Well damn, I’ve been meaning to write up a long ass meta post over this issue. Reckon I might as well throw my two cents into the matter now.
OK, Mike. Mikey-Mike-Mike. People are calling his character offensive—and frankly, that’s pretty damn understandable with the whole “reset button” spiel. It’s disrespectful to mental disorders and it’s flat out bad writing. There’s never an easy answer handed to you on a silver platter in life, and there shouldn’t be in fiction as it comes off cheap. And there is definitely no easy solution to a mental disorder. As someone’s who’s been on medication the past few years for depression n anxiety, including weekly trips to the therapist for a good half of that period, you bet your ass I’ve never come across a ‘reset button’ hidden away in my noggin. I don’t know what the writers were thinking when they wrote the finale, but it sure as hell screwed Mike’s character over.
But I’ve gotta seriously disagree with folks saying his entire existence has been offensive. Hear me out.
One of my best buds has DID (and yes, it’s DID, not MPD as the show throws around), and she was ridiculously excited to see this character. I’d never heard of Total Drama before as I avoid Cartoon Network like the plague, but she got me hooked on the All Stars season, catching me up to speed and watching the episodes together as they aired. Since then, watched ROTI and starting the original (Leshawna is fab and you lot need to bow down).
Mike’s my bud’s favorite character outta everything since she relates to his struggle. Mike’s my favorite character since I think he’s a damn good piece of work. I’m a sucker for sweet characters, and his awkward sincerity won me over easy. Some might call it ‘boring’, but to that I say meh. Of course, we can’t forget the personalities either. Svetlana’s my favorite, with Manitoba coming in as a close second. They’re wonderful characters, and I get a real kick outta seeing them on screen. Vito and Chester are real beauties too. Ton of fun to watch and especially seeing their reactions bounce off the other personalities. Grumpy grump Chester is prolly what I’ll end up as if I live to be an old fart. Mutant cross between him n Sophia Petrillo. I digress.
More than anything, Mike’s so representative. He’s a PoC (and I am loving the diverse casts in this show hot damn), he’s afflicted with a mental disorder, one that often gets the shaft to boot, and I’ll argue that Svetlana is a subtle support of trans* because, hey, it’s a female personality in a male body. I’m a lil surprised I haven’t seen this brought up more. And when I do, it’s done piss poorly. Saw someone gushing over Svetlana in the tag, and a kiddo’s response in reblog was “you know that has a dick”. Uh, wow. Bugger off.
Folks tend to look at the bad sides of Mike—and I get why to an extent. The reset button was some serious bullshit. But there is plenty of good there too, often overlooked. First and foremost, Mike’s mental disorder is seen as a problem. It’s not a cool or cutesy ‘quirk’ that gives him an advantage, but often impairs his social relationships. Hell, we get that in the very first episode of ROTI. Mike admits to being scared of this issue ‘ruining things’ for him again. Anyone who suffers from a mental disorder can tell you this is some relatable shit. When you’ve got one, your relationships are often strained as a result, and it’s about as fun as gargling a bag of nails. I think ROTI handles this factor remarkably well, portraying how much grief Mike goes through as a result of his condition. He’s so afraid that he refuses to tell anyone outright, especially not Zoey, and constantly worries over them thinking he’s a ‘freak’. Again, relatable. He’d rather be manipulated and humiliated by Scott than cough up his secret, thinking the former’s a better alternative than the latter. That the disorder would make others think far less of him than the crap he’s enduring at Scott’s hand. I dunno man, that’s a huge worry folk feel when they’ve got a mental disorder—that their loved ones will leave ‘em because they think it’s not real, that it’s ‘freaky’, that it somehow makes them less human.
And what I love about the show embracing that principle is that it ultimately doesn’t botherthe others. No one thinks it’s weird, no one thinks it’s freaky. Even Scott doesn’t think those things—he’s just using the secret to manipulate Mike into doing what he wants. It’s Mike’s own fear suffocating his relationships, and once the fog’s cleared up, no one gives him any shit for it. Rather, he’s supported. He’s loved by his friends, he’s encouraged. Cameron, the observant bugger, notices Mike’s behavior and outright asks him if he’s got DID—and he doesn’t shy away from Mike or act any different towards him. Rather, Cameron helps Mike control the issue. He encourages their friendship. Zoey doesn’t think any less of Mike either, and doesn’t treat him any different. She’s just glad to have an explanation behind what was going on.
