maticusarts

I think a show that allows for characters to embrace their masculine and feminine qualities without the apparent judgement we can still see in modern society, is very important.
Since the show doesn’t use the terms “masculine” or “feminine” I think it is doing something even more important than just challenging traditional gender qualities; it is potentially trying to erase them. A character’s “masculine” or “feminine” qualities aren’t really portrayed as either positive or negative. These are just accepted characteristics.
Maybe in a world like ours instead of trying to change “masculine” or “feminine” traits to be either good or bad, we should change the definition of “masculine” and “feminine”. Is there a need for expressing your emotions to be seen as feminine, or being direct to be seen as masculine? Perhaps they would be better to just been seen as traits.
Your article was very interesting and is a great addition to the conversation of gender, particularly in Steven Universe.

I feel like the villains you selected for the article also represent an interesting juxtaposition against for Harry. They remind me of Batman’s Rogues Gallery, in that they represent shadow versions of Batman that have gone down a different path.
Dudley is a spoiled, only child, who sees himself as better than other around him. Could this possibly have been Harry’s fate if he was raised by his parents who were wealthy and famous?
Tom Riddle, a fellow orphan, gave into his pain and anger and chose a path of destruction. Harry could have just as easily gone down this same path, and arguably, meeting Tom Riddle in The Chamber of Secrets may have galvanized him onto the path of being a “hero”.
Umbridge was a paranoid control freak, lost in her twisted morals and isolated from her colleagues and community. Harry could have easily chosen to follow her example, as many times before he had pulled away from his friends during arguments. If he needed to be uncompromising in his beliefs he could have ended up like Umbridge. Like with Tom Riddle though, Harry distanced himself from the kind of mentality. He built a larger network of friends and allies and this community is what really helped him when he really needed it during the Battle of Hogwarts.
It extends to the other villains as well, these are just some examples that really stood out to me.

I recommend checking out Megami33’s Sailor Moon Abridged(SMA). It was short lived, not even completing its second season, but it was effective and funny. It followed the YGO:TAS derivation of a metatext that both told the story as it mocked it. They were very influenced by LittleKuriboh, often employing the same “Seriously, they said this.” tactic by pointing out the ludicrous aspects of the original series.

SMA wasn’t as influential as YGO:TAS or DBZA, but it was popular enough to allow Megami33 to join the DBZA cast as Bulma. They even add in a reference to Megami33 playing Sailor Moon in DBZA, playing a “Lunar Expert” in a news broadcast.

My ex wasn’t interested in anime in the slightest, until they were exposed to an abridged series. He couldn’t take the, often, insane concepts of an anime plot, but presented with a self-aware sense of humour, he was suddenly interested. It might be a sign of a shift in society in the face of the absurd.

There are some YouTube essays that have been written about why viewership of the news being delivered by comedians, such as Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers or Samantha Bee, is greater than serious news networks. Some are theorizing that we trust someone telling us about something ridiculous while identifying that it is ridiculous, rather than someone telling us the same thing but taking it seriously. That their inability to call out something that is absurd, may cause the younger audience to be hesitant to rely on them for facts.