Why I Believe Alan Becker's Writing Reflects Misogyny
I believe Alan Becker's writing shows misogynistic or gender-biased tendencies because of the way female stick figures are treated compared to male stick figures throughout the Animation vs. Minecraft and Animation vs. Animator series.
The first thing that made me uncomfortable was a comment Alan made years ago during his 7 million subscriber livestream. When asked whether the stick figures had genders, he said he saw them as "a bunch of bros having fun." He then explained that he had not really considered adding female stick figures because he did not want romance to become a theme in the series. To me, this suggests that he automatically associated female characters with romance. I find this reasoning strange because romance can exist in stories regardless of whether the cast is male, female, or mixed. Female characters should not need a special justification to exist beyond being characters in the story.
What makes this worse is that it took years before any major female stick figures appeared. When they finally did appear, they were not treated like the male characters. Purple's mother, Mitsi, and the Valkyrie Queen are some of the only major female stick figures in the franchise, yet all of them were introduced and then killed off very quickly. Their deaths primarily served to motivate male characters and move male storylines forward.
Purple's mother exists mainly to support Purple emotionally and to explain part of his tragic backstory. She is introduced and then dies, becoming another source of pain for Purple. When fans later asked Alan how she died, he reportedly answered that she "got sick" and joked that he could not come up with anything else. This answer made it seem like very little thought had been put into one of the few female characters in the series.
Mitsi's treatment is even more frustrating. She is introduced, supports Victim emotionally, dies in the same episode, and becomes a major reason for Victim's actions. Her death is used to make the audience feel sad and to justify his desire for revenge. Yet she receives very little characterization outside of her relationship with him. Despite dying tragically, she is brought back only two episodes later, making her death feel less meaningful while still leaving her underdeveloped as a character.
The Valkyrie Queen suffers from a similar problem. She is introduced and dies in the same episode. Once again, one of the few female characters exists mainly to support another character's narrative.
Another reason I became critical of Alan's writing was the situation involving Purple and the Valkyrie Queen title. After Purple inherited the title, many fans started joking and theorizing that Purple might secretly be female. Alan originally left a comment saying "DJ liked this episode," but later edited it to say "Purple is male btw." Considering that he had previously said the characters were open to interpretation and that he did not mind headcanons, the comment felt unnecessary. It came across as though he was more interested in shutting down that particular interpretation than allowing fans to have fun with it. After criticism, the comment was removed and replaced with "Btw Valkyrie Queen is just a title."
I also find it strange that Alan appeared unhappy during a reaction video when DJ jokingly swapped Purple's parents' roles, referring to Purple's father as the mother and Purple's mother as the father. Since the stick figures do not have voices, gendered names, or obvious biological characteristics, I do not understand why a harmless role-swap joke would be upsetting if the characters are truly meant to be open to interpretation.
The biggest issue for me is the difference in characterization. Male stick figures are allowed to be heroes, villains, rivals, mentors, friends, and complex individuals with unique struggles and personalities. Female stick figures, on the other hand, are often mothers, wives, queens, or emotional support characters whose stories revolve around helping male characters. When they die, their deaths are used to develop those male characters further.
Because of this pattern, I believe Alan Becker's writing reflects misogynistic or gender-biased ideas about female characters. Whether intentional or not, the result is that female characters often feel less important, less developed, and less independent than the male characters who dominate the story.
