Arcane's revolution foreshadows our own
arcane brainrot but make it political???
Over the past month, my mind has been consumed by a singular show that certainly did not have this much of a chokehold on me three years ago when I first watched it: Arcane.
If you’ve never heard of Arcane, or if you have but still have no clue what the big deal is, Arcane is a beautifully animated and well-written show based on the gaming franchise League of Legends.
I wanted to Substack-ify some of my thoughts on Arcane, especially in regards to its politics. Arcane beautifully tackles revolution, oppression, classism, state violence and more, especially in the new season, and one parallel between Arcane and our world I’ve been thinking about recently is the figure of a revolution.
*slight spoilers ahead for Season 1 and Season 2 !
In Arcane, the residents of the undercity (or the nation of Zaun), literally live underneath their topside neighboring city, Piltover. The two are constantly clashing with one another as the undercity, or the nation of Zaun, tries to establish independence and unity, all the while feeding off the scraps from the flourishing and opulent so-called “city of progress.”
Piltover oppresses Zaun through means of police brutality, embargos, air pollution, and systemic discrimination. Often, the Zaunites must fight amongst one another to survive, while Piltovians live comfortably in a lush, affluent environment.
One of the key events of Season 1 is that a new drug called “Shimmer” is invented by Singed and peddled to the masses by Silco, who effectively takes control over much of the undercity using this new strength-enhancing, yet addictive drug.
When Vi sustains a life-threatening injury in the undercity, the only solution to be found is Shimmer. Caitlyn makes a deal with a citizen-turned-Shimmer-addict to obtain it, only to be betrayed by him moments later—he hands them over to Silco— in return for even more Shimmer.
At the end of Season 1, Jinx, one of the main characters of the series, ends up killing Silco. (There’s so much more context to this–pls watch the series if you haven’t already.)
She then fires off a missile towards Piltover, aiming it at the council’s chamber—the head governing party in Piltover.
A lifetime of frustration unleashed upon unhearing ears.
(Of course, another tragedy lies in that the council had been voting on a peace resolution between Piltover and Zaun at that very moment… but how could Jinx have known?)
And then we arrive at this past week.
An anonymous, concerned citizen driving the fears and anxieties of a suffering nation into the heart of an uncaring corporate monolith in the form of three bullets.
When I first heard the news, I wasn’t very shocked. What was more shocking was that the man who did it actually got away with it (until just yesterday when a suspect was caught— waiting on the verdict).
All I could think about was the dystopia we have arrived at.
In Season 2 of Arcane, the only rallying light for the Zaunites is Jinx. She effectively becomes a symbol of the revolution, inspiring crowds of blue-haired pronoun-having people, and even making way for a Jinx copy-cat at that.
There was a look-alike contest in New York for the CEO’s shooter. In the past few days, people everywhere, across political divides, across the animosity and tension facing America, have come together to realize that we are all part of the underserved. We are all collectively under the oppression of a ruling class of billionaires, fighting for a drop of success. Of stability.
In a heartbeat, we’d stab each other in the back for a drop of it, when our attention should really be focused elsewhere.
If it takes the actions of one crazy/genius individual to inspire the rest of us, so be it.