#velma critical

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Bad Writing Can Make A Privileged Character Unintentionally Unlikable Or Likable

Although my opinion won't be popular on this site, I don't think being privileged prevents you from being sympathetic or having a hard life (specifically when it comes to abuse). However, I do think it comes down to how the narrative executes and treats said privileged character. This can be shown in Velma's interpretation of Fred and Stolas from Helluva Boss. The former is an example of trying to make this guy a privileged, rich white boy who who are supposed to hate for getting everything in life handed to him just like Velma (blah). While with Stolas, who are supposed to sympathize with him despite being rich he has a bad home life with his wife, father was distant from him, and trapped in an arranged marriage.

However, it's funny enough I have seen more people feel sorry for Fred than Stolas as time goes on. The reason is despite his rich background his parents really are the worst compared to Paimon who was at worst a neglectful parent while his parents are control freaks who belittle him for being babyish and later his mother even planned to kill him to swap brains just because she believed he would ruin everything she built. The show also goes out of it's way to shit on him and make him the butt of many jokes as a way to do lame "white people" suck. Seriously, despite his supposed privilege he takes a lot of damage in the show: being falsely accused of murder, body shamed for having a tiny dong, being sent to prison (and people relishing that a white man was falsely imprisoned), having his own mother try to murder him so she can have someone more competent run the family business, and finally he witnesses said mother being murdered. Again an example of despite the narrative telling us he has it good everything that was shown shows that his so-called privilege doesn't protect him from the tons of shit thrown at him.

And again going back to Stolas he in contrast is constantly shown to have everything in the narrative try to treat him as a sympathetic kicked dog who just wants to find love despite the stigma of being with a lower class demon. However, everything in this seems forced because it's made to ignore how much power he has over Blitzo which has been the main source of problem which is he hovers the book over him in exchange for sexual favors. As a result Blitzo feels trapped in the relationship due to Stolas having the upperhand. However, the narrative refuses to fully embrace it and skirts around it to prevent Stolas from being problematic. Also despite being shown as a cheater the narrative again goes out of it's way to try to make it justified that he did it due to making his wife so one dimensionally abusive. And again it's been brought up his daughter is a prop made to make him seem like a good dad, when in reality he has put his love for Blitzo over his daughter to the point he seems to neglect her more but we are expected to her to just tolerate it because he's supposedly trying. As a result, we don't see him sympathetic despite his privilege we see how privilege he is and wish he'd get over himself.

I do think that makes the biggest difference between the two because of the fact that Fred was allowed to change and realize he was crappy while the narrative enables Stolas to always view himself as a victim and dismiss his actions as not hurting people. Again I do not believe being privilege dismisses you from sympathy because the point of equality is that sympathy can be given to anyone regardless of status. However, I can't be sympathetic to someone who tries to cry about something while abusing their privilege on someone which is what Stolas does often, but the narrative wants to think everything is good. It just winds up making me hate him more and realize what a pathetic pos he is, while someone like Fred is made to be pathetic actually tries to better himself and hopefully does grow even more in the second season. Again bad writing is what it takes to sympathize with or not with how a privileged character is presented.

[fandomwe1rd0]

How not to and how to write an asshole protagionist

Honestly I know asshole protagonists are sadly more common now, but I think Rick and Morty did it best (Wowwww shocker, I think Rick and Morty did something better than other tv shows?! Wow it's not like I'm constantly singing Rick and Morty's praises or anything…)

Now, first what exactly is an asshole protagonist? Now, I feel like the title itself is kinda self-explanatory. An asshole protagonist is a protagonist that…is an asshole. They don't portray the usual likable trait most protagionist have, and are usually prone to being assholes, hence the name. Now I assume most tv shows add asshole protagonist(s) are either so they can be unique, make the character feel more human, or for comedic purposes. Sometimes it can just be one, multiple, or all of them.

Now, first let's look at a tv show that did this poorly…sorry to everyone, I know everyone is probably glad to have forgotten this, but I'm gonna bring up Velma. Now Velma, is an asshole protagonist. She's mean, snarky, sarcastic, and is all around just an asshole and an insensitive jerk to her friends and girlfriend.

