What I Learned From Moon Knight | Marvel Video Essay
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 มิ.ย. 2023
- Moon Knight is both a psychological thriller and a superhero series. It is also one of the best things to come out of Disney Plus. This video essay explores Egyptian lore, psychological factors, and superhero stakes that create Moon Knight's unique narrative about broken identities and traumatic tragedies.
Sources Cited in Video:
What Moon Knight Gets Right:
www.verywellmind.com/what-moo...
What Moon Knight Gets Wrong:
www.verywellmind.com/what-moo...
DiD Research's Website: did-research.org/
Mayo Clinic's Page on Dissociative Disorders: www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c....
National Health Services' Page on DiD: www.nhs.uk/mental-health/cond...
#marvel #marvelcinematicuniverse #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #disneyplus #disney #marvelcomics #marvelstudios #moonknight #videoessay #comicbooks #comics
Extra Tags: Marvel, Moon Knight, Marvel Comics, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Video Essay, Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness, Phase 4, Marvel
Great vid Expy, I’m a system myself that also is a longtime reader of the comics & it makes me happy to see people giving this character / narrative credit for doing some really good things. However, there were a few mistakes I picked up when it came to the discussion of DID in relation to the show itself partly this is due to the sources making a few mistakes / leaving things open.
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[1] Marc’s “willful” creation of Steven (& maybe Jake).
Marc doesn’t create Steven intentionally, the very over dramatic eye roll is just a common trope used to indicate the switch occuring at all. I get why you & the people who wrote the article saw it that way, & it’s exactly why I’ve criticized the show before for using that as the method to show it because it looks like a possession more than anything. If they used a more subtle method, like a blank stare or maybe just a blink to show how quick I switch can be people would’ve gotten it. With that said, alters don’t come from nowhere. There are various types that each have varying roles, but all have an inspiration to some extent, at least as far as I’m aware. As far as Steven goes, he’s a fictive based off of a B-movie character Marc confided in (as you pointed out) because of the traits we see of Steven himself (which you describe perfectly); Steven is someone who most of us would be happy to be around / comforted by, so it makes sense this would be a source of inspiration as an escape from abuse. The reason I note Jake however is because he likely has some inspiration of his own, though, you *really* messed up in terms of Jake’s analysis. He’s not a psychopath at all..
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[2] Jake is a protector, not a psychopath.
Just like the willful creation, I get why you & some others would *think* Jake is a psychopath given his snarky smirk towards Harrow, however, I think there’s a much more interesting reason as to why he responded this way, & Jeremy Slater, the producer of Moon Knight agreed stating: “"I think that making Jake a generic evil guy would probably be the least exciting, or least interesting, direction to take that character in the future. So, I have no idea where Jake goes from here, and which writers and directors will bring him to life, but, I think there’s a lot of potential. I think we’ve only teased the existence of this character at this point. We kind of still don’t know anything about him… I don’t think he’s evil. It’s Marvel’s decision, not mine, but I think calling him evil would be a mistake at this stage in the game.” From the way he speaks, you can tell they didn’t intend to make Jake evil, however, per MCU interview they’ve always got to leave a vague area because they don’t want to say the wrong thing or just in general don’t have final say, but it’s important to know as far as we’ve seen Jake isn’t evil nor a psychopath. I think the question should more be whether Jake is classified as a protector or a persecutor. DID-research.org defines protectors as: “alters that protect the body, system, host, core, or other specific alters or groups of alters”, from what is implied in the show, Jake does the dirty work which Marc & Steven can’t bring themselves to do. He most likely first appeared during his time in the military to protect him from the dangers of the battle & help him pull the trigger when he knew they had to but Marc didn’t have the mental capacity to do so. I think the children weren’t just a random dark note for edginess sake, I think it says a lot as to what they had to do. If Marc killed kids without dissociating, how bad are the things Jake was forced to take over to handle?
[2b] I’d say if Jake was one he’d be a physical & emotional protector. He comes to help the body survive things Marc or Steven aren’t strong, skilled or emotionally stable enough to handle. But on that same note, he could be a persecutor, which DID-Research defined as: “Persecutors are alters that purposefully harm the body, system, host, core, or other alters, sabotage the system’s goals or healing, or work to assist the system’s abuser(s).” The evil alter trope came to light to the violent tendencies these two types of alters can have. Protectors can be outwardly violent to protect them perceived danger, sometimes that being lethal, but persecutors can also, in a rare, & I mean *rare* instances actually harm those in their lives physically though this has to ultimately have a self-destructive purpose; they either want the body dead, or alone to sort of punish them for the abuse they went through etc. but again, seldom is this outward, yet alone physically outward. So, if this was the case it would be another instance of drawing out niché possibilities for the sake of narrative. But ultimately I’d say the protector is most likely & I think the biggest indication was the dialogue: “Today is your turn to lose.” If Jake was a psychopath he’d for one, wouldn’t be working under Khonshu who ultimately is a force of lawful good to the extent they will do morally gray things to make sure that happens; he would be seeking to destroy Jake if that was the case; more importantly though, the line he says implies a vengeful nature. Think about it like this, imagine your little brother was bullied in school, but then when they had the chance to fight back they let it go. How would you feel if you finally got your hands on the fucker who did that to you? That abused your little brothers? That smirk was done through gritting teeth, his look to me is more aggressive & enraged. I also think this is playing off the versions of Jake who have been shown to be more willing to do violent things for the sake of the system, sometimes even getting a thrill out of it; it feels good to finally get sweet revenge on people who mistreated you for so long - - at least for some.
