Red and Blue make Purple

Anonymous asked:

Prior to season two, did you think Gabriel would be Hawkmoth? What was your reaction to the reveal? Any thoughts on his relationship with Adrien. The juxtaposition of SF and canon is interesting.

I had hoped that Gabriel wouldn’t be Hawkmoth, but I wasn’t surprised when that turned out to be the case. Mostly because making Gabe Hawkmoth is extremely restricting on the storyline and adds a whole new layer of drama to Adrien’s life on top of the fact that his father is an abusive asshole. Like, he’s got to grapple with that AND the fact that he’s Hawkmoth?

I’m also afraid that because of Hawkmoth’s relationship to Adrien, they’re going to attempt to redeem him, a trope that I am SO tired of in new cartoons. And, frankly, Gabe in the canon isn’t redeemable to me at this point, which is going to make what is likely an inevitable “happy” ending for the family all the more grating, unless Gabe decides to make himself the sacrifice that brings Mama Agreste back. Basically, given Gabe’s crimes, the only satisfying ending for him I could see is either he ends up in prison or dies, neither of which are good for Adrien.

Like, for me, the fact that Gabe was an abusive asshole that kept far too many secrets was enough drama between him and Adrien, so adding Hawkmoth on top of that is just… I dunno, contrived I suppose.

But I also like complicated, faulted characters who try to do what they think is right despite being assholes. I like the idea of Gabe knowing Adrien is Chat, knowing he’s in danger, and attempting to stop him despite the fact that he’s a shitty father and that their relationship will never be good. Like, it’s not so much that he’d be redeemed, because it doesn’t erase his abuse, as it is that it makes him a more interesting character (to me). That, and the fact that he’s not doing something like bringing back his dead wife makes him less sympathetic. My Gabe is an asshole because… that’s just what he is. There isn’t any kind of emotional justification to explain away his behavior.

In the canon, he’s just sort of this selfish sociopath that seems to only care for Adrien out of obligation, not because he’s dealing with any sort of inherent lack of parental instincts. And because he’s doing what he’s doing for a “reason,” it introduces this weak contrivance to eventually excuse away his behavior, which is just bad writing imo.

The Gabe in SF is an asshole that never should have been a parent. He loves Adrien, but admits that he’s not a good parent. This doesn’t excuse his behavior, but it makes the reasons why he does what he does more complex. He wants to protect Adrien and attempts to use the very things that push Adrien away to accomplish that–force, secrets, and lies. And because he’s an egotistical jerk, he doesn’t see the fault in what he’s doing so much as what he thinks is necessity. He loves his son and would go beyond what is acceptable to protect him, but he isn’t at all suited to have raised him in the first place.

Gabe in the canon is… just kind of insane. He seems to have very little regard for Adrien’s safety and when he does, it comes off more as an obligation than a necessity. He protects Adrien when Adrien is blatantly in danger in front of him, but is so caught up in his own power that he doesn’t consider Adrien’s safety when he sets akumas on his classmates. So either he thinks himself so powerful that no harm could come to Adrien (which has been proven false, so no), he assumes that Ladybug defeating him nullifies what he’s done so he’s not afraid of losing even when he bitches about it (which doesn’t excuse the fact that he kills people through his victims on a regular basis), or he really doesn’t care much about Adrien and only puts on a front went the obligation of parenthood rears its ugly head before him. I kind of view his character as a mixture of all three. Which isn’t to say that he isn’t complex and faulted. Rather, the problem is that because he’s such a horrible, horrible piece of human garbage, any nuance that could have been added to his character is completely overshadowed.

That isn’t to say SF Gabe is superior to canon Gabe. I just… prefer Gabe as a faulted, egotistical abuser who thinks he’s doing what’s best than I do egotistical abuser Gabe who has no guilt or remorse for the horrible crimes he’s committing every day.

I’m mostly exhausted of this notion that the worse a character is, the more redeemable the writers seem to think they are. Like, I don’t want canon Gabe to be redeemed–he’s too horrible. He’s a manipulator that preys on people’s emotions and then murders others through them. Like, that’s… really bad. Whereas bad parent Gabe, while not necessarily forgivable, is more realistically redeemable.

I don’t want another redemption arc for literally The Worst Possible Person. And when I look at how they handled Chloe’s arc, I can’t imagine that Gabe’s will go over any better.

Like, they went with the Gabe is Hawkmoth storyline, now commit. Either throw him in prison or kill the bastard. But they won’t do that. Because, one, he’s Adrien’s dad, and two, it seems to be out of style to kill villains these days.

Which I don’t understand. Like, I was watching the Rainbow Brite movie the other day and they straight up blow the Princess of Darkness into smithereens. Fucking Rainbow Brite, the shining symbol of rainbows and positivity in the 80s. Because that’s what you do with Saturday Morning villains like Hawkmoth–you get rid of them when the time comes because they’re irredeemable. If you want to redeem a character, you need to make their crimes far less terrible. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, not without doing a whole hell of a lot more work than the writers of ML are doing.

It’s just gonna be another Steven Universe where we’re expected to forgive the horrible space nazis because “they’re sad!” We’re going to be expected to forgive Gabe in the canon because “he’s sad!” And, like, no.

I wanted to keep Gabe as a bad person, but make him redeemable in the sense that he fights on the good side. That is why SF Gabe is the way he is–because I didn’t want to demote the complexities of his character and his relationship with Adrien to Saturday Morning villain expectations, because in the end, that just won’t work. It’d be like trying to redeem the Fire Lord–that’s not something you do.

And honestly, if ML proves me wrong and they give Gabe the treatment he deserves, then good on them. It’ll suck for Adrien, but I think pretty much everything is going to suck for Adrien at this point–there’s no getting around it. Honestly, the only redemption canon Gabe can get at this point is redemption through death. He needs to make the decision to sacrifice himself in order to save Adrien, Mama Agreste, or Ladybug.

Simple as that.