Why some Adrien salt really bothers me...
I've been reading a bunch of salt fics lately (you know, cause we have to get that sodium intake), and I'm usually pretty open to the salt. I'm usually not very critical cause everyone is entitled to their views and creative licenses. Also, because frankly, there are things that happen in ml that just needs some salt to fix it in our heads.
But the ones that I have the hardest time reading are those that depict Adrien as the person who sees everything happening and doing absolutely nothing at all.
#spoilers, but not even taking the episode "Ladybug" into consideration (in which he does stand up for her, if not a little reluctantly in some cases), I don't believe Adrien would do absolutely nothing. Because it doesn't follow the same pattern as the rest of his character development. If he wouldn't stand up for Marinette, he wouldn't stand up for anyone else either and we've seen him do just that.
So why would Adrien not stand up for Marinette? Simple. Not because he sees what is happening and chooses not to act, but because he doesn't actually see what is happening. He is unaware, either because of his constant absence from school or him not being a part of most of the conversations where he could stand up for her (let's face it, the only place we see him in those conversations and everyone skating around why they think marinette is being unreasonable is in fanfiction. Not once on the show is he ever near a conversation where he could say something to the contrary).
Do I think he's a saint? Absolutely not. I think he deserves quite a bit of salt for giving unsolicited advice without understanding the full scope of what he was advising on, more than that, Adrien is as socially awkward as someone can get - what in his right mind made him think he should be giving advice on anything? I also think Marinette should have told him everything (but in the context, she's more concerned about her friends than she is herself and that's just her character), but also what in her right mind told her that listening to the guy who has literally confessed that the whole "school and friends thing is brand new to him" was a good idea? Anyways, I do not believe someone who would moonlight as a superhero would see injustice and bullying and do nothing about it. No matter how strong he might think marinette is. No matter how much he doesn't want to cause issues. He would take action. Maybe not the loudest or the most dramatic, but he would take action.
That has been my Tedtalk.