[2c] I think that’s a more logical, if a bit imperfect reading of the scene (as even they aren’t fully sure where they were going to go), to which I think Jake being a protector is almost 100% guaranteed unless the next writer wants to forget respect & accuracy to the disorder. I also think it’s worth noting Khonshu is consistently used as a metaphor for the lingering presence of the abuser in the traumatized lives; he has a very, spooky, monstrous look to him & presence that is masked in divinity, which is sort of how abusers can be. They will do the most crazy things to you or make you do the most crazy things & act as if it’s all going somewhere divine & you’ll end up better for it.
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[3] Some little dialect stuff:
This is probably the one most would overlook, but referring to them as “shattered” & “broken” not only can be triggering for systems (as it makes them feel like they’re only part human, or just generally broken or weak in some way etc. - - I’ve heard varying stories) it’s also partly inaccurate as (far as I know) the theory of structural dissociation & the development DID is pushing further towards the idea that there isn’t really an “original” at all, just one alter who identifies with the body, & that alter might not be the host; it’s confusing I know bu at the end of the day the new meta seems to be leaning on the concept that there isn’t really a “fracture”, nothing really “broke”, I’d maybe argue the opposite: we developed the way we are to adapt to the harsh climate we were in. Just like any other animal, humans adapt to survive, that means developing new skills / physiological adjustments to better survive, like how we get our tolerance to temperature. For us, we realized this was too heavy of a load to lift, so more people came to help; two hands are better than one. We aren’t just all parts of the one who identifies w/ the body, we aren't all just “Marty” under different names & faces. We are entirely separate individuals who developed that way; the tree of identity usually only grows one branch, ours grew multiple. I’m me & they're them. I 100% get what you were saying, but I just wanted you to keep that in mind. Again, love the video! Sorry for this being so long!
Actually, thank you for pointing this out! I was also uncertain if Jake was "evil" or just another aspect that contained "evil tendencies" due to his unsavoury habits and behavioural patterns.
Also, thank you for teaching me about this new "persecutor"/"protector" information. I was, as you can tell, unawares of this, but I'm happy to be corrected. It actually makes more sense what Jake's role is in the character arc with this new information and the greater extent to the "why" of other alters co-existing with one another. There was obviously more focus on Steven and Marc, but nonetheless, I do admit to Jake being "undersold", given his limited screen time, and thus my faulty analysis of him.
I appreciate you going out of your way to add your two cents regarding the depiction of DiD in Moon Knight and what I've shared in this video. It goes a long way, as someone who is also striving to understand more and more about mental health.
@@expychristian Sorry I liked your comment & never responded. I saw it, liked it so I remembered but then someone switched in & I didn’t get the chance to come out for a few days… basically I wasn’t trying to be a dick. Anyways, no problem man! I am happy to educate where I can. But I totally agree. I feel Moon Knight’s weakness was time, & imo I think it probably would’ve been the MCU’s best had it been given that. More details on Jake, Arthur & most importantly Marc’s Jewish background would’ve added a lot of extra sauce. Also ofc, CGI & editing improvements would be great but all of these criticisms sadly fall on Disney rushing to the finish rather than the creators themselves. Nonetheless, I subscribed & I’m looking forward to see more content in the future.
Hopefully more MCU mental health analysis’, & maybe even some kind of new topic involving Moon Knight should the interest arise. If you do want to contact me ever for any DID / Moon Knight info (I’ve read all this guys appearances & have admittedly been a little *too* into him since I was a kid; makes a lot more sense now that I’m diagnosed), you can contact me on my insta:
@marty._.murdock- - of course this is assuming you have instragram. But if you happen to not have that but happen to have the toxic waste bin known as Twitter then my user is @Marty’s_Mansion_. & if you’re mega down bad & need me you could always contact my TikTok I’m barely on @snazzy_ghost_ - - I’d love to hear more from you man & excited to see where you go next. Wish you the best on the channel. ✌🏽
@@Marty._.Murdock OH no worries! Thank you for being informed and taking the time be dedicated to being informed about mental health! Thank you for being courageous to admit face-up that you are diagnosed and that we should all strive to be better informed about such impactful topics!
I appreciate your support! I definitely will see what the future has in store for Moon Knight, I actually want to see this show continue on and see where the character goes.
I'll look into notifying you for these things! I know I can afford to learn more and it'd be nice to have a sort of "guide" to comic book deep diving!
Once again, thank you for your support and your advisory corrections! Cheers and happy to help!
Great video, I enjoyed the commentary.
Really interesting video.Keep doing it.