With the news that Michelle will snog Steve on her wedding day, now seems a good time to put Chelle on the analyst's couch, so to speak, especially since she can't answer back.
There have been some comments that Michelle emasculates Robert just as she emasculated Steve, but I can't agree with this rather sexist view. To stand up for yourself in a relationship, to demand that you're treated respectfully, this isn't emasculation. Michelle is a strong woman, not suffering men gladly, valuing her self-worth. However, she's also extremely annoying.
For me, there are two main issues with Michelle. 1) her relationship with Robert. She jumped into Robert's bed, business and flat just a few weeks after dumping Steve. This was all far too fast. She needed time to mourn her marriage before getting herself a new fella. She's carried all her baggage from that relationship (Steve's fecklessness and dishonesty) into the new one, chewing out Robert, who is an entirely different kind of person, for the same issues, because she's not recovered from that relationship yet. She needed a year off relationships. But Michelle is a sucker for adoration which leads me to point 2) It's all about Michelle, all the time. She has never chased a bloke, they've always come to her, she's used to being worshipped (no doubt she was a spoiled princess when she was growing up as the younger daughter with two older brothers) and because she views herself as pretty damn near perfect, she's self-righteous. She doesn't understand that people have flaws, do stupid things, f**k up. Michelle has little to no empathy. She doesn't understand that people do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Her demands that men do what she want isn't an attempt to emasculate them, it's a lack of understanding as to why they would do anything else.
Her self congratulation that she and Robert have got the Bistro back on its feet after Robert's (now cured) gambling addiction neatly avoids the fact she committed serious insurance fraud and got away with it. Instead of this being a life lesson that there are grey areas and sometimes you need to do bad things for a good result, it has just served to shore up her self-image as a good, successful person. In Monday's ep, she listed everything that Robert had ever done wrong and told him it was his last chance, little understanding that constantly berating someone doesn't make them behave as you want them to, it just reduces their self-esteem and it's more likely that they'll keep acting like an idiot (as Robert has been doing). Perhaps her wrong-doing (snogging Steve) might lead her to path of self-awareness, make her realise that not everything she does is wonderful.
Anyway, thank you for bearing with me whilst I got that off my (not quite as ample as Michelle's) chest.
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17 comments:
Couldn't have said it better myself. My problem was never with Michelle emasculating the men in her life, it was the fact that Michelle herself is unlikeable. It IS all about her and woe betide anyone who says her nay. My Mum has taken to calling her Moaning Michelle lately (stop it, you have dirty minds, all of you!) because that's all she seems to do.
Hear hear!! And that’s just her relationship with men. Her dealings with women aren’t much chop either. I mean, what was all that Mean Girl stuff with Sally a couple of months back?
The only character who could give her a run for her money in the Narcissistic All About Me Stakes is Alya.
I was stunned at her speech to Robert while he was in the bed after a heart attack. While yes, some of it was right, that just wasn't the time nor the place for it. I'm surprised he didn't have another one from the stress!
Doing the right thing for the wrong reason....um, like burglaring your own business!?
Michelle is just a selfish cow and always has been. She should be renamed MeMeMe. Sorry to see to see her contract extended.
@Flo Well when is the right time and place, let's to be blunt most of it was right, Robert has repeatedly screwed up, he gambled away their business, took steroids and over exercised to the point where he had a heart attack, Michelle stood by him throughout his cancer, kept the business going when he was in prison and agreed to marry him, not to mention having just lost Aidan she faces the prospect of losing a loved one for a second man, so I can see why she was angry with Robert
Michelle hasn't renewed her contract, Kym Marsh has. Big difference
I can never work out whether Michelle is this really well written unlikeable character (in which case she's a masterclass in writing characterisation) or whether she's just really badly written with no thought to continuity and it's just us obsessive fans that ascribe deeper motivations to her. I mean, Tracey is an unlikeable character, and they haven't given her a smidgeon of this kind of depth.
The writers are not going to let her get away with insurance fraud are they? You can't commit a crime that big without repercussions, it's Soap Law. I have no doubts it will turn up when we are least expecting it.
Michelle has emasculated Steve on many occasions, ridiculing him when he went back to school,telling Steve to be 'grateful' she didn't go all the way with Will[could you imagine Steve telling her that?] and the time she pulled him away by the ear because she was mad at him.
I dont' think Michelle even loves Steve or Robert just the prestige of being landlady at the Rovers and co-owner of the Bistro and turns nasty on them when life is not going her way.
Michelle is not a strong Corrie woman but a selfish character who doesn't have the decency it seems to wait until after Aidan's funeral to have her 'quiet wedding'.Michelle has to be the center of attention now!
@Anon 16:46
Two things
1. She cancelled the wedding
2. It was Ali who suggested having the quiet wedding
Why not? Just about every other financial criminal has. Lewis Archer stole everything g Gail owned, got away. Vinny stole the flat deposits, got away from both the victims and his partner; he’s dead but the money is still missing. Richard Hillman, dead but I think he also left Gail holding the bag. What MeMeMechelle got away with is still a crime but peanuts compared to the others and the only issue arty hurt was an off camera company, not one of our neighbors.
...only party hurt...
Between arthritis and autocorrect, I am doomed.
MeMeMechelle is just plain selfish. All the above about self centeredness, plus let us not forget with Will, she was one step away from crossing the line that Steve did with Leanne. But in her estimation (and his spineless stupidity) she demanded ½ of everything he owned. Which is insane for a two year childless marriage.
I pity Kym Marsh. I would hate to have to slip into Michelle on a regular basis. Joyless, selfish, friendless outside of family. She seems to do it very well, tho’, because I absolutely loathe the character. I would love to see KM in something else if for no other reason than to cleanse the palate.
David,
Ali should have known better than to suggest a quiet wedding now while everyone is still grieving and Michelle if she cared about anyone but herself could have waited until after the funeral for a quiet wedding instead of having it before disregarding Johnny's emotional state.
I genuinely can't understand why this character continues and how she has been nominated for awards and created into a waxwork. Completely dislikeable and self-absorbed. Carla is proof that you don't have to be a "nice girl" to be interesting. Writers, please throw this character a bone.
@BeverlyH - I know some other examples have been given of characters getting away with fraud, but I also remember Leanne getting Paul Clayton to torch her failing restaurant for insurance money. Paul took the fall for it and went to prison, while Leanne's boyfriend gave her an alibi, so she didn't go to prison like she should have.
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