character but a terrible person.
@@tompatompsson Yes, obviously. But Piltover wasn't responsible for the means that Silco was willing to use to achieve power on order to create an independent Zaun. Silco was willing to create a greater misery of his own people (shimmer) to get richer and more powerful to that end.
@@mkraulis Yes, just like the ANC used terrorism to fight against the apartheid system.
And would have killed her too.
I just watched your video about Catra
in comments I said I'm obssesed with her character
well, Powder (I know, she call herself Jinx, but she will never be jinx for me) is next character, that I love with all my fucking heart. Next perfect written psychopath
so I'm glad I can watch this
(also, can we just talk about simmlarities between Catra and Powder?)
btw, it's second video you made that I'm watching, but it's very good
if you read this, know, that you are so fucking good at making videos and analisys of characters from shows
Thank you for this essay!!! Why is there a metronome running at around the 18:13 - 18:40 mark??????????? I have never heard this before. It goes in and out after that for a bit. Also what does it mean to be addicted to Catharsis lol........because I am absolutely obsessed with Arcane.
thank you! i am also completely obsessed lol!
and that's actually from the background track! the background music was lowered for the clip and I guess the only sound that still came through was from the beat lol
you just claimed a new follower. ❤️
Love this video and analysis!
And something so tragic about Vi especially is that she was so close to overcoming her fatal flaw, internalizing Vander's teachings in her own way and giving herself up for her family, but then episode 3 happens and she gets stuck in punching mode for the rest of the series.
Anyways just my 2cents have a good day
yesssss literary history and Arcane, exactly what I’m always looking for 😌
liked and subscribed!
I love thinking about anagnorisis in this show, and I would argue that there are moments when other characters experience "coming face-to-face with their true selves". The first thing that comes to mind is Jayce, after he has killed the kid in the Shimmer lab, and he has to confront his own blindness, realizing how naïve he was. Viktor has his moment when he accidentally kills Sky in his blind pursuit of progress, realizing that he was not so different from Singed after all.
Also, something about Powder/Jinx and her moment: in her moment of confronting her true self, killing Silco to save her sister, she fully embraces Jinx as her true self, but it begs the question: why is this her true self? Is it because we have revealed this is who she really is? Or is it because of her toxic relationship with Silco, who literally and figuratively gave her drugs and encouraged her to define herself as a victim?
I could rant about this show forever, but anyway, I loved the video. Great discussion, very thought provoking
I agree! In the original draft of this video I went over Jayce's moment of realization but it ended up on the cutting room floor, but I totally agree with you on that one! It's one of the best ways that the show hammers home it's theme that the characters cause their own downfalls and are capable of committing terrible acts to achieve their goals (even if unintentional!)
As for Jinx's true self, I think its a combination of years of Silco's manipulation (plus his final act of manipulation, whether intentional or not, calling her perfect -- a direct throwback to the "baptism" scene when he tells her she has to let Powder die because Jinx is perfect) and the fact that she'd do anything to save her sister based on pure instinct. It's like the story (and particularly Jinx's character arc) rhymes with itself -- she commits patricide twice to save Vi.
Like I said in the video, the first act that made "Jinx" was Powder blowing up the warehouse and accidentally killing their whole family in an attempt to save Vi, and so the act that cements Jinx as being Jinx is killing Silco in an attempt to save Vi. So the revelation of her true nature isn't necessarily that she was always destined to become Jinx, but that she will always try and save Vi, and because of her mental instability, trauma, and years of being conditioned by Silco, this means she'll always be the Jinx we know in the show. I hope that makes sense!
I totally agree, this show is so thought provoking and I could absolutely ramble about it for hours! it's a total masterpiece! thank you for commenting!!!
@@honorablefroggery About Jinx. I agree that she feels trapped in this Jinx persona at the end, that she feels cursed, but why does that alienates her from her sister, in her mind? Because she killed two fathers to save her and doesn't want to do MORE damage? She doesn't think she can live a normal life with her? There's also that line : "you've changed too"... did you address those questions somewhere? That damn show. ^^;
@@SCharlesDennicon i agree! i think she feels trapped and alienates her sisters both because she wants to avoid further damage and also because I think to some extent she resents both her love of Vi and Vi herself because it started the whole mess in the first place!
I didn't tackle the "you've changed too" line but it breaks my heart, and I think she's referring to the fact that as an adult Vi isn't willing the sacrifice the other people she loves for Jinx (the way Jinx sacrifices Silco, even though it's instinctual.) I'd love to hear other interpretations though!!
