there’s one ladrien trope/opinion that i see coming back and coming back that just… makes less and less sense the more i think about it
and it’s the ‘broken pedestal’ angst trope
because for one, this requires that both chat and marinette have their respective loves on ‘‘pedestals’‘ (that is to say, blind and/or unwilling to see their faults and weaknesses), and, while i can see it for marinette, i don’t see it for chat.
because chat ‘she can be so stubborn!’ ‘weren’t you a little harsh?’ ‘don’t you have an apology to make?’ noir absolutely sees ladybug’s faults. he calls her out on them on multiple occasions. he knows she’s hot-headed and stubborn and thoughtless, and his response? is to remind her to be kind, and to take responsibility for her actions, and to apologize.
you can’t do that if you don’t think someone doesn’t have faults and doesn’t make mistakes.
and he didn’t fall for ‘perfect, invincible, flawless ladybug’, you know. he fell for the terrified little girl who thought she wasn’t enough, who took her scraps of courage and her wit and her sense of responsibility, and made something amazing out of them.
he fell for the girl who went from ‘i’m ma— ma-ma-… *clunk* …majorly clumsy’ to coming up with a plan on the spot to defeat this thing that neither of them really knew how to deal with. he fell for the girl who had her face in her hands, convinced that she couldn’t until hawkmoth showed up and she needed to — who then blew everyone out of the water, this tiny little person taking on that thing that had just threatened them all. and winning.
i firmly, firmly believe that chat fell for her bravery first. i’m sure there were a whole cascade of reasons that came afterwards (because seriously, ladybug), but the world gave marinette a chance (and a reason) to shine, and she shone like a supernova.
tell me you wouldn’t be a little bit dazzled after something like that.
and chat is absolutely, visibly dazzled, but he doesn’t stay so dazzled that he can’t or won’t take her for what she is, and that? is not a pedestal.
and on marinette’s end, there is something of a pedestal.
it’s always ‘perfect, perfect adrien’ that she claims that she loves, and that he’s kind seems to be the most she actually knows about his personality for the majority of the show, with the gamer and kung food being the two obvious exceptions.
the gamer is actually pretty pertinent to this rant about why the ‘broken pedestal’ doesn’t make sense, because here, adrien does expose himself. he lets marinette in a little. he mentions his insecurities to her, and marinette isn’t disillusioned.
granted, that would be a pretty strange thing to get disillusioned over (unless she believed he was invincible somehow, which she doesn’t seem to), but she reacts with awkward warmth and support, not rejection.
and, you know, there are ways i could totally see adrien’s pedestal getting broken in a nasty way (because they’re both jealous people, and adrien, at the very least, has been known to spout white lies when they serve him, and those could both lead to very worrying fights), but in all the theories i’ve seen…
the most common is that ladybug/marinette will be disillusioned that adrien is basically chat.
it’s not like she felt a powerful connection with her partner even early on, and it would be ridiculous to think that she might enjoy his puns, or that she would ever value his input or listen to him (despite swallowing her pride and apologizing to people she hates at least twice (volpina and antibug) at his urging), or, you know, trust him implicitly (certainly not to the point of looking at the most damning of evidence and leaping to the conclusion that he’s innocent (copycat and the christmas special)), or ever consider him as a romantic interest in a million years — in fact, she really doesn’t even want him getting close!
(i just spent the last 2 hours looking for any gifset of ladybug checking chat out (which has happened at least twice, one in stormy weather and one in an episode that i can no longer remember the name of that takes place at the tv station) and came up blank, but rest assured that it has happened.)
like, that marinette/ladybug would be disappointed to find that adrien is chat (or particularly chat-like) just doesn’t have canon backing imo, because ladybug, no matter to what degree she’ll admit it. really likes chat.
at finding her crush is a giant dork who really resembles one of her closest friends, would she be disbelieving? probably! more at ease/less fluster-y around adrien? i’d hope so. less likely to take him seriously in everything? quite possibly!
betrayed, uninterested, disillusioned, and/or apathetic?
…let’s try that one again.
tl;dr: angst is great, but there are loads of opportunities for it that don’t change the fundamental aspects of these relationships. chat. for better or worse. adores ladybug (really and truly with very few delusions), and while marinette might not know adrien all that well right now, there’s nothing in the show to suggest she would be dissatisfied with whatever she found in him.
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