Lets Review: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (I promise I’m over 18!).

This review has been sitting in my drafts folder for over a week, waiting to be finished. This has turned out to be harder than I envisioned for a couple of reasons. First, the completed draft doesn’t seem to have saved for whatever reason – a pity, but not the end of the world. Secondly, though, there seems to be a great deal of debate and drama over this fantasy kids’ show.

Drama? Well yes. The new seasons of She Ra on Netflix seem to have garnered some hate – not only for changing the aesthetics of the characters but also for some perceived homosexual subtext. I don’t really want to go down that rabbit-hole. My personal point of view is that any show in the 21st Century should be representative of a diverse demographic. If people want to claim She Ra as an image of power for their sexuality, race, gender or whatever, then that is really their prerogative. Once a book is written, you can’t start telling people how to see your characters of how they should make them feel. This feels like the French cinema idea of ‘Death of the Author‘ – that people’s interpretation is as equally valid as the authors at the end of the day.

So, leaving all the haters behind, here are five things that I love about the last three seasons of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

#5: A Coming of Age Tale

One of my favoutite type of stories is a ‘Coming of Age’ tale and She-Ra is definatly one of those. Adora has to grow into her power. Bow has to come to terms with letting down his fathers (oh, yes, the Homosexual content isn’t all subtext – but don’t we have Homosexual couples in the Western World now?). And Glimmer has to step out of the shadow of her father’s death and earn her mother’s respect.

More please! Love this trope!

#4: Diversity

Showing off my liberal bias here, perhaps, but as someone who has lived in a multicultural city in England, and then in multicultural city in the Middle East, it is always a little weird to see a ‘whitewashed’ show. More so when everyone is heterosexual and white (and presumably Christian). I think as writers of fiction in whatever media, we have a duty to provide characters to which consumers can relate. Difference is a part of life and a fact we should embrace.

So, I am very happy to say that the new She-Ra contains none of the White-Woman-Clones that the original show did. The children in the show look like kids and don’t suddenly morph into 20-somethings with chainmail bikinis any more. A variation in body-types is depicted, in race, in character. The show writers nailed this.

#3: She-Ra and the Solar Exalted

Okay, so most of you have no idea what I am talking about here but, She-Ra is totally a Solar Exalt from the game ‘Exalted’ published by Onyx Path Publishing. Exalted is a table-top roleplay game and a simple google search will help anyone who cares enough to find out more. As it happens, I love the Exalted RPG, so if you fancy running a game, let me know 😉

#2: Catra

I am in love with Catra. She is a great antagonist with great motives and a sense of real danger. The stakes between her and Adora are high and keep escalating. She is drawn well, she is voice-acted well. She is written well. She is my favourite character in the whole show.

#1: Friendship is Magic

Wait! Wrong show! Okay, but the key theme of She-Ra is friendship and being a good friend. It slides into the supposed new genre, Hopepunk, really well. The theme is so ingrained that even Horde (the big bad) needs and values friendship. With the world as it is now, I think we could all do with a little more hope in our fiction.

In conclusion…

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a good show for kids. I started watching it with my 3 year old daughter and though she lost interest, I’ve been following the show since. I can’t very well put Lord of the Rings on when she is around, after all.

She-Ra is aimed at that middle band of children, 6ish to about 9 or 10, but it does have wider appeal. it isn’t always the most cleanly animated, but it is episodic and the character arcs are fun. Even Madam Razz, a character I would normally have some issues with, is entertaining to watch.

If you have some spare time, and need something PG to put on in the house, I’d recommend She-Ra.