How WILLOW Redefines The STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER Trope || Video Essay

so in recent years there's been quite a lot of talk about strong female characters that really opened the discussion about what does it take for a female character to be considered strong and how can writers create a believable and empowering portrayal physical strength and the ability to hold one's own against the men are often viewed as markers of a strong female character but is that really all there is to it how do you measure this kind of thing and how do you decide that one character meets the necessary criteria while the other doesn't I think Willow is a pretty good representation of a female character who is strong and reliable two traits that are often associated with men while still being very feminine and not falling into some common tropes and stereotypes that are often a result of the poor use of this Trope Willow has a rather significant role in the show and her Arc feels very deliberate in a sense that you can tell that it's not something that happened just because the plot needed it to happen in fact I think season 3 proves that the writers really cared about giving her Ugg a satisfying conclusion her character developed government was a slow process that stretched over the entire course of the show I think acts like that are some of the most satisfying ones to follow because you can see the character get from point A to point B in a way that feels natural unbelievable it allows the writers to really explore who this character is as a person and show how they can change and grow over time while it definitely shows that her Arc had to be a bit rushed due to the lack of time after Disney decided to cancel the show I'm really glad that writers prioritize it anyway because it's a development that was set very early on in the series starting in the very first episode we get introduced to Willow it would feel kind of weird if there was no payoff at the end especially considering how close the hexwell became during their time in the human realm when we meet Willow and I was a teenage Abomination she's shown as a rather Meek and quiet guy who's been severally bullied by her classmates for a very long time because of that she doesn't have much confidence and her self-esteem is clearly affected by the constant mockery she's been subjected to despite all that she's a genuinely nice person who cares deeply about others she's also the very first friend her own age that loose makes in the demon realm it's really not surprising that she and loss become best friends as they shared a lot of similarities and both know how it feels to be rejected by other kids their age because of her kind and supportive nature Willow makes friends easily and is shown to be extremely loyal she takes a lot of pride in being there for her friends and showing them continuous support whenever they need it now I want you all to imagine what a strong female character looks like like think about what comes to your mind when you hear these words because yeah I would definitely say that I consider Willow to be a strong female character but it doesn't change the fact that she doesn't exactly fit the typical image of a strong female character she's not what immediately comes to mind when you try to picture someone like that but then again what does it even mean what kind of requirements do you have to meet in order to be one how do we convey that a female character is strong is it through the specific design choices or maybe just the way she handles herself in a battle one of the characters that I consider to be strong is definitely why from Arcane and it's very clear when you take her design into consideration she's very physically strong and her whole design reflects that she's muscular she's tough she's wearing clothes that can be considered comfortable practical and even masculine she's not your typical Damsel in Distress she doesn't need saving and she's a very active character both as a person and as a part of the narrative her strength is very obvious too with the viewer she is always ready to jump right into the fight she's fiercely protective and insanely Brave you don't need to think twice about whether she's strong or not it's one of the very first things you notice about her it's just part of who she is and yes as the story progresses we uncover a more vulnerable side of her but at no point do we have any reasons to doubt that she's both physically and mentally strong so what I'm hinting at is the thing about Willow is that nothing about her design screams strong female character if anything is the opposite I mean she's a teenager she's a little chubby she has a gentle personality and even though she's definitely powerful outside of planned magic she doesn't appear to be all that skilled at other types of magic she just excels in this one field while being rather average in others however does that mean she isn't strong does it mean that she doesn't deserve this title or that this whole premise of this video is me just rambling about something that's not even true honestly I would argue that all these things are what makes her so strong once you look at her entire Arc the way she behaves and what her motivations are I don't see a reason to see her as anything other than strong she endured actual years of bullying and harassment but rather than allow it to break her she decided to give her former friends turned bully another chance showing that she's capable of forgiveness and it's not like she let things just go back to the way they were she made it clear that even though she's willing to give Amity a second chance it doesn't mean everything's fine now she still holds her accountable she still expects hamity to win her trust back and put actual effort into improving their relationship and they absolutely love the message that it sends to the audience that even if you choose to forgive it's impossible to forget trusting others is difficult especially if you were hurt before and it's an Amity to make things right and show that she's no longer a bully she has to actively show that she changed through her words but most importantly through her actions and it's not something that can just happen overnight it's a process and it takes time to build that trust back and establish heavy boundaries understanding Willow is a very important