Why Trina McGee Deserves Better

Why Trina McGee deserves better

People need to know what Trina McGee, the actress who played Angela Moore on Boy Meets World, went through. Some people know bits and pieces: how her character was done dirty on the spin-off Girl Meets World, or the racism she endured on the set of BMW. I have been following her for a while and I want what she went though to be documented for posterity. (I don’t usually ask for reblogs, but share this post on whatever platform you can, because Michael Jacobs needs to run her a fat cheque).

During Boy Meets World

Angela Moore was a series regular who joined in season 5 episode 7 of Boy Meets World; the show had been entirely white before that point. Angela was the love interest of Shawn Hunter, which was (and still remains) extremely rare to have an interracial relationship involving a Black woman on TV, let alone with a main character. Beyond that, Angela was a fully realised character: she enjoyed poetry, classical music, had some abandonment issues that she worked through with her father, and spoke about her blackness.

Unfortunately, behind the scenes Trina McGee had to deal with racism and microagressions. She had to do her own hair and makeup on set and was called ‘Aunt Jemima’ by Will Friedle when her hair was wrapped. She was also treated coldly by Danielle Fishel and other cast members; one requested that there be no women with them in the scene. The only castmate who was unreservedly nice to Trina was Rider Strong. Rider and Trina maintain a good relationship, and described her coming into his life as “huge” because, at the time, he no longer wanted to be part of the show. He also cut off racist family members after they were not alright with the relationship.

Despite Angela’s popularity on the show, she was the only main cast member to be written of the show *one* episode before the finale. Again, this was a product of the racism she experienced from cast mates but also the writers.

Girl Meets World

When production began for Girl Meets World, they secured Danielle Fishel and Dan Savage to once again play Cory and Topanga. Will Friedle also joined for five episodes over two seasons without issue. Rider Strong, who already had a fraught history with his child actor upbringing, eventually agreed to star in some episodes on the condition that he would also be allowed to direct; he went on to play in 7 episodes. The actors who play Cory’s parents also cameod in two episodes, and William Daniels, who played Mr Feeny, appeared in four.

So, what about Trina? Despite show creator of BMW and GMW, Michael Jacobs, extending an open invitation that “Whoever wants to be part of this show will be and whoever wants to move on will” and Trina being openly enthusiastic to join, even visiting the set before the filming of season 2, she was in one episode. It aired on 19th June 2015.

Anyone who has seen Boy Meets World, does not need me to explain what misogynoiristic trash the season 2 episode 8 ‘Girl Meets Hurricane’ was. Firstly, it compared Angela’s reappearance to that of a hurricane which would ‘ruin’ Shawn’s new chance at romance with the white character of Katy (one of the main characters - Maya’s - mother). She was treated with open hostility by the protagonist of the series Riley, aka the daughter of Angela’s supposed best friends.

The writers straight up lied to the younger audience of this show, stating that Shawn Hunter “fell in love with a concept” and that Angela “broke Shawn’s heart.” To the first point, Shawn breaks up with Angela in season 5 because he want to learn how to like her outside of his frame of reference to Cory and Topanga (which he does). Also, no, Angela did not break his heart, she asks for his permission to go to Europe where her dad is stationed in order for them to repair their relationship in the penultimate episode. Shawn says yes because he understood what it was like to have a bad relationship with his father. Angela literally says “let’s not say goodbye, let’s just say ‘I love you’”!

Angela was made out to be an antagonist in this episode; she was villainised, whilst every other BMW alumnus had warm greetings and was treated as family that kept in touch.

Neither Trina nor the fans were happy about this. Micahel Jacobs knew this would be the case. 

Before the episode he said “You guys are going to kill me for what we decided to do with Shawn and Angela, but I will tell you that it is right, it is real, and you’re going to have to watch the episode six times before you put the guns down.” Afterwards, he justified breaking up a vital piece of interracial and Black representation by stating (I kid you not) “Forget the color. They never meshed. Every episode was about why Shawn and Angela would not sustain.” “There can only be one Cory and Topanga and if Cory and Topanga and Shawn and Angela succeed, it lessens what I always thought was the mantra of the core show.”

Quick aside: if “real” is the aim, why was Eric the mayor of a town called St Upidtown? Why was Shawn marrying the neglectful mother of his best friend’s daughter’s best friend realistic? Why was Jonathan Turner, a chracter last seen in a coma in Philadelphia in BMW, the superintendent of the school district Cory works at in New York? How is any of that “real”? 

