#feminist miraculous ladybug

[sayescomfortplace]

[dancingdaffodils08]

akumatized villain: Give up Chat Noir! I have your girl!

Chat: She’s not my girl.

Villain: what?

Marinette, who isn’t dating him: what :(

Chat: She’s her own girl, she don’t belong to nobody.💅

[klutzymaiden123]

Helga: “Arnold’s known this entire time about my feelings for him. He knows, he just doesn’t feel anything back.”

Lila:

[theerurishipper]

I hate how ML become more and more like woke feminism. Like you know, those woman who only want man to cater to their need and do everything for them but don't want to do the same for their man. Because that's precisely how Ladynoir/Adrinette looks like for me. AdriChat is the one who always giving and giving and giving while Maribug barely do anything. People can scream that Maribug give AdriChat love, but you know, GabeMoth also give AdriChat love and give loves and being kind is just ...the barest minimum and no one, NO ONE should be suffice to be given kindness and only kindness, because that's just how human should be, give kindness to everyone, not limited only to the one who you loves.

You're right anon. I'll say it over and over, the writing of Miraculous isn't feminist. The way it treats its female coded character is the farthest thing from feminist. Adrien is constantly reduced to being emotional support for Marinette and he doesn't get that same support back. Switching them up doesn't make it progressive or empowering, it just refocuses the problem elsewhere instead of getting to the root of it, and when you've written your female coded character as an abuse victim as well, it just looks really bad. And that's not even getting into the overt misogyny when it comes to treating its female characters. I'm sure the writers don't truly have any ill intent and I don't want to condemn anyone here, but it really does send a bad message.

Thank you for your ask!

[pearl484-blog]

Fire Opal's List of Unusual Things We Liked about Miraculous Ladybug

Here is a not-so-short list of things Me and Pearl liked about Miraculous Ladybug.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a neuro-divergent teenage girl lead with a heavy amount of ego-centrism. There is strong evidence that she has some kind of anxiety disorder and autism.

Marinette's favorite color is pink and she likes sewing, but she's not condemned by the narrative as being too "girly". She is still strong and physically capable.

Adrien has many feminine traits, like being a model and being sensitive, but he's still a fencer and the brawler between the duo. He's unashamed of his more feminine qualities and takes pride in his goofier traits as Chat Noir. We also see the pressure on Adrien to be more stoic and mimic his father's unhealthy habits of coping through violence.

I enjoy that between the male and female lead, she, the female lead, Marinette, has the stronger association with the traditionally masculine libido while her counterpart, Adrien, is associated with the more traditionally feminine romance.

Speaking of which, when solving issues, Marinette tends to lean towards directly solving the problem and tries to control as many variables as possible. This is very traditionally masculine which contrasts nicely with Adrien's feminine methods where he'll empathize and attempt to solve situations with more privacy.

This fits well with their backgrounds since Adrien is from an upper class society where such solutions are commonplace and expected. Your reputation is a VERY BIG DEAL, but your ethics....not so much. Being confrontational is a big no-no in his circle.

Meanwhile, Marinette is autistic with extreme social anxiety. If she doesn’t see it, she doesn't know it happened, and if she doesn't see a blatant reaction, she doesn't think you care. Her directness is partially because of her autism, but she's also taken several lessons to heart about appearing heroic and being a good example so these are IMPORTANT.

Ladybug seems to hold herself to a high standard as a role model, something many a female role model may struggle with.

Adrien's abuse is written very realistically, and I believe his justifications until I take a step back. His position as a fashion model also puts him in the feminine role of being treated like eye-candy with many people forgetting that he is a person.

Marinette is biracial, but seems to have lost most of her connection to her Asian identity. This is later revealed as having to do with her mother not wanting her to face racism she did. Marinette does seem to WANT a connection or address her heritage on some level (considering her uncle and the designs implemented in her clothes) but frequently fails except with references in fashion. I can relate in some ways.

Chat Noir's hair looks fluffy.

Marinette's hair bounces very cutely and vaguely resemble an exposed ladybug butt about to fly. I would use biology terms, but those are boring and sterile. If you have ever seen a Ladybug fly, you know what I mean. If you have not, I am sorry. You missed a true joy of life.

Memorable akuma designs. I see it, and I know about their powerset and recognize them. If not, their link to the goal is clear once it's explained. (Ie. Reflekta wanted people to look at her and remember her. Well, they do THAT)

It has puns.

