Theresa.
Hereby hoping that defenses of non-anime/game/book characters is allowed here, as I haven't seen a TV show character for a long time. The OC is a fairly popular teen drama series revolving around a family living in Orange County, as one might've guessed from the name. I personally like it quite a lot, despite being behind in episodes due to not living in the US, but there's a notable trend of bashing beginning in the fandom (ironically, not of whom I pegged as the prime bashing target from the first episode, she seems to have gotten off scot free).
For a bit of background information; The OC focuses on a teenage boy from Chino named Ryan who is busted for car theft along with his older brother. Ryan is befriended -and eventually adopted- by his court-appointed lawyer, Sandy Cohen, and when he is thrown out of home, Sandy takes him back to his house in Newport, Orange County. Ryan instantly befriends Sandy's teenage son Seth and gradually wins over his wife Kirsten, as well as falling for Marissa Cooper, the girl next door. The plot exapnds and contracts until there's about 10 main characters to keep track of, along with a host of minor characters.
Theresa is a childhood friend and old flame of Ryan's. She doesn't appear until midway through the season (episode 11, The Homecoming) and seems to be a oneshot characer at first. Ryan and Marissa (who is actually bashed as much as Theresa, but I don't feel right about defending her as I personally don't like her) go to Chino to see Ryan's brother in jail for Thanksgiving, and end up having to steal a car. First, though, they go to Theresa's house, and Marissa finds her first competition. Things end fairly peacefully and Theresa really isn't in it for that long.
After a long time, Theresa appears again (in The Heartbreak) as a caterer for one of the many Newport parties. Ryan and Theresa catch up and end up driving off together. (Ryan is currently upset/not wanting to be with Marissa because of the newly-ended Oliver saga) She and Ryan briefly rekindle their romance and have sex. She leaves again for a bit, then calls Sandy, and she's pregnant, not to mention being abused by her boyfriend/fiance Eddie. In the last episode of the season, The Ties That Bind (the show likes to have Seinfeld-esque 'The' titles) Ryan ultimately returns to Chino with Theresa.
This, of course, caused an uproar in the fandom. The slash fans were indignant that the Seth/Ryan that was so overt was broken. The het fans were indignant that, due to Ryan's leaving, every major couple aside from Sandy x Kirsten was broken up (Seth, griefstricken due to Ryan's leaving, sailed off into the great beyond, sans girlfriend but hopefully with Captain Oats). Not to mention, the Ryan/Marissa fans were angry that another woman had appeared on the scene. Even the diehard fangirls/boys of characters and not pairings went wild at her because her leaving supposedly caused misery for everyone due to her taking Ryan with her, which caused Seth to go to Tahiti and so on and so forth.
Theresa is a cool character. She's tough. She's independant. She's a fair bit like Ryan was for the first few episodes. She's accused of being a whore by the fandom, but she just isn't. Yes, she technically cheats on Eddie (although I'd say leaving town when he proposed to her is a sign of a break-up) and it's either explicitly implied or outright stated that she slept with Ryan pre-Newport, but so what? Theresa loves Ryan, whether in a familial or romantic sense. And she wants the best for him. She didn't want him to know she was pregnant; she only went to Sandy because she knew that he would help. She may have asked him to leave with her in The Ties That Bind, but who wouldn't? She didn't go to a deliberate effort to spirit Ryan away from Marissa/Seth/whoever else you please, she went to an old friend (who was most likely the father of her baby) for help.
I'd always seen The OC fandom as being remarkably tolerant. The only big pairing row was the Summer vs Anna one, but the Theresa-bashing gets worse and worse, even though the entire saga is resolved now. I haven't yet been able to see the new episodes, but Ryan obviously returned to Newport and Theresa is no longer featuring. It's really insane.
I mean, if you were a highschool dropout who got pregnant from a week-long series of one-night stands and lived in a poor area with an abusive fiance, but the person who probably got you pregnant happened to be a trusted and beloved old friend and also happened to be living the high life, wouldn't you turn to him? She didn't even ask for his help until after he found out about the pregnancy, she seemed willing to just not tell him. If Marissa hadn't told Ryan, I doubt anyone would've. She tried to handle things on her own, then she did the intelligent thing and turned to a wise, respectable, helpful figure (Sandy) and got help. It just ballooned out of proportion from there.
