I sometimes walk with a cane. My mom doesn't like my cane, I can't even use it in the house when my dad is around. Mom's always trying to find various cures for me (we're looking at a diagnosis for EDS since I'm a textbook case, but diagnoses take years for that one), and I'm sick of being dragged into the next quack cure mom's found. Drinking/soaking my feet in hydrogen peroxide, pyramid scheme medications, etc. Just let me use my cane and finger splints and be done with it.
Dude, speaking as someone who works with hydrogen peroxide a lot, no one should EVER drink that shit. It makes blood turn white and foamy, it can burn the inside of your throat, and there's the potential to cause an embolism from air entering your bloodstream. If your mom is making you drink that, she is putting you in danger of severe bodily harm.
@@dontdrinkacetone6058 I came here to say something like this. Thank you for putting it so well and giving details I had no idea about. Y'all, this retiring nurse says: regardless of how much diluted it is, DO NOT drink hydrogen peroxide (or bleach, for that matter) ever, at all, for ANY reason!
The take away from this: when writing a character that has a disability or hindrance that parallels a disability, make sure to focus on how that hinderance/ disability affects the person themself, not the people around them.
As someone with a chronic illness, that moment where Eda was rushing to restock on her potions hit me home because I've had a medication emergency where I thought I had more time to refill my prescription but misread the refill expiration date. So I had to call my rheumatologist and explain what happened and hope what I have left holds out for the rest of the week while this gets sorted out. And the episode with Eda's mom hit me home because I've had relatives that mean well, but I have to explain to them things like "no, I can’t do this kind of therapy, it triggers my symptoms" or "no I can't take that, it has an ingredient that messes with my medication." And most of the time it's just quack medicine or pseudo science. They're starting to listen, I just wish they listened the first time I said something.
As someone with high functioning Autism, I really appreciate how the idea behind Eda’s curse is that she wants acceptance and not a ‘cure’. She chooses to just accept herself, and even incorporates the owl as her motif to show the universe she can roll with the punches.
not even high support, people with Autism want a cure.(i think) like the kind "warrior mamas" share videos of. I am sure with the right education and help, those people can live independent lives
Did you ever think the label high functioning is misleading? I would fall in that category too but I really don't like that label and it's not really used here. Just because I'm smart and can communicate (a learned skill and it didn't all come at once of course) doesn't mean I don't struggle with communicating, studying, keeping up a household or other regular things. Even things I didn't notice as a kid because I was a kid and other people did it for me without me even noticing it or knowing it exists. And I'm slowly realizing I'm struggling more than I thought I did. Oh the effect one other person can have on your life by them just doing their own thing. Sidenote: apparently ASD can get better or worse during puberty (which makes sense since the brain is rapidly developing around those ages) and mine seems to have gotten noticeably worse.
@@ammalyrical5646 I think it depends on what each person if comfortable with. I wouldn’t call someone high functioning if they didn’t want me to, but I have no problem being referred to as such.
@@ammalyrical5646 that is why use low support and high support? or no. if could be someone who cannot adult for the life of me but be genious functional in other areas. and it's all good. nothing to cure or fix or train me out of
As someone with autism, it's ironic how the people who intend to cure disabilities can end up harming disabled people more than the disability itself. They tend to treat us like there's nothing to us beyond having a disability, and ignore our input because apparently we don't know how we feel. Logically speaking, I think searching for "cures" is fruitless and it would be more productive and useful to listen to the voices of disabled people and ask how we can make society more welcoming and inclusive.
I've long suspected I'm on the autism spectrum, but I was never formally diagnosed, despite having been in therapy for depression most of my life. I'm reminded of what actually defines a "disability" which is principally society's failure to accommodate people who are different in some way. If society places unreasonable demands on people, saying that you must be able to perform certain tasks at a certain level in order to qualify as "functioning" and makes it where those are the only jobs available, then some people will end up in the "disabled" category through no fault of their own. Never mind that there are plenty of other things a person can do to find fulfillment; however, capitalism demands people work their lives away to avoid starving to death.
Exactly, the only type of disability that needs to be cured is one that causes pain, for the others a cure might be good, but in the end, cure or not, people can learn to live with them
@@spanish-inquisition2024 Except... that's literally what it was. A curse. And it's pretty disgusting that this show equates being autistic to having a *literal curse.* Remind me how that's different from Lupin, aside from just "how it affects her"?
There's a really good webtoon I've read called Cursed Princess Club. The premise is that this princess named Gwen has a family who're all really pretty and take after their father, while she takes after her mother and isn't up to the standard of beautiful. But bc their dad kinda hod them away from society for most of their lives, Gwen didn't really experience society or their views of who she is (and she's actually a very sweet girl) and her siblings see her as just as beautiful and amazing as they are But then one day, a prince she was excitedly engaged to told his brother that he didn't want to marry Gwen because she was ugly, and she overheard this and was kinda shocked. But she was super hurt and ended up running away, and tripped and got knocked out in a forest In that forest is a cozy little vacation home where a bunch of cursed princesses (and one prince and butler) live and/or hang out. They've all got curses of their own but there was never any cures for any of them. Some of them were thrown out from their kingdoms or were miserable in their homes or just wanted people to relate to. One girl's missing her eyes and another can't open her mouth without frogs falling out and another's mouth is full of acid and another is aged way faster than she was actually and- you kinda get it. They've all got curses. They also helped Gwen after she passed out, and all assumed she was cursed in some way, but she wasn't, but they let her stay bc her self-esteem was starting to kinda go bleh and the Prez, Capernia, wanted to help her love herself. But the way the curses are handled are rlly nice, I think, and the character arcs and story writing is rlly good as it goes on. If I talk more and more about it, this'll just be WAYYY too long. My paraphrased version isn't as good as actually reading it.
It´s amazing the way The Owl House tends to representated disability and diversity. They always put the focus in how something affect the person who is living it, not in the people around them. In my personal case as someone with ADHD, I see a lot of paralelism in Luz Noceda (I dont know if its oficial but it seems to me she is highly neurodivergent coded) and my own experience in a empatethic way. Great video!
@@pixxyofice Wait really? When I first got into the show, (before I suspected I had ADHD) I was so shocked at how heavily I could relate to Luz as a protag. Now I realize that like 60% of what I could relate to about her were also symptoms of ADHD lol
So, like... are there a lot of similarities between ADHD and autism? Because, for the longest time, I thought Luz was autistic, and I often hear autism and ADHD being brought up as a collective.
As someone whose neurodivergence can manifest as severely decreased ability to self regulate my anger ir frustration while off my meds, its REALLY great seeing TOH do this trope so well. Because it hits home SO hard, with the whole "my issue can cause me to hurt the people i love." And with how sympathetically its written in regards to Eda, it gives me legitimate hope for myself, even with it just being a matter of representation.
That's great to hear! My sibling struggles with the same stuff, but they're really afraid to go on meds. I'd love to show her Eda but my mom won't let my younger siblings watch the owl house because of Lumity and the mild body horror :(
@@deadinside8781 neurodivergence "refers to variation in the human brain regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions in a non-pathological sense". Examples of neurodivergent people are those with autism, adhd/add, dyslexia, and many other mental "disorders".
Though the metaphor stops being a 1-1 to chronic illness later on, can I just say that I love how they address Eda's internalized ableism by having her character make peace with the owl beast and learn to love her curse-body? Such a great show!!
Eda’s curse as a metaphor for chronic illness occurred to me too, since it comes and goes, can be spread, and is manageable with medication. The emperor’s coven/distributors taking *advantage* of Eda’s dependence on potions could be read as a commentary on the pharmaceutical industry/insurance companies making drugs less accessible. Fascinating video!
Also, adding in the fact that (from what I recall) Eda's potions were EXPENSIVE and likely were partially why the Owl House fam were typically strapped for cash. Coming from a US perspective where whether or not health insurance covers meds, it can still be a significant chunk of weekly funds put into it. I like this realistic touch.
I'm not disabled but I do have chronic pain so this really meant a lot to me. This s video perfectly outlined my feelings about owl house,'s curse parallels to my own experience : )
At first I was a bit confused about how Lupin is bad representation of disability, as I always kind of thought of him as disabled growing up (only learned about JK and the HIV thing later in life). But then I realised that most of my image of Remus came from casting moon shadows, the fanfic, which is a hecking lot more better at representing his condition as a disability. It's always (or almost always) about him and Sirius and how Remus deals with his lycanthropy. How he likes chocolate, and how his friends help him during his transformation, how isolated he felt during first year because he had to hide his condition from others, how he used to, and how he now does, deal with his condition. I think that fanfic (although I haven't read it in a good time, so who knows if it's still the case if I'd re-read it now) shows lupin a lot better, in a better light, and does a lot of what you're saying the owl house does well and what harry potter lacks.
Having mental illness and being neurodivergent, when I was growing up and unmedicated and suffering a lot, I'd hurt a lot of my friends. As weird as it may sound, I kind og liked that it was represented that Lupin could potentially hurt someone? Obviously, now I do a lot better and don't hurt my friends because of all the hard work and practice I put into getting better. Having Lupin being this smart kid with lycanthropy but still being good at school and having friends who loved him was just nice to see, made me feel like I deserve love too, and that I can be good at anything I want to be good at, just like everyone else.
Same, I read so much Marauders fanfiction (especially Remus-centric ones) that when the video said Remus’ struggles weren’t explored, I kind of went « huh? Whaddyamean? » before remembering « Oh, right, all of that was from fanfic… » ^^’
Okay is it just me or with Harry Potter, most of the best stuff about it seems to come from other peoples interpretations of the books, even the bloody movies in some area's I feel beat the books. Yes there's far less content and world building, not to mention they fuck up even things as major as Ron's entire character, but stuff like the characterization of people like Slughorn, Malfoy, Snape especially (book Snape is a child abusing bully who never got over a childhood crush, movie Snape is a somewhat overly strict and biased teacher with a troubled past he clearly regrets but can't really separate himself from, who tries to do the right thing by his students in the end). The way the wizarding world is explored, the Marauders, the wars, the politics, other magical cultures like Goblins or Centaurs, Slytherine in its entirety, it's all from fan works.
@@jamievasilias3606 Casting Moonshadows is one of my favorites! I myself cannot judge the representation because I don't nave any illnesses or neurodivergencies, but I appreciated how in-depth it was in how being a werewolf affected his daily life; things like "post-moon moony," his bones aching and heightened senses around the time of transformation, and how it formed his self-esteem and interactions with people made it seem like it was a part of him and not just a plot device.
as someone with bpd, turning into a giant monster that is difficult to reason with and could hurt yourself or others is very relatable. I know bpd is a mental illness and not a physical one, but Owl house really nails that feeling of trying to control a monster inside of you and surrounding yourself with coping mechanisms.
FINALLY someone put into words how i feel abt lupin. prisoner of azkaban was my favorite book and movie, but after developing chronic illness how i related to lupin changed so much. everyone talks about how rowling fucks up lgbt representation with lupin and werewolves specifically, but nobody mentions how his illness is never treated like an illness. even fan works that try to correct rowling's werewolves into 'good queer rep' end up losing everything that makes lycanthropy an illness. it gets worse in the books where the discrimination Lupin faces is vague. There's a mention of 'anti-werewolf laws' but we never see how this impacts lupin except for a single scene where he looks 'worse for wear'. its all just a reference to his struggle put into the narrative to make you hate the villain when it should have been a moment of empathy for the affected group. rowling has also said that disabled people don't exist in harry potter because magic can cure everything and regrow limbs or whatever (guess we'll ignore the ex-cop with one eye and a peg . . .) and its pretty clear that she never had the interest of any minority in mind while making her series. ive never seen the owl house but the clips you showed genuinely made me cry. i cant remember the last time ive seen a 'curse as disability' character actually receive empathy. sure, you have the stock 'wah feel bad for me im a monster' but that's not empathy, that's pity. god im gonna have to go watch the show now because anything that can successfully tackle a disability narrative about how cure mentality harms disabled people is a must-see. tysm for this video!!
Honestly dear ol' Joanne just loves to prove over and over that she doesn't actually care about representation in her works at all. That said I'm really glad you liked the video and hope you enjoy the Owl House as much as I do ^^
Wait? She… she actually said that they use magic to cure all disabilities?! I mean she’s wrong, between Alestor and Harry still needing glasses, but she really knows how to retroactively shank what little there was to like about her series, doesn’t she.
@@MidoriyamaRArekusu her direct quote is “I decided that, broadly speaking, wizards would have the power to correct or override ‘mundane’ nature, but not ‘magical’ nature. . . bones broken in non-magical accidents such as falls or fist fights can be mended by magic, but the consequences of curses or backfiring magic could be serious, permanent or life-threatening.” basically, any 'muggle' disabilities are curable. which has so many fucking problems. i could write a whole essay on it tbh. but also there was a videogame called Hogwarts Mystery that featured a young wizard in a wheelchair, McNully. the game doesnt go into detail abt his disability or how hogwarts, a school known for its stairs, accommodates disabilities, but jkr was not a part of the creation or direction of the project so its possible that they just completely ignored her and said 'ykw lets make a disabled wizard'. so idk what the fuck jkr was talking about but ig she just. loves being inconsistent.
Man, the moment of panic I felt at the words "stealing all the potions" was VISCERAL. You're right - that is deeply abusive and horrifying! And the fact that you still find her forgivable makes me really wanna check this show out. :D
It's similar to the way my mother used to treat my adhd. I found a way to deal with the symptoms that worked, and she just took it away telling me to stop playing dumb. To earn back my tools, I needed to do my work properly. Also, I didn't know about my diagnosis, as my parents wanted to avoid me using it as an excuse. So I was standing there, watching classmates and siblings doing what I failed at, wondering why I'm such a failure. Only because some idiot with a diploma told my mother how to properly deal with the adhd - gifted - combo that I ended up with. I started taking medication for my adhd, I felt like I had to hide it when she came to visit. I couldn't explain why, but I think my subconscious knew something.
@@v3ru586 In instinctive defense mechanism, probably. I wouldn't trust her around my meds, either, if I were in your place - I'm sorry you had to put up with that. No one screwed with my bipolar meds, but my dad would yell at me for staying up too late (as we adhd'ers tend to do, like scientifically that's A Thing) and falling asleep on the couch after classes that went til like 10:30. I'm in a better place now, and I hope you are, too.
I'm not gonna lie, when I first got diagnosed with my chronic illness at the beginning of my senior year of high school, my best friends referred to it as my "furry little problem" because they knew I loved Harry Potter and that would draw me out of the shell I had built around myself. After that, I found a lot of solace in Lupin's character because I saw what he went through as a disability and now I had a disability. Cut to a few weeks ago and someone recommending me The Owl House saying, this is much better representation of the curse as disability trope (not their exact words) then Lupin. So I've been checking it out and have been delighted with Eda and the sensitivity of her portrayal. So when I found your video talking about the trope, I knew I needed to watch it.
As the younger of two chronically ill siblings, while my own situation isn't at all like Eda's (mostly because my sister is much older than I am and by the time I was 8 she was old enough to be living on her own), I really did identify with her in this episode. Eda is weird, and strange, and a bit rough around the edges, but she's trying her best, and sometimes her "curse" - and sometimes it really does feel like a curse, especially on the days I'm so tired I can't bring myself to do anything but lay on the couch, including doing my treatments or taking my meds - gets to be too much, and she has really, really bad days. But also, in my teen years my mother went down a similar path to Gwendolyn. I'd been recently diagnosed with another, co-morbid chronic illness, and I was showing the early signs of depression, both of which freaked her out and concerned her. Which I understand, on some level. Having two kids with recurring health issues is really hard. But, at the same time, her behavior made it really hard for me as a teenager, because I was constantly being treated as if I were broken; something to be fixed, with the right amount of leafy green veggies and herbal supplements. I've never talked with her about it, but I've been trying to slowly introduce her to shows like The Owl House, because we recently finished ATLA as a family, and she really seemed to enjoy that one. TL;DR I'm the trans guy Eda Clawthorne existing in this world, and I finally have the perfect way to broach the subject of my mother's past behavior with her.
I don't know if you've watched it, but The Legend of Korra season 4 was an amazing representation of how it feels to contract a chronic illness and how it can feel to struggle with trying to get back to where you once were. When I contracted Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a young adult, it hit especially hard since I was once incredibly physically active. Like, run 10 miles a day and then run at 6 minutes per mile speed on the weekend active. Now any time I do anything at all, my breathing gets heavy and I get Post-Exertional Malsise. Watching Korra have to fight through her poisoning, getting out of her wheelchair and regaining her strength really made me feel better. I know it's just a show, and a full recovery to pre-illness condition is basically not possible for me given current medical knowledge, but hope is better than nothing. Even being able to see someone else go through the same experiences and inner turmoil as I did improved my mental wellbeing, even if it's fiction.
@@masterofthecontinuum we just started Korra, actually. It's going well so far, and I'm looking forward to season 4. My friend keeps telling me I'll enjoy season 3 and 4, and I'm sure they're right.
