- This topic has 12 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I’m curious what people understand by ‘redeemed’ here. The show doesn’t really distinguish individual psychological make-up from social identity. So Evil Queen, Wicked Witch, Savior, Pirate, and up until this season, Dark One were at the same time personalities, social roles, and chosen and enacted identities.
As a result, redemption on OUAT is all too often the dropping of one social identity in favor of another, more positive one: Evil Queen becomes Mother; Street Urchin becomes Savior… with the problematic assumption that with it follows a total makeover of a person’s psychological structure. External trappings stand in for internal states: The Pirate gives up his Ship for Emma, and so without his ship he can no longer be The Pirate => and so is redeemed by love (however temporarily). The Darkness is literally taken from Rumple’s heart and so he becomes, in identity and psychology, “the purest hero.”
So if the question is whether Zelena could switch to the “hero” camp by swapping the Wicked Witch identity for the Mother identity, much like Regina, then, sure – why not? The show has done worse in terms of character reboots. Will that be satisfying character development for the audience? For me personally, not at all. It took Regina many seasons and a show closely focused on her character (and to some extent on Henry) for that to happen. We saw her and Henry’s journey over 4 years. Doing the same to Zelena but extra fast wouldn’t be very realistic, and would also cheapen Regina’s character development — one of the only characters on the show that hasn’t been completely butchered.
Considering that very few of the characters on OUAT are morally spotless, I don’t particularly see the value of such a redemption. The so called heroes are just the ones who aren’t being actively malevolent at this current moment in the story.
*shrug*
[adrotate group="5"]So if the question is whether Zelena could switch to the “hero” camp by swapping the Wicked Witch identity for the Mother identity, much like Regina, then, sure – why not?
That’s exactly what I think is going to happen, except her switch will probably be the result of wanting to protect her new kid. It’s not exactly redemption, though. She isn’t apologizing or making amends for her many crimes. It’s just that her priorities have shifted.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"f the writers want me to believe that she is BPD rather than a psychopath and therefore is redeemable, then they will need to show me more of her past growing up….they would need to show the systematic abuse of a lovely child who resisted the dark side up until seeing Regina get everything broke the donkey’s back.
I wonder if the writers actually diagnose their characters. I’m not sure they’ve given any thought to any sort of medical psychopathy for anyone–Hook, Rumple, Regina, Zelena. But I agree with you; Zelena, IMO, isn’t really redeemable about this point, but will be.
No, but they should. Researching and then designing your characters off of real-life psychosis’ is basic whenever you a character that is toxic.
The only thing that has kept me watching the show is Regina’s journey as a BPD sufferer. But if they make Zelena able to switch to being good so easily after her fast switch into darkness then I am not sure if I can keep watching. Even in fantasy, there needs to be some psychological concepts anchored in real life.
Keeper of Regina's bravery
The topic ‘Can Zelena Be Redeemed’ is closed to new replies.