bad_ash10

Melinda May is the inspiration for me as an adult that Mulan was for me as a child. 

Mulan was the first movie I watched where the female character was a warrior, a fighter. As a 7 year old when I saw that movie, I loved it, but was too young to appreciate exactly why.

Fast forward to about 2015. I’ve graduated from college and my life is a wreck. No money, no job. I move in with my parents again and work the same fast food job I worked every summer, only this time I was there for almost 3 years. 

At some point in 2016, I discover Marvel movies. (I know, I was late to the party) But in my new obsession, I decide to watch all of the MCU content in order, including this tv show called Agents of Shield.

Being the slightly obsessive person I am, I discover the show is on hiatus between seasons 3 and 4, and.... would you look at that? It’s got Ming-Na Wen as one of the main cast. I know her. She was on one of my favorite tv shows (ER), and more importantly, she was the voice of my childhood idol, Mulan. 

After all, Melinda May is essentially the real life Mulan, am I right? I was drawn to her character immediately for so many reasons. 

She’s more than just the pilot: Melinda May is fierce. She is strong. She is confident. She kicks ass. 

Melinda May is a woman in a male dominated field, and she is a better agent than any of her coworkers. Best of all, she does not apologize or stand aside to accommodate the ego of her male colleagues. 

Too often, women in this world are taught to shrink into the background, to be meek, to apologize too much, but Melinda May keeps her head held high and defies the patriarchy with her strength. 

Melinda May is warm. She is loving. She is funny. She has a whip-smart sense of humor. 

No one wants to make the hard choices, but May does it anyway - for the greater good. She’s brilliant and makes life or death decisions in fractions of a second. She catches flack for it sometimes, sure. But this taught me that, sometimes, the hard choices will divide us from those closest to us, but you have to do what is right instead of what is easy.  

Melinda May is proof that you can walk through the hottest flames or the blackest night and eventually you’ll come out the other side - usually stronger than you were before.

Melinda May is my inspiration as an adult that Mulan was for me as a child, teaching me to be a warrior, to be strong, to defy the odds, that I don’t have to conform to what others expect from me as a woman. 

Anyways, thank you for writing the fic and I hope you’ve been doing well!

Hi, anon! I hope you’re doing well too!

I’m doing great, just crazy busy these days as I have started a new job in the last couple of months and am still adjusting to the changes of the everything that comes with it.

As for the fic- I don’t like to say “never,” but I will say I don’t currently have any plans for it. It was a fic I was co-writing with a friend, and I think we have both been too busy (and for me personally- uninspired) to continue it.