The way u draw rabbits makes me so happy, all of ur art that has Spy or Scout in it somewhere is literally peak I love it so much YOUR DESIGNS ARE SO CUTE
Dissecting “Nancy won’t Settle Down,” Nedcy versus Traditional Marriage, and Ned versus Hypermasculinity versus the Hardy Boys because it’s 3 AM (very long meta)
I don’t exactly how to phrase this, but there’s something that really bothers me about the way that people say that “Nancy’s never going to settle down”
Who said she had to?
Like it just feels like continuing this weird expectation of how either men or women have to be in a marriage and then also a weak attempt to be against it at the same time for something that literally doesn’t have to happen.
idk it’s just like….performative. saying that feels performative.
Marriage will never actually be a part of the equation of Nancy’s life as long as people respect the reason her character is designed the way that it is. Which they won’t, but that’s another post.
But, hypothetically,
why would Ned, who many of you describe as a doormat, force Nancy into a position that she does not suit because that’s how marriage is “traditionally” supposed to be?
Or even why would Nancy, a woman with a strong sense of identity, force herself into a position that she does not suit because that’s how marriage is “traditionally” supposed to be?
It doesn’t make sense to me.
Why if they got married would it have to be a traditional marriage? Cause a lot fo you seem to be implying that needs to happen if they got married. She has to be forced into a quiet and calm life when that doesn’t even have to be an option.
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Additionally, I’m not sure who failed some of you in this department, but there are so many bad takes assigned to either of their personalities with this phrase.
And I’m not saying this to force any nonnedcy shipper into shipping nedcy, I’m saying this to help people understand how it fits in canon.
In that personality post that I never expanded upon even though I said I would, I said that Ned’s personality complements Nancy’s. Which is true. He complements her because he represented the things she needed, and not just to shut sexist people up. That was just bonus.
He understands her without having the exact same personality/dreams/goals as she does. He’s a scientist. He has an investigative mind that grew in a different way. He’s charismatic. He’s strong. He’s safe.
She needed safety, understanding, compassion, strength, intelligence, and a strong right hook.
She has a weird life and she needed someone who was well along for the ride, because before Ned she didn’t have that. She dated guys who basically belittled or never truly took her interests into consideration. In defense of some, they just couldn’t because of how their own lives were. But Ned could. And he did. He likes how weird is life is because of her.
There’s a whole speech in a Files book I could use, but I much prefer the Sapphire Spider where Ned is kidnapped and missed finals and he is more worried about finals than the kidnapping which he basically takes as an “it happens” sort of thing. I feel like that has the same energy if he’s just accepted that that’s his life now with seemingly little-to-no difficulties.
That’s the most basic of it.
Without pulling everything up, whenever Ned has talked about his future, he’s never decided anything about her future. which is what she really loved about him. If he ever actually forced her into doing anything it was stopping her from dying. He never told her what her future was going to be, he just knew he wants her in it.
If you think that all men, no matter what their personalities are, would force their wives, no matter what their personalities are, to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen at all times, then that sounds like a totally different problem than disliking a character or ship.
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This also bleeds into something I’ve been feeling for a long time that I’ve never really said, but I’m not sure how progressive this fandom actually is compared to what it acts like it is.
The people doing the “settle down thing” seem weirdly opposed to a less-than-traditional relationship at times. Like if they got married, they would never do the breadwinner husband or housewife thing. That’s not their personality. I don’t think they would have even done it in the past, because there are Stratemayer books that didn’t really do that. They would probably both work. And not even in the “neotraditional” household where the wife has a job just still does all the childcare. Ned is too loving. He would never just make kids to ignore them and complain about “slaving away all day to put food in their mouths.” That’s not their personalities either.
If any “type” of marriage would better describe what would be suitable for them is a partnership marriage. A partnership marriage is a far more gender-neutral model of marriage based on an equal division of labor that is suitable for both parties. They are unique to every couple and are based on a shared decision on what they think is best. Overall, the couple lives life as they find suitable and they don’t need anyone telling them how well they think their relationship should be. This much better reflects modern views on marriage.
She could maintain her jet-setting ways, and be a wife and mother. But is that too weird for some of y'all because it puts a woman in a position where she is not at all times accessible to her children and a man in a more accessible caregiver position? Be honest. It’s fine. It’s necessary to unpack this stuff.
Not all of you are Hardy Boys fans, but there are some people who are seemingly more comfortable with Fenton and Laura who have been in a similar relationship for years but the genders reversed and do not see the similarities. For this argument, I am including when Laura is not just a housewife (I’m not entirely convinced this has ever truly been the case but another time). Because for many, it’s easier to digest when a man neglects his marriage and childrearing duties to work and travel than when a woman does it.
