User blog:Gumball2/Leni and Underestimation

I wanted to write this last night, but now is where I have time.

For those of you not familiar with me, I am a big Leni fan. I have been one since I first joined the fandom in October 2016. And I can’t see myself not being one for the foreseeable future. Most of it comes down to my ability to relate to her on a deeply personal level, not just with how she acts but with how others treat her (i.e. her family). I hope this blog will shed some light on this.

One of the most recent episodes “Shop Girl” shines an important element of Leni’s role within the broader show. At this point, it appears that Leni is gravely underestimated by the rest of her family. And I think that’s both an interesting and an exciting dynamic to witness.

Leni herself hasn’t developed the way some would like. Heck, if I were being honest, I personally wish she would be challenged more. But the dynamic this episode and others (most notably “No Spoilers”) is good. What do I mean? Well let’s look at “Shop Girl”.

In that episode, all the other siblings formulate their image of an ideal Leni. This Leni is aggressive, which allows her to become successful. While their intentions are in the right place, there’s something I found off-putting with the way the siblings were talking about Leni. Specifically, they deliberated the matter amongst themselves without consulting Leni herself in any way. They want her to be aggressive because that’s how they do thing. Even in the fantasy sequences, the others are trying to mold Leni to their liking. They debate over what house she must have, how her hair must be trimmed (CEO Leni’s hair looks an awful lot like Luna’s). Even when future Leni is asked about her success, her ideal response is to give credit to her siblings. There’s a staunch air of overconfidence laying over a veiled selfishness. Leni is their blank canvass from which all the others can paint their “wisdom” and their own stake in her future.

Except it’s not so. Leni may be passive, but her kindness turns out to be a powerful force. But more than that: Leni decides for herself what is best. She loves making her family happy, but she also knows who she is; she decides for herself that being aggressive in the same way the others are is not her style and that she doesn’t have to go by that just because she’s instructed to. Leni is her own person and she can make decisions for herself. That, surprisingly enough, demonstrates strength that the other siblings simply won’t give her credit for. She is underestimated by her family and the episode is about the other ten siblings realizing that.

There’s inklings of this in another episode: “No Spoilers”. Here, the siblings find Leni’s habit of spoiling surprises too off-putting for her to have any input on the party. And that episode is about them coming to realize that even if that element doesn’t change, it’s not suppressing because Leni is the best at organizing parties. It only takes their failed attempts at fixing things themselves that they even stop to appreciate this fact. They spend a lot of time focused on what Leni does wrong. And once again, they underestimate her.

I don’t even need to explain why this would happen. After all, when Leni does ditzy things like think her brother is a rock or mix up names, it’s easy to think that that is all who she is. Leni is instantly seen as dumb and passive, which is then twisted to mean weak and vulnerable. The siblings, therefore, feel obliged to protect Leni from herself while assuming that taking care of her needs will be a lifelong duty. I think this line from Lori in “Shop Girl” sums it up:

“Boo Boo Bear and I cannot support you forever.”

The siblings are not malicious by any means. They want Leni to become self-sufficient, but it’s clear from their behavior that they think that she currently lacks the means to do so. Deep down, all of them (even the younger ones) assume a paternalistic role in Leni’s life because they believe that’s the only way Leni can be cultivated into a proper, functional adult. They don’t expect Leni to change on her own or to question their wisdom. And it’s that belief that motivated their behavior in “Shop Girl”. Their celebration at the food court is a show of pride in their perceived ability to mold Leni to whatever they tell her to become.

In the end, Leni doesn’t change. Her true nature reveals itself to the others. They realize that Leni cannot be changed easily and that her so-called weaknesses are either strengths or insignificant to the point where her strengths overcome them (as seen in “No Spoilers”).

Now I enjoy this dynamic as is. I relate to the challenge of being underestimated and having to prove to others that I am reliable. I struggle to make others forget my weaknesses or convince them that they don’t matter because I am truly more underneath. In this respect, Leni is a role model for being able to handle such treatment (however veiled the underestimation may be) without getting too bogged down or worried about how others see her.

