Due to an unfortunate but plot-convenient map orientation incident the Mystery Machine finds itself parked in the determinatively-named Gold City, an old mining town in the deserts of California. The Scooby-Doo Gang (which I was disappointed to find absent from Wikipedia’s ‘List of gangs in the United States) are confronted by the Miner 49er, a specter said to wander the town’s abandoned mines looking for one last vein of gold. Through a series of pratfall-oriented exchanges interspersed with detective work, the gang captures the ‘ghost’ and reveals he’s none other than a character we met along the way, his motive to drive out remaining townsfolk and reap the sole profit from oil speculation. And he would have “gotten away with it too,” he declares “if it weren’t for you meddling kids.”
The teenager/young adult who cannot leave well enough alone is a hallmark of storytelling and I don’t think I propose any novel concepts when we look at a few reasons why. First is relatability- friction against boundaries is a feeling most readers experienced in droves through puberty. You can spend less time explaining motivation if the rationale or driver is universal. The next is plot advancement- the hero of dystopian or fantasy stories striving to overcome the system must inherently defy a rule or taboo to trigger the response in need of changing. A third is character maturation- show the character in identical situations making different choices so we know they’ve grown. And a fourth is agency- if we want bad things to happen to our characters (and unless it’s a pure revenge story) stories with a moral usually try to make a negative outcome the consequence of that character’s own actions.
I’ll wince with the rest of us when our YA hero pokes their nose into a no-win situation but I can’t exactly hold it against the character. I have nothing if not a tendency to get involved. I’m working on it, really. In its mildest forms I try to ‘fix’ problems when someone (i.e. my wife) really just wants an ear to vent. Acknowledge, support, commiserate, agree, but let’s stay away from bringing out the whiteboard and solutioning unless explicitly asked to do so. Sometimes my involvement absolutely helps. Sometimes it makes it worse. Comically it once in a while leads to the very outcome I was trying specifically to avoid. My mother will certainly read this so I want to first caveat by saying everything was lovely, we’re glad it happened, it looked like a great time, my wife had a lot of fun, the props/pictures/treats were awesome. BUT. A couple months ago in the pre-Omicron days the aforementioned wife and I were planning on hosting a party. We’d been in our home a little over a year at that point but hadn’t yet held a larger get together. There was of a menu of potential events to celebrate but just in case it wound up being a pre-baby party we wanted to be sure not to step on any other plans.
We didn’t want a baby shower, if anything just a last hurrah style party before we become consumed by lack of sleep and an ever growing mountain of soiled diapers that can only be taken out twice a week. But before we invited friends I wanted to be 100% positive my family wasn’t planning anything. I called my mother to make sure nothing was in the works, and tried to delicately infer we didn’t want anything just in case. Apparently I blew it. Jewish families don’t really do baby showers but my family is incredibly cognizant of making my wife feel welcome (putting up Christmas trees, etc.) so while the message I tried to communicate was “just making sure you’re not doing a shower” the message received was “my wife would love a shower we’re just too shy/wary of cultural norms to ask.” Once again it turned out great and in retrospect glad it happened. The decorations my family put together were really, really cute and we have them up in the nursery now. the mandrake cupcakes and Hogwarts letter cookies are long since consumed. But if I hadn’t made that call to stop a hypothetical situation, the situation would never have occurred.