Personally, I think the way _The Owl House_ portrayed it was pretty disgusting. Like, it's literally saying that if you have autism, then you're basically cursed for life. So much for that whole "be yourself" message that the show was trying to push, and now it's saying that if you're different then you're inherently a bad person. WTF, Dana? It really deeply offended me, as someone on the autism spectrum, who just wants to be seen as *normal* in society, and not be seen as inferior to everyone else.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster Can I ask for clarification on your points? I didn't get that from the show at all, and if you did I'd love to know what parts stood out to you. I ask because, as an Autistic *and* chronically ill person, I related more with Luz on the Neurodivergent struggles, especially the way she was treated by her peers. /genuine I felt Eda was a really good analogy of the toll being chronically ill takes on a person, and a good representation of how chronically I'll people generally live their lives, especially if their quality of life is dependent on certain, oftentimes expensive, medications. (Non-confrontational)
@@roari-clydea.soule-fahey1756 The world needs more people like you, instead of the other people equating Eda’s curse to autism like it’s a good thing. Thank you, kind soul. :)
On the weird flip side, having a generally overprotective mother that also works in the med field is also pretty stressful. I was born with a chronic pain syndrome that can have ANY symptom and has no known cause or cure. My “diagnosis” can mask nearly any dangerous health condition and because my mom cant deal with the stress of knowing how bad things can go, so instead sticks her head in the sand and blames my condition for any new problem i have. Dr.s to the same thing. They see my diagnosis in my chart and find a way to blame the original diagnosis instead of taking me seriously… its very frustrating.
i know obviously that her curse is meant to be like a chronic illness like you said, but i also like how it can be a metaphor for mental illness too. to me the owl beast feels like trauma, especially the fact that stress only makes things even worse. i hope that interpretation doesnt take away from it all to other people, it just personally connected to me in that way since ive got trauma and mental illness, but not physical illness
you really hit the mark in what I felt was wrong with "curse as disability" its so often treated as a bad thing to be shunned, but I never realised why I related to the cursed characters so much. I really should watch Owl House now...
Just don't watch the episodes this person was talking about - it's *pretty fucking disgusting* that they would equate autism to being *literally cursed.* Whatever happened to the *positive* autistic traits, like being oneself, and being smart in a lot of areas? If anything, I'd say Hermione is a better representation thereof.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster I would rather have the curse over the horrendous depiction that Big Bang's Sheldon was for autism. I would rather have autism be represented in *any way* slightly positive over it being only showed to get laughed at.
@@graftednormalcy1376 Well, if it helps, I’m currently writing a comic about a young girl with autism, and her being autistic is presented as a *blessing,* as she’s actually capable of forming her own interests instead of just playing _Fortnite_ because all the other kids at school play it. She actually thinks for herself and doesn’t cave in to society’s expectations of how a kid her age should act, that sort of thing.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster Gag me. I'm autistic and chronically ill and Autism is not a blessing. It's not a curse either. I call it an inconvenience. Yes it has its perks but there's nothing special about me crying over homework because the tone is off and I can't understand it. There's nothing special about me being able to sit for hours at a time and forgetting to eat, drink, or use the restroom. There's nothing special about being yelled at because my tone was slightly off. There's nothing special about the fact I can't form a proper social life outside of the internet because I don't fit in. Sure there is something kinda special about how I take in information about media I become hyperfixated in, but the specialness quickly wears off (wore off for me when the second hyperfixation post diagnosis hit). Because that's just there.
As someone with a disability that affects my energy levels, seeing the potions scattered in spots all over the house really hit home. It's really relatable. I have to take SSRIs once a day or else my energy level can get even worse as well as my depression. Problem is, I will often fall asleep on all my furniture around the house. So I have med bottles stored by my computer, by my bed, on the coffee table by the couch, etc. so that if I'm feeling too tired to get up, I always can take my meds. Can't say that I've ever stored them under the couch or on the ceiling though.
To be fair the location that Eda hides her potions probably correlates to the specific effects of her curse. Like, for example, We've seen that the curse doesn't immediately transform her, there's a full period of shifting before hand. This is seen in both keeping up afearances and young blood old souls (with Lilith this time). However, one of the initial changes of a full transformation (aside from feathers) seems to be an increase in size meaning the ceiling is actually a fantastic spot since she can just grab them there. I'm not sure what they're during in the couch though.
I feel like the Owl House also nailed the curse pretty well because it didn't portray the owl beast as a threat, but another living being that's stuck in the same body as Eda's. It only takes over when its needs (i.e., eating rodents) aren't met and it has the ability to do so. In fact, Eda reasons with it and after literally coming to terms with her curse, they're able to work together to become stronger
I cannot believe there's a character from "The Owl House" with my name and she subscribes to casual ableism. I've become the very thing I swore to destroy... Thanks for this! I have a cursed character and I don't really want it to be an allegory for anything (not even mental illness, which is what I experience). So this is very helpful!!!
@@CrowTR0bot Potentially the curse serving a purely plot/thematic purpose without unfortunate or downright harmful implications? Like how a decent number of the examples dissected on this channel will feel more like the author either didn't think through the implications of their work, or were unable to see past ableism when making their decisions than someone rolling out of bed one morning and going "I'm going to consciously discriminate against/talk down to/whatever else at this specific group." I know that part of my _own_ reasons for watching this channel is the hope of having at least some background preventing me from doing something horribly stupid by mistake whenever this topic comes up in my own writing!
@@CrowTR0bot It's meant to make a certain character archetype less triggering for me to write. The reason the curse isn't an allegory is because he has mental illness seperate from it. I can't explain much more without giving away plot details about my book and I do not want to do that on the Internet to a stranger. But basically, the curse developed as a way to make a certain character's actions less terrifying for me personally because I'm trying to parody and analyze part of a particular genre. If anything, the character's "allegory" isn't really an allegory because he's just flat out mentally ill AS WELL as cursed. In other words, LOVE the username. MST3K is one of my comfort shows.
@@elenafriese891 Yup! That's pretty close! I wrote in a different comment that he's basically cursed as both a twist on a certain genre and to make him easier and less triggering to write for me.
@@theflickchick9850 That explanation is understandable. No sense writing a subject that distresses you or carries unfortunate implications. I'm glad you seemed to have thought it through. Also, good taste in shows. Are you looking forward to The Gizmoplex as much as I am?
The lupin thing in HP sounds so much like the whole “Minorities are descended from demons and white people are descended from angels” thing the shadowhunters show keeps low key implying
honestly I think that sounds kinda interesting. How would a world where the majority of people were descended from angels and the rest of the population were descended from demons/fairies/eldritch abominations work. How much would a persons behavior be influenced by their ancestry and how would that influence manifest. would angel descendants be more pious/benevolent, would they be more old testament fire and brimstone or more new testament turn the other cheek. what kind of society would it be and what kind of social norms would it have. would you even be able to resist your supernatural instinct and if so how much and how difficult is it. Futhermore if everyone is descended from some kind of supernatural being then what kind of abillities does diffirent kinds of descendants have. is it like having superpowers where angels can heal, demons have pyrokinesis and fairies can make illusions. or does different kinds of descendants have access to their own kind of magic that they have to learn and practice. how powerful is these abillities is it like dnd cantrips or can some people rearrange the landscape. do these abillities have industrial applications and if so which kind of descendants have the most useful abillities and how they fit into society are they rich and powerfull upper class or a exploited under class. there are probably more things but these are just I could think of right now so yeah “Minorities are descended from demons and white people are descended from angels” could in my opinion be the premise for some interesting world building although it would probably be for the best if we avoided real world ethnicities.
@@maltebrun3978 or the idea angels were meant to combat evil or just praise god and protect humans from supernatural forces. or just look and not act. or sometimes a demon is just a fallen angel. it would be harder to write, due to "hands off this is part of closed culture, not yours! people still believe in these things" if you dip into other faith systems. it's all fine and dandy to use Christain mythology for our entertainment, but godforbid a non Hindu touches that or some "tribal spirituality"
@@maltebrun3978 I haven't seen the Shadowhunters show, only read the books as a teen, so I'm not sure how the show deals with it, but I remember Cassandra Clare specifically trying to draw a parallel between how the Shadowhunters treat the Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks, etc) and real life racial discrimination, down to there being segregation laws. If I remember correctly, although there were characters of different real world ethnicities belonging to each group, our Shadowhunter main characters were mostly white, and a lot of the important Downworlder characters were some sort of real world minority. So Clare specifically ended up writing a situation where the white people metaphors were the descendents of angels, and our oppressed racial group metaphors were either the literal children of demons or were infected with a demonic illness. I don't think anything malicious was meant by it, I think she did just want some cool people with different sets of magic powers and for her books to have a vaguely progressive moral of "discrimination is bad", but she may have not entirely thought through the implications of what her worldbuilding had set up. I mean to be honest the worldbuilding is kind of a slapped together mess in general.
@@emma7933 I think misunderstood me I wasn't commenting on the author who is probably a lovely woman. I was saying that I thought that a world where the majority were descended from angels and the minority were descended from demon could make for some interesting world building and story telling. besides if I remember correctly the downworlders are actually the majority its just that shadowhunters are generally much dangerous on a individual basis because they are essensilly angel made demon killing machines which tips the power balance heavily in the shadowhunters favor.
I personally felt a lot of relatability in how Eda's potions work similarly to mood stabilizer medicine, especially with how her family would rather find a Cure and view them as bad because they're just helping manage your stability. I like that since Eda's curse isn't tied to any direct parallel or disorder her story feels relatable to a broad range of viewers w different life experiences
As someone with a disability, I adore Edalyn. Not only that, but her looks and personality remind me of my mother, who happens to have the same condition as me, so not only I see a bit of myself in Eda, I also see a big part of my mother, my dearest person in the world. Our illness can be tough, but I'm glad that we have the same problem, because we understand each other with no problems.
Well, I think that it is logical that the Harry Potter characters fear Remus Lupin in his werewolf form because, as you said, he loses all of his human logical thinking and he can infect others. I honestly LOVE Remus Lupin he is so kind and sweet and I really felt bad for him when he lost his job. Sure he was the best DADA teacher, but the main thing I can remember running through my mind was "How is he going to find a new job? What is he going to do now that people know he is a werewolf?" I also never really got why people distance themselfs from werewolf and refuse to give them jobs when they only turn into mosters once a month and they can't infect anyone otherwise.
From what I remember, lycanthropy was supposed to be like AIDS or other invisible, infectious conditions. Both lycanthropy and AIDS can be transmitted in specific circumstances and people living with both suffer from systemic injustices. It’s not about what the condition actually does, but rather the stigma
The main issue I've seen is that lycanthropy is the equivalent to AIDS, and the stigma against it in HP is because the vast majority of werewolves intentionally want people to become werewolves, too. They're not portrayed as an oppressed class due to societal stigma with a condition they cannot control, but are rather mostly villainous characters who want others to become werewolves (aka people with a disability/disease who WANT to infect others), with Remus being the really only exception, and the view of society on werewolves is hardly ever challenged or said to be wrong, basically saying "people with an AIDS equivalent disease are evil and want to spread it to even your children, except for a few people we think are unfortunate victims but won't help because they still have it." This is forgoing the fact that Remus' side of the story is touched on, but ultimately isn't important at all, and he dies in the war.
I feel like it is itself a problem that Rowling made a disability metaphor where people can say "well it's logical and justified that people are scared of him." By equating it to disabilities (and specifically AIDS), she's saying "yeah it's justified that people are scared of people with AIDS". I'm pretty sure gay men still can't legally donate blood because of this shit. If she wanted to have a character who was kind and sweet normally but could turn into an irrational violent werewolf, she probably should've thought more about it and made it not coded as a disability.
@@luizabianco I agree it's possible she didn't do it on purpose, but I think the coding does still exist in the text. Unlike Dumbledore being gay or the Jewish student. Noooope she hasn't changed
As someone who writes stories about werewolves and other shapeshifters, my principal problem with the depiction was that werewolves were vilified in the first place. Far too many stories treat it as implicit that werewolves are savage predatory monsters, even if the people who turn into them are good natured. A lot of cultures were terrified of wolves, to the point of hunting them to near extinction, even though it was humans who encroached on their habitat in the first place. It all goes back to the archetype of man vs. nature, of seeing humans and the natural world in opposition, and the almost dogmatic denial that we're still animals and still very much dependent on nature. So the assumption goes, a person who takes on the form of a wild animal must be evil, violent, or out of control. There's definitely a degree of projection going on. I much prefer stories where werewolves are shamans or druids, serving as protectors of nature. They can control the changes, because they know themselves and have reconciled their dual identity. They're feared by the ignorant who don't understand. In my own stories, it's not a curse or a disease to be cured. It's just part of who they are. And there's a lot of opportunity to explore an allegory similar to that in The Matrix.
I'm not disabled (at least not officially, though my actually disabled partner tells me I am, but. It's complicated), but when Eda's mother hid all her potions, it still hit so home to me. Reminded me of the several(!) times my mother tried to persuade me to quit my medication (antidepressants + antipsychotics) because taking them is "unnatural." Duh! If my brain chemistry was "natural," I wouldn't be needing them!
I liked the little touch that sometimes a disability can have one or two perks, in the case of their limbs now being detachable. I think a real world example of such a perk would be like the one I read about in a tweet once: a girl this dude knew in first grade was deaf, and if she didn't want to listen to someone, she could just close her eyes or look away.
can i just say as someone with limited hearing I LOVE THAT YOU'VE PROPERLY CAPTIONED YOUR VIDEOS! AND YOU DID IT PROPERLY!!! Seeing things formatted properly, changes in speaker being denoted, fuck even just having the timing carry over between your words and the captions is like a genuine breath of fresh air!Thank you so so much
i have a chronic illness and i love eda, she's my favorite owl house character and really relatable. i especially love her development in knock knock knocking on hooty's door it makes me cry every time
so I saw this video pop up on my recommended feed. I hadn't watched TOH yet but planned to. I saved this in my watch later. some time later my sister was talking about it and she was like, "what do you know so far about it?" and immediately I was like "I know there's supposedly gays and the owl lady has a curse," thinking of course about this video. long story short, I just finished s2 the other day and god I love this show for so so many reasons, but when I saw that episode with Eda's mother constantly trying to force a "cure" on her and then Eda very explicitly saying "yes, it's not sunshine and daisies and obviously it has inconveniences, but it's a part of me. I have it managed, and I like my life the way it is." I was like THAT VIDEO WAS SO RIGHT. it was fun watching with that thought in mind already after seeing the thumbnail. I could appreciate all the early details showing the curse as a disability in a good rep way. finally got around to watching this video and it makes me smile
I feel like TOH fans highly underrated the show's disability representation in favor of its LGBT representation. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just seems like a lot of the fandom choose to sleep on Luz also being a rare ADHD/neurodivergent female character and Eda dealing with a metaphor of chronic illness. I also randomly thought about how the HTTYD trilogy and Finding Dory did the disability representation very well with their characters (sans characters like Becky and Gerald tho). I'm glad you made a video analysis of the topic.
Reminds me of BNA: Brand New Animal, where the plot twist is that the main character became a werefurry because she was transfused the wrong blood. I don't think the writers realised the implications.
I have a disability too, and while it's not really severe or painful to me, it is also an "it can trigger at any moment!" type thing, so those little moments of Eda grabbing stashed medicine from the nearest place, her saying she's tired and has to rest before things "get bad", and that one episode where she says "we need to get home NOW" because she collapsed in the park all really resonate with me. I never could quite get why I liked her curse allegory when I usually hate all others, but you hit it right on the head with this. It's because they care about Eda, not just the characters but the writers, by taking that time to really show what living with a disability is like without making it feel like a cry for pity or fear.
Think HP really did me dirty growing up with a bipolar mom, then later being diagnosed myself. The whole Neville's parents' situation being worse than death was really yikes too.
IMO Eda's curse in the Owl House is a perfect allegory and representation for Epilepsy. And as someone who has epilepsy, I find Eda's experience with her medication and transformation when untreated for very relatable, as that is pretty much how I feel and imagine myself if I would get an epilepsy attack. I can't really tell how it is as I have only had one epilepsy attack in my life which I have no memory of, but according to my mom, I went savage and bit her. We missed my evening medication by accident. I'm so glad and grateful that she took my health seriously and made sure I was properly cared for and medicated.
one thing that i love about eda´s curse is how much it also takes a tool on her appearence/physical health, some characters have mentioned how her hair is not supposed to be grey yet and how she overall just looks older than she should, it does show how stressful the curse has been to her through all of this years, although i also don´t like lupin´s HIV analogy it also has it´s physical burden to him, during the month of the full moon he needs a kane to walk and constantly looks tired/lost and i like that little attention to detail
I also think it's very interesting how this parallels Eda's conflict with Lilith in the previous season. Even though it was Lilith who cursed Eda in the first place, what put a strain in their relationship were Lilith's attempts to "fix" Eda by coercing her into joining the group responsible for persecuting her in the first place. While the analogy isn't as clear-cut as Gwen falling for medical scams, Lilith's idea that Eda's problems would be solved if she subscribed to an ideology cult that persecutes people like her is not too unlike family members who insist joining the Church would solve a chronic illness
When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder (along with a lot of other diagnoses) but found out later that it was miss diagnosed and it was actually type 2 bipolar disorder, this was really unnerving and upsetting to me because where some people are normally happy about finding out what is causing their state of mind so drastically, I was upset that I had something my biological father had, he had type 1 bipolar and drank constantly, as well as refused to take any medication to help or get help of any kind, this means going over to his house as a kid was a living hell, he was constantly angry and drunk and in a state of manic episodes that he only snapped out of for brief moments in time when I broke down crying completely afraid of him long enough for me to run in my room to wait it out which normally it'd only be a few hours before he was in another one sometimes it'd take longer sometimes it'd take less, I'd have no idea when they'd start or when they'd end. After being diagnosed I was afraid I would end up being like him which terrified me, I was afraid of scaring those close to me or even worse possibly hurting them. but I was reminded that unlike my biological father I get help and take my medication to where I have better control over it and my episodes are less frequent, when I get in those states I feel like a beast is taking control of me too a beast I fear, but where my biological father stayed in that state refusing to do much about it if anything at all, I'm trying, and I relate to Eda a lot in that way. I won't be defined by my disorder, and I'm working on managing it.
