Controversial decisions or Why I find Cope and Sullivan so interesting as characters ("Boots" from Netflix)
So here's my "little", sort of character study about them and also some more thoughts about why I love this show so much (all personal opinions)
Let me say, I love „complicated“ characters that aren't easy to read/understand or predict their actions. I love it when you watch a movie or read a book and you go like „whyyyy the hell is he/she doing this?? Doing thing X or Y would be so much easier/more logical!“
I had this once in a book trilogy, where I deeply loved (and still love) the main character, but her actions were kind of hard to predict and at one point I was like „hell whyyyy???“
I think this makes the character and whole story more interesting, it sticks more with you, gives you food for thought (if it's well written, of course....if it's badly written, this is just annoying). Also: Including (moral) faliures to a character (and boooy, do we have some great examples in Boots for this!!) makes a characters so much more interesting. The world is not black and white, there are so many aspects which come into account when having to make a decision or taking action...and I appreciate it so much that we saw some quite questionable decisions in the series!
I wanna talk about 3 characters in particular where I saw this: Ray, Cameron and Sullivan.
First: Ray
The fact that he is so angry and disappointed in Cameron for lying and luring him into that toiletpaper war...and then revealing later that he, HIMSELF, lied to Cameron about the true reason for getting kicked out of the Air Force. Double standarts!
When Cameron asks why Ray didn't trust him with his secret, he just says „I don't know“. We just don't get a solution here. And this is somehow nice, because it tells a lot about Ray's personality, and it fits the narration – because he's not good at admitting any fails, even not to his best friend (ha, so this kind of IS the solution...I just realized this during writing these words, this is beautiful XD ). Ray has internalized this „stay strong!stay focused! no weakness!“ from his dad so much that he can't shed this skin...even not for his best friend. Also this problem of Ray isn't solved in the 8 episodes we got...I'm curious if we see more development.
Second: Cameron
I have the feeling that we always get told „stay true to yourself, be who you really are, fight for what you want, etc...“ So many movies (especially for children) revolve around this topic, which is great and is also the way I was raised.
But – what if suddenly „stay true to yourself“ and „fight for what you really want“ become contradictory?
That's the exact problem Cameron has... and god damn, I had no idea how much I needed to see this topic, this dilemma! I don't think I've ever seen this topic being touched in the media. I felt how intensely I was (and still am) torn between the „nooo, Cameron, stay true to yourself, don't let yourself be molded, your Inner Voice is so right – he will be gone soon if you continue this path!!“ and the „well, he HAS grown as a person, he has emancipated from Ray, stood up for himself against Slovacek and even Sullivan, managed the physical difficulties and became a Marine against all odds – this IS who he IS now!“ (like he said to his mum). People grow and change, it's natural, it happens – and sometimes they change in a way we personally don't appreciate. Like, I as a viewer support and love Cam so much, I'm more torn towards the „listen to your inner voice, the other path is too dangerous and NOT WORTH IT!“...but Cameron obviously thinks different.
But WHY??
The thing is: I formed my opinion based on the experiences I made...which were completely different to Cam's. I DO have supporting friends and family, have never been bullied, had the privilege to study etc. So this is why I would love him to stay true to his Inner Self. Cameron has never experienced that – so I DO on the other side totally understand him – he now finally (!) has comrades, Ray supporting him, he managed to grow, became stronger, is no victim anymore – so of course this feels great and he doesn't want to give it all up again. Damn, I can understand him, but I somehow hate his decision – and to evoke exactly THIS feeling in me, this is something very few pieces of media achieved to far. And DAMN I LOVE IT!!! Because this is so much more than just a fun show for me – it's food for thoughts.
And lastly, Sullivan my beloved !
The contradition, the dilemma in person. There just IS no right way for him out of his situation, he loses, no matter which way he choses. I think I read one text post here that pointed out what a horrible person he is for betraying his lover, for lashing out on the recruits because he is furious about the situation he himself has created, beating a man to (almost) death and then running away.
Of course you can see it like this: „fuck Sullivan, he's a bad person, does everything wrong he possibly could and makes morally wrong decisions“ - but I don't think it's that easy. He probably grew up on a farm (as Fajardo once hints) in a conservative family and surrounding and saw the Marines as his only way out, just like Cameron. We know that he was also thin and weak, again just like Cam – the two have quite some things in common. So during the dumpster-scene, Cameron actively decides to become a Marine and Sullivan decides to continue being one.
Where Cameron has the conflict „true gay self OR being a Marine/being strong/belonging somewhere“, Sullivan has the conflict „true(?) love OR being a Marine/belonging somewhere“.
He didn't purposely betray Wilkinson, I'm sure he had no idea that Maitra would report him and didn't want that to happen. Him saying to Maitra that Wilkinson flirted with him was just a justification to get himself out of that situation – and it backfired badly. Which added a nice thick layer of guilt to his already miserable self for leaving his lover behind.
Sure, he could have talked to Wilkinson before instead of leaving head over heels – but he was in panic, which is a very human thing to feel in such a frightening situation. And I have to say: I also didn't have the impression that he and Wilkinson had a great common ground for seriously talking about this and weighting options and creating plans how to get out of this.
They obviously talked about dropping out but didn't find a good solution for both of them. Sullivan loves Wilkinson („get a tattoo that says 'I love you'?“), but I did somehow get weird vibes off Wilkinson, like not as in love as Sullivan, who also seems kind of shy in Wilkinson's presence (but of course we don't have the whole picture, just little flashback scenes, so I might be wrong). I read an interview with Wilkinson's actor Sachin Bhatt here and I was glad to see he also sees Wilkinson a bit critical https://www.out.com/gay-tv-shows/sachin-bhatt-boots-netflix
Anyway – does Sullivan make some terrible decisions? Surely yes.
Can I understand why he decides the way he does? Absolutely yes.
Would there have been a better, less hurtfull way of getting out of this situation? Theoretically yes – both of them dropping out of the Marines, moving to California or else and living happily ever after for example.
Do I appreciate that they wrote the story different for Sullivan? HELL yes. Because: A) The „California“ way may feel like the „best“ way, morally correct, true to himself and without hurting anyone – but I am not sure that this would make Sullivan happy either. The Marines are his family, his purpose (which is sad enough! But that's his story!) and because B) people are not perfect! People DO make stupid and wrong decisions. I think his storyline is realistic, controversial and incredibly well written – in fact so well that I almost feel physical pain thinking about it (and the way Max Parker acted Sullivan is a match made in heaven if you ask me, dear god!)
Also, one last, even more personal thought: I found it so interesting to pick apart all of Sullivan's layers, see the darkness, the fear, the hope, the love, the pain. I think writing a character like Sullivan with so many facettes is incredibly hard and a walk on thin ice. When Jones says to Cope „I don't get why someone like YOU looks at Sullivan and says 'I wanna be like him'“.
This sentence really got me – because it made me pause and think „right – why exactly does Cam want to be like him, even if Sullivan had such a hard hand on him?!“ It felt like the show was put through it's paces with this line of Jones, like – is the narrative still working? And I felt that soooo much as a writer of fanfiction! I once wrote a story I am very proud of, but I wasn't sure if the motivation of the main character was believable – or if I was just wanting it to work, but it didn't actually work. I got the feedback that indeed yes, it was believable, even if it had one or two readers pause for a minute and think....just like I did after Jones' statement to Cameron.
As always - thank you so much if you read that far, it means a a lot to me <3 This show is dear to my heart and I would love to hear what your thoughts are!
