Queer Fem Fandom Explorer

how it went:

But like, thematically it’s also just fundamentally super fucking gay in a way I’m still trying to articulate.

Part of it is in the religious oppression narrative. And it’s in the found family vibe. It’s in Catra trying to assure Shadow Weaver that it’s “just a phase” when Adora first defects from the horde. It’s in the princesses forming a literal rainbow when they work together at the end of season one. It’s Bow “coming out” as a rebel fighter to his two dads.

It’s in Adora’s narrative of being told her whole life to deny her own needs and desires, like that part in season five when Shadow Weaver is trying to convince her that Catra is a distraction? And that Catra will always be a dangerous and corrupting influence on her? But then her vision of Mara tells her that she deserves to have love. 

It’s in Adora initially being mislead to believe Mara was a monster when she was actually a freedom fighter who refused to submit to her predestined path.

And it’s in Catra’s angry repressed… everything. On a subtextual level everything about Catra’s narrative reads like an angry abused gay teenager whose disconnect with her own feelings has turned both self destructive and outwardly destructive. And then in season 5 when she’s brainwashed/converted by horde prime and tells Adora she’s finally at peace and free from feeling anything about her. Like. THE SUBTEXT.

And then also the way Adora/Catra are paralleled to Spinerella/Netossa in season 5. And Spinerella’s line, when she’s first revealed to be possessed, that’s something like “it’s a pity we can’t be together in the light of horde prime”. Which like, obviously refers to the fact that no individual relationships of any kind get to exist, period, under his rule because nobody gets to be an individual. But, again, the subtext. The layer of meaning there that wouldn’t exist if they were a straight couple.

But then the thing that saves the ENTIRE UNIVERSE is Adora and Catra finally accepting their love for each other (and turning into a LITERAL RAINBOW when they kiss).

And just the whole emphasis on supposed imperfections and impurities being people’s greatest strengths. It’s just.

“Tiny”

“Don’t leave”

“Purr”

DreamWorks’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power has already cemented its place among the short but rapidly growing list of children’s animated shows with impactful LGBTQ representation. Showrunner Noelle Stevenson made it a point to push and fight for more diverse characters in every aspect from race, to personality, to sexual and gender identity. However, the finale of the GLADD Award-nominated program delivered on a revolutionary promise built up throughout all five seasons and completed one of the greatest queer narratives ever seen in children’s media.

As She-Ra progressed, Stevenson became more encouraged and inspired to pressure executives to allow more and more explicit LGBTQ characters and relationships. While ever-present in the series, season one only featured a background couple, Spinnerella (Noelle Stevenson) and Netossa (Krystal Joy Brown), and of course, the famous dance sequence between Catra (AJ Michalka) and Adora (Aimee Carrero). While this amount of representation is comfortably leagues ahead of the vast majority of cartoons, the show only upped the ante and the amount of representation from there. Season 2 introduced viewers to George (Chris Jai Alex) and Lance (Regi Davis), Bow’s fathers. The series presents them in a normalized fashion as a happy gay couple in love that built a family together. Jacob Tobia’s non-binary Double Trouble featured heavily in season four, making them one of the first non-binary characters in children’s animation and one of the first to holding an integral role in the show, a major step in representing such identities.

The many achievements and strides She-Ra in LGBTQ representation featured in She-Ra will doubtlessly affect other projects in the industry and help further programs walk a similar path. However, the greatest queer story inShe-Ra is the spectacular series-long arc exploring the relationship and dynamics between de facto antagonist Catra and protagonist Adora. The former friends, who grew up together in the ranks of the Horde, turn enemies at the start of the series after Adora gains the power of She-Ra and betrays Catra, joining the Rebellion.

Fans quickly began speculating on the nature of Adora and Catra’s relationship during season one, mainly because of the Princess Prom dance scene. After the young women shared a charged and sinister dance, fans quickly began supporting and analyzing “Catradora.” The next three seasons would gradually and gracefully define both characters’ complicated feelings for each other. Initially, Catra attempts to rationalize Adora’s leaving as a relief or else forces herself to appear apathetic towards it. She continuously uses the excuse that she is no longer living under Adora’s shadow to gradually build up more power, rising through the ranks of the Horde while stepping on those who helped her.