This is so relatable! Thankfully you are not a copy of your father just as I am not a copy of mine. We can break the generational chains of fear and violence. My late, unlamented father refused to get diagnosed and was likely either autistics with ADHD like me or bipolar like my late sister (her I do miss). He was violent and tyrannical, basically an oppressive cult of one. I have done a ton of work on myself and consequently raised my now adult children without any physical violence and with a minimum of yelling. Living well is the best "revenge". Have a * hug * if you want ❤️
The mother in Owl House kinda reminds me of my mother. I'm dyslexic and autistic, and my mom wanted a cure for me straight up. Given, I agree that putting me in public schools would have not helped me, as the Special Ed in Louisiana wouldn't have been a great placement. But instead she homeschooled me and spent thousands on vision therapy that determined needed am eye patch (good for lazy eye, but they wanted to change my eye dominance). She thought this and other vision therapy would fix my dyslexia, rather than finding a tutor or private school that had the resources to work with a dyslexic kid. I mean, she literally told me that she didn't want me to cope, she wanted to make it go away. Also ABA therapy, so that was fun. I definitely had depression and anxiety as a teen but we were very anti-medication. It's like I didn't get to experience existing properly until my early 20s. The thing that gets me, is that my mom wanted me to get an education, but eventually sent me to a private school that taught me the Bible, and that was basically it. Had to take years of remedial classes just to get up to level. Now I have a degree in biology (and not because I'm afraid of math. I actually like tutoring calculus). Parents that see there kid as something to fix steal years off their kids lives.
I had never connected curses and handicaps. I knew that curses consequently engendered internal and societal handicaps and being an invisible handicapped person myself, I hated when a handicap was not recognized as a handicap. I also saw curses as something to be healed because people who are victims of them suffer from them and it was not natural. My epilepsy is natural, I lived with it all my life and I never dramatized it because my point of view of the thing depended only on me for 11 years, until the moment when the rest of the world finally figured out that it wasn't that I wasn't trying hard enough but that there was a real problem and external adjustments were needed. The adjustment I needed for my epilepsy? My medicine. I was perfectly capable of managing the rest because I had organized myself in such a way as to compensate for my difficulties as much as possible. I knew how I worked, it wasn't "a curse" because it was literally the way my brain works, it was the rest of the world that needed to understand and adapt rather than yell at me for things I couldn't control. After a chat with someone on the internet, I learned that my correspondent knew someone with epilepsy and was therefore impressed with how calm I was about it. The epileptic in question saw his disease as a curse with a sword of Damocles perpetually hanging above his head. I was surprised at the reading this person had of his brain. We suffered according to the words of my correspondent, from the same handicap with the same symptoms and the same adaptations but our vision of the thing was completely opposite. The difference seemed to come from the fact that this epileptic had a point of view given from the outside. He had a convulsive seizure when he was a baby, then another when he was 5 years old, which greatly stressed his parents who therefore stressed him. My epilepsy was not detected before I entered middle school, my construction on this subject depended only on me. From my point of view, it was the rest of the world that had unrealizable expectations. I suffered from the invisibility of my disability in my constructive years, especially from the lack of listening I received. But suddenly, when my epilepsy was identified and I was told "there is a problem", I was like "yes, thank you Captain Obvious it was about time you heard what I've been telling you for years , and by the way the ice is cold and fire is hot". This diagnosis corrected my two problems: the lack of listening to the rest of the world and medication to compensate for what I could not already compensate for. But I never hated or feared my epilepsy, it was just the way my brain worked. Some people have sunburn-prone skin, and I have irregular electrical activity in my brain. Maybe that's why I didn't link handicaps to curses and probably never would have done it alone. Because if my various invisible handicaps (yes I have several, I just took my epilepsy as an example) are really, really a pain in the neck, I never saw myself as cursed. At most, I grumble more or less strongly when it poses a particular problem more or less serious. There, I can't go see my dying grandmother so I sulk, but when I can't do a lazer game, I grumble and then move on.
If I were to write a "curse as a disability" trope, the monster would only be a danger to them person affected. Because I'm tired of people seing us as a potential menace even when we're actually only harming ourselves. That tome my mom told me she was scared of me after I spent an hour beating myself and only myself still irritates me.
This video gave me a new perspective on Owl house. The show didn't really grab me, as season 1 episodes cover conflicts that have been done in other shows. (side effects of growing old) I'm so excited to hear that they are expanding on the conflicts from season 1 in a way that hasn't been done in popular media before! Thank you for making this video. I am glad to have found it in my recommendation and now looking forward to giving season 2 a try.
I've returned! I really enjoyed the 2nd season! More than I have on the 1st! Thank you Oakwyrm. I really wouldn't have tried watching it again without this video.
My cane is actually liberating to me and while my mom is supportive, she really wishes I didn’t need it. It’s frustrating because wishing won’t fix me so why make it constantly about how to fix my problems instead of working around them. On the other hand, I have a habit of accepting my symptoms as a fact of life while my mom makes sure to check that I took my meds even when I don’t feel like it will help (it does)
This reminds me of my mom, whose biggest (and seemingly to me, her actualONLY) concern regarding my physical disabilities and the progressive loss of function I have been suffering though while fighting my hardest and smartest to fight to get better, goal of course being to have a life where I can once again safely and functionally live independently again. I have so many huge aspirations in this world, even still now after almost a full decade of nonstop major surgeries and other very grueling medical treatments, etc....but for right now, I would feel so accomplished and so happy if I could, like I said, just be better enough to function again independently and to get through the rest of the orthopedic surgeries I still have to undergo without too much more severe pain or new problems holding me back even further... It's a miracle I still have fight in me, as I've had close to zero for emotional support from anyone in my family! It is so insane to be treated like you are either lying or exaggerating your physical abilities (or the lack of ability), by the people you are closest with and in my case anyway, see every day. Like, my parents are obviously aware that I had to move in with them after becoming disabled, they helped me file for SSDI "disability" (which I just put in quotes to emphasize the word disability here, demonstrating just another fact that oddly gets somehow"forgotten" or otherwise purposely ignored by my parents as they continue to go about their normal daily lives AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED to me! They will purposely go mute, literally leave the room while I am still speaking, knowing I can't chase them or really do anything about this cruel behavior exhibited toward me. not respond or talk with me about anything related to my medical situation and needs, no exaggeration my mom has made it into a joke that I am the butt of- it goes little something like this: me- wanting to discuss the latest medical report or result with my mother. Mother- rolling her eyes and then making an old, tired joke of her own while laughing as if I just said the most ridiculous thing ever, then her quick attempts at deflecting the conversation to anything other than this important and significant conversation I needed to have with her regarding next steps in my medical treatment.. if I play along and don't let on how hurtful and wrong her behavior is toward me, I may get so far as her reluctantly agreeing to "listen to whatever you want to say for 5 minutes as (she has) to go do x,y, or z now, I didn't realize the time already" so basically it's clear my parents r choosing denial of me being disabled at all despite all of the medical records and doctors etc. that both my parents have seen, heard, and been made well aware of. My parents do the bare minimum to help me and that part has felt for quite some time that it is being done very purposefully for one of two possible reasons: either out of complete disdain, resentment and hatred of me their only daughter, for having become disabled and dependent on them for the time being allowing them both to, unconsciously or not, be ok with themselves still while not caring at all what long term physical comorbidities and short term emotional problems that their lack of proper care, attention, and loving involvement in my very difficult and already isolating day to day new and ongoing struggles and physical rehabilitation efforts , or they are so embarrassed and ashamed that I am now disabled and in this condition (in comparison to my successful active and on the go life I had before my accident), that they r pulling a quasi modo on me. They just want me to sink back into the shadows not to be seen or heard bc nobody wants to be made uncomfortable by the presence of their hideous deformed and disabled useless being I have become, so easier for them both to keep me hidden away at home while also telling almost none of the family or loved ones how bad my physical condition really is. IF I try to let anyone know the reality of my current life and any or all of the diagnoses I have now, I am treated worse and then somehow punished. They get angry and have ford axe me from using the word disabled or anything close. They continue to tell people who haven't seen me in years and who also know that I am still living back with my parents not back working or socializing irl ever anymore, that "she's doing good. Getting there..." or they will deflect the convo however possible. In any case, for reasons I still don't feel I fully understand motive behind, my parents lie to others and pretend with themselves and me, that "I'm doing ok" they get angry and treat me like I am doing it on purpose or that I have a mental problem desiring the wrong kind of attention, who knows what they think exactly but it is very obvious that they do not want me using any mobility aides. Even at home not in front of others! My mom's ongoing "concern" for me, that she also has nooo problem voicing to everyone and anyone who asks about me, is solely focused around one thing: I am prescribed an opiate pain medication. despite not taking them every day and just tons of other reasons I won't list here that would demonstrate to any reasonable person that there is no basis for my mom's concern. Other than Fox News and her apparent ease to follow the crowd and fight for things she doesn't even understand. She will say to me when I am trying to talk about my medical status and treatments and psospective help, she only ever says, "oh o just can't wait until you get off those opioids. I DO want that so badly for you daughter. I pray every day to God to get u off those things!" 🤦♀️THAT is the only thing she is concerned about. Not the multiple reasons I am being prescribed the medicine for, just the medicine. She doesn't care about anything else when so many real and very scary medical problems I am dealing with.
I’m epileptic and this video really helped me figure out why I related so much with Eda. My seizures always make me feel sort of monstrous so 🥲 this is a very nice video thanks.
I think my favorite thing about it is that it makes sense to the story. Instead of it just being “I don’t wanna show disability in my show but I want people to watch it lololol” It shows that disabilities are awful and harmful, but that doesn’t make her a bad person. She’s caring and protective of of King and Luz. Just another reason why I love this show
I haven’t seen the owl house, but when you said that her curse’s beast form isn’t unreasonable and can be reached and reasoned with, my first thought was ‘oh it’s Naruto and the nine-tails’
I love the idea of Eda's owl beast curse as a metaphor for a disability or chronic illness. For me personally, I see it as a disability when Eda transform into Harpy Eda when she accepted the owl beast as a part of herself. I love the episode Keeping Up A-fear-ances especially when Eda’s mother Gwen Clawthorne was using bogus cures to get rid of the owl beast curse, it reminded of an article I read of some crazy person using bleach to get rid of autism.
I am so glad I watched this. I’m writing a story and am planning to give a character chronic pain caused by a spell they’re hit with during a battle. My original plan was for the wound to get healed but there’s still lingering magic that nobody realizes is slowly killing them (kind of like cancer I guess?) and eventually they figure it out and get rid of the rest of the magic, curing their pain. But now I realize that by the very nature of the way I’ve written the curse that can’t be where I leave it. The spell caused serious physical damage that nothing will make go away. So they’re experiencing two different kinds of pain - pain caused by internal scarring and pain caused by magic, only one of which can be cured. Knowing that I will write this so much better, thank you!
I absolutely love Edalyn!! She's what gives me more determination to keep going. I'm a chronically ill teen and this shit hits home. I've had people who think they're doing good by recommending certain medications to me and I have to explain "that's gonna trigger my symptoms" or "that has something that'll react with my current meds.". I even had a physical therapist who fucked up my arm. I have my Tylenol around my room in case I need it and I use a cane. if you think about it, edas lil owl man dude who gets objects for her is kinda like mobility support in a way. she flies on her lil uhhhh magic wooden owl thingy to get around and owley can go get things for her in her house.
For me it feels related to the monster but only in a case where I'm stressed out and no one in my family takes the time to listen so I think that's why Eda to me is relatable. And when I do get angry I have moments where I don't mean to come off rude but I get so tired of feeling like the burden so it's a bit relatable with the monster part but ik not all people with chronic illnesses have that.
i actually interpreted eda's curse as mental illness. especially the whole her being bedridden and/or exhausted when it gets out of control. and then how it gets more manageable when she started accepting it as a part of her and taking breaks and doing what she needed for herself. i never even though of it this way! thank you for such an interesting video!
As someone with chronic pain, and who grew up with a mom dealing with an untreated autoimmune disease, watching this episode when it first came out just made me so incredibly happy
As someone in a similar position as Lilith (albeit less intense) when it comes to disability/societal function in relation to my family, i think the writing was done very well as far as emotions and such go. There are defiantly clear connections made to how this episode contrasts real life
Dang, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities between Lupin and Eda. Also, I like to think of Mei and her friends from _Turning Red_ as a female version of the Marauders, where Mei is Remus (the academically gifted one who unwillingly turns into a beast), Miriam is James (the charismatic "cool" one), Priya is Sirius (the wavy-haired emo one who kinda looks like one of the Madrigals), and Abby is Peter (the obnoxious young-minded one). Let's just hope Abby doesn't betray her friends to Justin Trudeau.
The Owl House seems to have been made with great care and empathy towards its characters, whereas the Harry Potter series has a lot of window dressing.
Hardly anyone in youtube talks about disability. Even disabled you tubers shy away from discussing anything about it. I really love this video and I'm so happy there's actual disabled representation in children's media (disguised as a curse but hey that's a start)
There was one other good werewolf in the Harry Potter Universe. He wrote a book called Hairy Snout, Human Heart, a heartrending account of his struggle with lycanthropy. The author chose to remain anonymous. It might not be Lupin, as he was only 15 when it was first published. As for the majority of the other werewolves (Not Greyback, he's just a creep) it may be a case of "Then Let Me Be Evil". They've been treated like evil fiends for so long, they decided they may as well be that way.
Have you seen bluey? There is a dog in it that has ADHD and he forgets some things and moves alot. As a person with ADHD I was thrilled when I watched the episode with my nephew and I really wish I had cartoons with characters that had ADHD and disability and autism as a kid.
Tbh I was really turned off of Owl House when I watched the pilot episode, so I wrote it off. Definitely thinking about checking it out again thanks to this video. Curse as disability is definitely something I've seen in media and thought about but I've never seen anyone talk about it let alone put a label on it. As someone with a chronic pain illness that's punctuated with flares and "remissions" (in " " because I've never had real remission, just less severe symptoms) the episode you talk about really illustrates perfect comparisons to chronic illness life and the complexities of how environment and people treat/react to others with chronic illness. Great video!
I've never related so much with a character as much as I do with Eda, as someone who deals with multiple chronic illnesses, the main two being POTS and EDS, its amazing to see such great representation! I honestly might get a tattoo to represent it but it's amazing how accurate it is. I've also had issues with my mother regarding cures and other things, there's no cure for the issues I have just treatments, ones that I've found really help me. It can still get progressively worse over time but that's just how it is. Its hard to put into words literally HOW accurate the portrayal of Eds's curse being like a chronic illness is, its so beautifully done I love it so much. ♥
I’m writing a series that has the magic as a metaphor for disability metaphor. The Owl House is a good frame of reference for how I can implement it, while applying my own twist.
me just realizing as someone who really needs an asd diagnosis relates to Eda‘s struggle with her curse. autism isn’t a curse for me, but it felt like it for so long as a little kid, and with people shoving ‘cures‘ down my throat, or not taking it seriously, it really sucks. I‘m Eda, and many of the doctors and adults in my life are her mom, and realizing that i just needed a loving parent and not being screamed at daily made things a lot better
Sometimes I forget I’m mentally disabled until I read the comments and see someone who shares my pain and I just have the moment of “oh shit, yeah I have that” Don’t support Autism Speaks
I love Eda's naps. What do I need? A nap. Do you want to help me? Let me nap. So often being given the ability to just take periodic rests is day changing. Also how some days she's good. It's good. All good. And some days she will be in her nest. And that is also all good. (In theory, until plot strikes).
yay I'm so glad someone made a video about this! I've related so much to Eda and especially the episode with her mother that u talked about, it's such a well written fantasy chronic illness. I love the way they did the owl beast form for Eda too because it gets triggered the more stressed she is. it's similar to me, because the more stressed I am, the more likely I am to have a flare up and when I'm in that much pain I get super snappy with people and really angry and mean even if I try not to, just from how the pain affects me mentally. great video!!
