Before this begins NO I DO NOT CONDONE THE RELATIONSHIP IN LOLITA. as you read this it will become very very apparent. But I'm saying this right off the bat because I know people will see lolita in the tile and flip their shit. Actually read this before you go off ok?

CONTENT WARNING: I will be discussing abuse and the sexualisation of minors. As well as drawing comparisons to the novel Lolita. If you can't handle that, skip this chapter.

I've been thinking about this for a while now, and it was sparked by the Adricat fictive we gave in the system. Oh yeah, if you don't follow me and only read this book you probably won't know. But I'm the host of a system, most likely OSDD/UDD (still talking to psychs about it) and we gave an introject of Adrien. He formed as a literal catboy so he identifies more as Adricat, but he's still based on Adrien. If you want to know more about him and the system, you can read our longer updates book that has several chapters on it. This is going to be pretty long, so buckle up.

But anyway...

I read Lolita because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about, and if the movies were accurate (they're not btw. The 90s movie is better but still not completely accurate). And because alters can share memories, Cat had a vague idea of the story through what I read. He was intrigued and decided to read it himself, and he found striking similarities to himself and Delores (lolita). Which got me thinking...

Adrien, the character, is miraculous' lolita.

For those who haven't read lolita, here's a quick summary. But definitely read it if you can handle its contents, it's an amazingly written cautionary tale.

Delores Hayse is a 12 year old girl (14 in the 90s movie and 16 in the 60s movie. Either way, all still minors) who is kidnapped and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her stepfather Humbert after her mother gets hit by a car and died while she is at summer camp. The story is written through Humberts perspective, in the form on a memoir he writes in prison for murder and it's established very early on he's an unreliable narrator. He goes on these long tangents trying to justify his actions and paints the situation like Delores coaxed him into doing it.

He calls Delores Lolita, which is a Spanish (I believe) nickname. Lolita is the name given to Delores by her rapist. Which is why you don't want to call her Lolita when talking about the book. She's Delores, or Dolly as her fiends called her. That's her identity, not the pet name her abuser gave her.

He also calls her a 'Nymphette' a term he makes up to describe a 'sexually promiscuous young girl between 9-14' it's his way of trying to justify his sick ass fantasies.

They move across America, so Humbert can isolate her and keep her from going to the police or anyone finding it what's happening. Delores eventually manages to escape him, although unfortunately it's right into the hands of another pedo, playwright Quilty who has been watching the two knowing what's going on the whole time. But she was so desperate, so broken she'd take any chance to get away from Humbert. So she took that risk and left with Quilty anyway.

Once she grew up and was no longer young enough for those sick fucks, she ends up dating someone who is actually her age and is set to marry him. She's pregnant and desperately needs money so she calls Humbert again to ask for money. He gives it to her, hoping she'd forgive him but obviously she doesn't. It's then he finds out she escaped with Quilty and sees it as Quilty 'stealing' her and tracks him down and kills him.

He'd arrested, and it's said that Delores died in childbirth later. But we know Humbert is an unreliable narrator so it's possible she did continue to live, and Humbert just says she died as a way to move on from her. And he dies himself in prison later.

The whole story is a very raw and heartbreaking look at how abusers work, and shines a light on the fact groomers are most likely to be those closest to you. A family member, a friend, a coach or teacher.

It's the fault of the 60s movie for wildly misconstruing the narrative, for putting this idea that it's a taboo romance in peoples heads. There was a ton of restrictions on films in the 60s, so they couldn't show any of the violence and abuse. It had to be implied. And because of that it flew over a lot of peoples heads, they ended up seeing the story as a romance rather than a cautionary tale. The movie also changed the cover of the books for its release as is often done when a movie based on a book comes out.

The author Vladimir Nabokov, famously said he wanted the cover of the book to be just the title and that's it. No girls. Because the cover of a book is what draws people in, if they see roses and girls they'll expect it to be a romance and see it as a fucked up one. And when the movie came out, the publishers gave the book the same cover as the movie. The famous heart sunglasses.

