I just realized through a conversation with Ashley that the reasons most people disliked (or still dislike) Skye are the reasons I fell in love with her instantly. It’s also why she is an exceptionally ground breaking character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Skye is not easily defined by her job. She doesn’t have a singular passion or lens through which she looks at the world. She’s young and learning and soaking everything around her in, trying to figure out where her home is and who she is as a person. Skye is Skye first and hacker second.
I feel like every other female (except for Darcy) in the Marvel verse fills a very defined role of ‘bad ass field operative’, ‘science geek’, or ‘administration’. Hell, the majority of them had to go through multiple films (and some are still waiting) to get any definition outside of their profession or role as a love interest at all. Natasha didn’t get it until Avengers (though IMO they only touched on it there and really gave it definition in Winter Soldier), Pepper didn’t really get fleshed out until Iron Man 3 and Maria Hill is still a complete unknown on a personal level.
Agents of SHIELD and Skye were SUCH a fantastic move in the right direction for Marvel in terms of starting out a female character as more than a profession or love interest. Skye was a character that was ill defined in terms of life goals and who she was. We met Skye when she was just beginning her journey. She was our protagonist and as she discovered who she was, we were along for the ride. Basically she was every male protagonist ever. And yet people hated her. And people called her a Mary Sue. And I am not saying there were no problems with the writing or presentation of the character. I know the beginning was a little uneven. But where I saw a diamond in the rough with Skye, most people dismissed her.
The sad fact is, if she was a male character I have no doubt she would have been treated completely differently. She still isn’t treated all that well. A big faction of the fandom treats her as a cardboard stand in for furthering Ward’s character FFS, despite all she has done and how much we have seen her fleshed out. Trip came into the show very similar to the way Skye did in terms of having a backstory connected to the plot, and not being defined by one aspect of who he was. But nobody cried Gary Stu. I wonder why that is?
If a female is skilled at more than one thing, if a female doesn’t fit into a very specific box, then she is considered unrealistic. If a female has a huge impact on the plot AND knows how to do something outside that? Incomprehensible. Never mind that I can close my eyes, spin in a circle and bump into 50 male characters who share those same traits with Skye (and Trip) who are deeply beloved.
When it comes down to it, a lot of the issues people had with Skye come down to the fact that for the first time Marvel no longer decided to baby the male audience and slowly introduce a dynamic female character to them. This time, they threw it in their faces and the fact that Skye is currently on a list titled ‘characters who make us want to punch our television screens’ says it all.
Skye isn’t your scientist. She’s not doing your paperwork and she isn’t beating up bad guys while wearing a tight catsuit. She’s us. And that is why you should love her instead of condemning her for being more than her job or a romantic interest.
she is us. and we don’t have to automatically see that as a bad thing.
knitting in the dark 