Extra Jumbled Thoughts: Character Arcs, featuring Anne Boonchuy Versus Amity Blight
SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 1 and 2 of THE OWL HOUSE! AND OF SEASON 1 OF AMPHIBIA!
Also, if you donāt want to hear me ramble about how this blog is different from my other writing analysis blogs, skip to the first bit of bold text below.
So Iām going to start with a warning. I try to make sure I donāt just make review blogs anymore because I want these to be more approachable. More useful. Simply saying an episode of something is bad or good, especially as White Guy on the Internet #48987532, can be very repetitive and honestly pointless. Not that there isnāt merit in it but without deeper insight, an audience may go āYeah, that was bad!ā without understanding the underlying cause for why it may have been written a certain way or what actually failed.
This isnāt going to be one of those. Itās actually not even because of vitriol or anything I have to get out. Itās just because of the nature of character arcs. To provide an exampleā¦ Is a bitch. Because for you to understand why something does or doesnāt work, you have to get into a lot more of the minutia of the character and what they undergo. Thatās also why itās featuring two characters and not two series. You may not know enough about either one without seeing the show (and many Amphibia fans might not know enough about Anneās arc to even know why sheās here because a lot of them skipped season 1). Iāll try to include the information needed but Iām also going to be straight forward about saying this is, like the title says, extra jumbled up.
Not helped of course by the fact that Iām pitting a main characterās arc against a major supporting characterās arc. Now, admittedly, Iām including Seasons 1 and 2 of The Owl House for Amity while this is STRICTLY talking about Season 1 of Amphibia. So Amity is getting extra time here to make up for the fact that, inherently, sheāll get less because of her role in the story. But uhā¦
*looks at the flat line of Luzās character that just ends with āsmiles lessā in bold letters* This is also due to the nature of the two shows. Amphibia is much more about the other worldās impact on the main characters and their changes while The Owl House is about the main characterās impact on the other world and the changes they inflict on it. So the character who should have the most character growth in the former is the main character while the character with the most growth in the latter should be the mainās foil, or in other words a main supporting character. Thus: Amity.
And see. Thereās a bit of just literary analysis for you. I swear, this blog DOES have a point.
And that point is to get me killed because Amity is the NEGATIVE example here. So, letās go on a journey into what character development looks like, the steps to analyze it, and the over allā¦ curve that happens with a character by the end of it.
1. THE FIRST AND SECOND STEPS
So as these arcs have to have a starting point, we need to get into character introductions. There is SO MUCH to say about introducing characters but specifically for those with an arc in mind, the second introduction is almost as important as the first. Why?
Well, the first introduction of a character is usually their most extreme, especially depending on the amount of time they have to introduce themselves. After all, the audience needs a quick snapshot of the person to gain an understanding of them unless the reality of them is meant to be a mystery. Part of their arc. I would argue simply revealing who a character actually is rather than the change they undergo is not a strict character arc but more about teasing out a full narrative over time, especially dependent on the narrative role of said mystery character.
Put a pin in that for later.
This pointā¦ Actually Amphibia more than Owl House, at least at first blush. This is for two reasons. The first is that Anne is the main character. We donāt need a drastic introduction to her and honestly, we donāt get one. We get enough of one, how sheāll protect someone in need but reject what she doesnāt like out of hand, be a bitch, be selfish, etc. like that. Anne is not a good person in the first episode but she isnāt a bad one either. Just less caring and more brusque than might be able to be enjoyed by many. Thereās a good core there with her quickly growing friendship with Sprig though.
Amity on the other hand has an INFAMOUS first step on the scene. It actually starts way more in line with how most of the show is by having her just be a bully. Like not even a special sort of bully. Sheās queen bee, top student and sheās willing to be condescending to those weaker than her or failing, especially in her field of magic. Itās a good contrast to the main characterās motto of āWe weirdos gotta stick togetherā and is a great introduction to a foil for that main character.
Itās a shame it decides to not just double or triple down, it goes ALL IN. In her first episodeās introduction, where she probably gets comparable time to the time Anne gets in the first half of her episode (Amphibia episodes are split into two halves) she exhibits a brutalness that comes out unreasonably quickly thatā¦ Is fine. At first blush. Sheās an unhinged, perfectionist, gifted student who will do anything to keep that position. Even murder. The second she loses her top student badge, she goes entirely off the rails for some pretty great animated moments and an enjoyable episode.
But for a character with an arc in mind, this is where the second step comes into play. See, if the first step establishes who they are, the second step establishes what it truly is that they need to change and refines the purpose. Some of this happens in general but for a character who is meant to shift, itās even more important.