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Continuing on the feminism train. This also reminds me of this concept I learned that honestly does apply very well to how many people here treat Ned (and maybe others). A very unprogressive concept in which people are uncomfortable with a man who does not display the “traditionally masculine traits” of ambition, restraint, independence, or just simply being happy and comfortable being in a position similar to a SAHD or making less than their female spouse.
Sometimes the way that people talk about or straight up just insult Ned reminds me of this concept of people being apprehensive with men that are seemingly not comfortable with being the best/the manliest/the most superior. For example, there was once this children’s librarian who was berated, laughed at, and bullied by his coworkers (male and female) for not wanting to be the library director. He did not want to be at the top of his field (to them more of a man/more masculine), so he was ridiculed for already achieving his dream of being a children’s librarian. You might not think this fully applies to him, but keep reading this novel of a post and you’ll see the connection.
Now, this idea came to me from the book Gender: ideas, interactions, institutions. There are honestly so many different concepts of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny in this book that I could apply to any character. But for now a little taste with just Ned.
There are many people in this fandom who have a problem with the way that he does gender. The same thing actually happens with George, Nancy, Frank, Joe, and Bess in their own ways. But Ned has always been my main example of seeing this. He does not “do gender or perform his gender in a way that people are usually comfortable with men doing. There are ways that he breaks gender rules.
In the way that he is more comfortable with being at least semi-stationary while is globetrotting girlfriend lives up to that alliteration is a problem in the way that he performs his masculinity in society’s perferred method.
Ned is a love interest to an Action Girlfriend aka a female character that acts as "the hero,” which means he is put into a position that leans towards a more feminized area in fiction. Remember that he has existed since 1932. There are more male love interests in a similar position now then there have been for the entirety of his existence. He is the damsel in distress at times and he’s alright with that, mostly because he knows that Nancy will save him. If you actually look in the Distressed Dude section in TVTropes, Ned is there.
Besties with Lois Lane and Olive Oyl /j
—————————————————————————–However, as I briefly mentioned, the love interest position is not the only thing that causes this type of reaction that I’m seeing. Even if many don’t realize gendered thinking and the gender binary are so ingrained in socialization that people often police or enforce gender when they don’t even realize this.
This often comes in the form of criticism or expectation. The criticizing is obviously focused more on someone who is not currently performing the preferred behaviors of their gender while the expectation is similar, but this form of disliking someone’s gender performance comes with the expectation that they will fulfill it even when they’ve given the person no reason to believe that they will with their behavior.
Some of these critiques or even expectations that I’ve seen of Ned (and other male characters) often associate with hypermasculinity being enforced.
The type of characteristics we can see with hypermasculine behavior is
aggression
ambition
combative
dominant
hypersexual
unempathetic
restrained (emotionally)
impulsive
violent
unkind
contentious
brutal
strong
confident
physical
abrasive
assertive (bossy)
possessive
Some of those might be synonyms, but you get the idea. These are things that are socially enforced and accepted as the ideal display of masculinity. If a man fails to perform all of these in association with each other, he opens himself up to being targeted, harassed, harmed, or ostracized. They will be seen as lesser men.
Again, this concept is something that people will even enforce without realizing it because society ingrains the expectation of upholding the gender binary in our minds.
How many of the words in the list really describe Ned? Like sure he’s strong, occasionally confident, and he has his ambitions….but the other ones. They don’t really suit him.
He is rather emotional, and empathetic, and thinks things through for the most part. He is not typically possessive, violent, aggressive, abrasive, or assertive. Helping Nancy and being “at the beck and call” puts him in a more subordinate position compared to her leadership and dominance.
Ignoring the fact that Ned is getting his degree to obtain his career, he is not actively pursuing his career. At least in the way we see Nancy, Frank, and Joe. This is something that is enforced and encouraged in androcentrism (favoring masculine traits aka ambition). In the games specifically, his ambition is not actively shown. The internship is close, but we don’t see that.
Ned is put in a less ambitious, less stereotypically masculine position. He is the housewife. He is making dinner and cleaning up the kids before the breadwinner (Nancy) comes homes and gives him 20 bucks to buy himself something pretty.
Now some people who have a well-filled pool of information of the Nancy Drew franchise might try to point out that there are times when Ned performs hypermasculinity. There definitely are. But let me point this out from the Nancy Drew Scrapbook.
These traits may exist. But they are inconsistent. They honestly do not always exist. Any amount of aggression that exists in one book is absent in the next. Same thing with jealousy, some people try to portray him as an aggressively possessive monster. At most, that is another inconsistent trait that often appears in books heavily criticized for their poor writing, excessive cliche attempts at drama, and mischaracterization of everyone. Files is a constant example of this.