@@honorablefroggery I've heard that take in another great video, and after careful research, it appears to be the right on imo. :D I mean, there aren't a lot of other interpretations, since Vi is LITERALLY the character who has changed the least, like trapped in time. Although it surprises me a bit because seven years in jail isn't nothing.
By the way, I don't know for you, but the complete lack of information about what happened between episodes 3 and 4 is my only, but substantial issue with this first season.
I'm writing this comment listening to Carter Burwell's Trial of Ed Crane, which has nothing to do with Arcane BUT fits the mood, and thinking that Jinx IS one of my favorite tragic characters ever. ^^; (Not including literature, suffice to say.)
Anyways.
Omg this is really insightful! Love this whole video!!!
Very interesting to watch. It must have taken ages to produce it. Nice Work.
thank you very much!!!
ally thank you sm for posting this
thank you sm for watching ily!!!
great video, thanks!
Good intel good intel. Yeah fishbones really was catharsis for Jinx.
great video! very interesting
I loved Greek tragedies before knowing what one is, Fate/ Zero last year and this year Arcane.
It's not just about Greece or about being tragedy. It's the characters in these stories. They aren't pure villains, they aren't pure heroes. They are complex entities chained to their beliefs and actions, which mades them unable to change their fate.
You know from the start where these characters will end, but the journey is extremely enjoyable and the catarsis is everything someone can want from a story.
I didn't expect much from the Jinx from the game. Arcane made her my favorite. You can see every step of the way how she struggled in showing her skills and how much she loves her sister.
*Spoilers ahead
The ending has irony in it, at the meeting where peace was made with Undercity and its independence was accepted. Jinx sent the bomb that will most probably set up a full new war and the possible death of some members from the meeting.
Like the irony from the end of F/ Z, where the Holy Grail War not only did not accomplish his wish for world peace, but it was the cause for the death of a lot of people in the area and his slow, painful death just a few years after.
i like this, but i think you got viktor a little wrong
hes not in persuit of cheating death; in fact, he doesnt care about himself at all. his health doesnt decline further because hes trying not to die, his health declines further because he simply doesnt care about himself
this is also what he learned from singed. he doesnt try to keep the expiriment alive to cheat death, he keeps it alive, is this suffering state, going against morals, for nothing but the sake of the expiriment. nothing matters about how much pain its in, because the creature wasnt what mattered either, it was only whatever answers he was seeking that made him continue
viktor doesnt continue the expiriment for his own gain. he continues the expiriment because he wants to know what in the world will happen. where it will go. yes he wants to help people, just like jayce, but he differs where its not really his main motivator. maybe his main conscious motivator, what he thinks hes doing it for, but at least subconsciously its the expiriment hes looking for. what will happen, what are the answers, and whats the next question.
he doesnt care about himself one bit, and he only stops when it harms somebody else. he inherited from singed his lack of care for anything but the expiriment, but he held onto his morals, enough to realize enough was enough
I have no doubt those are the standard definitions of those terms, but if so I'm here to tell the Greeks they didn't have their notion of tragedy quite perfected. I wanna just temper a couple thoughts.
First, anagnorisis, the sudden realization that everything has gone wrong, and crucially also that it's *too late to do anything about it*. If there's still a chance to change things, to any degree, the situation becomes much less tragic. It's a major reason death is tragic, because it's so irreversible. So yeah, huge moment of anagnorisis for Powder when Vi says "you did this?" at the end of act one. I would even argue there's another potent anagnorisis before the episode is over: when Vi sees Silco standing over Powder and her perception of Powder as the one who just killed her family snaps suddenly to Powder as the last remaining member of her family, and in need her protection at that moment more than ever. But the anagnorisis isn't complete until she wakes up in a cell (presumably) and realizes there's absolutely nothing she can do to fix her mistake. That's tragic.
Then the peripeteia, the sudden reversal of fortunes. It can't just be that though; the true tragedy is when it was so close you could almost touch it. "So close, yet so far". If someone is born rich and powerful and eventually deposed, it's not necessarily very tragic at all, but if a person has spent their entire life trying to claw their way up and loses it all just as they're about to achieve something, that's much more tragic. So without a doubt there's a peripeteia masterclass at the end of each act. As mentioned, the tragedy of the monkey bomb ruining the escape they had almost pulled off against all odds. Act two, the sisters reunite, everything is perfect, the right things are said, Powder is at the surface, reconciliation seems at hand, but then Caitlin and the Firelights show up and it all falls apart. Then the mother of all peripeteia at the end of the season. Sting might as well be singing "peripeteia" instead of "what could have been", because that's what it's all about. When it's so close you can see exactly what might have been. The rocket through the window doesn't even really change anything unless you consider what was about to be. It's how close they were to recognizing Zaun that makes it so utterly tragic. Otherwise the rocket is just a continuation of hostilities that already existed. Sad maybe, but not so exquisitely tragic.
