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Happy 25th, She-Ra!
Oct. 6th, 2010 12:38 pmThis year marks 25 years since She-Ra debuted. Awwww! There's an article on CNN.com about it, but I have to take issue with the voice actress saying that She-Ra was the first female superhero. No, honey, that would be Wonder Woman. Or any of the female X-Men, like Storm or Rogue. Or how about Batgirl or Spider-Girl? Heck, even the Bionic Woman would qualify as coming first. There were plenty of female superheroes before She-Ra.
But She-Ra was definitely one of the few mass-market female superheroes from the 80s who a) had a definite feminist slant and b) fought hand-to-hand against male villains*. Most other shows had girl heroes fighting girl villains, and I always liked that She-Ra could hold her own against Hordak and his ilk. And unlike the female characters on ensemble hero shows (Cheetara from ThunderCats, for example), she wasn't relegated to the sidekick position. She-Ra was front and center, always.
I spent waaaaay too much time as a child wanting to be She-Ra. I still love her. I can't believe it's been 25 years, though. When did I get old?
*At least on TV she fought male characters; in the toy line canon she only fought against Catra and other female villains. I can't believe I can differentiate between cartoon show and toy line character canon...
But She-Ra was definitely one of the few mass-market female superheroes from the 80s who a) had a definite feminist slant and b) fought hand-to-hand against male villains*. Most other shows had girl heroes fighting girl villains, and I always liked that She-Ra could hold her own against Hordak and his ilk. And unlike the female characters on ensemble hero shows (Cheetara from ThunderCats, for example), she wasn't relegated to the sidekick position. She-Ra was front and center, always.
I spent waaaaay too much time as a child wanting to be She-Ra. I still love her. I can't believe it's been 25 years, though. When did I get old?
*At least on TV she fought male characters; in the toy line canon she only fought against Catra and other female villains. I can't believe I can differentiate between cartoon show and toy line character canon...