Sidenote: Ned’s relationship with jealousy is weird and also often misunderstood in my opinion so someone remind me to discuss that further. (THINK SEA or CAP)
Comparatively, even if you use the most hypermasculine examples from any part of the franchise, Ned doesn’t really do gender in the same way the Hardy Boys do. It has actually been a long-standing critique that Fenton, Frank, and Joe are constantly upholding the ideals of “traditional American masculinity” as they often display all of these traits. Some level of variance of course, but they’re there.
And I saw it. I even see it in the ways that they are praised over Ned. It’s because they’re more driven, active, independent, and confident. They are more masculine than he is. They perform masculinity better than he does. The masculine traits they have in common, they are better at them. Therefore, they are better men.
It’s no secret that many people here openly put down Ned to uplift Frank. Even if some of you pretend that it isn’t true, you’re about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. “Nancy really needs someone more like her. Nancy needs someone who can challenge her. Nancy needs someone who displays more hypermasculine traits and better fits society’s mold of what a ‘real man.’ is.” The last one is an exaggeration, but it also isn’t.
I love all three of them. However, I’m also not afraid to critique the pitfalls of the more hypermasculine or toxically masculine ways that the Hardy Boys are boys. They do not have the same level of healthy masculinity as Ned.
(They are better in the games, I will give them that, but there is a notable difference in the games being marketed towards girls and the Hardy Boys franchise being marketed towards boys.)
Masculinity is a spectrum along with feminity and androgeny. There are many ways that a man is a man or masculine because they are separate concepts. Remembering that is vital in unpacking the ways that binary is enforced. Even policing the behaviors and displays of gender in fictional characters is a part of enforcing the binary.
Do not get fanon mixed up with canon here. Because the games may lead people to misunderstand how these characters have been portrayed with their associations of masculinity over the years. Along with Tumblr and turning Frank Hardy into the ideal YA Fiction Love Interest over his actual personality. But that’s a whole different topic that might get too personal.
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Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time unpacking my relationship with gender. I barely have one. So this is a topic I am comfortable with discussing randomly at 3-6 O'Clock in the morning.
This is not an attack on anyone or calling anyone sexist or close-minded for falling into socialized gender norms. Pretty much all of us were raised on this cisheteronormitive bullshit and it takes a lot to undo that damage.
Like I said earlier this type of policing or enforcing of gender rules can often happen without someone realizing it. Gender rules are beaten into the minds of many and take a long time to truly, fully alter your mind away from societal expectations. There’s a strong possibility that many of you are actually policing Ned’s gender without even realizing it. In the same way, using Frank or both of the Hardy Boys enforce gender.
The same way that “Nancy settling down” oddly circles back to the oxymoronic enforcement of traditional gender rules in relationships. Because they don’t fit them as well, there’s no way that a relationship could work.
At its’ best, the Nancy Drew franchise displays an interesting relationship with gender concerning all of the main characters. Bess and George are the most obvious because of their foiled nature with their femininity and masculinity being so central to their characters. But honestly, Ned and Nancy have their own relationships with the gender that are equally interesting and go against cisheteronormative ideals in their own ways.
I wish I could say the Hardy Boys have an interesting relationship with gender or display it without it coming out in a sarcastic and resentful tone. I’ll save that for next time.
To sum up
Nancy can get married without compromising her identity (not nedcy specific)
She can marry Ned without either of them compromising their values or identity (nedcy specific)
I am questioning the clue crew’s relationship with tradition, progressiveness, performativeness, and masculinity
Many critiques in Ned seem to actually be rooted in gendered thinking and gendered policing. Men irl are critiqued in similar ways when they do not perform the most socially accepted behaviors associated with masculinity.
I hate how the Hardy Boys franchise portrays women 95% of the time.
Gendered thinking is everywhere, even when you think it isn’t there.
just finished up chapter 3 of my tf2 comic @ktmy-tf2 ! The front page of chapter 4 has a very new look but i made sure to continue the color scheme :) (i also did each of those stars individually and it was.. therapeutic actually pffdfff)
100 years ago, a huge UFO made an emergency landing on Bonpo World, a small country in the South Pacific.
When President Bonbo met with the alien Eeva, who was a crew member of the UFO, he gave them the northern region of Bonbo World on the condition that they provide him with their advanced technology. After that, Bonbo World developed rapidly, and the alien Eeva and his crew built Delosity.
At the same time, however, anti-government movements resisting the central government’s dominant system also intensified.
Now, in the present day, the country’s biggest event, the Bombo Sports Tournament, held every four years, is about to begin.
Cookie, the heroine of this story, sets off alone to Bombo World, hoping to reunite with Grandma Nancy, who lives there, and to dream of becoming a gold medalist!
Starring
Cookie Blair (protagonist)
Gender: Female Age: 5 years old Height: 1m Weight: 16kg Birthplace: New Jersey, USA Treasure: Gray the Rabbit Catchphrase: “It’s like __”
As Baba nicknamed her “Kuma-chan,” she began to think of herself as a cute little bear, but in reality she was a human girl.