With that said, however, it does pose an interesting challenge to her future development. In the agreed sense of the term, Leni has developed very little. Aside from her standing up to the exterminator in “Along Came a Sister”, Leni has almost never been challenged in a fundamental way or grew in the face of an actual, severe weakness. And in my pursuit to defend Leni, I have come across some compelling arguments over how this poses problems. Most notably, Weavillain has been vocal over Leni’s lack of growth. Weavillain has stated time and time again how it’s not good for the show to treat Leni like a perfect angel that rewards her rather than challenges her.

I share Weavillain’s concerns about Leni and her future. The question, though, should be how to incorporate Leni’s weaknesses in a way that validates the earlier perceptions of her fellow family members. Of these, several come to mind.

One is a narrow view of kindness derived from a literal, inflexible mentality. The main takeaway from Leni’s kindness in “Shop Girl” is that it renders her a “people person”. That is, someone that can pick up and accommodate the needs of those with a wide range of backgrounds, attitudes, and preferences. There are plenty of instances where Leni goesto great lengths to show how much she knows and cares about the preferences of those she interacts. But in other cases, there are moments where Leni’s absentmindedness or her narrow view of beauty can lead to some blunt, insensitive comments. Fashion is a two-fold field. On one hand, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, meaning that it’s wrong for others to force others to change from what makes them feel good. But on the other hand, the fashion industry is filled with professionals that act as objective authorities regarding what is and is not beautiful, claiming to do so to help out those that seek to become beautiful themselves. One can easily see how someone as literal-minded as Leni can latch onto the latter view. It’s easy to follow the magazines and become attuned to clear-cut guidelines on what is and is not fashionable. Leni has embraced an objective view on how people ought to dress in order to become beautiful. Going back to the show, it’s clear that these blunt statements come from that line of thinking. Leni means we’ll. She’s kind in that she wants everyone to feel beautiful. But I can see how her inflexible way of dealing with fashion decisions could cause trouble. Maybe in a future episode, she accidentally makes someone cry by calling them “ugly”, even when she meant to help. This could in turn force her to realize what her inflexible, literal-minded approach to fashion can result in, all while challenging the idea that Leni is the “people person” that episodes like “Shop Girl” have set up. Does Leni really have everything figured out?

Another comes right from her passivity. Sure, Leni got rewarded for being kind to the right people. But what about the masses of shoppers that just pushed her around? Surely they don’t have time to get to know the person they shoved to get that last sweater. Also, one cannot help others if they don’t have anything to give. Leni was only able to give away clothes to others because she fought to have them in the first place. But what if she were in a position where someone was in need, but she couldn’t give it to them? What if she doesn’t have the materials or money? Or what if she doesn’t have the intelligence? The strength? The speed to get things done? Being able to help requires a degree of proactive thinking and competence. What if others catch Leni with little to give, this limiting her ability to leverage her strengths?

Finally, there’s her awareness. As of now, we only have one instance of Leni being aware of how others perceive her (“It’s a 4x Loud House”). While Leni stands up for what she thinks is right in “Shop Girl”, it appears to have been done more from her internal conviction that being overly aggressive is wrong rather than picking up on the “game” the siblings were playing. But what if Leni did come to realize just how little faith the others have in her ability to be responsible or capable of anything without their help. Would she just pass it off as “my family cares about me”? It makes me wonder what would have happened had the siblings’ conversation at the end of “Shop Girl” continued, if the others voiced their concerns about Leni’s future. Maybe a shortcoming she has in a future episode stemming from her doing could stir this conversation and cause Leni to view her family’s intentions in a whole new light. And this is assuming Leni isn’t already aware of this, of course. But the possibilities of her having a bad reaction to her siblings’ “medicine” could really rock her world. She may be forced to deal with the reality that some of her strengths could turn into weaknesses under certain circumstances. And it’s how she reacts to that challenge that we will truly see what she is made of.

At the end of the day, I want Leni to grow every bit as much as Weavillain does. I believe that while things are not ideal, I am quite impressed by what I’ve seen so far. Leni remains my favorite. And I know that such development can grow out of what has already been given, even in little chunks.

But that’s how I feel. What do you think? Do you think I’m wrong? Feel free to comment below.