Let Slip the Dogs of War

August 12, 2012

chirart:

I don’t think I can really express the words for how Sailor Moon was so formative to my childhood, for something I don’t think about that deeply anymore. I watched every episode after school faithfully, no matter how many reruns. So faithfully, in fact, that when I missed my first episode I cried for an hour, my nine-year-old heart was so devastated. That’s not an exaggeration, I really did cry into my pillow for an hour. Adorable.
I can also say Sailor Moon was probably what actually got me to want to start drawing cartoons in the way that I do today. I would carefully trace many official pictures just so I can understand Usagi’s design and draw her better. Usagi was kind of my hero, I think. She kind of symbolized what I felt like (and I think what a lot of other girls that age felt like) in that even though you’re a bumbling, dimwitted, goofy nobody… that when it matters—and especially when everything is stacked against you and everyone’s beating you down—you can rise up to be a magnificent princess, take charge, be strong, and you can change the world for the better.
I was teased a lot for liking Sailor Moon as much as I did. But it was the only show growing up that I felt really was about girls and not the IDEA of being girls? Like, I see people criticizing that it’s mostly about boys or food but gosh, the monster of the week episodes always centered around having petty, greedy and outright ugly feelings many people face day to day manipulated to get the better of them, and then a bunch of girls show up from nowhere in awesome outfits to save you from yourself with sparkles and magic and love and leave you happier for it. That’s so fucking awesome. I’m so glad I got to grow up with that.

I thing my favorite thing about Sailor Moon, the thing that I absolutely miss in television these days is how diverse the relationships were in it. You had girls who had close friendships, girls who had combative friendships, girls who were like family, girls who loved other girls, girls who were the awkward time-displaced daughters of other girls (deep dark secret: I really liked Chibiusa), girls who fought alongside girls, girls who fought against girls, and overall just a diverse amount of relationships that you really don’t see so often enough. These were girls who weren’t just love interests! These were girls that were friends, but friends in many different ways!
I want more stories about girls like that.

I don’t think I can really express the words for how Sailor Moon was so formative to my childhood, for something I don’t think about that deeply anymore. I watched every episode after school faithfully, no matter how many reruns. So faithfully, in fact, that when I missed my first episode I cried for an hour, my nine-year-old heart was so devastated. That’s not an exaggeration, I really did cry into my pillow for an hour. Adorable.

I can also say Sailor Moon was probably what actually got me to want to start drawing cartoons in the way that I do today. I would carefully trace many official pictures just so I can understand Usagi’s design and draw her better. Usagi was kind of my hero, I think. She kind of symbolized what I felt like (and I think what a lot of other girls that age felt like) in that even though you’re a bumbling, dimwitted, goofy nobody… that when it matters—and especially when everything is stacked against you and everyone’s beating you down—you can rise up to be a magnificent princess, take charge, be strong, and you can change the world for the better.

I was teased a lot for liking Sailor Moon as much as I did. But it was the only show growing up that I felt really was about girls and not the IDEA of being girls? Like, I see people criticizing that it’s mostly about boys or food but gosh, the monster of the week episodes always centered around having petty, greedy and outright ugly feelings many people face day to day manipulated to get the better of them, and then a bunch of girls show up from nowhere in awesome outfits to save you from yourself with sparkles and magic and love and leave you happier for it. That’s so fucking awesome. I’m so glad I got to grow up with that.

I thing my favorite thing about Sailor Moon, the thing that I absolutely miss in television these days is how diverse the relationships were in it. You had girls who had close friendships, girls who had combative friendships, girls who were like family, girls who loved other girls, girls who were the awkward time-displaced daughters of other girls (deep dark secret: I really liked Chibiusa), girls who fought alongside girls, girls who fought against girls, and overall just a diverse amount of relationships that you really don’t see so often enough. These were girls who weren’t just love interests! These were girls that were friends, but friends in many different ways!

I want more stories about girls like that.

(via glamaphonic)

9:03pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZMZCkwRIZX4c

(Notes: 4,228)