Excellent video, by the way
15:35
I'M NOT FUCKING CRYING
(I totally am)
I loved this!
Good video, thx
Why I loved this show as much as The Expanse series, there are no perfect heroes, just tragically flawed humans making judgements based on different points of view, and each is correct from that particular point of view.
Am I the only one that noticed that Vi and Powder's dead mom in the opening scene looks like Caitlyn or am I seeing things?
i personally don't see it in the facial features much (you can also see her for a second when vi is dying in the windmill house!) but i can totally see the similarities between their eye color and dark hair (their mom is dark purple and cait is dark blue)
I feel 30 I.Q. points more intelligent after watching your video. I really hope Jinx gets redeemed without dying Darth Vader style.
thank you so much!
Wait why am I crying?
Thank you, I understand the concept of such a heart-breaking modern Greek Tragedy much better now, but the pain still persists 😢.
My great issue with the show is that in Episode 8; Jinx disappears after Singed saves her life. I mean she didn't wake up and even talk to Silco, was the surgery so torturous that she up and left? She didn't even attack or thank Singed after the operation? He just let her go or did she escape?
I'm certain if she spoke to Silco after the shimmer surgery instead of disappearing, then the whole tragedy of his death would be averted. Their bond and love as father and daughter would be solidified and she would rest assured that he would never betray or forsake her. Perhaps the shimmer worsened her mental state?
I anticipated Silco's tragic death yet still can't get over it or get through it. I still can't accept his tragic death. No other show affected my emotions like this before, Jinx indeed truly is a tragic hero, and Silco is truly an excellent character. He is more like a complex anti-hero than a generic villain.
This video is brilliant but I don't know why I can't accept Silco's death, I just want him and Jinx to be happy for god's sake. I need Silco to survive or be revived and resurrected, not just return as a flashback, memory or hallucination.
Bring back Silco 😢
I think you're spot on, and that the shimmer worsened her mental state entirely. Remember, that was also directly after she set off Chompers on the bridge, and I don't think she expected to (or wanted to) live!
Silco's death was sad, but I disagree that he was an anti-hero. He's incredibly complex and well-written, but he's still very much the villain of the show. The best villains aren't one-dimensional, and Silco is proof of that! I think he's a fascinating character.
@@honorablefroggery Ah yes you're right, she may have wanted to die on the bridge with her suicidal chompers grenade. I thought it was her last option left to counter Ekko and keep the gemstone. She still held the Hextech gemstone in her hand, maybe she hoped Silco would take it off her corpse? Her loyalty was still shown by her sacrifice. But her misinterpreting Silco's monologue next to Vander's statue caused her believe he was going to betray her to Piltover, if only she spoke to him rather than kidnap him like that.
Also I still think Silco is not entirely a villain, he is the main antagonist of the show but not a completely irredeemable villain type, he is the hero of his own story. His cause for independence is noble and justified as Zaun is left behind, exploited, downtrodden and oppressed. The Enforcers impose Piltover's rule like a fascist police state as seen in the opening.
Silco believed violence was necessary for change unlike Vander who submitted to Topside. To use force just as Vander used brute force and violence, and also tried to drown Silco and take control of the Lanes, even just to keep peace with Topside. Vander created Silco just as Vi created Jinx, they made their own monsters.
Damn this whole show is a sad yet beautiful tragedy the more I look into it lol 😢
@@Zavrael I love how you said that they made their own monsters! I very much agree!
I still do think that Silco is a true villain -- I'm making a whole video about this actually! But saying he's a villain doesn't mean that he's one-sided or black-and-white evil, it's just the role he fills in the story and the world. He absolutely does believe he's the hero of his own story -- in my opinion as a writer, all villains should! -- but he's brutal and ruthless and quick to threaten to murder kids to wield control.
