Meta: The Assigning of Blame among Fictional Characters

With the release of Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast in theatres, I did what any fan that grew up in the Nineties would do: watched the original animated version instead. I'll probably see the new one eventually (if not simply to complain about it) but my philosophy is that if you want to remake something, do so because you can make the original better. And in the case of the animated Beauty and the Beast, you can't improve on perfection.

But I'm not actually here to talk about Disney fairy tales or their remakes – instead I want to discuss two lines that caught my attention as I watched the animated film for what must have been the hundredth or so time. When Belle and her father are trapped in the cellar as Gaston and the townsfolk ride out to confront the Beast at his castle, Belle turns to her father and cries: "this is all my fault!"

Later she repeats the words when cradling the Beast's body in her arms, telling him: "this is all my fault; if only I'd gotten here sooner."

The words rang a bell, but it wasn't until reading this review of Aladdin that I realized why. In that movie the protagonist has a line that's almost identical (at least in sentiment) to Belle's, crying: "this is all my fault – I should have freed the genie when I had the chance!"

So what point am I trying to make here? The link above points out something interesting: that when Aladdin admits blame for the situation he's found himself in, it's actually true. He should have freed the genie when he had the chance. Breaking his initial promise to do so after his first two wishes had been granted gave Jafar the opportunity to steal the genie's lamp and wreak havoc on Agrabah.

And it was Aladdin's own insecurities that led to this decision, making it a mistake born out of the character's foibles. It's a bad choice not made accidentally or without full knowledge of the situation – but out of fear and selfishness.

Compare this with Belle, who twice states that everything is her fault, and yet clearly can't be blamed for any of the terrible events that occur in the movie. Perhaps she's holding herself responsible for showing Gaston and the townsfolk an image of Beast in the magic mirror? If so, the audience can't be too hard on her considering she did it to save her father from being dragged off to the asylum.

And her statement that: "if only I'd gotten here sooner"? Come on, she was clearly travelling as fast as she could, and I'm not sure what she could have done to interrupt the Gaston/Beast fight if she had returned a few seconds earlier anyway.

It made me realize that the words: "it's all my fault" are uttered quite a lot in movies/television by a variety of different protagonists. Something terrible has happened, and because they're the main character, they are guilt-ridden. The blame lies with them, even when it clearly doesn't.

Over on Arrow, Oliver takes the blame (and is held fully responsible by another character) for Shado's death, even though it wasn't his fault in the slightest – a madman has two women held at gunpoint and forces Ollie to choose between them.  He makes an instinctive lunge toward the woman who seems most at risk, and Shado is shot in her stead. Nothing that happens in this scenario can be laid at Ollie's door, yet he carries the guilt of it with him for years afterwards.

A similar blame-game plays out between Snow White and Regina on Once Upon a Time. I abandoned the show at the end of season three, and a part of me wished I had checked out sooner when it became increasingly clear that a nine year old girl WAS in fact being held responsible for a man's death. The narrative forces her to carry that guilt into adulthood, even though she was the victim of a highly manipulative woman (the actual murderer) who took advantage of her good nature and honesty. Snow White repeatedly apologizes for what she did, and at one point even seems ready to lay down her own life in recompense.

Before I try to figure out why stories often hold characters responsible for events that are completely outside their control, I have to point out the exception: the Pixar films. From Toy Story to Brave, Pixar has followed a surprisingly consistent pattern of basing the story around a central character's fallibility and the fallout of their bad decisions. Woody's jealousy of Buzz is what sends the two of them flying out Andy's window and (eventually) into Sid's backyard. Marlin's overprotectiveness of his son is what causes Nemo to swim beyond the reef and get kidnapped. Lightning McQueen's arrogance and impatience is what leads to him getting stuck in Radiator Springs.

It can even work when a character's virtue becomes a flaw by being taken to extremes: Inside Out's Joy is so obsessed with making Riley happy that she misunderstands what she really needs.

In each case the character makes a mistake, owns it, and tries to rectify the situation. And this is a rare thing in stories.

What's not so rare is the (often causal) acceptance of blame by a hero or heroine for bad things that have happened, even when said things are clearly beyond their control. Why does Belle state "this is all my fault" when it's clearly all Gaston's fault for being a dick? Why does Ollie feel responsible for Shado's death when she was shot in the back by a madman? Why does Snow White have to continually grovel for Regina's forgiveness instead of telling her: "I didn't kill boyfriend, your mother did, and it's ludicrous to hold a grudge against a nine year old for being tricked into giving away his identity."

I can't help but feel that it's a shorthand way for a writer to convey: "this is a good person." Guilt, even when it's unwarranted, tells an audience that a character is empathetic and aware of what's going on around them. Villains don't give a shit about anyone but themselves; heroes will take on board any emotional burden as an indication of their goodness.

