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CATRA is mine no touching 😠

Low key… you all who seem to relate to Catra this much… you seem kind of messed up, like seriously. You saw a good side to this?

Oh god. As a queer who’d been trapped in a christian cult during most of childhood I can relate so much. Yeah, there’s always hope ❤

I will say my major problem was how the story seems to have given adora to catra as a girlfriend in reward for her doing the one good thing. They shouldn’t have ended up together the way they did. It sends a toxic message to children. You don’t get to punish your ex best friend who has her own responsibilities, is the same age etc for not staying in an oppressive state for your benefit over the course of years, including via kidnap and torture, and then get to “get the girl” because you give yourself up when you’ve already lost it all and feel done with everything.

14:28 This scene is a perfect encapsulation of what went wrong, Catra believes Adora never cared about who she was, and Adora did have misconceptions, but once Catra goes back to the horde/Adora leaves their understanding falls even further. Catra believes Adora never had faith in her when Adora's faith waned when Catra said she always knew the Horde was evil. Adora doesn't correct her because both of them are pondering, "Was it all a lie?" Catra doesn't blame Adora for not having in her because she fits in the world view she has "Everyone is selfish" but they still care for each other but have no commination skills

One thing I think you overlooked is Catra's worldview and her relationship with power Also (I don't think you overlooked this) both Adora and Catra have a long road of understanding where their masks end and they begin. Catra's world view is that everyone acts selfishly, yet Portal Catra (Not Corrupted Catra) doesn't have this worldview and even if she did it isn't wanted by her. She doesn't want to be Force Captain, and that is proven by Adora being Force Captain and what ultimately breaks the delusion for Catra. When Adora forces Catra to come with her is when the illusion breaks for Catra. Catra doesn't want to be forced to do anything. She hates it, which is another reason she remembers who she is and that belief adora will force her to fix anything is scary and further sperates them. After Adora left the horde, Catra believes it to be her that Adora is leaving. This belief is from the screwed up world view she has. She believes everyone is selfish and out for themselves, yet Adora was the exception. When Adora leaves the Horde, Catra believes that all the promises and trust and truth are lies. This is believed and defended with Catra saying: "You never protected me! Not in any way that would put you on Shadow Weaver's bad side." However, Adora never expresses that she would turn down Catra attempts to leave the Horde and join the rebellion, but Catra is so mad at the belief that Adora left her that she doesn't. After the portal, this distant grows because Adora tries to force Catra into helping her, and She is livid over it. SeOne thing I think you overlooked is Catra Worldview and that both Adora and Catra have a long road of understanding where their masks end and they begin. Catra's world view is that everyone acts selfishly, yet portal (Not Corrupted Catra) doesn't have this worldview and even if she did it isn't wanted. She doesn't want to be Force Captain, and that is proven by Adora forcing her to come with her. Catra doesn't want to be forced to do anything. She hates it, which is another reason she remembers who she is and that belief adora will force her to fix anything is scary and further sperates them. After adora left the horde, Catra believes it to be her that Adora is leaving. This belief is from the screwed up world view she has. She believes everyone is selfish and out for themselves, yet Adora was the exception. When Adora leaves the Horde, Catra believes that all the promises and trust and truth are lies. This is believed and defended with Catra saying: "You never protected me! Not in any way that would put you on Shadow Weaver's bad side." However, Adora never expresses that she would turn down catra hand if she does abandon the Horde, but Catra is so mad at the belief that Adora left her she doesn't. After the portal, this distant grows because Adora tried to force Catra into helping her, and Catra is livid over it. Secondly, she is mad because she doesn't believe that when Adora asked for Catra's help in the Portal it was another extension of friendship like the first 2-20 times. After portal, Adora tells Catra this isn't a game and Catra realizes Portal killed the joval Adora. Adora is mad that Catra set off the portal and entrapped Angella. Catra over the season 1-3, never stops to see how Adora feels, and during season four, she hates the world she forced herself into, and this is compound by a lack of a way out. Catra's hatred of Adora dies as she hates who she is and what she is doing. When Catra breaks her world view, it comes solely from Glimmer, who just made a similar mistake as Catra. Talking with Glimmer, helps her reflect on the past again and understand what the world is. She runs from Glimmer the second she hears her look out for Adora. Not her she isn’t asking for Catra to save her it's Adora. Catra mindset is completely shattered by this but what to do comes later. Once she reflects on her past with Adora, she realizes who adora was and is: Caring and compassionate, the one friend she had who she threw out. Catra still remembers how Adora reacted to the portal and believes that Adora wouldn't come for her. She always believe the selfish world view but never state anything like it because "Why complain" but when she talks to glimmer she believes, "There is no one left in the universe who cares for me." Not because of the world but because of her actions. I am stopping here, but as the saying goes, "There is nothing more dangerous than a -man- person who has nothing to lose."condly, she is mad because she doesn't believe this is also an extension of friendship like the first 2-20 times. After portal, Adora tells Catra this isn't a game and Catra realizes Portal killed the joval Adora. Adora is mad that Catra set off the portal and entrapped Angella. Catra over the season 1-3, never stops to see how Adora feels, and during season four, she hates the world she forced herself into, and this is compound by a lack of a way out. Catra hatred of Adora dies as she hates who she is and what she is doing. When Catra breaks her world view, it comes solely from Glimmer, who just made a similar mistake as Catra. Talking with Glimmer, helps her reflect on the past again and understand what the world actually is or rather isn't. She runs from Glimmer the second she hears her look out for Adora. Not Glimmer, Glimmer isn’t asking for Catra to save herself, she is asking Catra to save/protect Adora. Catra mindset is completely shattered by this but what to do comes later. Once she reflects on her past with Adora, which she more open to and to do so objectively as her distant for Adora has died, atleast the falsehood of the selfish Adora. Catra realizes who Adora was and still is: caring and compassionate, the one friend Catra had who she threw out. Catra still remembers how Adora reacted to the portal and believes that Adora wouldn't come for her. She always believe the selfish world view but never stated it because "Why complain" but when she talks to glimmer she believes, "There's no one left in the entire universe who cares about me." Not because of her old worldview but because of her actions. I am stopping here, but as the saying goes, "There is nothing more dangerous than a -man- person who has nothing to lose."

