A nagging critique (Spoilers up until episode 3)
originally posted on reddit by u/ContrarionesMerchant:
OK to preface this, I am really enjoying misfits and magic, it is probably one of my favourite seasons and I’m having a blast. That being said, I really need to get this off my chest and vent a bit.
Dimension 20’s Misfits and Magic (MisMag) has a main character, and I think that’s a problem. Evan is by far the most important and most present member of the party, although it is a very slice of life-y show, the vast majority of actual plot developments happen because of or surrounding Evan. Evan’s solo scenes take up more time than anyone else’s and he’s got a lot more of them.
I don’t really want to put this on Brennan but on some level I do think it’s kinda irresponsible character building because there isn’t really any way to do an Evan style character without him dominating the story, especially when you contrast him to the rest of the gang who are a lot more subdued, especially Jammer and Sam. That kinda brings me to my main issue with all this, its a 4 episode season and Evan taking up all the time that he does seriously shafts the rest of the cast. Dream does get a fair bit of development but that’s because she’s also got a pretty gimmicky magic “curse” and her development is really linked to Evan. The other two get things here and there, Lou is really good at sharing the space so Jammer has gotten a lot of amazing moments but I really don’t think Sam has had nearly as much opportunity to shine, which is a shame because she is AMAZING.
This part, I might get hate for and you know what, that’s fine but I really do need to address the elephant in the room. It does kinda suck when you have a majority PoC and on top of that majority women of colour group (including Aabria) and the one most in the limelight is the white guy. I am not in any way saying this was done one purpose with any malice but it is a thing that does impact the show and not even just in a “representation is an inherent good” perspective (but yes that), things get better when different experiences inform them. Just look at Lou running with “muggle” as a bit.
I know that next episode could center on the group more evenly and that maybe there’ll be a Season 2 but I think this post is still justified because for the vast majority of this Season, MisMag has been Evan’s story.
This hasn’t really stopped me from enjoying the season, despite everything I do think Evan’s a fun character and obviously Brennan is amazing but this has been bugging me.
You’re 100% correct. I noticed at the end of episode 3, and we knew that fans like you would notice as well. Brennan and I talked about it and broke down several aspects as to how we got to that point, and it’s a major focus in our shows from here on.
Here’s a portion of what we came to understand. I am only sharing this because it’s a beneficial lesson for people, and because it’s not “spilling secrets”. It’s something important to see and analyze.
First of all, no one is at fault for this. Brennan could have been more conscious of becoming the “main character”, but it isn’t his fault for falling into that situation. Nor is it Erika’s for tying their character into Evan’s story, or Jammer or Sam for being more sharing with their moments. I truly believe that it was a combined (myself included) act of subconscious white supremacy. Notice that I’m not calling anyone a white supremacist, because I don’t work with any of those and neither does D20 or CH Media. Fuck them. What I’m saying is that we noticed a social issue unfold that is baked into most of the media we consume, and so it is easy to replicate without noticing.
Brennan, as the only GM, creator of the show, and as a white cishet man, is used to being the center of attention, and that’s not a call out. He is aware of his privilege and works hard to do right by marginalized people. But that does not mean that he is always going to do the right thing. In this case, we didn’t even notice until it was mostly finished. Let’s take this and turn it into completely speculative math that only exists to paint a picture.
Let’s say that each player has a % chance of becoming the “main character”. Based on racism, colorism, gender, social dynamics, the breakdown would be very vaguely like,
Brennan 80%Erika 40%Lou 20%Danielle 5%.
As people of color, we have to intentionally push ourselves into the center, even when the ratio is 4/1, otherwise things go as mass media (the way we know to absorb and perform) intends, with Brennan at that 80%. Is it the fault of any of the players of color? Even less so.
The dynamics between white characters and characters of color are often a “the white person is MC and the PoC is support of some kind”, and that’s just baked into our minds. You have to consciously act against that, or it happens. That’s what white supremacy is. The KKK are scary but subconscious white supremacy is far, FAR more terrifying. Because a group of amazing humans who are exceptionally kind to one another and to the world, they try their best to juggle all of the social complexities and politics that exist on so many different levels in so many different places and can still fall into these situations. It happens all the time, everywhere. All we can do is learn from it now that we see it, and install systems in our process that prevent the “white MC” focus from happening. And that’s what we did, and what we’re going to continue to do.
This is not an easy thing to break down and fix immediately. It’s a PoV we’ve been raised with, and people don’t change behaviors flawlessly in a day, or weeks, or months. But there will continue to be progress, and we will continue to redefine these situations by arming our GMs and writers and cast with these counter-systems, and continue to expand our cast and crew’s growth into more diverse backgrounds.
Thank you for bringing this up. It is truly important.
Also, spread all that Evan love over to the other characters. We failed in spreading out the focus as much as we wanted to (and everyone deserved to have), but your influence as fans, the support that these players of color get, it helps. A lot.
