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Step 1: Distance

The first step listed is the idea of creating distance between the character and the audience, pretty much the opposite of what you would do with an empathetic or relatable character. This often means the character moves so far from what the audience would expect from the real world, whether it be logic or morality, to make the jerkiness as absurd and over-the-top as possible that the audience ends up amused rather than disgusted. This is a large part how villains like Disney’s Hades or Dreamworks’ Big Jack Horner become so entertaining, or why audiences become so enthralled by Kuzco. This is something Chloe has done since her very first episode! The ways she bullies and hurts the characters in the show are so far removed from how actual bullies and privileged rich kids work that no one can (or at least, no one should) take her seriously!

In fact, on a side note, I can see this is how Marinette has become so unlikable for many people! Aside from the fact that she is intended to be a protagonist, which inherently closes at least some distance, she is also meant to be empathized with, which puts the audience in close proximity to her as a character! If you’re the type of person to relate to her struggles and insecurities, then this close proximity works perfectly, but if an audience member doesn’t have such a quality, it all falls apart! This is a major factor in why viewers might be harsher with her actions than characters like Chloe or Lila: because we have closer distance, we grow higher standards for her!

Another disadvantage Marinette has to Chloe in this category is when her actions reach familiarity. While most of Chloe’s actions feel far too absurd to ever occur in any real scenario, such as becoming a dictator mayor as a teenager, many of the actions of Marinette’s get uncomfortably close to immoralities we see in life, such as sabotaging your crush’s other love interests for the sole purpose of becoming that person’s only option. And to make matters worse, the recent seasons have continued to draw more attention to these actions rather than exaggerating them, as seen in episodes like Derision or Sublimation! By narrowing the distance between us and our protagonist’s actions in how familiar we are with such immoralities in the real world, it gives significantly less leeway for suspension of disbelief! So it’s not hypocrisy that leads to more permissible parameters for Chloe than Marinette, it’s just the basic rules of storytelling.

Step 2: Authenticity

The second step mentioned is this idea of the lovable jerk shamelessly owning up to their jerk actions and in fact pushing forward on their behaviors and actions! This was demonstrated in the video by comparing the storyboard version of Woody throwing Buzz out the window versus how Kuzco got the old man thrown out his window. While storyboard!Woody tried to deny his actions which in turn horrified the executives the scene was pitched to, Kuzco’s refusal to back down or deny his actions made his scene much more comedic to watch! This is yet another aspect Chloe nails perfectly! Even when she tries to pretend she already got Adrien a birthday present in the Bubbler, the fact that she used an annoyance for workers struggling to carry it adds a level of shameless jerkiness that turns into amusement rather than appall for the audience, not all that different from how the video described Kuzco’s sincerity about his insincerity when he lied to Pacha.

This is also another aspect that demonstrates how Marinette fails as a dubious protagonist! Because the characters and herself are so in denial of her having any potential to be a bad person, this makes any and every bad action she performs stick out like a sore thumb! So every time Astruc or a Maripologist spews another excuse or justification for this character, it only makes those who notice the corruptness of her actions more bitter and horrified!

Step 3: Time Limit

Technically, this step doesn’t really apply for Miraculous Ladybug, or at least it shouldn’t. The fact that this show is written to be pretty much never ending means that we shouldn’t really have expectations for any limited time with this show. Furthermore, considering how the first season or so of this show was written to be comedic and episodic, no time limit should be established. Take Candace from Phineas and Ferb as an example. Although she does get small moments of development throughout the show, and she does acknowledge the passage of time and repetition in the episodic formula, she never really moves beyond her role as the control freak sister who wants to bust her brothers, and the audience loves her for it!

So, if this show was indeed written to be an episodic cartoon with wacky hijinxes and silly kids lessons, then characters like Chloe or Marinette would not be characters we expect to develop beyond the roles they were placed in from the very first episode! Marinette would be the insecure yet well meaning protagonist who learns a life lesson each episode, and Chloe would be the jerk bully/rival who exists for the sole purpose of antagonizing our protagonist and getting in the way of her goals!

Unfortunately, this is not what the show decided to do! Because they made the mistake of having Chloe want to be a superhero and even idolize Ladybug. This was the aspect that ultimately determined whether she was perceived as a Jack Horner or a Kuzco. Let me explain. If they truly wanted us to believe Chloe was a villainous character with no capacity for good or heroism, the writers could have portrayed her as skewing her perception of Ladybug to align more with her predeterminate selfish and bratty ideals, or have her be motivated to be a hero for the sole purpose of fame or attention!

Instead, from the moment they introduce her being a fan of Ladybug, they make it clear that she admires Ladybug’s heroism! And because she is established as a sincere and shameless character, with the plot never giving sufficient evidence to the contrary, this intrigues the audience into believing there is more to her! Not to mention, in the two-parter of Queen’s Battle, instead of going the Jack Horner route of leaning further into Chloe’s jerkiness and literally any selfish motives she might have, the story instead portrayed Chloe’s primary motivation and driving force behind her actions as approval, whether it be from her mother or Ladybug! This was only made worse in Maledictator by conveying her genuine insecurity of being useless. And these qualities continued to persist throughout the rest of Season 2 and the entirety of Season 3 every time she brought Queen Bee up. By giving her a deeper and less jerk-like motivation, coupled by moments of sincere selflessness, this gave the audience the impression that she had a genuine capacity for change. So when the Miracle Queen finale and seasons after tried to back out and insist she is just evil, it’s far too late. The audience already saw her vulnerability and sincerity, and the writers didn’t take the proper steps to portray or reveal her as insincere for these moments!

Now let’s look at Marinette. Instead of preserving her initial role as the flawed yet well meaning protagonist, or portraying any growth into a righteous and upstanding hero, the episodes and plot progression shows her choosing her own self interests over others time and time again! How are we supposed to see Miracle Queen as a testament to Chloe’s irredeemability when the very thing that catalyzed this event was Marinette’s desire to get in between Adrien and Kagami’s romance, while Chloe was motivated by saving her parents? By repeatedly portraying Marinette in self serving ways that get rewarded, this leads to her jerkiness outweighing any likability she might have had in her first episode!

And that’s it for this analysis! I dunno if this is actually any good, and if you disagree with anything I said, that’s perfectly valid! You are not a terrible person if you do relate to Marinette, or you genuinely despise Chloe with every fiber of your being! This analysis was made with the sole purpose of examining fiction through the general parameters of storytelling that are used to influence the audience’s perception of said characters. But hey, if anything I referenced or talked about does interest you, you can watch the original video below! It most certainly explains these elements of a lovable jerk far better than I could ever attempt to! If you did in fact read through this longass post word for word, thank you so much for sparing me so much of your time in your average scrolling and skimming of posts, I appreciate it! Have a fantastic day!