How Luz Fits The Hurting Hero Trope... | THE OWL HOUSE Video Essay

they should hit his guts and it would be better if he literally never existed um that escalated quickly the first episode of season three of the owl house thanks to them allows us to see what happened to the hex Squad once we got dropped on Earth following the event of season two because the third season was cut short due to Disney believing that the show doesn't fit their brand instead of a full third season we are getting three special episodes which are longer than usual and will Mark the end of the series this caused Diana Terrace the show's Creator and her crew to change plans for the future of the show and prevented them from telling the story they wanted to tell initially there is some hope for the future of this series as Bob traffic who was responsible for the decision to cancel the show was removed from his position at Disney's CEO and he is being replaced by whoop Iger who was the CEO of Disney for 15 years and the person who actually Green in the owl house when it was first appeared to the company in fact he even signed for the second season before the show even started with these changes there might be some hope for the future of the series despite it cancellation especially as it seems like following thanks to them's success Disney is starting to realize this how beloved this show was by its fans while it's unlikely that season 3 can be changed at this point what with the second of the three special episodes coming out pretty soon a possible movie or a spin-off series might still be a possibility the first several minutes of thanks to them show us a kind of Montage of what happened to the hex God following the arrival in the human realm highlighting just how many samples had to be abandoned cut off or changed in order to fit the free extra long episodes that we are getting instead of a full season and while it's heartbreaking to see it also shows just how skilled the crew of The Owl House is managing to put as much content into this 40-something minutes as possible and still delivering a strong and solid episode that expands on the World building adds to previously introduce character acts and manages to be entertaining and fun to watch for the viewers I really can't emphasize enough just how impressive that is and how difficult it must have been to pull that off but there is one character asked specifically that I really wanted to discuss in this video because it's both an important topic and thanks to really nicely to the themes introduced in the previous two seasons thanks to them despite its heavy focus on Hunter gives us a lot of insight into how loose cops with what happened at the end of King's tide and shows her dealing with her feelings of self-loathing and guilt and while she's never officially diagnosed with depression and the word depression is never explicitly stated in relation to losing the show she exhibits a lot of the symptoms that many fans who suffered or are suffering from depression found to be extremely relatable I am not a medical professional and the point of this video is simply to discuss and analyze how she can be interpreted as someone suffering from this condition and how exactly she feeds the broken herotrope as someone who has a history of suffering from depressive episodes I just want to say that if you also struggle with mental health issues I urge you to seek the help you need and I will be dropping some helpful resources in the description box below back to lose though her depression is depicted in a realistic and truly heart-wrenching way repeating the overall Narrative of the show and loses character Arc perfectly following some forms and subreddits discussing the show I've seen a lot of people who claim there's no way the show would explore the idea of loose being depressed after season 2 ended and I'm really happy that this was not the case in the end and her mental state is given appropriate amount of screen time lose is hardly the same girl we met at the beginning of the series and while she matured a lot she's still very young and has already faced a lot of flaws and pain in her relatively short life season 2 does a really good job showing that despite her quirky and cheerful nature the passing of her father and the mistakes she believes she made are weighing heavily on her shoulders and the fact that she has a tendency to blame herself for things out of her control is definitely not helping needless to say thanks to them is probably the episode when we see Luz and her most depressed trying to come to times with the fact that she needs to own her mistakes and not knowing how to do it while also feeling responsible for her friends getting trapped in the human realm with no way out the situation seems to be helpless and has more plans to open a portal that would take them back to the Boeing Astros in fact shift we can see how it affects loser's mental health in a very negative way we also already knew that was always blessed with an overactive imagination that unfortunately used to get her in trouble back in the human realm and this episode really exposed just how constant mockery and people doubting her abilities affected her in the long run the little speech that she gives in class is possibly the best proof of just how hard the day of unity and the following events were on her indicating that she feels worthless and like she causes trouble wherever she goes regardless of her intentions she always used fictional characters and events to project her issues on so it makes sense that she used a character discussed in class to