This is where Amphibia starts to shine. The second half of the first episode starts to imply that Anneās selfishness isnāt entirely her own. It somewhat comes from an admittedly blunt approach to making it clear that her friendships at home werenāt healthy. They were incredibly conditional and that some of her selfishness comes from the selfishness of those she interacts with. When push comes to shove though, she chooses others before herself. Is it her fault they get in a bad place to begin with? Sure, but she does still go to fix it. It shows a glimpse into the better person Anne can be while staying true to what she was in the first step.
Amity fumbles a lot more here. Yes, technically, she also tries to kill the main character in this one. Not so much of her own pushing though. Sheās not the one to challenge the main character to a duel. Thatās the main characterās fault. Otherwise, now she has a reason to be the normal bully she showed herself to be at the beginning of her first outing. She is crueler than she has to be but Luz canāt do magic, as far as she knows, humiliated her before and the event theyāre both at is just a fun tour for Luz but a harsh reminder of her goals for Amity. To be the best and what that looks like. To not be happy about this human being here makesā¦ logical sense.
Worse yet, she doesnāt go too far in trying to prove herself this episode. When she cheats, itās because her mentor slyly had her cheat without her knowing. She immediately is devastated by this, showing a want to be good on her own, not through tricks. Which is good, it shows a nobler heart in Amity, as does her giving Luz encouragement to keep up her studies when shown kindness. Itās good for a bully character who needs to learn to stop taking things so personally.
It doesnāt line up with how extreme her first episode is. Even if we include that character introductions are meant to be more extreme, this was a few steps farther than was reasonable for the tone of show (which is saying a lot because this was during the more whimsical portion of the show) or for her character. She really does go from 3 to 15 instantly after all.
Which is where the real warning of the second step problem comes into play: Without a DAMN good reason, your first step can come off looking like you wrote the character out of character. And hey, if youāre looking to make a character arc look impressive, look larger than it is, starting with a base that actually isnāt relevant to their normal behavior is a good way to do it.
And unfortunately, as weāll continueā¦ Weāll see a lot of that out of Amity.
2. The Speed of Change, large and SMALL.
So as the name implies, arcs need time to travel. A throw doesnāt have much of an arc if you throw the ball and itās caught less than a second later and character arcs are much the same. If change comes too quickly, it can feel like there was no change. If it comes too slowly, it can be frustrating for the audience as they stop expecting improvement.
Now neither here are lightning fast. I would need to be talking about Hunter from The Owl House to talk about an arc that is over and done in a blink of an eye and youāre just waiting for him to accept it. Neither are either perfect, as they both exemplify different approaches to how to do an arc and how to show it off well in this middle portion, as well as some of its stumbles.
A quick mention though: This is also sometimes where a character starts their arc after some big moment FORCES them to realize that change is needed. A betrayal by those they thought were right as they showed themselves evil, a friend turning their back on them because their personalities no longer align (put a pin in it), etc. like that are all things that can jump start this process and have them start showing the changes in behavior you want here. Again, not Anne or Amityās style, and itās honestly a more common fantasy style (both shows have this theoretically in them too, though one comes too late in the characterās arc to hold much of the blame for it) than the slow burn that both Amity and Anne were supposed to be.
So what does this look like for the two of them? Well, for Anneā¦ Itās a lot of hijinks. Sheās the main character of a comedy fantasy show. Thatās her life. Itās also probably makes S1 frustrating for a lot of people because while she is making progress, itās hard to always realize what is progress and what is a sticking character flaw of hers. Anne will have MANY times where she shirks responsibility but she only really needs one lesson in not judging others by their cover or her own agenda before being able to pass that onto Sprig in the second half of the season.
And thatās where the brilliance of Anne in this section comes into play. She never once stops being Anne but you start seeing more and more her willingness to question why sheās doing something or her having enough self awareness now to pass that knowledge onto someone near her. These can easily be attributed, especially in the moment, to just what the writers needed for an episode. If itās a Sprig focused episode, seeing as he is as much a main character as Anne, it makes sense that Anne might not screw up as much.
Mind you, thatās a REALLY big might. Anne is the reason Sprig gets into trouble all the time in the first half after all because, well, sheās a 13 year old girl stuck in a different world. She wants to explore, wants to have adventures, etc. like that. She wants the hijinks and glory that her genre would commonly bequeath her with and usually needs to save herself or someone else from being eaten by a giant animal because of it.
