stil thinking about mia fey and dahlia hawthorne as foils in the different ways that they channel their past suffering.
mia was supposed to be the next head of the fey clan. dahlia was the heirress of a multimillion dollar jewelry company. in a way, both of them had their roads cut out for them the moment they were born. neither of them accepted these paths, however; mia pursued a career in law while dahlia, in much more violent fashion, faked her death and stole one of her father's most expensive diamonds. already, their motives are a pretty big indicator of how different they are; mia becomes a lawyer out of obligation towards her mother, while dahlia stages the kidnapping out of greed and resentment for her father.
another major difference is in how they treat their sisters. both mia and dahlia are separated from their sisters for extended periods of time. however, maya and mia are still very close; they tease each other and go for meals and its clear that they love each other very much. mia even relies on maya to hold onto evidence for her.
on the other hand, dahlia's treatment of iris is drastically different. i think the transcript speaks for itself:
mia leaves maya behind to live by herself. however, mia makes an effort to remain cordial with her no matter how long they are separated. dahlia leaves her sister behind so she could have more money to herself. and while dahlia drags iris along as an accomplice, iris often defies her, such as in the case of the staged kidnapping and when she falls in love with phoenix.
from the patterns we've established through their motives, its pretty safe to say that theres one huge difference: mia's love for others vs dahlia's selfishness. and ironically these two completely opposite things are rooted in the same thing: their mutual suffering at the hands of neglect and greed.
mia's goal of becoming an attorney is directly influenced by her mother's absence. she was only eleven when her mother was wrongfully accused of fraud, when misty fey abandoned her children and disappeared from the public eye. and at such a young age, mia had to be the sole guardian and provider of her one-year-old sister. it would be daunting for any child to be an orphan who basically had to raise her own sibling. and it's because of the allegations against mia's mother that she and her sister had to suffer so much.
when mia set out to convict redd white, she didn't have to become a defense attorney. (remember, godot could easily track down misty as a prosecutor! and a detective has more investigative authority to look into redd white's crimes) mia's entire job is to help the disadvantaged stand up to false accusations. in a way, she becomes the person who could have prevented her mother's disappearance. and she even plays a massive part in convicting the man responsible for it. she brings closure for herself and her sister, even beyond the grave, and she makes sure that no one else has to go through what her family had experienced for fifteen years.
likewise, dahlia's yearning for money and power comes from the neglect she faces from her parents. she openly condemns the people around her; her father only married into the family for financial gain, while her mother only cared about her and her sister for their spiritual power, of which they had none.
ironically, while dahlia criticizes her parents for being power-hungry and vengeful, she exhibits those same traits herself; she kills people for her own personal gain and attempts to murder maya out of revenge. what i think happened is that dahlia adopted these traits as a way to survive in a world where no one, not even her parents, would take her side. her kill-or-be-killed mindset protects her against people like her parents--and people like herself. and because dahlia makes no effort to stop this cycle of suffering that caused her so much grief, it continues to hurt iris, maya, mia, phoenix, diego, and so many others. mia seeks to protect others. dahlia seeks to protect herself.
it's said that you cant control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. and i think thats especially true here. its pretty clear to see that mia and dahlia's responses to their suffering is very different. and these responses ripple outward to others, for better or for worse. when mia finally triumphs over dahlia, she cuts short another cycle of suffering and she puts a stop to the pain of others by giving them the much needed closure that they deserve.
and thats pretty neat i think
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monica and debbie
“because if monica came back…said she was sorry, and stayed. i would forgive her. i would forgive her for everything because she’s my mom.” debbie, 3x09
“daughter’s always miss their mommies. did you miss me?” monica, 7x09
“i’m not your mom debbie, i didn’t just run out on my family to go do my own shit-” sandy, 11x07
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I’m a sucker for anything with Elle, and I’ve been a fan of both DP and MHA for a super long time, your art is great!
So am I! She's so awesome, it also conveniently fits into the trans Danny headcanon (that I love) really well. I will cry over every fic of her becoming her own person and learning to embrace the things that both make her different and the same as Danny, God I wish she got more attention in the show!
The struggle of her finding somewhere to belong really hits deep, it makes me so sad she didn't get a proper story and arc.
And I got out of MHA around season 3 and only just recently got interested in the show again, it comes and goes in waves but dp is a constant. Big shock coming back to it tho, like so much has changed, it makes me so happy that I get to re-watch it all again with clearer head though.
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