Meta: Random Musings

Unless you’ve been paying no attention whatsoever (and hey, maybe you weren’t, there is a pandemic and police riots going on) you’ll know that the fifth and final season of She Ra dropped on Netflix last month, a season which just happened to coincide with the seventh episode of the second season of DC’s animated Harley Quinn.

Both shows revolve around the intense relationships that exist between their two (rather damaged) female leads, and on May 15th, both culminated in a Big Damn Kiss.

Ecstatic by the success of their escape from a giant prison-pit, Harley and Ivy spontaneously kissed each other before recoiling in shock, while over on She Ra, Adora receives (and returns) a kiss from her long-time rival/childhood friend/mortal enemy/love interest Catra while on the verge of death.

Two very different contexts for two same-sex kisses, but as you can imagine: there was much rejoicing.

Naturally comparisons have been made to The Legend of Korra, whose final episode depicted Korra and Asami walking off into the spirit world together, but also the most recent Star Wars film in regards to the way the two leads spend most of their screen-time on opposite sides of a conflict, with the latter going through a redemption arc before they eventually reconcile. Naturally I have stuff to say about all this, as most of the discourse (that dreaded word) has sparked reactions ranging from bemusement to irritation to “what the hell are these guys talking about??”

But it’s a fascinating time we live in, and so below the cut are some random musings on the intersectionality of redemption, enemies-to-lovers arcs, and Sapphic love…

(Warning: I'm gonna talk more shit about Star Wars, so if you're sick of that, best give this a miss...)

Reading/Watching Log #50

I am now one month into my New Year’s Resolution and it’s amazing! Female characters improve exponentially when they’re in the hands of female writers and directors, and I’ve enjoyed an abundance of stories that showcase them in all sorts of lights: as heroines, as villains, as complex and flawed mothers and writers and princesses and thieves.

Following on from Greta Gerwig’s take on Little Women, I revisited the 1994 version (probably closest to my generation’s heart) and the one from 1949, which are fascinating in their contrast, particularly regarding what scenes each one choses to adapt, and what sister they decide to focus on.

I made sure to see Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey in cinemas (I went in with no expectations, and it was fantastic!) and somehow ended up reading a lot of books based on Greek/Roman mythology: a witch, a princess and a goddess all made it onto this month’s list, along with a graphic novel about a young Wonder Woman.

It’s not perfect: in the three female-centric television shows I’ve watched there have still been fridged women, simply because certain toxic tropes run so deep into the patterns of storytelling that we’re not even close to rooting them all out. But even just the change to female-led (or at least female-friendly) stories has done wonders. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year…

(There are spoilers for pretty much everything I discuss under the cut, so tread carefully).