Uncategorized – Page 97 – Monsters and Stuff

talesfromweirdland:

For a brief period in the early 1970s, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS became a horror comic. It’s as if someone in Midvale accidentally opened a gateway to hell—suddenly there is evil everywhere, the group can’t miss an exit on the highway or seek shelter from a storm or they run into a crazy, scheming freak in a castle. There are counts on every corner, like some mad king has been handing out titles to anyone who showed up.

It was quite adequate at being a horror comic, though. The narration is suitably pompous, the monsters are creepy and imaginative enough. In these horror stories, it’s usually Melody—the pure, angelic one—who plays a vital role, while the other characters are mostly reduced to dumb gasps and shrieks.

In “My Brother’s Keeper”, the group stays at the castle of the strange Roderick Van Cleeve after their van breaks down during a storm. His helper is a mute, hunchbacked hulk, called Simon, who is mistreated by Roderick. Unlike the rest of the gang, who keep yelling out how horrific he is like he’s not within hearing distance, Melody takes pity on Simon and tries to bond with him, which moves the suffering creature: “A tear formed in the corner of one dull, clouded eye.” At night, he creeps into her bedroom and seems to want to tell her something.

It turns out the hulk is actually Roderick Van Cleeve’s brother, and the shame of the family (the proverbial madwoman in the attic). As Melody confronts Roderick about this, he has her chained up in the cellar, which is about to collapse. Simon though knocks out Roderick and carries Melody to safety; then, overcome with guilt, he goes back into the cellar to try and rescue his brother, when the whole thing collapses and they both die.

“Melody cries.” A nice downer ending.

Horror creatures were always seeking her out it seems. In one of the stories a mummy rises from the grave, and promptly goes after her, believing she’s Queen Nubila of Egypt, his one true love.

She’s always being recognized as some kind of deity or royalty in the comics: tribes crown her their goddess, lost civilizations believe she’s their rightful heir; she can’t visit a remote island or she’s hoisted up on a throne and worshipped. Ancient monsters travel through time and space to find her. Usually everything gets sorted out in the end, but some of the tales end on a tragic note—often with smouldering destruction—and without any kind of redemption or justice.

Eventually this horror element disappears completely from the stories, making the early 1970s now seem like the comic’s awkward, dark teen phase.

idishido:

sepublic:

I’ve gotta say, I really am in love with the new She-Ra netflix reboot. Any praises I have to say about this show have already been repeated at least a hundred times over by everyone else on this site, and with good reason.

With that in mind, I feel inclined to talk about the dynamics between two of our primary antagonists in the show; Hordak, and Shadow Weaver. Because I find it to be a surprisingly interesting one, from what I’ve seen.

Now, maybe I’m just looking too deeply into things, or projecting some of my personal headcanons, but this is what I’ve noticed about the two; Namely, that Hordak, in general… actually seems to dislike Shadow Weaver.

In their interactions, you get the feeling that Hordak is mostly tolerating Shadow Weaver. Just about all of their on-screen interactions have ended in Hordak expressing contempt for Shadow Weaver, and for surprisingly valid reasons. He seems to dislike her excessive cruelty, which he evidently views as hindering the Horde as a whole. And honestly? I get the impression that up until the end of the season, Hordak was legit waiting for someone to appear and prove themselves as a better commander than Shadow Weaver. It seemed like he was waiting, if not looking, for a proper excuse/reason to not have to deal with Shadow Weaver.

I get the impression that Hordak only tolerates Shadow Weaver’s selfish agenda and antics because she’s comparatively the best person for her position as Second-in-Command. She’s a big fish, in a small pond, mind you… Which makes me wonder if Shadow Weaver has been deliberately keeping said pond small, in order to keep her position.

As we’ve already established, Hordak was pretty clearly waiting for someone to come along and prove themselves as better than SW, so he could finally get rid of her. And I think SW knew this… which in turn puts an interesting spin on her training and overlooking new recruits and child soldiers. Because if SW knows that Hordak is looking for a replacement, then it gives us the very real possibility that she’s been actively hindering these new cadets in order to keep her authority.

