overanalyzing media is my therapy

I'll keep this short and list out what I'm gonna post in this blog:

catra's "redemption" and what's wrong with it

concerns surrounding catradora

racist and ableist undertones in the show

bad writing and inconsistencies within the show

wasted potential of the show

memes about any of the above topics

reasons why c//a is abusive and romanticized by the narrative:

part 1

part 2

proof that catra and adora are adoptive sisters:

this is a safe place for queer people, disabled and neurodivergent people, poc and abuse victims. if you're a catra apologist or someone who thinks c//a is healthy, this is your cue to ignore this blog (unless you are willing to change your mind, in which case, congrats. you have more braincells than 90% of the fandom).

that's it for now!

good question! some that i can think of off the top of my head are from movies like Shutter Island. while the "he was crazy all along" is a pretty common trope, i do genuinely think Shutter Island pulled it off well. but that may be an unfair comparison since it's literally a psychological horror, and the whole point of the twist is to break our minds.

the Truman Show also does this really well. you feel like you're going insane along with Truman, while watching the movie. even though some of his reactions are comedic, it's still unsettlingly realistic. i'm honestly surprised this movie isn't classified as horror.

moving away from films, i think Infinity Train did this well in s3. the reveal that Amelia was never the real conductor of the train was a huge break in reality for both Grace and Simon, and it was interesting to see how both of them reacted to it differently.

Grace took it a little better and tried to move on, correcting her mistakes, while Simon goes full denial because it's too much for him to accept that the reality he's believed in for so long was all false. his reaction to the reveal and his subsequent mental breakdown was written really well.

surprisingly enough, i think TOH did this trope pretty well with both King and Luz.

King had a pretty realistic reaction to finding out that he's not actually a king of demons. it was a pretty silly subplot that could have been easily played for laughs, but they actually managed to make it work. (in fact, he had more of a reaction to the king thing than he did when he learned that he's a titan)

and Luz realizing that Philip was Belos all along and that she unknowingly aided a genocidal tyrant was also carried out pretty well. which is why it's so baffling to me that they couldn't do the same for Hunter, someone who has a much deeper relationship with Belos than Luz does.

like i said in my other post, i believe Kamen Rider Kabuto also executed this trope well. however, this is just based on my memory of the show. i tried to find clips of Sasword and his arc but since it's a j-drama, there aren't that many clips of it on youtube.

hating on SPOP in a "they romanticized the shit out of an abusive incestuous relationship and promoted ableism and made a bunch of other poor writing decisions" way and not a "why did they make Bow black" way

hating on TADC in a "the worldbuilding is horrible and they really threw away all the potential for the sake of one (1) character" way and not a "ew indie animations are so cringe haha" way

even if they weren't entirely in the wrong, sometimes the thing to do is to knock 'em down a peg. especially if they're wrong.

sometimes the kind thing to do is to humble them. to prove them wrong. to say "hey, you're being a dick and you need to back off or we're through". because it's not kind to let them off the hook, it's enabling. and enablement just doesn't prepare them for the world of hurt they're gonna face when crossing someone who has less "kindness" ( in very big quotes ) than them.

Catra was still wrong. showing she's wrong, how she's wrong, and not giving her forgiveness just because she "apologized" doesn't mean she would've been facing unkindness. what she was dealing with was enablement and someone being upset with her for five minutes.

Jax was still wrong. and she knew she was wrong. in her case, showing her forgiveness when she explicitly doesn't want it is just about yourself. especially when you ignore the people she's willingly, consciously hurt, time and time again. Pomni didn't forgive her out of some sense of empathy, she forgave her to make herself feel like the better person for it.

Caitlyn was still wrong. Amity was still wrong. and many, many more characters are still wrong.

not everyone deserves a second chance. because, half of the time, they don't even think they did anything to warrant a "need for a second chance". but if you want to argue that everyone does, then you also need to argue that uncondtional "kindness" only goes so far.

sometimes the kindest thing you can do for a person is tell them that they fucked up. and you're not wrong, mean, or irredeemable yourself for telling them that.

i have unfortunately met way too many people who think that being a good friend is supporting your friends no matter what, even if they make horrible decisions or hurt themselves or others. these people get so defensive when you tell them "hey maybe don't do that", as if you're only their friend as long as you enable all of their worst impulses.

i've always found that the friendships that last longer are the ones where you could tell the other person off for doing something shitty, and they could do the same to you. but it's insane how many grown adults can't grasp the concept of someone holding you accountable because they care about you and your wellbeing.

i can imagine that a lot of these characters, especially Catra, would probably be the type to immediately get offended and defensive if their friends called them out for doing something shitty. i can almost visualize them going "wow i thought we were friends" or "i thought you loved me" (i mean, just look at the way Caitlyn reacted to Vi telling her not to kill a literal child).

it's a hard pill to swallow for many people, but most people who hold you accountable and try to steer you in the right direction aren't your enemies. they do it because they care. of course, there's a fine line here between holding someone accountable and just straight up pointing out every little mistake they make.

yeah. i'd say she needed to apologize to Entrapta and make up for her ableism but the truth is that the leashing scene did not need to happen at all. it added nothing to the show other than making Perfuma and the writers look like assholes. it would have been fine if Perfuma was just impatient with Entrapta but later learns how to work with Entrapta better.

the Scorpia and Perfuma ship i'm pretty neutral about. i did like that Scorpia found someone who actually cared about her, after being with Catra for so long, but Perfuma's whole deal with Entrapta makes it a little less wholesome.

and so i don't feel very represented by a desi character who is openly abused and humiliated and constantly a target of bullying, only to get no closure whatsoever. i don't feel represented by a desi woman who is quiet and submissive, like people love to fucking stereotype us.

