Dreaded Double-Standard II: Bashin’ Boogaloo
Awhile back, I posted an essay about double standards against female characters and characters newly-introduced to a long-running series, giving examples of popular characters being praised for the same things that get them bashed. But
Part 3: The Young ‘Un
Sometimes, if a character is significantly younger than the rest of the cast, it colors the way their every action is viewed. They can’t be nice, only “saccharine;” they can’t be angry, only “bratty.” For my example, I’ll go to one of the better-written toyline shows of the eighties: Toei’s Dungeons & Dragons.
Sheila is the primary ‘fandom darling,’ and for good reason; she’s an excellent character. A shy, trusting teenaged girl dropped into a medieval world where any person she passes on the street could be selling her to the enemy even as they’re smiling at her, she adapts without losing her compassionate nature. Quick to forgive or lend a hand, even to someone under a horrible curse, she might seem too good to be true if it weren’t for humanizing little touches, like her occasional bouts of sadness and fear.
The problem comes with Sheila’s younger brother, Bobby. Bobby is the youngest member of the group. As one can expect from someone who presumably grew up in the same house, Bobby is a lot like Sheila, only with a temper. He tends small animals (most notably, the baby unicorn, Uni), he cries when he’s frustrated, and he typically forgets others’ offenses against him seconds after they happen. If Uni needs his help, he acts before he thinks and has put his friends in danger in the process (just like Sheila did when she rescued an imperiled damsel who turned out to be an evil sorceress).
However, when Bobby does these things, they become unforgivable strikes against his character. If an older character shows someone a kindness, as Venger did when he came to the heroes’ aid against the Nameless, they’re compassionate and/or noble. If Bobby shows someone a kindness, he’s “naive.” If an older character gets frustrated at being recruited to defend the Realm (as Eric is too often to list), they’re justified. If Bobby gets frustrated, he’s “selfish and immature.” I’ve heard complaints about his “annoying fake voice” when he’s the only character actually played by an actor his own age.
Of course, Bobby is none of those things. If he were naive, his biggest REAL character flaw- that while he’s compassionate towards animals, he tends to assume the worst about people and always throws the first punch- would be impossible. If were selfish, he wouldn’t cause so much trouble putting Uni’s safety before his own, he wouldn’t have given away his birthday present to a former enemy who needed it more, and he wouldn’t have helped Terri return to Earth at the cost of his own freedom. Is he immature sometimes? Yes. HE’S A CHILD. What he is not, however, is relentlessly immature.
Nor, for that matter, is Bobby relentlessly cute. Bobby is a balanced character, avoiding most of the clichés that make some fictional children feel false. He *isn’t* held up as a paragon of innocent purity. His every action is *not* intended to be seen as sweet and precious. He *isn’t* an irresponsible brat who won’t be pacified because “everyone knows kids just don’t clean their rooms when you tell them to and that’s FUNNY.” He’s a guy with a big heart and a big temper, who just happens to also be ten-to-twelve years of age.
Part 4: The Other Woman/Man
Ah, the old ‘s/he gets in the way of my OTP!’ argument. If there is a rival for a popular romantic pairing, that rival is often looked at through bile-tinted goggles. Anything the character does and says is mined for hints of physical and/or mental abuse. Accepting a receipt from a cashier of the opposite sex is considered incontrovertible “proof” of cheating. Since he’s been a recent topic of interest and since I like him, I’m going to use as my example the unfairly infamous Yamcha, from Dragonball Z.
The complaints leveled against Yamcha are that he’s an abusive, partying cheater. Essays before me have spoken about how ridiculous the first two accusations are, that Yamcha not only didn’t do them, because he lives in the middle of a desert and is timid around people (especially women), he couldn’t have. While the cheating is a little more ambiguous (Yamcha did become something of a flirt in the later issues of Dragonball and IIRC Bulma considered it cheating), there’s no evidence for the kind of vicious, misogynist woman-hunting he’s accused of. But that’s not what this essay is about. I’m here to point and wave at excuses made for other characters who do the same things that get Yamcha so trashed.
On the cheating front, there’s the very obvious point of Bulma herself. She’s a flirt, too. Oolong and Roshi fit the ‘party boy’ bill. Nobody’s better at leaving Bulma for the first whiff of a fight than Vegeta (and if friendship counts, Goku, too), and if you want to see a real manipulative, abusive personality, you need look no further than Emperor Frieza. It’s annoying enough these characters are forgiven for these things while Yamcha is not (even Frieza, who’s also bashed, but not *for that*); it’s even more frustrating when you consider Yamcha hasn’t actually done any of this stuff.
What Yamcha has done is rescued people who, at the time, were his enemies. Even after the Saiyan Surge invalidated the battle power of anyone who never had a tail, Yamcha kept training and fighting alongside the others (he was even strong enough to destroy the exercise equipment at a gym when he tried to use it). While I don’t like to make blanket statements, I do think some bashers were introduced to Yamcha in Dragonball Z, and unfamiliar with his characterization in DB, filled in the blanks with every ‘ex-boyfriend’ stereotype they could think of so Bulma wouldn’t look like such a rogue for dumping him. The thing is, she DOESN’T. Fictional nice people break up without either of them being “in the wrong,” just like in real life. Yamcha doesn’t deserve to be trashed or villainized for no higher reason than he used to date half your OTP.