And Hordak? Hordak suspects, if not outright knows, this. Which is where his little spy/pet(?) Imp comes into play. Hordak has considered the possibility of Shadow Weaver’s bias. He’s considered the idea that she’s deliberately skewed his perception of Force Captain candidates through her biased reports, such as in cases where one cadet is ideally the better Force Captain, but is kept from the spot because said cadet doesn’t respect SW’s authority and is more inclined towards Hordak.

So in comes Imp, as the objective truth and reality of how well these cadets are doing. Imp is a spy that even SW doesn’t have tabs on. While Shadow Weaver feeds Hordak an altered perception of the cadets and their progress, in order to get the ones she desires elected, or else NOT elected… Imp comes in and watches the actual mission. He watches the actual, raw, unchanged events of the cadets training, and then gives Hordak the actual reality so that Hordak can figure out who is REALLY the ideal person he wants to promote.

Because in all honesty… I think Hordak KNEW it was Catra’s idea to kidnap Glimmer and Bow. He just blamed Shadow Weaver for it anyway, as karmic justice for her taking credit for things as always.

So with all that in mind, I can see Hordak receiving a report on the alleged worthiness of certain cadets or candidates for promotion, before he has Imp come in and tell him the truth. And by comparing and contrasting Imp’s objective reality with the twisted lies of SW, Hordak gets an idea what it is she’s trying to do behind his back, and who he wants to look out for.

And I can see SW realizing Hordak knows this, and vice-versa… Which leads to this careful game of cat and mouse, this delicate power balance between the two as Shadow Weaver keeps an eye out for Imp, all while trying to prove her comparative worth by low key sabotaging others and/or taking credit. And Hordak, ultimately, has to keep SW in power… Because by the end of the day, by her fault or not, she IS the comparatively best candidate for Second-in-Command. But not for long… someone will rise through the Horde’s ranks and prove themselves. Shadow Weaver will slip in her plans… and that’s where Adora comes in.

Adora is Shadow Weaver’s hidden ace up her sleeve. At some point, I imagine Shadow Weaver realized that, no matter how hard she tried, someone would come along, prove themselves, and ultimately be recognized as more viable a commander than SW to Hordak. So what does she do? She prepares Adora.

Shadow Weaver raises Adora… personally teaches, praises her, acts more like a parent than a teacher to Adora… She ensures Adora succeeds above everyone else. No doubt most of Adora’s success is of her own merit, of course… But I can see SW going out of her way to give Adora an unfair advantage for tests anyway, just in case.

And why does SW do a 180 on her previous tactics of keeping power in the Horde? Because, as far as she can tell, as Adora’s abuser and parental figure… she controls Adora. Which means that even if Adora takes her place as Hordak’s Second-in-Command, it doesn’t matter- Because she can tell Adora what to do. She (thinks) she knows Adora’s every weakness, how Adora ticks… ideally, if her plan goes perfectly, it won’t even matter if SW is demoted to a freaking janitor.

Because as long as she controls Adora, she can make Adora be biased in her own assessments of potential rivals to SW’s control. SW can have Adora do things that she herself would never dare do under Hordak’s watchful eye. And she knows this- Adora is no more than a puppet leader to be controlled by Shadow Weaver, from the shadows. This way, she still keeps power, without having to play her dangerous game with Hordak.

As for Catra? I imagine that Shadow Weaver lowkey feared Catra, because she was exactly what Hordak was waiting for. She’s ambitious, clever, and most importantly, dislikes Shadow Weaver. And I can see Shadow Weaver arranging an ‘accident’ to get rid of Catra, to keep her from ever reaching her potential, but then Adora and Catra become buddies. And as someone who aims to have total control on Adora, SW needs her on her good side.

So, she lets Adora keep Catra, figuring it’ll make Adora grateful to her and even more of a pawn. Thus, Catra, despite the risk she poses, has her own uses… until Adora defects.

