!Discussion: The "Tragedy" of Velma and Shaggy

[weber_dubois22]

You know, I've been wondering about the Shaggy/Velma relationship in Mystery Incorporated ever since they announced the new episode a couple days ago. What was the point of putting them together if their ultimate objective was simply to break them apart? Its one thing to create drama and tension for a romantic relationship on TV to "break up the monotony" of a steady relationship, but it another to "demonize" the female character (Velma) by turning her into a control freak who doesn't seem appreciate the person she's with for who he is (thanks to some bad advice from Daphene for the most part) and appears to despise the close knit relationship between a man his dog (Shaggy and Scooby).

And the worst thing of it, Shaggy is such a push over about everything until she throws down the ultimatum of "The Dog or Me". I never got why they used the Shaggy/Scooby friendship for the basis of some weird ass love-triangle between the three, let alone why they'd make Scooby against the idea of Shaggy and Velma dating (or maybe I'm looking at that particular angle from the real world perspective, as I'm sure your pet really doesn't give a damn about who you date, so long as you continue to love and care for it. Maybe that's the angle they were aiming for, but it didn't come off that way for me), it gave me pause on more than one occasion.

Comments

Rant ahoy...

[brendala.livejournal.com]

The fact that this show sunk the Shaggy/Velma ship isn't the thing that bothers me the most. What bothers me the most is the fact that Velma -who was always one of the most confident, intelligent, and inspirational characters in the franchise- has been reduced to nothing more than this show's emotional punching bag!

Think about it. Whenever the writers want to move the plot along, they make Velma behave like the bad guy and/or suffer somehow. When she and Shaggy were together, they made her act like a shrew and cling to him no matter how much he neglected her. Once they broke up, half the episodes showed her either moping over Shaggy, moping about her looks, getting kidnapped, getting the brush off from Fred & Daphne, getting used, getting betrayed, etc, etc. If this weren't a Scooby show, I would predict that she'd be raped and/or killed at some point (and I'd probably be right!).
MI-Velma is like a less pitiful version of Rose from the first Full Metal Alchemist anime!

Worst of all, a lot of episodes have made very mean-spirited jabs at Velma's looks. The two main examples are Fred telling her she has ugly skin and the recent revelation that MI-Velma wears the turtleneck to cover up her "neck waddle". This coupled with the extreme sexualization of Daphne (which I'll rant about another day) and the fact that Shaggy went gaga over a skinny Asian chick (with Scooby's blessing, no less!!!) gives off a very disturbing message:
Nerdy/homely girls are undesirable and should stay covered and alone. Only girls who are thin and traditionally beautiful have any hope of getting a boyfriend. And if you don't have a boyfriend by the time you're in high school, you're a TOTAL LOSER!!

I hate to play moral crusader with TV shows; but this is Scooby Doo. Little kids LOVE Scooby Doo (and his human friends) and kids are smart enough to pick up on stuff like that. I can't imagine how I would feel if I watched Mystery Incorporated as a child and saw Velma (a character I identify with) being torn apart the way she is in this show.

Re: Rant ahoy...

[alicornmoon.livejournal.com]

Who has neck troubles at her age anyway? I'm 28 and still don't..Some people don't 'get' that style is different things to different people. Maybe she just get colds easily...maybe she was hurt before and that is why she clings to Shaggy so much..and maybe, just maybe if Scooby's past was taken into account he would have been nice to her and none of her ugly side would have come out (even if it was real) :P

Re: Rant ahoy...

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I guess they're trying to imply that part of MI-Velma's problem is that she has body image issues. And, while that issue can be handled tastefully, I'd rather not see Velma be written that way.

Velma has always seemed to be confident/comfortable in her looks. And we already have too few female characters out there who don't fit the Barbie mold as it is. I don't want to see Velma -one of the more famous "mold breakers"- have that kind of self-loathing written into her canon.

Re: Rant ahoy...

[rose-red5.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be that all surprised if Velma's body image issues have something to do with her mother.

Re: Rant ahoy...

[brendala.livejournal.com]

Why is that? Velma's mother seems very nice and she has a fairly normal relationship with Velma (at least compared to the other parent/child relationships in this show LOL).

Do you think Velma is worried that she'll grow up to look like her mom or something like that?

Re: Rant ahoy...

[rose-red5.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong I like Velma's mother, but notice how Velma mother wears a turtle-neck as well? In fact both her parents do don't they? I can't really remember we've seen her dad like what twice? Maybe they both have neck waddles? And Velma's afraid she inherited that trait from them.

Re: Rant ahoy...

[alicornmoon.livejournal.com]

Maybe she actually wants to be like her parents and the whole having to have a better reason for dressing the way she does thing just got to her, being in high school and all. Maybe she actually likes it fine and has a great neck :P