What to do when the artist intends mind control but it doesn't show?
I have been binging hypnosis content on pixiv, as one does. And I found a couple sets that, while I like them, are giving me pause.
Now, I have a much wider margin for what I consider "mind control" in an image than most people, but this isn't about that. These are cases where mind control is clearly intended to be there when you consider the context, but so subtle without it I honestly couldn't blame anyone for not seeing it.
The first image in this set, for instance:
www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/62367522
On it, MHX Alter is presenting herself in a bathroom stall, in front of a sign saying 'clean toilets'. The idea being, she Is the toilet. (Nice)
So, when this artist wants to indicate a person is under mind control, they use dull ring eyes. But the ring they choose to use is barely distinguishable, and MHX Alter already Has dull yellow eyes in the original art.
An entirely reasonable person could look at this, and think it's just a teenage girl doing a naughty in the bathroom, and you just can't see the toilet because she is standing in front of it. Even I sat there looking at it for 20 minutes trying to figure out if it actually counts.
Then, in this set:
www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/83803486
Sitonai is in a tribal getup doing various feral poses. The title of it has the word "tribalification" in it, from an artist whose every other creation has mind control. There is no doubt she is meant to be brainwashed...If you know that. If you don't, then, there is no sign of mind control at all, it only shows the aftermath. It could just as easily be a costume, something Fate and its fans do all the time.
So. How do you handle that? Are images like these Okay to post? I like these, and I want to share them. But I also know there would be fights over whether they belong on the site or not in the comments, and I honestly couldn't blame them.
And if you go into the comments to preemt this by saying "hey, there is in fact mind control in here, because X and Y', or manip the images to make the MC more obvious, are you not taking away from the author's intent? If the MC is so subtle most people can't see it, did the artist "fail" in some way? Or is it better to assume they are Meant to be subtle, and we are meant to be unsure?
Now, I have a much wider margin for what I consider "mind control" in an image than most people, but this isn't about that. These are cases where mind control is clearly intended to be there when you consider the context, but so subtle without it I honestly couldn't blame anyone for not seeing it.
The first image in this set, for instance:
www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/62367522
On it, MHX Alter is presenting herself in a bathroom stall, in front of a sign saying 'clean toilets'. The idea being, she Is the toilet. (Nice)
So, when this artist wants to indicate a person is under mind control, they use dull ring eyes. But the ring they choose to use is barely distinguishable, and MHX Alter already Has dull yellow eyes in the original art.
An entirely reasonable person could look at this, and think it's just a teenage girl doing a naughty in the bathroom, and you just can't see the toilet because she is standing in front of it. Even I sat there looking at it for 20 minutes trying to figure out if it actually counts.
Then, in this set:
www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/83803486
Sitonai is in a tribal getup doing various feral poses. The title of it has the word "tribalification" in it, from an artist whose every other creation has mind control. There is no doubt she is meant to be brainwashed...If you know that. If you don't, then, there is no sign of mind control at all, it only shows the aftermath. It could just as easily be a costume, something Fate and its fans do all the time.
So. How do you handle that? Are images like these Okay to post? I like these, and I want to share them. But I also know there would be fights over whether they belong on the site or not in the comments, and I honestly couldn't blame them.
And if you go into the comments to preemt this by saying "hey, there is in fact mind control in here, because X and Y', or manip the images to make the MC more obvious, are you not taking away from the author's intent? If the MC is so subtle most people can't see it, did the artist "fail" in some way? Or is it better to assume they are Meant to be subtle, and we are meant to be unsure?
