User blog:Raised By Wolves/Character Appreciation - Week 12: Courtney



Welcome to Character Appreciation, a blog series that will run for the whole year alongside Project 10. Each week we'll take a look at one Total Drama character, what we like and dislike about them, how they've grown, and what we hope to see from them in the future. I'm Raised By Wolves, and this week, we'll be appreciating the Type-A, Courtney!

Overview
Courtney is part of the original cast that debuts in Total Drama Island. She quickly establishes herself as one of the most competitive contestants on the Killer Bass, and makes some enemies pretty fast. However, she's unable to resist being attracted to bad-boy Duncan, and gets entangled in a plot with him. This reaches its' climax when Courtney learns to let loose and even kisses Duncan, earning the respect of her peers. However, she has the votes unfairly rigged against her by Harold, making her descend back into her bitter personality. She sues her way into Total Drama Action, joins the Killer Grips, and takes the role of main antagonist, winning many challenges, and complicating her relationship with Duncan. She has a fierce rivalry with Lindsay, but is eventually being defeated due to Duncan voting for her.

Courtney returns for Total Drama World Tour, as a member of Team Amazon. Courtney begins to mature this season, and becomes good friends with Gwen. Just when it seems that Courtney may have finally grown up, disaster strikes. Her best friend and her boyfriend betray her trust, and the love triangle begins. Courtney falls into a downward spiral then, without a single person she can call her own. She is viciously used and manipulated by Heather, Alejandro and Duncan, eventually leading to her elimination. She returns for Total Drama All-Stars as a Heroic Hamster, refusing to speak to either Gwen or Duncan. Eventually, she warms up to Gwen, but is shown to have moved on from Duncan. She finds a new flame in Scott, but ditches everyone in Sundae Muddy Sundae in favor of victory, but ends up losing everything and taking the Flush of Shame.

Opinions
In my opinion, Courtney is one of the most captivating, interesting and well-developed characters in the entire franchise. She ALWAYS steals the scene with her deep development and amazing personality. I can relate to Courtney so much, and I love discovering new aspects of her fleshed out personality and seeing her develop. Courtney is always portrayed in the wrong in every situation, until you dig deeper and try to see where Courtney is coming from. It's not hard to sympathize with Courtney if you understand her. Every season portrays Courtney in a different way, and it seems like she's just an inconsistent character, but these things can be explained due to the emotional conflicts that Courtney goes through, whether they're shown on-screen or not.

When she shows up in Ocean's Eight - Or Nine, she COMPLETELY turns the season around, making it MUCH better than the drag it had come to, with all the Gwent drama and rather slow-paced plots otherwise. Courtney really spices things up, and has a crazy story with Duncan, which did get old at times but was still kept pretty interesting throughout the seasons. Her rivalry with Lindsay is my all-time favorite, and I still hope those two are finalists together one day. Total Drama World Tour does Courtney much more justice, developing her throughout the first half of the season. She takes responsibility for her team's failure in Super Happy Crazy Fun Time Japan, given a tough time by Heather in Anything Yukon Do, I Can Do Better, allying herself with Gwen in The Am-AH-Zon Race, eventually resulting in her overall becoming a better person, friend and girlfriend by I See London... She becomes a better girlfriend to Duncan, only being mad at him out of love, which is adorable.

Her attitude towards the "Gwuncan" kiss is actually totally understandable. While most people think she was being a total b**ch, I sympathize with her because I react the same way when I'm betrayed by people I'm close to. It's crushing, it's heartbreaking and emotionally traumatizing. I don't blame her one bit for how she acted, although it's too bad that they show her negatively and derail her a bit. Then Total Drama All-Stars rolls around, resetting Courtney's development. At first, I was opposed to Courtney after she had Lindsay eliminated, and was generally a jerk. However, come Evil Dread and I find myself loving Courtney, and her development. Even her relationship with Scott was ADORABLE. Up until Sundae Muddy Sundae, Courtney's development and trials had been so perfect, too bad that episode ruined it. I would love to see Courtney in another season, just so they can get her development right and use her to her full potential.

Best Moment: Stealing food from Chef's kitchen with Duncan.

Best Season: Total Drama Action

Best Episode: Basic Straining

Comments
What about you? Despite the title, this blog is open to all opinions! Share your thoughts about Courtney in the comments and use the userboxes / too. Don't forget to share your Best Moment, Best Season and Best Episode of Courtney! Next week, Bootylicious13 will be analyzing and giving her opinions on the Brickhouse With Heart, DJ.