"I've noticed, probably now more than ever, when fans like or dislike a character, they insist on putting them in 1 of 2 buckets: they're either a "good" or "bad" person." I've noticed this, too, and I agree about it being shallow and not the best framework to use. IMO, the best characters tend to be more complicated than that, and Cass is *definitely* more complicated than that.
Cass' complexity is exactly what makes her so interesting!
She's complicated and flawed, and it continues to grate me to see people overlook those parts of her, or use them against her in the most predictably bad faith ways. When people are like "oohh she's sooo abrasive :((" or whatever xyz , I'm just like...
People will spend all the time in the world extrapolating the smallest things from things we see with Rapunzel and Other Characters to inject more depth into them and their interactions (which is fine, like, let a thousand flowers bloom as they say), but with Cass -- despite the show spoon-feeding viewers all the slights and issues she's experienced over the first 2 seasons -- it's never enough.
There's this tragic lack of curiosity and imagination that viewers lock themselves into when it comes to her, and I'm not unconvinced it's a result of people hearing others scapegoating her as a reason parts of the show were unsatisfying, and internalizing it.
She's unhappy with her current role and the trajectory (plus lack of control) in her life? She should just be grateful she works in the castle and that she was adopted at all (do some of you guys hear yourselves??). She's feels overshadowed and unheard amongst her peers and especially her best friend? She should apparently... suck it up and just listen to Rapunzel because she's the world's most specialist princess?? She gets her hand scorched by magic because Rapunzel started reciting some dangerous incantation? Just... screw Cass, I guess??
(And ftr, RATGT is my favorite part of the series -- Hector bias aside -- because I felt like it did such a good job needling into Cass' grievances and the tension between her and Rapunzel. Like, they were both acting in a life-or-death situation. There's no clear fault here IMO, and I love moments where you can't (shouldn't?) put blame on 1 single character when everyone is acting under duress. But people's eagerness and gall to be like "oh Cass should have just known better and not to touch Rapunzel lol idiot" is such an insanely forced take to me.)
There's no fault here, but Cass has every right to feel angry and devastated about this injury. It's undermined so much of her own goals and training, and now she has to adapt to it. Her dreams hinge on her ability as a warrior in combat, and she touched Rapunzel because she was afraid for her and the entire party. Like, as someone who deals with chronic pain to the point I can't even draw as comfortably or as often as I'd like to as an artist... I can relate with how maddening her injury is LMAO
As an aside/for the record, I still imagine Cass as adopted, but I do ignore the Gothel twist and I draw exclusively from her pre-established S1 and S2 motivations. (I just hate the Gothel & Dark Prince twists so much. I hate it when everyone is related in a story. Unnecessary and ZZZ but anyway lmao--) The Gothel twist just feels like a vestigial remnant of the og pitch and I have a few more thoughts on it, but anyway--
Cass has done things that are wrong. But her motives and actions feel relatable given where she's coming from textually (and subtextually - like if you want to go a step further and examine potential sexism etc in Corona, even if it's not as overtly hard-baked into the culture, I can imagine it still lingers in society). There's a post I just reblogged that articulates what I'm trying to say here pretty well, and I just think people need to think about this more too.
There's more I want to say - like... touching upon characters with complicated or messy pasts. Eugene, Varian, Lance, literally all the dads in the show lmao. Hector was outright murderous and described as "sadistic" (a very fun, loaded word to have in a kids show btw) and maybe because he was a side/supporting character but no one seems to linger on that. People need to be able to engage with the moral complexity -- let characters be messy, recognize that human relationships and people usually are complicated.
I'll wind down my response here (and ty for humoring me if you made it this far). I just don't see people be willing to give Cass the same grace they give other characters, and the, like, double standards just get to me so much LMAO.
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