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KNOW WHEN TO STEP BACK: RELATIONSHIP LESSONS FROM DISNEY’S BELOVED SHIP

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Delhi South chapter.

One of my biggest pet peeves in tv shows is when a women’s clear intentions and words are misinterpreted by their potential love interests. Another one is when characters are never called out for their bad behaviour. I recently finished watching Wizards of Waverly Place (or WOWP, for convenience), starring Selena Gomez as Alex Russo, a wizard. She has two brothers who too are wizards. For this particular piece, I am focusing on the couple- Alex and Mason, a beloved ship from the show. But to me, the couple seemed toxic for each other at times, especially when it came to Mason. So, I’d like to call him out on his toxic behaviour on the behalf of the show runners, because they never did.

So, let’s understand context first. Alex and her brothers are wizards but only one of them will get to be the ‘family wizard’ in the end, which gets determined through a wizard competition. This is true for all the wizard families in the WOWP universe. It does sound unfair but that’s how it is, sigh. Now there’s this thing about Mason Greyback, he is a British guy and… a werewolf. Alex and Mason have a complicated history leading to many breakups and it is established that werewolves are ‘impulsive.’ Which is basically another way of saying that Mason has anger issues. It comes off as a convenient excuse given to justify his toxicity.

Let’s take an instance from the show where they are broken up. Mason has tried multiple times to try to win Alex over. Desperate to have her back again, he says, “why can’t you just open your heart to me?” to which Alex’s reply is, “because I don’t want a boyfriend right now.” Here, Mason is at Alex’s housewarming party which he takes as an opportunity to shoot his shot to. She had made her intentions very clear at this point, which she reiterates when she tells Mason that a boyfriend doesn’t fit into her plan right now. She had recently moved out of her parents’ house and was looking forward to live independently. This was a big step in her life, the events that had preceded their breakup were intense as well. She needed this well-deserved break, but here came Mason who rented the apartment next door to Alex and ruin her break.

Now let’s talk about what led to these events and why Alex was demanding space from him. Mason and Alex were in a seemingly healthy phase of their relationship, when Mason saw Alex with a guy named Chase and misinterpreted things. Alex tried to convince him that there was nothing going on between her and Chase, which Mason didn’t believe. He stood Alex up for the most important event of her life and then made a great scene at the event when he saw Alex with Chase again. He didn’t give her time to explain, just pranced upon Chase and they both started fighting, ruining everything that came in their way.

The first red flag was when Mason wouldn’t believe what Alex had to say, instead gave into his misgivings. Later he told Alex that he felt bad and had come to apologize, which Alex rightfully called out that it didn’t happen. He should have listened to what Alex said in the first place, instead of just going off all feral (literally, he turned into his wolf self when he attacked Chase). I was also disappointed by the fact that Mason never faced any repercussions following his actions, Alex literally gave in to his efforts at the end, just as Mason had intended to ‘wear her down’ (in his own words).

Mason’s behaviour screams ‘insecure’ out loud. At this point it is well justified that Alex wanted space from him to clear her head, think it through and pay attention to more pressing matters in her life, which was her new apartment. Mason had no right to make it all about himself and his feelings in this situation, Alex was the one who’s feelings got hurt and she had asked for space. So, what to do when you are Mason in this scenario? Well, it is very apparent that the show had dumbed it all down for the audiences, in real life it is not as easy to identify the ‘bad guy.’ There are nuances and subtleties, people are grey personalities and not black and white.

That being said, if someone tells you that they don’t want to be in a relationship right now, believe them and leave them alone. If they want to come back to you, they will. If not, why do you want to be with someone who doesn’t have feelings for you anyways? Trying to wear someone down just for the sake of being with them is immensely problematic. As is rightfully said, if you love someone, set them free. Another important thing is to listen what you partner says, Alex time and again pleaded to Mason to believe her, instead he believed in what he heard from the outside. When you are in a relationship, you need to trust you partner enough to believe in them. Mason had no actual proof that Alex might be unfaithful, he let his emotions take the best of him and that is why Alex ended things with him.

Anoushka Patni

Delhi South '24

Quirky and versatile artist with a passion for writing.