Like I said in the video, his love for Zaun is honorable, but he isn't good for Zaun in the long run because he further pollutes and exploits it, which is a really cool parallel to his relationship with Jinx! Overall I think he's fantastically written and I can't wait to make a full video about all my thoughts on him.
@@honorablefroggery Yeah, I think you're right, he certainly is the villain of this story. But I have always had a personal bias favouring villains since childhood since they were always cooler, more fun and more badass than boring, self-sacrificial, goody-two-shows heroes who want to keep the status-quo lol.
Silco is so dynamic and unique, he is proof that villains are way better than heroes imo. I mean in terms of complexity and human nature. His need for control may have poisoned Zaun and his daughter, but he thought it was for the greater good and for independence from Piltover.
Silco would rather watch the world burn than give up his daughter. She is more important to him than Zaun itself, his life's dream. A typical villain would probably sacrifice/betray their close allies for selfish gains, but not Silco. A hero on the other hand would probably think themselves, or their allies/loved ones, are a necessary sacrifice to save the world for the "greater good" and make difficult choices. Silco in a way was willing to take responsibility for Jinx's crimes, he is sacrificing himself for his daughter, kinda makes him heroic or have noble qualities. I think I confused myself lol 🤔
I'd love to watch your next video on Silco and look forward to it :)
🎶OH THE MISERY~🎶 Indeed...
feels the heroes fatal flaw is that they put five minutes of planning into a plan that has a .001 chance of success them getting everything they want without giving anything up. any solution requires the hero in giving something up something they are incapable of doing and are just running and blind hope things will get better which in turn makes everything worse.
Try saying, "Ann ignore a sis," and that might help you say "anagnorisis."
thank u!!
small nitpick: neither comedy nor tragedy started at the Dionysia. Comedy in ancient greek means "village song" and as the name suggests was a rural tradition, while "tragedy" means "boar song" and started out as a song that was sung during a ritual sacrifice of animals.
I also think that Arcane's structure is more similar to the 5-Act structure of the classical Weimar era drama.
Also, I kinda disagre on the assessment of Jinx as a tragic hero. She lacks one key element that most tragic heroes like Iason, Antigone, etc. have: Agency. Most of season 1 she just gets kinda tossed around, having others tell her what to do and she just does as she is told.
Actually, she reminds me very much of Woyzeck, probably the first anti hero in classical literature, a very interesting character. There are actually lots of parallels between the 2
right! i should clarify that what I meant by that was that the surviving tragedies we have were written by playwrights to be performed at those theatre festivals.
and interesting! my knowledge of Weimar Republic theatre is admittedly pretty limited (my classes were primarily about ancient Greek and Shakespearean theatre), so I'm curious about that! I'll have to do some research.
@@honorablefroggery keep in mind, Im not an expert, and thats just my German literature classes :P If you are interested in literature, I can only recommend a dive in there though, as there is a lot to find and there are many interesting reads!
By the way, while this might depend a bit on the precise definition of antihero/tragic hero, IMO Vi would be the tragic hero of the story. Not to say she is the main character. It seems the internet consensus is that this spot belongs to Jinx (although Vi has the most screentime out of any character)
But, in any case. I do love to talk about it, since I'm also a huge Arcane fan ;)
I wouldn't say Jinx is lacking agency. This is why i love her since she's a debatable topic of basically everything including agency. Powder I guess we could say didn't have much (naturally being a child) as she mostly listened to Vi act one who'd I'd say had her most agency in that act. She did two purposeful things throwing the loot and the monkey, once she sets off that bomb I'd say she has a lot of agency. Firstly she was told not to come but she does with the monkey which sets off the events of the show. Then she stole the hex gemstone without being told by Silco who wanted her to cool off and work on her gadgetry (setting off Cait which end up leading her to Vi), then episode 6 she is interrogating Sevika and chuck over the commotion recently with mystery people (Vi and Cait) since she doesn't like Silco keeping things from her, and then sets off the flare once she's been told of Vis return. Which is an important choice and desire for her more so than just doing as she was told since she doesn't really know the context of Vi after episode 3 and she's afraid of Vi not accepting Jinx as much as wanting her back.
Then she blows up the bridge with the firelight bombs and steals back the crystal once she thinks Vi is working with the enforcer/cares for her and only then which is more agency on her part than Vis as her action is purposefully causing an outcome. She then chooses to murder suicide with Ekko (its already implied she has some suicidal ideational and tendencies). Kidnapping Caitlyn, the whole tea party and then choosing Jinx in the end after shooting Silco. Her actions are derived from either Vi or Silco, but its the same with the other characters where they have their own reasonings. Hers are just connected to who she attaches herself to being a fairly co dependent person with abandonment issues. But that doesn't stop her from doing things her way or making choices. Then again she has psychosis making mylo and claggor whisper things in her ear sowing seeds of doubt she already has deeper. Does that remove some of her agency due to the plea of insanity or is she in enough control?
