I was talking with a friend about how I love
SPOP, but Adora’s attitude through Catra’s feelings is bothering me. Adora goes
from a mínimum empathy, to total disconcern. Cuz it looks as if Adora forgets
about Catra’s existence and she only rembers her when they’re face to face.
It’s all the other way on Catra, who has made
Adora the centre of her world. This is unfair because Catra doesn’t seem to
recieve any kind of comfort from Adora, for all the abuse she suffered as a
child.
Yes, Adora was with her all the time and even
defended her once from Shadow Weaver. But being trained both of them with the same
goal in mind and with nothing else in their lives, it makes sense that they
spend all that time together. As Catra said, Adora always was concerned about
Shadow Weaver’s opinion, so it is correct to asume that Adora never got
involved except if Shadow tried to physically abuse Catra.
Don’t misunderstand me, i’m not saying that
Adora didn’t care for Catra at all, but it isn’t strange that she never seems
to take an active rol in wanting to rescue her from The Horde? Adora only
proposed Catra to come with her when Catra told to her face about her abandonment.
The rest of the time is not that big of a deal. I understand Catra has rejected
Adora’s proposal, and she is really occupied with the rebellion.
But again, it doesn’t seem to be an active
interest in Adora for Catra, not now and not before. That’s why is painful for
Catra watching Adora getting closed to her new friends, Bow and Glimmer, to
wich Adora is willing to protect.
And then, it came to me: Adora is not getting
involved with Glimmer’ and Bow’s fellings, Glimmer and Bow are the two getting
involved with her.
It makes so much sense, that i can’t believe i
didn’t notice this before. Adora had been raise to be the líder of a fascist
force, and believe that they’re the good guys, a force that rejects any kind of
weakness. It’s not that Adora doesn’t care for Catra, but she isn’t capable of doing it in a require deeper level. The only three times that we see Adora comforting Catra is when little
Catra was in tears, to be punsihed or crying in horror… visible proof that
something is not ok.
And we see the same whit Bow and Glimmer. Adora
doesn’t seem to understand why Glimmer is so upset for Bow and Perfuma going
together to the ball until she has to explain it to Adora.
It really took me by surprise: The horde raised
Adora and Catra so they don´t express any weakness, seeing as negative things
like feelings and emotional attachment. Adora, being the favorite of Shadow
Weaver, didn´t struggle in disconnecting with her empathic side. But Catra, a
more emotional person, obligated herself to hide all her frustrations and
feelings, even the good ones.
That’s why Adora can´t realize how she made
Catra feel all this years, and her feelings now that she has join the
Rebellion. Catra hides, and Adora doesn’t know how or what to look for.
Adora is tottally moral and follows her basic
instincts: Protect people from the bad guys. If Catra decides to stay with the
Horde, Adora is not going to understand why, and without that, without acknowledging
that Catra wanted Adora to choose her, and now to be free from her feelings for
Adora, proving that she doesn’t need her, they will never be able to join
again.
It’s a defect that makes Adora a very human
carácter, contributes to her background and to the tragedy of both.
So, this is just a little reflection on why I find SPOP
interesting.
“I’m kinda impressed she managed to carve that in the middle of a battle”
“…just heal me already -///-”
Everyone figures Catra will turn if she meets her birth family.
Meanwhile I’m thinking she’d probably try to kill them out of her self-loathing issues and to prove her loyalty to Hordak.
I think she can be redeemed but this doesn’t feel like it would be the means for it to occur.
edit: If it turns out she has younger siblings she might not be able to go through with it though after seeing a younger version of herself in the temple illusions. In which case I would thank Light Hope for accidentally doing something good.
in the context of the show, other than being barefoot catra can only wear flip flops. maybe she could wear crocs. maybe she could wear fingerless gloves if fingerless gloves were made for your feet, like socks. does anyone else think about this? am i the only one bemused by this, at all?? catra gets denied service bc of her lack of footwear and flip flops her way obnoxiously through the rest of the season
I know Saki would probably lose, but it would be a pyhric victory as Catra would be internally freaking out for like the whole day after by how Saki kept fighting Black Knight style.
catra would have left with adora to join the rebellion if they’d stuck together until that point (albeit with more resistance than adora showed). why? because she was willing to risk being trapped in that forest forever, never having a way “home” to the horde, as long as she was with adora. sure, she wouldn’t have actively tried to find a way to “escape”, but finding a perfect excuse to get lost? she could humor herself with the possibility.
as adora herself said, catra isn’t a bad person. so much of catra’s refusal to join the rebellion is based in her feelings of betrayal, specifically that adora left her and adora chose someone over her.adora, who promised that they would be okay as long as they had each other, and then left catra to deal with the fallout–the punishment that adora always avoided somehow. adora, the one part of catra’s life that wasn’t pure oppressive misery and pain and fear. adora, who, for all that she was oppressed and abused as well, never suffered the same verbal and physical abuse that catra did.
“Entrapta, stop giving Clawdeen hairstyling robots to use! She needs to strike terror into enemies!”
“Uh, why are you even more princessy than Adora’s dumb horse?”
“Stop licking me! I’m an adult!”
(Note: My idea is that Clawdeen identifies as nonbinary but uses female pronouns. Though I imagine her being a runt before she gets accidentally transformed by She-Ra’s sword. Based on real maned lionesses)
It’s likely that Catra thinks Scorpia and Entrapta are just using her as well and the relationship is a mutual, I find magic crystal tech for you and get you robots to play with/you make use those things to make weapons for me kind of thing. What will be interesting to see how Catra reacts to Entrapta either becoming a liability or wanting to become friends.
yep! i think that catra genuinely empathizes with both scorpia and entrapta’s feelings of being left behind. although she’s using that to convince them to do what she wants, the underlying connection is sincere. she knows exactly what to say because she feels the same way.
even with adora, their relationship was a mutual promise to protect each other. you protect me, i protect you. they were assets to each other, on top of just being fond of each other.
i think that catra will warm up to entrapta, just as she did to scorpia. she might not openly acknowledge that they’re all friends, but she’ll act in accordance to that. trusting them absolutely, looking out for them in her own way, confiding in them, etc.
but you actually bring up a very interesting idea–what if hordak decides that entrapta is too chaotic, too much of a liability, too risky? what if hordak orders his second-in-command, force captain catra, to either leave entrapta behind or lock her up for real?
if catra reaches a point at which she’ll be the one to have the power to be the one who leaves someone else behind and betray them, how will she react? will she remember how awful she felt, and how much she cares about entrapta, and refuse, or will she give in for the sake of power?
Monsters and Stuff 