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WARNING: the following page contains a lot of opinions, mostly mine. If you do not agree with them, then fine with me.
Now, I touched upon this in my “about this site” page, but heck, I feel I need to do this. The title speaks for itself; it’s a defence. Why am I writing it? Because I’m just tired of having to type out the same responses over and over again.
Before I go any further, I’m sorry if I offend anyone. I hope I won’t, but who knows in this day and age? I might come across as overly harsh, but I don’t have anything against anyone. These are based on real comments, but I’m not going to say anything about who wrote them because that doesn’t have anything to do with it.
Let’s start with the most common one, shall we?
HE’S MEAN!!!!!1!!!! (or similar)
No, he isn’t. The so-called “mean” side of him is because of his portrayal. Major Mint is meant to be a British officer, apparently from the Victorian era. An officer was meant to be the one giving the orders, and yes, it might come across as “bossy” or “mean” but it was acceptable as long as he didn’t try to boss around a superior officer. Long story short: IT’S HIS JOB. This is like complaining because a teacher gives you an exam. If Major Mint was portrayed as being all sweetness and light, he would be a nicer person, but he’d be an awful soldier. It would also destroy any dynamic the group had. How dull would it be if they all just skipped along the road and didn’t have any arguments whatsoever? Exactly.
Oh, I know what’s going to happen now; we’re all going to point out how he rants about Prince Eric. Yes, Nutcracker is Prince Eric, and of course it isn’t nice to be insulted. First of all, while WE know who he is, Mint doesn’t. Second, try to put yourself in this character’s shoes for five seconds; he clearly doesn’t know Eric got turned into a knick-knack, and probably thinks the Prince ran off or something similar. Either way, Eric isn’t there and the Mouse King is causing havoc, leaving Mint and Candy to protect the people by themselves – and while we’re here, the fact that he does that rather than just fleeing the country is a wonderful example of how he isn’t “mean” at all. Why else do you think he was going on about how irresponsible Eric apparently was? Even Nutcracker admits he didn’t want to be the prince when he had the chance! Oh, and didn’t the Major just admit that he had “high hopes” for Eric? Can you blame him for being a little bit unhappy with the Prince? By the way, the two children also expressed less-than-pleasant thoughts about Nutcracker’s real identity, but no one calls THEM mean, I notice.
“THE CAPTAIN ISN'T GOOD AT BEING A LEADER HE IS BAD AT IT”
Let’s ignore the name mix-up because everyone makes that mistake at least once (even me), and let’s pay more attention to the fact that this person has completely missed the point. If Major Mint was a GOOD leader, it wouldn’t be funny. His arrogance is what gets in the way. Personally, I think if Nutcracker had lied and told him he was a General, things would have been a lot different.
I’ll admit he’s not a GOOD leader, but to say he’s BAD at it isn’t very fair, especially since they often bring up the whole “weather’s getting worse” scene. Put yourself in his place here; you’re in charge of a group of people. You’re out on a frozen sea where the ice might melt at any time (and let’s face it, Nutcracker didn’t help by making a giant hole in it), your sleigh probably won’t serve as a boat and you’re looking for an island that you’ve had no luck finding and probably doesn’t even exist. On top of it, there’s a fog and you won’t be able to find anything if you keep on going. Would YOU have stayed out there? That scene is one of the few moments when Major Mint actually shows he’s good at his job and everyone likes to blatantly ignore it. This is what happens if you’re male and not Ken.
Did you know the little captain candy Tommy doll is actually portrayed as an old mean man in this movie?
Oh, look, another problem with the way Mattel marketed the movie; people got the wrong idea. Well, here's a serious question for anyone who actually thinks Major Mint should be two years old; how could you take that seriously? Could you really, honestly sit there and not be slightly curious about why they've got a little boy pretending to be a soldier? Even if you were just passing through while your kids were watching it, wouldn't you think "hang on, what the heck is going on"? We all know Barbie movies aren't meant to be realistic, but I'd say that would be a little bit too insane.
I've already mentioned how Major Mint is meant to be a British officer (or a stereotype, anyway), more similar to a toy soldier than anything else. Regardless of how you may feel about the movie, throwing a little boy out there in a uniform and saying he's an officer is ridiculous even by Mattel's standards. Can you picture that little boy in the bridge scene, for instance, or maybe shouting at a rock giant? In fact, can you picture him doing ANYTHING the Major actually did? How on earth would cutting Mint's age by a few decades have improved the movie? Oh, wait, apparently it's because he's cuter. Yes, because God forbid children could be exposed to a character who's old enough to drive. Oh, and here's the complaint about him being "mean" again. Just one more thing about that; this "mean behaviour" is part of a stereotype that has shown up in various films for years, and not just childrens' films either. What's so horrible about him actually ACTING like an officer apparently acted? Could someone please explain WHY this is so bad, because I don't see it. Maybe it's because I've always really liked this character. Or maybe, just maybe, it might be because I've not been traumatised for life after seeing him.
I just went into a bit of a rant there, but sometimes this annoys me a bit too much. Major Mint (as far as I'm concerned) is a really great character, and a good reminder that authority isn't always bad, and yet there will probably never be another character like him again thanks to people like that. Mattel appear to prefer giving Barbie animal sidekicks now - ones that look cute in the movie as well as in merchandise. Oh, there will probably be character similar to the Major - Helene from "Barbie in the three musketeers" is a great example - but they'll never get any attention (bitter? Who, me?). And honestly, out of all the problems in this movie, calling out Major Mint? REALLY? The Mouse King and the rock giant I can understand, but honestly...
(Incidentally, this is the same person who called him an "old fart" on another page. Apparently, featuring a bossy soldier in a Barbie movie really bothers her)
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