The Stories Fascism Fears the Most
Added 2025-03-24 14:01:08 +0000 UTCFascism isn’t just about power—it’s about controlling the stories we tell. It warps narratives to justify oppression, trapping us in cycles of dominance and despair. But stories can also resist, break those cycles, and open the door to something new. This video explores how fascism weaponizes storytelling—and how we can reclaim it to imagine a future beyond its grasp.
Comments
Rewatched Andor in preparation for season 2, and what hit me harder this time was Luthen’s speech, especially “condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them”, which comes to mind every time I hear you say “punch a fascist in the face” - how I abhor violence as means to resolve a conflict, while knowing there is no other options in the face of their violence, if we want to survive. It also reminds me of Frodo’s “it has been saved, but not for me.” It’s another more subtle form of violence fascism inflicts on us, the hurt we have to carry inside in the hope that a future generation will not have to get to this point.
Angie Vinko
2025-04-15 23:33:35 +0000 UTCBy the way- I thought you added stuff to the YouTube version! Thank you for the extra 30 minutes!!!
Richard Guidorizzi
2025-03-29 00:37:51 +0000 UTCThis was one of the most amazing video essays I have ever watched and it came at a much needed time. I have been struggling a lot lately and this has given me renewed strength and courage. Thank you so much Jessie! You are loved! I would like to add also something I do t see anyone talking about. God of War. In the first game you see Kratos as a stoic warrior cut off and cold to his son. As they journey together you see his roll shift. He becomes more understanding and compassionate. His motto was always “close your heart to it” and by the end of the second game he admits that he was wrong. That he. Has learned from his son and he was right. His son’s compassion and to open his heart is the way to salvation. You see him become a stronger father and more understanding to the world and people around him due to the love of his son and being more tolerant and accepting of the people around him. It was an amazing shift in character development with an amazingly powerful message.
Viessa
2025-03-27 12:35:10 +0000 UTCWhile it’s flawed, one thing I did love about the Disney film Wish was that, in the end, it wasn’t the hero who defeated the villain. It was everyone coming together that did it. https://youtu.be/l_Uo79XeWC4
Taigan
2025-03-26 16:06:49 +0000 UTCIs "Lord of the Rings" a "Hero's Journey"? Well, you could interpret it that way, by ignoring most of the story! But even the title of the first book contradicts the individualism of the hero's journey: "The Fellowship of the Ring". Frodo could never get to Mt Doom without the rest of the fellowship. But at the last moment, he failed and took the ring for himself. Gandalf failed: he died fighting the balrog. Bilbo failed: he could no longer resist the ring and had to stay in Rivendell. Sam failed: he abused Gollum and turned him against the hobbits. Gollum/Smeagol failed: he tried to help the hobbits but could not resist the ring in the end. BUT: Bilbo had pity on Gollum, without which the ring would not have been destroyed (Frodo: 'It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill Gollum when he had the chance.' Gandalf: 'Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand.... My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over.") Frodo was kind to Gollum, so he helped them Sam carried Frodo when he could no longer walk. Gandalf was sent back from the dead to continue to help the others Gollum destroyed the ring because of the oath he swore to help Frodo ("Would you commit your promise to that, Sméagol? It will hold you. But it is more treacherous than you are. It may twist your words. Beware!") Because Smeagol broke his oath, he was thrown into the fire: but this also destroyed the ring. So, nobody was a traditional "hero": defeating the "enemy" and emerging successful in the end. But everybody worked together and did what little they could to help each other ("The future is in the quiet spaces, the small acts..."). Eru Ilúvatar took all these small acts and this disparate group of failures, who nevertheless tried to work together and help each other out, and wove them into an amazing and beautiful story.
Dr Martin Ward
2025-03-26 13:54:09 +0000 UTCthe montage at 1:21:00 and the sentimental music played overtop is some of the best editing I've ever seen in a video essay. love what you do jessie <3
Rowan Tompkins
2025-03-26 08:11:02 +0000 UTCJessie, you've galvanized me. I'm currently writing an anti hero's journey. The heroine can't save anyone, but she can build community. And so can I.
