What are you doing right now?

Permalink Reply by EndOfTheEarth on August 4, 2011 at 11:46am

Destroying Max

Patterson’s MR Series as a demonstrator of Antifeminist Characterization

Modern literature is filled with many exciting new concepts as traditionalist behavior breaks down; the audience is faced with an abundance of strong female protagonists, positively portrayed homosexual supporting roles, and a general explosion of criticism of civil rights in foreign countries. These concepts permeate the entertainment industry on every level, even the high-sales low-complexity field of Young-Adult literature. However, one such seller in this series goes against this global wave. In the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson, the character of Max is used to display a strong antifeminist mentality as the series progresses.

To truly prove that Max’s progression as a character is antifeminist, one must look at how her character progresses from her status at the beginning of the series, through the beginning of her subjugation at the hands of one of her male colleagues, and finally at her present attitude as seen in the latest release. When Max is first shown to the reader in the first entry of the series, The Angel Experiment she is modest about her job and how she attained power, “I’m the oldest, so I try to keep things running as best I can. It’s a hard, thankless job, but someone has to do it” (TAE, Ch2, p9). However, we see later on in these early chapters that Max is an assertive character, chastising Fang for making her feel uncomfortable, and commanding him to set the table while she performs the task of waking the other flock members. Later, after Angel is kidnapped, Max is the one to call the remaining flock members to order, then, when Iggy protests an element of the plan, she again asserts dominance over the flock, denying him the ability to call a vote and insisting that it is her responsibility to assure that everyone in her family is kept safe. This dominance is never pressured or severely questioned by Fang or Iggy through the rest of the book, and for those cases in the sequel School’s Out—Forever, Max again asserts a dominant standpoint, such as against pranks developed by Iggy and Gazzy. Similarly, while on the date with Sam halfway through the book, the boy tries to kiss her. When he does, Max is neither expecting it, nor initially responsive, saying, “My eyes went wide when he kissed me…he kissed me again, angling his head the other way…I closed my eyes and went along with it” (SOF, Ch72, p201). It is important to note here that, if Patterson did want to paint an antifeminist character here, Max would have slipped into the kiss immediately; no pressure or concern. However, he writes Max having to convince herself to go along with the kiss, suggesting that even in a passionate moment she is still in control of herself. The scene where this attitude is the most clearly presented, however, is in the third book, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. Early in the novel, chapters 17-18 to be precise, Fang attempts to force Max’s opinion on the matter of avoiding the School’s plans by kissing her. While she accepts the kiss, she does not accept the concept that Fang puts forth, again demonstrating that she can be passionate, but still think for herself, a case that would be re-enacted several chapters later prior to the flock being broken in half, following the escape from The School. At its best, Max’s attitude earlier in the series can be summarized by Fang’s response when asked by Roland ter Borcht why he would let Max, a woman, lead. Fang replies, “She’s the tough one” (STW, Ch47, p139).

This tough persona remains through book 4, The Final Warning, but vanishes suddenly in books five and six, where Max begins a serious romantic involvement with Fang. Before continuing, it is important to point out that Max’s change in attitude is not the product of her rivalry with Brigid, as the clear signs of change do not show up until after she makes a commitment to Fang in chapter 41 of MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel. This time, when Fang makes a move to kiss Max, she accepts it eagerly, immediately, and without apparent thought. Concurrently, her position as a dependable leader begins to break down as the rest of the flock is attacked, first by sea animals, then again by a missile launched by the antagonists for that novel. Even after these events happen, the concept of being shot at is Max’s second guess when she opens her eyes to see what happened in chapter 43. By FANG: a Maximum Ride Novel, Max is letting Fang in on the planning process (as seen at the very end of Chapter 17) and has changed her attitude entirely with regards to how she acts towards her perception of the flock’s defense, seeing spending time with Fang as more important than keeping her flock safe, despite entertaining two untrustworthy visitors and being under threat of an attack. Atop this, through the book, Max experiences dreams of subjugation through interaction with Dylan, something which simultaneously frightens her, yet she finds enjoyable to some degree. It was around this point that Max loses her control of the flock. In a surprising parallel to the first book, Angel calls a vote, one which carries with it the same danger of a weakened flock not all dissimilar from the case in The Angel Experiment. This time Max is not assertive. She waits for the vote to pass, and when it is complete leaves, then, upon leaving, meets up with Fang again. Suddenly, we see an as-of yet unseen case, Max turns to Fang and asks, “So what should we do now?” (FANG, Ch47, p169). While this statement would be unremarkable coming from anyone else, coming from Max it is an admission of defeat, and a surrender of power to Fang, whose suggestion she follows with hardly a question. It is at this point that Max makes the final leap from a strong, feminist character, to a weak, antifeminist one.

