Mira vs Mermista: How to do the Edgy Girl Archetype well
so at first glance, Mira and Mermista are practically the same character. edgy, sarcastic, resting bitch face, blunt delivery — a common character archetype.
but if you have watched both SPOP and KPDH, you would know that Mira is a much more fleshed out character despite SPOP having 5 entire seasons and KPDH being just one movie. why is that?
as the edgy, sarcastic character, you would expect Mira to be apathetic and nonchalant. but that's not how Mira is. she cares, and she cares deeply. about her friends, about her fans and people who are getting killed by the demons. her nonchalance is just a façade, likely a defense mechanism since she's implied to have a family who didn't love or accept her.
KPDH subverts the trope of the edgy girlboss by making Mira the one who cares the most, the mom friend, the one who directly confronts the problem instead of letting it grow.
she cares and she shows that she cares, by refusing to tiptoe around a problem. she's not your typical tsundere character whose good qualities are just lipservice. we see time and time again how much she values Rumi and Zoey, and tries so desperately to hold onto their friendship.
Mermista, on the other hand, is just the worst parts of this trope. it's like the writers saw Mai from ATLA and thought “what if we did that... but gave her absolutely no depth or character? and also made her super unlikeable?”
Mermista was just not bothered about anything, she often loudly complained about having to do stuff in missions when they were literally in the middle of a war, she wouldn't cooperate with her teammates, she didn't care about any of the princesses, etc etc.
oh, and don't forget she treats Entrapta like shit for not understanding social cues. “it's because Entrapta worked for the Horde!” and yet we never see Mermista confront Catra or Hordak the same way, the two people who were most responsible for everything that the Horde did, including the attack on Salineas, which we'll come to later.
and all of this would be fine if she was written as a flawed character who needed development. but nope, according to the writers, this is just how she is. she doesn't get a character arc, she doesn't grow as a person, and we're supposed to believe that she considers the other princesses her friends when nothing in canon suggests that.
oh boy, this is a doozy. how do you handle emotional moments with a character archetype that is known for being inexpressive and laid-back?
KPDH does this amazingly well with Mira. like i mentioned earlier, it's very clear that she cares about her friends and she reacts realistically to conflict and big revelations.
Mira is only inexpressive at first glance, but just five minutes into the movie, you would realize how expressive she is. you can clearly pinpoint each expression on her — concern, worry, hurt, anxiety.
and Mermista? well first off, the only chance she gets to express her emotions and vulnerability is when her kingdom gets conquered and attacked by the Horde. and how does she react?
GIRL YOUR KINGDOM AND PEOPLE LITERALLY GOT MURDERED IF YOU DON'T STFU RIGHT NOW
that's right, by moping around in a bathtub, eating ice cream and making insensitive unfunny jokes. wdym you don't react to war and destruction like your boyfriend stood you up on a date? /s
simply put, Mermista doesn't have the emotional depth that Mira does, despite SPOP having 5 ENTIRE SEASONS to flesh her, and every other character, out.
and you can't make the excuse that Mermista is just a side character when they didn't even do much with Bow, who was very much one of the main characters in SPOP.
3. Personal Details and Backstory
KPDH doesn't go too much into depth about Mira or Zoey's backstories, because the movie was mainly about Rumi. but even so, they give us enough backstory and characterization that a lot of people still relate to these two heavily.
Mira is said to be the black sheep of her family, and is heavily implied to have cut her family off. this directly leads to her insecurities and motivations throughout the movie.
since her biological family doesn't accept her for who she is, she finds a home within HUNTR/X. and when that family too starts to fall apart, Mira gets increasingly frustrated and afraid since she doesn't want to experience the same thing again. she doesn't want to feel rejected and isolated again.
this is already more than enough characterization for a movie that is mostly about Rumi and Jinu. and it makes Mira feel like a real person, because many people can relate to the experience of not being accepted by your parents and family.
as for Mermista, she gets... nothing. she's the ruler of Salineas and that's all we know. not every character needs a tragic backstory, sure, but they need something. fears, insecurities, goals.
why does Mermista join the Princess Alliance? because she found Adora hot. and i guess she wants to defeat the Horde but that's hard to believe when she's constantly groaning and complaining about having to do ANYTHING in their missions.
and like i mentioned earlier, the one time she could have gotten some depth and characterization, she doesn't. she mopes in the bathtub for a while and then randomly gets motivated to fight again in the most hamfisted way possible.
and she makes a joke about how she only came to fight because they were out of ice cream. because that's a totally okay joke to make after your entire kingdom was invaded by a bunch of colonizers.
oh but it's okay because she gets paired up with a manchild who has no respect for her boundaries and who she has zero chemistry with. yay!