project on and used to work out her complicated feelings regarding her own role in the adventures she had in the demon realm she recognizes herself in the historical figure discussed in class and uses it as a way to justify her own feelings of self-hatred and doubt blaming herself for putting everyone in danger and not realizing sooner the truth about Philippe waterbinds through in identity she even goes as far as to say that if the person discussing class never existed none of the bad stuff would have happened implying that she wishes she never set foot in the bowling aisles if you know that their lives would never have been in danger if it weren't for him they should hate his guts and it would be better if he literally never existed it's a very dark and shocking confession coming from a severely traumatized kid who only ever wanted to be good at something and there's implication there that she might be feeling suicidal she blames herself for making those clothes to her suffer without realizing just how much she had them changed for the better because she's too lost in her own feelings of guilt and depression to realize that this is loose at her lowest a consequence of everything that happened to her since entering the portal to the demon realm catching up with her she dreamed of reuniting with her mother and getting a chance to show Amity her world but even though she got it in the end this is not how she imagined it happening what I really appreciate about the way her anxiety and the person were handled is that you can see it all building up starting as early as in season one and with animation being a visual medium thanks to them uses it as a tool to portray just how bad she is doing emotionally throughout the episode she even carries herself differently with visibly slumped shoulders and a permanent frown on her face she's also much quieter and less energetic than usual visit subdued it's drying if you compare it to season 1 news who even though often anxious always wore a white smile on her face and try her best to remain optimistic no matter what now she's evidently withdrawn occasionally seeking Comfort like when she chooses to spend the night in Camilla's bed but definitely more avoidant than she used to be especially with her friends she still spends time with them but it feels like she's still standing nearby rather than actively participating in discussions even when she smiles it's often brief and nowhere near to what we are used to her eyebrows are furrowed and she's clearly forcing happiness at times to avoid disappointing others even more this is something that is often referred to as masking which is hiding or suppressing the symptoms of a mental health condition usually by attempting to look cheerful in social situations when we feel like we can't express our real self and have to act in a socially normative way a very good example of that is when Amity suggests that they go as Azura and Hecate for Halloween something that would have had all the loose practically squealing with excitement this is all she ever wanted people who shared her passions and didn't consider her interests weird or of putting but now that she actually got her where she's struggling to express happiness the way she used to because there's too much on her mind and the person has a habit of making the things used to love before seem meaningless and do she's trying to hide her feelings faking happiness in front of family and others because it's all she can do to maintain some sense of normalcy in this situation that is anything but normal there's also this interesting parallel between her and a character from her favorite fictional story that we are introduced to in this episode called villananas Lucy before Luz always used to identify the most with the good witch Azura wishing to experience magical adventures just like her role model and even creating an allies for herself that's a mix of her and Azura's names however with everything that happens she can no longer see herself in Azura who was always portrayed as a just and honorable person but because loses perception of herself changed so drastically she can't relate to Azura anymore even though she spent years idolizing her and trying to be just like her hero instead it's implied that it's actually the antagonist of the movie villainous Lucy who loose finds herself relating to we don't know all that much about the plot of the movie but the one seen we see from it is very telling in the scene we see the good witch Azura and villainous Lucy facing one another following closest betrayal and Azura assures her that she'll never be forgiven for her actions and the thing is for Luz this is her biggest fear being voiced by her hero this is her feeling like no matter what she does to fix things it will never be enough to make up for her role in Philips rise to power what's notable is how the show draws attention to this by giving villainous Lucy a design that resembles rules herself with the same hair as well as clothes striking as similar to those she wore when she was still attending hexade as a student I find it interesting that in order to better explore loser's mindset and her mental state the creators used a fictional story it's significant because we know how much loose loves fiction and that it played a huge role in her life the book series about Azura's Adventures was with loose for a very long time and it was actually one of the very first things we find out about Luz in the first episode of the series this book was actually a gift she got from her late father the reason why she ended up in the demon realm