Shigaraki - But Never A Key

Song by Dirt Poor Robins

Oh there is a STORY behind the making of this one. I made the whole thing in Filmora only to realize when I went to export it that they were pushing a subscription on me. I had been grandfathered in for years because I bought it before they did the subscription model. Out of spite and being flat broke, I refused to pay the subscription, so I screen recorded the finished product instead of exporting. Except, when I went to upload it, I realized Bandicam hadn't recorded the audio like it usually does. So I downloaded DaVinci Resolve and put the audio and video together in there.

Moral of the story: I will do anything but pay for a software.

Also, this song finally got me to read Flowers for Algernon, and I could honestly write an essay on the parallels between Charlie and Shigaraki.

Charlie develops intellectually at a blinding speed, but emotionally, he's still a child. Knowing something logically doesn’t help him cope with it emotionally, and that creates a lot of problems. As he gets smarter, he starts questioning authority and standing up for himself. Suddenly, the same people who once took advantage of him become hostile—even those who were behind the operation that "helped" him.

Similarly, Shigaraki gains power and competence at an overwhelming pace, but at the expense of his emotional development. No matter how strong he becomes, he’s still that scared, lonely child deep down.

And then there’s the fact that Charlie’s intelligence is temporary. Once you’ve eaten from the tree of knowledge, there’s no going back to how things were. After Shigaraki’s awakening, he can’t go back either—even as he fights to hold onto who he really is.

Spinner could even serve as an Alice figure in this parallel. While they start as equals rather than student/teacher, there’s still that painful distance: on Spinner's side, watching someone you care about become someone unrecognizable. On Shigaraki's side, realizing you're going somewhere your loved one can't follow, even as you still yearn for the connection.

If you hear distant sobbing, that’s just every English teacher I’ve ever had feeling a disturbance in the Force.