#I don’t even want to necessarily grouse about how terrible dawson is

[preppymayhem]

You make a good point about other characters being made worse so Dawson could look better. Though to be honest, the show did the same with Dawson and Andie in S3 so people wouldn’t turn on Pacey and Joey.

You’re definitely right about Dawson’s being protected by an armor because he’s a protagonist. Everything revolves around him and around his feelings. Characters like Pacey and Jen aren’t afforded the same treatment when they screw up. They get isolated. In S3 all of Dawson’s friends were there for him after Joey ran off with Pacey. And he didn’t deserve it. Kerr Smith, the actor who plays Jack, commented that it was hard to film that scene because right before that he filmed an emotional scene with his homophobic dad. It was like Dawson’s heartbreak took precedence over everyone else’s problems. The end of S6 followed the same trajectory. All of Dawson’s friends were there for him even though Pacey suffered the same fate. No one was there to help Pacey get back on his feet. Dawson screwed up just as much as Pacey. He shouldn’t have invested all of his money.

Also, Pacey payed for the repairs for Dawson’s house. That cost thousands of dollars. If Pacey hadn’t done that, all of Dawson’s income would may have gone towards those repairs. Funny, that Dawson didn’t blame Audrey for destroying his house. Audrey even pointed out that he’s not judgmental. All of Dawson’s judgment is reserved for Pacey. He doesn’t get jealous of his other friends’ success but he gets jealous of Pacey’s success.

The problem I have with Dawson is actually the same problem I have with Joey. She too suffers from protagonist syndrome - as I like to call it. Many of the female writers said they identified with her and the men in charge of she show seemed obsessed with her. Busy Philips (the actress who plays Audrey) commented that whenever she would forget her lines, she would be told “we’ll just cut to Katie, look at that pretty face.” Joey was turned her into a Mary Sue. She no longer was relatable. Every guy wanted her and every girl wanted to be her. All the female characters were sidelined in favor of Joey. She was every man’s first choice. Jen was reduced to a temporary option or second choice (especially in regards to Dawson and Charlie but also Pacey in Four to Tango). During the college years Joey she wasn’t given any obstacles and therefore wasn’t growing. She didn’t have financial issues despite the fact that she was a college student with no job (how did she afford a ticket to Pairs and all those fancy clothes?). In S6 She was literally offered 2 jobs out of the blue without having to work for them. Things seemed to come easy to her and everyone seemed to fawn over her.

I think you’re conflating a few things that are actually related Anon on, namely I don’t think either of those anecdotes about the actors actually relate to the treatments or story developments. I think any scene would have been hard on Smith if he had to do it after a big scene in which his character was much more centered, and the Busy Phillips anecdote relates more to a workplace thing then anything serious regarding the actors. Actors aren’t their characters and both those things aren’t really related to the subject.

Also I disagree re: Andie being made to look worse in s3, or rather the idea that she was made to look worse to prop up PJo the crap writing for her came early in the season before the romance plot was even a thing or set in stone. Through the actual back half of season 3, I think she came off really well (if anything she made Dawson look even worse by comparison). Same for the Jen & Pacey thing, that also ended basically right at the point that the romance started and Jen was never pushed over for it. I actually really liked her little romance with the freshmen quarterback (like not as a serious endgame thing), I thought it was cute.

That said I have a few objections and sort of clarifications on your ask, anon. First, I don’t think Joey is a Mary Sue, but then I also think Mary Sue is a baseless term born out of fandom misogyny and I don’t take it seriously at all as a way of analyzing or critiquing a character. I think you can argue that there is favoritism in how Joey is treated at different points, but I would say that I would favor more gender-neutral ways of critiquing.

The thing is I like Joey, I do think at her core she is relatable and she still comes across as human. Do the writers favor her? Yes, tho I’d argue that it is not her character’s fault that the writers short changed the other female characters in the show. And the thing is that I personally do not care about the majority of what happened in season 5 and most of season 6 that I don’t really factor either season into how I feel about the characters. I am very wishy washy on canon. And also it’s okay that you don’t find Joey relatable, but the idea that she isn’t relatable is not universal. Even with the late season and college years so lines there is still that is plenty relatable about her, and there are people who do like and have no issues with Dawson Leery, I just happen to not be one of them.

Which brings me right down to the clarification that I want to make which I am not nor have I ever really claimed that I am making these assessments from entirely objectively places. So the fact of the matter is at a certain level the truth is I like Joey, I don’t like Dawson and my feelings was that even if he didn’t have The Protagonist problem I still wouldn’t like him for the same reason that I don’t like Ross Geller and Ted Mosby and Xander Harris. Whereas I like the basis of Joey’s character and as such I am more tolerant of the writer’s heavy handed ness or idiosyncrasies with her character, but also less tolerant when it comes to Dawson because it isn’t like that was ruining a character I liked, it was against a character that I already had a bias against, and the writing problems never crossed a line where I ever moved to disliking Joey.

And also a lot of Joey’s worst qualities are alleviated when she is allowed to be more independent from Dawson’s storyline. As I said before he completely makes her worse and brings down her character and plot arcs.