in the first place and also her first through a connection with Amity that led to them growing closer and eventually becoming a couple so it makes sense that the same tool the story used to show us what loose aspires to be is now used to show us how she feels about herself it's always been the narrative's device that helped us understand rules and her motivations better showing that she values fiction and wishes her life was more like the stories she read about but the thing is now that her work became reality she can no longer relate to the hero in the story as Raph feels distant almost unreachable and even though Luz agrees to dress as her for Halloween she lacks her usual enthusiasm because Azura is a reminder of what she failed to be another interesting part that I only realized during one of my many watches is that villainous Lucy uses the same argument to defend her actions as Bellas it was for the greater good except it wasn't for the greater good we don't now villainous loses backstory but we know Bellows and we know all he did was out of a misguided sense of justice and his hatred towards the witches he had centuries to learn to appreciate the demon realm and befriend those he met there but he chose to cling to his bigotry and hatred wasting his entire life trying to find a way to destroy it and eventually even becoming the very thing he hated the most he's nothing more than a racist old man who hates things he doesn't understand because he was told aware of lesser value and he never took the time or effort to re-evaluate the things he was taught he never cared for anyone or anything and he was willing to sacrifice his own brother in a moment of rage because he felt like he was wronged by him well we don't know for sure if killing Caleb was an accident or not we know what he did to Hunter and other Grim Walkers creating dozens of copies of his brother and then using them for his own gain only to kill them once they were no longer useful there is nothing redeemable about battles and what's the most horrifying thing about him is that he always chose the path of violence hatred and the stress even when he had an opportunity to make a different Choice he sees other people as Expendable and that's what makes him not really compelling but also extremely threatening villain I actually made a whole video about boss and how he's possibly one of the best Disney villains in years so go give it a watch anyway my point is that Bellows is basically anti-loose he represents everything she's not and would never be despite their somewhat similar backgrounds they couldn't be more different and meeting him and finding out that she was crucial to the success of his plan is something that Lou simply wasn't equipped to handle because at the end of the day she's just a 14 years old girl who thought that she finally found her place in the world and then had it ripped away from her she's made a lot of mistakes yes like staying in a demon realm for so long without contacting her mother or how she has a tendency to make promises she can't keep but that's because she's not some perfect and blunt protagonist that you can free reproject onto she's a flawed individual and a young kid who's still growing and learning and this is part of what makes her Arc and her decreasing mental health so hard breaking to watch Once words though is that it's almost like she's expecting punishment for hand actions why aren't you mad at me and it really shows that she doesn't know what to do to make things better and how to repair the damage she believes she is responsible for it illustrates that even with a strong support system and people who are willing to forgive your transgressions the hardest path can be forgiving yourself and accepting that you are just human and your mistakes don't have to Define you whether Philip killed his brother intentionally or not his following actions were our toys this is possibly what truly differentiates blues and battles whereas Ballas Fourier embraced his Prejudice and Puritan beliefs Bruce constantly challenges hairs and tries to do the right thing even when she records her Vlog in which she confesses that she is not planning to go back to the Boeing aisles because she considers herself to be a danger to everyone it's for that very reason at this moment she truly believes that this has to be done and that this is the best course of events for everyone it's misguided yes but her intentions are pure and show just how much she cares about the people she loves and the entire demon realm she's willing to sacrifice her own happiness and say goodbye to one place where she she feels like she can finally belong because in her depressed and self-loving state this is what she considers to be the right choice in fact I think it's fair to say that Luz was always more prone to depressive episodes and in this video I want to explain why and explore how it affected her so the main question is was all of this avoidable was it possible to avoid lose being depressed and honestly no I don't think so there are many factors that put loose at a higher risk of suffering from anxiety and depression and we know for a fact that she and Camilla both struggled immensely after her father's death and if you look at risk factors for depression you can see factors such as family history and genetics the full list contains things such as chronic stress history of trauma gender unresolved grief or loss personality traits and poor nutrition we know for a fact that Luz wasn't the only one struggling but I think that given everything we learned about Camilla and thanks to them it's