The Lucky Charms are used very creatively and in a way that promotes spatial intelligence in a manner not often encouraged in children. The only two things I've seen that resemble this is McGuyver, who uses waaaay too much trivia and chemistry to interest me, and the 13th child, who also emphasizes something similiar, in teaching a lesson on ways to view a piece of chalk as other than a piece of chalk, which encourages creativity and flexible thinking without the need to break out the chemistry textbook. Yet, between the two series, Miraculous does it better and more throughly.

I can plot both Gabriel Agreste and Adrien's character developments in a way that mostly makes sense with incoming seasons. It is very rich and entertaining. The speculation between me and Pearl is priceless.

The classmates have their own unique personalities which are put in the lime light frequently. So many of them are adorable, and there are so many ships BOTH me and Pearl agree on. Yay!

The akumas are born of people losing emotions in various ways and we are focused regularly on their plight, so we understand their pain and empathize with them. In a show where the main characters share masculine and feminine traits, it is important that empathy be emphasized.

Its interesting that the main villain intentionally weaponizes emotions and engages in toxic masculinity while also being head of a fashion company, a very feminine industry. His focus on how one is seen and normalization of Adrien being treated as eye-candy are also examples of an external representation of the pressure women feel as well.

In short, the villain is the most toxic qualities of society's view of gender. While the heroes reflect the stresses of the roles placed on their gender and have traits both traditionally masculine and feminine.

[eggy-edits]

Could I request a radfem edit of Ladybug from miraculous ladybug? The show sucks but she's my icon

Ladybug from Miraculous Ladybug is a radical feminist!

[familyagrestefanblog]

Jep, this is basically it.

A+ additional tags 👏👏

ML Hot Take

Chat noir is hiding just as much from Ladybug as she is from him, and they are both doing it just so the other is kept safe and unburdened because they both have a flawed understanding of the other, which leaves them both at fault for the ladynoir fall out.

[princess-of-the-corner]

In relation to the "wanting Adrien to have more screen time is anti-feminist" thing, I recently saw a post that pointed out that the meme of Tuxedo Mask/Chiba Mamoru being completely useless has its source in misogyny.

And while that sounds odd because he's a man, the reasoning is because of how the cast of Sailor Moon is effectively gender-flipped from typical team stories, and in most of those the lone female characters wound being the generic and/or useless Damsel. So even though Mamoru is an active participant in a lot of fights, or even shows up to be a perfectly timed distraction, people shove him into that "useless Damsel" space.

And Adrien has also been shoved further in that direction as things go on.

Yeah like.

On one hand yes there's a 'reverse' to the thing. Mamoru is often the 'damsel' in ways. He gets captured and brainwashed by the Big Bad in a number of arcs. and he does often pave the way for Sailor Moon, the actual MC, to save the day.

But there's three major differences:

1.) Sailor Moon is the Main Character. It does not pretend that she isn't. Tuxedo Mask is part of her Team, and that's her love interest. But they are not Equal Partners from Day 1 like Ladybug and Chat Noir are supposed to be. The series is just called 'Sailor Moon', not 'Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask', while Ladybug's full title is "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir". Tuxedo Mask is on the same level as the other Scouts

2.) Both Mamoru and Usagi have investment in the Plot™. Not just in the 'oh if the bad guy wins we're fucked' way but the actual stuff going on. It's not just Marinette's only investment is the 'Defeat the Big Bad' while Adrien's investment is that on top of his father being the Big Bad and his missing/dead mom being the motivations behind the plot

3.) Even when Damsel-ed, Mamoru still has agency. He's allowed to do things on his own. He's allowed to know what the hap is fuckening even if he was knocked out for it.

So yes, Sailor Moon does do a similar thing in flipping the roles, but it's not quite the same as what ML does.

[cocoabeloved]

❛ ♡ WELCOME !! ☕ ୧

↳ જ⁀➴ 🏹 ｡˚ “i want to do something splendid before i go into my castle--something heroic, or wonderful--that won't be forgotten after i'm dead. i don't know what, but i'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all, some day. i think i shall write books, and get rich and famous; that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.” — JO MARCH, LITTLE WOMEN <33 (my absolute beloved!!)