episode of the series that allows us to understand what exactly happened between her and Amity and why they are no longer friends when loose enters the picture in order to save Willow after Amity unintentionally messes up with her memories loosen dammit you go to Willow's mind to undo the damage and restore her memories there they find inner Willow who's blinded by the resentment caused by years of being ignored and bullied by Amity and her friends inner Willow is willing to destroy everything even Willow herself as long as it means punishing for Amity for years of term and abuse not gonna lie I think it was quite shocking and unexpected to see such a dark side of a character who normally appears to be so kind and sweet to everyone but it really captures how damaging being bullied can be how it destroys your self-esteem and turns you into someone you're not and I think it's great that the show doesn't condemn her for it it approaches this with a lot of understanding and empathy showing that this resentment she's feeling is wrong and not because it's not valid but because it only ends up hurting below more I think that the thing that really speaks of Wheel of strength of character is that she actively chooses to be kind even when she has legitimate reasons to feel hurt and angry it's especially clear when Amity finally reveals why she dropped her as a friend explaining that it was never about Willow herself but rather her parents impossible expectations and obsession with social status and it really shows how destructive and harmful bullying can be how the drama that comes with it leaves very deep scars and changes the way you see the world in a very fundamental way but Willow was still able to overcome that hurt to realize that it wasn't really about her but about amiti's own struggles with what it means to be obliged and what her parents expect from her and what I find interesting is how Willow's treatment of Amity is reflected in how Amity approaches making amends with her dad later on in the series it's especially visible in reaching out where instead of allowing a ladder to hack her Amity goes for a handshake the same way that will isn't able to let their friendship go back to the way it was Amity chooses to establish boundaries with her dad showing him that while she's willing to forgive him she needs him to understand that it will be on her terms and not the other way around giving time and space to the person you heard is an important part of the process and it can't be rushed as someone who was a victim of bullying I really think that the owl house is exactly what kids these days need there are a lot of life lessons that I consider to be very valuable and I wish that when I was younger I had stories that would help me understand that being the bigger person isn't always a good thing that I don't have to forgive even forget that the herd that I experienced was valid and that even if I'm willing to forgive it doesn't just magically erase all that suffering and I think it's also one of these subtle ways in which we see that Willow is a very mentally strong person where instead of allowing this resentment to grow she's able to be mature and understanding without sacrificing her dignity or putting herself in the position of a victim and all this really shows how Willow is willing to extend her kindness to people who don't always deserve it but at the same time she doesn't let them take advantage of her she's simply a better person than they are and she wants to see the Western people even though she has all the reasons not to obviously Willow was deeply affected by losing her best friend and then watching Amity become part of a group that enjoyed mocking her on a daily basis and even though Amity eventually realized that she doesn't want to be like that Basha and her Squad of Mingus continued to bully Willow and her friends what's interesting is how Relentless Basha is we see how she sabotage Willow's relationship with others during attack side how she would go out of her way to make mean comments and prevent other kids from making a connection with her I really wish there were more episodes to really explore why exactly bosha seems to be obsessed with Willow specifically although if I had to guess based on the events of for the future and some of the comments she makes earlier in the series it seems like she's jealous of her bond with Amity and the reason why she doubles down on her bullying is because patching things up with Amity made Willow more confident she's learned that the reason why their friendship fell apart had nothing to do with her and that along with the friends she made gave her the confidence boost she desperately needed and that was unacceptable from Basha's perspective because not only did she lose someone she considered to be her friend but she lost her for the person she always perceived as beneath her for the future really explores how losing hamity was a huge blow to bosha to the point where she was willing to beg on her knees to make her come back and hang out with her again it was kind of hinted at before but for the future really highlights that Basha considered Amity to be someone close to her even if it was possessiveness rather than a genuine friendship in fact her behavior in season 3 cost a lot of fans to feel like borgia's obsession with Amity is romantic in nature and the reason why she took losing her as a friend so badly is because she had a crush on her I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to this interpretation I've seen many people argue that there's no way that it was romantic and others swearing that it definitely was but I don't think it really matters at the end of the day it's cream that Basha is a very possessive person and she can't accept the fact that Amity no longer wants to be friends with her she's used to things going her way partly because as the captain of the garage be team she could get away with murder and yes that's an actual line in the show but also because bosha is the kind of person who doesn't accept the words no and most of the time others will give her whatever she wants out of fear and since social status is important to her she can't understand why someone like Amity would prefer to hang out with a human and someone she doesn't even consider to be a real witch what I think the Owl House gets right about bullying is that no matter how