Ok now, a character who has these faults, can still be likable in a way. Now if a character gets called out on these faults and try to work on them, complex, or at least if they are actually funny when showing a character being an asshole, Velma is neither of these things, none of the jokes are funny, and everyone treats her like she's some great person when she's just a horrible person, she isn't even complex, just annoying.

Now, let's look at Rick, another example of an asshole protagionist, he's cynical, sarcastic, rude, manipulative, abusive, and just an overall asshole, but here is how Rick and Morty does it right, Rick is more than just a mean old man, he is incredibly complex, struggling with the trauma he had when he watched his wife and child blow up TWICE. And there's actually a reason as to why he's an asshole, he feels like if he cares about people, they will either die or leave him, that's obviously no excuse, but it adds reason to his actions (Meanwhile Velma was just always an asshole…)

He also gets called a lot for being an asshole, and even insults himself when he does something especially shitty, like in season 4 episode 10 after he cloned Space Beth and Beth and watched the mindblower where he shuffled them and didn't look because he didn't want to answer Beth's question on whether he wants Beth to stay and be apart of her life or if he wants her to leave, he says, and I quote

"Holy shit I'm a terrible father."

And he couldn't even go out and see them, and just sits down in the garage alone and thinks about how big of an asshole he's been in general, this is not only a powerful emotional momebut…butttt a good segueway into his redemption arc!

Now Rick in the later seasons in genuinely trying to be better, he goes to therapy, is nicer to Jerry, gentler to Morty and insults Morty a lot less, really just is nicer to Morty in general, treating him a lot more like an equal partner, treats Summer with more respect, and learns to control his anger a lot better. Now it doesn't make up for all the shitty things he does, and the show acknowledges that, but it's definitely a start, and he is not the same murderous maniac he was in say, season 4, where he just couldn't resist traumatizing Morty every 2 seconds. Meanwhile in season 7, he actually treats Morty like…gasp a person! And is actually acting like a grandpa, even spoiling Morty which is adorable.

Also…he's just funny y'all! He has a sense of humor and it's genuinely really funny, I mean ik humor is subjective but c'monnnnn

Rick is a good example of an asshole protagonist because he's funny, complex, and wants to be better, Velma is just…nothing.

[maybelacrimosa]

nothing bad better happen to those pomeranians, I've only seen them for like a second and they are already the best characters in this show.

[hatsampixie]

I’m just gonna say this since most people watching it aren’t getting the memo: STOP HATE WATCHING VELMA!

You are giving them what they want, every episode you watch, every episode of that show you review is giving them a benefit of the doubt. And that’s what they want,

They’re baiting you into watching their show which they KNOW is awful, and each click is giving them more attention, and more money in the long-run.

Stop watching Velma, stop giving them the clicks and hate watching. And DO NOT GIVE THEM SUPPORT OR ANY SORT OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OR WATCH.

Don’t be a hate-watching idiot. Just ignore it, don’t watch it. And let it fade into obscurity, because that’s the fate this show truely deserves.

[rhys-ravenfeather]

Casual reminder that there’s already a ‘dark and gritty’ Scooby Doo series:

So yeah, anyway, if you haven’t watched it already, you should definitely give it a look instead of giving that other show any attention.

[sharas]

what’s funny about velma (2023) is that they’ve already tried a dark and edgy scooby doo remake. the first live action movie from 2002 was originally directed towards adults, and was rife with dirty jokes, drug references, and cleavage shots of daphne and velma.

you know why the final product didn’t resemble that at all? bc they realized early on that the edgy grimdark angle fucking sucked. they reworked the movie to be more family-friendly— still with a complex plotline, but without the gratuitous sexual references and adult jokes. they did end up keeping a few references to shaggy smoking marijuana (his love interest being named mary jane, for one) but they were super toned down so that they’d go right over the heads of any kids watching.

it wasn’t necessarily a kids movie. i was five years old when it came out, and i loved it, but it was fun for teens and adults to watch too. and even with the dated cgi for scooby, it still has a lot of rewatch value. ask yourself if you think anyone is going to be rewatching velma in 2043 the way people still watch scooby doo twenty years after it was released.

this weird trend of the past few years of remaking fun and campy media into something edgy and full of shock value (wednesday, riverdale, and that awful winx club series come to mind) is so boring and trite and misguided. if you want to make dark media so bad, write something original instead of borrowing the barest skeletons of existing media and distorting them until they’re unrecognizable. it’s such an insult to the creators to have their stories mutilated by people who have no understanding of or appreciation for the characters or audience.