And it was here the downfall of the lolita story began. This movie and the way it framed Delores as some kind of seductress starlet rather than a victim is how people started viewing lolita as a fucked up romance and not a cautionary tale. How people started to think a Nymphette was a real thing. Not just some pedos sick fantasy.

The 90s movie is much better than the 60s one. It shows the violence, the trauma, the screaming and crying. But it's shot and edited in this dreamy haze and the soundtrack is all pianos and violins, which frame it as a tragic love story. If this movie had just takes a different filming and editing approach, it could have been perfect. But the damage the 60s movie had done on the legacy of lolita fucked up those chances.

So now you know what lolita is about and the cultural impact it had, let's compare Delores to Adrien.

They may not have experienced the same abuse, but they both experienced abuse at the hands of a father figure. Which is the first parallel.

All depictions of Delores range from age 12-16. That's also exactly how old Adrien is over the course of the show. He's aged in the series, had a birthday episode and everything. Since season five ends with the class leaving middle school for high-school he'd be around 15ish.

They both have a dead mother, one that died in a tragic way too. Leaving them with no one but their father, their father who isolates and abused them.

And of course, they're both seen as a starlet.
Adrien very literally, he IS a starlet. He's a model, an actor, a nepo baby. Delores may not have been famous herself, but her character is.

The only difference really is the fact Adrien is a boy and he was (luckily) not sexually abused. But abuse is abuse, no matter what kind.

In canon, Adrien is a victim of what I call the 'Lolita complex'. When a young person, usually a teen is seen as a starlet, treated like shit and blamed for it.

Adrien is constantly being harassed by his fan base. He's being pestered by the girls in his class and his fan base, treating him like he's the hottest thing on earth, like he's an object. Thomas even confirmed on Twitter that Adriens fame in universe is on par with his famous BTS is to us. He is FAMOUS, VERY FAMOUS. We see him stopped for pictures, autographs and having to smile for the camera every seconds he's alive. All his childhood and teen years is consumed by the public digging into his every move. All because his dad shoved him into the spotlight for his own gain.

And I don't doubt there's some fucked up people in universe who see him as a male 'nymphette' simply because he's young and conveniently attractive.

Adrien does all he can to fight back, he snaps at his father and runs off, he escapes through being cat noir, he vents to his friends about his bad his dad is. He's very clearly in pain, he's so clearly a victim. He doesn't want this, he doesn't deserve this. He just wants to be free, away from the father who treats him like a puppet for monetary gain. From the eyes of the public judging his every movie, and the hoards of fangirls both young and old who drool over him despite the fact he's a teenager.

Upon the loss of his mother, he had no one. No one but his dad who only ever used him as an object. He couldn't escape through modelling or his job because that was almost as bad. Having everyone objectify your. He couldn't escape to school, sure he had his friends but even his classmates would treat him like an object because of his fame. He was completely and utterly isolated. And being cat noir at first seemed like an escape, but it became a trap as well, because he ended up being treated like shit by the other heroes.

Just like what the world did to Lolita, they objectified him. Stripped him of his identity. He was 'The son of Gabriel Agreste' not 'Adrien. Just Adrien' the label of famous model for him, is like the label Lolita for Delores. The identity forced onto him by his abuser.

Just like Delores he lost his mother tragically, and his father used that as an excuse to isolate him and use him as a puppet for his own desires.

Just like the world did to Dolores, they boiled him down to a young starlet who can't possibly be abused because who'd abuse for own child? If he wasn't posing for swimsuit ads then all those creepy fans wouldn't be drooling over him. He's asking for it, it's his fault, if he didn't want to be famous then why would he keep modelling? The outside world never sees the horrors behind the rose tinted sunglasses they have of him, just like our view of Lolita was warped by the heart sunglasses and dreamy cinematography.