As someone who’s been disabled their whole life but only accepted it and started talking about it and accommodating himself the past year and a half ish, Eda changed my life. Seeing Eda existing and even thriving as a disabled adult really helped me accept my own disabilities. Mental and physical. As well as process the trauma being disabled has given me. And when I saw the scene in s2 ep4 where she goes “o have a right to be upset” that was it. I cried. I didn’t grow up in a very accommodating area or home and I was never allowed to be upset over it. I just had to keep pushing, keep going until I could get out. There’s lots of reasons Eda is one of my all time favorite characters and owl house is my favorite show but that’s definitely a big one.
Thanks for this video and especially thank you for introducing me to this show because it just made my year that much better. I just watched season 3 with my sibling last Sunday and I absolutely adore it. Raine and Eda are my favourite characters.
I'm also grateful I don't need to stash spare insulin anywhere but the fridge as my pump is constantly attached to my body and it has enough insulin for a while on its own
I don't think I've ever related to a character like i have with Eda. I'm epileptic and Eda's experience with the owl curse really hit so close to home, especially with her mother. My parents are religious and for a long time, my mom would take me to a certain temple to make an offering to "cure" my epilepsy. It didn't help that this temple had loud drum beats and such, so what really happened was that it only further triggered my seizures. The way Eda's perspective when she turns into the owl beast is shown in Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door feels a lot like how I experience seizures, something that's both frustrating and somewhat scary. The whole temple thing was eventually abandoned and i don't get seizures as frequently anymore, but it really doesn't help that the neurologist treating me kept saying that my epilepsy will cure within a month, or within a year. And it hasn't. I got my first seizure when i was about 12 or 13, and I'm now 20 years old. The seizures only happen once a year or so, but it's still very much there. Eventually, i got around to getting used to it and for most part, it's just an inconvenience to me right now. But shows like this really put into perspective how wrong it is to insist that a disability or a chronic illness should be 'healed' if the person wants to live properly; that there's no other choice.
I hope you were given medicine(s) to suppress the attacks when you were a kid. Even "petite mal" attacks can be quite disruptive for one's life and even unsafe with some bad luck.
@@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023 luckily, i did get properly diagnosed and got the medicines not long after the first apparent seizure. The seizures were still not very safe and i ended up with a lot of scars, bumps and injured tongue afterwards, but fortunately didn't get into any serious accidents.
I actually went and watched The Owl House specifically because I saw you had made this video, and after having seen several other videos of yours, I wanted to give the series a try so I could come back and watch this. And boy. Was it absolutely amazing. I actually remember specifically seeing that episode with the mother and going, “Oh woah. This is exactly what Oakwyrm was talking about with trying to cure disabled characters. I completely understand now,” because I still struggle with ableism and fully understanding others’ experiences. The Owl House did such a great job with their characters that I felt I came away from my day-and-a-half bingeathon on Disney plus with a better understanding of the struggles disabled people and their families go through. Or, at least, a start was made.
I love your content so much! Its so refreshing to hear a disabled person speak on these topics! I find things like Lycanthropy so difficult to write sometimes! Vampirism was also one I have issue writing! It’s insane how much ableism I have to throw out myself as someone with chronic physical and mental health issues. Your videos serve as such an appreciated wake up call to some of the internalized ableism I’ve been holding onto! Looking forward to more videos!! 💖💖💖
I hadn't thought about this aspect of writing about supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves. I have a story that focuses on one of each. It's a slice of life but also a love story. I did not originally intend for the werewolf side to resemble chronic illness much since I was going more for wolf behavior but how this intersects with society a bit to make werewolves stick out even as humans, women especially because I figure a werewolf is probably going to be more hairy than average, more muscular and bulky. My main werewolf character is very feminine and into makeup and florals and sundresses, but also lets her leg and lower back hair grow out and she is prone to somewhat more pronounced mood swings. In wolf form she is a large wolf with wolf behavior, aware of her surroundings and people and aware of how she feels toward these things. Wolf is the unfiltered version of herself, and most werewolves try to filter themselves as little as possible for their well-being. Vampires are a bit harder. It's set in the modern era so ethical human blood acquisition is easier, so the main issues my vampire character deals with is the costs and benefits of not aging, limited food intake, mostly drinks, needing special mirrors, and being restricted to night forever or risk extreme injury. All that in mind, I will pursue other ways to find this out as well, but if you wouldn't mind, are there aspects of this that could be bad disability representation? I intend for this to be a story with reflection on the issues at hand, and the loneliness of being newly marginalized, but not the whole "I'm such a monster" trope. It's a tired trope in general, but the implications around it being how disability is portrayed makes that an even worse trope.
As a writer and editor myself, the best advice I can give is, make them people first. Any special abilities, gimmicks, or supernatural aspects come after that. There's no rule saying you have to treat it as a disease or condition either. What if vampire or werewolf is just who they are, and everything society believes about them are negative stereotypes? Maybe vampires are ageless and immune to disease by nature, but because they manage to survive events that others do not, this has led people to accuse them of blood sacrifices. Maybe werewolves are shapeshifters who commune with nature, but because people think you can't trust someone who can change their face, this leads to the false belief that werewolves take on a monstrous form to get away with violent crimes. You can probably see the real world precedent for both those concepts.
Lycanthropy as HIV is quite a fantastic idea. But I never actually asked myself if it was done well in Harry Potter. Mostly because I heard about this years after I last watched those films but, wow damn, christ, it's worse than I could have imagined. And it would've been so damn easy to do it correctly too. A blood transferred curse, the fearmongering and misinformation, hatred and rumors spread, the comparisons write themselves... So to fuck that up whilst being mentally aware of it, just seems intentionally malicious. That or amazingly bad writing. What irks me is if anyone takes this idea and does it right, to talk about HIV in children's media, then JK is gonna try and take credit.
I mean it’s almost there, in that people with lycanthropy are basically shunned from everything, they have to take expensive ‘medications’, they’re always having to be super careful and people treat them differently suddenly when they learn that someone has it, as though they think they could just catch it from the lycanthrope sneezing, and this discriminatory behavior even extends to kids (Lupin caught it as a kid). It even shows (though it seemingly glosses over a bit) how the condition hurts Lupin himself. I mean the ‘haunted Shrieking Shack’ was so named because he would go in there, wolf out and then basically shriek, claw and mutilate himself until the sun rose. You can get medicine in the form of potions but since you’re treated like garbage and barred from most jobs you won’t make enough money to get it. THEN…she has almost all lycanthropes be evil and work with wizard Hitler, with one specifically known to target kids for the infection, and has their condition be legitimately dangerous which almost seems like she’s justifying the treatment that the people receive. Like, what if the dangers of lycanthropes THEMSELVES are overblown? Like it’s actually relatively hard to catch the condition and those who have it are just like anyone else. Some don’t even know they have it because they won’t know until they get it tested or they find out years later when the repeated ‘transformations’ have taken a toll.
And the potions that manage it. Lupin has potions that manage his condition and slow if not stop his symptoms. These potions are apparently super expensive and must be taken at a very rigid timeframe under very specific conditions or everything falls apart. (I think he's said you can't even add any flavoring to it or it won't work-). Antiretroviral therapy cost can vary extremely widely, and patient barriers can make them extremely difficult to afford. (It's complicated but I think it boils down to 'patents mean you can't make generics' and like 'trying to extend patents'-).
This was a welcome opportunity for me to calm down. Got another disability lined up for diagnosis, EDS, hoping for a non vascular variation. The thought of dying from a ruptured organ or artery is really distressing and this calmed me down enough to sleep.
3:25 And the one who tells children that you can escape an abusive household by just sitting it out and waiting for a magical letter to appear, and after that you will be fine without any reprocusions or trauma whatsoever. Excuse my soapbox moment, I am really salty about that one.
Ok first off I seriously need to check out Owl house WOW!! Secondly, I knew JK was trash, but I never knew the werewolves were actually *meant* as an allegory for HIV!?! Fuccckking OOFFFF!!! That’s just…. O O F!!!
Another thing I really like is no one treats Eda like she's useless. As someone with chronic illness I struggle with my own self worth and because of how I was raised I unfortunately view myself as worthless unless I'm doing something productive.
Another thing to add I love how caring everyone is towards Eda, especially Luz. I never really had someone who cares about my chronic illness so deeply so it's very sweet to see that they care.
Wow, I have never hated a fictional character as much as Gwendolyn. She's so on the spot. It also made me love Eda even more, I'm so sorry she had to deal with her mum all that time
Having your disability function as a curse, is a pretty good tool for dealing with the problem's you identified in your dnd video. As if you decide your character's disability is equivalent of very powerful curse, you can then in-game mechanic justify to other players who want to "fix" you that, they infact cannot fix you as the "curse: can only be lifted by wish. Also you don't need fixing in your oppinion as if you wanted the play an able bodied character you would have made one that way. One note is that i think it's transformative curse's thet could wrongly imply that mental disabilites could make someone dangerous to others. As there is no rational reason to think a physically disabled person could suddenly be forced to hurt people unwilling due to their condition as is cause by a transformative curse. Obviously transformative curse's are a hybrid or a mental and physical disability, although it's somewhat iffy if the generally strong physical atributes are really a disability, it's more heavily tied to partial or full loss of control over one's actions.
last year i lost the abillity to walk. it wasn't permenant but i couldn't step on my feet without acing. i wanted to go out and meet with friends, but i couldn't. my mom refused to take a wheal chair, so i set in my room for 6 months, waited for the situation to get better.
I am so sorry that your mom refused to get you the mobility aid that you needed. That is just wrong, especially from a parent. How are you doing now? And if I may ask: was it plantar fascitis? That is what I have since 2006. I got crutches, physical therapy, new shoes, compression socks and effective painkillers and am doing a lot better now. Mine is chronic, though, because the first doctor didn't know anything about the correct stretching exercises, warm-cold treatments, etc. and only prescribed painkillers and rest.
@Ronja J. Addams-Ramstedt first of all, thank you for your concern💜 It has been more than a year, and while I still have trouble with walking for a long amount of time without hiking shoes/ standing on my toes, I feel way better now. People don't even know I have this problem anymore. About the condition, I don't really know... some doctors said that it's from the cold (my BMI is low and I'm the kind of person that jumps into lakes, wears t-shirts in winter, and walks barefoot so it makes sense) while other say it's from anxiety (which also makes sense)
I love how the clawthornes as a whole show that the toxic elements of a family, especially the ones we don't see ourselves but our families try to tell us about, have such long lasting physical, emotional and mental effects. Also that in illnesses all tie into each other. Its fantastic that kids are getting introduced to that since it's hard even for quality physicians to wrap their heads around it 🙄
This has just reminded me an a webtoon I read a while ago called the cursed princess club. A group of princesses(and a couple of princes) with curses meet up to support eachother with their curses and how people treat then because of it.
! i’ve recently been trying to find where to start in researching this topic since i have a character whose curse is an allegory for disability (which was totally on accident on my part but i wanna utilize it properly now that i recognize) so this was a great start hearing you explain how to do it well and how not to. i absolutely looove the owl house and how they handle eda’s curse, which is actually what inspired my character so. should have connected the dots sooner that i did that trope as well since i recognized it when watching this episode 😅. but yeah, fantastic video! i’m gonna get back to researching :)
Have you gone down the rabbit hole yet that is TV Tropes' listing of Disability Tropes? Warning: that listing alone can eat up a few months of your life, because there is always "just one more" irresistible link to follow...
@@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023 oh my god, i only saw this comment now! that’s a great place to look, thanks for the suggestion (and i’m out of school now so i can actually afford to go down a few rabbit holes…adhd sure makes those hard to get out of)
Before I watched this video I hated it when people tried to compare disability to curses because as someone who is both neurodivergent and a writer, I felt like it restricted writers too much/put too much pressure on them. I thought that the parallels between the two were just unavoidable and that it couldn’t be helped, but you completely changed my mind by describing it the way you did-by pointing out how important it is to show the affect it has on the cursed person. To me that’s always been a given-of course you need to acknowledge how the curse affects the cursed character. It just seems incomplete not to. And so when people complained about curses being comparable to disability in most fiction I thought they were being unreasonable. But now that you have pointed out an example, I’m realizing that that’s actually a super common problem in fiction. And like… I don’t understand why??? It doesn’t make any sense to put a curse on a character and then not put emphasis of how it affects them. Like that’s not interesting, there’s no depth to that. It’s straight up not good writing even without looking at how harmful it is! Anyways uh thank you for this video it’s really opened my mind!! I’ll be sure that if I ever get around to writing one of my vampires or werewolves that I keep this video in mind
Personally, I think the "disability as a curse" trope is pretty disgusting in general, *especially* the way _The Owl House_ did it. It's basically saying that if you have autism, then you're cursed for life, and you will be treated as inferior because of it. Whatever happened to autism being a *good* thing? Whatever happened to "us weirdos should stick together"?
They don't treat eda as inferior tho, if anything they always look to her for advice/help, they're just looking out for their friend when their illness acts up - which I don't understand how's that a negative thing? And also eda is never permanently cured? She still has the curse she just learns to deal with it in a more healthy way
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster I hear you on the first part, but the let abt Eda’s curse being handled poorly… are we watching the same show? Eda’s curse plot so far has literally been about her and the people around her learning to treat the Owl Beast as a part of her rather than a curse. Her Harpy form is especially good because it shows that her “curse” can be an asset. Pretending like disabilities don’t include sometimes devastating drawbacks is just as harmful as ONLY showing those. TOH shows both the good and the bad of Eda’s Owl Beast, which is why if u wanna look at it as an allegory for disability it’s actually really good. That being said, you don’t have to view it as an allegory to disability if you don’t want to. There’s room for interpretation
@@jittercritter Except… it literally showed how it makes Eda into a freaking monster when she doesn’t take her apple blood. That is something that, by all accounts, *should* be cured, unlike being autistic.
@@YB-sm4we Yes, and that’s the problem - it’s basically saying that even when autistics treat autism as a GOOD thing, it’s still inherently bad and they should feel bad for it. Is this really the message we want to send to autistic kids, that they are inherently inferior?
Ok but like, did anyone else cry in s2 e4 because of how seen they felt? Like I was crying and I re watched it multiple times because I fells a connection to a character in a way I never really had (I have autism/adhd/and I’m part of an osdd system, not a chronic illness. But that feeling of something trying to fix what isn’t broken really hit hard)
this reminds me of those overly religious parents that try to pray away disability and think that the disability is a punishment from hell that is what this episode reminds me of
Something I've noticed a lot is disability as superpower. Like romanticizing it as "my mental illness makes me a genius." Or not really having a disability, like amputees getting a prosthetic that's better than their regular limb, or blind people having actually better senses due to being blind. Edit: I later saw that you have a similar video, and while you covered a lot of the things I was thinking of, I'm still intrigued on what you think of the version of the trope where they are superior to everyone else because of their "disability". I feel like this makes those characters not good representation since they don't have the real struggles disabled people have, as well as dehumanizing since they are like gods.
I'd say it's at least justified with autism, since we tend to have special interests and develop a lot of knowledge in those fields as a result. And hence, everyone else seems like an idiot by comparison.
@@laysthechip3356 I think Toph is a good example of doing it well. The superpower allows her to do a lot of things seeing people can, and even more that they can't. However, her blindness still impacts her in a lot of ways, like how she can't read and is completely blind when they are flying on appa. There is a fun youtube compilation video of all of these moments called "Toph is blind." But, that's my view as a able-bodied person. In regards to metal illnesses, I think its easier to mess up. Some people are reluctant to find treatment, and I think stories where people embracing their mental illnesses as something magical or heightening only makes this worse. Essentially, don't make them inhuman, even if its super human. That distances them from actual disabled experiences.
I sometimes walk with a cane. My mom doesn't like my cane, I can't even use it in the house when my dad is around. Mom's always trying to find various cures for me (we're looking at a diagnosis for EDS since I'm a textbook case, but diagnoses take years for that one), and I'm sick of being dragged into the next quack cure mom's found. Drinking/soaking my feet in hydrogen peroxide, pyramid scheme medications, etc. Just let me use my cane and finger splints and be done with it.
Hi I have eds to
The hypermobile kind
I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
There's nothing wrong with using mobility aids! Mobility aids are a good thing, dang it!
Dude, speaking as someone who works with hydrogen peroxide a lot, no one should EVER drink that shit. It makes blood turn white and foamy, it can burn the inside of your throat, and there's the potential to cause an embolism from air entering your bloodstream. If your mom is making you drink that, she is putting you in danger of severe bodily harm.
@@dontdrinkacetone6058 I came here to say something like this. Thank you for putting it so well and giving details I had no idea about.
Y'all, this retiring nurse says: regardless of how much diluted it is, DO NOT drink hydrogen peroxide (or bleach, for that matter) ever, at all, for ANY reason!
The take away from this: when writing a character that has a disability or hindrance that parallels a disability, make sure to focus on how that hinderance/ disability affects the person themself, not the people around them.
As someone with a chronic illness, that moment where Eda was rushing to restock on her potions hit me home because I've had a medication emergency where I thought I had more time to refill my prescription but misread the refill expiration date. So I had to call my rheumatologist and explain what happened and hope what I have left holds out for the rest of the week while this gets sorted out. And the episode with Eda's mom hit me home because I've had relatives that mean well, but I have to explain to them things like "no, I can’t do this kind of therapy, it triggers my symptoms" or "no I can't take that, it has an ingredient that messes with my medication." And most of the time it's just quack medicine or pseudo science. They're starting to listen, I just wish they listened the first time I said something.
