Seeing the posts about Clannibal and Beetlebabes has made me reflect on why the Adam and Beej ship rubs me the wrong way and it's entirely because by trying to make this character gay you're attempting to remove the main female character just for your ship???
it's more prominent with Hannibal where Clarice is just. forgotten. or made out to be this villain for her romance with Hannibal just for the sake of a gay relationship and it rubs me the wrong way
but also not only that it feels weirdly misogynistic? like you're not only dumbing down a character like Lydia or Clarice to just "love interest" but also. ignoring the fact that they aren't the love interests, they're the MAIN CHARACTERS. the males are the "love interests" and you're erasing their entire stories. You're erasing the fact that these relationships make them stronger and more confident but that they're also badass independent women who are INTERSTING characters.
it just feels like purposely harming a character for the sake of a forced relationship just to tick that box of gay relationship when it could be so much better?
not to mention the fact that usually these "spin offs" are done without the original creators input :v
Clarice got absolutely shafted in the TV show yeah, its kind of amazing how dirty they did her. They also somehow made her more ableist than she was in the adaptation from the early 90s?? The way she talked to Will with that cloying edge while trying to "Help" him because clearly he needs someone to volunteer- idk its been awhile since i watched
The Beetlejuice musical i feel actually did Lydia more justice than the OG film?? I was around 11 when i saw the film, and when I watched the musical as an adult I honestly, no joke, thought that Lydia was a musical original because she was completely forgettable to me in the movie 💀
When I rewatched the movie her character didn't feel very authentic to me. She felt like she was written by someone who went "oh, goths are weird and suicidal or whatever, right? Okay so she says shes weird/likes scary stuff and wants to die." then when she sees the Maitlands in monster form she gets freaked out. And Barbaras way of Consoling a suicidal teen is to tell her death doesn't make things easier, as if the reason Lydia doesnt want to live is cuz its too much of a chore or wants an "easy way out". I know there's more to read between the lines but overall her character didnt leave an impression on me and I dont think I would consider her a main character?
All that said, Betel and Adam is one of the lamest pairings. They rlly took the type of crackship that has 1 fanfic on ao3 and then wrote it into the story huh 😒 Even after they wrote an entire song about how they Definitely Don't Diddle Kids, Betelgeuse's relationship with Lydia is still the most compelling and romantic lmao