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╰┈➤ 🎧 [ARTISTS] -> taylor swift, lana del rey, olivia rodrigo, gracie abrams, conan gray, sabrina carpenter, beabadoobee, maisie peters, mitski, cigarettes after sex, sza, beyonce, reneé rapp, ABBA, melanie martinez, tv girl, marina, doja cat, the smiths, fleetwood mac, nirvana, rihanna, ariana grande, adele, lorde, mac demarco, phoebe bridgers, avril lavinge, boygenius, the cranberries, suki waterhouse, fiona apple, clairo, billie eilish, kali uchis, girl in red, arctic monkeys, pastel ghost, mazzy star, harry styles, the neighborhood, roar, alex g, pinkpantheress & more!!

╰┈➤ 🎬 [TV + FILM] -> dawson's creek. skins (uk). dead poets society. the virgin suicides. black swan. gilmore girls. bridgerton. derry girls. little women (2019). anne with an e. the breakfast club (1985). the perks of being a wallflower. the edge of seventeen. thirteen. heartbreak high. ten things i hate about you. girl interrupted. gossip girl. heartstopper. miraculous ladybug. uptown girls. legally blonde. [2000s chic rom-com teen girlie movies have me in a lethal chokehold, send help] etc. and MANY MORE 🫶🏾🫶🏾

❝ 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐑, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋 ❞

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01:23 ━━━━●───── 02:38

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ִ ࣪ ⟡ ִ ۫ ִ 🕯️ ── ꒱ ◠ 🎹 ۫ ִ ۫⊹

#THIS BLOG FULLY SUPPORTS PALESTINE 🇵🇸 !!

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Ok, legit question, has Astruc ever claimed the Miraculous is meant to be feminist? I feel like I heard him claim something like that, but I can’t find anything on it.

Not sure if this counts, but Astruc has defended the way Ladybug is given more importance in the narrative while Adrien is usually given the shaft.

[familyagrestefanblog]

Clarification I definitely should have done ever since season 4 and the Ladynoir conflict started escalating, but hey, let's just get it out:

There are reasons why I'm harping down so badly on Miraculous' Girlboss feminism and defend Adrien as much as I do.

To get the feminist (in-universe) explaination out of the way first:

I would be lying if I said that I like the direction the show has taken Marinette's character and the story in general. But regarding her specifically I simply have to say that most of my problems with her are how she is written as Ladybug, Guardian, and especially leader & partner. Not in her civilian self. Hence why you won't find that alot on my blog, only when it contributes to the overarching double standards problem from s4 I take issue with.

I simply cant deny it, Ladybug is a kind of leader I just came to not be able to respect alot anymore in how she operates most things bc she doesn't really ever look passed how things look & stand for herself, and what SHE needs & wants. Marinette is a very low empathy person in the sense that she struggles putting herself in other people's positions, or remembers considering that at all.

But that's not the reason why I can't respect her as leader. I have ADD, that would be really hypocritical of me.

What leaves me unable to respect her as leader though (& honestly kinda even wanting Alya to take her position) is the fact that the show doesn't see much wrong with Maribug doing that.

They don't properly depict this as flawed leadership she actually NEEDS to grow out of by making up for her shortcomings by, for example, making other people her official co-leaders. Instead the show since s4 (& kinda s3) will proceed to put it's feminist foot down if Maribug isn't actually in the end 100% correct and "totally girlboss justified" in any given case - with CN & authorities specifically - no matter the context. Ergo she's barely ever truly improving her weakpoints in partnership skills for example & continues doing the same mistakes over n over.

like she genuinely would benefit from having Chat Noir as her co-leader too, not just Rena Rouge. But no. The neurodivergend low-empathy girl can't have a high-empathy boy co-leader bc apparently thats misogynistic now, huh ?

Again, I have ADD and I'm also a woman. In fact, I actually have alot in common with Maribug (hence why it hurt so much once s4 took her away from me), so forgive me when I still say: I am NOT going to lower my standards of my believe that neither of those aspects get to be an excuse on everyone else's expense regarding LEADERSHIP (which I do also am in the position of in my life).

And I repeat: LEADERSHIP. Not Marinette herself as a person necessarily & esp not her civilian life.

People always say that her critics wouldn't be so hard on her if she were a man, but I strongly disagree. In my experience, if Marinette were a boy people would actually draw a line nowadays and call out that Mariano is too stuck in his own head to be a good leader (& partner). And maybe even demand that he shouldn't be in that position anymore either at all or until he's in a better head space.