Cafe Equinox
2025-03-26 01:10:33 +0000 UTCGod damn beautiful. I am not sure, how I discovered your channel originally, but I remember that I was distinctly curious about learning more about queerness and transness from a transperson a few years ago. Ignorant as I was I didn't expect then that I'd embark on such a profound journey and exploration of everything, especially life under increasingly fascist conditions. I am really happy you enrich so many of ours understading of the world. Thanks, Jessie
enter_krzysz
2025-03-25 22:57:45 +0000 UTCAt the 40 minute mark, and the bit about how hardness is a strength and softness is something to be rejected... that hit me so damned hard. All my life I've been called too sensitive, and it's only now that I've found a community who love that about me, even as I enter a career where being sensitive to the needs of others is a hallmark.
Jamie
2025-03-25 14:25:02 +0000 UTCI’m not a creative, I’m a constructor. How much longer do I have to sit here hearing stories waiting for anything to construct. 40 YEARS of my life have already been WASTED waiting for creatives to break some code they think they’re going to find that lets them skip the actual work of constructing. Stories and minds build blueprints, but HANDS have to make those blueprints reality. Constructors can’t sit forever waiting for some perfectly revised blueprint while the world continues to burn. We will be gone, while stories endure, Institutional Knowledge is incredibly perishable. A story of loving each other and including everyone has been kicking around for TWO MILLENNIA now. And because it was NEVER intended to be turned over to the Constructors, the corrupters consumed it, and twisted it. Stories are powerful, but stories are weak. Creatives, Ship the Fucking Plans Already! Perfect is the enemy of Done!
Mike Zaite
2025-03-25 04:03:54 +0000 UTCRecently, someone I thought was my friend told me that nobody else shares my view of the world, that nobody else believes that a society without hierarchy and domination is possible. Thank you for proving them wrong!
Captain Mikee
2025-03-25 03:24:21 +0000 UTCJust finished it—utterly brilliant and absolutely vital.
Adam Myers
2025-03-25 02:35:27 +0000 UTCThis was a brilliant well formed and executed essay. I wait on tenterhooks for these videos. Thank you. I’ll start with taking back the dining room table. I will also be reading an exciting new pile of books; thank you for the suggestions, authors, and films.
John Baird
2025-03-24 20:51:27 +0000 UTCJessie!!! 💖💖💖 You really do such good work. I'm so consistently impressed with how skillfully you weave media analysis into a coherent and engaging argument/storyline. So ... A personal anecdote related to this video: Over the past few years, I'd started working on a little version of building towards something different than the prevailing milieu and in the past 14 months I've run into some pretty major difficulties. Though I haven't given up, I've been kind of wallowing and watching myself starting to dissolve into some resentment. It's alarming to know what's happening, but to struggle to recenter, recommit, and find another way forward despite being aware of the probable stakes of staying mired. While all of your work feels like a kind of lighthouse, I feel like the section at the end of this video is particularly well-timed and a clear reminder. Illegitimi non carborundum; find more co-creators, locate others voices, find other ways, just make what you can make. I'm curious what we'll end up doing. 💖
Erica Bearica
2025-03-24 18:46:50 +0000 UTCJessie, this was amazing. I feel like I want to do something, no matter how small. My mental health has been bad and I haven't written anything in months. But I have a story in my head about two queer girl best friends who solve a murder. It may not be any good. But I'm going to sit down today and start writing.
Melissa Petterson
2025-03-24 18:46:02 +0000 UTCthe way you brought this point home in the end was breathtakingly beautiful. It's like the hope of spring air after the thaw, and I want to share it with people. Also, dying to know about that project you're working on. The way you talk about it, that cannot-emphasize-enough big lifelong dream project... I can't help but wonder, if it's been a long road, getting from there to here? Alas, one can only speculate right now, I need to listen to Sisko and cherish the unknown.
BookshelfPassageway
2025-03-24 17:28:06 +0000 UTCWell done, Jessie! I only cried like, six times watching this. Please never stop shining 💜
Shawn McCormick
2025-03-24 16:48:27 +0000 UTCIt’s so heartwarming to hear some of my suggested revisions in such an important video. Thank you for this amazing and vital piece of work Jessie!!
Adam Myers
2025-03-24 14:30:48 +0000 UTC