It makes it hard to appreciate in the momentā¦ But when the lead up to the season finale comes and the frogs name her person of the year and all of her worst traits come outā¦ The moment she questions why she was given this honor is when the method of the arc is shown.
Itās a genuine slowburn. One that is true to HER. When the frogs say there are better people in town technically than her, you believe it. But the fact that she also ruined her own party to save them all show they arenāt wrong when they say sheās the one to have improved the most. And that improvement, that slow fade from someone who canāt care to someone who can and will care and accept anyone with a good heart, shows itself in all the small details.
Itās great for a book report *gestures at the mutliple paragraphs here* but terrible for Twitter. SPEAKING OF-
Letās get to Amityās style. I wonāt be going to her literal final parts of her arc like Anne because those parts arenāt necessary for this part of talking character arcs with Amity. Hers is a lot less big picture than that as she takes larger strides at a time than Anne did. You can tell there is an arc with her even by the time her second episode is over instead of needing to wait and see what the plan with her is.
Itās done pretty well at first though and the cracks in the style arenāt going to show themselves as easily from an episode to episode basis. After all, the cracks in Anneās style show the minute one of negative traits shows it still needs some smoothing out. If you donāt like one the traits Amityās showing, well, by the end of the episode, the trait is gone.
So what are her next few episodes?
Well, her next literal appearance just solidifies that being a fairly stock bully is really her base except in saying in big, neon letters āAMITY HAS A GOOD HEART SOMEWHEREā because while Amity is mean that episode, we find out she used to be friends with one of the outcasts Luz has befriended and that it was her lack of magic at an early age that stopped them from being friends. It reinforces Amityās focus on magic, grades, what one can do and that she is ruthless in these ambitions. It also makes the first appearance of hers maybe make more sense even though this section will show the problems in claiming those excuses.
Put a pin it.
In her next episode, she befriends Luz after telling Luz she wants nothing to do with her thanks to a shared interest and Luz coming to her rescue after a fuck up by Luz and Amityās siblings. Itās a very endearing episode whereā¦ Amity doesnāt act like a bully, Like ever. She acts stand off-ish and a bit rude but at this point, sheās right when she points out Luz has humiliated her every time theyāve met (even the previous episode, Luz was ATTEMPTING TO HUMILIATE HER and just failed) so we bridge a gap VERY quickly in this burgeoning relationship.
It cools, pun somewhat intended, next time they meet though. Amity is still being nice but they are ostensibly friends now so it makes sense. Honestly, this next episode is more about solidification and doing a bit more of Anneās arc as she shows her capacity to worry about others. Hell, for how she acted before, you can already see strides because when Luz is at fault for stealing from Amity which leads to Amityās siblings and Luzās mentor almost being eaten (and in S2 Luz still struggles with acting brashly and in selfish/fantasy fueled ways so if youāre wondering why Iām not doing Luz, THATāS WHY)ā¦ Amity locks Luz up. With her reasoning being not that Luz will fuck things up harder but that Luz will get hurt.
Itās a level of compassion, especially with Amityās base character in mind, that possibly NO ONE in the show thus far or since has exhibited.
Unsurprisingly, this is where the next part of her arc comes into play. Her crush on Luz.
And this is also the high point from which this style will fall to its doom.
3.5 The Importance of SMALL Things
Iām not going to go in too hard on Anneās side of this. There is good here, itās just hard to talk about, much like a lot of positive analysis is. The things Iām talking about though is going from rejecting bugs, a normal part of frog diets, to relishing them and enjoying them, or bare minimum not blinking at them. Itās a small thing but it speaks volumes about how sheās changing to be a better person and a more accepting one. Her increasing willingness to help instead of avoiding responsibility but also making sure to do it her own way.
Itās hard to talk about because the changes are minute. Thereās very few small things to note that should be a part of her character because it all is a part of the cohesive picture. For me to REALLY comment on it all, I would have had to rewatch the entire first season before writing this blog, preferably in the same week, which is again better for a book report or video essay than a Tumblr blog Iām doing randomly. And, unfortunately, of the two series I am just MUCH more familiar with The Owl House.
Amity shows a lot more of the importance of this because the small things often will define either how believable the base of a character arc was or how much care is being put into it at all. What the actual goal of the arc is.