Bc with male characters people are actually drawing lines now in important factors when it comes to power & the accountability coming with it, bc in the end being in change means it ain't about you

Hence why e. g. Steve Rogers (Captain America) was then a fucking fugitive from the law when shit got real in the MCU. They had to do that bc of his leadership morality not being able to exist well within a corrupted & complex law system under fire and attack. My man's an amazing battle leader, but the MCU did VERY well leaving taking care of all kinds of social & political matters to Tony Stark. This kind of nuance ain't Steve's strength. Marinette & Steve are actually a EXTREMELY similar type of leader and it's interesting that I don't exactly vibe with him too much either in that regard, but like him as person the way I did Marinette. So for me it's definitely an issue with their type of leadership.

But the mainstream female leader characters are often still "too female" to get held to the same regular standards bc telling a female leader character in a complicated and not entirely beneficial situation & position 'yeah, it's sucks but you're not the center of the universe'' is now more often than not still "too mean/ sexist"

again, Steve was made an outlaw for a reason and you can bet if he had been a Stephanie people would have made all her struggles about sexism & called the 'outlaw leader' route after Civil War misogyny, merely bc "society doesnt respect women". This is whats happening with Maribug & it clashes with her leadership style.

Hence why there AREN'T ALOT of mainstream female leader characters. And if we get some, most of them are narratively defined by how powerful & in control they are for THEIR OWN BENEFIT and it being depicted as 100% right & just in general (like with Marinette) which goes against what a normal leader should be, so alot of people don't like them (ignoring the actual sexist people for a sec)

The first Wonder Woman movie for example was so well-received for a reason. They did it RIGHT (& may I please also recommend Wakanda Forever? Fuck, that movie was GOOD)

--

But yes, it's notably how Maribug treats Chat, who is supposed to be her partner and friend, that I take alot of issues with.

And yes, I would say the same if LB were male and CN female. Ladynoir is so rooted in toxic femininity that this "partnership" (or just the entire LS) the way it is could NOT exist today in gender bend. S4 and the s5 finale in particular are unthinkable in gender bend and they sold it as "justified female empowerment" & "unparalleled loving treatment" from Ladybug's side Chat Noir needed to learn to be GRATEFUL for.

All while, and I will never stop stressing this: the show has never stopped writing Marinette to treat Chat Noir as if he basically just spawns into existence once he puts on the mask. He's HALF a human being. Even once she falls in love with him in s5.

This is the fundamental and deep seeded problem of where my issues come from here. It never stands in question if Adrien views Marinette and Ladybug as full human beings, but the other way around that very much is the case. In whatever way it's depicted. Yes this is a line I draw, especially because of the whole Sentihuman thing.

I personally am alot more like Adrien regarding Friendship and partnership (or what his character initially started out). They are heavy & meaningful topics for me. So seeing Marinette being utilized to girlboss all that into the ground with Chat Noir, esp in s4, while she apparently barely ever even noticed anything wrong with how she treats him in the first place as she literally replaced him with Alya/ Rena in everything but name

cause buring him under a wall of secrets & lies meant she can still 100% benefit from his eternal devotion by letting him believe she's too alone to be a partner anymore AT ALL. (Kuro Neko onwards and then NEVER stopped letting him think she's just as alone as he is. NEVER. She's still doing it in s5 while leaving him 100% isolated which was then his demise in the s5 finale.)

and gives Alya the deluxe partnership entirely on his expense, while barely ever sparing him even the most basic thought in anything; & by "Risk" then literally having them switch status. Rena is her actual partner she fully treats that way and he's merely her favorite temp hero with no rights, which Rena was previously.

And the only reason why Chat was treated with something resembling to fairness or dignity again in season 5 (& finally wasn't a rag doll for her every little mood anymore...) was because Maribug plainly had no other choice and had her team & position of power taken away by force while Alya renounced for her own safety. And yet she's still treating him as half a human being even by the end of S5. AFTER her character development. He's Chat Noir and that's where his existence ends in her leadership & friendship. CN and Alya in s5 are literally 2 halves of ONE PARTNER.

All that was painful to watch to say the least. Bc it's imo honestly a disgrace to friendship and partnership. I can't put into words how ashamed I would be of myself if I treated someone the way Marinette treats Chat Noir (again, HALF A HUMAN BEING).

Much less a friend I claim to love dearly and don't want to loose (another thing the MCU did better regarding Steve's fall-out with Tony over Bucky... I should really make that comparison post why Steve works for me & Marinette doesnt)

Just the mere fact that Marinette in "Elation" even told Chat "It doesn't matter who's underneath your mask" is honestly outrageous.

Because thats simply what it is for me. If s4 & 5 Marinette were portrayed from a similar morality angle to Emonette in the Paris special I would have much less issues with her. Cause thats ironically an angle female characters barely get & is mostly used to redeem the broken bad boys with a hidden heart of gold™.

