She-Ra: How heroes have changed

As I young boy in the 1980s I watched a lot of He Man.  When She Ra came along a few years later, my sister watched that.  And because it was on right after He Man, so did I. In the end, I came to prefer She Ra to He Man, although I couldn’t tell you why at the time.

Fast forward to a year ago, and Netflix began showing the original She Ra.  I rewatched it out of nostalgia, and enjoyed it as an adult. I came to realize that many of the characteristics I idolize as an adult were present in She Ra.  She wasn’t my hero, but she definitely embodies what a hero was to me as a child.

And then Netflix released the first season of it’s remake “She Ra and the Princesses of Power”.  I resolved to see how She Ra was presented so many years later. What I found was an enjoyable show, but She Ra was no longer the hero that she once was.  She was a new hero, and I realized that, as the original had spoken to my heroic ideals, this new show would speak to the heroic ideals of today’s children, and the differences could tell us a lot about how the values and expectations of children has changed over the years.

Teen hero:  Less Experience, Same Expectations

The first thing we notice about the characters of the new She Ra is that they are quite a bit younger than the original.  1980s Adora is about 25 years old, and is an experienced Horde Force Captain at the beginning of the series. She is, without question, an adult, and a capable one, despite being a villain.  The new Adora, on the other hand, is maybe 16 or 17 years old, and starts the series off as a Horde Cadet, who has not yet seen action in the Horde military.

What does this say about how heroes have changed in 30 years?  In the 1980s, children idolized a strong adult who takes responsibility and leadership roles for moral reasons.  Now, the same responsibility and leadership are being thrust upon a much younger hero. Our new She Ra is much less experienced, and much less confident, but she steps up and takes on the role nonetheless.  It would seem the modern role model can’t afford to wait for adulthood, but must take the responsibilities in front of her, even if she is not confident or experienced.

We Cannot Stand Alone:  No More Lone Hero

In the classic She Ra, the “Great Rebellion” was so only in name before She Ra joined.  It was a sad, silly band of misfits who were not a threat to the Horde. In fact, despite calling them rebels, the Horde treated them as, at most, a nuisance not worth fighting.  She Ra changed all of that, but only because she was a threat to the Horde. The Great Rebellion gained a bit of confidence, but in the end, were not much without She Ra to win the day.

In our new “Princess Alliance” we have a whole team of talented and dangerous young women.  So much so that She Ra is not often really the lynchpin of a lot of the fights. Adora provides leadership, certainly, but it is the princesses that provide the magic punch.  Adora’s primary contribution is in convincing them to band together against the Horde, instead of fighting separately. So gone is the lone hero, replaced by a group of equally capable heroes who provide complementary powers.  Even heroes, it seems, can no longer go it alone.

Fight the Horde:  Etheria at War Instead of Conquered

When we first saw Etheria in the 1980s, it was a totalitarian police state, crushed under the Iron boot of the Horde.  Horde troopers were feared, civilians were rounded up and enslaved. Bow’s minor actions against a trio of guards leads to the enslavement of the entire town, and the rebellion was a couple of tents in the woods.

Contrast this with the new Etheria.  The Horde is a serious threat, but it has not yet conquered Etheria.  It is advancing on the domains of the princesses, but the princesses still hold out, and there is a lot of “normalcy” in their lives despite the war.  The is a princess prom, for example, which Horde members openly attend. Our heroes also have a spa day at an invisible castle, although their assumed safety is shattered in both cases.  

This is probably the most interesting change between the two shows.  She Ra is no longer a great hero fighting an unstoppable Horde of villains who openly oppress their people.  Instead she is a reluctant leader, having suddenly understood the threat the Horde (who raised her to think that it was good and benevolent) poses to the world.  So too, the princesses gradually wake to the threat, as they come to understand that this fight will not be fought for them by the adults, but must be fought by them.  Each of the princesses goes through a coming of age, as they each face the destruction of the lives they had intended to live. This is not the story of a rebellion against obvious evil, but is instead a call to arms against a veiled but growing threat.

Counting the Cost - Being She-Ra has Consequences

The original She Ra kicked butt and looked fabulous, while spouting wit and never chipping a nail.  Honestly, even Adora rarely had to deal with consequences for her choice to defect to the rebellion.  Our newest hero, however, is not so lucky.

Adora in Princesses of Power is faced with consequences immediately, and each choice she makes has real consequences for both her and her friends.  Her relationship with Ketra is the first to fall, but soon she leaves her adoptive Mother (which is a cost, abusive relationship or not) and stands with the Princesses.  Then as she begins to fight, she finds that many victories have a cost, and by the end of Season 1, that cost is very high. It seems that the heroes of the 21st century are not above the consequences of their actions.

Magic is not an Explanation

She Ra in the 1980s was much more technology driven than its parent show, He Man.  The Horde had lasers, tanks, planes, and all sorts of hi tech gadgets, while the Rebellion relied on Magic.  It was fine that spells were cast, swords transformed to rope or shield, and other impossible feats were simply magic in action.

Nowadays, it seems that Magic is not an acceptable explanation in itself.  The new She Ra delves deeply into the hows and whys of the magic used by the princesses, and the source is revealed to be simply ancient and advanced technology.  Perhaps the target audience of the new show no longer believes in magic, but regardless of the reason, it seems the heroes of today must understand the source of the power they wield.

Conclusion

The She Ra of today is a very different young lady than her counterpart of ages past, and her differences highlight the changes in our own ideals.  Our childrens’ heroes can no longer be invulnerable adults, fighting black and white battles alone, using powers they do not understand and suffering no consequences.  Instead, their heroes are strong peers who rally friends and allies to work together against a threat that they see clearer than those around them, and who must understand the power they wield and accept the consequences of their actions.  Ironically, the younger Adora is a more mature hero than her namesake, and she calls on our children to be ready to grow up faster than they might want to. As our world has changed, so has the ideal of heroism, and although maybe fewer children will now want to be like She Ra when they grow up, perhaps more of them will have to be.