fair to assume that she did in fact suffer from depression before it's implied that money was dying for quite a long time long enough for the noseda family to have to move places while seeking better treatment for him and once he died he left Camilla as a single parent who very likely struggled with medical bills and the responsibility to raise her daughter on her own managing one's grief can be very hard especially without the proper support system and we've never seen loose Mansion any family members other than her parents so it's safe to assume Camilla only had herself to rely on adding the fact that camera experienced bullying when she was loses 8 or a little older would support the idea that there might be a history of mental health issues in the noseda family another two factors that is chronic stress and history of trauma also seemed to be the case as even though coming to the demon realm was good for losing the long run it also exposed her to a lot of trauma and stress that no child her age should ever face and that's even before we learned just how big of a Fred Bellows is the same bullying that she experienced in the human realm followed her to her new home and she had to endure constantly being put down by others because she was a human and as such her dreams of becoming a witch were seen as not even pointless on top of that she also thought that she'd lost another parental figure when Ida was about to be turned into stone and honestly from that point onwards things just became worse and worse not only did loose help Philip learn the last of the glyphs he needed but she also put into motion the events that helped him meet the collector making his dreams of killing all of the demons and witches possible that obviously left her feeling extremely guilty to the point where she had trouble admitting the truth in fear of being rejected and seen as a monster by her friends loses kind of a people pleaser so the perspective of disappointing and hurting her loved ones must be absolutely horrifying for her another factor is gender and well there's not very much to say about this one according to studies women are more likely to develop the pressure version one man and one in eight women experience depression in their lifetime there are a lot of fears as to why but in general it is speculated that it's because women are statistically more likely to experience trauma and abuse it's also likely that hormones might play a role here and apparently gender differences in depression rights emerge in puberty with guys reporting more depression starting in their preteen years meaning that it could totally apply to lose especially following the loss of her Father which actually leads us to another factor which is unresolved grief and loss in reaching out we find out that around the time of the anniversary of her dad's death she is more likely to be depressed withdrawn and less less she desperately searches for a distraction to avoid facing her own feelings especially when she doesn't have access to her usual coping mechanisms which is getting flowers with her mom and remembering her dads together because she's trapped in the demon realm she can't do it this time and it leads to her being extremely anxious and doing risky things in an attempt to distract herself obviously it all ends blowing up in her face in the end and eventually she comes Queen to Amity and even when throughout her explanation she tries to minimize her feelings assuring Amity that her father's death happened so long ago and is totally not an issue anymore all it does is show us that once her usual coping mechanisms are taken away she falls apart and sure what to do with herself another risk factor is personality traits and this is where I wanted to discuss loses ADHD it was confirmed by then not Harris that loose was supposed to be neurodivergent and while neurodivergency itself isn't a personality trait a lot of traits that lose exhibits throughout the show might be tied to her ADHD and are also something that puts people at a higher risk of experiencing mental health struggles not to mention the fact that loses neurodivergency seems to be a huge aspect in her difficulties connecting with her peers and having a hard time fitting in a lot of people with ADHD grow up feeling like they are different and well they are as someone who was diagnosed with ADHD only a few years ago I look back at my childhood and realized just how many of my behaviors back then were actually symptoms and depression is estimated to be 2 0.7 times more prevalent among adults with ADHD than among the general adult populations so again even the flus didn't develop in in her teenage years she was already at risk of developing it at some point in her future what's more is that Luz is also a queer person she identifies as bisexual and bisexual people have been proven to be at a greater risk of mental health issues and while loose generally seems to be surrounded by people who accept her for who she is coming to terms with your identity can still be challenging regardless of the reactions of others so yes while being ideal at the End by Arnold's personality traits were important parts of loser's identity and both are associated with greater risk of having mental health issues the last thing on the list that I wanted to mention is poor nutrition and it really makes me think that all the sins were either mentions that loose can't digest most of the food consumed in the demon realm were just one of the elements used by the crew to show just how much loose is struggling to adapt to her new life and that in some aspects being