Sorry if that was a bit long and off-topic ^^; It's late where I am and I just needed to vent that. This is my first real post, actually (I had a welcome post ^^;) so I'm not versed in exactly how to construct these.
For a bit of background information; The OC focuses on a teenage boy from Chino named Ryan who is busted for car theft along with his older brother. Ryan is befriended -and eventually adopted- by his court-appointed lawyer, Sandy Cohen, and when he is thrown out of home, Sandy takes him back to his house in Newport, Orange County. Ryan instantly befriends Sandy's teenage son Seth and gradually wins over his wife Kirsten, as well as falling for Marissa Cooper, the girl next door. The plot exapnds and contracts until there's about 10 main characters to keep track of, along with a host of minor characters.
Theresa is a childhood friend and old flame of Ryan's. She doesn't appear until midway through the season (episode 11, The Homecoming) and seems to be a oneshot characer at first. Ryan and Marissa (who is actually bashed as much as Theresa, but I don't feel right about defending her as I personally don't like her) go to Chino to see Ryan's brother in jail for Thanksgiving, and end up having to steal a car. First, though, they go to Theresa's house, and Marissa finds her first competition. Things end fairly peacefully and Theresa really isn't in it for that long.
After a long time, Theresa appears again (in The Heartbreak) as a caterer for one of the many Newport parties. Ryan and Theresa catch up and end up driving off together. (Ryan is currently upset/not wanting to be with Marissa because of the newly-ended Oliver saga) She and Ryan briefly rekindle their romance and have sex. She leaves again for a bit, then calls Sandy, and she's pregnant, not to mention being abused by her boyfriend/fiance Eddie. In the last episode of the season, The Ties That Bind (the show likes to have Seinfeld-esque 'The' titles) Ryan ultimately returns to Chino with Theresa.
This, of course, caused an uproar in the fandom. The slash fans were indignant that the Seth/Ryan that was so overt was broken. The het fans were indignant that, due to Ryan's leaving, every major couple aside from Sandy x Kirsten was broken up (Seth, griefstricken due to Ryan's leaving, sailed off into the great beyond, sans girlfriend but hopefully with Captain Oats). Not to mention, the Ryan/Marissa fans were angry that another woman had appeared on the scene. Even the diehard fangirls/boys of characters and not pairings went wild at her because her leaving supposedly caused misery for everyone due to her taking Ryan with her, which caused Seth to go to Tahiti and so on and so forth.
Theresa is a cool character. She's tough. She's independant. She's a fair bit like Ryan was for the first few episodes. She's accused of being a whore by the fandom, but she just isn't. Yes, she technically cheats on Eddie (although I'd say leaving town when he proposed to her is a sign of a break-up) and it's either explicitly implied or outright stated that she slept with Ryan pre-Newport, but so what? Theresa loves Ryan, whether in a familial or romantic sense. And she wants the best for him. She didn't want him to know she was pregnant; she only went to Sandy because she knew that he would help. She may have asked him to leave with her in The Ties That Bind, but who wouldn't? She didn't go to a deliberate effort to spirit Ryan away from Marissa/Seth/whoever else you please, she went to an old friend (who was most likely the father of her baby) for help.
I'd always seen The OC fandom as being remarkably tolerant. The only big pairing row was the Summer vs Anna one, but the Theresa-bashing gets worse and worse, even though the entire saga is resolved now. I haven't yet been able to see the new episodes, but Ryan obviously returned to Newport and Theresa is no longer featuring. It's really insane.
I mean, if you were a highschool dropout who got pregnant from a week-long series of one-night stands and lived in a poor area with an abusive fiance, but the person who probably got you pregnant happened to be a trusted and beloved old friend and also happened to be living the high life, wouldn't you turn to him? She didn't even ask for his help until after he found out about the pregnancy, she seemed willing to just not tell him. If Marissa hadn't told Ryan, I doubt anyone would've. She tried to handle things on her own, then she did the intelligent thing and turned to a wise, respectable, helpful figure (Sandy) and got help. It just ballooned out of proportion from there.
Sorry if that was a bit long and off-topic ^^; It's late where I am and I just needed to vent that. This is my first real post, actually (I had a welcome post ^^;) so I'm not versed in exactly how to construct these.