[randomraytrash]

Let's remember one of the best scene of Scooby Doo

This is what they took from us.

Bonus point: *sarcasm* A really Supportive Team

[scooby-doobert]

saw an amazing thread on twitter about character development throughout the scooby doo franchise focused on how fred lacks character development, in contrast with the other characters

and something that really pisses me off were comments like “bro it’s just a cartoon” “it’s not that deep”

as if people can’t enjoy media through analysis and research, and cartoons are produced without a lot of depth from the creators

if you consume media without critical thinking that’s on you, honestly

[nilfheim-arts]

Last month I did the color wheel challenge and honestly it was so much fun!

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

I love it when people only care about animators when they can criticize Vivzipop, but not when many of them lost their jobs after the cancellation of Velmy (Because it's better to be happy about it, right? So what if these are such fucked up times for animators, let's be happy that they lost their jobs…)

Now that I have your attention:

So close...

[zeravmeta]

no idea what the specific trigger was but I really do love how things like dracula daily and goncharov have in the past few months really encouraged this website to come back to its roots as a proper art and writing blogging website to the point that now after the 1-2 days of complaining about the new velma theres droves of people now just making art and writing out of love for scooby doo no more cynicism no more hatred we all know corporations and capitalism are withering the planet and it's people but we will use our gifts of art and communication to create and share with others peace and love and commuity on planet earth

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Bad Writing Can Make A Underprivileged Character Unintentionally Unlikable Or Likable

Sequel to my other earlier post.

Like I said in my earlier post, there can be a way to make a privileged character sympathetic or unsympathetic. The same can be said for characters that are underprivileged as well. This can be shown with Velma from 2023's Velma and Striker from Helluva Boss. With Velma she is race and sexuality swapped into a bisexual Indian girl who we are supposed to root for because of her minority status. On the other hand, Striker we are supposed to hate because of supposedly being an imp supremacist who misjudges royals.

Like the thing with Fred and Stolas, we get the opposite reaction because Velma goes out of her way to be a narcissist, sociopathic asshole who uses and hurts other people who gets in her way. Also despite trying to set herself up as this righteous social justice warrior she doesn't practice what she preaches and is as sexist and racist as the people she crusades against. Not to mention she treats her family and friends like total garbage while wanting to have all attention on her. This is in contrast with Striker who although a villain is made out to be a so-called supramcist because he hates the nobles of hell for belittling and taking advantage of the lower classes like imps. And again we are supposed to see him as a extremist, but in a series that is made of all sorts of killers and the fact that many nobles are shown to be crappy people have come to be sympathetic to him. He might try to kill Stolas because it's because of how terribly written he is we side with Striker due to how he has abused his privilege and is an example of that system despite the narrative saying otherwise.

Despite showing herself to get so much wrong, Velma is often still treated as if she is smart and capable while also trying hard to make it work in a bigoted world. However, a lot of stuff contradicts that with Velma always shown to be a lazy moocher who leeches off other people work and claim it as her own. She only claims to say she has to work for everything so she can make herself look like the underdog when in reality she doesn't put effort into anything. She also claims to be smart in reality her ego gets the better of her and prevents her from seeing errors. Meanwhile, the narrative tries to tell us Striker is only doing it out for selfish reasons and wanting to blame all nobles even so-called innocent ones for his tragedies. The problem is Stolas ain't innocent and he has the right to bite the bullet in Striker's bath. Also again we are told by Vivziepop he does have a tragic story but never shown in order to keep Stolas more sympathetic. They try to force him into being seen as toxic by giving him traits like seeming like he's LGBTphobic or has machismo so we shouldn't root for him but all of that comes out as forced instead of natural. Also his distaste for sexual comments comes off as contra dicing when he didn't mind doing that talk with Blitzo and again the penis statue of himself. He also mentions hurting Octavia even though that doesn't make sense since he works for Stella and she should be off the table since Stella wouldn't want her daughter involved but again it's more on trying to make him unlikable rather than logically make sense. Again a case of trying too hard to make unlikable it makes no sense.