So letās get into the second half of Season 1 of The Owl House. Technically we already have but barely. Amityās next appearance is mostly a cameo to show some likely gay panic which will be confirmed later as gay panic so her next real showing is in an episode mislabled āUnderstanding Willowā. Itās about Amity so it should have been named that because it REALLY is about Amityā¦
And the idea that she was never a bad person. The large part of this episode is her and Willow theoretically coming to terms with having been friends in the past. This is done enjoyably with a trip into Willowās mind and the pain inflicted by Amityā¦ With a final revelation that the decision to not be friends with Willow wasnāt Amityās. It was her parents. That she never wanted to stop being friends with Willow and BAM! Theyāre friends. In theory, the show will explore more of it but uhā¦ Yeah, waiting an almost entire season to make a comment on it, when itās not even the first or second time theyāve worked together since this, really feels like backfill of āOh shit, the fandom is right that Willow should kind of still be pissed for almost a decade of bullying.ā
But weāre not here about Willow. Weāre here about Amity. Who, in this episode, chose to take back her old friend regardless of what her parents though. No stress about it, that side of this problem will NEVER be brought back up and Amity will actually continue to think Willow is a much weaker witch than most despite seeing constant proof otherwise. All of the reasons in her base for no longer being friends with Willow are just ignoredā¦ Why?
Well, if those base characteristics were a lie, it suddenly makes sense. And unlike the rest of Amityās episodes, she gets a three pack in a row that is all about the lie that has been Amityās arc.
The next one is the reveal that Amity doesnāt want to just be friends, she wants to date Luz. Specifically, sheās afraid of asking Luz out on a date. Reminder: At this point, Luz still only has two glyphs to Amityās knowledge (Luz gets her third spell this episode), probably misses plenty of class due to her mentor being a LITERAL CRIMINAL and now we have the additional information that Amity has strict parents who push her towards the future she claimed to desire for herself. This is a lot to be worried about. If they ever found out she liked Luz, theyād crack down harder on that relationship than her friendship with Willow. If a friendship with a weak witch is unacceptable, what is dating someone who canāt cast magic without glyphs? Who is socially an exile?
Itās something to be terrified about. So when the big bad of the episode, a creature who manifests into your greatest fears, hits Amityā¦ Why is it a facsimile of Luz that shows up? It shows up, reaches into Amityās pocket and rips the letter that Amity never gave to Luz asking her to the dance in two. Itās powerful, itās one of the best moments in the seriesā¦
And why wasnāt it her mother? It doesnāt even have to be a big change. Literally could take no extra time and little extra animation to have it resemble her mother, or at least her motherās silhouette as thatās all we had at the time for her design, and rip up the note. This isnāt a big ask unless you want NOTHING distracting from the fact that Amity wants to be Luzās girlfriend. Which, for this episode isā¦ Fine. It could be improved but itās powerful and still one of my favorite episodes in the series.
The fact that the next episode has her destroying all of her social connections EXCEPT THE ONES CONNECTED TO LUZ, the social connections that were DICTATED BY HER PARENTS, makes the previous episode harder to swallow. Especially when it also shows even more that Amity has always had a whimsical and caring side as she hurt her teammates back when she was CAPTAIN OF THE FANTASY RUGBY TEAM (AS THE FUCKING TOP STUDENT GIRL) and so quit and put that behind her with no comment on how her parents feel about it. Or feel about anything Amity is doing as someone literally calls her out for destroying her social life and Amity responds with āI think I just improved it.ā
And honestly? Any one of the three and I shrug. Maybe any of the two and I shrug. Itās a kids show and Amity is a supporting character. Yes, sheās coming ever closer to a main character even in this first season as time goes on, but some slip ups and some shrugs are to be expected. The fact that three episodes in a row entirely ignore any outside force besides āLuz is cute and I want to be with herā for why Amity is doing much of anything sheās doing, is bad. Itās especially bad because these are small things when it comes to all of this.
Now *cracking his neck* letās get to part 4.
So the obvious poster boy for good character arcs I havenāt brought up is Zuko from Avatar. People have talked about him in every way conceivable for how amazing his arc his and for good reason. He goes through effectively multiple character arcs in each season of Avatar and somehow each are better than the last.
The reason I bring him up now is that he stumbles, narratively, not analytically, once: When he betrays everyone and sides with his sister to get what he THINKS he has always wanted. The base of his character comes back in a very nasty way for a final hurrah that is ENTIRELY REASONABLE. And itās in realizing the mistake he made that he finds renewed resolve and reason to be a better person.