Co-Starring
Nancy Plea
Cookie’s grandmother, who became a widow at a young age and moved to Bonbo World. A youthful, lively beauty.
Dr. Light
A genius scientist researching Vibra Energy in order to bring about world peace, he is targeted by the Bombo government, which continues to build nuclear arms.
Today I will be talking about Sniper’s personality because I often see people portraying him DRASTICALLY different abd I wanted to understand what’s going on and why all of the interpretations are correct (in my opinion)
Let’s name the most prominent thesises:
Sniper is shy and introverted.
Sniper is unhinged and bloodlusty and is annoyed by people.
Why do i think that these aren’t exactly contradictory?
I think at this point it’s safe to assume Sniper is autistic (I mean lol this is easier to prove than to disprove). As an autistic person myself, I can see why he could be perceived like that.
Sniper doesn’t talk to people and mostly observes them and the situation. Very in tune with his profession. That, however, might be perceived as being shy or very introverted or both. People love talking and expect others to share information, yet Sniper never says half of the things he’s thinking about.
But let me tell you, it’s NOT because he’s shy. If he was shy, it would show in his body language as being stiff and rigid. He’s not. His body is pretty relaxed and takes enough space. Still crosses his arms, but in a “don’t bother me” way, not a “please don’t judge me” way.
He’s just disinterested.
I relate to it a lot in real life! People at my job think I’m too shy to talk to them, but no, I just DON’T WANT TO. I’m not scared of any if you, there’s just nothing to talk about. I don’t know your business, you don’t know mine, our interests don’t collide. If I talked to you about my interests you wouldn’t listen anyway. Small talk? Ew, are y kidding me?
However, I like to listen. I’m an extrovert personally (unexpected huh) so I love being around people, but it doesn’t mean I have to takk to them. I’ll just sponge the information they are babbling about so I know my community better. When I meet new group of people where everyone knows eachother but me, I’m not going to feel awkward, it’s perfectly fine to observe.
Sniper seems to fit into this kind of behaviour too. So he’s not shy in a social anxiety sense".
NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THE BLOODLUST!!
Yeah you all know his in-game voicelines. You feel either horny or assaulted after he rolls these sadistic words on his tongue. Yes I said sadistic, are you gonna argue?
“We professionals don’t give speeches we just take a shot” he says in the comics. OH YEAH? IS THAT WHY YOU HAVE THE MOST FUCKING VOICELINES OF ALL OF THEM??
Have you ever noticed how much attention he puts into saying how ‘professional’ he is? Like, yeah no shit, they all kinda are. But why, unlike other mercs, he insists on calling himself a professional with standards and morals, detached from emotions and feelings, so much???
There’s literally no reason to be ashamed of being a killer and to admit that you enjoy killing people, you were hired to Mann Co. for that specifically!!!
My assumption: it’s a personal disgust towards himself and his anger issues. I’ve said it before already and I will again.
His so called 'shadow side’ that he suppresses so much. It loves to cause people pain, it loves releasing the inner anger, it is being feral and impulsive in nature. Sniper cannot let himself be like that for whatever reason. He’s already built a clear picture of what he is in his head and he doesn’t want to destroy that.
The only time he allows himself to be a monster is in the battle because it comes naturally. However, when it’s not a situation of adrenaline rush, when people want to talk about his persona face to face, he starts to defend himself and bury his face under the lies he believes in.
And THIS is anxiety. To be scared to be truly perceived. Not like many people tried, but I assume he wouldn’t like it.
Bro really thinks he doesn’t have feelings lmaoooo imagine being so emotionally immature the only way to process your emotions is to shot a human dead.
So, is Sniper anxious? Yes. Is this social anxiety? No, he’s not shy. Is he an unhinged murderer? Yes. Does he identify as one? No. It’s really a little bit more complicated than the two thesises from the beginning.
He’s a person. Obviously not mentally healthy. High dimensional. Can be potentially broken or healed in terms of a good character study.
I might be very wrong though and most of the assumptions are simply guessing by grasping the patterns, but usually when I analyze someone like thus, it turns out mostly right. But correct me if you feel like it.
If you haven’t used the Wayback Machine to see the old HerInteractive website, you really should. Here is what the homepage looked like on November 5, 1996 when the website was her-online.
You can check out the old website through the Wayback Machine:
I'm a Canadian series animator who likes reading and drawing in her spare time. I've made video games you can play. Creator of Dear Devere and Last Meal at Cafe Mori, among others. I draw and post art here. I also write the occasional academic analysis. Cheerful hermit. She/Her, Adult. See sidebar buttons for links to my past projects.
