#also don't get me started on the differences between what kane did to abby and the relationship between emori and murphy

[sometimesrosy]

Don't you think it's strange that Bob, Eliza, Lola, Chelsey, Chris are all in set (Richard and Lindsey seem to be at least in Vancouver as well) and Tasya is away in Mexico? Do you think Echo will have a story aside from the main group?

I’m pretty sure that Echo will have a lot of story. Will she have a story separate from the main group? Nah, not really. She’s not Raven or Murphy or Kane or Abby or Monty. Her role is more along the lines of Lxa or Roan or Luna. While she’s going to have a backstory and a plot, it will be tied into the main plot and/or Clarke and/or Bellamy. 

Clarke and Bellamy get separate plots, because their character developments are PART of the story being told. They are the main characters. The heroes. How they grow is the story. This explores backstory, emotion, psychology, romance, family, friends, motivation, politics, dreams, leadership, bravery etc. Who they are as people is the story. Who they start out as and who they grow into. How they change is the story.

The supporting characters also get this kind of treatment, but not as often or as deeply. They get, maybe a storyline a season to explore their independent development in ways that relate outside of the main plot, or perhaps are representations of the main themes or parallels to the main characters’ development. Thus we had Raven struggling with her disability. Monty with his mother. Jasper with his suicidal path, Abby and Kane with their romance. Murphy with his independence/romance. Octavia with her... oh wait, she kind of gets main character treatment. Let’s keep an eye on that.

Then we have the characters like Roan, Lxa or Maya. They are there for a purpose. That purpose is 1) to move the plot forward, and 2) to contribute to the development of a main character. All are involved with a main character and, well, an antagonist. We have politics and war and themes all over the place. They help or hinder the main characters. Or both. (When people said that L was the main character in season 3, it drove me batty, because she was clearly there as a foil to the main character, Clarke. CLARKE. C. L. A. R. K. E.)

The back story we get on them is not actually about their development as a character. Although we can follow their story and see a coherent path, and they could be the hero of their own story, all their stories END, and are used to get the main characters to the next step in their journey. Which is the story we are watching. It’s ABOUT Clarke and Bellamy. This has been confirmed by JR. The 100 is the story of Clarke and Bellamy. It is the story of The 100. Not guest stars. Not grounders. Not even the adults. 

This is how Echo has been treated. And Tasya becoming a main doesn’t change that. Zach was made a main and his story ended and his part was played so Clarke and Bellamy could go on in their story. Did Roan or Lxa or Maya have a story away from the protagonists? They had family stories and political stories and personal revelations about what they wanted and what they believed and what they would sacrifice or wouldn’t. But all of those were connected to Clarke and/or Bellamy’s development. Unlike, say, Monty’s struggle with his mom... which might have REFLECTED Bellamy’s and Clarke’s fight with their respective mentors, but ultimately had no effect at ALL on Bellamy or Clarke’s character development. Although it did feed into the plot. 

I see Echo’s character as playing a similar role. Clearly it’s about Bellamy. Clarke has Madi... which is going to be interesting because I don’t know if they are going to treat her as a main, who possibly could take Octavia’s role in the narrative or as a secondary or as a tertiary (confession, I could have the titles for these wrong. that’s why i’m not an academic. so if you have corrections I’m glad to hear.) So I’m going to have to hold off on analyzing her until I get more info. But I don’t see them turning Echo into a main. It COULD happen, but she is still following the same kind of role as L and Roan, so it’s not one of my predictions. 

IF Tasya is really off in Mexico while the rest of them are still filming, that actually supports my theory that Tasya will have an important role in the first half of the season, like Roan or L, and then die around midseason, after she has been somewhat redeemed and we begin to care about her. 

I do not think she’s being set up to be a romantic character at all, like Roan. They set C and L up before and during their story. This never happened with B and E. It was about forgiveness, betrayal, loyalty, sacrifice, not love, politics, alliances, jealousy or weakness/strength. B and E never talked about romance. Closest was ‘sorry your girlfriend died.’ Big difference between how Clarke took relationship advice from Lxa “Love is a weakness” The Heda, who was jealous of Bellamy, kissed her and asked her to come home with her before they ever got to a romantic story. It’s more like ROAN’s story with Clarke, which never ever became romantic. And he was a serious alliance that was never 100% sure, affected both plot and character development, and we got to care about him before he died. This seems like a path they might take with Echo. Of course, they don’t like to repeat the same paths, so it might change. But it feels similar to me. And she is named “Echo.” 

[jewelleighanna]

You speak a lot about the narrative "favoring" certain characters, specifically Clarke (something I completely agree with). I was wondering,who do you believe the narrative favors/elevates the most? To me, it seems to be (obviously) Clarke, Octavia and, to a certain degree, s3 Lexa (I don't think Lexa was favoured at all in s2 - we never saw her perspective with the mountain/betrayal. But s3 did a job of elevating her to nearly perfect). Kane also seems to be a favorite in the writers room.

I agree with all of the characters you listed. With Clarke, part of it is that she is the main character, so we are given her perspective the most. We understand her motivations and goals. And that’s good, a story should allow for the protagonist’s perspective. The issue I have with Clarke is that she has developed into having a savior complex. She is portrayed as always right - and quite often she IS right, she IS the one with the solutions, etc, but she isn’t given much breathing room to make mistakes. When she does make mistakes, it’s passed of as her having no choice and it being another burden she has to carry. Clarke is a very strong-willed person and she says she has no choice over and over and over, so we as viewers tend to believe that’s true. 