Don’t gaslight us - the reason was misogynoir and racism.

Even after her treatment, Trina still had hope to go in and correct the representation. Many fans were outraged on her behalf and voiced this on social media to the point where the writers said that her character would be back. They never followed through.

Post-GMW Conventions

Girl Meets World was cancelled after its third season (I was very happy that day), but unfortunaltely the racism that pervaded the show failed to cease.

Firstly, ‘Angela Moore’ trended on twitter in 2019, because Candice Patton had expressed how grateful she was to have a character like Angela. Both Will Friedle and a writer on the show attempted to reaffirm the ‘importance’ of the show. This was before Will apologised (and the writers never even attempted to address their racism).

There were numerous conventions that took place after Girl Meets World was cancelled. Trina was not invited to any even though, when GMW needed buzz before it’s pilot episode aired, she was invited for a full cast reunion convention in 2013. The excuse was that she did not have the ‘correct’ agent, yet when she got the same agent as her castmates, she was still not invited.

It’s no surprise that after Trina went public with some of the racism she recieved from the cast (in April 2020, but they didn’t get picked up by major news organisations until the BLM protests in the summer) she was finally given the chance to attend one convention. 

To summarise: Trina McGee faced some of the most blatant racism at every stage of her job as an actress. She was very open about this, but many fans were reluctant to call the treatment of her character racism. Michael Jacobs owes Trina an apology and some money!

About the Russian invasion - how is everyone feeling there? What can we do to help?

Thank you so much for asking!

A little bit of history: it's actually been 8 years since russia first invaded our country. But for the last years it was getting more and more quiet. And now BOOM again

Many people evacuated from the destroyed by war cities in 2014 and some still live there even though they support Ukraine. It's hard to leave your home. So it's emotionally different for everyone. There was a joke that people from Kyiv worry more than people from Eastern Ukraine. Because they have experienced a similar thing in 2014 and now they're more prepared than ever before.

Personally, I'm panicking from time to time, because, yup, it's stressful. Most people don't really speak about the war and evacuation because it's scary. But I feel like everyone's trying to be prepared for the evacuation or fighting. Every night does feel like a last one, after all.

Since the beginning of the war, our people have been giving money to military charity. One of the most famous military charities is "Return alive" (Povernysya zhivim). Many Ukrainians donate here every month. Here is a link for Facebook page of the charity, let me know if it translates to English or if i should make a post with translation:

There is also a charity that helps military. Yana Zinkevych, a Ukrainian politician and a commander of the Hospitallers Medical Battalion, leads this charity. In 2015 she was paralyzed during a mission and since then she has been using a wheelchair. She has personally saved more than 200 soldiers and she's awesome.

https://www.facebook.com/100020149602229/posts/914756185872693/

In her post here she makes a list of needed ammunition and the needed money.

I tried to write about the charities that Ukrainians trust in. They are famous, they have been trusted by people all these years, so as far as I am concerned, they can be trusted.

Here is a post by @everlasting-burnout who provided more links. They seem trustworthy.

Thank you so much for reading and I encourage to reblog. Just to remind you, I'm trying to tell about Ukrainian situation as objectively and as truthfully as I can

Kishimoto was pretty consistent towards drawing Sakura’s confessions to Sasuke and Sasuke’s reaction to Sakura. Sakura always whining or snotting it up. He always paid a lot of attention to drawing Sasuke, apparently his favourite character to draw. 

The thing to notice here is Sasuke’s body language towards Sakura every time she confesses to him. Always the same. 

Sasuke’s stance is always the same. His back to Sakura, telling her off in very straight terms over his shoulder. His expression towards her is always openly insulting, with either a glare or smirk. This is typically the body language for casual dismissal and feeling completely unthreatened. Shown towards someone unimportant and insignificant.

It happens again:

There:

And again: 

It also happens when Kakashi is talking to him about Sakura’s confession, but Sasuke doesn’t give a flying fig about Kakashi either. Can’t even bother to turn back and acknowledge the sentiment of these highly emotionally charged words. And so :

But when it comes to Naruto… : 

And….turn!

Again :

He would always acknowledge Naruto. No matter how overwhelmed, pissed off or angry he is, he would always listen to what Naruto has to say. He may not agree with Naruto, but he would make time. He would of course lie to himself that it doesn’t matter : 

But poor boy just can’t help himself :

And there he goes again..