there is hardly the dream come true that she hoped to would be good and healthy diet is important for brain function our body needs nutrients and it seems like loser's diet was poor for the entirety of her style in the owl house because most of the food there would cause her stomach troubles it's difficult to thrive when we don't get the necessary nutrients and it's clear that those was only eating things that she could actually digest which means that she might have had deficiencies that contributed to her poor mental health all of these elements lead me to believe that Lucy's Depression was a very carefully planned aspect of the plot and as someone who did suffer from anxiety and depression and is still recovering I found her whole journey to be very realistic and relatable you can see that she's not coping well holding in a lot of panda promotion because she doesn't want to worry anyone Luz always had this tendency to see herself as some kind of a burden and especially as the events of the second season progressed you could see her developing a real insecurity related to that at first it's her warning that she's a burden on either because after losing her magic and important to the human realm Ida has to look for alternative ways to earn money and later on they have an actual fight the only find the two of them ever have when Eda wants to keep loose safe and away from the draining spot on the day of unity from Ida's perspective she's trying to protect Luz but for lose it's a moment when all her fears become reality it feels like a rejection and she experienced so much rejection already she can't take this especially not from either whom she always idolized and look up to this whole time lose wanted to prove herself and there's Ida the same Ida was the first person to believe in her and she's underestimating her and trying to keep her away from everyone as soon as things get difficult it even makes either transform something she only ever does when things are true he died because she couldn't forgive herself if something bad happens to lose she knows better than anyone knows how capable this is but it doesn't stop her from worrying and seeing herself as a sort of mother figure for her she practically begs Ryan to take loose away knowing that they are the only person who can ensure her safety and all that because she doesn't want loose to know that there is no plan to stop Bells because either couldn't repair disappointing or upsetting her and Lewis was already insecure about that takes it a sign that either sees her as weak but what she doesn't get is that it's either actually admitting her own weakness and recognizing that as much as she wants to protect loose herself this is the one time when she can't so she chooses to do the next best thing even if Luz is going to hate her for it her relationship with Ida isn't the only one that reflects her difficulties doing with stressful and sad situation though her relationship with family also seems to suffer when loose chooses to hide the truth from her in the fear of worrying her Luz is still learning how to lean on Amity when she needs it and what I've always loved about the relationship is that I mean he lets her do it while still establishing firm boundaries she doesn't mind giving loose some time if she needs it but she doesn't want lies or lose withholding crucial information from her I think it's also difficult for Amity to know what is and what isn't normal because her own parents lived in what appears to be a Loveless marriage and this is the only solid positive reference that she has when it comes to romantic relationships odalia even implies that her relationship with Allah there is strictly transactional more like a contract between two business partners rather than a bond based on love and shared life so the fact that Amity is trying to be gentle and understanding towards Lou speaks volumes about her own journey of processing trauma and neglect she experienced because of her parents Amity knows maybe better than anyone with lack of trust and love leads to in a relationship and it's clear that she won't let her relationship with loose end up the way the marriage of her parents did we see in Follies at the coven Day parade that when she suspects that loses hiding something she tries to confront the problem and find out what's wrong she's perfectly capable of recognizing that something is bothering her girlfriend and she tries to be accepting of her boundaries but also expects honesty in return loses surrounded by loving and supportive people and it's good to see them establishing over and over again that she can count on them at the end of the day though loses the one who has to do the work and forgive herself it's a little disappointing that most likely the last two episodes of the series won't be able to address loses mental health in much detail as I expect there will be a lot of other stuff to cover however I'm glad that her secret is out in the open now and that her loved ones got a chance to reassure her that she shouldn't blame herself for what happened Hunter said it best that's what bellus does he tricks people if it weren't you it would have been someone else I already talked about it in my hello mind video but Bellows is a master manipulator and he latches onto any perceived flow that he can see in order to bring those who oppose him down he tricked almost everyone in the boring aisles and those he couldn't he forced into submission by sheer pure power of pressure by spreading the belief that wild witches are dangerous and untrustworthy as a result even those who refuse to accept