Well, first off, while I used the reference to Linkara, I don't agree 100% with what he said. I do in fact believe that actions go a long way, and there is a point you reach where a character stops being sympathetic. For instance, a character I recently analyzed:
1. Became power-hungry, so her mentor tried to stem that by taking away her source of power and giving it to her best friend.
2. She argued with her friend, pleading for the power source back. In anger, she attacked, accidentally killing her.
3. She was imprisoned at the site of her friend's death for about 40 years, allowing the wound to fester.
Now, yeah. There's a lot of sympathy behind that--she really didn't mean to kill her friend. And a lot of her actions pretty much are trying to reclaim the past--she tries to bring her friend back to life, after she joins her under mind control and serves in a mockery of their old team. She wants to be loved, and she poses as someone else in order to gain the trust of a man who falls in love with her and fathers her son. She tries not to harm either her lover or her son in all of the battles. She even promises her son that if he joins her, he can still have his girlfriend--she'll ensure that the girlfriend never knows of the betrayal. But it's also clear that she's so far gone that she ceases being sympathetic.
Second, we don't see much from Charmcaster. She appears in 5 episodes of the original series, two of Alien Force, and four actual appearances in Ultimate Alien. So it's really hard to get a feel for her character arc, especially when she's trollishly evil in her first five appearances, blatantly threatening in the second two, and only in the episode preceding this one do they give her a backstory. The followup then comes a year later, which makes it even harder to follow on. Also, on the note of the Alpha Rune--that was a quarter of the Map of Infinity and had been taken away. They never explained what happened to the pieces once Aggregor was defeated, so bringing it up as proof that Charmcaster was making the right choice is shaky at best.
Third, I have no idea where you got the notion of sexism in my comment on Ben and Kevin arguing. At all. Kevin may have seen some trace of sympathy there, but he didn't sympathize completely, the way Gwen had. And I'm even putting my feelings on Ben's character development across the McDuffie era on hold here to address the fact that if the character you're not supposed to agree with is starting to sound logical? That's a problem. That is a problem with the writing.
I will admit, I had no idea that Charmcater was McDuffie's favorite, but that still doesn't change my opinion. Dwayne McDuffie was one of the greatest writers I've ever had the privilege to watch, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to call him out on something he screwed up on. I have seen him handle far better character journeys than this, particularly with the work he contributed to with Hawkgirl or Amanda Waller of Justice League. He managed to take the mess that was Kevin and turn him into a really likeable and sympathetic character, a process that took time, dedication, and focus. I'm sorry if I couldn't see Charmcaster through his eyes, but that's because he had a year of writing between "Where the Magic Happens" and "Enemy of My Enemy," where I had a year of no appearances. This was one case where his intent did not translate clearly to practice. If he were still alive, I would love to say, "I'm sorry. I normally love your work, but I don't think this worked. I can see what you're trying for, but there's just too much missing for it to be conveyed clearly, especially to the children who are watching the show." And I'd hope that maybe it would help him out some for the next time. But just because he's gone doesn't mean that I can't say it. He's got a great legacy, and my little comment floating in oblivion shouldn't be enough to mar it. But as an audience, our job is to critique. If something doesn't make sense, we have to say it. Not just to teach the writer currently working on it, but to teach the writers coming on later too.
I'm glad you found my review and felt passionately enough about the character to comment. But please, don't ever doubt in my love for this man's work. I just think that some of it isn't as amazing as the rest of it, no matter how much love he put into it.
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regna
Re: Please ignore obvious RP account stuff
Date: 2013-12-30 12:25 am (UTC)1. Became power-hungry, so her mentor tried to stem that by taking away her source of power and giving it to her best friend.
2. She argued with her friend, pleading for the power source back. In anger, she attacked, accidentally killing her.
3. She was imprisoned at the site of her friend's death for about 40 years, allowing the wound to fester.
Now, yeah. There's a lot of sympathy behind that--she really didn't mean to kill her friend. And a lot of her actions pretty much are trying to reclaim the past--she tries to bring her friend back to life, after she joins her under mind control and serves in a mockery of their old team. She wants to be loved, and she poses as someone else in order to gain the trust of a man who falls in love with her and fathers her son. She tries not to harm either her lover or her son in all of the battles. She even promises her son that if he joins her, he can still have his girlfriend--she'll ensure that the girlfriend never knows of the betrayal. But it's also clear that she's so far gone that she ceases being sympathetic.
Second, we don't see much from Charmcaster. She appears in 5 episodes of the original series, two of Alien Force, and four actual appearances in Ultimate Alien. So it's really hard to get a feel for her character arc, especially when she's trollishly evil in her first five appearances, blatantly threatening in the second two, and only in the episode preceding this one do they give her a backstory. The followup then comes a year later, which makes it even harder to follow on. Also, on the note of the Alpha Rune--that was a quarter of the Map of Infinity and had been taken away. They never explained what happened to the pieces once Aggregor was defeated, so bringing it up as proof that Charmcaster was making the right choice is shaky at best.
Third, I have no idea where you got the notion of sexism in my comment on Ben and Kevin arguing. At all. Kevin may have seen some trace of sympathy there, but he didn't sympathize completely, the way Gwen had. And I'm even putting my feelings on Ben's character development across the McDuffie era on hold here to address the fact that if the character you're not supposed to agree with is starting to sound logical? That's a problem. That is a problem with the writing.
I will admit, I had no idea that Charmcater was McDuffie's favorite, but that still doesn't change my opinion. Dwayne McDuffie was one of the greatest writers I've ever had the privilege to watch, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to call him out on something he screwed up on. I have seen him handle far better character journeys than this, particularly with the work he contributed to with Hawkgirl or Amanda Waller of Justice League. He managed to take the mess that was Kevin and turn him into a really likeable and sympathetic character, a process that took time, dedication, and focus. I'm sorry if I couldn't see Charmcaster through his eyes, but that's because he had a year of writing between "Where the Magic Happens" and "Enemy of My Enemy," where I had a year of no appearances. This was one case where his intent did not translate clearly to practice. If he were still alive, I would love to say, "I'm sorry. I normally love your work, but I don't think this worked. I can see what you're trying for, but there's just too much missing for it to be conveyed clearly, especially to the children who are watching the show." And I'd hope that maybe it would help him out some for the next time. But just because he's gone doesn't mean that I can't say it. He's got a great legacy, and my little comment floating in oblivion shouldn't be enough to mar it. But as an audience, our job is to critique. If something doesn't make sense, we have to say it. Not just to teach the writer currently working on it, but to teach the writers coming on later too.
I'm glad you found my review and felt passionately enough about the character to comment. But please, don't ever doubt in my love for this man's work. I just think that some of it isn't as amazing as the rest of it, no matter how much love he put into it.