Unpopular opinion maybe but I don't actually hate Val?????
Like she wasn't my favorite character in the show but like I don't understand the hate she's gotten from the majority of the fandom.
I don't know if it's because Mindy Kaling voices her and I know she is not everyone's favorite person (*cough*Velma*cough*). Yeah she can be insufferable irl and I wish they casted someone else to play Val. Mindy is not NOT funny and he has a controversial history of perpetuating stereotypes, racial insensitivity, transphobia and a list too long to name here. Like.... why they picked HER of all people i will never know....
HOWEVER, voice acting aside, Val as a character is not that bad.
Maybe the writers tried too hard to make her awkward and adorkable instead of letting her comedy come more natural... it seemed they were kind of going for the buddy comedy dynamic Dory and Marlin have in Finding Nemo. But maybe it just felt a little forced at times?
But honestly even if she comes off slightly annoying at times she didn't bother me that much as a character. Her upbeat positivity is a perfect foil to Tylor, who's the straight man in the cast (comedy wise that is).
Also I don't know why some were saying she acted ''immature'' when Tylor didn't give her the same level of respect she was giving him... like I really felt she wasn't wrong????? I love Tylor but Tylor was a selfish jerk tbh-- he was always making everything about himself and Val always went out of her way to listen to his concerns.... but he never once listened to her. Like during the Baseball game she kept trying to talk to him about moving from being his assistant to actually being a Jokester... making kids laugh comes more natural to her and she found her true calling. I was kind of sensing a parallel here with Mike and Sulley... how Mike wanted to be the Top Scarer, but obviously, Sulley had the natural ability for Scaring that Mike did not.
Tylor was a lousy Jokester because he was clearly born to be a Scarer, and he was probably jealous that Val had the talent he lacked but he should have been more supportive of her decision to do something for herself.
I can almost imagine this is maybe what broke the friendship between Mike and Randy in Monsters University even if we didn't see it happen on screen. They both started out with the same dream of becoming a Scarer but of course Mike got kicked out of the program and then he and Randy quietly went their separate ways. It's possible Mike was so self-absorbed in his own ambitions that he wasn't always there for Randy the same way Randy was there for him... we see Randy constantly supporting Mike as his loyal sidekick... he could have chosen ROR over Mike's friendship because he needed to do something for himself. Maybe Mike was holding him back from achieving his own dreams and ambitions.
Anyway, Tylor and Val do have a brief falling out but thankfully they make up. Maybe that's something Mike and Randy lacked was communication. Tylor and Val at least tried to communicate.
But yeah it seems the fandom places a lot of the blame on Val for this friendship being ''toxic'' but I don't see it that way. Tylor is just as much to blame... and this seems to be common with female characters in general, they seem to be more harshly criticized for doing the same actions that the male characters do. Like if the roles were reversed and Tylor acted like Val, the fandom would be more forgiving of him. Like I said, Tylor can be immature at times too but no one's calling him out for it the same way they do with Val. I don't think Val and Tylor are toxic or that Val is ''to controlling''--they have their disagreements like any friends do. Neither of them are perfect but they're working on being better people. I'm sure their friendship will develop more in Season 3.
gummygunk
dailybridgerton
origamiaround
2087
blakekathryn
germansingergirl