Stories where the teenage meddling saved the day are legion. A few examples I’ve found the last few years alone:
- Persona 5 (coincidentally my favorite game in a while, for more check out this post): Joker is thrust from his old life after trying to stop an assault and finds himself as a high school student on the path to unravelling societal corruption from the gym teacher up to the gods
- Neal Shusterman’s Arc of Scythe series: Rowan Damisch, one of our two main protagonists, breaks taboo to provide a comforting hand for a classmate chosen for ‘gleaning’ (the only way to truly die in the series) and finds himself later arrayed against the very system arbitrating life and death itself
- Red Rising: Darrow of Lykos breaks the law and condemns himself to death in order to bury his executed wife Io, launching events that domino into societal upheaval and planetary war
- Disney’s latest film, Encanto (watched this just last night, highly recommend): Mirabel goes against family taboo to investigate a mystery surrounding the disappearance of her Tío Bruno
In these situations our protagonist’s meddling is essential to the positive outcome. But that’s the norm. Instead I want to focus on those like my anecdote- where the meddling actually led to problems. (Once again, mom, don’t feel badly. This wasn’t a problem. We’re overjoyed the party happened). So let’s run through a quick list Buzzfeed style to rank outcomes from merely inconvenient to cataclysmic. As always I’ll do my best to avoid long-term spoilers (though I’ll point out specifics along the way) for everything non-Harry Potter which you’ve all read anyways.
Level 1: We’ll Laugh About It Later
Right to Harry. Hagrid summed it up best saying ‘Never known kids like you three fer knowin’ more’n yeh oughta.’ Harry (and to a slightly lesser extent the rest of the trio) oft find themselves entangled via cloak and map. Their involvement is the central theme to the stories. I could pick out a few items here; some had harsher impacts so I won’t include at this lowest level. Others, like the Sirius episode at the Ministry, I don’t hold against Harry considering that was a deliberate plot. Instead I’ll talk about the Mirror of Erised. In ‘The Man with Two Faces’ Harry discovers a brooding Quirrell unable to get the stone from the mirror. Per Dumbledore’s enchantment only someone who did not want to use the stone would be able to take it (i.e. Harry). Following this discovery Quirrellmort makes a grab for the now corporeal rock but Lily’s lingering protection saves the day. Dumbledore and a convalescing Harry have a nice chat about mortality over jelly beans, Harry gets his first confirmed kill, and all’s well that ends. But the stone was only ever in danger because Harry interfered. The mirror would have thwarted Quirrell.
Level 2: Boy That Escalated Quickly
At this level we have genuine consequences to life and limb. To continue the Harry Potter theme for a moment- Harry following Malfoy into Myrtle’s bathroom in Half-Blood Prince and the duel that would have killed Draco if not for Snape’s intervention. Another example- Circe from Madeline Miller’s titular adaptation (I’m only passing familiar with the source myths, so this may play out differently in other stories). In a fit of jealousy and rage at the rejection of Glaucos (a mortal she transformed without his knowledge into a god), Circe ignores prohibitions by her grandmother and poisons Glaucos’ lover, the nymph Scylla, resulting in her transformation into the multiheaded monster who preys on sailors for generations. The gods (including Glaucos) are ambivalent, Scylla becomes a legend in her own right, mortals pay the price, and Circe is left even more lonely than the start.
Level 3: There Goes the Universe
At the beginning of Game of Thrones, the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, Bran Stark ignores his mother’s admonishments to stop climbing buildings and inadvertently catches Jaime and Cersei Lannister engaged in an act that brought #twincest to the forefront of pop culture. This action set in motion the political intrigue central to the stories. Sure the Lannisters are vile and corrupt. But if the stories taught us anything, so are the rest of Great Houses (and most people in general). If Bran kept his feet planted on the ground Robert Baratheon may still reign. Instead we get the War of the Five Kings, tens of thousands of dead farmers and villagers, and a vastly depleted continental military and power vacuum right as Westeros faces an existential supernatural threat from beyond the Wall.
In V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series Kell, probably justifiably chafing at the boundaries placed on his life by his adoptive royal parents, brings a forbidden artifact into his world that later tries to destroy and consume all. Harry Dresden (not a teenager in age but probably in maturity) can’t help but insert himself into inter-species politics and risks or outright starts several wars. Locke Lamora of The Gentlemen Bastards series, frequently described as ‘too clever by half’ ignores the Secret Peace to pull off ever more impressive but wildly unnecessary heists and plunges his world into chaos.
Any other favorite examples at any of the levels? Let me know in the comments!
Twenty-five Hundred Stories 