|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
What’s So Bad About Brennan?
Or, If You’re Pretty Enough, Does That Mean the Rules Don’t Apply to You?
One of the few consistencies of Mutant X is the implication that society’s rules apply selectively. The MX universe is full of contradictions and perversities, but the most peculiar element is the MX universe “hero”.
Heroes are supposed to be the good guys. They can be reformed bad guys, which makes for a more credible character. If a character has gone through such a transformation, they must suffer guilt for their misdeeds, repent their bad ways, and attempt to atone for past sins. Failure to experience this passage clearly indicates they are still bad guys.
The Designated heroes of MX are heroes in name only.
Heroes don’t gloat over grease spots on the pavement that used to be people. They don’t chat nostalgically about not paying a check at a particular restaurant not once, but many times as standard practice. Heroes don’t choose criminals as lovers. They do not punch frail people and laugh. They don’t murder in cold blood and pick the pockets of strangers when they find themselves short of cash.
The ‘heroes’ of MX do as they wish, and their actions are presented as good, acceptable practice.
Choosing between Adam and Brennan as UnHeroes is difficult. Adam outpaces Brennan in terms of total lives blighted, but for self-serving predation upon other people, Brennan has no match.
What is operating in the MX universe? Cruelty, murder, and theft are all perfectly acceptable behavior if the perpetrator is good-looking? That theme has come up time and again over three seasons. The disgusting part is the way there are fans accepting Brennan as he is without difficulty, an unrepentant, unreformed thug. Why?
I’ve asked Brennan fans why they like the character, and many of them cannot come up with anything beyond his looks, finding his ‘street smarts’ and shady past exciting. If Brennan has street smarts, I’m a venus flytrap. Brennan is a sheltered suburban notion of a street personality. He is not a lovable, charming rascal, but an ordinary thug ready to return to crime if his soft spot at Sanctuary is no more. Despite some peculiar story lines in S2 with Brennan telling everyone else what to do, he is not a leader. Leaders do more than tell other people what to do—they make clear why they should do these things, and motivate them to do them. If people fail to meekly follow him, Brennan just goes off and does what he wants, giving no thought to the way he may just be putting others at risk.
I’m uncertain why anyone was surprised by Brennan’s double murder. We saw Brennan’s brutal streak in S1’s “In the Presence of Mine Enemies”. Go back and watch the way he flings Kendra against the wall. Was he trying to kill her with a spinal chord injury? This is not the way a hero behaves.
The question Brennan fans never get around to answering is “If Brennan was short, fat, pimply, and smelly, would you still like the character?”
So, what is it? What makes anyone a fan of Brennan?
Dark Mirage
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Sun Never Sets on PureMX.net
|
|