the sigil and joined one of the covens were shot in their communities and treated with suspicion and distrust he created a system that allowed him to become a powerful political figure who has full control over this place and these people which really goes to show just how disadvantaged our heroes are especially those who on top of opposing Bell's opening is also a human she has no magical abilities on her own and she had to fight her to be treated seriously by the witches and demons of the Isles much like Bella's Sheila in the glyph's magic but it was a long and difficult process and it perfectly captures yet another difference between the two of them while Bells discovered and must after the glove magic he kept its existence for himself using it to create the illusion of being the most powerful of witches Luz actually shared her knowledge and you can see her teaching how to make glyphs to others I really expect it to be important in the last two episodes of the series as for now we know that the majority of witches had their magic drained and we don't know for sure whether it can be reversed or not what I love about the portrayal of losers depression though is that it doesn't feel like looking at a list of criteria and checking the boxes her depression of his personal meaningful and raw the crew depicted it in a way that not only feels extremely relatable for those who experience similar symptoms but it also tells us a lot about rules as a character and how she specifically would deal with mental health issues it's also nice to see the strength of modern cartoons actually taking their time to explore the mental state of its characters following the events they experienced throughout the story The Owl House is even more unique in that aspect because it gives children useful tools to deal with their own struggles better like in the scene where ghost teaches Hunter how to breathe through an anxiety attack on himself or they will lose an Amity addressed the issues when they arise instead of initiating arguments pushing boundaries or disrespecting each other's privacy I sometimes see this argument that if everything was resolved in a calm and mature fashion that would make for poor and boring story but the owl house is a nice example of the fact that you might have conflict and tension and resolve it in a way that is not only healthy but still manages to be entertaining and provide insight into the characters their motivations and relationships and especially in stories targeted towards children it's important to show that not every argument has to be escalated and that not every fight needs to end with door slamming and breakups I know from my experience just how draining depressive episodes can be and I remember that my mental health took a huge hit when I was more or less loses age being an undiagnosed queer kid with ADHD who used books and stories as a coping mechanism I wish that at the time I had a kind of representation that would help me understand what I was going through and give me characters I could relate to and learn from I hope that loose can be that for this generation of kids the owl is really exceptional in how it approaches these struggles that many people face and offers a sort of safe space to not only explore them but also to find ways to get better I would have been Overjoyed if I had a cartoon like the owl house back when I was in that depressed lonely place just trying to survive the next day and allowing this feeling to suck all of my energy happiness and strength it's important to normalize these feelings to validate them but also to offer solutions to the problem and show that this feeling doesn't have to last forever the owl house also highlights the importance of a good support system while also showing how important it is to be open and truthful about what we are going through so we don't end up bottling it up the way loose does all in all I consider loose to be an amazingly written protagonist with believable struggles and phenomenal character art it's good to see protagonists like Heron's toys many targeted eye children this is the kind of representation I would have loved when I was younger and even now as an adult I find her to be one of the most compelling and fan protagonists in modern animation I would love to hear our thoughts on the topic and whether you think that loses mental health was handled well in the show as always feel free to share your opinions in the comments below I read every single one of them and I love interacting with you guys and finding out what you thought about the video and the topics discussed in it if you enjoyed this video consider validating my Damas with a like and of course you can subscribe to get more videos like this one I'm also always open to suggestions about what I should cover next so if there's anything you would like me to discuss in the future please let me know thank you so much for watching I appreciate every single one of you and we'll see you next time

Channel: golden prism

Views: 47,123

Keywords: the owl house, owl house, luz noceda, toh video essay, lumity, amity blight, toh amity, owl house luz, toh eda, belos, hunter, commentary, review, video essay, video essays to fall asleep to, disney, disney+ owl house season 3, thanks to them the owl house, reaction, mental health, hero trope, trope talk, toh lumity, golden guard, the owl house theory, philip wittebane, hunter the owl house, owl house scenes, animation review, toh analysis, the owl house luz analysis

Id: vIP8iEWNDd0

Length: 28min 9sec (1689 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 31 2022