much will always improves her social life no matter how powerful or loved she becomes none of this will ever be enough to change the mind of someone like blusha and it can be a very difficult thing to accept there's no reasoning with some people you can do everything right and that will never be enough people like bosha are just unpleasant and toxic to be around and the best thing you can do is cut them off from your life and focus on yourself maybe they will grow up at some point maybe they won't but whatever they choose to project on you in order to justify the way they treat you it's got nothing to do with who you are as a person I'm not exactly sure how I feel about boscha in the end I feel like her argue sounds kind of a Brooklyn for the future on one hand I like the fact that she doesn't reconcile with filo she doesn't admit that she did anything wrong and while it is somewhat disappointing it is definitely the most realistic outcome on the other hand it feels like her Arc was somewhat unfinished like there's no less in there no conclusion despite the opportunity to show how her pushing people away and prioritizing being feared over being like led to her thing lonely and not having a real support system I feel like maybe I'm being a little nitpicky here but despite having such a huge presence in for the future she doesn't really get to do that much and her actions lead to us learning more about Amity and Willow rather than telling us anything new about her as a character I'm actually really curious how you felt about Basha in this episode so feel free to post your thoughts in the comments I will talk about how little more in my video on amiti's character Arc which should be by the end of May back to Willow though now that I covered Basha and her role in world's character Arc I think it's time to discuss how the events are for the future and seeing her old bully again affected her it's clear that the time that the hex was but in the human arm was very difficult for all of them they were separated from their loved ones desperately looking for a way back not knowing whether there's even anything to go back to and all this obviously resulted in a lot of anxiety and fear during that time Willow took on the role of a big sister someone who has to be strong and who's there to take care of everyone and look after them after all it's been established that this is who she aspires to be this is how she wants to be perceived but of course being strong isn't always easy and often it's actually impossible even the strongest of people need some help from time to time they need a strong support system just like everyone else and you can see how we look kind of deprived herself of that support system how she felt like relying on others in her own moments of weakness would make her weak and stand in the way of all the hard work she had to put in order to become stronger unfortunately that's not how it works especially not when you're just a child who experience a lot of trauma in a very short period of time nearly losing Hunter at the end of thanks for them and being back in the demon realm after all this time must have been a sort of breaking point for her but instead of admitting it and seeking comfort from her friends she tried to be strong for them pretending like everything's fine and even giving Camilla advice regarding glues this is where we see how bad this idea of out of sight out of mind affected her it's a mantra that she used backed in understanding Willow in order to push away the negative emotions associated with Amity and their childhood want and this is very much the same mechanism she uses in for the future when she doesn't want to confront negative feelings she simply pushes through and pretends they don't exist and while it can work as a short-term solution in the long run it's a very unhealthy approach to have by denying that she's scared and acting like everything is fine she's bottling it all up and preventing herself from finding a healthy way to process these feelings and doing that never ends well which we see later on when she eventually loses control of her magic and her Vines start attacking her and her friends it's Will's greatest flaw something we saw in understanding below before coming back for forcing for the future when she's at her lowest she repressed her feelings believing that they make her weak because she's so desperate to uphold this idea of being a strong and dependable witch that Hunter met her ass she's so afraid of going back to who she was to allowed Bashan to bully and belittle her again and to bring back the person she used to be this Smith guy who was so afraid of Confrontation and I think there's this extra layer of anxiety that Hunter specifically might see her like this he met her as the strong and sure of herself captain of the flying derby team and the idea that he might see the version of herself that she despises so so much it scares her it's something that she wants to live in the past but the thing is Hunter would never think less of her because of a moment of weakness and to him she's genuinely one of the strongest people he knows and more than that she's someone he admires more than anyone in the world even his previous Devotion to Bellas never ran this deep because it was something he was conditioned to do but Willow has always seen Hunter for who he was not because of his usefulness but because she saw his strengths and recognized them when no one else would she offered him the kind of agency and kindness he never experienced as by los's right hand man and in turn it ties nicely to how Hunter admires Willow something we've seen before in any sport in a storm and Labyrinth Runners unlike I'm committee glass or even loose Hunter doesn't really know the old Willow he met her when she was already working on being more confident and mending her friendship with Amity so it's understandable that she doesn't want him to see that weak and vulnerable Willow that she used to be while Willow forgiving Amity was a crucial and necessary step it's important to remember that her issues run even deeper than that and years of trauma caused by bullying can't be easily erased which I think makes the choice to make photography without passion pretty significant the thing about photography is that it's used to capture memories to immortalize moments from our life both good and bad because