Adrien isn't just a victim of his father, but of the heart shaped sunglasses the world views him as in universe. The Lolita complex.

I'd even go as far as to say some of the real live people in the fandom view him that way, because I've seen the creepy as fuck YouTube thumbnails blatantly sexualising him, a minor.

But that's not where it ends.

Girls (and boys and enbies, but mainly girls) have in recent years started somewhat of a movement. Taking the aesthetics of the famous heart sunglasses and such and spitting in the face of the mischaracterisation. The term you've probably seen before 'lolita is not a love story' is usually attached to pictures from the movies, quotes from the book, people wearing the same fashion style as the movies etc. using the 'nymphette' aesthetic to slap creeps across the face. Kind of like what punks did with the kinder whore subculture. Taking things seen as innocent an girly and putting a gritty twist to it, using it to call out all the problems they face. How young girls are sexualised simply for existing.

You see a lot of Lolita's aesthetics in communities like the croquette fashion space and pretty obviously artists like Lana Del Rey have used the aesthetic to talk about the depressing reality of how 'the American dream' is bullshit.

People are trying to reclaim something that was taken from them. The innocence of girlhood, the youthful girly aesthetic. By wearing those heart sunglasses while screaming from the rooftops that lolita isn't a love story it's telling anyone who can hear that what they did to the legacy of the story was fucked up. It was never a love story, it was a cautionary tale that got romanised and spat on.

Wearing the same outfits as Delores does isn't romanticism, it's taking back the power. By talking about the themes and details of the story you're bringing awareness and breaking down the false gaze people have of it. Girls are sick of people using a misread lolita as some kind of excuse for grooming. They want you to see it what it actually is, that Delores was always a victim.

And even after all that, people who don't understand the point, people who simply don't care to listen, they ignore it. They just point at lolita and call it that one pedo story and anyone who likes it a freak.

And you know what? That's what the writers did do Adrien.

His own fucking writers.

They wrote a character that was abused, objectified and fell victim to the lolita complex. And when they ended season 5 by erasing all those moments Gabriel hurt him, all those times he was objectified, and made Adrien say 'my dad was a hero' they just fucking spat in his face and told him he wasn't a victim.

Adrien got so close to having a break free moment, getting that retribution he deserved. Facing his own father, his abuser and telling him to fuck off, you hurt me and I don't forgive you. But no, abuse is apparently ok to the writers as long as the abuser is doing it 'for a good cause'.

Gabriel just wants his wife back guys!! He abused his son and terrorised all of Paris because he loved her so much and now he gets to win and be with Emilie in death together isn't that cute?

FUCK RIGHT OFF.

Just like people spit in the face of all those people why try so fucking hard to erase the damage that the lolita complex has done for the story, the writers spit in the face of their own character who went through almost the exact same thing as one of the most famous abuse victims in literature.

And that, is why Adrien is Miraculous' Lolita.

He's a young, pretty, abused by his father starlet who is objectified and misconstrued by the public. And when he gets so close to breaking out, he's just spat in and told to go sit back down.

I can't help but draw the parallels, especially after Cat pointed them out to me after reading the book himself. It's so fucked up that people can relate to one of the most famous abuse victims on literate. The fact we have people in his world that went through something similar is horrific.

At least Vladimir Nabokov acknowledged his own character as a victim. None of Adrien's writers see him as a victim, if they did then they'd have given him the breaking free he deserved.

So that's my little analysis, on the parallels between Delores and Adrien. How the world, their writers and their father figures treat them. If you go back and read some of my miraculous works you'll probably be able to see the times I've drawn the parallels too. In blonde and Bluenettes I even had Adrien use the same line Delores did when she finally snapped at Humbert, when he snapped at Gabriel. "Murder me like you murdered my mother".

Idk how to end this, so thanks for reading I guess. And if you can handle heavy subject matter I definitely recommend Lolita. It's heavy but wonderfully written and brings up a lot of horrible truths people really do need to know about.