Other characters have always been willing to criticize Clarke but the issue with that is those characters are portrayed as wrong and the takeaway is “poor Clarke. She tries her best and is dumped on for it.” For example, Jasper confronts Clarke about Mt Weather and Bellamy confronts Clarke about her leaving after Mt Weather. Those scenes are powerful, but it doesn’t allow Clarke to grow from her mistakes, because her mistakes aren’t radiating Mt Weather or leaving Arkadia. Her mistake in season 3a was thinking that she still has a right to lead despite being away from three months and having no idea what her people want or need. She’s not willing to listen either. She fails to ask questions, even to other leaders. For example, in 3.03, she basically informs Kane and Abby that they have to join the coalition. Her methods aren’t necessarily portrayed as good in the narrative, but the end message is still “war is bad and Clarke can stop all of this, so everyone should just listen to her.” That’s why I REALLY like episode 4.04, because the writers finally acknowledged Clarke’s complex. Clarke is faced with another impossible decision and has to create a list on who to save. Objectively she is “right” – she has chosen the best people to ensure their survival, but her methods are wrong - the keeping secrets and single-handedly choosing others’ fates. The episode allowed Clarke to be confronted in a very organic way. There’s not a wrong and right choice here, but there are other characters with very legitimate concerns. Jasper also pointed out the flaw in Clarke always believing she has no choice, that that philosophy is in fact just an illusion. All in all, I think this episode took Clarke down a notch and because of that, it gives her room to grow as person and earn her place as a leader. All very good things for the future of her character.

Octavia is a little different. I wouldn’t considered her “favored” except that she does all these questionable things and is never called out for them. It took her becoming a rouge murderer for Kane for reprehend her. But what about her beating up Bellamy? Or things she says, such as telling Lincoln or Indra how to be better Trikru? Like Clarke, I think Octavia does have a complex in thinking she is right but the difference is we as viewers can see she isn’t right. Still, it’s true that she isn’t called out by other characters for her flaws. Her violence is portrayed as “badass.” Lexa’s character has that issue as well. I miss season 1 in that violence wasn’t glorified like that. With Octavia, she is portrayed as violent – but in a way that shows she is strong and cool, which romanticizes the violence. Despite that, I actually feel pretty good about her character in season 4. She’s going down a “dark” path, but it’s forcing her to make choices that she has always criticizes others for. If the writers can write her to point where she can self-reflect, her character will much stronger for it.

Finally, there’s Lexa. More than any other character, the narrative elevates Lexa, particularly in season 3 and 4. This is because in season 3, they had to re-route her characterization. In season 1 and 2, she was the antagonist turned anti-hero turned antagonist again. Starting in season 3, she was portrayed as a hero, with very little in-between being an antagonist and being a hero. Clarke was the one who had to work through her own issues to see that, to forgive Lexa, but Lexa had to do very little in terms of changing. She had a change in philosophy a little bit but basically, the narrative was saying that she was always wise.There’s a great post that I read that shows how Lexa used gas lighting on Clarke in Polis in season 3. The viewers were gaslit in the process too, made to feel crazy if we question Lexa (the fans expatiated this). Lexa was wise and benevolent and heroic according to the new narrative. All of the clans wanted to overthrow her? That’s because the clans were wrong. Lexa was still the best thing to ever happen in that world. I have written many post on why Lexa was NOT wise or benevolent. I will be forever a little bitter about the way Lexa was written because I liked her in season 2. If the narrative had allowed that character to develop naturally, instead of trying to force Clxa to happen, Lexa could have developed more into an anti-hero instead of skipping her right to being a hero. She should be sympathetic, yes, but at the end of the day, flawed and strategically and morally wrong.  Clarke should have been allowed to look at Lexa’s life as a tragedy of who not to be and learn from that. Lexa’s life and death is a tragedy because she did always have the potential to be more. Sadly, because of the uproar of her death, I feel like the narrative can’t say anything negative about her again, so instead we get more re-routed Lexa narrative by Roan implying that Lexa taught Clarke about expanding past your clan. At this point, I would rather them just not mention Lexa at all, which again makes me sad and a little bitter, because Lexa is an important figure in that world. With Kane, I don’t think he is favored. I think the writers like him, yes, but that’s not the same thing as saying his view is unfairly and untruthfully portrayed. He is often portrayed in a wise advisor role but that’s part of his character. Unlike Lexa, the narrative isn’t saying he is overly wise when he’s not, he just ends up saying things that make sense. The possible exception to being favored is season 3a. His perspective was favored over Pike. I blame EVERYTHING about season 3a though. Part of it was that Kane was on Clarke and Lexa’s side, which was all around portrayed as the “right” one. Still, looking at Kane’s storyline, his characterization made sense. It was Pike (and his followers) that weren’t given perspective. The balance in perspectives was missing.

Thus, for the “most” favored, I would still say Clarke (we are more likely to be on her side than anyone else). Lexa is the most elevated (given a status that she did not earn or deserve).

#the 100 #Clarke Griffin #Octavia Blake #the 100 meta #Marcus Kane