My contribution to the Cassandra Appreciation Month β΄ βΛβοΈΛβ΄οΈ
I decided to make this piece for the Cassandra appreciation month as well as pride month. I didn't just wanted to make fanart, I wanted to make an art that summs up what I feel about what is always going on in the Tangled The Series fandom, a reminder of Cassandra's story and her importance to Tangled. The situation that prompted people to create Cassandra Appreciation Month stemmed from someone gaining access to exclusive and rare (and lost media) content from the production of Tangled, but who vehemently refused to show Cassandra's artwork, out of spite for her character. Online pressure eventually made the person relent and post it, but this situation is not new. In the Tangled fandom, it's constantly possible to see people referring to Cassandra as an unofficial character, an "OC" of the series creator, unimportant, or else very hated, misunderstood, with superficial opinions very popular about her arc. In short, she is the target of a lot of hate and is a very misunderstood character.
It could really be a small and irrelevant case if much of this backlash wasn't also accompanied by the invalidation of her queerness. I consider her a very unfairly treated character for many reasons, the first being: because part of the series' production managed to sneak in purposeful queer coding in her arc, right under the noses of right-wing producers, thus changing the shallow message that these producers originally wanted to convey, and I see this as something beautiful. Because of the implicitness of her queer coding, and due to a lack of confirmation from superiors (obviously), the part of the fandom that hates her continues to ignore that this trait is present and highly important to her development. Seeing her story through a queer lens changes all her actions, and because she is an important character to the plot, it affects the entire plot. From the production to the audience's reaction to Cassandra, it's an example of how invalidation is very real, proving that this topic is still taboo. Furthermore, it shows that the existence of this trait in the character causes deliberate erasure, hatred, and complaints among those who are not queer. Cassandra is an important character in Tangled just as much as the other protagonists, and with her, comes the queerness as well, this should not be erased.
There is so much invalidation that the hatred is often times implicit, and those who commit it say it's not because of that. Regardless of all the invalidation, Disney's omission, and right-wing producers who are very loud when saying she's not queer, the series was produced as it was, and for all these reasons, I consider Cassandra a character that should be remembered as a pride icon, and one that was sneaked under the Disney Princesses franchise's nose, by actual queer artists.
At first, I wanted to make something simple or inspired by a tarot card, with a more abstract background, but I decided to stick with a style inspired by canvas paintings of the 1700s (the period where Tangled is supposedly set) with a landscape background and a dramatic pose. I know that the colors shouldn't be so saturated then, but I don't mind because it's Disney and it's cute. I'm new to digital art so I'm learning the techniques and I already don't usually draw backgrounds, so sorry if it looks a little wonky.
This is the first time I draw her in digital and I loved translating her to my style with the right tools. Her features look just the way I wanted, I'm so happy with the result!! I will make more art of her, probably ones that aren't so meaningful, but I will.
The whole art is covered in symbolism and nods to her character arc. It would be a really fun game if you tried to find out and told me about you guesses.
I can never be non-chalant, I'm overly-chalant, so I'll explain the choices to make everything clear (don't read this if you're trying to find out):
Cassandra is kneeling down on the ground, a nod to her position in the cast throughout the whole show, she seems determined and honoured but not exactly happy. Her sword is piercing the ground; interpret that however you want. She is holding her sword with her right arm, the one who was burnt, and by the blade instead of the handle, meaning she holds it together even when she might get hurt (like in her friendship with Rapunzel). She is wearing the captain of the guard uniform, a nod to her dream of being part of the guard but that didn't come true; In paintings from the 1700s, it was common for people in positions of power to have paintings portraying them in clothes that represented that power, so if she ever had the chance to be part of the guard (in this case, the captain) she could have gotten a painting like this, but that was never the case. Besides, her father is the capitain, and using that uniform represents her wish to prove her value to him. She is proudly wearing a lesbian flag as a cape, because I was tired of implicity; this is part of her character. She is widely accepted as a lesbian so don't bother me about that.
Cassandra is in front of a lagoon in the forest, that is meant to represent the lost lagoon (even though I imagine it a little different but nothing in this art was meant to be accurate). The lost lagoon is a Tangled The Series novel that is considering not canon, but canon-compliant, and that adds a lot of depth to Cassandra's and Rapunzel's relationship, along with tons of queer coding (another reason of why it's hated by the extreme New Dream lovers who also hate Cass), another important part of her story that is constantly dismissed. Around the lagoon, there is a stone slab broken in two which is also a reference to the vows in the lost lagoon.
