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critquing hazbin hotel: a thread (disclaimer: this is personal critque on the pilot and other works under hazbin hotel. this isn't me explicity being 100% loving it or 100% hating it)
i was, and maybe consider myself a fan of hazbin hotel. i believe it has potential and ive been in love with Vizie's works since i was in middle school. though in this thread i wont let my nostalgic bias get the better of my judgement.
i dont think most will see this other than friends but i really wanted to get this off my chest. im going to be splitting this thread into parts on what i believe are obvious flaws with it and also what i personally still enjoy about it
lets get one BIG thing out of the way. Angel Dust
Angel Dust is a very little to no personality kind of character and falls on very simple traits. He's gay, he does sex work, he does drugs, and he's very destructive
and that fact that hes in hell and shown only those few traits puts a very bad looking bar on what the creators of hazbin hotel think people should go to hell for
of course this might not be correct, and rather hes in hell because hes been told through OTHER pieces of work, not the pilot, that he was part the mob and killed people. but the problem is that it isnt told or shown at all through the pilot on the fact hes in hell cuz of that
so it puts this very bad look on that hes in hell cuz of the other things. its telling that if you're GAY, DO DRUGS, or is a SEX WORKER, that you go to hell. which you could tell why thats a bad thing
though this could be fixed if the pilot just made him MORE than those few traits then just some horny gay man looking to fuck everyone. which in mind is also a overdone and harmful stereotype
angel dust could, i say COULD be an ok character if he wasnt so terribly portrayed of what the standards are for a person to be in hell for. but again this also could just be poor writing and it wasnt the intent of the creators to make it viewed like that
though, when i thought about that, there are also many other things that make seem more apparent about those standards
throughout the whole pilot and even the other side show, Helluva Boss, make doing sex, sex work, being openly gay, and doing drugs are all negative things
which puts, AGAIN, an extremely bad look on what hazbin hotel is trying to tell us
another big problem i have with hazbin hotel is just explicitly its writing
the way they portray characters, some of their jokes, and all together how it is shown is a mess
ive experienced both sides on people loving hazbin hotel and also people who despise it. so i understand both sides and their issues
some jokes are funny, but a lot of it has to do with offensive or dark humor that isn't really done well enough to actually be funny
basically, a lot of jokes dum down to this. sex joke, another sex joke, haha hes gay, did i mention this character is gay? haha being gay is funny cuz the character is horny and likes dick
its a lot of that. though some jokes i found funny, but not a lot.
staying on how being gay = funny, i want to add a realization i has
canonically, the main character Charlie and the other side character Vaggie, are together romantically. and i asked myself, why was this never explicitly said?
there was no need to keep a lesbian relationship hidden and only to be hinted at for many reasons. this pilot is on youtube and is independently made. as i last checked i dont think youtube is openly homophobic though i could be wrong
why is it that Angel Dust can be openly gay for comedy and also to be shown negatively, while the lesbian couple can only give each other smiles and sit next to each other. why cant the LESBIAN COUPLE actually be A COUPLE?
cuz no one is gonna know unless they look through the small HINTS throughout the pilot to put it together. and even then, most of the hints are so small that its barely comprehensible to tell theyre together as girlfriends
i had to look through Vivzie's deviantart and other artists that worked on the show to be told that they are together because i wasnt 100% sure
WHY CAN ANGEL DUST BE OPENLY GAY AND HAVE SEX WHILE THE LESBIAN COUPLE CANT ACT LIKE A COUPLE AND HAVE TO BE HINTED AT INSTEAD?
and its also not just couples just not being done right. in Helluva Boss they show and KNOW how to make a romantic couple, but its a straight couple
people could say Charlie and Vaggie's relationship are not the main focus of where Hazbin Hotel wants to take the plot. but they cant just, yknow, KISS? explicity say theyre GIRLFRIENDS? it isnt hard to just mention it, you dont have to make the plot entirely shift
and also in Helluva Boss, the romantic relationship is not the main focus either. BUT THEY SURE DID MAKE AN ENTIRE SONG BASED AROUND THEIR RELATIONSHIP
also another issue with a character. Vaggie
Vaggie is catergorized as a stereotypical "angry latino woman". its just plain and a harmful stereotype like Angel Dust
but my biggest problem is that Vaggie is an open hater against men. while she is also canonically a lesbian
the characters are always shown with little to no traits, and are all bad stereotypes. not all, but the MAIN CHARACTERS are
angel dust is given the most attention by the main creator Vivzie, and even with all this attention, and all the information i know, hes still not interesting and continues to be a stereotype
i didnt know why this didnt show up on the thread, but going back to Vaggie for a moment
so its A DOUBLE WHAMMY as Vaggie is also a stereotyped lesbian who hates men. shes also probably in hell cuz she mightve killed a man or more
i cant say that a pilot is an excuse for bad character writing as a lot of pilots KNOW and have done WELL to introduce their characters and make them interesting
i do understand the effort and time limit a pilot can have to introduce the plot and characters. but what hazbin hotel pilot does is make little time to make anything truly interesting about the characters and just make them harmful stereotypes
to sum up the flaws, its bad writing, harmful messages, and harmful stereotypes in characters. there could be more but thats whats been on my mind
now to what i personally still like about hazbin hotel. though again this isnt an excuse for their flaws. i do hope in future animations they fix those problems and debunk the claims given.
i personally love the style and character designs
i really love the palette and look of characters and its settings. those things are what REALLY got me interested in hazbin hotel. i think a lot of the designscare super creative and fun! its what gave me a lot of inspiration over the years
i know some might not agree with me but i personally really like it
another pro which i believe can be agreed on. the animation is good!
for an indepently done work its super impressive the talent and work that went into the animation to make everything look so smooth and well done. its fanatastic and really inspiring for other creators to make their own work
another thing, i personally liked the music. of course the music might not be for everyone but i can see the musical talent that went behind it. the songs are catchy as the animation matches with it in a fun and charming way that i just really enjoyef
the last thing ill say of what i believe is good about hazbin hotel: Alastor
Alastor is the ONLY good and interesting character in the whole cast
his design is really nice to look at with his deer/20's style with a red palette to put everything together. he even has a small detail where the bottom of his shoes are deer prints
Alastor is PROOF that a character can be introduced in a limited time frame and can be shown to be INTERESTING and not a fucking stereotype
even Alastor's voice alone is unique as he sounds like his voice is coming from a radio, and his surroundings and voice can ne distored like radio noise happening around him. its well done and original
Alastor is what kept me in with the show as i truly just wanted to see him. he is proof Vivzie and the staff do know how to make a good character. why they didnt do it for the main characters? i have no idea
maybe thats truly what Vivzie thinks, that gay people, sex work, and doing drugs make you the devil. its hard to say, and id hope not. but a lot of things keep pointing in that direction which makes me loose faith in it
i believe ill end it here. i mightve missed some things but this thread is already a mess and id rather not continue to fill up my friend's timelines
as a conclusion: hazbin hotel has many harmful things that need to be either fixed or get rid of to not push this harmful message they're conveying in their plot/setting and characters. hazbin hotel has potential, but its not excuse for their harmful flaws
