Yeah, what she said! :D
Hey there, Toonsters!
Long ago, before he took it down, Stefan wrote a blog about the role of female animated characters. Some could be damsels in distress, while others were portrayed as strong-willed and courageous characters who want to be equals to their male counterparts. This blog is an example of that notion, but this is for a different reason. It is about the one character who helped me learn about respecting the female characters in all of animation. And the character I am talking about is the Princess of Power herself, She-Ra.
We all know the story. Princess Adora, the twin sister of Prince Adam aka He-Man, was kidnapped by Hordak when she was a baby. Years later, she became the Force Captain of the Evil Horde, only to be found and freed of Hordak's hold by He-Man and through the Sword of Protection, she became She-Ra, the Princess of Power. As She-Ra, Adora aids the Great Rebellion to free Etheria, Eternia's sister planet, from the Horde's evil wrath. Even though He-Man is one of my favorite icons of the 80s, She-Ra, on the other hand, has a special place in my heart. And the question is: How did She-Ra's courage helped through the dark times of my life, especially with the part about liking and respecting female characters in animation and all of fiction. Believe me, dude, it is a long story.
It is because of She-Ra that gave me the courage to love, honor and respect female characters in the long haul, starting with The Little Mermaid, but it didn't start out that way. Since my father's passing, and even if I was trying to better myself, I didn't have the courage to watch The Little Mermaid. During the mid 1990s, I ended up watching, without a doubt, one of my favorite animes of all time, Sailor Moon. Though not the strongest and wisest fighter, Sailor Moon makes up all up, so to speak, with courage. I use to get up at 6:00 in the morning and watch her all the time. And the more I watch her, the most memories of my past were starting to unlock. And because of Sailor Moon, not only it unlocked my courage, but also unlocked everything 80s, including She-Ra. I didn't even know until now is the fact that if it wasn't for She-Ra, there wouldn't be other strong-willed female characters in animation like Sailor Moon. It was both Sailor Moon and She-Ra's courage that helped me gained the strength to overcome my fears and ended up watching The Little Mermaid, with no ill feelings whatsoever.
I owe everything to She-Ra, and especially her voice actress, Melendy Britt. She may be strong and beautiful, but she has lots of wisdom that is beyond her years. Whether it's fighting the Horde as She-Ra or giving advice to two Southern Water Tribe siblings to aid the Avatar to bring balance to the world as Gran-Gran. Other than Elsa and Jem, I wish She-Ra was my aunt, always helping me out, giving me advice, encourage me to not give up and so on and so forth. Not only she has given me courage to respect and honor female animated characters or female fictional characters in general (like video games, comic books, etc.), but she has also given me the courage to do something else. Not just fighting for the rights for animation, but also righting the wrongs which was done in the past, especially what Hallmark did to most of the Filmation cartoons when they were all converted to their sped up PAL versions and got rid of the negatives. The road is long and hard, especially convincing DreamWorks, who now owns all of the Classic Media properties, including the Filmation cartoons, to fix the audio on those cartoons because I know how to fix them, but I gotta try. There is a reason why one of my favorite virtues is call Righteousness. Because I will fight on and put right which was done wrong, no matter what it takes and no matter what some people say. Lou Scheimer's legacy must be preserved. Cause if She-Ra knows if I am doing the right thing, I'm sure Lou thinks the same way cause what I am doing is for him. By the Power and for the Honor of Grayskull, I will restore which was ruined and I will definitely live up to what I am being called...The Animation Crusader.
And I owe it to all to one half of the Most Powerful Siblings of the Universe. Thank you She-Ra...and thank you to you, too, Ms. Melendy Britt. ;)
If you want to praise and give your admiration to Filmation, Lou Scheimer, his daughter, Erika, and the voice actors from their cartoons, visit their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/louscheimerfilmation/ and if you want to share fan letters, fan art, pictures, everything in between about Lou, John Erwin, Melendy Britt, Alan Oppenheimer and so forth, contact them at their Gmail address, louscheimer@gmail.com. Remember, precious animation, like those from Filmation, must be preserve.
Well, I won't be blogging for awhile. Since the holidays are coming, I figure I take a month long vacation and help out my mother and do everything else. Besides, I got a Derpy Hooves script to finish and one movie project involving the very subject I was talking about in my blog, restoring Filmation's cartoons to their normal proper pitch. But, don't worry, when I come back, I will resume my Toon Ninja Reviews on Avatar: The Last Airbender and I will help Stefan with a project he has in mind. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's a big one and every little bit helps. Well, until then, Stay Frosty and...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. ;)
(I Have the Power Short Version - She-Ra end credits theme play)
*Fade Out
2 comments:
She-Ra is great. She was also one kf the 1st Cartoon Heroines who Didn't begin in Comics.
Quite True! Wonder Woman may be the first female superhero, but She-Ra took it to a whole new level.
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