A good support system is such a necessity when you’ve got a disability, I cannot stress this enough. Support is a necessity period, but when you’re constantly feeling down on yourself and scared of ‘fucking everything up’, it’s absolutely essential. The fact that the show addresses this and has everyone treat the disorder as nothing huge or detracting from Mike is great. I love how Zoey’s immediate reaction after finding out is to hug him and say “multiples means there’s only more Mike to love.” He’s not treated as the ‘freak’ he thought he would be—Mike’s given legitimate support and affection.
In terms of how the disorder itself is portrayed, I’ve gotta say it does catch onto several accurate rungs, albeit in an exaggerated sense. Mike will often be disoriented, confused how he got to certain places because he doesn’t share his personality’s memory—that’s damn well spot on. He has to fight for control over his own body, resulting in a great deal of stress on it—again, accurate, even if it’s exaggerated. And although it’s admittedly rushed, the ‘who’s the original’ scare actually holds a good deal more weight than people give it credit for. They argue for control, and my mate’s told me that she relates heavily to that, with her personalities going at one another just as Mike’s do. They’ll squabble and call each other names, saying the other’s a wimp or lame or vice versa. Not in the physical manifestation sense obviously, but just bitterly fighting one another for control. My bud’s expressed many times how much strain her body undergoes when a personality is trying to take control or is being ‘triggered’, and the fight scene between Mike n the personalities really exemplifies this. I always thought the way he was beating himself up physically too represented that actual bodily strain. It’s not just in your head—it’s negatively affecting your whole body.
Yes, the inner brain journey is extremely exaggerated. Personalities can and will communicate with each other, but obviously not to the degree the show portrays it as with tables, towers, portraits, boulders, etc. This is a series that doesn’t try to take itself too seriously and exaggerates pretty much everything. But the symbolic nature, such as the fight scene, is pretty spot on.
The stereotype thing I had to look up cause I was unfamiliar with it. I don’t consider myself part of this fandom, but always best to be informed. Yes, there are sour implications by using the ‘Multiple Personality Guy’ label. Personally, I think the whole idea of these stereotypes is pretty dumb, but especially from a writer’s perspective. All Star’s is flat out uninspiring compared to the ones in ROTI. I mean seriously, how’d we downgrade from quips like Tanned Attitude In a Can, Dirt Disturber, Has a Great Personality and then Some, and 98 1/2 Pound Brainiac to shit like ‘the Multiple Personality Disorder Guy’, the Troublemaker, the Bubble Boy, etc.? The laziness is so bloody well transparent. Hell, Zoey’s is exactly the same except with the wording moved around a bit. I have to say I don’t think they intended the negative implications coming with the label they assigned Mike, but I can understand why folks take offense. Regardless, I don’t take that as an issue with Mike himself as a character, but instead the writers. They were lazy doing these labels, and it shows. The implications are their own fault.
Does the show get everything accurate? Naw. Could it have been done better? Perhaps. But for what we got outside All Star’s finale, I think it was a damn good job well done. I love Mike, I love the personalities, and although I understand why folks are upset, I think people need to take a step back to at least appreciate all the good associated with this character. Acceptance and support of someone with a mental disorder are the two biggies I took outta this show, and I think that’s solid.
As a side note, I’ve noticed folks express concern over the use of the term ‘multiple personality disorder’ as opposed to ‘dissociative identity disorder’. I get where that’s coming from because DID really is the appropriate terminology. However, I can also understand why the show used MPD instead. It’s a simplified understanding of the disorder by what it gets across—there’s more than one personality inside someone’s body. Boom, easy to get the gist of by the term use than DID, which others are more unfamiliar with and can’t get the idea just by the name.
Aight, I’ve spieled enough for one night. Jay out.