Mike From Total Drama: Offensive Or Inspiring?

Post Reply New Topic

I hope this topic doesn't come off as too controversial to some, but this was just something that I've wanted to post here for awhile now.

Now, I haven't exactly met too many people on here who are actual Total Drama fans that still keep up with the show, but let me just explain a little bit to those that don't know: Mike is a character from the series with Multiple Personality Disorder and, if I read up on it correctly, is a condition usually caused by traumatic past experiences. He has five different personalities, each one triggered through certain situations: Chester, Svetlana, Vito, Manitoba Smith, and now Mal.

In season four, Mike wanted to keep his MPD a secret from everyone, especially Zoey, (his crush at the time). Eventually, Scott found out and blackmailed him for it in exchange for helping him win a challenge, but Mike soon stood up to him and battled his personalities, regaining control. Once Zoey found out about his condition, she accepted him for who he was and how it meant that there was just more of him to go around.

Currently this season, Mal has regained full control over Mike, and has him locked up along with his other personalities. So far, his evil split-personality has broken multiple items from some of the contestants, and even put Cameron in harm's way after purposely ditching him.

But, now here's the main point that I'm trying to get at... Do you think that Mike as a character is insulting to those that have the actual disability, or are they just fascinated/inspired by him? I've come across quite a few fans of the show that find him offensive just because of the way that he was being portrayed, so I'm curious to know what actual MPD individualists think.

I'm not restricting this thread to just those with the disability, but if you know someone with it or just want to leave your own thoughts, you're more than welcome to.

Here's a preview from the new Total Drama episode that'll be airing next week, and it even reveals some new information about Mike's new evil personality:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ7aL1JaVus[/youtube]
If you want to see more clips of him, check out the post I made about him in the Fictional Characters With Disabilities thread.

As to what I actually think of him, Mike's actually really growing on to me this season; his new storyline is interesting for me to follow, and it keeps getting interesting as the season progresses.

Mike used to be one of my favorite characters but since I have been scrolling through Tumblr everyday (most of the people I follow are TD fans) I changed my opinion towards Mike and all the other characters, and it was also because of the finale too. Now I f***ing hate him. I hate Zoke, I hate Mal, I hate how he was labeled "The Multiple Personality Disorder", and I hate how it was portrayed in the show. It's not supposed to be funny. And why would anyone want to be labeled based on their disorder? Would anyone on here want to be known as "The Autism" or "The Aspie"? I definitely don't. Besides his personalities, I find Mike bland. But I guess I can say the same thing about Zoey even though I really like her. Her entire plot revolves around Mike and Cameron, but mostly Mike. It's disgusting. And they are the "writers' pets". No, just no... The one thing I hated the most out of the entire show was Mal. I hated how he treated everyone. Look at Alejandro for example. He did poorly and was eliminated early because of him. The master of manipulation now ignored by everyone. If Zoey found out quicker, Alejandro would've made it further. I felt bad for Cameron too because Mal ends up breaking his glasses and pushing him in a bunch of rocks causing him to be in his bubble again... That actually sounds familiar and all I could think of about that is in Lord of the Flies when Jack slaps Piggy, causing his glasses to break and having him killed by a big boulder later in the book (maybe Cameron and Piggy are similar intellectual wise?).... But back to the topic... You think Mike/Mal, who's f***ing skinny with spaghetti arms (I'm not saying he's only physically strong) would take anyone down.... I don't even know what I'm saying! I'm literally so tired and I'm rambling on and on about some character that I don't even like anymore. In conclusion, I find Mike to be an offensive character because of the portrayal of his MPD, Mal, and... oh! I almost forgot! In the finale Mike and all of his personalities pushed a reset button to erase all of his MPD. Think about that. There were kids that might have watched that episode and thought that serious things like MPD can go away with anything as easy as a dumbass reset button. That is literally the most idiotic thing Fresh would do with something like this. And the worst part about it is that Mike is the official winner of TDAS when there were literally 4 other guys who officially won in the past. (Hoping there's a female winner in TDPI *crosses fingers*) I am pissed at this season and partially at TDRI, even though it wasn't as bad as TDAS.

BTW: Duncan and Zoey were one of my BROTP's in TDAS.

From a system with MPD(us!! !), we all approached Mike differently but similar.
We all appreciated how it was well represented without going over the line.
Many people don't understand that systems DO often have that 'bad guy' (not to the cartoon-y extent) and it was rather refreshing to see one of Mike's alters and be like "so and so reminds me of *insert one of our alters*"
It did get really goofy towards the end but it didn't feel TOO overdone. It was a bit but it was still acceptable to us.
They had the quirks we have sometimes and it felt reassuring that they didn't alienate having the disorder and having lifelines and friends in the loop (such as Zoe and Cameron).
Idk, the system really loved Mike and he was actually our fav. Character in the series!
So overall, the system and I rate Mike and his representation a 8.5/10!