As someone with high functioning Autism, I really appreciate how the idea behind Eda’s curse is that she wants acceptance and not a ‘cure’. She chooses to just accept herself, and even incorporates the owl as her motif to show the universe she can roll with the punches.
Agreed.
not even high support, people with Autism want a cure.(i think) like the kind "warrior mamas" share videos of. I am sure with the right education and help, those people can live independent lives
Did you ever think the label high functioning is misleading? I would fall in that category too but I really don't like that label and it's not really used here.
Just because I'm smart and can communicate (a learned skill and it didn't all come at once of course) doesn't mean I don't struggle with communicating, studying, keeping up a household or other regular things. Even things I didn't notice as a kid because I was a kid and other people did it for me without me even noticing it or knowing it exists. And I'm slowly realizing I'm struggling more than I thought I did. Oh the effect one other person can have on your life by them just doing their own thing.
Sidenote: apparently ASD can get better or worse during puberty (which makes sense since the brain is rapidly developing around those ages) and mine seems to have gotten noticeably worse.
@@ammalyrical5646 I think it depends on what each person if comfortable with. I wouldn’t call someone high functioning if they didn’t want me to, but I have no problem being referred to as such.
@@ammalyrical5646 that is why use low support and high support? or no. if could be someone who cannot adult for the life of me but be genious functional in other areas. and it's all good. nothing to cure or fix or train me out of
As someone with autism, it's ironic how the people who intend to cure disabilities can end up harming disabled people more than the disability itself. They tend to treat us like there's nothing to us beyond having a disability, and ignore our input because apparently we don't know how we feel. Logically speaking, I think searching for "cures" is fruitless and it would be more productive and useful to listen to the voices of disabled people and ask how we can make society more welcoming and inclusive.
Mmm yeah
I've long suspected I'm on the autism spectrum, but I was never formally diagnosed, despite having been in therapy for depression most of my life. I'm reminded of what actually defines a "disability" which is principally society's failure to accommodate people who are different in some way. If society places unreasonable demands on people, saying that you must be able to perform certain tasks at a certain level in order to qualify as "functioning" and makes it where those are the only jobs available, then some people will end up in the "disabled" category through no fault of their own. Never mind that there are plenty of other things a person can do to find fulfillment; however, capitalism demands people work their lives away to avoid starving to death.
Exactly, the only type of disability that needs to be cured is one that causes pain, for the others a cure might be good, but in the end, cure or not, people can learn to live with them
Yes! exactly! Gwendolyn was treating Edalyn like she was just a "cursed child", and she wasn't. She was so much more than that.
@@spanish-inquisition2024 Except... that's literally what it was. A curse. And it's pretty disgusting that this show equates being autistic to having a *literal curse.* Remind me how that's different from Lupin, aside from just "how it affects her"?
There's a really good webtoon I've read called Cursed Princess Club.
The premise is that this princess named Gwen has a family who're all really pretty and take after their father, while she takes after her mother and isn't up to the standard of beautiful. But bc their dad kinda hod them away from society for most of their lives, Gwen didn't really experience society or their views of who she is (and she's actually a very sweet girl) and her siblings see her as just as beautiful and amazing as they are
But then one day, a prince she was excitedly engaged to told his brother that he didn't want to marry Gwen because she was ugly, and she overheard this and was kinda shocked. But she was super hurt and ended up running away, and tripped and got knocked out in a forest
In that forest is a cozy little vacation home where a bunch of cursed princesses (and one prince and butler) live and/or hang out. They've all got curses of their own but there was never any cures for any of them. Some of them were thrown out from their kingdoms or were miserable in their homes or just wanted people to relate to. One girl's missing her eyes and another can't open her mouth without frogs falling out and another's mouth is full of acid and another is aged way faster than she was actually and- you kinda get it. They've all got curses.
They also helped Gwen after she passed out, and all assumed she was cursed in some way, but she wasn't, but they let her stay bc her self-esteem was starting to kinda go bleh and the Prez, Capernia, wanted to help her love herself.
But the way the curses are handled are rlly nice, I think, and the character arcs and story writing is rlly good as it goes on. If I talk more and more about it, this'll just be WAYYY too long. My paraphrased version isn't as good as actually reading it.
It's really cute and refreshing too! Also funny
Yeah I think it's good too
I was just thinking about this too XD
It´s amazing the way The Owl House tends to representated disability and diversity. They always put the focus in how something affect the person who is living it, not in the people around them.
In my personal case as someone with ADHD, I see a lot of paralelism in Luz Noceda (I dont know if its oficial but it seems to me she is highly neurodivergent coded) and my own experience in a empatethic way. Great video!
She has been confirmed to officially have adhd! I love this show very much
@@pixxyofice Wait really? When I first got into the show, (before I suspected I had ADHD) I was so shocked at how heavily I could relate to Luz as a protag. Now I realize that like 60% of what I could relate to about her were also symptoms of ADHD lol
@@pixxyofice hell yeah, accurate (to me) representation!
So, like... are there a lot of similarities between ADHD and autism? Because, for the longest time, I thought Luz was autistic, and I often hear autism and ADHD being brought up as a collective.
Yes, ADHS and Autism are related to each other and people with ADHS are more likely to be diagnosed with Autism and the other way around.
As someone whose neurodivergence can manifest as severely decreased ability to self regulate my anger ir frustration while off my meds, its REALLY great seeing TOH do this trope so well. Because it hits home SO hard, with the whole "my issue can cause me to hurt the people i love." And with how sympathetically its written in regards to Eda, it gives me legitimate hope for myself, even with it just being a matter of representation.
That's great to hear! My sibling struggles with the same stuff, but they're really afraid to go on meds. I'd love to show her Eda but my mom won't let my younger siblings watch the owl house because of Lumity and the mild body horror :(
Omfg @ultimateninjaboi I just ran into this video and was looking through the comments and that describes exactly how I feel thx for commenting : )
I'm sorry, what is neurodivergence?
is it or is it society having a problem with your anger?
@@deadinside8781 neurodivergence "refers to variation in the human brain regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions in a non-pathological sense". Examples of neurodivergent people are those with autism, adhd/add, dyslexia, and many other mental "disorders".
Though the metaphor stops being a 1-1 to chronic illness later on, can I just say that I love how they address Eda's internalized ableism by having her character make peace with the owl beast and learn to love her curse-body? Such a great show!!
Eda’s curse as a metaphor for chronic illness occurred to me too, since it comes and goes, can be spread, and is manageable with medication.
The emperor’s coven/distributors taking *advantage* of Eda’s dependence on potions could be read as a commentary on the pharmaceutical industry/insurance companies making drugs less accessible.
Fascinating video!
Also, adding in the fact that (from what I recall) Eda's potions were EXPENSIVE and likely were partially why the Owl House fam were typically strapped for cash. Coming from a US perspective where whether or not health insurance covers meds, it can still be a significant chunk of weekly funds put into it. I like this realistic touch.
I'm not disabled but I do have chronic pain so this really meant a lot to me. This s video perfectly outlined my feelings about owl house,'s curse parallels to my own experience : )
At first I was a bit confused about how Lupin is bad representation of disability, as I always kind of thought of him as disabled growing up (only learned about JK and the HIV thing later in life). But then I realised that most of my image of Remus came from casting moon shadows, the fanfic, which is a hecking lot more better at representing his condition as a disability. It's always (or almost always) about him and Sirius and how Remus deals with his lycanthropy. How he likes chocolate, and how his friends help him during his transformation, how isolated he felt during first year because he had to hide his condition from others, how he used to, and how he now does, deal with his condition. I think that fanfic (although I haven't read it in a good time, so who knows if it's still the case if I'd re-read it now) shows lupin a lot better, in a better light, and does a lot of what you're saying the owl house does well and what harry potter lacks.
Having mental illness and being neurodivergent, when I was growing up and unmedicated and suffering a lot, I'd hurt a lot of my friends. As weird as it may sound, I kind og liked that it was represented that Lupin could potentially hurt someone? Obviously, now I do a lot better and don't hurt my friends because of all the hard work and practice I put into getting better. Having Lupin being this smart kid with lycanthropy but still being good at school and having friends who loved him was just nice to see, made me feel like I deserve love too, and that I can be good at anything I want to be good at, just like everyone else.
Same, I read so much Marauders fanfiction (especially Remus-centric ones) that when the video said Remus’ struggles weren’t explored, I kind of went « huh? Whaddyamean? » before remembering « Oh, right, all of that was from fanfic… » ^^’
Okay is it just me or with Harry Potter, most of the best stuff about it seems to come from other peoples interpretations of the books, even the bloody movies in some area's I feel beat the books. Yes there's far less content and world building, not to mention they fuck up even things as major as Ron's entire character, but stuff like the characterization of people like Slughorn, Malfoy, Snape especially (book Snape is a child abusing bully who never got over a childhood crush, movie Snape is a somewhat overly strict and biased teacher with a troubled past he clearly regrets but can't really separate himself from, who tries to do the right thing by his students in the end). The way the wizarding world is explored, the Marauders, the wars, the politics, other magical cultures like Goblins or Centaurs, Slytherine in its entirety, it's all from fan works.
@@jamievasilias3606 Casting Moonshadows is one of my favorites! I myself cannot judge the representation because I don't nave any illnesses or neurodivergencies, but I appreciated how in-depth it was in how being a werewolf affected his daily life; things like "post-moon moony," his bones aching and heightened senses around the time of transformation, and how it formed his self-esteem and interactions with people made it seem like it was a part of him and not just a plot device.
@@jamievasilias3606 but that was not your fault or problem. it's all on them.
as someone with bpd, turning into a giant monster that is difficult to reason with and could hurt yourself or others is very relatable. I know bpd is a mental illness and not a physical one, but Owl house really nails that feeling of trying to control a monster inside of you and surrounding yourself with coping mechanisms.
FINALLY someone put into words how i feel abt lupin. prisoner of azkaban was my favorite book and movie, but after developing chronic illness how i related to lupin changed so much. everyone talks about how rowling fucks up lgbt representation with lupin and werewolves specifically, but nobody mentions how his illness is never treated like an illness. even fan works that try to correct rowling's werewolves into 'good queer rep' end up losing everything that makes lycanthropy an illness.
it gets worse in the books where the discrimination Lupin faces is vague. There's a mention of 'anti-werewolf laws' but we never see how this impacts lupin except for a single scene where he looks 'worse for wear'. its all just a reference to his struggle put into the narrative to make you hate the villain when it should have been a moment of empathy for the affected group. rowling has also said that disabled people don't exist in harry potter because magic can cure everything and regrow limbs or whatever (guess we'll ignore the ex-cop with one eye and a peg . . .) and its pretty clear that she never had the interest of any minority in mind while making her series.
ive never seen the owl house but the clips you showed genuinely made me cry. i cant remember the last time ive seen a 'curse as disability' character actually receive empathy. sure, you have the stock 'wah feel bad for me im a monster' but that's not empathy, that's pity. god im gonna have to go watch the show now because anything that can successfully tackle a disability narrative about how cure mentality harms disabled people is a must-see. tysm for this video!!
Honestly dear ol' Joanne just loves to prove over and over that she doesn't actually care about representation in her works at all.
That said I'm really glad you liked the video and hope you enjoy the Owl House as much as I do ^^
Wait? She… she actually said that they use magic to cure all disabilities?!
I mean she’s wrong, between Alestor and Harry still needing glasses, but she really knows how to retroactively shank what little there was to like about her series, doesn’t she.
@@MidoriyamaRArekusu She sure does.
Wait WTF?!
@@MidoriyamaRArekusu her direct quote is “I decided that, broadly speaking, wizards would have the power to correct or override ‘mundane’ nature, but not ‘magical’ nature. . . bones broken in non-magical accidents such as falls or fist fights can be mended by magic, but the consequences of curses or backfiring magic could be serious, permanent or life-threatening.”
basically, any 'muggle' disabilities are curable. which has so many fucking problems. i could write a whole essay on it tbh.
but also there was a videogame called Hogwarts Mystery that featured a young wizard in a wheelchair, McNully. the game doesnt go into detail abt his disability or how hogwarts, a school known for its stairs, accommodates disabilities, but jkr was not a part of the creation or direction of the project so its possible that they just completely ignored her and said 'ykw lets make a disabled wizard'.
so idk what the fuck jkr was talking about but ig she just. loves being inconsistent.
I know this is random, but can we talk about how she has a non binary love interest? AHH I'm so excited as a non binary person
hell yeah raine supremacy
@@yourlocaltherapistfriend5091 hehe, tbf, I am mostly exited that I fall into her pool of interestt
@@eleniaristeidou502 lmao kinda same but I also just love raine
Oh yeah they’re my favorite character
Binary people aren’t real they’re just two cis people in a trenchcoat, you silly Billy
It should be clarified that I myself non-binary
Man, the moment of panic I felt at the words "stealing all the potions" was VISCERAL. You're right - that is deeply abusive and horrifying! And the fact that you still find her forgivable makes me really wanna check this show out. :D
It's similar to the way my mother used to treat my adhd. I found a way to deal with the symptoms that worked, and she just took it away telling me to stop playing dumb. To earn back my tools, I needed to do my work properly.
Also, I didn't know about my diagnosis, as my parents wanted to avoid me using it as an excuse. So I was standing there, watching classmates and siblings doing what I failed at, wondering why I'm such a failure. Only because some idiot with a diploma told my mother how to properly deal with the adhd - gifted - combo that I ended up with.
I started taking medication for my adhd, I felt like I had to hide it when she came to visit. I couldn't explain why, but I think my subconscious knew something.
@@v3ru586 In instinctive defense mechanism, probably. I wouldn't trust her around my meds, either, if I were in your place - I'm sorry you had to put up with that. No one screwed with my bipolar meds, but my dad would yell at me for staying up too late (as we adhd'ers tend to do, like scientifically that's A Thing) and falling asleep on the couch after classes that went til like 10:30. I'm in a better place now, and I hope you are, too.
I'm not gonna lie, when I first got diagnosed with my chronic illness at the beginning of my senior year of high school, my best friends referred to it as my "furry little problem" because they knew I loved Harry Potter and that would draw me out of the shell I had built around myself. After that, I found a lot of solace in Lupin's character because I saw what he went through as a disability and now I had a disability. Cut to a few weeks ago and someone recommending me The Owl House saying, this is much better representation of the curse as disability trope (not their exact words) then Lupin. So I've been checking it out and have been delighted with Eda and the sensitivity of her portrayal. So when I found your video talking about the trope, I knew I needed to watch it.
As the younger of two chronically ill siblings, while my own situation isn't at all like Eda's (mostly because my sister is much older than I am and by the time I was 8 she was old enough to be living on her own), I really did identify with her in this episode. Eda is weird, and strange, and a bit rough around the edges, but she's trying her best, and sometimes her "curse" - and sometimes it really does feel like a curse, especially on the days I'm so tired I can't bring myself to do anything but lay on the couch, including doing my treatments or taking my meds - gets to be too much, and she has really, really bad days.
But also, in my teen years my mother went down a similar path to Gwendolyn. I'd been recently diagnosed with another, co-morbid chronic illness, and I was showing the early signs of depression, both of which freaked her out and concerned her. Which I understand, on some level. Having two kids with recurring health issues is really hard. But, at the same time, her behavior made it really hard for me as a teenager, because I was constantly being treated as if I were broken; something to be fixed, with the right amount of leafy green veggies and herbal supplements. I've never talked with her about it, but I've been trying to slowly introduce her to shows like The Owl House, because we recently finished ATLA as a family, and she really seemed to enjoy that one.
TL;DR I'm the trans guy Eda Clawthorne existing in this world, and I finally have the perfect way to broach the subject of my mother's past behavior with her.
I don't know if you've watched it, but The Legend of Korra season 4 was an amazing representation of how it feels to contract a chronic illness and how it can feel to struggle with trying to get back to where you once were.
When I contracted Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a young adult, it hit especially hard since I was once incredibly physically active. Like, run 10 miles a day and then run at 6 minutes per mile speed on the weekend active. Now any time I do anything at all, my breathing gets heavy and I get Post-Exertional Malsise.
Watching Korra have to fight through her poisoning, getting out of her wheelchair and regaining her strength really made me feel better. I know it's just a show, and a full recovery to pre-illness condition is basically not possible for me given current medical knowledge, but hope is better than nothing. Even being able to see someone else go through the same experiences and inner turmoil as I did improved my mental wellbeing, even if it's fiction.
@@masterofthecontinuum we just started Korra, actually. It's going well so far, and I'm looking forward to season 4. My friend keeps telling me I'll enjoy season 3 and 4, and I'm sure they're right.