4:14 Adora was abused too just in a different way

I’ve always felt pretty similarly about Catra, except for Catradora. No shame on Catradora shippers but they’re adopted siblings and it kiiiiiiiinnnnndda gives me the ick when I think about it too much

An absolutely lovely video, I've just watched the series for the first time and have felt so depressed thinking about the show, I've genuinely struggled to deal with the emotions that the show has left me, no other show or film has ever affected me like Arcane. Other forms of media have left me emotional before but nothing to this extend, watching Arcane literally shut me down for a good few days. I was recommended this video as a way of processing those feelings and this video was a brilliant watch and I just want to say thank you <3

These "kids" on the show are supposedly 18+ when this show starts, so you're wrong on that front. They should not look consistently 12 years old if you actually say they're 18-21 by the series end. Catra is the most toxic abusive person I have ever seen, and the fact we endorse this toxic relationship purely because it's gay, it disturbing. It was absolutely too late to "change" at the point she did, mainly to avoid actually punishing her for everything she did at this point.

Nobara has a theme song?

Thank you 😭 I want to watch this show again so bad now

Uno de los mejores analisis de catra ❤❤

Something I'm thinking about catra is, that she has almost No ego ... Now, yes, She always has a Goal and She is ruthless about pursuing that goal, Entrapta can tell us a story about that. Maybe that is Ego. But what I am Thinking is things like her entire friendship with DT, and How she will always accept and actively seek out help to achieve her goals. When she loses, she never cracks, and doesn't even have extended moments😅 of rage. When glimmer in season 4 finds her Hidden base with magic and then turns out to be way to powerful for catra to fight, She adapts in seconds and comes up with an escape plan. Same in 'ties that bind', like Seriousl, if glimmer and Bow just telepoRted in like idiots and then literally stumbled into capturing me because of that uhfair teleportation magic, I would be like 'this is so unfair!' but nit catra. There is no pride in her to hurt (i guess thats what i'm talking about), She just accepts her situatin and starts working on an escape plan. Yeah, she is not a Prideful Person, not ashamed of herself, and thats such a huge strength of hers, that also ultimatly paves the path to her redemption. And i guess, thinking about it, thats a Really cool message

Thank you very much for everything you said, your own story. It feels familiar

What I think is interesting about jinx is she’s effectively the main villain in basically every other characters story, but her story follows the heroes journey arch beat for beat.