He. Can’t. Help. It.

He wants to hear him out, no matter how much he might delude himself.

I keep hearing that Sasuke and Sakura’s dynamic was made to look bad in anime, but that in the manga they are pretty romantic.

Are they though? (Shakes head dejectedly..)

Anyway, Kishimoto knew what he was doing. 

"Shikamaru gets a free pass on his revenge while Sasuke doesn't. Konoha was unfair to Sasuke."

What are your thoughts on this claim by some Sasuke Stans?

Is that Konoha or Kakashi??

Usually they would always blame Kakashi for this because he actively discouraged Sasuke from pursuing Revenge but volunteered himself for Shikmaru's Revenge. They literally call him an hypocrite. 

Anyways, Let me explain for both.

Sasuke revealing his life-goal of Killing a certain man (Read: Itachi) during Team 7 Introduction. Kakashi was kind of expecting it rather than opposing or discouraging it.

"In that case, You can never defeat Itachi"

During his Chidori Training, Kakashi was asking Sasuke to not give into Hatred or otherwise the Cursed Seal would flare up and due to that, his growth would be stunted. He doesn't seem to be discouraging Sasuke's revenge in this instance. In fact, he is actually guiding Sasuke.

"I was trying to honor this boy's feelings"

Here, Jiraiya (Just like Kakashi) seems to respect Sasuke's revenge and his valid feelings... So, he let Sasuke to fight Itachi (which ended up in a situation where Sasuke got hurt. For which Jiraiya regrets a lot).

"That's divine punishment! The destiny of someone who accomplished such evil deeds!"

Some random Konoha shinobis are grateful about the fact the Itachi got his punishment from his own little brother.

I don't think this Argument of "Konoha was unfair to Sasuke's revenge" holds any truth. In fact, everyone (Kakashi, Jiraiya, Villagers) were validating Sasuke's actions/feelings in a positive way. Until they don't. Well, to be specific.... Kakashi.

Keeping that aside for now (will come back to that later),

Let's look at Team 10's Revenge. Not going to explain much. Just few panels.

I think this is very self-explanatory.

Shikamaru lost his sensei. He devised a plan and a smart plan at that. He let Kakashi to act as Captain, then He got his Revenge. Over.

It's very simple.

Now, How did Sasuke conducted himself when Itachi came to the Village?

Firstly,

Firstly, he didn’t let anyone in his Revenge... Not Jiraiya... Not even Naruto. He was even being very dismissive about Tsunade’s help. As well as other Konoha Boys’ help.

Whereas Shikamaru was glad that Kakashi Joined them. 

Well, you could say, “Itachi must always be dealt by Sasuke alone... No one has any business in it. Whereas Kakashi, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji were all related to Asuma in some way. Like they all have a stake in this Revenge and hence Shikamaru allowed everyone”.

If that’s the case, Why did Sasuke formed Team Hebi to achieve his Goal???? Instead, he could’ve killed Orochimaru and looked out for Itachi, Right???? 

So, Sasuke did know it inside him that he needed a 4-man cell to catch a strong opponent like Itachi. 

Secondly,

Sasuke after meeting Itachi, he straight up attacked him out of pure impulsiveness. There was no plan or tactics... On top of that, he doesn’t want help from any of them either. 

Whereas Shikamaru was explicitly mentioning to his teammates (including Kakashi) that they have to do the Simulation in their mind for atleast 3 times. So, there was already a clear and formulated plan that was laid out by Shikamaru. 

Why couldn’t Sasuke do that??? 

If Naruto acts on his impulse, it’s totally understandable... Because that was his inherent nature. But Sasuke???

During the Bell Test, Sasuke was so smart to observe Kakashi’s abilities first rather than straight up fighting head on like Naruto....

During Chunin Exams, Sasuke was so clever enough to create a lengthy password in order to draw in that Snake monster... 

Why didn’t Sasuke do the same here??? Like being clever, patient and take the help from other people... And then fight Itachi with a clear head????

Well, That’s why he formed Team Hebi 

Where is that calculative Sasuke who analyzes the enemy before plunging into the fight????

Oh, That’s why during Itachi vs Sasuke Battle, Sasuke was very calculative without letting his emotions get the better of him.