Double irony: s1-s3 actually DID put civilian Marinette often into that angle, hence why I really liked her, but then s4 suddenly said "well, her methods & actions really dont matter. She's wrong, but actually not really; ergo she should get rewarded in the end. Always. But with a few exceptions. Here n there she loses to claim otherwise. But actually the world just needs to learn how right & amazing she is."

She makes countless mistakes but often either doesn't really learn from them anymore or they just don't "count" bc that's 'what makes her quirky & loveable', so having any issues with her now means you hate women. And she's a very flawed leader but actually never did anything wrong. Ever. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I will be VERY blunt now: The moment you put a female character into the leader role the FEMALE aspect is supposed to be of secondary importance. And a leader, by the nature of the position, ALWAYS has to be questioned morally wise in my opinion bc of the fatal blindspots that will automatically occur in every leadership.

And it happened here too: Chat Noir's treatment. But they demanded that her being the (female) leader means she's OWED to treat him badly & gets to keep him as blindspot on HIS expense bc she doesn't like thinking about him existing as civilian person.

A leader is ALWAYS somebody who is NOT going to sit well with everybody regarding their approach. That's a normal instinct, and in fact it would be highly dangerous if that wouldnt happen at all. So if I, or other people, don't respect her as one that simply means she has an opposition the way every leader has & is being held to normal standards a leader should be held to, regardless of gender.

Sorry if you think thats sexist, but in my opinion that's a YOU problem. I personally respect female leaders too much to not acknowledge them as anything else but the potential threats they are. The same way I do with male leaders.

You're leader first, woman second. If you can't handle that get out of the leadership position (yes, oc that also applies the other way around). Feminism was about making sure that women cant be excluded from e. g. position of power just bc we're female. The goal wasn't to have yet another group of people stomp their foots, now claiming that they are OWED power once they wanna have it to feel powerful. But that's what Marinette was used to teach an entire generation of children, especially girls.

The last thing you will EVER get me to do is accept that I should be holding women - specifically for equality, female empowerment and leadership - to LOWER (moral) standards as I would the men in her position.

Buddy, I am NOT gonna fucking do that. Just the thought is pissing me tf off, and has ever since s4, cause it directly plays into the misogynistic thinking of:

"Women can't be given power, status or even too much focus as human beings because they're too irrational and immature to be able to then lay proper priorities & take rightful accountability for their shit like a man in power could; and not just scream and cry while playing the oppressed victim card the moment things don't work out & they aren't being given the special female treatment to let them mostly off the hook consequences wise.

Leading to everyone around them, especially the MEN, having to step up, do the work & basically babysit the women like children - while still having to give her the credit as person in charge - turning the women more or less into toddlers wearing a queen's crown"

Which, by all means, Adrichat in every dynamic of the love square by season 5, Gabriel at the end of "Recreation" and even Luka & Félix (& "thankfully" Alya too since s4) had to do for Maribug in alot of ways.

Pick up all of her slack in several major areas & catering to her while simultaneously having to still give most of the credit to HER or else they would be "mean to the female lead" (it's also telling that Alya is treated the best here, & goodness dont get me started on Su-Han...).

And with that out of the way, a few more meta reasons:

1) I'm NOT watching a damn documentary. Marinette is NOT a 14 year old, she doesnt exist & isnt based on a real person or story. She's a fictional main character and narrative tool, so forgive me for approaching this differently than a real life case.

and 2) in everything I watch I automatically look out for the narrative's blind spots and victims of the writings' favorites. I take it this seriously because this is career related for me.

Hence why I have barely ever liked a main character and ironically Marinette/ Ladybug was once one of the few exceptions (alongside Korra from Legend of Korra and Blitz from Helluva Boss)

Look, when I for example watch Helluva Boss or a Yugioh show I will automatically pay extra attention to how the female characters are being treated bc they are obviously treated worse by the writing and much more neglected and scapegoated than the male characters.

Meanwhile when I watch Miraculous and She-Ra, I do the opposite and pay attention to how the male characters are treated bc now they have the gender-biase against them.

And when I for example watch Avatar the last Airbender or Legend of Korra [and She-Ra, that show is great], then I actually get to be mostly fucking happy for once in my life jfc

I'm not going to elaborate too much more on this because I already named by my main point in the beginning: Chat Noir's - not even Adrien's, I mean CHAT NOIR - sometimes honestly awful treatment being the biggest moral and narrative blind spot of the entire show, and honestly where most of Maribug's problems then are also rooted in. Hence why I started focusing so much on Chat Noir since season 4. I look at the overall narrative and circumstances and look for the blind spots that needs to be solved to get to the core of the problem of this whole mess, to get effective results.