i like this, but i think you got viktor a little wrong hes not in persuit of cheating death; in fact, he doesnt care about himself at all. his health doesnt decline further because hes trying not to die, his health declines further because he simply doesnt care about himself this is also what he learned from singed. he doesnt try to keep the expiriment alive to cheat death, he keeps it alive, is this suffering state, going against morals, for nothing but the sake of the expiriment. nothing matters about how much pain its in, because the creature wasnt what mattered either, it was only whatever answers he was seeking that made him continue viktor doesnt continue the expiriment for his own gain. he continues the expiriment because he wants to know what in the world will happen. where it will go. yes he wants to help people, just like jayce, but he differs where its not really his main motivator. maybe his main conscious motivator, what he thinks hes doing it for, but at least subconsciously its the expiriment hes looking for. what will happen, what are the answers, and whats the next question. he doesnt care about himself one bit, and he only stops when it harms somebody else. he inherited from singed his lack of care for anything but the expiriment, but he held onto his morals, enough to realize enough was enough

I’ve never connected so much to a character before Catra

Wow, Arcane and She-Ra are the only two shows I like and you've made a video on both of them. You got yourself another subscriber. I remember watching She-Ra way back in, like, 2020. I'd just read the "Am I A Lesbian?" masterdoc and I was identifying really heavily with the "lesbian" label at the time. This story meant a lot to me during that period of my life. Ultimately, I ended up leaning towards the side of not feeling that Catra's redemption arc was as fleshed-out as it could have been, and that it falls a bit short in terms of addressing certain toxic behavious (and war crimes), *buuut* your video did make me think. I found it interesting that you connected the story of Catra with your own experience of religious trauma, and that you were able to see the value in her character (as you've expressed here) through that trauma. My personal trauma history has less to do with religion, and more to do with having an abusive alcoholic for a parent. Perhaps that's why I have trouble really connecting with Catra's story in the way that you do. I tend to think that character analysis, especially on the more "grass-roots" level as it's happening here, functions as a way for people to work through their own inner dissonances in a way that carries less risk than working them out through one's own real connections/relations. So I wonder if the "shape" of an individual's trauma history influences how they see/relate to Catra. Maybe people with religious trauma can see themselves in her and find healing/understanding through that. Thanks for the great video. If you ever feel like posting anything else, you've got one more set of eyeballs on it.

For Jayce I'd add that his pride is also what has him give into manipulations by anyone. To make him feel grandiose and important and right.

If this was a Greek play or poem it would have been more successful than the odyssey

I have no doubt those are the standard definitions of those terms, but if so I'm here to tell the Greeks they didn't have their notion of tragedy quite perfected. I wanna just temper a couple thoughts. First, anagnorisis, the sudden realization that everything has gone wrong, and crucially also that it's *too late to do anything about it*. If there's still a chance to change things, to any degree, the situation becomes much less tragic. It's a major reason death is tragic, because it's so irreversible. So yeah, huge moment of anagnorisis for Powder when Vi says "you did this?" at the end of act one. I would even argue there's another potent anagnorisis before the episode is over: when Vi sees Silco standing over Powder and her perception of Powder as the one who just killed her family snaps suddenly to Powder as the last remaining member of her family, and in need her protection at that moment more than ever. But the anagnorisis isn't complete until she wakes up in a cell (presumably) and realizes there's absolutely nothing she can do to fix her mistake. That's tragic. Then the peripeteia, the sudden reversal of fortunes. It can't just be that though; the true tragedy is when it was so close you could almost touch it. "So close, yet so far". If someone is born rich and powerful and eventually deposed, it's not necessarily very tragic at all, but if a person has spent their entire life trying to claw their way up and loses it all just as they're about to achieve something, that's much more tragic. So without a doubt there's a peripeteia masterclass at the end of each act. As mentioned, the tragedy of the monkey bomb ruining the escape they had almost pulled off against all odds. Act two, the sisters reunite, everything is perfect, the right things are said, Powder is at the surface, reconciliation seems at hand, but then Caitlin and the Firelights show up and it all falls apart. Then the mother of all peripeteia at the end of the season. Sting might as well be singing "peripeteia" instead of "what could have been", because that's what it's all about. When it's so close you can see exactly what might have been. The rocket through the window doesn't even really change anything unless you consider what was about to be. It's how close they were to recognizing Zaun that makes it so utterly tragic. Otherwise the rocket is just a continuation of hostilities that already existed. Sad maybe, but not so exquisitely tragic.

You're brilliant. Just finished arcane. I feel like such a fool for waiting this long. I love tragedies but damn my heart is torn for jinx. That's why the show is so good though.

<3 <3 <3

agree.