By ANGEL: A Maximum Ride Novel, Max’s decline is complete. Again, the book starts with a dream where Max finds herself in a position of male submission. This is followed shortly after by a declaration by Gunther-Hagen that her future worth is based on whether or not she mates with Dylan in the future, an idea which she initially discards, but which she doesn’t flat-out deny later in the novel. Later, she again abandons her flock at the suggestion of a side-mission by Dylan. This position is worsened when, midway through the novel, Ella was placed in a position of danger. Again, earlier in the series, Max gave explicit instructions with regards to the safety of her family members. This time though, her views are overridden at the prompting of Fang with regards to a topic which, based on the information they had at that time, could have been put off until Ella’s safety was secured—again, the product of a vote. The final moment, the moment that solidifies Max as an antifeminist character is in the beginning of chapter 51, even Max recognizes it as being out of character; she halts at the ladies room to put on makeup. This is not something Max has ever done before; when faced with anyone she considers a potential problem, Fang included, Max has not, to this point, made any attempt at modesty. Even Angel, who in books 5 and 6, was met with more vehemence, and people that she was neutral to did not ever get a similar treatment, regardless of social position. Finally, when properly kissed by Dylan in chapter 62, the thought doesn’t appear until afterwards—Dylan kisses her and she responds.

The decline of Max from a strong feminist character early in the series to a weak antifeminist character is an unfortunately obvious one to anyone who paid attention during the series, and reflects badly on the author’s philosophies. It leads one to wonder, though, if it can be reversed in the final book. The truth is, sadly, that due to the romantic setup involved, Max stands only the narrowest of chances. If Max were to continue her relationship with Dylan, then it would continue in its present subservient, antifeminist theme. If she were to transition to Fang again, then it would require Patterson to institute a scenario that would make Max again feel that Fang had earned her worth, likely through Max having to break Max out of an embarrassing situation. Again, this would be an antifeminist move as Max would still be subservient to an action by Fang. A third option would be for Max to avoid romance altogether, an option which is unlikely to happen due to its unpopularity with the young adult audience. Naturally, this would be the only option that could begin to show the audience that Max was moving back in a pro-feminist direction. In short, the damage has been done, and Patterson will be forced to pay the price for a very unpopular and anti-modern character development arc.

Works Cited

Patterson, James. Angel. New York: Little, Brown, 2011. Print.

Patterson, James. Max: a Maximum Ride Novel. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. Print.

Patterson, James. Maximum Ride: School's Out-- Forever. New York: Little, Brown, 2006. Print.

Patterson, James. Maximum Ride: the Angel Experiment. New York: Little, Brown, 2005. Print.

Patterson, James. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. New York: Little, Brown, 2007. Print.

Thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by nathan_p on August 4, 2011 at 3:51pm

Oh man. I really like that.

The only way I can see anything with Dylan being portrayed positively is to have both him and Max break current characterization in some dramatic way. Ugh. What a way to handle what could've been a good subplot.

I really dislike the current trend towards focusing on romance in YA lit -- or maybe it's always been there and I just noticed -- many books I see have a perfectly fine plot, but the end of the summary shoehorns in a mysterious boy of some flavor. You can capture a YA audience fine without romance, but hell, it sells.

I've been thinking of doing a quick run-through of scientific fuckups in the books, but that's a heavy, heavy project to take on.

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Permalink Reply by EndOfTheEarth on August 5, 2011 at 12:57am

I think that romance has always been there in YA books...the difference being that the romance has moved from romantic tenstion to romantic involvement. Rachael & Tobias in the Animorphs series comes to mind, as do the subtle romantics going on in both Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter. Heck, in books 1-3, I liked what was going on between Fang and Max, but only because of the fact that it was generating stress and frustration--all the lovey-dovey stuff runs counter to that intent.

What I figure is that Meyer broke the system when she introduced involvement in Twilight, and upon that selling, other authors similarly moved from tension to involvement. What they all forgot was the reason the end of Vladimir Propp's traditional story order ends with "they bad guys get punished, and the protags get married and live happily ever after"--everything that comes after that is boring as sin, even with some new plot thrown in for kicks.

I think that an analysis of the science messups would be fun, but the flight mechanics alone are enough to keep me busy for quite a while. Have you ever considered that the flock must have huge butt-muscles to be able to keep their legs out straight behind them during multi-hour flights? I mean, it's not like they have any stabilizers on their feet.

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Permalink Reply by nathan_p on August 7, 2011 at 6:17am

You could go for hours on just "2% avian DNA my ass".

(Sorry for the late reply. Finals and other things.)

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Permalink Reply by Contradiction on August 4, 2011 at 2:06pm

Remembering how much I like country music when it's done right...

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Permalink Reply by Jessie~the~Singer on August 5, 2011 at 12:24am

:D I love Country Music. Not many people do, but it was what I was raised with.

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Permalink Reply by Jessie~the~Singer on August 5, 2011 at 3:10am

YES! I GOT INTO POTTERMORE! :D

Sorry about the excessive caps, but I've been on for the last 3 hours refreshing every 5 minutes, trying to get on. Aaah!!

I'm WingRune21. :D

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Permalink Reply by Xuut on August 5, 2011 at 3:19am

sodjkslknjlakdaslk

I tried but it redirects me to Harry Potter Scholastic. It bothers me, I think it's closed now. Oh well.

Edit: Never mind. XD Found it. I'm Wildblood64.

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Permalink Reply by Jessie~the~Singer on August 5, 2011 at 4:36am

Yeah, it took me a while to figure out where it was, too. I almost went back, but then I saw the big flashing "The Quill Is Here." I felt really stupid for a minute, haha.

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