And that was and even by the end remained the fact that Adrichat is treated so badly, scapegoated in every possible way in the name of "feminism" and kicked out of the story where HE is at the core of most everything going on, just so the show can force Maribug into everything, make things about her that have no business being about her

Just so she can then be made to constandly turn around and scream, cry and stress about problems - and go about them in the least effective way - that wouldnt be there in the first place if she wasnt the main character of a story that isnt hers.

Mate, I dont know what to tell you here, but the fact that we are following Marinette Dupain-Cheng ,who has nothing to do with anything besides being the cool action girl, is and will always remain of the of core problems of this show. I WISHED that wasnt the case. But for the love of everything, Kagami would have made so much more sense as the female lead, but no.

Anyway, I will leave it at that now cause I already elaborate much further than I initially wanted to, I just wanted to finally have all this stated.

This Blog is not a full representation of how I lay priorities in (feminist) media in general, my view adjusts to the piece of media I'm watching.

And unfortunately, ever since season 4 Miraculous turned into a full blown extreme case and has only gotten better somewhat recently. So I will continue doing what I always do: focus on the fucking VICTIM whose bad treatment pulls down the whole show's quality, and here that's plain obviously Adrien Agreste/ Chat Noir.

And with all due respect: Die mad about it.

[madamefeu]

You know I feel generally conflicted about Chloe's character I don't like her at all and I don't think her redemption arc was as amazing as some people claim. On the other hand Thomas Astruc is very weird about her character and for a show that he claims to be some feminist master piece he really acts like mean teenage girls are the devil and irredeemable but grown ass men like Gabriel and Andre Bourgeois deserve to be forgiven and glorified for their horrible actions just very odd all-round.

Also take this with a grain of salt but I remember reading somewhere that apparently one time Astruc compared Chloe to Donald Trump deeply unserious man.

Y’know, Miraculous Ladybug claims to be feminist when it really isn’t, and I think that it’s because Thomas Astruc, for some reason or another, cannot stand the idea of anyone liking and/or sympathising with Chloe. His hatred of his own character, and anyone who likes or supports her is pretty fucking disturbing, and it’s clear that he enjoys making her suffer, and insulting anyone who likes her by comparing her to Donald Trump. Her ‘redemption’ arc in season two was a mess because Jeremy Zag wanted to redeem her, but nope, middle school bullies are irredeemable in Astruc’s eyes, so any hope of a redemption for her was conveniently tossed out of the window.

What ultimately sickens me is that a bratty middle schooler who is the product of her terrible upbringing gets the ultimate hate sink, while we’re expected to sympathise with, and ultimately forgive, a literal magical terrorist, and the father who enabled and spoiled his daughter beyond all reason. NO. I’m done with this show. Done.

[klutzymaiden123]

Lila and Rhonda, discussing how Arnold is messaging them about her

[miraculouscriticismshub]

Felix and Chloe - two sides of the same coin. SEASON 5 SPOILERS AHEAD

Introduction

As you may know , MLB is far from a decent show. Poor writing choices are common and most characters are inconsistent. But today I want to talk about two characters , Felix and Chloe . This might be a controversial take but I think Felix and Chloe are two sides to the same coin . Both are quite similar in character and personalities but whereas one character receives hate by the fanbase and is slandered by the writers , the other character is loved and gets rewarded for doing bad things. This post will talk about how MLB introduces unintentional misogyny despite the writers claiming they are feminists. This post will also go in depth to analyze how hypocritical the fanbase is. This is not a Chloe defense post or a Felix hate post. This is a post criticizing the writers and addressing the double standards. 

Felix and Chloe - similarities

Credits to @drawing2cope on tumblr. Link - https://drawing2cope.tumblr.com/

Despite what most fans may think - these characters have so much in common. First Chloe and Felix were both Adrien’s only childhood friends growing up. Second, both had a cuddly toy. Third , both had one abusive parent , for Chloe it was Audrey and for Felix it was Colt. Fourth , both had one enabling parent , for Chloe it was Andre and for Felix it was Amelie. ( Side note : the difference between Andre and Amelie is that at least Amelie loves her son and only enables him because she wants to show that she cares for him ) Fifth , both were part of the hero team. Sixth , both betrayed the hero team by siding with HM. The key difference is while Chloe failed , Felix succeeded. Both are bad as each other because while Felix seemed to have better motives, he had more control over the situation while Chloe was being manipulated and used.  Felix and Chloe are both essentially two sides to the same coin - both did bad things for different reasons and both had similar relationships with Adrien .