THAT’s when things go wildly wrong. Because Shadow Weaver has poured so much effort and resources into this one puppet leader, and without her… we have a fully-trained Catra to take Adora’s ideal spot, and replaced SW. And Hordak KNOWS this, which is why Shadow Weaver panics and wants to take back Adora.

And she doesn’t just kill off Catra as a threat, because she recognizes that as Adora’s best friend, Catra could easily bring Adora back to the horde. So Shadow Weaver lets Catra live, if only to bring Adora back. Once she does, however… lights out for Catra.

But Catra fails. So Shadow Weaver decides to take things into her own hands in Episode 7. Shadow Weaver thinks she knows Adora. She thinks she can CONTROL Adora to her every whim. She is, after all, an abuser. And abusers are the ones obsessed the most with control, and yet they have it the least… perhaps as a result, or cause of their desire.

But Shadow Weaver realizes she can’t control Adora, because Adora’s tasted actual love, friendship, and support. She never understood Adora, unlike Catra, who was an actual decent person and friend. And when she realizes that Adora is truly lost… that she’s truly gone…

…Well, things go downhill from here. Catra has already been promoted to Force Captain in Adora’s place. She’s gotten Hordak’s attention. Her ideal puppet leader has been lost forever, and now the person SW fears the most for potentially replacing her, is rising through the ranks.

And this ultimately culminates in Shadow Weaver trying to straight-up murder Catra, openly defying Hordak’s orders and being just a tad shy of outright treason against the Horde. But it’s too late- Catra wasn’t some dumb child. She wasn’t JUST a victim- Because in her lifetime of abuse, she observed. She, too, saw and began to understand Shadow Weaver’s tactics. So when SW comes in for the kill, Catra can predict her every move and retaliate, ultimately defeating Shadow Weaver and rendering powerless in every sense of the term. Shadow Weaver’s greatest fears have come to fruition.

And you want to know why? It’s because, by the end of the day… nobody likes Shadow Weaver. Oh, sure, some tolerate her… but nobody actually likes or feels real loyalty to her. She literally had nobody to be a friend, much less an ally, and so she had to MAKE her own ally in Adora- But Shadow Weaver is such a twisted person that that, naturally, fails.

Contrast this to Hordak, who, for all of his disregard for nature and the natural order, is still a reasonable and pragmatic boss who will promote someone if he feels they have proved themselves. Or Catra, who is an actual person and isn’t truly malicious, and is able to find friends in people such as Scorpia, whom Shadow Weaver deliberately selected to keep an eye on Catra.

And speaking of Scorpia, I imagine Shadow Weaver chose her to watch Catra, because comparatively… Scorpia was the Force Captain that hated SW the least. Scorpia actually had no loyalty to Shadow Weaver, just no spite. Plus, I can see SW underestimating Scorpia as just a ‘dumb goon’ or something like that, and underestimating her need and willingness for friendship that allows her to hit it off with the far more appealing ally that is Catra.

So, yeah. The follies of Shadow Weaver ultimately lie in her unpleasant, cruel nature as a person. She is selfish, abusive, and controlling. And ultimately, Shadow Weaver’s greatest weakness is that she is alone. After all, the show’s own theme song stresses the importance of people acting as a team, as a group, and supporting each other.

And Shadow Weaver supports no one… which means she has no one to support her. And that’s why Hordak is outright looking for someone to replace her by the beginning of the series.

I really like this, especially the idea of the game. But I’m wary of the idea that Hordak is just a less evil person than Shadow Weaver. Not that she isn’t terrible but I did wonder if he was using her lack of people skills to present himself as more reasonable to his followers. I still can’t tell if her occasionally dishevelled state was due to her use of magic or her meetings with Hordak. Occasionally it would feel as though the show was setting up comparisons of similarity between Catra and SW, or the idea that SW is who she might eventually become.

Category: Uncategorized

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An analysis of the relationship between Hordak and Shadow Weaver