And you accuse others of being Maria bashers, but aren't you kind of coming off as a Michael basher.
I'll quote Girl afraid here :
This is true for the most part, although I find myself in pro-Maria camp a lot, due only to defending her actions against non-candies. She gets a much tougher deal in this fandom than Michael, who always gets a free pass because of his childhood, his alienness and the fact that he stayed for Maria. Nope, I love the guy to bits but he does not get a free pass from me. They both said and did shitty things, but no way do I sit back and watch Maria's entire character be defined by a couple of badly written scenes in season 3 while Michael comes off smelling like roses. They're both accountable but they are both genuinely good characters who loved each other, despite their constant ups and downs. If Michael is forgiven for his less than stellar actions in S1 & S2, then so should Maria be for S3.
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I wasn't aiming at dreamers when I was defending Maria, but more "other fans", who use season 3 Maria, and only season 3 Maria, to say that she was an ungrateful b**** who didn't deserve Michael, so "another girl" was better for Michael (like, the same girl who suggested killing him in WDAMYK or who didn't want to enter the balance to save his life). Time and time again, we read that Maria is... not worthy of Michael. Of "God Michael", sorry.
As Girl afraid said, when we are between candies, there's no pro-Maria or pro-Michael camps. The candy fans just love them both and accept that they both said and did shitty things, Michael in season 1 & 2, Maria in season 3. But when we come here, we see "other fans" (not dreamers) just idolizing Michael and turning a blind eye to what he has said and done in season 1 & 2 and bashing Maria for season 3. So I, and others, come off as defending Maria and bashing Michael, but we just want to remind those who celebrate Michael and consider him as Maria's victim, that he didn't behave that well too. That it's not fair that HIS dreams, HIS problems, HIS childhood get to be used to defend him but that nobody put themselves in Maria's shoes to explain HER dreams and HER problems.
But the fact that they made her character so freakin' wishy washy was what bugged me.
Hence the "fanfic Maria", that's how I labelled her in my previous post. That Maria was like directly out of a fanfic.
And somehow Michael is faulted for that?
Remember how in season 1, Michael broke up with Maria because he was getting too intense because of Maria and he didn't want that, he had to be a stonewall? It's not that different from Maria being too into Michael and his life that she couldn't be who she wanted. Maria is considered "ungrateful" for that, but who blames Michael for doing the same to Maria in season 1? So if Michael is faulted for that, then so was Maria faulted by Michael in season 1. Hence the reason why candies, among them, don't hate one or another character, because for us, Michael and Maria were equals on the "hurt each other" scale.
It's not Michael's fault that Maria didn't know what she wanted, and I'm sorry, but that's exactly how it was.
She broke up with Michael, started writing and singing again after months of not doing anything musical, she sang in a club, joined Valenti's band, and had a contract in NY. I wouldn't say that she didn't know what she wanted. But she also still loved Michael. Love isn't a feeling that one can turn out like a tv or a radio. Hence Maria going to him, waiting for him and having sex with him. She shouldn't have. But she also was still in love with Michael. Hence the tragedy of that scene and of what came next. Just like Michael in Departure. He should have stopped Maria when she kissed him, to tell her that he was leaving, but he was a guy in love. Their paths are so similar, it's scary!
She realised what she wanted. But when her dreams turned to dust, she was lost. She came back lost. She didn't know what she wanted, that was right. But only after the NY debacle. Liz was great there, telling her what a friend only could tell her, to take a decision. That's where you can see that Maria needed Liz and that Liz was there for her. She didn't say much but she reached her target. Maria was lost and Liz gave her advices, advices which led Maria to see what mattered in her life.
And in the end, in Graduation, when she was faced between losing music and a normal life and losing Michael, she decided that Michael was much more important. And it's EXACTLY what Michael faced in Departure. He was ready to leave, realise his long-life dream but when he was faced, ultimately, with leaving, he chose to stay.
For us, candies, it only showed, once again, that Michael and Maria are the same and have lived the same kind of situations. Taken the same kind of decisions.
And also there is no double standard between Liz and Maria in my eyes. because neither of their situations were the same. In fact, Maria got it WAY easier than Liz throughout the whole series. We can't treat every single person's situation like it's the same because it's not.
Maybe but the end result was the same : Liz left Max, who was broken hearted and who didn't deserved being deserted at that point in his life, just like Maria left Michael who was also broken hearted and who didn't deserved being left like that. But many "other fans" will use that decision that Maria took to say that Michael deserved better. Liz came back after Destiny, just like Maria came back. They took impulsive decisions, not the brightest but in the end, they still loved their guys and they came back.
Even though this was the first time he'd ever allowed himself to have any real friends besides their tight, little circle. Does he have to stay attached to Maria's hip 24/7 for her to feel loved.
Hmm, Maria clearly said that she loved him happy. Even with his friends and her being an afterthought. Seeing Michael having fun, not worrying, being at ease in his life, made her realise that she was nowhere close to being there. Michael was happy because he had a purpose (graduating high school, preparing for the future), he had friends, he was having fun with them. Take Maria: what was her goal in life? She had none. Who were her friends? Liz, that's all. And she was busy with Max, and it was absolutely normal that she was, she had to rebuild her relationship with him. So, was she supposed to stay with Michael for his sake, even if she was like a shadow of who she used to be?
What sucked was the way the break up happened. Where was the foreshadowing (apart from seeing her so resigned when she had that date with Michael and seeing him so happy when she was... just there, no spark, no fire), where was the writing explaining why she was feeling that way? It was no where. The writing in that season was far from stellar.
But she shouldn't sleep with the poor guy who's been heartbroken since she left with, and then tell him that their lives aren't linked anymore.
And Michael shouldn't sleep with a girl who is so in love with him, only to tell her afterwards: "I'm leaving the planet forever in two hours". Once again, we view that as equality. I wasn't that fond of Michael not telling Maria that he was leaving. I accepted that he had his reasons, that he was just a teenager, that he didn't know how to act. The same applies to Maria. She was happy, she had waited for hours for Michael to come back and they had sex. It wasn't right.
That's what girl afraid was saying: Maria's behavior and actions are... what's the correct word? Okay, can't find it. Maybe over analysed, but against her? but when it comes to Michael, it's just "he did bad things in season 1 & 2, okay, but...". His bad behavior in the past is resumed in one or two lines and forgotten, but Maria's behavior in season 3 is used many times against her.