Catra almost destroyed reality. As someone who never chooses neutrality on "Shin Megami Tensei", who chooses either Control or Synthesis on "Mass Effect", who is willing to choose money on Fable 2", helped a bad guy (who I backstabbed before he could) form a world empire that was programmed to become a large republic on "The Council", believe me, I understand what it is to see a worthless world you, especially considering Shadow Weaver, of all people, was the one who somehow got to the top on both sides. But the thing is, I want to change/remake the world. Reality's destruction, lack of attempts at fixing it given the plan was merely to send a signal and her harming of Entrapta are the crimes I can not ignore. There is no justice in there, especially since she knew how to have Hordack under her palm in order to make sure he wouldn't find some way to punish her. Inflexible destruction over adaptive control... That is mankind's sin that I most despise and it is the one I can not forgive. If you want me to keep being her supporter, let us make a trial. Right here, right now ! You are her defense. And you can not use the emotional factor to defend her, such as that Shadow Weaver broke her. You can only use the facts of what she could have done given her own habilities, because the emotional component was only excusable when she pulled the lever, nothing afterwards. I may not be virtuous (otherwise I wouldn't relate to her), but I do have common sense.

She is pretty relatable and understandable, even if you don't live on a toxic household.

Catra has always been my favorite character from She-Ra. From the start. I love who she was in the beginning, what she became in the middle, how she grew towards the end, and who she chose to be when it mattered most in the final season. I love how complex and frustrating and confusing and beautiful she is. Her redemption arc was long and painful and ugly, but it was shockingly, strikingly human. I find it rather funny how even though she's a cat-person, she's one of the most human characters in the series. However, I've always wanted a deeper explanation on why she did what she did, why she became who she became, and boy, did I get what I wished for. This video is absolutely amazing. This is just such a detailed, beautiful analysis. I think you've really touched on the deeper meaning of her character and the overall show itself, and I completely agree---SPOP is not what it seems. It's considered a kids' show, but anyone older who's watching can clearly see the deeper, darker, bleaker side of it. It's truly a beautiful creation, as is Catra. And you've summarized her wonderfully. Thank you for being vulnerable. Thank you for your message, because you're right. Everything you said is so painfully true. I appreciate all that you said, because I for one can also understand and relate. I truly didn't understand how similar I was to Catra until you talked about it, talked about how you relate to her and how ND Stevenson relates to her. It's beautiful and sad how Catra's character is such an accurate representation of so many human flaws (despite obviously not being human). Thank you for this amazing, amazing video and perfect analysis of Catra's character.

Glimmer and Bow are adorable ! Adora is such a badass cutie pie ! Catra's little sense of morality and ethics is actually very realistic, so much so that even people in non-toxic households can somewhat understand where she's coming from. Like me, she has this somewhat nihilistic and utilitarian perspective of how life and business work. Bad phases caused by atrocities are temporary (I'm not saying you should actively commit them). But she also that with power comes the capacity for change. She's too afraid to go up against her abuser, as she doesn't believe she can be defeated. And now, she received validation from the Big boss Lord Hordack himself, giving her further motivation to stay where she is, because now she truly has garantees her ambitions of preventing her suffering in the new world can be fulfilled. She believes that there's no hope for herself, so she'll just protect herself because she's not ready to face her final judgement yet. But, when the new world is built, she is gonna try to at least make a few ammends. -Shadow Weaver also fascinates me. It's pretty clear she doesn't see Adora as just another weapon, otherwise she would have given up on her already. But, where does all of this favoritism come from ? Why feed this broken and twisted sense of motherhood for Adora alone ?

3 episodes. It only took 3 episodes to make this scenario a reality: -Me: I'm into very depraved stuff, you might not like it (it's not a lie). Also me: "We're gonna win in this ! We must be strong ! And we must be brave ! We must be brave !" (By the way, that tech princess seems like she's going to be interesting watching, given the rest of their kind seems to be more based around power and nature alone, while she seems to go beyond that).

you just claimed a new follower. ❤️

I gotta know... Should I watch this show ? I can accept this Catra being an abused individual turned abuser who then tries to be better. But I'm not sure I want to watch a show in which you're supposed to support a toxic ship and in which someone like this Catra is so easily excused. I watchef shows such as "Amphibia", "Owl House" or "The Last Airbender", I know what I want in this kind of arc. And from what I've heard so far, Catra's development wasn't worked out properly.

Excellent essay!

