glowingsappho replied to your post “You guys may not like Esme, but she’s high-key one of the best mental...”
Wow another villain with BPD,, such Good representation you're totally right����
Here’s the thing about Degrassi: none of their main characters are ever “villains”. This isn’t some kind of sci-fi super hero flic. These are high school characters based on the actual experiences of high school students. They all have good and bad characteristics. They all make mistakes. They all fuck up, and at some point are able to redeem themselves.
As someone who suffered from undiagnosed and untreated BPD throughout high school, I think it’s amazing representation! She’s one of the first characters I’ve seen myself in when it comes to those behaviors and symptoms. Just because a mentally ill character does bad things, does not make them a bad person. The point is to humanize them. This show has told a million stories about mentally ill people who have parents or teachers or friends to help them. They’ve never shown what it’s like to be mentally ill and not have as many options... until now.
I agree, the villain trope needs to stop. But that’s far from what this is. That trope needs to be stopped when it comes to horror films or actual super-villain characters. But when it comes to high school kids making mistakes that they aren’t even aware of due to an untreated mental illness... I don’t think there’s anything more realistic they could represent.