Around the lagoon there's some yellow flowers that are vaguely similar to the Sundrop flower, that started all this (the story of Tangled). The blue little flowers on top of the cascade at the right are a reference to the episode "Rapunzel Day 1". The white flowers at the left are a reference to the flower Rapunzel wears in her hair. Actually, most of the flowers reference how Rapunzel is everywhere in the story, even when the protagonist of the painting is Cassandra... everything around Cassandra is also about Rapunzel. Flowers are also a common thing in Corona. At the top of the image, you can see in the trees the style of vines Rapunzel always paint. At the right there is another flower that resembles the Sundrop flower, next to it there's a brown flower, representing Eugene. On the other side there is a big blue/purple flower that I always use as a sticker in my Tangled inspired edits, that I put here to symbolize Cassandra, and there's a little blue flower next to her that is just a little reference to my OC Vivianne, but it's so implicit, it's personal. Them being in opposite sides have a very self-explanatory meaning, but Rapunzel's vines and flowers are all around everything. Around her feet, there are pink flowers at one side and blue flowers at the other, representing her and Rapunzel (the blue ones can also be a little reference to Vivianne but it's more about Cassandra). There are few black rocks hidden in the landscape, a reminder of Cassandra's mistakes; they could take the beauty of the painting, but they don't.
In front of her feet, the ribbon she used to wear around her neck as a lady in waiting lays on the ground, and at the bottom of the painting, she is surrounded by violets, flowers that are considered a symbol of sapphism and queer-coding in history because the poet Sappho mentioned them in her poetry about women. Some of the petals are down and a flower was plucked.
Far in the sky, the moon can be seen in the daylight, Owl is flying above Corona, and the little smudge on the bridge represents Fidella. Arguably, her distance to the castle and closeness to the forest and facing away from the kingdom could also mean something, but I didn't exactly had this in mind when I was drawing...
The writing on the "canvas" is unnatural for a 1700s inspired painting, as if someone had vandalized it and written over it (I wonder who it is) as a scream for validation. It's common for historical paintings to be filled with symbolism that tells stories, many of them have to be interpreted, read and understood, but the writing shows a wish to stop being implicit and vague. Caligraphy was really important at that time so it wouldn't be writen in a punk way or in spray paint.
I couldn't do most of the Cassandra appreciation month prompts because I was busy working on this and dealing with personal life, but I hope this makes up for all the times I missed the prompts. I really wanted to pay a meaningful homage not only to her but to as a criticism to the whole discourse that surrounds her and is caused by real-life problems. Characters are not just characters, they're symbols, have you ever heard the saying "life imitates art"?
Thank you for waiting for the art (if you're one of the people who supported me through the painting process), and this was my love letter to Cassandra!! Happy pride month and thank you fandom for making a Cassandra appreciation month.
I have one more drawing to show in part for βCassandra Appreciation Monthβ. Hereβs a chibi Cass taking part in celebrating pride month! Although itβs never said on what identity she views herself as, I could likely see Cassandra as a lesbian due to the strong feelings she has towards Rapunzel. I also would imagine that sheβll be a huge supporter for gay rights if she lives in the modern world today. And her appearance is based from how she is shown from Disneyβs Chibi Tiny Tales where Cassandra actually does appear in one of the Tangled shorts as you can see here.
I figured why not show some appreciation of her chibi appearance as well since she was so cute in that short.π₯°
Cassandra Appreciation Month Day 27! Tagging @the-writer1988
Why I love Cassandra...
Honestly I love her mental struggles most of all. As messy as it is in season 3, it's nice to see a character with trauma that they never really move past.
So many times in media we treat trauma, especially childhood trauma, as this kind of character arc where you go through some rough lessons and face your abuser and then you're "cured" and you're never a villain. Heck Rapunzel herself is a peak example of that.
But Cassandra lets her trauma rule her for a good long while, it's controlled her life and shaped her personality as an adult in ways that she never even realized. And though it's a flawed character arc in terms of writing it definitely feels a lot more realistic. Because in real life childhood trauma isn't something you just get over in a few episodes.
And even beyond the trauma, even women in general in media are so rarely allowed to be mad the way Cassandra is mad. I genuinely think that's really cool that Cassandra doesn't shy away from her anger.
β β€Ώ π β : inserting this very convenient self-promo π€ / silly !!
pls don't jump me for the prices, i just wanna prior getting verifiedd π₯Ή tho i already have set prices from my past services on twt so don't worry !! hehe
im still really new to the platform + learning the ropes since i just got invited by my bestie hehe but very open to communication and clarification regarding my tos !!
