"JC says he and Asher hypnotized the crowd to forget that they'd witnessed a major crime, because "mass hypnosis is not illegal, ma petite, only personal hypnotism." (229)" I know what this is. This is supposed to apply to LIGHT mass-hypnotism, about equivalent to psyching up a crowd for the main attraction, as opposed to HEAVY direct-hypnotism. And technically I think you have to consent to it beforehand as a condition to entering the venue in which you're going to be hit with the (LIGHT) crowd-hypnotism.
It is completely fucking ignoring the spirit and probably the letter of the law to use STRONG mass-hypnosis on the crowd, and if it's technically legal at all, it's only because the legal authorities don't know that potent mass-hypnosis is POSSIBLE.
"How do you write a self-insert and make the only reason men want her some kind of horrible, addictive magic? How is that at all satisfying? The self-hatred on display here makes me extremely uncomfortable. That other women find this hot because they enjoy slotting themselves into Anita's position makes me even more uncomfortable." Ah, but you forget LKH's rape fetish. You see, this way none of her victims WANT to have sex with Anita, but they MUST.
It probably appeals to her more than if they precisely wanted to have sex with her. Sure, they all think Anita's totally hot, but... they wouldn't be in her life if not for being forced.
I won't deny she has weird insecurity issues (Shutdown had Anita saying that she can't be ugly if all these hot people are dating her), but the rape fetish, it is central.
"JC says sure, but it's a big deal that Anita can make someone as powerful as Requiem addicted to her. I don't understand how LKH's dumbass, halfass, Dragonball Z magic system works, but that is not how addiction works." While I agree that she's shitting upon the addicted, I think this is again a rape-fetish thing. It's not that her addicting him that's the powerful part, precisely, so much as she's broken his will and he cannot resist the addiction. So he's basically a proto-Nicky.
"It's just been spelled out, right there in the text: she exists to make him more powerful." I disagree, but mostly because of LKH's weird psychological issues. I see JC more as a 'shell company' for Anita - he holds all the power and makes all the sleazy decisions so that she doesn't have to be responsible for being power-hungry or completely amoral. Since Anita is anti-intellectual, she doesn't want to have her name attached to any cunning decisions. (Cunning by Anitaverse standards.) She just wants to be the dumb brute. So modern!JC pops into existence in order to do all that pesky 'politics' stuff, tell her But Thou Must, and justify all her rapefests with 'It was to make us more powerful, ma petite'. Because Anita can never do anything for herself.
That's out of universe. In-universe, I agree that he and Micah are creepy Gary-Stu fucks who manipulate Anita like a brain-damaged child. Out of universe, I think it's so Anita can cry "Readers, the bishies did tempt me".
Damn, but this is a fucking horrible chapter. I'd be more horrified if the later books weren't worse...
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I know what this is. This is supposed to apply to LIGHT mass-hypnotism, about equivalent to psyching up a crowd for the main attraction, as opposed to HEAVY direct-hypnotism. And technically I think you have to consent to it beforehand as a condition to entering the venue in which you're going to be hit with the (LIGHT) crowd-hypnotism.
It is completely fucking ignoring the spirit and probably the letter of the law to use STRONG mass-hypnosis on the crowd, and if it's technically legal at all, it's only because the legal authorities don't know that potent mass-hypnosis is POSSIBLE.
"How do you write a self-insert and make the only reason men want her some kind of horrible, addictive magic? How is that at all satisfying? The self-hatred on display here makes me extremely uncomfortable. That other women find this hot because they enjoy slotting themselves into Anita's position makes me even more uncomfortable."
Ah, but you forget LKH's rape fetish. You see, this way none of her victims WANT to have sex with Anita, but they MUST.
It probably appeals to her more than if they precisely wanted to have sex with her. Sure, they all think Anita's totally hot, but... they wouldn't be in her life if not for being forced.
I won't deny she has weird insecurity issues (Shutdown had Anita saying that she can't be ugly if all these hot people are dating her), but the rape fetish, it is central.
"JC says sure, but it's a big deal that Anita can make someone as powerful as Requiem addicted to her. I don't understand how LKH's dumbass, halfass, Dragonball Z magic system works, but that is not how addiction works."
While I agree that she's shitting upon the addicted, I think this is again a rape-fetish thing. It's not that her addicting him that's the powerful part, precisely, so much as she's broken his will and he cannot resist the addiction. So he's basically a proto-Nicky.
"It's just been spelled out, right there in the text: she exists to make him more powerful."
I disagree, but mostly because of LKH's weird psychological issues. I see JC more as a 'shell company' for Anita - he holds all the power and makes all the sleazy decisions so that she doesn't have to be responsible for being power-hungry or completely amoral. Since Anita is anti-intellectual, she doesn't want to have her name attached to any cunning decisions. (Cunning by Anitaverse standards.) She just wants to be the dumb brute. So modern!JC pops into existence in order to do all that pesky 'politics' stuff, tell her But Thou Must, and justify all her rapefests with 'It was to make us more powerful, ma petite'. Because Anita can never do anything for herself.
That's out of universe. In-universe, I agree that he and Micah are creepy Gary-Stu fucks who manipulate Anita like a brain-damaged child. Out of universe, I think it's so Anita can cry "Readers, the bishies did tempt me".
Damn, but this is a fucking horrible chapter. I'd be more horrified if the later books weren't worse...