#arcadia ledger

I just am absolutely in love with everything about this. Jessie Mei Li just radiates simple beauty and power that is absolutely perfect for the character.

Her hair is pulled back. She has little to no makeup on. Yet she looks so pretty and strong.

So many modern “chosen one” characters: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Jim Lake Jr., Adora-- they’re all either the subject of a prophecy or chosen without their agency. 

Frodo? Serves as a chosen one who really chooses himself. He stands up volunteers. And I just think that’s really beautiful. 

I also think it’s why Gandalf reacts as he does.

I’m not sure what is more tragic: someone not having a say in their fate to shoulder this great burden and sacrifice, or having a say and choosing to wield the mantle anyways.

For it to be a redemption, it implies she had to have done something bad. And she never did a damn thing.

It’s not a redemption, it’s her well deserved rise and Disney treating her as they should have from the start. All hail the queen.

It’s so authentic, and natural with the amphibian, jungle/ tropical setting to lean towards Southeast Asia. It’s great diversity and culture sharing that fits so well with the concept, and I love how it comes from the creator Matt Bradly and Brenda Song’s Thai heritage as well.

Like, the entire aesthetic it creates has intrigued and drawn me to the show almost more than anything else. I want to fall into this world.

Even the frog runes I’ve seen look stylistically similar to inspired by Thai writing. To me. I mean come on!

This looks so fantastic, and I love seeing this kind of cultural infusion in fantasy stories. The only other thing I would have liked to see is one of Anne’s friends be Brazilian, which could not only highlight a Latina character and perhaps the Portuguese language, but also connect to the Amazon/ jungle. This too would have fit so well, and seeing these two cultural inspirations come together would be great.

After episode 1 we knew she was well meaning but questioned if she was the best mom, though her perspective makes sense out of concern for Luz. We knew there was a strain in her and Luz’s relationship that drove Luz to stay in the Isles.

I LOVE how ‘Yesterday’s Lie’ gives Camila a great personality and shows that she’s actually a fantastic single mother, who just doesn’t always understood or communicate well with her daughter. Because here’s the thing.

It’s important to show strained or tense family relationships that aren’t necessarily toxic or abusive in some way.

While it’s important to have representation of abusive situations of all varieties, I don’t want every character with a bad family situation or family troubles to fall into that trope for one big reason— it can make kids in normal/ healthy family situations but still aren’t happy or have issues with their family feel like they have no right to feel the way they do. Neurodivergent kids especially can find themselves in this situation.

Lots kids come from a perfectly healthy and safe family situation and just have normal family struggles or strained relationships, and they deserve to both see those kinds of dynamics depicted and know their feelings are valid.

Growing up, I thought I was so selfish or like something was wrong with me, because I am blessed to come from a healthy and happy family family, yet always struggled with my relationship with them. I had what so many kids would kill for, what the kids m my mom worked with every day as a para in the poor, rural New England towns we grew up in would kill for, yet could never seem to be satisfied. Was I just ungrateful?

Yet, family strains are normal, and kids who are struggling need to see that they don’t have to come from the very worst kind of situation for their feelings to be valid. Kids believing their feelings are wrong or make them a bad person only leads to a further lack of communication, more distance, and a pushing off of the inevitable work and healing which needs to happen.