( hopefully that's from a legit user too π ) if u are ,, i genuinely apologize for mistaking u for a bot ππ i don't know if bots can ask stuff ?? even if it can, im still happy abt the relevant ask to my services hehehee
i can't get enough of knight cass fr ,, we should've gotten more of her !! π
even tho the symbolism of her armour is her putting her guard and walls up ,, ): well she is HOT in it anyways !! π€
this has to be one of my fave fits for her ,, and the thing is i like all of her designs !!
soooo so happy with how she turned out even tho her armour lowkey confused me and i just. did whatever looked nice ππ
i spent almost an entiiireee week feeling so sick i couldn't even draw or write more than 1 discussion prompt before it got so bad huhu ( hoping to post it soon ! it's abt my fave episodes !! hehehee )
the short summary is basically what if all of corona's memories got erased on s3 ep1, and cass is the only one left after she ran away with the moonstone ,, π₯²
the actual summary tho !! is this :
a little glimpse on what this fic does to a ' very normal ' cass lover when i read this specific chapter ππ
κ° ΰ¨ΰ§ κ± : ( cat - the author - also has a TON of other works centric around cassie + cassunzel and i definitely wanna make more doodles like this of my fave moments ,, but i really suggest those interested should check her works out !! π«Άπ«Ά )
plusss she's been updating a LOT lately as in like she's SUPER fast i haven't even caught up to 1 of her fics and she's already updated her other one i've read before too π
sooo that's a bonus if you're also looking for fresh and recent cassunzel fanwork ! hehehee
κ° ΰ¨ΰ§ κ± : ALSO i wanna mention that this fic has a really interesting way of writing the moonstone's functions and its effects on cassandra, so if you're into more character depth for cass aside from blueberry ragebaiter 5000 ( zhan tiri ) u might enjoy it like i do !! hehehehe it's honestly one of my many personal favourite details in the fic π«Άβ¨
i haven't been active + actually able to make any new stuff of my own lately bc i've been too unwell to have enough energy + it's disrupting my daily function in general ):
not gonna tmi ,, but it's honestly got me feeling a bit sad how im already way behind cass' appreciation month bc i really wanted to do a lot for it ,, huhuhu
hopefully tho i can catch up with some prompts that i really wanna do and prioritise if ever unable to partake in all of it π₯Ή
regardless, im sooo happy and grateful we got a whole month of people celebrating and talking about cass, and it lasts until pretty much half of pride month too !! hehehe
I've really been enjoying Cassandra Appreciation Month. All the content has been great, but I'd like to give particular shout-outs to:
@twotangledsisters for really going above and beyond for the prompts, providing great fanart and fics. I've enjoyed all of them.
@nerdasaurus1200 for also providing great fics, but also for the discussion prompts as well. She brought up some points I've never really considered, as well as many I agree with.
@jy4stine for their excellent discussion posts, particularly the one for the fifth day (discussing Cass's childhood)
@frozenwolftemplar for that wonderful (and heartbreaking) Cass fic.
@flossy2003 for the artwork you submitted. Scarlett is adorable.
And @the-writer1988 for making all of this possible.
the way prompt week has JUST technically ended and im only contributing now π
i kept restricting myself to do CAM in the correct order by day for some reason but then i realized i can just ,, use my freewill β¨ ,, and do whichever ??? whenever i want ??? HAHSHAHAHHA
κ° ΰ¨ΰ§ κ± : this is actuallyy inspired by this one art trend !! that i couldn't find the specific name for it ,, but it was going around twt a longgg time ago and never got to join along with it even tho ive always wanted to BUT NOW we are here !! YAAAYYYY !! κ(Λ΅Λ α ΛΛ΅)
also 2 versions bc i couldn't pick which one i liked more !! this tends to happen sometimes HAHSHHAHAHA
κ° ΰ¨ΰ§ κ± : ANYWAYSSS im going crazy this might be the first and last time you'll find me drawing owl beyond the simple doodles i usually do bc this was mildly STRESSFUL !! ππ
but i do love how cool it turned out, i might show the sketch/progress soon bc of how much of a " trust the process " this was that it BLOWS MY MINDDD
STILL i intend to be working on D-6, 7, and 9 so i can share those soon too hopefully !!
but tl;dr - i luv cass sooo much and if you don't yet, highly recommend you do the same ! hehehee (Λ΅ β’Μ α΄ β’Μ Λ΅ ) β§
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