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mikkenekoYes, I suck, I wrote an essay. Read if you want, reply if you want, but know in advance that even if you argue heatedly I probably won't change my mind. :p
The further I get into the FMA fandom, the more often I encounter the opinion that's held -- held so closely that it's practically left unstated, a throw-away background understanding -- that what happened to Ed and Al the night they tried to revive their mother was Ed's fault, and Ed's fault only. That Al was a blameless, innocent victim of Edward's crime, and that Al's comments to the contrary are merely Al being kindhearted and forgiving, or simply confused.
I find this opinion to be extremely exasperating, not the least because it's insulting; not only to Edward but to Alphonse. I'm left to wonder, do these people actually have sibling relationships? What's more, do they have any close relationships?
If you aren't a fan of Elricest -- and not everybody is, or needs to be -- then you might have a hard time thinking about the extremely close relationship between them as like that between lovers or a married couple. But the fact of the matter is, Ed and Al have virtually nothing in their lives but each other. They depend on each other, they need each other, they love each other at a level that most ordinary people will hopefully never have to reach, because it's the kind of bond that comes out of holding onto each other through tragedy and pain. When you reach that level, sex becomes secondary, almost incidental.
When you live constantly in that kind of intense, supportive, and loving framework, you're living in perpetual feedback between yourself and the other person. Whether you bring this communication into open words or not, it's always there. It would be almost impossible for one person to do something completely of their own volition without agreement, even tacit, from the other party. It would be almost impossible for one person to impose their will so thoroughly on the other's as to erase their participation in what they do together.
In other words, the image of Alphonse dragged haplessly into danger by Edward's reckless impulses is one that makes Alphonse out to be a lightweight character, with no input at all as to where the two of them went together. It might have been Ed who first proposed reviving their mother, but Al agreed, in the end, for the same reasons that drove Ed in the first place; they were lonely, and grieving, and wanted their mother back more than anything in the world. There is no possible way that Ed could have convinced Al to go along with him if Al had not wanted that too.
A while back, one of my online friends was happily exploring the wonders of Hagaren fandom and Elricest. She wondered, in an AIM conversation, how she should approach the Ed and Al dynamic. It seemed obvious that Ed was the dominant one, she said, and yet...
Remember, I told her. Edward thinks he's in charge, but Alphonse knows better.
Al knows better.
Al has known from day one how much Ed relies on him. He knows that Edward needs him for comfort, validation and support. Edward also knows, whether he thinks about it most of the time, how much he relies on Al. He trusts Al to be his touchstone, his emotional check, to balance him when he stumbles, and to pull him back when he goes too far. This knowledge, conscious or not, allows Ed to go forward without having to worry himself constantly about whether what he's doing is right (a quality that comes off to others as extreme arrogance, whereas Alphonse seems to be the soul of humility).
Al didn't stop Ed from making the biggest mistake of their life. Al knows this, and that's why he feels guilt over it; he had the power to stop it, Ed trusted him to stop it, and he didn't. Ed sees the entire weight of responsibility as falling on him (remember; Ed thinks he's in charge), and since his voice is louder, clearer to the audience, it's easy to go along with what Ed thinks. But Al knows better.
In Hagaren, there's plenty of guilt to go around. The guilt that Ed feels, or that Roy feels, for example, is hard and painful and easy to understand; they acted, and people were hurt because of it. The guilt that Al feels, or for that matter, the guilt of someone like Dr. Marco, is a subtler one. They failed to act, and people were hurt because of it. It's a subtler form of guilt, but one that is just as real, and just as painful.
Is Ed to blame that he and his brother were hurt so badly that night? Yes, certainly. Is it fair that Alphonse should have taken the greater share of the punishment, when Ed was the driving force behind the crime? No, of course not. But to say that Al bears no responsibility for the accident that crippled him is to render him powerless in his own life, and impotent in his relationship with his brother. That's not the Alphonse Elric I know from Hagaren.
The further I get into the FMA fandom, the more often I encounter the opinion that's held -- held so closely that it's practically left unstated, a throw-away background understanding -- that what happened to Ed and Al the night they tried to revive their mother was Ed's fault, and Ed's fault only. That Al was a blameless, innocent victim of Edward's crime, and that Al's comments to the contrary are merely Al being kindhearted and forgiving, or simply confused.
