Rewatching the show atm, I never really realized how shitty Kim can be to Ron sometimes. She locked him in a closet in "Crush" to go to a dance with Josh (even though it was Ron who gave her the courage to ask him out), lied and ditched him on Halloween for Josh again, signed him up to work at Bueno Nacho without asking him then got mad when he does better then her at the job(this seems to happen whenever he's better then her at anything, it's like she can't fathom him being good at things). I sometimes get the feeling she takes him for granted.
I'm not saying Ron is some saint, he's lied many times,stolen from her, ditched her when he got popular, etc but at the end of most of those episodes, he would learn a lesson or his behavior was called out, either by Kim or someone else, alot of Kims actions are never called out and she rarely learns from them. I've seen your HC for Post series(Kimron go to separate schools and they both grow individually), what exactly do you think they both need to improve on, and do my complaints about Kim factor into it or all?
Great questions, Anon. I'll start by saying that all the examples you gave of Kim treating Ron poorly were from the first season of the show. Looking at it externally, we can say the writers were still figuring out the characters and their dynamic. Internally, I think to think that Kim was younger then and in that awkward stage where she wasn't quite sure how she thought of Ron... Still just best friend, or boyfriend material? And lashing out were ways an entitled teen girl displayed that at times.
As the series goes on, yes she's surprised by things he's good at at times, and sometimes it's justified (Naked Genius) but most of the time it seems to me that it's just...occasions where their interests diverge. Cooking as an example. Part of her surprise I think comes naturally from her having known Ron her entire life. And as he demonstrates new abilities she's unaware of, some of it just because...she may think she should know this already, or she knows it can't possibly be...she finds it hard to believe. But we see in the show that they do indeed have other friends and other interests, and they don't know every single thing about each other. So Kim being surprised at a few of his abilities is justified in that way. If you remove the world-saving, it’s actually a good picture of a healthy, stable best-friendship.
I find that the longer the show goes on, the better she treats him. It really was just sometimes in season one, and part of it comes from her entitled personality and overall a semi-conscious thinking that she's better than him. Not as a human, but just...better at stuff. She’s used to him being not so good at stuff. Like, you’d think either he or his parents would have thought to get him a belt long before Kim bought him one for their half-aversary... Only other obvious instance of her treating him poorly would be Clean Slate where she won’t believe he’s her boyfriend. And then her “I think I love you” was so...not her. And that will relate to things I talk about later.
Moving on to the second part of your question, them going to separate schools and needing to improve individually so they can be their best selves for each other... Well, Ron needs to man up. In such a way that if Kim were permanently gone from his life, he’d still be okay. I think that despite the health of their friendship there’s still a strong co-dependency there because they have never had to go it alone. He needs to find that part of himself that can do life without Kim, plain and simple. He has skills, interests, curiosities... He just needs to let her go in order to best be there for her later, if that makes sense. He can’t be his best self if he’s always the side-kick, and if he thinks it’s all for her in the end. He needs to be Ron for Ron, and in that way he can be the best whatever for Kim in the future. And I think he’ll be fine, actually. He’s had to live a largely independent life already, with his parents being seemingly absent a lot and lacking relationship with him (”this is our way of telling you”). He’s not used to having it all together. He’s used to the side-kick role, and thus is more prepared to face life on his own.
With Kim it’s deeper, and no your complaints about her don’t really fit into it. It’s two-fold, starting with the fact she’s always had everything handed to her. And I don’t mean this in a...’down with wealthy people,’ sort of way. But I do mean she’s never had to work her way up from the bottom, doesn’t know what it’s like to be there... Even with saving the world, Wade has everything ready for her. She doesn’t know what it’s like to lose, to come in second place... Not in anything that actually matters, at least. It would be great for her to go to a college where no one knows the name Kim Possible. To just be one of the crowd. To not stand out in the slightest, to have to work just as hard as everyone else with all the same expectations. No ‘get out of school free card’ because she’s off saving the world from a comical villain. Actually failing classes perhaps since she’s never in class. Losing sleep. Just being an average human.
And with that, there’s her whole identity thing, which I thought was a good thing about the live-action movie. They honed in on the fact that without saving the world, who is she? Well, in the cartoon...that’s all she is. Cheerleader? That fades. Even if she cheers in college, it’s not gonna be her profession.. Babysitter? Nope, not an identity nor profession she’d want. What Ron has going for him is that he knows who he is even though too much of himself is rooted in co-dependency on Kim. Kim...doesn’t have anything else. The show teased the idea of her going to an overseas college, or in Job Unfair she was interested in international diplomacy. But really...those were just things they tossed in to give her a direction, but is it who she really is? It doesn’t come across that way when it’s just thrown in like that. Do we think action-oriented, thinks-she-knows-everything Kim is going to sit at a desk in a suit doing what that sort of job actually entails for the rest of her life? Um, no. So she has to let go of the co-dependency on Ron and actually find out who she is when she isn’t saving the world. She needs to be an average person. The overlooked. The side-kick.
It feels like with the way they had her character not really develop, she’s got two choices: join Global Justice and get paid to do what she already does, but with severe limitations. Or else she’s in for a very early mid-life crisis since she has rooted her entire childhood in the mantra of “I can do anything” which privilege and wealth, along with skill and intelligence, allowed her to do.
Is it great that her parents could offer her so many opportunities? Yes. But they never showed her any hardship. She also never really had relational hardships. Most popular girl in school, has a couple of besties, and the frenemies thing with Bonnie wasn’t that deep. This is an instance where I think kicking the kid out the door at age eighteen would be good. Give her a dose of the real world with no Wade or rich family to bail her out, and no Ron to be that anchor to a life without real responsibility. She needs to stop saving the world for awhile, honestly. She’s got to explore interests besides boys and shopping, and discover what it’s like to be a human. Which is what makes me circle back to “I think I love you.” Kim in her amnesia state? Is still the ‘too cool to date nerds’ cheerleader personality. When it comes down to it, part of “I can do anything” also means “I’m better than everyone” and I don’t think she even realizes this consciously. That’s something else she’s gotta work past.
I know this post is now probably going to offend everyone who worships Kim. Don’t get me wrong, I love her too. I just recognize that she’s a kid with a lot of room for growth. And I guess I don’t see that growth happening easily. This is probably why I haven’t really been interested in writing fic for Kim? While character growth piques my interest, it’s more work in her case than I’m interested in doing. She was just too shallow of a character. Ron, on the other hand... I could see myself writing an epic or two about him.
Hope I articulated well enough, and hope this answers your questions!
