|
Why does the Nick fandom absolve antagonistic characters while Girl Next Door characters and Megan receive hate?[]
In the Nick fandom, characters such as Sam Puckett and Jade West are far more popular and get away with their antagonistic behavior by not being called out on it in the fandom while Megan Parker, Tori Vega and Carly Shay are hated by huge chunks of the fandom.
Megan played pranks on her brothers. Sure, some were over the top, but it's around the same level as Sam's physical attacks on Freddie. Fandom often uses the excuse that "it's just a comedy" all the time for Sam, but this never comes up as a defense for Megan. Both Tori and Carly are hated by a large portion of the ICarly and Victorious fandoms, seen as "boring" protagonists who get all the attention. But the five-episode Sam/Freddie arc taking over iCarly receives no such complaints.
It's normal for a fandom to favor the snarky jerkish character over the kind and cheerful hero, but what makes Megan different from Sam and Jade?
It all boils down to Shipping. The shippability of the characters is directly proportionate to their popularity and the fandom's willingness to put up with or excuse their bad behavior. Megan is too young for that sort of thing, so she's painted as pure evil. Sam and Freddie are the same age, and Jade has her canon boyfriend Beck. Sam's actions towards Freddie are interpreted as a misunderstood Tsundere who has "hidden feelings" but is unable to act on them. Jade has her existing relationship with Beck which tells the audience she does have hidden feelings, backed up by her having a meltdown when Beck breaks up with her.
Sam and Freddie were in the process of a romantic arc which ignored four seasons of development between Carly and Freddie. They broke up in the 5th episode of the arc because they had literally nothing in common and when they tried to do things together that didn't involve making out (like going on dates, visiting family, or tagging along with each other's hobbies) their relationship fizzled and died out. Furthermore, Freddie still had feelings for Carly.
Beck and Jade, meanwhile, were once called "the worst couple" due to their explosive dynamic. While they're together from the start, Jade is a Jerkass and Beck is a kind person. Jade will treat Beck poorly for any perceived slight while expecting him to be there for her always. She makes out with Moose while she and Beck are broken up, but gets angry at him for even thinking about going out with Meredith; the latter incident leads to Beck realizing how much he loves her and taking her back.
But again, it all boils down to "hidden feelings." Sam is viewed as a Tsundere who's afraid to admit her love for Freddie, while Jade is super attached to Beck despite her poor treatment of him half the time.
Carly is "in the way" of Sam and Freddie because Freddie has feelings for her. Tori is seen as an obstacle to Beck and Jade because she kisses Beck during an improv exercise and Beck has made moves on her before. (Which Tori promptly shot down.)
Carly and Sam have very different personalities when it comes to guys. Carly will take charge and move in the first moment she sees an opening for a guy she likes. Sam is moody, detached, rarely makes the first move and has no success with guys. This is then converted into points like "Sam needs Freddie because she deserves someone who loves her" while Carly is considered to "have enough boys that she doesn't need Freddie" or called a slut that doesn't deserve Freddie's love because she dares only see him as a friend. To fans, Carly not returning Freddie's love is a sin, proof that she's ungrateful and a bad person. Sam, however, gets a free pass for abusing Freddie and painted as his perfect love interest because of her hidden feelings.
There's also Freudian Excuse at play. Pam Puckett shows up in an episode after dozens of references to her bad parenting, treating Sam like crap and favoring Sam's sister Melanie. Sam's father is eventually mentioned as having left and never coming back. Jade's father disapproves of Jade's career choice. Meanwhile, Carly has a loving brother despite their parents being absent, while Tori has two supportive parents. Sam and Jade having angst over their family issues plus not being main characters gives them a free pass; meanwhile, if the situations were reversed, Carly or Tori would be expected to "get over it and stop whining".
Giving characters like this vulnerability makes them more three-dimensional and less one-note, explaining the root of their behavior. But fandom frequently forgets that explanations are not excuses, latch onto these vulnerabilities, deciding they excuse every bad thing the character has ever done and are the reason they "deserve" the character they're being shipped with. Meanwhile, in their eyes Freddie is supposed to forgive Sam for her constant bullying of him and Beck must stay with Jade no matter how she treats him.
Helga/Arnold in Hey Arnold! doesn't easily fit the exact same mold as Sam/Freddie and Jade/Beck: Helga truly cares for Arnold despite her outward attitude and has shown it on many occasions, Arnold understands her more than she thinks he does, "nice girl" competition Lila has no interest in Arnold and supports Helga's love for him. Arnold's relationship to Helga is less "put-upon object of her affections and the target of her abuse" and more "the one person who was nice to her when nobody else cared and one of two bright spots in her life", and Helga is constantly seen berating herself for her inability to express her feelings properly.
But Helga herself still fits the same mold as Sam and Jade, a Tsundere with a Freudian Excuse and hidden feelings for the male character. Her fans will give her the Draco in Leather Pants treatment due to "Helga on the Couch," ignoring the episode's secondary message of "just because you're hurt doesn't mean you can take your anger out on other people."
Megan, on the other hand, doesn't have hidden feelings for anyone and is growing up in the same stable home as Drake and Josh. Therefore, her actions can't be excused in a way fans approve of. "She's a kid, and kids can be bratty" isn't enough for them, so they bash her. If she were older, unrelated to the boys, and had feelings for one of them, she'd be a fan favorite.
These shows aren't the only example of this. Zuko/Katara on Avatar: The Last Airbender is another example of a fandom which saw Belligerent Sexual Tension within an antagonistic relationship. Zuko is given a free pass for his harsh words and bad actions due to his abusive home life while main character Aang is hated for being cheerful despite the genocide of his people (which many fans either ignore or blame him for), and for being Katara's actual love interest. The shippers claim Zuko is better for Katara and deserves her more while giving little to no thought whatsoever to Katara's own feelings.
Jimmy Neutron and Cindy are an example of BST that grew into a canon romance. Drake and Josh had Josh/Mindy. Fans were rooting for Mako/Korra in The Legend of Korra before the show even came out, to the point where the moment it looked like they might not get together they turned their daggers onto Asami Sato, a kind rich girl who immediately caught Mako's eye in her first appearance. Mako/Korra did become canon only to fizzle out and Korra to end up with her initial love rival Asami. The canonicity of these relationships (brief as Makorra was) validates the fandom's insistence that all bullies and abrasive characters just want to be loved, and that BST makes for the best and most entertaining relationships.
This isn't to say that Belligerent Sexual Tension is the only relationship type that happen on Nick shows, and that antagonistic characters are always the most popular ones. There are several shows where the opposite type of relationship was popular and became canon. Danny Phantom/Sam, Ned/Moze, True Jackson/Jimmy, and Aang/Katara are good examples of this.
The difference between them and the others mentioned here? That none of those shows had a snarky jerk as part of the main cast and the main trio of those shows was the lead, the lead's best friend of the same sex and a love interest of the opposite sex:
- Show Lead: Danny = Ned = True = Aang
- Best Friend: Tucker = Cookie = Lulu = Sokka
- Love Interest: Sam = Moze = Jimmy = Katara
In the case of Aang/Katara, Zuko was not a part of the main group until the latter half of the third season. The closest thing to an antagonistic type on the heroes' side was Toph, who developed a crush on Sokka and had zero romantic inclinations towards Aang.
But for the Vocal Minority of Nick fandom, the equation is simple. Jerkass+Freudian Excuse+Shippability=Fandom's Pet. Remove shippability from the equation and you've got The Scrappy.