merpdaberp

It be like that sometimes

Some guy who's bored on the internet.

69 posts

This Perfectly Describes Beastars.

This perfectly describes beastars.

Here I see a countless "how herbivores are opressed" and "how carnivores are opressed posts, and while usually they get uncomfortably too close to paralleling each to a real instance of opression (i see herbivores' opression compared to gender and carnivores to race a lot, for instance), which is not really possible due to the nature of herbivore/carnivore dynamics in the actual text, i do largely agree with a lot of the points. However, a thing I really dislike is how in these posts the struggles of one side are always used to negate the struggles of the other. I don't actually think the point of the manga is "are herbivores or carnivores the ones who have it worse", but rather how these conflicts clash in a way that pushes society's entire narrative.

I think one of the best things about Beastars is how it allows us to analyze some things about our on society without being a complete parallel to it, and how it presents the unique perspectives of each of the characters. In every one of them, we are shown how society at large has affected their sense of self-worth and put them into a box.

For carnivores, their opression is largely focused on society's refusal of adapting to their needs and forcing them into submission to create a more friendly and palatable image. Not only meat-eating instincts are incredibly hard to supress, specially under emotional turmoil or stress, but they're even asked to literlly hide their fangs and claws. I think Riz is the character that represents that opression in the best way. The society he lives in is simply not made for him (breaking things is not unusual), but instead of large-scale adaptation process that help make bears' lives easier, they're forced to take pills with terrible physical AND psychological side-effects that don't even solve the problem to its full extent. Easy solutions that don't account for the roots of each problem are an emblem of the narrative. That's true in the case of bears but it softly extends to every other carnivore, who live in fear of hurting or even killing the very second control is lost, which is something society at large completely fails to adress.

On the other hand, herbivores are characterized by their fear of dying. And it really isn't too prejudiced, it's a completely real and justified fear. You are as likely to be killed by a random carnivore in the street as you are to be killed by a carnivore that actively likes you and enjoys your company. There's no winning scenario other than mantaining your distance. And while it's true that some herbivores have a superior class standing, that goes mostly to middle-sized ones like deer and horses. Small herbivores have none of that privilege, and their lives are seen as expendable - especially in the case of Haru, who is one of the best herbivore narratives imo. There's also the fact that society puts most of their worth in their bodies, both sexually (like Cosmo, who is seeked out by carnivores for that exact reason) and as products (like the cows being exploited for their milk). As a result, specially small herbivores rarely have any authority at all.

I think the best way to explain how their opression goes both sides is with predation cases. Let's take Tem's death for example. His death is manufactured by the media to spread fear-mongering and vitriol against carnivores, and carnivores close to the incident are much more likely to receive bad treatment. However, this doesn't actually come with any benefit to herbivores. The authorities made zero effort to actually investigate Tem's death. Riz did absolutely nothing to actually clean up the scene or his tracks and even Pina acknowledges that catching him should have been ridiculously easy, yet they did nothing. The incident was used to increase conflict between species without addressing the root causes of it.

And it's seen time and time again. The mayor refuses to do anything about Haru being *literally* kidnapped and having her life in danger simply because it might put his image and management under a bad light. Yahya uses his power and influence to get what he wants (cough murder juice), and what he actually does for society (catching criminals) doesn't actually do anything to solve the root causes of those issues, because conflict benefits him. It is "those in power" who can feed from the vitriol in society. And "those in power" cannot be pinned on one or the other either, because just as the company owners with influence over the economy are mostly herbivores, the police who violently enforce society's rules and enjoy positions of power are carnivores.

That's why I don't think that what it is to be taken from the manga is as easy as "carnivores are the most opressed" or "herbivores are the most opressed", but rather "carnivores' and herbivores' opression is used to manufacture conflict in a way that benefits those in power and perpetuates the status quo".

This Perfectly Describes Beastars.

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