Clint isn’t that bad
this is a FLAMING hot take, but I think the fandomwide Clint hate is ridiculous and way too strong.
the main anti-Clint argument I see made is his crush on Emily. “Oh, he’s such a creep, he’s in love with her, he hides in a bush and stalks her” NO!!! This is WRONG!
Firstly, people think he’s weird because he likes Emily who is assumed to be younger than him because she is dateable. She wasn’t originally dateable, and in a fandom vote, her and Shane were chosen to become love interests. Guesses of her age generally place her in her late twenties, and Clint in his early thirties. That’s perfectly normal.
Second, his heart event where he’s hiding in a bush: he didn’t start out hiding, he freaked out! He was on his way to ask Emily out, got to her doorstep, and then PANICKED and dove into the bushes. He’s not a stalker, he’s clearly got severe anxiety and got nervous. It’s a common trope in movies, tv shows, books, and other forms of media that a character will panic and hide when their crush approaches. My theory for the main reason it’s seen as creepy when Clint does it is because he’s a dude, which changes the thought from “aw she’s nervous to ask him out” to “look at that creepy guy hiding in a bush” without taking into account the context.
Third, people hate on him for being awkward around Emily in general. He stutters, gets nervous, and backs out of asking her out multiple times. Again, this is perfectly normal, but viewed as problematic because of the societal norm that men are supposed to be brave, strong, and ask out the girl.
I see so many people hating on the unsent letter to Emily in his room as well. But from my standpoint, it’s not super uncommon to write something to a crush and be too nervous to send it. It’s understandable, and quite frankly I don’t know why people hate on it so much. The letter isn’t even creepy.
People dog on Clint as well because he always backs out of asking out Emily, but there are a couple reasons this is—both in-universe and not:
First, Clint has severe social anxiety and practically no friends— Emily is pretty much the only person to put in the effort to talk to him. He’s scared to ruin this relationship as he doesn’t have anyone else to lean on.
Truly, though, Clint never actually asks Emily because, as a community, we voted to make Emily a dateable. ConcernedApe was forced to make Emily single for the community, and unfortunately because of this Clint’s actions come off as creepy.
Also, as frustrating as it is, it’s important to mention that Clint is a larger, heavier set man, and there is a lot of internalized fatphobia in the majority of people (even those who don’t realize).
This was a horribly long post, and thank you so much for anyone who read it fully. Id love to hear other peoples opinions as well, both pro- and anti-Clint, so please feel free to share!
TLDR: Clint doesn’t suck as much as people say he does, the hatred of him stems from a combination of jealousy/weirdness over his crush on Emily, internalized fatphobia, and the societal tendency to stigmatize and ignore male social anxiety and other mental health issues.