Personally, I think the way _The Owl House_ portrayed it was pretty disgusting. Like, it's literally saying that if you have autism, then you're basically cursed for life. So much for that whole "be yourself" message that the show was trying to push, and now it's saying that if you're different then you're inherently a bad person. WTF, Dana? It really deeply offended me, as someone on the autism spectrum, who just wants to be seen as *normal* in society, and not be seen as inferior to everyone else.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster Can I ask for clarification on your points? I didn't get that from the show at all, and if you did I'd love to know what parts stood out to you. I ask because, as an Autistic *and* chronically ill person, I related more with Luz on the Neurodivergent struggles, especially the way she was treated by her peers. /genuine
I felt Eda was a really good analogy of the toll being chronically ill takes on a person, and a good representation of how chronically I'll people generally live their lives, especially if their quality of life is dependent on certain, oftentimes expensive, medications. (Non-confrontational)
@@roari-clydea.soule-fahey1756 The world needs more people like you, instead of the other people equating Eda’s curse to autism like it’s a good thing. Thank you, kind soul. :)
On the weird flip side, having a generally overprotective mother that also works in the med field is also pretty stressful. I was born with a chronic pain syndrome that can have ANY symptom and has no known cause or cure. My “diagnosis” can mask nearly any dangerous health condition and because my mom cant deal with the stress of knowing how bad things can go, so instead sticks her head in the sand and blames my condition for any new problem i have. Dr.s to the same thing. They see my diagnosis in my chart and find a way to blame the original diagnosis instead of taking me seriously… its very frustrating.
i know obviously that her curse is meant to be like a chronic illness like you said, but i also like how it can be a metaphor for mental illness too. to me the owl beast feels like trauma, especially the fact that stress only makes things even worse. i hope that interpretation doesnt take away from it all to other people, it just personally connected to me in that way since ive got trauma and mental illness, but not physical illness
That's the beauty of allegory. It can mean something different for everyone.
you really hit the mark in what I felt was wrong with "curse as disability" its so often treated as a bad thing to be shunned, but I never realised why I related to the cursed characters so much. I really should watch Owl House now...
Just don't watch the episodes this person was talking about - it's *pretty fucking disgusting* that they would equate autism to being *literally cursed.* Whatever happened to the *positive* autistic traits, like being oneself, and being smart in a lot of areas? If anything, I'd say Hermione is a better representation thereof.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster I would rather have the curse over the horrendous depiction that Big Bang's Sheldon was for autism. I would rather have autism be represented in *any way* slightly positive over it being only showed to get laughed at.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster
Eda's curse is a chronic illness, not autism, I'm pretty sure those are different
@@graftednormalcy1376 Well, if it helps, I’m
currently writing a comic about a young girl with autism, and her being autistic is presented as a *blessing,* as she’s actually capable of forming her own interests instead of just playing _Fortnite_ because all the other kids at school play it. She actually thinks for herself and doesn’t cave in to society’s expectations of how a kid her age should act, that sort of thing.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster Gag me. I'm autistic and chronically ill and Autism is not a blessing. It's not a curse either. I call it an inconvenience. Yes it has its perks but there's nothing special about me crying over homework because the tone is off and I can't understand it. There's nothing special about me being able to sit for hours at a time and forgetting to eat, drink, or use the restroom. There's nothing special about being yelled at because my tone was slightly off. There's nothing special about the fact I can't form a proper social life outside of the internet because I don't fit in. Sure there is something kinda special about how I take in information about media I become hyperfixated in, but the specialness quickly wears off (wore off for me when the second hyperfixation post diagnosis hit). Because that's just there.
As someone with a disability that affects my energy levels, seeing the potions scattered in spots all over the house really hit home. It's really relatable. I have to take SSRIs once a day or else my energy level can get even worse as well as my depression. Problem is, I will often fall asleep on all my furniture around the house. So I have med bottles stored by my computer, by my bed, on the coffee table by the couch, etc. so that if I'm feeling too tired to get up, I always can take my meds. Can't say that I've ever stored them under the couch or on the ceiling though.
To be fair the location that Eda hides her potions probably correlates to the specific effects of her curse. Like, for example, We've seen that the curse doesn't immediately transform her, there's a full period of shifting before hand. This is seen in both keeping up afearances and young blood old souls (with Lilith this time). However, one of the initial changes of a full transformation (aside from feathers) seems to be an increase in size meaning the ceiling is actually a fantastic spot since she can just grab them there. I'm not sure what they're during in the couch though.
I have autism and I love the owl house. My favorite characters in the show are Luz and Eda
ah so are Austistic too
Not to mention Luz being a bisexual latina girl with adhd is an amazing moment for complex representation
I feel like the Owl House also nailed the curse pretty well because it didn't portray the owl beast as a threat, but another living being that's stuck in the same body as Eda's. It only takes over when its needs (i.e., eating rodents) aren't met and it has the ability to do so. In fact, Eda reasons with it and after literally coming to terms with her curse, they're able to work together to become stronger
I cannot believe there's a character from "The Owl House" with my name and she subscribes to casual ableism. I've become the very thing I swore to destroy...
Thanks for this! I have a cursed character and I don't really want it to be an allegory for anything (not even mental illness, which is what I experience). So this is very helpful!!!
What do you want to do with this cursed character that you don't want it to be an allegory for anything? I'm curious now.
@@CrowTR0bot Potentially the curse serving a purely plot/thematic purpose without unfortunate or downright harmful implications?
Like how a decent number of the examples dissected on this channel will feel more like the author either didn't think through the implications of their work, or were unable to see past ableism when making their decisions than someone rolling out of bed one morning and going "I'm going to consciously discriminate against/talk down to/whatever else at this specific group."
I know that part of my _own_ reasons for watching this channel is the hope of having at least some background preventing me from doing something horribly stupid by mistake whenever this topic comes up in my own writing!
@@CrowTR0bot It's meant to make a certain character archetype less triggering for me to write. The reason the curse isn't an allegory is because he has mental illness seperate from it. I can't explain much more without giving away plot details about my book and I do not want to do that on the Internet to a stranger. But basically, the curse developed as a way to make a certain character's actions less terrifying for me personally because I'm trying to parody and analyze part of a particular genre. If anything, the character's "allegory" isn't really an allegory because he's just flat out mentally ill AS WELL as cursed.
In other words, LOVE the username. MST3K is one of my comfort shows.
@@elenafriese891 Yup! That's pretty close! I wrote in a different comment that he's basically cursed as both a twist on a certain genre and to make him easier and less triggering to write for me.
@@theflickchick9850 That explanation is understandable. No sense writing a subject that distresses you or carries unfortunate implications. I'm glad you seemed to have thought it through.
Also, good taste in shows. Are you looking forward to The Gizmoplex as much as I am?
The lupin thing in HP sounds so much like the whole “Minorities are descended from demons and white people are descended from angels” thing the shadowhunters show keeps low key implying
unless you see a person on an Afrocentric page say white people are created by Prometious, or what ever I just saw, about caves inventing white people
honestly I think that sounds kinda interesting. How would a world where the majority of people were descended from angels and the rest of the population were descended from demons/fairies/eldritch abominations work. How much would a persons behavior be influenced by their ancestry and how would that influence manifest. would angel descendants be more pious/benevolent, would they be more old testament fire and brimstone or more new testament turn the other cheek. what kind of society would it be and what kind of social norms would it have. would you even be able to resist your supernatural instinct and if so how much and how difficult is it.
Futhermore if everyone is descended from some kind of supernatural being then what kind of abillities does diffirent kinds of descendants have. is it like having superpowers where angels can heal, demons have pyrokinesis and fairies can make illusions. or does different kinds of descendants have access to their own kind of magic that they have to learn and practice. how powerful is these abillities is it like dnd cantrips or can some people rearrange the landscape. do these abillities have industrial applications and if so which kind of descendants have the most useful abillities and how they fit into society are they rich and powerfull upper class or a exploited under class.
there are probably more things but these are just I could think of right now
so yeah “Minorities are descended from demons and white people are descended from angels” could in my opinion be the premise for some interesting world building although it would probably be for the best if we avoided real world ethnicities.
@@maltebrun3978 or the idea angels were meant to combat evil or just praise god and protect humans from supernatural forces. or just look and not act. or sometimes a demon is just a fallen angel.
it would be harder to write, due to "hands off this is part of closed culture, not yours! people still believe in these things" if you dip into other faith systems. it's all fine and dandy to use Christain mythology for our entertainment, but godforbid a non Hindu touches that or some "tribal spirituality"
@@maltebrun3978 I haven't seen the Shadowhunters show, only read the books as a teen, so I'm not sure how the show deals with it, but I remember Cassandra Clare specifically trying to draw a parallel between how the Shadowhunters treat the Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks, etc) and real life racial discrimination, down to there being segregation laws. If I remember correctly, although there were characters of different real world ethnicities belonging to each group, our Shadowhunter main characters were mostly white, and a lot of the important Downworlder characters were some sort of real world minority. So Clare specifically ended up writing a situation where the white people metaphors were the descendents of angels, and our oppressed racial group metaphors were either the literal children of demons or were infected with a demonic illness.
I don't think anything malicious was meant by it, I think she did just want some cool people with different sets of magic powers and for her books to have a vaguely progressive moral of "discrimination is bad", but she may have not entirely thought through the implications of what her worldbuilding had set up. I mean to be honest the worldbuilding is kind of a slapped together mess in general.
@@emma7933 I think misunderstood me I wasn't commenting on the author who is probably a lovely woman.
I was saying that I thought that a world where the majority were descended from angels and the minority were descended from demon could make for some interesting world building and story telling.
besides if I remember correctly the downworlders are actually the majority its just that shadowhunters are generally much dangerous on a individual basis because they are essensilly angel made demon killing machines which tips the power balance heavily in the shadowhunters favor.
I personally felt a lot of relatability in how Eda's potions work similarly to mood stabilizer medicine, especially with how her family would rather find a Cure and view them as bad because they're just helping manage your stability. I like that since Eda's curse isn't tied to any direct parallel or disorder her story feels relatable to a broad range of viewers w different life experiences
As someone with a disability, I adore Edalyn. Not only that, but her looks and personality remind me of my mother, who happens to have the same condition as me, so not only I see a bit of myself in Eda, I also see a big part of my mother, my dearest person in the world. Our illness can be tough, but I'm glad that we have the same problem, because we understand each other with no problems.
Well, I think that it is logical that the Harry Potter characters fear Remus Lupin in his werewolf form because, as you said, he loses all of his human logical thinking and he can infect others. I honestly LOVE Remus Lupin he is so kind and sweet and I really felt bad for him when he lost his job. Sure he was the best DADA teacher, but the main thing I can remember running through my mind was "How is he going to find a new job? What is he going to do now that people know he is a werewolf?" I also never really got why people distance themselfs from werewolf and refuse to give them jobs when they only turn into mosters once a month and they can't infect anyone otherwise.
From what I remember, lycanthropy was supposed to be like AIDS or other invisible, infectious conditions. Both lycanthropy and AIDS can be transmitted in specific circumstances and people living with both suffer from systemic injustices. It’s not about what the condition actually does, but rather the stigma
The main issue I've seen is that lycanthropy is the equivalent to AIDS, and the stigma against it in HP is because the vast majority of werewolves intentionally want people to become werewolves, too. They're not portrayed as an oppressed class due to societal stigma with a condition they cannot control, but are rather mostly villainous characters who want others to become werewolves (aka people with a disability/disease who WANT to infect others), with Remus being the really only exception, and the view of society on werewolves is hardly ever challenged or said to be wrong, basically saying "people with an AIDS equivalent disease are evil and want to spread it to even your children, except for a few people we think are unfortunate victims but won't help because they still have it." This is forgoing the fact that Remus' side of the story is touched on, but ultimately isn't important at all, and he dies in the war.
I feel like it is itself a problem that Rowling made a disability metaphor where people can say "well it's logical and justified that people are scared of him." By equating it to disabilities (and specifically AIDS), she's saying "yeah it's justified that people are scared of people with AIDS". I'm pretty sure gay men still can't legally donate blood because of this shit. If she wanted to have a character who was kind and sweet normally but could turn into an irrational violent werewolf, she probably should've thought more about it and made it not coded as a disability.
@@luizabianco I agree it's possible she didn't do it on purpose, but I think the coding does still exist in the text. Unlike Dumbledore being gay or the Jewish student. Noooope she hasn't changed
As someone who writes stories about werewolves and other shapeshifters, my principal problem with the depiction was that werewolves were vilified in the first place. Far too many stories treat it as implicit that werewolves are savage predatory monsters, even if the people who turn into them are good natured. A lot of cultures were terrified of wolves, to the point of hunting them to near extinction, even though it was humans who encroached on their habitat in the first place. It all goes back to the archetype of man vs. nature, of seeing humans and the natural world in opposition, and the almost dogmatic denial that we're still animals and still very much dependent on nature. So the assumption goes, a person who takes on the form of a wild animal must be evil, violent, or out of control. There's definitely a degree of projection going on.
I much prefer stories where werewolves are shamans or druids, serving as protectors of nature. They can control the changes, because they know themselves and have reconciled their dual identity. They're feared by the ignorant who don't understand. In my own stories, it's not a curse or a disease to be cured. It's just part of who they are. And there's a lot of opportunity to explore an allegory similar to that in The Matrix.
I'm not disabled (at least not officially, though my actually disabled partner tells me I am, but. It's complicated), but when Eda's mother hid all her potions, it still hit so home to me. Reminded me of the several(!) times my mother tried to persuade me to quit my medication (antidepressants + antipsychotics) because taking them is "unnatural." Duh! If my brain chemistry was "natural," I wouldn't be needing them!
I liked the little touch that sometimes a disability can have one or two perks, in the case of their limbs now being detachable. I think a real world example of such a perk would be like the one I read about in a tweet once: a girl this dude knew in first grade was deaf, and if she didn't want to listen to someone, she could just close her eyes or look away.
can i just say as someone with limited hearing I LOVE THAT YOU'VE PROPERLY CAPTIONED YOUR VIDEOS! AND YOU DID IT PROPERLY!!!
Seeing things formatted properly, changes in speaker being denoted, fuck even just having the timing carry over between your words and the captions is like a genuine breath of fresh air!Thank you so so much
i have a chronic illness and i love eda, she's my favorite owl house character and really relatable. i especially love her development in knock knock knocking on hooty's door it makes me cry every time
so I saw this video pop up on my recommended feed. I hadn't watched TOH yet but planned to. I saved this in my watch later. some time later my sister was talking about it and she was like, "what do you know so far about it?" and immediately I was like "I know there's supposedly gays and the owl lady has a curse," thinking of course about this video. long story short, I just finished s2 the other day and god I love this show for so so many reasons, but when I saw that episode with Eda's mother constantly trying to force a "cure" on her and then Eda very explicitly saying "yes, it's not sunshine and daisies and obviously it has inconveniences, but it's a part of me. I have it managed, and I like my life the way it is." I was like THAT VIDEO WAS SO RIGHT. it was fun watching with that thought in mind already after seeing the thumbnail. I could appreciate all the early details showing the curse as a disability in a good rep way. finally got around to watching this video and it makes me smile
I feel like TOH fans highly underrated the show's disability representation in favor of its LGBT representation. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just seems like a lot of the fandom choose to sleep on Luz also being a rare ADHD/neurodivergent female character and Eda dealing with a metaphor of chronic illness. I also randomly thought about how the HTTYD trilogy and Finding Dory did the disability representation very well with their characters (sans characters like Becky and Gerald tho). I'm glad you made a video analysis of the topic.
can a beluga whale without some natural ablities thrive in the wild?
Reminds me of BNA: Brand New Animal, where the plot twist is that the main character became a werefurry because she was transfused the wrong blood. I don't think the writers realised the implications.
I have a disability too, and while it's not really severe or painful to me, it is also an "it can trigger at any moment!" type thing, so those little moments of Eda grabbing stashed medicine from the nearest place, her saying she's tired and has to rest before things "get bad", and that one episode where she says "we need to get home NOW" because she collapsed in the park all really resonate with me. I never could quite get why I liked her curse allegory when I usually hate all others, but you hit it right on the head with this. It's because they care about Eda, not just the characters but the writers, by taking that time to really show what living with a disability is like without making it feel like a cry for pity or fear.
Think HP really did me dirty growing up with a bipolar mom, then later being diagnosed myself. The whole Neville's parents' situation being worse than death was really yikes too.
what are your thoughts on Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts? the ones that got to keep human form?
