fuckyeahisawthat:

fuckyeahisawthat:

fthgurdy:

Ok but I have a small issue with everyone calling Eddie Brock a loser. Dude was a successful reporter with a mission, so good he could afford to go rogue, he was kind and well-liked and had and a great relationship with an awesome woman. Until he went too far and lost his job due to having his heart in the right place (unfair), and fucked up the relationship due to seriously failing his fiancee’s trust (fair).

But, I mean… that’s not a loser. That’s just a person making a couple mistakes and having a bad time. 

And the bad time is worse than it ought to be because, um, clearly the man has some kind of depression.

Self-deprecation is a favourite dish around here but I hope that’s all it is, know what I mean? 

I guess I have a slightly different read on pre-Venom, Successful Journalist Eddie. Yes, he’s nice to service workers and homeless people, seems to have a reasonably healthy relationship with his partner, and seems to genuinely care, in a very general way, about things like inequality and injustice. And that’s refreshing! But despite people telling us he’s the greatest investigative reporter ever, the main story we see him working on, investigating Carlton Drake, is laughably terrible journalism. But I think that’s a great character choice, and I’m gonna explain why.

It’s like, oh hey, let’s start out by stealing some confidential legal documents from my girlfriend who works at a law firm with the worst document security in history but whatever without her knowledge or consent. That can’t possibly go wrong in any way! These documents are from a case in progress at the moment, so they’re accusations that haven’t been proven yet, and would never hold up on their own as the receipts for a solid investigative story. But yes, let’s bring them up with a rich, powerful dude you have been explicitly told can ruin your life and the lives of those around you for sport. And let’s be sure to mention very specific details of the legal case so that Fake Elon Musk will definitely know you’re referencing a confidential document that came from his law firm, which he can very easily figure out your girlfriend works for. That’s not being a crusader for justice; that’s being a dumbass.

To me, these are the actions of someone very unfamiliar with the concept of consequences. They’re the actions of someone who, regardless of whether they genuinely care about the issues they’re reporting on, has gotten used to being treated like a hotshot and has gotten sloppy. They’re the actions of someone who’s gotten used to assuming he can talk his way out of facing consequences for anything he does. And then, suddenly, that doesn’t work, and it really fucks him up.

If Eddie has one recurring problem over the course of the first act, it’s his own impulsiveness. It’s like…no dude, resist the temptation to open that confidential work email that pops up on your partner’s computer. No dude…don’t accuse a rich guy of some stuff you can’t prove yet just because you hate his guts. His editor is very clearly like “please don’t do the thing.” But he can’t resist doing the thing. That’s why when Dr. Skirth shoves Eddie into the lab and says “don’t touch anything,” we already know he’s doomed.

But then you pair this character with an even more impulsive ball of alien goo, and suddenly he has to…sort of be the one with self-control once in a while? No, we can’t eat cops. No, we can’t subsist solely on tater tots and chocolate. And Venom, for its part, is like “dude maybe apologize to your ex for betraying her trust and fucking up her life.” And somehow they sort of…grudgingly snark each other into being slightly more responsible versions of themselves. Which is honestly a way more relatable relationship dynamic than plenty of mainstream rom-coms have.

#venom#fav#yesssssss these are excellent additions#i do agree w/ gurdy tho that eddie isn’t really a loser#he’s just a dumbass!#like it seems like he’s good at his job UNLESS he comes up against a case in which he can’t contain his impulsiveness#then it all falls apart#he seems like….idk precariously balanced i guess?#like he could be GREAT at what he’s doing if only he could reign himself in a little#and that seems to me to be what the movie is about@#he gains self-control by losing control of himself literally#i think that’s pretty cool hehe#like maybe the completely out of control murder spree venom goes on outside that big tower#really drove it home that self-control is necessary#and then he seemed a little more contained afterwards#like laying groundwork that both he and venom can agree on so they can work together#hhhhhh i just really liked this movie okay

#he gains self-control by losing control of himself literally

holy shit you’re right