I learned my lesson about hostility over reboots with Star Wars: Rebels. I was angry about this show. Disney bought Star Wars, killed Clone Wars, and announced they would start their own show. I felt like they were some asshole male lion who took over a pride and killed all the lion cubs so the females would go back in heat. It pissed me off and for years, in fact, until the show had ended, I refused to watch it. Then I decided to trust my roommate about how good it was and now I rank it as one of the best shows I've ever seen.
After that, I vowed to keep an open mind about reboots. In some cases, there has been disappointment and annoyance (Teen Titans Go!), but in other cases, I've been very happy with the results. This was basically my feeling going into the whole She-Ra situation.
For a show that I don't know that many people watched or even thought that much about, people have been ANGRY about the She-Ra reboot. They hate the art. They hate the redesigns. They hate all of it. People vowed it was the worst show ever and questioned anyone who said anything positive about it. Articles ranted about. People scream that it's stripping all femininity out of cartoons. Anyone who likes it is lying and ONLY saying so because they're liberal and too blind to accept how bad this is.
Despite all of this, I tried to keep an open mind. Unlike a lot of people, I actually did watch She-Ra when I was younger. I was interested to see what a reboot would be like.
This wasn't like the most important thing on my mind. I've been sick and distracted and basically forgot the show had started. Then I read an article about Entrapta and got all excited about it.
I'd actually had an Entrapta action figure when I was younger. I liked the character's design, though they never did all that much with her on the show (that I remember, it's been a long time). The reboot of her sounded amazing. With that in mind, I started watching.
As much as I wanted to keep an open mind, the barrage of complaints about the show kept running through my thoughts. The show was an attack on any kind of gender. The show pushed agendas. The show was poorly written. The show tried to push political ideals over substance.
I really didn't find any of that to be the case. Now, keep in mind, I'm admittedly rather liberal myself about things, but at the same time, I'm also a consumer of media and get highly annoyed when I feel I'm being preached to. Trust me, I would have picked up on this. Actually, I found the opposite to be true.
Instead of pushing an agenda, the show structured certain aspects of the world to just be the culture of that world and then don't call attention to it. This is an alien world with other ideas about sexuality and gender roles. Do you see same-sex couples? Yes. But in this world, that is common. No one remarks on it. Netossa and Spinnerella may be in a relationship, but it is far less remarked on than the relationship between SeaHawk and Mermista because it isn't a plot point. An agenda is being pushed when characters are stepping outside of the plot to discuss how wonderful the idea being pushed is. That doesn't happen here. It's just part of their culture.
Speaking of Spinnerella, she is part of another major complaint about the show. She, along with Glimmer, Frosta, and Scorpia, all have larger than usual body shapes. People complained that the show was sacrificing the integrity of the original characters to promote an agenda of fat acceptance. Again, no one remarked on any of these people looking different. No agenda was being preached. In fact, what is remarkable about the cartoon is that you don't see any two people with the same body shape. Even background characters are shorter or taller, rounder, thinner, more square, or whatever, just as people really are in life. To me, the fact that we get characters with various body shapes added to the art. It didn't take away from it.
I also take issue with the idea that these characters are fat. Okay, Glimmer is chunky and pear-shaped. However, there are a lot of teen girls who look just like this for a while. When we meet her aunt, we see the shape she'll probably have when she's fully grown.....thicker, but clearly healthy. To me, Spinnerella looks more like a softball player and as for Scorpia, I'm guessing that's just how her people are built to handle the tail.
Are body types mentioned? Yes. But in this case, they are mentioned as a plot point. When Catra is recruiting Entrapta, she comments that Adora and the others seem to be more comfortable with people who look more like what we would consider humans. It's actually a valid point and one I hope gets addressed in later seasons. On Etheria, it seems the more you stray into an animistic form, the less acceptance you have.
Catra was another anger point people had with the show because she is more of a catgirl than a woman in a mask like she was in the original. I got over this quickly because Catra is honestly the best character on the show. Her relationship with Adora is complex and nuanced. In many instances, she's in the right about the whole thing. Her reasons for doing what she does are clear and rational. Her motivations aren't just 'oh I do this because I'm evil.' I found myself cheering her successes as much as I did those of the other side because her plans are usually great. I don't want Catra punished or harmed. I want her and Adora to find common ground.
In fact, Catra is really the character that let me see where this shows biggest influences were coming from. Since the first She-Ra aired, we've had decades of anime. We've gone from the typical Magical Girl trope to people who wrote about it, rewrote the structure of it, and redefined what it means. We've also had a great deal of anime that played with gender roles, sexuality, ships, and the deeply delightful energy between foes. This kind of influence leads to NO scene between Adora and Catra being boring. In fact, their story just gets better as the season progresses.
Relationships are the fulcrum of this show. Adora struggles with guilt over doing the right thing by leaving the Hoard, while knowing that meant she left Catra and to a lesser extent Shadoweaver (there is a great deal of sadness in her voice when she talks about Shadoweaver being the only mom she ever knew). Adora, Bow, and Glimmer constantly learn about how to function as friends. Catra grows stronger due to the complete acceptance she gets from Scorpia and gives to Entrapta.
Aside from Adora and Catra, the best relationship on the show is between Glimmer and her mother Angella. One of the foundational events that happened before the show surrounds the death of Glimmer's father Micah. He was killed in an early battle against the Hoard and his death basically fractured any alliance between the various lands. Angella has been mourning him ever since and is overprotective of their only child because of it. Glimmer also mourns her father but does so by pushing the idea of fighting against the people who killed him and avenging his death. This causes a great deal of conflict between mother and daughter until they come to an understanding about it. It isn't an easily resolved situation. It requires both of them learning and growing.
The show does relationships right. It does character growth right. People fail. People make mistakes. People make mistakes that have consequences for episodes to come, perhaps for seasons to come. They recognize these mistakes and try to move on from them. No one is perfect and nothing is just black and white. The fact that I am just as concerned about what happens to the people Catra commands as I am to the princess alliance says a lot about how well they are developing these characters.
Look, I still get that this show won't be for everyone. Sometimes reboots just don't sit well with others. Even as open as I try to be about things, I STILL refuse to watch any version of The Grinch except for the cartoon. However, in this case, I am MORE than pleased that I let myself watch the reboot. I loved this and I'm looking forward to the next season.
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