I think one thing that people don't really talk about is the implication in episode 2. Catra is hurt by Adora, not just because she is leaving. Imagine being abused and tortured from childhood within sight of your best friend. Now she is surprised to find out that the people who did that to you aren't the good guys. In Catra's mind (which I think is valid), she can't understand how Adora would see the Horde as the good guys. Her whole life has been a struggle for survival. So now that Adora, her protection, is gone, she has to find a new way to survive. Of course, the way she goes about it is wrong. But I can understand her motives. Maybe I can understand her because I have BPD. If you look at the symptoms, Catra has so many of them. Fear of abandonment. Explosive anger. Impulsive behavior. Etc. Of course this doesn't excuse any of her behavior, but it can explain her motives. From the second episode, Catra was my favorite character because I saw so much of myself in her. Now, I've never tried to destroy the world or anything, but I've done things that I'm not proud of. I can't even describe all the ways I relate to Catra or how much seeing her helped me.

7:45 okay i would still one hundred percent watch this

20:05 LOL Still think the guys were WAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too sensitive over this joke! 😆

16:26 Here right alongside Catra, Adora also fucks up in her own way. As while she's one of the most compassionate people around, she always struggled with empathy - especially when it came to Catra. She's so busy being baffled by Catra's regression here that she never stops to think why things may not be as sunny as she wants. But just like Catra finally lets vulnerability in, Adora also finally learns to listen instead of just talk. P.S. No rude disagreements or unkind comments please - if you disagree, that’s fine but I’m not interested in debates about those who see Catra as a bad or evil character or about Catradora as a controversial ship (which I don’t believe it to be).

15:34 Catra THINKS she wants villainy for the security she believes it will bring, but as Double Trouble pointed out, her heart was never in it, nor was it what she truly wanted.

9:37 Hmm, I never thought about Adora going to save Catra as something selfish, but in terms of her own safety & that of the Best Friend Squad it totally is! But (as I said in a previous comment) this also counts as Adora's bravest moment for me, as like Catra, Adora had no guarantee of power or magic on her side but chose to do so anyway, as its a LOT easier to be brave when you're the most powerful being of your world but that luxury wasn't assured here yet she still went for it, like Catra did for her.

6:39 What's fascinating about selflessness in SPOP is that its still shown to hurt people just like selfishness does & that an act one person may see as 'good' can be seen as an act of betrayal by another. P.S. No disrespectful or hurtful comments please - disagreeing is fine but keep any unkind words to yourself.

4:22 To me, it's not so much about courage but the fact that Adora felt like it was the only choice for her to be a 'Good Guy' because once the Horde's atrocities are made clear, she barely hesitates in switching sides & was willing to leave with or without Catra & doesn't even consider her best friend's feelings when telling her she's leaving & only THEN asks Catra to come with her & not even for personal reasons, just telling her "We can fix this" Even though she chose to turn against the Horde, she didn't let go of her mental indoctrination of following the mindset of whatever side she's fighting for, given how she acted around her old squad mates Lonnie, Kyle & Rogelio when she met up with them again in ‘No Princess Left Behind’ - not to mention numerous other Horde soldiers who grew up in the same environment. To sum up, this choice may have been courageous in one sense but was still bound in Adora's 'duty' mindset, even if she made the choice to leave herself & she doesn't truly start to lose this mentality until Season 5 when she goes back for Catra - & (in my opinion) shows her true bravery by doing so (which in turn had been influenced by Catra's own courage)

Love this video and analysis! And something so tragic about Vi especially is that she was so close to overcoming her fatal flaw, internalizing Vander's teachings in her own way and giving herself up for her family, but then episode 3 happens and she gets stuck in punching mode for the rest of the series. Anyways just my 2cents have a good day <3

21:30 I knew someone once who was a much older person... had a plethora of experiences, from witnessing bombs in city centers in Africa to international conferences across Asia, probably been to every continent, went from rags to riches and back to rags and then riches again, and they said once that of all their years, one of the highest valued points of advice, the million dollar sentence: was that hurt people hurt... I myself still contemplate on how much I agree with the statement, but nevertheless I wanted to affirm what you were saying, as someone I once knew who was a veteran of so many things had iterated that same thing

It's so unfitting for you to swear. I was looking forward to hearing what you had to say but your filthy language was just too off-putting.

I loved this!

Wow. I never considered that choosing Vi was Powder choose Jinx. It actually makes perfect sense.

Wonderful video, a few nitpicks. While you touched on it, I think that the "moment of near triumph" is a fundamental aspect of peripetea. The near triumph makes the sudden reversal of fortune all the more impactful.

feels the heroes fatal flaw is that they put five minutes of planning into a plan that has a .001 chance of success them getting everything they want without giving anything up. any solution requires the hero in giving something up something they are incapable of doing and are just running and blind hope things will get better which in turn makes everything worse.

it is not a constructive comment or anything, but can I just say, you do look like a medieval princess or something. I find you really beautiful !

This was very eloquently put! Loved the parallels and analysis.