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I don’t think it’s exactly what I had in mind, but it’s similar.
I think a counter example helps here. Fallout new vegas for instance has a fascist genocidal faction called Caesars Legion, led by “Caesar” or Edward Swallow. They rape and torture and kill and all the other stuff you expect from roman larpers in the post apocalypse. You can join them if you want. I don’t think the point of them is to be morally equal to the other factions [especially since, if I remember right, killing their soldiers during the battle of hoover dam gives you positive karma]. They’re kinda there to juxtapose the other factions, especially the NCR. The fact the NCR is bad at their job is not bad writing, it’s the point and you can tell. Caesars legion being somewhat competent at having their land be safe and Chem free is not an ideological statement like TOT, its a point that some people are willing to put up with the worst stuff to love safely [of course, that’s not accounting for the slaves]. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing to criticize, but just that very rarely do you question if the devs actually meant for x to mean y or if they just gave up. It helps that the writing quality and moral questions are generally well written as well, compared to skyrim or fallout 3.
So for AOT, the problem is “is there an argument or did the author just want to make fascist propaganda.”
Honestly everytime i try to think of another example of what I’m talking about it’s just another Bethesda game like Starfield or Fallout 4. The only other two I can think of are Captain America: Civil war and Bioshock Infinite. Those two are a little different though.
Civil war is closer to my thing, where not much thought it actually put into the sokovia accords, it’s just a backdrop for fighting. People will argue, but theres no evidential or contextual backing for much, and one side ends up having to be wrong so they make the accords a hydra plot or something.
Bioshock infinite is closer to AOT, where the writers go “both sides bad” because shockingly the revolutionaries were right. So they have the leader try to kill a kid like she’s on an episode of The Wire so any discussion on the factions boil down to “I don’t like killing kids vs the writing is bad.”
If I could jump in, I see what you mean by lack contextualization as a symptom of bad writing creating pointless arguments in communities. The example I come to probably would be an animal as well, Code Geass. I personally love the show, but I think the charecter of Suzaku is very badly written for what he’s supposed to be. However, if you act like his chatecter is the way that it is intentionally, he’s probably one of the best for what he is.
In the series of Code Geass, Japan has been conquered by the Holy Britainian Empire (a mix of the US and British empires which has conquered like a 3rd of the world). The son of the former Prime Minister of Japan, Suzaku, joins the Britanian military after the fall of the nation. Joining the Britainian military as a Japanese earns someone the title of honorary Britainian. The Britainian occupation renamed Japan to “Area 11” which they do with all their colonies, and outlaws mentions of the former national identity (So, Japanese are called Elevens in the show).
Suzaku throughout the series acts like your typical liberal idealist. He moralizes everything and disdains any end achieved through what he considers “immoral” means. He consistently enforces the colonial policy of Britainia against his people under the illusion that he’ll be able to rise up in the ranks to change the system from within.
You can probably already see how this creates problems for his framing. You see, the show frames him to be a moral paragon of justice who stands above the rest of the cast be they the more callus protagonist lelouch or the more bigoted Britainian military. However, as an audience, it’s very hard to accept that framing when golden boy suzaku assists Britainia in committing a pogrom (It could honestly be charged as a genocide) in the 2nd episode by fighting Japanese militants defending the city. It’s not left up to interpretation at all that Britainia is doing this, the show has scenes of Britainia soldiers sweep through floors of an apartment and execute civilians on sight.
The reason I provide all this context is because Suzakus story should be a very simple tale, and frankly it is (though not by intention I believe). It’s an example of how trying to work within an inherently corrupt colonial system will never lead to emancipation, instead only blooding the hands of idealists naive enough to attempt it. That’s what happens in the show as well.
However the writers constantly attempt to frame Suzaku as if his hypocrisy is somehow morally complex, or as if he isn’t one of the most despicable individuals in the narrative. He continues to morally grand stand against “terrorists” while helping his oppressors butcher more of his people, all because he’s honestly more concerned about his own personal ego over the well being of his nation.
The story is fantastic if you ignore what the show us trying to say and take it for what it is. Regardless of everything outside the material explicitly provided to you, Suzaku is a perfect example of how liberal idealists end up being morally reprehensible to the revolutionaries they oppose but still fund ways to justify everything to themselves. For this reason, many people recognize Suzaku for what he is, a traitor to his people whose more interested on proving himself right then bettering peoples lives.
Yet so many on the Code Geass Fandom take everything from the source material, and still view Suzaku as an upstanding individual who is more correct than he’s not. They will constantly argue using the charecters personal details and past that he’s actually more justified then others make him out to be. Some like to treat him as the “other side” of the coin that holds the series protagonist, Lelouch. Tons of both siding and all that even though, frankly speaking, Lelouch’s schpeal that you need to get your hands dirty to fight an empire and make a better world is entirely correct. Suzaku proves it through dirtying his own hands by aiding Britainia, just because he does it legally doesn’t deny the fact he’s upholding an inherently racist system.
I think the writers of Code geass were massive libs, and they let it show with how they frame the events of the show. However it makes Suzaku appear relatively transparent to anyone who chooses to judge his actions on context of the events presented on the show rather than rely on musical scores and directorial decisions to inform their opinion.
I guess in the example I’m talking about, it’s less so the writers didn’t provide context, but that the presentation of that context clashes with how an astute audience would perceive it. For that I’d say it’s bad writing.