Why Felix receiving a redemption felt wrong . 

Hot take - Felix character was ruined in Season 5 (and before you delusional Felix fanboys start typing nonsense and sending death threats , read the rest of the paragraph before judging.)  What makes Felix’s character compelling is that he is an anti-hero. He is morally gray and only works for himself. He is on neither Gabe’s or Ladybugs' side. His “ redemption arc” in season 5 came out of nowhere and was badly done. Felix does have potential for a redemption and I am not against it but it would’ve been much better written if his character wasn’t rushed and he was redeemed in later seasons - when he will be an established character. His redemption in season 5 felt poorly written because of how he never proved himself or apologized to Ladybug or faced consequences for his actions. His crimes ranged from SA , assisted terrorism and attempted genocide but only faced consequences for the third crime. Him getting away with his crimes is not a terrible idea if he was portrayed as a villain but since the writers are portraying him to be a hero at the end of S5 , this concept is pretty much ruined. Hopefully , in S6  he turns against the hero team and works with Lila. If you want to read more about my opinions on this Character - please read the post My Thoughts on Felix - anti hero gone wrong on my tumblr.

Double standards of the writers and fanbase

Miraculous ladybug despite being a show that promotes feminism has undertones of misogyny. Felix and Chloe have both done atrocious things - I argue Felix has done worse - but while one person seemingly faces consequences for their actions and is hated by the writers and fanbase , the other character is presented as a tragic hero who doesn’t face punishment and is loved by everyone. Just to make it clear , I am NOT an abuse apologist or a toxic Chloe stan but I can’t just ignore the blatant hypocrisy from the producers.

The writers - more specifically Thomas - says on his twitter Chloe will never change because her actions are deemed too unforgivable and i quote “ Once a bully always a bully” . He also pretty much confirms Chloe will never be Queen bee saying “ Mean people don’t and will never deserve a miraculous”. This rule doesn’t apply to Felix, he is essentially a tragic character who is 100% innocent and deserves forgiveness and ownership of his miraculous despite being a nasty person. I am not denying he isn’t a tragic character - his abuse under Colt explains his motives which made him a compelling anti - hero but doesn’t excuse them. He is also a child too but compared to Chloe - a more malevolent one. The worst thing Chloe did was paralyze the train driver in Queen Wasp to cause a dangerous situation in which she saves everyone in order to get praise. She had selfish reasons but never had the intention of killing anyone. However the worst thing Felix did was mass genocide in Emotion with the malicious intention on murdering all humans. Both are horrible but it's obvious who is worse.

Sure he had better motives of freeing his cousin and Kagami while Chloe only thought of herself but he never apologized to Ladybug or proved himself as a good person to her for what he did. When Chloe nearly killed those people , Ladybug tried taking her Miraculous and it was only after she got deakumitized that she apologized to her and gave her miraculous back. Felix by the end of season 5 got to keep his Miraculous despite not saying sorry to Ladybug or proving himself .She faced the consequence of losing her Miraculous while Felix got to keep his. He has been awful committing crimes such as SA , assisted terrorism , genocide , stalking and kidnapping but seemingly doesn’t face punishment for most of his actions. Chloe crimes although still horrid are much less heinous than Felix's. A terrorist and extremist earns sympathy from the writers but a spoiled bully is painted to be the devil and is the only character to face consequences.

The Double standards the writers have for Chloe are too hard to ignore. Thomas himself mocks a fan who confronts him about the Hypocrisy saying he misinterpreted the show. If Thomas wasn't a hypocrite , he would've answered the question properly instead of ignoring it and mocking the fan . Chloe is no angel too , she bullied Marinette relentlessly, gave her trauma , took over Paris in miracle queen and Revolution, mistreated her friend Sabrina and nearly killed all those people in Paris in Queen Wasp but at least she is held accountable and experienced Karma. Her bullying Marientte causes Adrien to stop being friends with her and her teaming up with HM in Revolution causes Andre to disown her and send her to live with her abusive mother. Felix easily gave Marinette more trauma by exchanging all the miraculous to Monarch and is partly to blame for how Monarch won but Marinette seemingly forgives him and he joins the team. He even gets rewarded with a girlfriend and possession of his miraculous and still doesn't get his Karma. It's so clear the writers favour Felix while Chloe receives the short end of the stick.

