Flow of Madness

This is a look into the personality and motivations of the wild Scottish lass herself Mini McGuinness. I am so excited to write this. 

Mini is such a fun character to write about. Such a fun character to write about. Why? What she shows the world is quite different than who she really is inside. She is a complex character who has so many things going on with her. 

I want to start with the main influence and main event in Mini’s life that made Mini the way she is. 

Her Mom and Her Dad 

Her Mom became pregnant with Mini on accident when she was seeing Mini’s biological father Gregory. Her father is an immature young man who lives his life by not having many attachments. Traveling the world and chasing the glitz and glamour of everything. He wants to be cool and he wants to be powerful. His ambition and inability to think about someone other than himself makes him an absentee Dad. 

Mini’s mother who loves Mini completely also adds on some complications for her daughter. Though Shelly McGuinness is a fiery woman who would protect Mini from anything she is also a victim of her experiences. She often tells Mini that men are only after one thing (sex) and once they get it they leave. She also parades around different guys which really gets on Mini’s nerves. Shelly (especially in the novel) is portrayed as someone who tries to be young and live through Mini many times. This creates quite a bit of tension between these two Scottlish ladies and also complicates how Mini views sexual relationships with boys. 

Mini 

When we meet Mini she is seems like a defensive mean girl who has absolutely no regard for anyone’s feelings. She is completely awful to Franky and she also seems to boss around her friends carelessly. However as the Series progresses we see that most of what Mini does is out of fear. She is afraid she is losing her friends so she becomes super mean to Franky (this new comer) who seems to get the attention of Grace in particular. She is afraid of losing her boyfriend so she lies about her virginity and several other things to keep him. She rations her food and watches her weight like a hawk due to body image issues. She is constantly trying to keep control of every aspect of her life. When things get out of control she acts out in a mean way as a way to save face. 

She has major abandonment issues due to her father’s absence. She is constantly afraid of people leaving her and afraid of being hurt. Most of what she does and how she behaves is dictated by her fear of abandonment and her need for control. 

She then gets betrayed by both her bestfriend (Liv) and her boyfriend (Nick) when they start sleeping with one another. This story line in Mini’s mind shows that her Mom is right about men. They only want sex. At the same time though Mini wants that picture perfect life and she is afraid to lose people. So she continues dating Nick despite knowing that Nick slept with Liv. Until she can no longer keep up the facade of having everything. 

Towards the end of Series 5 we see Mini start to have an affection toward Franky. Some people believe that the connection they have is sexual, others think friendship, and some think somewhere in between. No matter where you fall on this debate everyone does agree that Franky became something important to Mini. Mini accepts Franky and sees something in Franky that she wants to protect. 

Mini is an extremely protective person. She will be there to beat on and kill anyone who messes with her people. She is also stubborn and stuck in her ways not willing to compromise on anything. She hates being told what to do as well. Sounds quite similar to a metal head we all know and love. Stubborn, needs to be right, hates being told what to do, and opinionated. Those are all things that Rich and Mini share with one another. This is why I feel like Rich would be someone who could understand Mini; however, they will always be people who have conflict. Both of them need people who can teach them the art of compromise and the art of not caring about the little things. This is why Grace and Alo are vital people in both of their lives. 

In Series 6 after Grace died we see Mini dealing with the aftermath of Morocco. She misses Grace and she is very much hurting from the loss. Liv he best friend brings this new personality to the gang. This new personality acts as a threat to her world so she reacts badly much like she did with Franky. With protective Scottish vengeance. We also learn that Mini is having a hard time believing her Mom has found love. She reacts poorly to her Mom’s new love interest feeling that she is somehow losing her Mom and not wanting to handle anymore change in her life. Then on top of this she has a secret. She’s pregnant. Pregnant with Alo’s baby.

She then finds her father who shows her a little bit of his glamorous world. Mini believes she needs her father while she deals with some heavy issues. Only to be let down by him yet again. She is afraid Alo will handle the pregnancy badly and deathly afraid of being abandoned to handle her situation on her own. So she keeps in a secret for eight months. Only Franky knows about the pregnancy.

That is another thing that Mini is exceptional at besides biting one-liners. She is great at keeping secrets. Everything from her virginity status to her pregnancy. Mini will change her external reality seamlessly in order to keep up appearances. She’s the master of it. 

Towards the end of the Series we see a vulnerable Mini learning to be a grown up. Learning to care about something other than herself. Learning to allow herself be vulnerable and ask for what she wants. Learning to be the person she needs to be in order to be the mother she wants to be. She shows this maternal extinct when she takes Franky in her arms and tells her that she needs to handle things. She needs to fix things. 

Mini. May seem like an ice queen. She is not though. She is a protective person who loves so deeply that sometimes she gets scared. Through her fear she comes across as bitchy and controlling. The thing about Mini is that her heart is bigger than anything else. She loves. She just wants you to be on your toes and she wants to love on her terms. 

She’s Mini McGuinness and she’s alright. She just has a hard time allowing reality to be reality especially when she doesn’t approve or hasn’t accepted the reality yet. Ultimately though she is looking for a love that she can rely on and looking for someone who can make her feel comfortable to be who she is. Goofy, sassy, loving, and friggin’ entertaining. 

(Gifs by jssula)