IMO Eda's curse in the Owl House is a perfect allegory and representation for Epilepsy. And as someone who has epilepsy, I find Eda's experience with her medication and transformation when untreated for very relatable, as that is pretty much how I feel and imagine myself if I would get an epilepsy attack. I can't really tell how it is as I have only had one epilepsy attack in my life which I have no memory of, but according to my mom, I went savage and bit her. We missed my evening medication by accident. I'm so glad and grateful that she took my health seriously and made sure I was properly cared for and medicated.
one thing that i love about eda´s curse is how much it also takes a tool on her appearence/physical health, some characters have mentioned how her hair is not supposed to be grey yet and how she overall just looks older than she should, it does show how stressful the curse has been to her through all of this years, although i also don´t like lupin´s HIV analogy it also has it´s physical burden to him, during the month of the full moon he needs a kane to walk and constantly looks tired/lost and i like that little attention to detail
I also think it's very interesting how this parallels Eda's conflict with Lilith in the previous season. Even though it was Lilith who cursed Eda in the first place, what put a strain in their relationship were Lilith's attempts to "fix" Eda by coercing her into joining the group responsible for persecuting her in the first place. While the analogy isn't as clear-cut as Gwen falling for medical scams, Lilith's idea that Eda's problems would be solved if she subscribed to an ideology cult that persecutes people like her is not too unlike family members who insist joining the Church would solve a chronic illness
When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder (along with a lot of other diagnoses) but found out later that it was miss diagnosed and it was actually type 2 bipolar disorder, this was really unnerving and upsetting to me because where some people are normally happy about finding out what is causing their state of mind so drastically, I was upset that I had something my biological father had, he had type 1 bipolar and drank constantly, as well as refused to take any medication to help or get help of any kind, this means going over to his house as a kid was a living hell, he was constantly angry and drunk and in a state of manic episodes that he only snapped out of for brief moments in time when I broke down crying completely afraid of him long enough for me to run in my room to wait it out which normally it'd only be a few hours before he was in another one sometimes it'd take longer sometimes it'd take less, I'd have no idea when they'd start or when they'd end. After being diagnosed I was afraid I would end up being like him which terrified me, I was afraid of scaring those close to me or even worse possibly hurting them. but I was reminded that unlike my biological father I get help and take my medication to where I have better control over it and my episodes are less frequent, when I get in those states I feel like a beast is taking control of me too a beast I fear, but where my biological father stayed in that state refusing to do much about it if anything at all, I'm trying, and I relate to Eda a lot in that way. I won't be defined by my disorder, and I'm working on managing it.
This is so relatable! Thankfully you are not a copy of your father just as I am not a copy of mine. We can break the generational chains of fear and violence.
My late, unlamented father refused to get diagnosed and was likely either autistics with ADHD like me or bipolar like my late sister (her I do miss). He was violent and tyrannical, basically an oppressive cult of one.
I have done a ton of work on myself and consequently raised my now adult children without any physical violence and with a minimum of yelling. Living well is the best "revenge".
Have a * hug * if you want ❤️
The mother in Owl House kinda reminds me of my mother. I'm dyslexic and autistic, and my mom wanted a cure for me straight up. Given, I agree that putting me in public schools would have not helped me, as the Special Ed in Louisiana wouldn't have been a great placement. But instead she homeschooled me and spent thousands on vision therapy that determined needed am eye patch (good for lazy eye, but they wanted to change my eye dominance). She thought this and other vision therapy would fix my dyslexia, rather than finding a tutor or private school that had the resources to work with a dyslexic kid. I mean, she literally told me that she didn't want me to cope, she wanted to make it go away. Also ABA therapy, so that was fun. I definitely had depression and anxiety as a teen but we were very anti-medication. It's like I didn't get to experience existing properly until my early 20s. The thing that gets me, is that my mom wanted me to get an education, but eventually sent me to a private school that taught me the Bible, and that was basically it. Had to take years of remedial classes just to get up to level. Now I have a degree in biology (and not because I'm afraid of math. I actually like tutoring calculus). Parents that see there kid as something to fix steal years off their kids lives.
I like how the owl beast is more animal then monster
I had never connected curses and handicaps. I knew that curses consequently engendered internal and societal handicaps and being an invisible handicapped person myself, I hated when a handicap was not recognized as a handicap. I also saw curses as something to be healed because people who are victims of them suffer from them and it was not natural. My epilepsy is natural, I lived with it all my life and I never dramatized it because my point of view of the thing depended only on me for 11 years, until the moment when the rest of the world finally figured out that it wasn't that I wasn't trying hard enough but that there was a real problem and external adjustments were needed. The adjustment I needed for my epilepsy? My medicine. I was perfectly capable of managing the rest because I had organized myself in such a way as to compensate for my difficulties as much as possible. I knew how I worked, it wasn't "a curse" because it was literally the way my brain works, it was the rest of the world that needed to understand and adapt rather than yell at me for things I couldn't control. After a chat with someone on the internet, I learned that my correspondent knew someone with epilepsy and was therefore impressed with how calm I was about it. The epileptic in question saw his disease as a curse with a sword of Damocles perpetually hanging above his head. I was surprised at the reading this person had of his brain. We suffered according to the words of my correspondent, from the same handicap with the same symptoms and the same adaptations but our vision of the thing was completely opposite. The difference seemed to come from the fact that this epileptic had a point of view given from the outside. He had a convulsive seizure when he was a baby, then another when he was 5 years old, which greatly stressed his parents who therefore stressed him. My epilepsy was not detected before I entered middle school, my construction on this subject depended only on me. From my point of view, it was the rest of the world that had unrealizable expectations. I suffered from the invisibility of my disability in my constructive years, especially from the lack of listening I received. But suddenly, when my epilepsy was identified and I was told "there is a problem", I was like "yes, thank you Captain Obvious it was about time you heard what I've been telling you for years , and by the way the ice is cold and fire is hot". This diagnosis corrected my two problems: the lack of listening to the rest of the world and medication to compensate for what I could not already compensate for. But I never hated or feared my epilepsy, it was just the way my brain worked. Some people have sunburn-prone skin, and I have irregular electrical activity in my brain. Maybe that's why I didn't link handicaps to curses and probably never would have done it alone. Because if my various invisible handicaps (yes I have several, I just took my epilepsy as an example) are really, really a pain in the neck, I never saw myself as cursed. At most, I grumble more or less strongly when it poses a particular problem more or less serious. There, I can't go see my dying grandmother so I sulk, but when I can't do a lazer game, I grumble and then move on.
If I were to write a "curse as a disability" trope, the monster would only be a danger to them person affected. Because I'm tired of people seing us as a potential menace even when we're actually only harming ourselves. That tome my mom told me she was scared of me after I spent an hour beating myself and only myself still irritates me.
Fun fact: people with AIDS do not go into a rabies-like frenzy in which they attempt to infect other people. Take notes, Rowling
This video gave me a new perspective on Owl house. The show didn't really grab me, as season 1 episodes cover conflicts that have been done in other shows. (side effects of growing old)
I'm so excited to hear that they are expanding on the conflicts from season 1 in a way that hasn't been done in popular media before!
Thank you for making this video. I am glad to have found it in my recommendation and now looking forward to giving season 2 a try.
I've returned! I really enjoyed the 2nd season! More than I have on the 1st!
Thank you Oakwyrm. I really wouldn't have tried watching it again without this video.
My cane is actually liberating to me and while my mom is supportive, she really wishes I didn’t need it. It’s frustrating because wishing won’t fix me so why make it constantly about how to fix my problems instead of working around them. On the other hand, I have a habit of accepting my symptoms as a fact of life while my mom makes sure to check that I took my meds even when I don’t feel like it will help (it does)
This reminds me of my mom, whose biggest (and seemingly to me, her actualONLY) concern regarding my physical disabilities and the progressive loss of function I have been suffering though while fighting my hardest and smartest to fight to get better, goal of course being to have a life where I can once again safely and functionally live independently again. I have so many huge aspirations in this world, even still now after almost a full decade of nonstop major surgeries and other very grueling medical treatments, etc....but for right now, I would feel so accomplished and so happy if I could, like I said, just be better enough to function again independently and to get through the rest of the orthopedic surgeries I still have to undergo without too much more severe pain or new problems holding me back even further... It's a miracle I still have fight in me, as I've had close to zero for emotional support from anyone in my family! It is so insane to be treated like you are either lying or exaggerating your physical abilities (or the lack of ability), by the people you are closest with and in my case anyway, see every day. Like, my parents are obviously aware that I had to move in with them after becoming disabled, they helped me file for SSDI "disability" (which I just put in quotes to emphasize the word disability here, demonstrating just another fact that oddly gets somehow"forgotten" or otherwise purposely ignored by my parents as they continue to go about their normal daily lives AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED to me! They will purposely go mute, literally leave the room while I am still speaking, knowing I can't chase them or really do anything about this cruel behavior exhibited toward me. not respond or talk with me about anything related to my medical situation and needs, no exaggeration my mom has made it into a joke that I am the butt of- it goes little something like this: me- wanting to discuss the latest medical report or result with my mother.
Mother- rolling her eyes and then making an old, tired joke of her own while laughing as if I just said the most ridiculous thing ever, then her quick attempts at deflecting the conversation to anything other than this important and significant conversation I needed to have with her regarding next steps in my medical treatment.. if I play along and don't let on how hurtful and wrong her behavior is toward me, I may get so far as her reluctantly agreeing to "listen to whatever you want to say for 5 minutes as (she has) to go do x,y, or z now, I didn't realize the time already" so basically it's clear my parents r choosing denial of me being disabled at all despite all of the medical records and doctors etc. that both my parents have seen, heard, and been made well aware of. My parents do the bare minimum to help me and that part has felt for quite some time that it is being done very purposefully for one of two possible reasons: either out of complete disdain, resentment and hatred of me their only daughter, for having become disabled and dependent on them for the time being allowing them both to, unconsciously or not, be ok with themselves still while not caring at all what long term physical comorbidities and short term emotional problems that their lack of proper care, attention, and loving involvement in my very difficult and already isolating day to day new and ongoing struggles and physical rehabilitation efforts , or they are so embarrassed and ashamed that I am now disabled and in this condition (in comparison to my successful active and on the go life I had before my accident), that they r pulling a quasi modo on me. They just want me to sink back into the shadows not to be seen or heard bc nobody wants to be made uncomfortable by the presence of their hideous deformed and disabled useless being I have become, so easier for them both to keep me hidden away at home while also telling almost none of the family or loved ones how bad my physical condition really is. IF I try to let anyone know the reality of my current life and any or all of the diagnoses I have now, I am treated worse and then somehow punished. They get angry and have ford axe me from using the word disabled or anything close. They continue to tell people who haven't seen me in years and who also know that I am still living back with my parents not back working or socializing irl ever anymore, that "she's doing good. Getting there..." or they will deflect the convo however possible. In any case, for reasons I still don't feel I fully understand motive behind, my parents lie to others and pretend with themselves and me, that "I'm doing ok" they get angry and treat me like I am doing it on purpose or that I have a mental problem desiring the wrong kind of attention, who knows what they think exactly but it is very obvious that they do not want me using any mobility aides. Even at home not in front of others! My mom's ongoing "concern" for me, that she also has nooo problem voicing to everyone and anyone who asks about me, is solely focused around one thing: I am prescribed an opiate pain medication. despite not taking them every day and just tons of other reasons I won't list here that would demonstrate to any reasonable person that there is no basis for my mom's concern. Other than Fox News and her apparent ease to follow the crowd and fight for things she doesn't even understand. She will say to me when I am trying to talk about my medical status and treatments and psospective help, she only ever says, "oh o just can't wait until you get off those opioids. I DO want that so badly for you daughter. I pray every day to God to get u off those things!" 🤦♀️THAT is the only thing she is concerned about. Not the multiple reasons I am being prescribed the medicine for, just the medicine. She doesn't care about anything else when so many real and very scary medical problems I am dealing with.
I’m epileptic and this video really helped me figure out why I related so much with Eda. My seizures always make me feel sort of monstrous so 🥲 this is a very nice video thanks.
Also the nonbinary love interest???? WAHHHHH
Eh... at least that analogy makes sense, unlike the autism analogy, which *deeply* offends me as someone on the spectrum.
I think my favorite thing about it is that it makes sense to the story. Instead of it just being “I don’t wanna show disability in my show but I want people to watch it lololol”
It shows that disabilities are awful and harmful, but that doesn’t make her a bad person. She’s caring and protective of of King and Luz. Just another reason why I love this show
I haven’t seen the owl house, but when you said that her curse’s beast form isn’t unreasonable and can be reached and reasoned with, my first thought was ‘oh it’s Naruto and the nine-tails’
I love the idea of Eda's owl beast curse as a metaphor for a disability or chronic illness. For me personally, I see it as a disability when Eda transform into Harpy Eda when she accepted the owl beast as a part of herself. I love the episode Keeping Up A-fear-ances especially when Eda’s mother Gwen Clawthorne was using bogus cures to get rid of the owl beast curse, it reminded of an article I read of some crazy person using bleach to get rid of autism.
I am so glad I watched this. I’m writing a story and am planning to give a character chronic pain caused by a spell they’re hit with during a battle. My original plan was for the wound to get healed but there’s still lingering magic that nobody realizes is slowly killing them (kind of like cancer I guess?) and eventually they figure it out and get rid of the rest of the magic, curing their pain. But now I realize that by the very nature of the way I’ve written the curse that can’t be where I leave it. The spell caused serious physical damage that nothing will make go away. So they’re experiencing two different kinds of pain - pain caused by internal scarring and pain caused by magic, only one of which can be cured. Knowing that I will write this so much better, thank you!
I absolutely love Edalyn!! She's what gives me more determination to keep going. I'm a chronically ill teen and this shit hits home. I've had people who think they're doing good by recommending certain medications to me and I have to explain "that's gonna trigger my symptoms" or "that has something that'll react with my current meds.".
I even had a physical therapist who fucked up my arm.
I have my Tylenol around my room in case I need it and I use a cane. if you think about it, edas lil owl man dude who gets objects for her is kinda like mobility support in a way. she flies on her lil uhhhh magic wooden owl thingy to get around and owley can go get things for her in her house.
For me it feels related to the monster but only in a case where I'm stressed out and no one in my family takes the time to listen so I think that's why Eda to me is relatable. And when I do get angry I have moments where I don't mean to come off rude but I get so tired of feeling like the burden so it's a bit relatable with the monster part but ik not all people with chronic illnesses have that.
i actually interpreted eda's curse as mental illness. especially the whole her being bedridden and/or exhausted when it gets out of control. and then how it gets more manageable when she started accepting it as a part of her and taking breaks and doing what she needed for herself. i never even though of it this way! thank you for such an interesting video!
As someone with chronic pain, and who grew up with a mom dealing with an untreated autoimmune disease, watching this episode when it first came out just made me so incredibly happy
The way I knew you meant Remus the minute you did that lead up
As someone in a similar position as Lilith (albeit less intense) when it comes to disability/societal function in relation to my family, i think the writing was done very well as far as emotions and such go. There are defiantly clear connections made to how this episode contrasts real life
Dang, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities between Lupin and Eda.
Also, I like to think of Mei and her friends from _Turning Red_ as a female version of the Marauders, where Mei is Remus (the academically gifted one who unwillingly turns into a beast), Miriam is James (the charismatic "cool" one), Priya is Sirius (the wavy-haired emo one who kinda looks like one of the Madrigals), and Abby is Peter (the obnoxious young-minded one).
Let's just hope Abby doesn't betray her friends to Justin Trudeau.
ahahahaha betray them to justin trudeau
The Owl House seems to have been made with great care and empathy towards its characters, whereas the Harry Potter series has a lot of window dressing.
Hardly anyone in youtube talks about disability. Even disabled you tubers shy away from discussing anything about it. I really love this video and I'm so happy there's actual disabled representation in children's media (disguised as a curse but hey that's a start)
There was one other good werewolf in the Harry Potter Universe. He wrote a book called Hairy Snout, Human Heart, a heartrending account of his struggle with lycanthropy. The author chose to remain anonymous. It might not be Lupin, as he was only 15 when it was first published. As for the majority of the other werewolves (Not Greyback, he's just a creep) it may be a case of "Then Let Me Be Evil". They've been treated like evil fiends for so long, they decided they may as well be that way.
Have you seen bluey? There is a dog in it that has ADHD and he forgets some things and moves alot. As a person with ADHD I was thrilled when I watched the episode with my nephew and I really wish I had cartoons with characters that had ADHD and disability and autism as a kid.
Tbh I was really turned off of Owl House when I watched the pilot episode, so I wrote it off. Definitely thinking about checking it out again thanks to this video. Curse as disability is definitely something I've seen in media and thought about but I've never seen anyone talk about it let alone put a label on it. As someone with a chronic pain illness that's punctuated with flares and "remissions" (in " " because I've never had real remission, just less severe symptoms) the episode you talk about really illustrates perfect comparisons to chronic illness life and the complexities of how environment and people treat/react to others with chronic illness. Great video!
As someone nonbinary with adhd this show gave me a lot of the representation I’ve wanted so much so I’m glad it seems to handle this pretty well too
How did I immediately know you were going to talk about Lupin when talking about the worst execution of the trope
I've never related so much with a character as much as I do with Eda, as someone who deals with multiple chronic illnesses, the main two being POTS and EDS, its amazing to see such great representation! I honestly might get a tattoo to represent it but it's amazing how accurate it is. I've also had issues with my mother regarding cures and other things, there's no cure for the issues I have just treatments, ones that I've found really help me. It can still get progressively worse over time but that's just how it is. Its hard to put into words literally HOW accurate the portrayal of Eds's curse being like a chronic illness is, its so beautifully done I love it so much. ♥
Nobody:
Eda: *taping her elixirs to the ceiling*
I’m writing a series that has the magic as a metaphor for disability metaphor. The Owl House is a good frame of reference for how I can implement it, while applying my own twist.
me just realizing as someone who really needs an asd diagnosis relates to Eda‘s struggle with her curse.
autism isn’t a curse for me, but it felt like it for so long as a little kid, and with people shoving ‘cures‘ down my throat, or not taking it seriously, it really sucks.
