Velma's Toxic Edginess

Sometimes I frequent my old pieces and wonder if what I said was too on-the-nose. Other times, I wonder if I didn’t say enough. And then there are moments where I made predictions that were heavy-handed, but didn’t go hard enough. Such is the case with Velma, which recently debuted its first season to mixed reception. Despite my initial thoughts being nothing more than a footnote, I think I undersold the show:

“We’re seeing that, for example, with HBO Max’s Velma, which sees Velma Dinkley reimagined as a detective who drops f-bombs.”

My problem, despite not fully realizing it, was that Velma wanted to be the Scooby-Doo-esque answer to Harley Quinn. The latter was a reimagining of the DC character as an antiheroine with a foul mouth. HBO Max doesn’t exist in Canada, but the clips I’ve seen have made it clear that it’s not for me. However, despite my issues with the writing, it at least has respect for its characters. Velma, on the other hand, doesn’t.

It's unfortunate that I’m even talking about this, as the show’s already received plenty of ire. On the right, it’s been derided as “woke garbage”. On the left, it’s been derided for being unnecessarily try-hard and edgy, despite making updates to certain characters that are interesting. It feels like I’m out of my league for saying anything at all, as I’d be talking over the voices of Desi-Americans. But since the show’s taking flak from them as is, I’ll take a stab as an outsider while trying not to talk over anyone. I apologize in advance if I’m unsuccessful.

For as much as I’ve been critical of the Scooby-Doo franchise before, I admire its weird charm. The idea of five ragtag, teenaged musicians who solve mysteries is cute. Equally charming is how anti-authoritarian the franchise is, teaching kids to be skeptical of those in charge. The reality that grownups can take advantage of those closest to them was radical in the 60’s, but has especially caught on in the decades since. Franchises like Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events owe some gratitude to Scooby-Doo for that.

That said, Scooby-Doo was a weird series. For as much as it broke ground, it wasn’t without fault. It was cheaply-made, formulaic, recycled the same stock twist (the mastermind was the last person you’d expect, yet the one person everyone trusted the most) and…dabbled in harmful stereotypes. That last point even lingered in the live-action movies penned by James Gunn. I remember enjoying the franchise as a child, but adult me needs more.

Unfortunately, the franchise was aware of this. Despite Scooby-Doo Where Are You?’s success, future iterations, like every Hanna-Barbera series, struggled to remain relevant and kept reinventing themselves. Most of the time they failed, but every-so-often you had What’s New Scooby-Doo? and Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. Velma, theoretically, is yet another reimagining. It’s also, to its credit, different.

That said, I wish that it’d yielded better results. Aside from the controversies surrounding its main VA, a lot of the changes haven’t gone over well. Shaggy, or Norville, as a black teenager who’s anti-drugs sounds interesting in theory, but his personality revolving solely around that is tiresome. Daphne and Fred, once the franchise’s cutest couple, are now drug dealers and petty jerks. This isn’t factoring in Velma, who’s been downgraded to a mouthpiece for…unusual politics. It sounds weird saying that, but have a listen for yourselves.

Regardless, it’s not the slam-dunk reimagining HBO Max wanted. It’s not even that the show has no reverence for its characters, as that can be done well! No, Velma’s embarrassed to be Scooby-Doo adjacent, something made worse by it openly calling that out in-show. I’m not joking about that.

A lot of the blame’s being lobbed at Mindy Kaling. While I’ve enjoyed art from outwardly-controversial individuals before-I like the Avatar movies-this isn’t solely on her. That’s not to discount her, but she’s not the show-runner or head writer. The rot’s impacting the entire branch, and that needs calling out. Focusing solely on Kaling here is racist and misogynistic.

The backlash from the far-right isn’t much better. Whether it’s reactionary videos on YouTube, or complaining that Shaggy’s now a black man, it’s caused Velma to gain legs in the larger conversation. Because it shouldn’t matter that Shaggy’s now black. What matters is how needlessly-edgy Velma is, including jokes and lines that sound “mature” when they’re really not. It’s like this show went to the Deadpool school of writing, forgetting that Deadpool, when written well, is also sincere.

If anything can be extrapolated, it’s that Velma’s another “dark reimagining” of a children’s property. And like The Amazing Spider-Man and Transformers movies, it falls flat on its face. Besides, what’s wrong with lighthearted and fun? Some of my favourite shows are lighthearted and fun! Why are people so scared of that?

Finally, I should address the elephant in the room: in a recent panel at New York Comic-Con, Charlie Grandy, the show-runner for Velma, stated that he didn’t want Scooby-Doo in the series because he was “too kiddy”. I don’t buy that. Family Guy, one of the highest-rated late-night sitcoms on TV, has a talking, anthropomorphized dog as a main character. Say what you will about it in general, but Family Guy isn’t going anywhere. And not including Scooby-Doo for that reason is lame.

So yes, that’s my take on Velma. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go watch something more to my liking…