http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Robin-Lord-Taylor-Talks-_Gotham__New-York-410542755.html
Okay, I’m gonna say this first so everyone knows where I’m
starting from: I love both Robin and Oswald as persons and to me Oswald’s love
for Edward is genuine and real, but I’m also not gonna be all out furious about
what Robin has said/has been saying about Oswald’s character in connection with
love and relationships. I can very well understand why a lot of people are
angry with the way Robin phrased his views and I certainly don’t want to
discourage those people. Normally I also try to stay away from stuff like this;
yes, also as a huge fan there’s just some stuff I’m not getting myself into
because it simply doesn’t (maybe shouldn’t) concern me or anger me (wow, that
sounds weird but I hope you get what I mean). But since Gotham, especially
Oswald and Edward have become something very much important to me and I see
people being angry about this, I just feel like giving out my view of the whole
thing. Because I’m always trying to see everything in an objective way, even
with stuff that enrages me or makes me happy, I’m always trying to see both
sides and be fair about everything. You can take from this whatever you like,
that’s just me thinking out loud and you’re very much welcome to talk to me
about this whether agreeing or disagreeing. This is probably gonna be quite
long so bear with me. Okay, let’s do this...
I watched the interview this morning after hearing all the
turmoil about it and my initial reaction was: “Okay, yeah, I wouldn’t say it
like he did but seriously: that’s what everyone’s going crazy about?” It’s
important to note that I don’t always fully agree with what Robin has said (now
and in the past). To me Oswald’s feelings for Edward are genuine, honest and
come from a good intent. However, I can also see where Robin’s point of view is
coming from and I can even agree with him on some of those aspects. And after
all, it’s Robin’s character and his perception; he’s just as much an
interpreter of the character as we are so he also has a very different
understanding of Oswald.
Thinking about what has happened to Oswald it would be
generally wrong to say that he isn’t a fucked up person, he doesn’t have a
normal understanding about a lot of things (or at least not anymore). This is a
man who has had everything and nothing; a man who saw both of his parents die
in his arms; he has lost the only two people who have shown him love and for
whom he felt the deepest kinds of emotions; Oswald has had people taken from
him, and he has been betrayed, it’s not always easy for him to trust someone
100% or to invest in someone emotionally. In season 3 he is (after a long time)
back on the top of his game after having his father taken from him, killing the
murderer of his mother (again) and encountering Fish Mooney. He frees Edward
from Arkham because they’ve grown very close over the past months and they
obviously do care for each other to some degree.
Now, skipping forward to the episodes in which the statue of
Gertrude gets destroyed, people are being bribed to vote for him while others
try to overthrow him. The statue being destroyed might not be a big thing but
to someone like Oswald it obviously means a lot, it hurts him, it reminds him
of his mother; and at the same time he has to deal with a gang that tries to
kill him and is led by someone knowing Oswald. Oswald is a man with a broken
character, he gets upset and enraged by things most of us would find very
strange or not so important; he is a man who deep inside is probably fighting
big demons every day, a man who is desperate AND depressed to some degree. And
in such a time there’s this one guy, Edward Nygma, the one guy who (apart from
his parents) has ever shown genuine, honest interest and affection for Oswald
and helped him simply because he wanted to. So of course Oswald holds on to
that, he’s alone and broken and there’s this man who keeps encouraging him and
who’s nice. In those sad moments of Oswald’s life there happens to be Edward
and in those moments of deep, intense emotions and desperateness Oswald sees
what Edward does for him and of course he doesn’t want to lose that. He’s never
gotten that kind of love from anyone else, he’s always been alone most of his
life especially in those desperate times.
So, (without trying to be mean or discouraging or anything
like that) of course Oswald’s feelings are confused to some extent in that
regard because he’s never been in such a state. This is both new and intensely
difficult for him. Love is something very complex, problematic, rare and messed
up for Oswald. His perceptions of such feelings have been shaped in a very
fucked up way. I’m not saying he’s completely incapable of feeling love, but in
such situations as described above, it wouldn’t be too wrong to say that his
feelings are basically all over the place and going crazy and maybe not
functioning in a way we’d consider “normal”.
Now, going from the fictional world to the real world. And
mind you this is gonna be quite difficult because I couldn’t possibly say what
Robin is really thinking, I don’t know him and none of us have any idea what’s
actually going on with him or what he really wanted to say or what he could
tell us about Oswald and upcoming stuff on the show.
First I just want to say that we should take into account
that Robin is allowed to have his own interpretation of the character; art
isn’t objective so everyone sees things differently and I’m pretty sure there
are also some people who would agree with what Robin said in that interview. Maybe
that really is Robin’s perception of the Penguin’s psyche, we don’t know. It’s
an opinion (maybe a strangely formulated one but hey), it’s Robin’s opinion and
we should know better than to discourage and ignore it. Sure, it might not be
an opinion we agree with and it’s hard to hear it from Robin himself but we
should still be able to accept it if it’s truly what Robin’s thinking.
Robin isn’t in an easy position here. He’s the main star of
the show, a lot of people look up to him and pay very close attention to what
he says. He’s an openly gay man who portrays a very famous comic book character
who falls in love with another male iconic character. That’s some big stuff
going on, we have all seen the comments on the whole Nygmobblepot relationship
and Robin knows about those too. He wants to make this good, Oswald obviously
means a lot to him and as a member of the LGBT+ community it’s probably safe to
assume that Robin cares about that story-line for his character.
Robin has had personal experience with hate for the LGBT+
community and he’s been known to support gay rights openly. Now, Oswald is a
broken, fucked up super villain and murderer, who kills the girlfriend of the
guy he loves and that’s only one of the many bad things Oswald has done. The
Penguin has done some horrible things and it’d be wrong to ignore that, Oswald
isn’t/can’t always be the cute innocent bird we like him to be. As a gay man
Robin would obviously want the people to not get a wrong picture of the gay
community, it could very well be that he’s afraid of people getting encouraged
in their homophobia so he’s somehow trying to make the best of it. And maybe
that didn’t turn out the way he wanted it to. It can happen, we all make
mistakes, Robin’s phrasing wasn’t the best and yes it isn’t very nice to listen
to (especially as an Oswald fan and/or Nygmobblepot shipper). I’m honestly not
thinking that it came from a place of homophobia (seriously, how could it?),
maybe it’s simply difficult for Robin to explain what exactly he means, maybe
he’s trying to make it right for everyone but doesn’t know how to and thus ends up in situations like this one
right now.
Okay, I’m somehow trying to wrap this up now. I’m not trying
to discourage or disagree with those who are angry with Robin, in fact I very
much understand that. Again, I myself don’t really agree with him, to me
Oswald’s love is genuine and real. But I’m not gonna hate on Robin now, even if
his words also upset me a little, because I know that I have my opinion and he
has his and I know that I don’t have to be angry with him just because he
happens to be the man who plays my favourite character. In that regard he’s
also simply another man voicing his opinion of the character so I just do what
I always do whenever I encounter someone who says something I don’t agree with
(no matter who it is): I acknowledge the other view, still stick to my personal
opinion and move on. Yes, personally I’d also say that maybe someone should
call Robin out on his way of phrasing but I’m also saying that you should try
to see both sides of the argument and not get too caught up and full mode
furious about all of this.
I know I might have upset some people now and I would
totally understand that. As I said in the beginning, you’re welcome to discuss
the issue with me, this here is simply what I think about the whole affair. If
you made it this far, thanks for reading. Feel free to comment, like, hate
whatever, I don’t care. After all: we all have the possibility to voice our
opinion.