@@pugisherpug4366 Thank you, I guess I shouldve clarified: she lacks agency in act 1. ofc she does quite a lot in acts 2 and 3, even though she mostly acts out of impulse, but that's still agency.
however, this means she displays agency only in her "villain phase", and that was my main point that the tragic hero has a tragic ending/fate because of the actions they take, not because of the things that happen to them. Antigone is a tragic hero because her death is a direct result of her consciously choosing to disobey Kreon's orders and then stand her ground against him during her trial.
If this was a Greek play or poem it would have been more successful than the odyssey
A tragic hero is supposed to have a moral dimension. Hamlet's tragic realization happens on his line, "The point envenomed too!" He realizes too late that he is too moral to think like a murderer such as Claudius, so his pride in his intelligence leads to his fall. Hamlet and Oedipus are noble characters, and the classical tragic hero is supposed to occupy a great social height in order for their fall to be profound. Modern analysts expanded the definition of a tragic hero to allow for someone of lower status to fall. Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman is literally a "low man," but modern sensibilities allow that he can also be considered tragic in the context of his life and his world. His nobility is in nothing more than conviction to provide for his family. That's enough of a height to for him to fall from. Jinx is deliberately immoral. She kills enforcers without remorse. Her whole identity revolves around being able to kill people with bombs. As an audience we can empathize with her traumatic loss of family members, and her realization (anagnorisis) that she will always choose to save her sister comes at the high price of killing Silco, but it's not truly tragic. Hubris has to come from an admirable goal that has become distorted by pride in the virtue of that goal, but Jinx isn't has no admirable goals in the classical sense or even the modern sense of and everyday tragic hero. This is an excellent show and these characters are extremely well-drawn. Jinx, Vi, and just about all the other characters endure changes that or well-earned, and Jinx changes more than anyone, but she is not a tragic hero. She is an empathetic one.
Interesting insights, but I'd disagree on a couple points - first about her morality.
While she isn't a "good" person, the struggle that distorts her perception of reality (the hallucinations of Mylo, Claggor, and Vander) doesn't just come from the trauma of losing family, but from the guilt of being the one to cause it. If she was truly inherently immoral, she wouldn't feel that guilt. I also don't think her whole identity revolves around bombs, at least in the show. It's the inner struggle between her past self and the good within her (Powder) and the chaotic killing machine that Silco groomed her to be (Jinx). She also doesn't kill enforcers just to kill them, she kills them because they killed her parents, brutalize the citizens of the Undercity, and because both Silco and Vi have grown up teaching her that the best thing they can do for their home is to "stick it to the Enforcers." You and I watch the show and think holy shit, that's so fucked up of her to blow up that building, but Jinx has her own motives (there are definitely moments where she loses touch on reality and kills without prejudice, but blowing up the enforcers is not one of those moments in my opinion.)
I think she is also noble by Undercity standards. She was raised by the two de facto leaders (or kings) of the Undercity, Vander and Silco, and that makes her just as noble as Hamlet by Zaunite standards.
Hubris also isn't the only example of a fatal flaw (although it's an incredibly common one used in classical literature) and I don't think that it is Jinx's, nor do I think it's a defining feature of the tragic hero!
To me, Aristotle's quote on the tragic hero being a character who realizes his own nature perfectly summarizes Jinx's arc, along with the other statements I made in the video.
Feel free to disagree and thank you for the conversation, but I think Jinx not only fits most of the points you outlined (not all) but also that the qualification to be a modern tragic hero is not so rigid as you laid out (and it shouldn't be, otherwise we'd get tired of the same stories repeated again and again without change!)
“If you haven’t watched it” me who has watched it 24 times 😐😐😐
I saw another video that also compared Arcane to greek plays. Maybe I should be reading ye old works 🤔
take this as a sign!! i also highly recommend looking up recorded performances of these plays (like the antigone performance i included in the video!) -- the actors are spectacular and it really helps make the plays more understandable!
Jayces obliviousnous oof
It's so unfitting for you to swear.
I was looking forward to hearing what you had to say but your filthy language was just too off-putting.