I find this opinion to be extremely exasperating, not the least because it's insulting; not only to Edward but to Alphonse. I'm left to wonder, do these people actually have sibling relationships? What's more, do they have any close relationships?
If you aren't a fan of Elricest -- and not everybody is, or needs to be -- then you might have a hard time thinking about the extremely close relationship between them as like that between lovers or a married couple. But the fact of the matter is, Ed and Al have virtually nothing in their lives but each other. They depend on each other, they need each other, they love each other at a level that most ordinary people will hopefully never have to reach, because it's the kind of bond that comes out of holding onto each other through tragedy and pain. When you reach that level, sex becomes secondary, almost incidental.
When you live constantly in that kind of intense, supportive, and loving framework, you're living in perpetual feedback between yourself and the other person. Whether you bring this communication into open words or not, it's always there. It would be almost impossible for one person to do something completely of their own volition without agreement, even tacit, from the other party. It would be almost impossible for one person to impose their will so thoroughly on the other's as to erase their participation in what they do together.
In other words, the image of Alphonse dragged haplessly into danger by Edward's reckless impulses is one that makes Alphonse out to be a lightweight character, with no input at all as to where the two of them went together. It might have been Ed who first proposed reviving their mother, but Al agreed, in the end, for the same reasons that drove Ed in the first place; they were lonely, and grieving, and wanted their mother back more than anything in the world. There is no possible way that Ed could have convinced Al to go along with him if Al had not wanted that too.
A while back, one of my online friends was happily exploring the wonders of Hagaren fandom and Elricest. She wondered, in an AIM conversation, how she should approach the Ed and Al dynamic. It seemed obvious that Ed was the dominant one, she said, and yet...
Remember, I told her. Edward thinks he's in charge, but Alphonse knows better.
Al knows better.
Al has known from day one how much Ed relies on him. He knows that Edward needs him for comfort, validation and support. Edward also knows, whether he thinks about it most of the time, how much he relies on Al. He trusts Al to be his touchstone, his emotional check, to balance him when he stumbles, and to pull him back when he goes too far. This knowledge, conscious or not, allows Ed to go forward without having to worry himself constantly about whether what he's doing is right (a quality that comes off to others as extreme arrogance, whereas Alphonse seems to be the soul of humility).
Al didn't stop Ed from making the biggest mistake of their life. Al knows this, and that's why he feels guilt over it; he had the power to stop it, Ed trusted him to stop it, and he didn't. Ed sees the entire weight of responsibility as falling on him (remember; Ed thinks he's in charge), and since his voice is louder, clearer to the audience, it's easy to go along with what Ed thinks. But Al knows better.
In Hagaren, there's plenty of guilt to go around. The guilt that Ed feels, or that Roy feels, for example, is hard and painful and easy to understand; they acted, and people were hurt because of it. The guilt that Al feels, or for that matter, the guilt of someone like Dr. Marco, is a subtler one. They failed to act, and people were hurt because of it. It's a subtler form of guilt, but one that is just as real, and just as painful.
Is Ed to blame that he and his brother were hurt so badly that night? Yes, certainly. Is it fair that Alphonse should have taken the greater share of the punishment, when Ed was the driving force behind the crime? No, of course not. But to say that Al bears no responsibility for the accident that crippled him is to render him powerless in his own life, and impotent in his relationship with his brother. That's not the Alphonse Elric I know from Hagaren.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 10:19 pm (UTC)Nah, it's just nice when people treat Al like a full person y'know. He's not just a sidekick. >.>
no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 11:01 pm (UTC)Definitely. He deserves his own guilt angst! Ed can't hog it all!
Although the image of the two of them fighting over who gets to be guiltiest amuses me. Because some siblings will really do things like that. XD
no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 11:27 pm (UTC)"Me too..."
"I'm more miserable than you."
"Nuh uh."
*snerks* Anyway, less poking around and more homework for me. I feel like I do nothing but homework today. O-o
no subject
Date: 2006-09-16 12:33 am (UTC)I'm not in the FMA fandom, so I didn't know there was this sense of disproportionate blame or even that there was an opinion that Ed was dominant in the relationship. In my viewing, I see the brothers as equals more than most siblings, due to their close age, and as you say, their very deep bonds.
I've never seen Ed as arrogant, either. He knows what he can do, what Al and he have done, and what the cost was and is. The implacability of their judgment is due to their own awful, terrifying experience.