I‘m Eda, and many of the doctors and adults in my life are her mom, and realizing that i just needed a loving parent and not being screamed at daily made things a lot better
Sometimes I forget I’m mentally disabled until I read the comments and see someone who shares my pain and I just have the moment of “oh shit, yeah I have that”
Don’t support Autism Speaks
I love Eda's naps. What do I need? A nap. Do you want to help me? Let me nap. So often being given the ability to just take periodic rests is day changing. Also how some days she's good. It's good. All good. And some days she will be in her nest. And that is also all good. (In theory, until plot strikes).
yay I'm so glad someone made a video about this! I've related so much to Eda and especially the episode with her mother that u talked about, it's such a well written fantasy chronic illness. I love the way they did the owl beast form for Eda too because it gets triggered the more stressed she is. it's similar to me, because the more stressed I am, the more likely I am to have a flare up and when I'm in that much pain I get super snappy with people and really angry and mean even if I try not to, just from how the pain affects me mentally. great video!!
As someone who’s been disabled their whole life but only accepted it and started talking about it and accommodating himself the past year and a half ish, Eda changed my life. Seeing Eda existing and even thriving as a disabled adult really helped me accept my own disabilities. Mental and physical. As well as process the trauma being disabled has given me.
And when I saw the scene in s2 ep4 where she goes “o have a right to be upset” that was it. I cried. I didn’t grow up in a very accommodating area or home and I was never allowed to be upset over it. I just had to keep pushing, keep going until I could get out. There’s lots of reasons Eda is one of my all time favorite characters and owl house is my favorite show but that’s definitely a big one.
And now I’m crying again because that scene always hits me. I’ve watch this show 15 times now and that scene still makes me choke up.
Thanks for this video and especially thank you for introducing me to this show because it just made my year that much better. I just watched season 3 with my sibling last Sunday and I absolutely adore it. Raine and Eda are my favourite characters.
I'm also grateful I don't need to stash spare insulin anywhere but the fridge as my pump is constantly attached to my body and it has enough insulin for a while on its own
I don't think I've ever related to a character like i have with Eda. I'm epileptic and Eda's experience with the owl curse really hit so close to home, especially with her mother. My parents are religious and for a long time, my mom would take me to a certain temple to make an offering to "cure" my epilepsy. It didn't help that this temple had loud drum beats and such, so what really happened was that it only further triggered my seizures.
The way Eda's perspective when she turns into the owl beast is shown in Knock Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door feels a lot like how I experience seizures, something that's both frustrating and somewhat scary.
The whole temple thing was eventually abandoned and i don't get seizures as frequently anymore, but it really doesn't help that the neurologist treating me kept saying that my epilepsy will cure within a month, or within a year. And it hasn't. I got my first seizure when i was about 12 or 13, and I'm now 20 years old. The seizures only happen once a year or so, but it's still very much there.
Eventually, i got around to getting used to it and for most part, it's just an inconvenience to me right now. But shows like this really put into perspective how wrong it is to insist that a disability or a chronic illness should be 'healed' if the person wants to live properly; that there's no other choice.
I hope you were given medicine(s) to suppress the attacks when you were a kid. Even "petite mal" attacks can be quite disruptive for one's life and even unsafe with some bad luck.
@@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023 luckily, i did get properly diagnosed and got the medicines not long after the first apparent seizure. The seizures were still not very safe and i ended up with a lot of scars, bumps and injured tongue afterwards, but fortunately didn't get into any serious accidents.
I actually went and watched The Owl House specifically because I saw you had made this video, and after having seen several other videos of yours, I wanted to give the series a try so I could come back and watch this.
And boy. Was it absolutely amazing.
I actually remember specifically seeing that episode with the mother and going, “Oh woah. This is exactly what Oakwyrm was talking about with trying to cure disabled characters. I completely understand now,” because I still struggle with ableism and fully understanding others’ experiences. The Owl House did such a great job with their characters that I felt I came away from my day-and-a-half bingeathon on Disney plus with a better understanding of the struggles disabled people and their families go through. Or, at least, a start was made.
I love your content so much! Its so refreshing to hear a disabled person speak on these topics! I find things like Lycanthropy so difficult to write sometimes! Vampirism was also one I have issue writing! It’s insane how much ableism I have to throw out myself as someone with chronic physical and mental health issues. Your videos serve as such an appreciated wake up call to some of the internalized ableism I’ve been holding onto! Looking forward to more videos!! 💖💖💖
I hadn't thought about this aspect of writing about supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves. I have a story that focuses on one of each. It's a slice of life but also a love story. I did not originally intend for the werewolf side to resemble chronic illness much since I was going more for wolf behavior but how this intersects with society a bit to make werewolves stick out even as humans, women especially because I figure a werewolf is probably going to be more hairy than average, more muscular and bulky. My main werewolf character is very feminine and into makeup and florals and sundresses, but also lets her leg and lower back hair grow out and she is prone to somewhat more pronounced mood swings. In wolf form she is a large wolf with wolf behavior, aware of her surroundings and people and aware of how she feels toward these things. Wolf is the unfiltered version of herself, and most werewolves try to filter themselves as little as possible for their well-being.
Vampires are a bit harder. It's set in the modern era so ethical human blood acquisition is easier, so the main issues my vampire character deals with is the costs and benefits of not aging, limited food intake, mostly drinks, needing special mirrors, and being restricted to night forever or risk extreme injury.
All that in mind, I will pursue other ways to find this out as well, but if you wouldn't mind, are there aspects of this that could be bad disability representation? I intend for this to be a story with reflection on the issues at hand, and the loneliness of being newly marginalized, but not the whole "I'm such a monster" trope. It's a tired trope in general, but the implications around it being how disability is portrayed makes that an even worse trope.
As a writer and editor myself, the best advice I can give is, make them people first. Any special abilities, gimmicks, or supernatural aspects come after that. There's no rule saying you have to treat it as a disease or condition either. What if vampire or werewolf is just who they are, and everything society believes about them are negative stereotypes? Maybe vampires are ageless and immune to disease by nature, but because they manage to survive events that others do not, this has led people to accuse them of blood sacrifices. Maybe werewolves are shapeshifters who commune with nature, but because people think you can't trust someone who can change their face, this leads to the false belief that werewolves take on a monstrous form to get away with violent crimes. You can probably see the real world precedent for both those concepts.
Lycanthropy as HIV is quite a fantastic idea. But I never actually asked myself if it was done well in Harry Potter. Mostly because I heard about this years after I last watched those films but, wow damn, christ, it's worse than I could have imagined. And it would've been so damn easy to do it correctly too. A blood transferred curse, the fearmongering and misinformation, hatred and rumors spread, the comparisons write themselves... So to fuck that up whilst being mentally aware of it, just seems intentionally malicious. That or amazingly bad writing. What irks me is if anyone takes this idea and does it right, to talk about HIV in children's media, then JK is gonna try and take credit.
I mean it’s almost there, in that people with lycanthropy are basically shunned from everything, they have to take expensive ‘medications’, they’re always having to be super careful and people treat them differently suddenly when they learn that someone has it, as though they think they could just catch it from the lycanthrope sneezing, and this discriminatory behavior even extends to kids (Lupin caught it as a kid). It even shows (though it seemingly glosses over a bit) how the condition hurts Lupin himself. I mean the ‘haunted Shrieking Shack’ was so named because he would go in there, wolf out and then basically shriek, claw and mutilate himself until the sun rose. You can get medicine in the form of potions but since you’re treated like garbage and barred from most jobs you won’t make enough money to get it.
THEN…she has almost all lycanthropes be evil and work with wizard Hitler, with one specifically known to target kids for the infection, and has their condition be legitimately dangerous which almost seems like she’s justifying the treatment that the people receive.
Like, what if the dangers of lycanthropes THEMSELVES are overblown? Like it’s actually relatively hard to catch the condition and those who have it are just like anyone else. Some don’t even know they have it because they won’t know until they get it tested or they find out years later when the repeated ‘transformations’ have taken a toll.
And the potions that manage it. Lupin has potions that manage his condition and slow if not stop his symptoms. These potions are apparently super expensive and must be taken at a very rigid timeframe under very specific conditions or everything falls apart. (I think he's said you can't even add any flavoring to it or it won't work-).
Antiretroviral therapy cost can vary extremely widely, and patient barriers can make them extremely difficult to afford. (It's complicated but I think it boils down to 'patents mean you can't make generics' and like 'trying to extend patents'-).
This was a welcome opportunity for me to calm down.
Got another disability lined up for diagnosis, EDS, hoping for a non vascular variation.
The thought of dying from a ruptured organ or artery is really distressing and this calmed me down enough to sleep.
3:25 And the one who tells children that you can escape an abusive household by just sitting it out and waiting for a magical letter to appear, and after that you will be fine without any reprocusions or trauma whatsoever. Excuse my soapbox moment, I am really salty about that one.
EVERYONE: lupin is the responsible one, what’s the worst that can happen
Shows up late to his first lesson and has Neville conjure Snape in drag😂
Ok first off I seriously need to check out Owl house WOW!!
Secondly, I knew JK was trash, but I never knew the werewolves were actually *meant* as an allegory for HIV!?! Fuccckking OOFFFF!!! That’s just…. O O F!!!
Another thing I really like is no one treats Eda like she's useless. As someone with chronic illness I struggle with my own self worth and because of how I was raised I unfortunately view myself as worthless unless I'm doing something productive.
Another thing to add I love how caring everyone is towards Eda, especially Luz. I never really had someone who cares about my chronic illness so deeply so it's very sweet to see that they care.
Every living being has worth. Just as a one of a kind art piece is priceless, you are priceless for simply being alive and who you are.
Wow, I have never hated a fictional character as much as Gwendolyn. She's so on the spot. It also made me love Eda even more, I'm so sorry she had to deal with her mum all that time
Having your disability function as a curse, is a pretty good tool for dealing with the problem's you identified in your dnd video. As if you decide your character's disability is equivalent of very powerful curse, you can then in-game mechanic justify to other players who want to "fix" you that, they infact cannot fix you as the "curse: can only be lifted by wish. Also you don't need fixing in your oppinion as if you wanted the play an able bodied character you would have made one that way.
One note is that i think it's transformative curse's thet could wrongly imply that mental disabilites could make someone dangerous to others. As there is no rational reason to think a physically disabled person could suddenly be forced to hurt people unwilling due to their condition as is cause by a transformative curse.
Obviously transformative curse's are a hybrid or a mental and physical disability, although it's somewhat iffy if the generally strong physical atributes are really a disability, it's more heavily tied to partial or full loss of control over one's actions.
last year i lost the abillity to walk. it wasn't permenant but i couldn't step on my feet without acing. i wanted to go out and meet with friends, but i couldn't. my mom refused to take a wheal chair, so i set in my room for 6 months, waited for the situation to get better.
I am so sorry that your mom refused to get you the mobility aid that you needed. That is just wrong, especially from a parent.
How are you doing now? And if I may ask: was it plantar fascitis? That is what I have since 2006. I got crutches, physical therapy, new shoes, compression socks and effective painkillers and am doing a lot better now. Mine is chronic, though, because the first doctor didn't know anything about the correct stretching exercises, warm-cold treatments, etc. and only prescribed painkillers and rest.
@Ronja J. Addams-Ramstedt first of all, thank you for your concern💜
It has been more than a year, and while I still have trouble with walking for a long amount of time without hiking shoes/ standing on my toes, I feel way better now. People don't even know I have this problem anymore.
About the condition, I don't really know... some doctors said that it's from the cold (my BMI is low and I'm the kind of person that jumps into lakes, wears t-shirts in winter, and walks barefoot so it makes sense) while other say it's from anxiety (which also makes sense)
I love how the clawthornes as a whole show that the toxic elements of a family, especially the ones we don't see ourselves but our families try to tell us about, have such long lasting physical, emotional and mental effects. Also that in illnesses all tie into each other. Its fantastic that kids are getting introduced to that since it's hard even for quality physicians to wrap their heads around it 🙄
This has just reminded me an a webtoon I read a while ago called the cursed princess club. A group of princesses(and a couple of princes) with curses meet up to support eachother with their curses and how people treat then because of it.
! i’ve recently been trying to find where to start in researching this topic since i have a character whose curse is an allegory for disability (which was totally on accident on my part but i wanna utilize it properly now that i recognize) so this was a great start hearing you explain how to do it well and how not to. i absolutely looove the owl house and how they handle eda’s curse, which is actually what inspired my character so. should have connected the dots sooner that i did that trope as well since i recognized it when watching this episode 😅. but yeah, fantastic video! i’m gonna get back to researching :)
Have you gone down the rabbit hole yet that is TV Tropes' listing of Disability Tropes? Warning: that listing alone can eat up a few months of your life, because there is always "just one more" irresistible link to follow...
@@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023 oh my god, i only saw this comment now! that’s a great place to look, thanks for the suggestion (and i’m out of school now so i can actually afford to go down a few rabbit holes…adhd sure makes those hard to get out of)
Before I watched this video I hated it when people tried to compare disability to curses because as someone who is both neurodivergent and a writer, I felt like it restricted writers too much/put too much pressure on them. I thought that the parallels between the two were just unavoidable and that it couldn’t be helped, but you completely changed my mind by describing it the way you did-by pointing out how important it is to show the affect it has on the cursed person.
To me that’s always been a given-of course you need to acknowledge how the curse affects the cursed character. It just seems incomplete not to. And so when people complained about curses being comparable to disability in most fiction I thought they were being unreasonable.
But now that you have pointed out an example, I’m realizing that that’s actually a super common problem in fiction. And like… I don’t understand why??? It doesn’t make any sense to put a curse on a character and then not put emphasis of how it affects them. Like that’s not interesting, there’s no depth to that. It’s straight up not good writing even without looking at how harmful it is!
Anyways uh thank you for this video it’s really opened my mind!! I’ll be sure that if I ever get around to writing one of my vampires or werewolves that I keep this video in mind
Personally, I think the "disability as a curse" trope is pretty disgusting in general, *especially* the way _The Owl House_ did it. It's basically saying that if you have autism, then you're cursed for life, and you will be treated as inferior because of it. Whatever happened to autism being a *good* thing? Whatever happened to "us weirdos should stick together"?
They don't treat eda as inferior tho, if anything they always look to her for advice/help, they're just looking out for their friend when their illness acts up - which I don't understand how's that a negative thing? And also eda is never permanently cured? She still has the curse she just learns to deal with it in a more healthy way
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster
I hear you on the first part, but the let abt Eda’s curse being handled poorly… are we watching the same show? Eda’s curse plot so far has literally been about her and the people around her learning to treat the Owl Beast as a part of her rather than a curse. Her Harpy form is especially good because it shows that her “curse” can be an asset.
Pretending like disabilities don’t include sometimes devastating drawbacks is just as harmful as ONLY showing those. TOH shows both the good and the bad of Eda’s Owl Beast, which is why if u wanna look at it as an allegory for disability it’s actually really good.
That being said, you don’t have to view it as an allegory to disability if you don’t want to. There’s room for interpretation
@@jittercritter Except… it literally showed how it makes Eda into a freaking monster when she doesn’t take her apple blood. That is something that, by all accounts, *should* be cured, unlike being autistic.
@@YB-sm4we Yes, and that’s the problem - it’s basically saying that even when autistics treat autism as a GOOD thing, it’s still inherently bad and they should feel bad for it. Is this really the message we want to send to autistic kids, that they are inherently inferior?
One time, a guy on TH-cam told me to watch The Owl House. It is still the best show I have ever seen.
Ok but like, did anyone else cry in s2 e4 because of how seen they felt? Like I was crying and I re watched it multiple times because I fells a connection to a character in a way I never really had
(I have autism/adhd/and I’m part of an osdd system, not a chronic illness. But that feeling of something trying to fix what isn’t broken really hit hard)
this reminds me of those overly religious parents that try to pray away disability and think that the disability is a punishment from hell that is what this episode reminds me of
Something I've noticed a lot is disability as superpower. Like romanticizing it as "my mental illness makes me a genius." Or not really having a disability, like amputees getting a prosthetic that's better than their regular limb, or blind people having actually better senses due to being blind.
Edit: I later saw that you have a similar video, and while you covered a lot of the things I was thinking of, I'm still intrigued on what you think of the version of the trope where they are superior to everyone else because of their "disability". I feel like this makes those characters not good representation since they don't have the real struggles disabled people have, as well as dehumanizing since they are like gods.
I'd say it's at least justified with autism, since we tend to have special interests and develop a lot of knowledge in those fields as a result. And hence, everyone else seems like an idiot by comparison.
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster next we need "low functioning" autism as a super power
like auto mail in FMA?
Is there any way to do that trope well? I was going to use it for a character of mine but i wouldn't want to make something harmful
@@laysthechip3356 I think Toph is a good example of doing it well. The superpower allows her to do a lot of things seeing people can, and even more that they can't. However, her blindness still impacts her in a lot of ways, like how she can't read and is completely blind when they are flying on appa. There is a fun youtube compilation video of all of these moments called "Toph is blind." But, that's my view as a able-bodied person.
In regards to metal illnesses, I think its easier to mess up. Some people are reluctant to find treatment, and I think stories where people embracing their mental illnesses as something magical or heightening only makes this worse.
Essentially, don't make them inhuman, even if its super human. That distances them from actual disabled experiences.