Character Hate Hinders the Understanding of Miraculous Ladybug
When looking at salt takes, I notice a lot of interesting patterns. Most importantly, these “analyses” tend to ignore key themes and elements of the story, whether this lack of understanding comes from instances such as hyper-fixating on one piece of dialogue/reaction ignoring the rest or simply looking at things from a one-sided perspective. They’re more focused on attacking the creator of the show and saying the writers hate the character because they didn’t act like they wanted them to act is utterly ridiculous. The most overlooked themes are mental health and poor guidance. Interestingly, neither one nor the other are ignored when it comes to Chloe, but for Marinette and Adrien, it’s different for some reason.
On the other hand, those who acknowledge all perspectives and see the good in every character are the ones who really present the themes the writers put into the show. One can be biased and still understand both Marinette and Adrien well. If I could name one YouTuber who has a great understanding of the show, it’s TheCartoonHotspot. Her videos reflect that. You can see how she explores various themes within the show, whether it’s related to characters specifically or to the environment. One other YouTuber I’d recommend for new perspectives is Lea/Toon Ruins; she recently made a video showing us the depths of Ladybug’s character without bashing Cat Noir (surprise, it’s possible!) and she made a video on *his* character over a year ago if one wants to watch it.
None of anti-MLB character YouTubers that I know spoke of such themes. None of them noticed the patterns and a lot of them completely misunderstood numerous episodes. How do I know that they misunderstood? Simply because the writers wouldn’t write nonsense. Paying attention to the dialogue and not letting your emotions distract you from what’s going on in the episode is important for better understanding. Only then will you start to see the deeper meanings.
As I taught myself to understand Adrienette and Ladynoir and to accept Marinette (I’ve always loved Adrien), I began to notice several patterns within their relationships and within the relationships in their social circle. I started to see more messages and more emotional meaning. It was then and only then, after I let go of this hate that I learned that this show isn’t as bad as it seems. I’ve also come to realize that even though Thomas isn’t the best writer, he certainly doesn’t hold a grudge against a fictional character, come onnn.