And again how the hypocrisy is shown with both characters is that with Velma the writers are so unselfaware how hypocritical and nasty she is they often underestimate how much she doesn't practice what she preaches. As said before, she says she fights against bigotry but shows herself to be a white man basher and is sadistic in enjoying their pain even when they don't deserve it. She even can be shown to be racist against other minorities if she's really being intensively obnoxious. And when it comes to sexism girl just straight up loves slut shaming other girls. Also when it comes to rich people she might say he hates them but when she gets a taste of that privileges she changes her tune and it shows it's more about envy than actual injustice because she really is thinking how about she thinks the world is unfair for her and not anyone else's needs. It's the thing they try to do the same with Striker but you really can side with him because of the hierarchy that is often ignored but sometimes is present in the series. While in theory don't judge all rich people can be a good thing, but with this series it's in hell where bad structures are enforced and that the hell nobles are shown to be shitty towards the lower class. Striker is thus is depicted by a hypocrite by working for Stella but it doesn't work because you get more of an enemy of my enemy situation rather than him actually would act like the nobles if he was offered to be one.

So just like with how one series has a unintentionally sympathetic rich characters and the other has an unintentionally unsympathetic ones, the former has a unintentionally unsympathetic underprivileged character while the other is a unintentionally sympathetic one. It reflects the biases of the creators and also how they think they are viewing the character's blight. Ones like Velma come off as assholes who pretend to be the victim of a cruel world when in reality they want to blame everyone for their own mistakes. Meanwhile, Striker is bashed in series for daring to think that imps have it hard and that nobles shouldn't be unfairly judged when the series in general shows how shitty the higher ups are. Bad writing can make us either think underprivileged characters are sympathetic or unsympathetic.

[hollywoodnobody]

If the Velma creators wanted to make a good adult cartoon, maybe they should have taken some tips from The Legend of Vox Machina.

[kafkaesquedyke]

The new Velma show seems to neatly fall into this trend of tv shows (paramount heathers, leaked powerpuff girls script) that want to seem progressive by having a diverse cast, while simultaneously wanting to preserve that same edgy, punch-down comedy style found in 'centrist' or conservative media. They want the praise for having female, queer, and characters of colour while still retaining an audience made up of mainly edgy white men laughing at how ridiculous ‘the minorities’ are behaving. It’s a punch-down comedy wolf in progressive sheep clothing.

The fundamental flaw in this logic is that show runners assume the audience that would enjoy this humour will see past that supposedly progressive façade… and that often doesn’t happen. A lot of these specific edgy types see diversity as a red flag and immediately presume some type of agenda. It’s almost like seeing a minority participate in the joke (even though they’re still very much the punchline) zaps all the humour out of it or they can’t understand that the joke is still for them if it isn’t said by someone that looks exactly like them. And because they (especially, but not only, cishet white men) recognise all the jokes from things they like, but don’t find them funny anymore, the only reasonable explanation they have is that diversity is bad and makes it unfunny, instead of realising their inherent inability to recognise and relate to any character that isn’t a white man.

Meanwhile, an audience that would appreciate a diverse cast does recognise the comedy for what it is: cheap jokes made at their expense. At most there are occasional jabs thrown in at the white and/or male characters which often don’t relate to these identities in any fundamental or even realistic way. So you have this show that constantly uses it’s minority characters as punchlines and only includes vaguely progressive, but ultimately pretty universally accepted, messaging hoping progressive audiences will be enamoured with the occasional ‘girlboss moment™️’, while not noticing that vast amounts of regressive ideals.

In the end neither audience feels appealed to and the show is a massive failure. While it might be satisfying to see that these conservative audiences are too blinded by, let’s be honest here, identity politics to recognise something that is clearly made for them, ultimately all that is remembered is that ‘the comedy show featuring a lot of diversity’ failed. And it becomes harder for people who actually want to make media with, and especially for, minorities have a harder time getting any funding. Shows like these are a lose lose situation when it comes to furthering diversity in the media landscape and it’s increasingly frustrating to see this happen again and again.

[hatsampixie]

Blitzo is Vivziepop/Brandon Rodgers’s Velma, nuff said.

Not surprising, considering both characters and their creators spit BS without a filter.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Given Lily’s recent grading cards of Owl House and Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, I feel this is accurate to her.