Me: hay plotonic reasionahip Will finnly have it changed

also gooseworks: Jax and kiger don't inreact, reagtha and ponnie are suddenly friends,zoble and gangle are all but said to be girlfriend (not a bad thing but goes against what she said) and for some reason ponnie befriende Jax even if he was a jearl to her just to please the Jax x ponnie shipers

Me:...:(

apparently she meant "there will be no organic relationships in my show, romantic or platonic" 😭 these characters literally act like they know nothing about each other despite being trapped together for so long.

i'm curious whether or not fans have created their own post-ATLA world, essentially serving as "The Legend of Korra", but with an entirely different cast and with different problems.

i'm kinda one of those people who like the media, but haven't actively engaged with it? i haven't seen all the eps, eheh. i'm mostly engaging through clips and fan content ( animatics, comics, theories, etc. ), and two of my favorite all-time videos are the psychologies of Zuko and Azula by Hello Future Me.

once i actually watch and complete ATLA, i'm kinda considering taking this on as a possible project. nothing official, esp since i have a bunch of stuff going on already, but something i can talk about every now and then. but i definitely wouldn't watch TLOK just yet, since i don't want that to subconsciously impact the possibilities too much, y'know?

this just serves as a hypothetical, but what do you think your main character would be like if you had made your own post-ATLA world?

part of the reason i'm asking is because of your recently mentioned Avatar fatigue! i've gone thru similar with other media.

(your first ask did go through but no need to apologize!)

i've never really thought about writing anything regarding ATLA. it's a fantastic world with a lot of potential but idk, i've already abandoned my spop rewrite 😭 i've had ideas for sure but not enough for a whole fanfiction.

i had complained about how ATLA doesn't have many South Asian characters despite its entire concept being inspired by Indian mythology and Hinduism. and it seems like they're remedying that with the movie as well as the upcoming series, so if i were to have a main character in a post-ATLA world, i would like them to be South Asian as well.

i would also maybe like to see an older, more seasoned Avatar. so far, we've seen child/teen Avatars who slowly learn the elements and come into their own. it would be interesting to see an Avatar who is well past their prime, maybe someone who is jaded by all the evil they've seen in their lifetime.

i would also like to see a main character who is NOT the Avatar. idk if that defies the entire point of this series but it would be fun to see this world from the eyes of a non-bender perhaps.

Back in his hayday, scorpion was a legitimate threat that more that capable of giving spidey and other heroes like luke cage and iron fist a run for their money, in fact that his power and strength is one of the most prominent parts of his character. but these days he just feels like spider-man's "worf" contantly getting walloped by spider or some villain being introduced for essentially shock value.

Ex. Superior spider-man, marvel's spider-man 2, your friendly neighborhood spider-man

Both of them are privileged girls that profits from an unfair system, have a strong relationship with a girl victim of said system, is manipulated by the figures of power of that system, and ends up making questionable decisions out of grief and anger.

... Except, Caitlyn went MUCH farther than Glinda ever did.

While Glinda didn't do anything to help the Animals until the very end, she never did anything against them. The same goes for Elphaba ; even when the two gets into a disagreement, Glinda still offered Elphaba every bit of kindness and support she could possibly give.

Also, one could note, in the catfight scene, Elphaba felt perfectly safe to retaliate when Glinda slapped her, so there clearly was no power imbalance between them, despite their differences of position.

At the end of the day, the most despicable thing Glinda ever did - in general and to Elphaba - was giving the Wizard and Madame Morrible the idea to use Nessa as a bait to capture Elphaba ; and while that leads to disastrous consequences, it's pretty clear Glinda never actually meant to get anyone hurt and she quickly gets remorseful when she fully realises the harm she caused. In fact, the final step to her realisation was getting the confirmation that Madame Morrible DID used her suggestion and took it to its absolute extrem by getting Nessa killed - while Nessa certainly wasn't innocent, she still didn't deserve that.

And of course, Glinda doesn't wait in her golden emerald palace for Elphaba to come back on her own to make peace, no no : she makes the active - and risky - choice to leave everything behind and to go to Elphaba - while the latter is having an angry and murderous mob coming after her, no less - without even having any clear plan, just wanting to help Elphaba before it's too late.

Honestly, if the writing around Caitlyn's character had taken notes to Glinda's, Arcane's season 2 would already be much better.

that's a good comparison!

Glinda's worst aspect was that she was a coward. she didn't want to give up her fame and luxury for justice, which is definitely a thing we see in a lot of real privileged people.

and in the end, the whole point was that Glinda was doing the wrong thing by being complacent and supporting the system that was oppressing people. the second movie wasn't my favorite but it at least gave Glinda a decent redemption by making her realize that she needed to step up and use her power and privilege for good (haha get it).

Arcane acts like Caitlyn's grief cancels out all the damage she did. Caitlyn has the gall to stand there and say shit like "no amount of good deeds can undo our crimes" as if she didn't gass an entire city of innocent people. it would have been better if this line was about herself but it isn't. it's about Jinx.

i would also argue that Glinda was fully in the right to slap Elphaba during the cat fight scene. Elphaba basically delivers the pick-me girl dialogue of "maybe he liked me better than you", after knowingly sleeping with her best friend's man. she deserved that slap 100%.