The fanbase is not much better , they slander Chloe, glad she is gone from Paris and sent to live with Audrey because they think she is irredeemable but sympathize with Felix and cheer on when he joins the team. When Chloe does something evil , the fandom label her as Satan and only wishes the worst for her but when Felix also acts in a similar way , the fanbase feel sorry for him and defend him saying he does everything he does to ensure his freedom . The fans say the neglect Chloe received from her mum does not excuse her actions but defend Felix's actions by saying " Colt abused him, He isolated and controlled Felix , Felix is blameless and everything is Colt's fault" . While I agree Colt is horrible , he never told Felix to SA Ladybug or to steal the Miraculous or kidnap Kagami. Why does " past trauma doesn't excuse actions" only apply to Chloe not Felix? The writers think this too sadly by how they demonize Chloe telling the fans parental mistreatment doesn't justify bullying, even having Mylene say in the Derision Flashback

" My mother abandoned me but you don't see me bullying Marinette"

But try justifying Felix's actions with his abusive childhood with the play he acted out in Representation.

The hypocrisy of the writers are painted as misogyny even if it is not intentional because Chloe is female and is robbed of a redemption while Felix a male is deemed tragic and is given a second chance. Ultimately , both Characters are horrible people but one is portrayed by the narrative as a hero while the other is an irredeemable , oppressive monster who needs to go down

To conclude , Felix and Chloe are two sides of the same coin. Both are terrible people that deserved punishment . While I’d prefer Chloe getting redemption , I understand that at the end of the day not all people change. However Felix's character is poorly done in Season 5 and is redeemed out of nowhere. What annoys me the most is how Hypocritical the fanbase and writers are that Chloe is hated for being a brat and is not redeemed because she doesn’t show remorse while Felix is adored by the fanbase and is given a redemption despite not apologizing to Ladybug or facing any consequences. Again ,this is not a Chloe defense post or a Felix hate post, just me sharing my view on this. I'm surprised the fandom isn't addressing the similarities between these two characters . I cross my fingers that Felix either turns on the team and becomes the villain again or is held accountable in S6 and Chloe at least receives closure and becomes a better person in future seasons. But these are just my opinions. I’m not saying you are not allowed to like Felix or dislike Chloe. Feel free to disagree : ) . Don’t hate the characters , hate the writing .Please stay respectful.

[youremarvelous]

it's actually laughable to think anyone would claim miraculous ladybug is a feminist show. yeah, the main protag is a woman. that doesn't make it feminist. she is written with stereotypical male protag traits, and thus doesn't challenge the patriarchal ideal of the kind of characters who can be leaders and protagonists. adrien is the lead's main love interest--her prize--and thus isn't allowed agency, autonomy, or really any emotions at all outside of his romance/relation to the (male-coded) lead. none of this is challenging (regressive) established dynamics of what characteristics define a protagonist and what characteristics define that protagonist's main love interest. it just gender-swaps them.

outside of our two leads (me being generous, since adrien isn't really treated as a deuteragonist at all), all of the "evil" men in the show are granted a backstory, empathy, an explanation for why they've done what they've done (that explanation often being that they were controlled by evil women). they're offered redemption and get downgraded from dangerous to impotent, if a bit stupid. whereas the "evil" women, who are evil to outrageous, absurd degrees, are offered no redemption and are evil without explanation. well, no in-show explanation. the true explanation is of course that the creator isn't feminist like he claims (especially when people are criticizing his writing) and actually just hates women.

[muggle-born-princess]

Miraculous "Let's call this show a girl power feminist empowering show for young girls, yet let's teach them that it's okay to stalk a boy you have a crush on as long as that crush is justified by trauma and blaming it on another girl who just loves being a bully for the Lulz despite showing she herself also has trauma from her own parents neglecting her, but because she's the bully, she's the only one who doesn't get the girl power treatment because bullies are evil by birth, and no matter how many times you try to give her a chance, she'll just relapse but it wasn't because you didn't attempt to reason with her, no it's because she was evil, not like that rich boy who was abused by his dad, and used his trauma as an excuse to kidnap someone or commit genocide, no he's just a misunderstood smol bean and he's allowed to change, just like his evil terrorist uncle because at the end of the day, they loved their family and just wanted to be happy and feel loved again" Ladybug