Three cheers for the kids and the ex! =p
Part 3: The Young ‘Un
Sometimes, if a character is significantly younger than the rest of the cast, it colors the way their every action is viewed. They can’t be nice, only “saccharine;” they can’t be angry, only “bratty.” For my example, I’ll go to one of the better-written toyline shows of the eighties: Toei’s Dungeons & Dragons.
Sheila is the primary ‘fandom darling,’ and for good reason; she’s an excellent character. A shy, trusting teenaged girl dropped into a medieval world where any person she passes on the street could be selling her to the enemy even as they’re smiling at her, she adapts without losing her compassionate nature. Quick to forgive or lend a hand, even to someone under a horrible curse, she might seem too good to be true if it weren’t for humanizing little touches, like her occasional bouts of sadness and fear.
The problem comes with Sheila’s younger brother, Bobby. Bobby is the youngest member of the group. As one can expect from someone who presumably grew up in the same house, Bobby is a lot like Sheila, only with a temper. He tends small animals (most notably, the baby unicorn, Uni), he cries when he’s frustrated, and he typically forgets others’ offenses against him seconds after they happen. If Uni needs his help, he acts before he thinks and has put his friends in danger in the process (just like Sheila did when she rescued an imperiled damsel who turned out to be an evil sorceress).
However, when Bobby does these things, they become unforgivable strikes against his character. If an older character shows someone a kindness, as Venger did when he came to the heroes’ aid against the Nameless, they’re compassionate and/or noble. If Bobby shows someone a kindness, he’s “naive.” If an older character gets frustrated at being recruited to defend the Realm (as Eric is too often to list), they’re justified. If Bobby gets frustrated, he’s “selfish and immature.” I’ve heard complaints about his “annoying fake voice” when he’s the only character actually played by an actor his own age.
Of course, Bobby is none of those things. If he were naive, his biggest REAL character flaw- that while he’s compassionate towards animals, he tends to assume the worst about people and always throws the first punch- would be impossible. If were selfish, he wouldn’t cause so much trouble putting Uni’s safety before his own, he wouldn’t have given away his birthday present to a former enemy who needed it more, and he wouldn’t have helped Terri return to Earth at the cost of his own freedom. Is he immature sometimes? Yes. HE’S A CHILD. What he is not, however, is relentlessly immature.
Nor, for that matter, is Bobby relentlessly cute. Bobby is a balanced character, avoiding most of the clichés that make some fictional children feel false. He *isn’t* held up as a paragon of innocent purity. His every action is *not* intended to be seen as sweet and precious. He *isn’t* an irresponsible brat who won’t be pacified because “everyone knows kids just don’t clean their rooms when you tell them to and that’s FUNNY.” He’s a guy with a big heart and a big temper, who just happens to also be ten-to-twelve years of age.
Part 4: The Other Woman/Man
Ah, the old ‘s/he gets in the way of my OTP!’ argument. If there is a rival for a popular romantic pairing, that rival is often looked at through bile-tinted goggles. Anything the character does and says is mined for hints of physical and/or mental abuse. Accepting a receipt from a cashier of the opposite sex is considered incontrovertible “proof” of cheating. Since he’s been a recent topic of interest and since I like him, I’m going to use as my example the unfairly infamous Yamcha, from Dragonball Z.
The complaints leveled against Yamcha are that he’s an abusive, partying cheater. Essays before me have spoken about how ridiculous the first two accusations are, that Yamcha not only didn’t do them, because he lives in the middle of a desert and is timid around people (especially women), he couldn’t have. While the cheating is a little more ambiguous (Yamcha did become something of a flirt in the later issues of Dragonball and IIRC Bulma considered it cheating), there’s no evidence for the kind of vicious, misogynist woman-hunting he’s accused of. But that’s not what this essay is about. I’m here to point and wave at excuses made for other characters who do the same things that get Yamcha so trashed.
On the cheating front, there’s the very obvious point of Bulma herself. She’s a flirt, too. Oolong and Roshi fit the ‘party boy’ bill. Nobody’s better at leaving Bulma for the first whiff of a fight than Vegeta (and if friendship counts, Goku, too), and if you want to see a real manipulative, abusive personality, you need look no further than Emperor Frieza. It’s annoying enough these characters are forgiven for these things while Yamcha is not (even Frieza, who’s also bashed, but not *for that*); it’s even more frustrating when you consider Yamcha hasn’t actually done any of this stuff.
What Yamcha has done is rescued people who, at the time, were his enemies. Even after the Saiyan Surge invalidated the battle power of anyone who never had a tail, Yamcha kept training and fighting alongside the others (he was even strong enough to destroy the exercise equipment at a gym when he tried to use it). While I don’t like to make blanket statements, I do think some bashers were introduced to Yamcha in Dragonball Z, and unfamiliar with his characterization in DB, filled in the blanks with every ‘ex-boyfriend’ stereotype they could think of so Bulma wouldn’t look like such a rogue for dumping him. The thing is, she DOESN’T. Fictional nice people break up without either of them being “in the wrong,” just like in real life. Yamcha doesn’t deserve to be trashed or villainized for no higher reason than he used to date half your OTP.
Three cheers for the kids and the ex! =p