we consider them to be important in some way and want to remember them and it's even more symbolic when you remember that in the demon realm photos are taken by literally pulling them out from your brain and their quality is related to how well you remember the events of the memory photography was always an important part of Willow's Arc but back in season 1 she still wasn't ready to face some of the painful memories that reminded her of her past relationship with Amity she wanted to out of sight out of mind them and act like they never existed because at the time it was easier and she wasn't ready to confront her past so to see her make a continuous Choice throughout the series to take photos of things and people she cares about to hold on to these memories and accept them as they are it's a very powerful representation of her accepting her past and who she is it shows a lot of character growth being willing to hold on to these memories and being kind to the version of herself that she used to be it's not an easy thing to do to look kindly at who you were especially if it's not someone who you want to be going forward it's tempting to look back at our past selves and to see all the things that we did wrong to be angry with ourselves and ashamed of our actions and it's natural to feel that way sometimes but I think it's important to remember that we can't change the past and more often than not what we need most isn't blaming ourselves and getting stuck on our past mistakes but rather approaching them with Gentile understanding and compassion we can see Willow going through all these stages as she grows up becomes the version of herself that she wants to be for the future despite showing that she still has some work to do highlights just how far she came and how significant her character Journey really is Willow isn't the only strong female character in The Owl house but I think she represents this character archetype really well subverting expectations and also showing how our strength comes from the decisions that we make moving forward and that being strong doesn't require you to compromise who you are as a person Willow is one of the strongest witches we see in the demon realm but being powerful doesn't stand in opposition to her values she's still very maternal protective and at her core she's just as sweet and kind as she was back in season 1. when it comes to writing strong female characters some writers tends to take male characters and gender swap them in order to avoid this awkward issue of having a main cast that consists mostly of dudes it often leads to some strange characterization issues like as strong and powerful Macho like lady telling others to man up and acting like your stereotypical human who frowns upon anything girly it's not exactly a bad approach but it contributes to the issue that many stories suffer from where you have male characters who are very fleshed out and go through a ton of character development and filming characters who are boring archetypes with no death or Nuance shall anime tend to suffer from this issue a lot and it's um it's not great the our house never fell into that trap not only are the female characters were written but most of the characters in general actively defies stereotypical gender roles that can be very restrictive when it comes to characterization I think it's one of the reasons why the Owl House feels like a breath of fresh air and why many people are still hoping for a spin-off series or other additional content it's clear that the writers try to do something new that's inclusive and relatable so that everyone regardless of things like age or gender can find something to like about it and what I like about Willow specifically is how she grows over the three seasons and proves that your past doesn't have to Define you and even though it's not obvious at first glance she's also one of the strongest characters in the series she had to endure a lot of hardships but instead of letting him turn her into someone angry or bitter she managed to remain just as kind as she was at the beginning of the show while still learning how to Value herself protect those she cares about and enforce firm boundaries and I think it's the kind of represent rotation of strength that all of us need the kind of strength that isn't brute power but rather compassion willingness to change and being open to others it takes a special kind of strength to manage to forgive people who hurt us as long as they show honest effort of course and be the best version of ourselves I'm really glad that kids nowadays have this kind of representation that shows that healing can take many forms and that the real strength of character is how you choose to respond to painful experiences and move past them thank you so much for watching I've been struggling with this script for this video for months so I am so happy that I can finally post it here and move on to the next project I was a little absent on this channel both because I was so overwhelmed by the response under my last video and also because I had some health issues that I needed to take care of if you ever had your wisdom teeth removed you probably know what I mean anyways starting in June I should have a more reliable posting schedule and I have a video on Amity coming very soon so if you want to be updated whenever I post remember to ring that Bell And subscribe as always I can't wait to know how you feel about Philo whether you consider her to be a strong female character and what you think about her ending let me know in the comments below and again thank you so much for watching like I said it's overwhelming to see this channel grow and know that you guys enjoy my content but it makes me very very happy keep being awesome and see you next time

Channel: golden prism

Views: 13,773

Keywords: the owl house, willow park, toh willow, willow owl house, hunter toh, strong female character trope, owl house, huntlow, luz noceda, amity blight, boscha toh, watching and dreaming, for the future, toh video essay, toh review, owl house video essay, the owl house season 3, boscha and willow scene, trope subversion, dana terrace, owl house explained, golden guard, owl house hunter and willow, owl house season 3 episode 2 reaction, video essay, video essay to sleep to, toh

Id: v7ZrXmI6kYg

Length: 21min 45sec (1305 seconds)

Published: Sun May 14 2023