=====

Anyways, the comparison (Shikamaru Vs Sasuke) I made above has nothing to do with why Kakashi discouraged Sasuke from pursuing Revenge... Because Kakashi was already knocked out by Itachi’s Tsukuyomi and hence, he weren’t there in that Kidnapping scene. 

I made this comparison to simply show that in Part 2, how Sasuke became level-headed in his battle with Itachi after got easily defeated by him once in Part 1. (Point to note: Sasuke also learnt how to overcome Itachi’s Tsukuyomi in Part 2 after receiving a cruel one in Part 1)

=====

The Real Reason why Kakashi discouraged Sasuke from pursuing or obsessing with Revenge was 

1. Sasuke starting to Hurting Himself

Right after he pinned Sasuke to the tree, his first gaze was towards his Cursed seal.

Didn’t Kakashi advised Sasuke earlier that to not succumb into Hatred and not to depend on the power of the Cursed Seal???

Gaara taunted Sasuke with his Lack of Hatred

And he ended up succumbing into Hatred that led the cursed seal to flare up at the wrong time and rendered him immobile throughout the Battle. And the source of all this inconvenience was his Hatred and Revenge....  

This is exactly what Kakashi wanted to prevent from happening to Sasuke. To not let his student to get hurt and lose himself in Revenge. 

This is also the reason why Naruto confessed Sasuke about feeling Pain whenever Sasuke was hurting himself in Chapter 698.

Shikamaru never hurt himself for the sake of Avenging Asuma. Even Kakashi said that he was going with them to not let them do unreasonable things...

“This way, If I go with them, I can keep an eye on them... I won’t let them do anything unreasonable”

The other reason why Kakashi discouraged Sasuke was

2. Sasuke started to Hurt Others.

Naah, I am not talking about feelings getting hurt. 

This is about Sasuke physically starting to hurt other people in order to taste his Revenge. 

No matter how much you argue, Sasuke was the first one to instigate that Rivalry Battle in the Hospital Rooftop (not blaming him for doing it but that’s not the right way either) and he would’ve ended up doing something he regret for his whole life if he had his way... Out of sheer impulsiveness. 

Sasuke kidnapped Killer Bee.

Sasuke planned to Destroy Konoha.

Sasuke stabbed Karin.

Sasuke tried to kill Sakura by going behind her back while she was making up her resolve to kill him. 

Now all of these incidents are something Kakashi knew or saw from first hand. 

When his Target was just Itachi... He ended up attacking Naruto.

When his Target was just those 3 Elders... He ended up kidnapping Killer Bee, killing those Samurais, stabbed Karin and planned to destroy Konoha as a whole. 

In order to achieve his Goal, he is starting to inconvenience and hurt irrelevant people who don’t have anything to do with his Goal. 

Did Shikamaru hurt anyone for his Revenge???? 

Nope.

That’s why, Kakashi asked Sasuke to stop obsessing with Revenge. Because he is hurting himself as well as hurting other people.

Could all these have been avoided from Sasuke’s side???

Yes, Definitely.

Instead of planning to destroy the Entire Village, had Sasuke decided to confront and kill those Elders... Wouldn’t Kakashi/Konoha have helped him out??? 

I guess they would.

Here Kakashi was helping Naruto to beg forgiveness for Sasuke’s sake. Even though, Danzo, the Hokage had announced that Sasuke would be executed. He literally gave Jackshit about the fact that Sasuke killed Danzo.

This is what Tsunade feels about that 3 Advisors... Not going to explain any further. 

“The Mission Orders are still in effect, Right??”

“The Mission to Hunt down Akatsuki is still going on, Right?”

In both the scenes, Naruto and Shikamaru uses the Mission to Hunt Akatsuki as the reason to fulfill their Goal... In Naruto’s case, it was to bring Sasuke back. In Shikamaru’s case, it was to avenge Asuma. 

Don’t you think, had Sasuke stayed in the village... and if he had used the same ‘Akatsuki Hunting’ as the reasoning to pursue his Goal of killing Itachi using a bunch of Good Shinobi from the Village... Wouldn’t Tsunade have allowed it??? 

She would have. 

All the context of Kakashi, Tsunade or his Konoha 12 members helping out with Sasuke’s revenge is right there. It’s just that Sasuke was hell-bent on not taking it. Not only he started to reject/cut everyone but in the process he was starting to Hurt himself and Others... That’s why Sasuke’s revenge was discouraged whereas that’s not the case with Shikamaru.