Camila Noceda: The Living Pinata for the Owl House
I believe that Camila Noceda is one of, if not the most, forsaken character(s) in TOH.
The Owl House is a show with a diverse, interesting cast that admittedly did put some dedication into its characters. Camila is not one of those characters.
She's introduced as a stressed, widowed, caring mother to the protagonist.
She tries to support Luz, and whilst good-intentioned, she does end up making an interesting (not even necessarily harmful) parenting decision, thus accidentally causing the trajectory of the show.
Immediately, the audience can tell she's still a good mom, despite her flaws. She worries and provides for her daughter to no ends and is full of compassion.
She's a character full of potential, and we can't wait to discover more about her as time goes o-
(COMICALLY LOUD ANVIL)
NOPE!
The show is going to use her as a mere plot device and essentially punish her for existing because the protagonist needs even more unnecessary sympathy points for some reason.
All of her mistakes are going to get overblown, and she's going to be portrayed very distantly.
The only moment she gets truly humanized and acknowledged beyond Standard Mother Figure Beep Boop 🤖 is when Luz finds out she has something in common with her mother—nerdy interests.
Camila is only a proper character when she's relatable to her teenage daughter. Otherwise, get the fuck out of our face I guess?
I can not even begin to tell you how depressing it is that such a nice character gets reduced to another pawn in Luz's backstory. Her character only exists to benefit her kid.
TOH loves extraordinarily fucking over their blatantly POC characters time and time again, to focus on the white favored or ethnically ambiguous characters.
Camila is a character who is undeniably a person of color, which means she's only serviced to upbring characters who are majority white because that's how things are in TOH. The same goes for Gus, for Luz to Amity, even for Willow, despite her not resembling the races she is at all.
Among other reasons as to why Camila was utilized in such a way. Such as the show being incredibly Luz-centered.
"B-b-but Iv! Luz is the protagonist!"
Shh... shhh... I know, I know. But Luz being the protagonist doesn't mean the world should just bend to her every will like it does.
Luz wants to be a witch without actually caring for the culture, excluding the fake-out 2nd episode that didn't actually teach her anything at all? Well, then she can be a witch!
She wants to date the girl who abhorrently bullied one of her so-called best friends without any consequences? Cool, she can do that!
She wants to have a super cool, hopped up titan ex-machina form because she's just such a good person and should do whatever she wants for the sake of coolness? Alright, boom, titan!!
Everything goes well for Luz. Which is the causation of everything going wrong for her mom.
Not to mention the fandoms treatment of Camila.
She's cast aside for the sake of putting the spotlight on more liked (cough cough... whiter...) characters. She's ignored time and time again, her role often replaced with Eda or any other adult figure in Luz's life. When she is included, it's only fetishization, thinly-veilled racism, or pure hate.
The fandom HATES her. It's non-stop "Camila was a bad mom" this, and "Luz was better off in the Demon Realm" that. Some even go as far as to call her an abuser.
Is Camila a perfect mom? Damn near close to it, but no. But a bunch of media illiterate white teenagers on the internet nitpick her every action to the bone, every mistake she's ever made (which aren't a lot), literally everything about her, mostly to garner more sad points for Luz, or worse:
Favor a white woman who is a COMPLETELY shitty mentor and mother over her. The fandom thinks Luz is better off being parented by a mostly independent, unmotherly, selfish buffoon like Eda. I love Eda, and those traits of hers are traits that I like. It's what makes her her and provides a decent base for her to develop upon.
But to say that Edalyn Clawthorne of all people would be a better mother than the concerned, nurturing, loving woman who is the actual mother of Luz is insane.
My homework for you today is to ask yourself this about TOH:
If Camila Noceda was a white woman, would she be still treated this way?