And this is especially true of female characters, since there's still an underlying assumption that your typical heroine needs to be innately likeable, sympathetic and subservient to the needs of others. What easier way to get that across than have her cry: "this is all my fault!" when something bad happens, followed by a bout of abject contrition?

The problem is there's a difference between taking responsibility for something and assigning self-blame, as well as a double standard when you look at how it's handled when it comes to male and female characters. I left The 100 after Lexa's death, but I have it on good authority that Clarke spent the rest of that season apologising profusely to everyone around her, even as she fought tooth and nail to keep them all alive. Heck, Stephen King – yes THAT Stephen King – even tweeted about it.

And I don't need to look too closely to see that Bellamy, who engaged in an actual massacre that season, didn't apologize anywhere near as often as Clarke did. And of course, though it was both of them who pulled the lever at the end of the second season, it was only Clarke that felt so guilt-ridden that she opted for self-imposed exile.

It's almost as though The 100 writers were afraid of the fact their female lead was making excruciating life-or-death decisions – many of which were imposed on her by others (did she really have a choice when she was faced with watching her people die or pulling that lever and dooming the Mountain Men instead? Would any of us have chosen differently?) and so overcompensated by having her repeatedly apologize for them.

So what happens when a female character does have a personality trait that results in her making a bad decision that has to be set right? Merida from Brave is another Pixar protagonist whose attitude leads to grave consequences: in this case her mother's life being endangered. The film tracks the progress that Merida and Elinor have to make in order to come to a better understanding of each other, and yet I see much more fandom criticism of Merida than any of Disney/Pixar's other fallible protagonists.

Woody's jealousy, Lighting's arrogance, even Aladdin's self-esteem issues are accepted as part of their character development, yet Merida's anger at being forced to marry a perfect stranger often sees her labelled as a "spoiled brat". I've seen similar complaints levelled against Joy: that her optimism and drive made her "too annoying."

So we're left with an odd conundrum that's especially pronounced when it comes to the writing of female characters. A woman makes no mistakes and she'll be slammed as a Mary Sue. But a woman who does make mistakes, often as a result of her own personal shortcomings, will be held to a much higher standard of behaviour than men. Either way, she gets short-changed as a character.

In this no-win scenario it's easy to see why a writer would give their female characters a guilt complex: it's an easy way of making her seem flawed when she's actually done nothing wrong. 

But how many times do we see a female character make an honest-to-God mistake based on personal foibles that they then have to rectify? Off the top of my head I can only think of a few. I've already mentioned Merida. Then there's Princess Lili from Scott Ridley's Legend, whose desire to touch a unicorn results in its death and an endless winter. Sarah from Labyrinth makes a reckless wish to have her baby brother spirited away by goblins. Jill Pole in The Silver Chair is showing off when Eustace tries to rescue her and ends up slipping from the cliff edge.

If we go back further, there are a myriad of fairy tales that involve a young woman breaking a promise to her husband and spying on him while he's asleep – most notably Psyche from Greek mythology and the lassie from East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon. In all cases, the female character has to spend the rest of the story making amends for the terrible mistake that led her to (temporary) disaster.

(Though it's just occurred to me that most of the time her fatal "flaw" is simple disobedience. Merida, Lili, Psyche – they all go directly against instructions and expectations laid upon them by men. It's as old as Eve and the apple, Pandora and the box).

***

This is quite a haphazard post; one that I more or less made up as I went along. It hasn't ended where I expected it to, and I'm not entirely sure what my point is (if there's any point at all). But having looked through what I've just typed, I've come up with some writing tips:

Stories in which a character's decisions and actions effect the progression of the plot are good stories. It's the difference between a proactive and a reactive protagonist. But stories in which the moral strengths and failings of a character directly impact the plot are even better. It makes the characters more real, and it gives the story more weight.

So it's important to not be afraid in giving your characters foibles, and having those foibles influence the story in negative ways. Especially if it's a female character.  

Yes, I know that fandom's favourite game is "something bad just happened – what female character can I blame?" and that it's a scary prospect to force your female character to (gasp!) have flaws and (gasp!) have those flaws led to mistakes that (gasp!) have consequences! But it's okay. Parts of fandom are going to pull this crap no matter what your female character says or does, so you may as well make her three-dimensional in the meanwhile.

So if a female character cries: "it's all my fault!" don't let it be because of circumstances beyond her control. And don't let it be because she didn't obey some dude. Make sure her statement is true and make sure whatever it was happened due to her arrogance, or jealousy, or wilful ignorance, or bad temper, or some other dark and ugly impulse that she has to overcome in the course of her adventure.

Because taking responsibility for a mistake and trying to fix it is a noble endeavour. Taking the blame for something outside your control is just stupid. The former is more difficult to do and so makes for a better story; the latter is just a lazy way of making your protagonist seem noble when they're probably not.

Edit: I'm currently watching season two of The Flash, and minutes after posting this article I just watched an episode in which Barry - you guessed it - utters the words: "it's all my fault" in relation to circumstances that are not his fault in the slightest.