Anne has this. Amity doesnāt. For once, to explain this, Iāll actually be swapping the two and talking about Amity first as we get into S2 of Owl House and the first time her parents show up properly. In the episode, her parents get Luz and her friends expelled so as to get rid of any distractions Amity is experiencing. In the smaller category, we also find out that Amityās grades slipping, literally stated, and this greatly upsetting her mother to the point where she is demanding effective repayment for the disappointment. It makes it incredibly clear how manipulative and cruel Amityās mother is.
And in an episode so important to her character, theoretically the one you would expect to set her season long goal of getting out from under her momās thumb and not letting her mom control herā¦ She tells her mom to go fuck herself, showās stronger regardless of letting her studies slide, all within an episode where she is a part of MAYBE a quarter of it at best because thereās so little time spent with her.
Itās hard to call it a challenge or a call back to the past when she barely treats it as one. She claims she canāt do anything about her mom but the moment she has reason to suspect her mom has put Luz in danger, itās time to break the rules and save the girl she has a crush on. In an isolated moment, it can be very satisfying, especially because itās just good to see a child escape their abusive parent.
From an arc perspectiveā¦ Well, I claimed neither of these characters ever had something so flat as a fastball pitched a foot away but Amity does. Period. And the fact that the pressure here is also the pressure that supposedly formed the base of her character is INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTING.
And telling. Anything that could actually get in the way of Lumity doesnāt matter. The fact that Amity had a character before she eventually gets with Luz feels almost accidental at this point because of how much is being bled dry, even before the showās shortening would have affected any of its pacing, for the sake of this lesbian getting a girlfriend.
Meanwhile, Anneās āgirlfriendā is back baby! But girlfriend as in best friend! The same best friend who obviously, and explicitly in this episode, manipulated and hurt Anne through their friendship. Who constantly forced Anne to choose her over even her own family.
For Sasha, Anneās reality had to be about her. Andā¦ That has been true in the small and large ways. Her trying to force Polly to be more girly? Sasha was a fucking cheerleader back home. Her telling Sprig that friends donāt ask questions and just do as theyāre told? Sasha literally will not hear another word from Anne when she doesnāt want to steal the music box that will transport her and her friends to Amphibia.
This person is awful. Not pure evil, Amphibia is WAY too well written for Sasha to be a 6-ās cartoon villain like Amityās mom is, but she is abusive and manipulative in similar ways. And when Sasha tells Anne to side with her despite it meaning the execution of the old frog who took her in, Anne hesitates.
After all, this is Sasha. She doesnāt say no to Sasha. She doesnāt fight Sasha. She fights with Hop Pop, the old frog. Sheās only known him for a few months while sheās known Sasha since they were little kids. Not only that but Sasha has a real plan and capability to get them home. She even has a better life than Anne does, just like back on Earth.
For every reason Anne has been cruel, she has every right to agree to her friend. She even almost does it. Almost decides that the glitz and glamour that Sasha promises is worth a life.
But come on. Every good narrative arc always ends with-
5. Payoff
The moment you get to see the characterās new form take shape and be put to use in a way that makes the pain theyāve caused before worth it. Itās when Sprig, the REAL friend that Anne has made, stands up to Sasha and berates Sasha for thinking Anne is so much less than her. Not when Anne is as incredible as she is.
And so Anne takes a blade and fights her best friend.
Weāll get back to it though. Because if that moment has you going āHELL YEAH!ā GOOD! It should. It should be the moment where even without music, sound, ANYTHING other than just hearing that this happened with everything that came before, you should be losing your shit. A good arc, any arc, let alone a character arc, should be able to have this sort of moment. Where just conceptually, the idea and catharsis of it makes anything that happened before worth it.
And for Amityā¦ Itās what youād expect. Though also not quite. Iām not going to be an ass about this and say that we do get ONE episode in Season 2 that does pay off her arc and also show what could have been had the writers cared more about the grander scheme of her life.
And that is when Luz calls Amity her awesome girlfriend despite Amity failing Luz. Amity goes on this grand adventure for something that will help Luz get home (if youāre wondering if the division of their worlds has been brought up btw, as of Season 3 Luz has decided that she would have been willing to stick in the human world and give up on Amity while Amity has never brought up the possible problem) but in the end fails. Actually fails so hard as to get some of the resource into the villainās hands and only by sheer luck did she get any of it back to Luz.
But Luz doesnāt care. Luz calls her an awesome girlfriend and assures her that sheās just happy that Amity is safe. It is one of the few truly just good moments of Lumity after they get together and if Amityās base character was more accurate, it would hold way more weight.
And hey, if you accept her base character is mostly looking for love and a girlfriend, this is honestly an even bigger hell yeah than when the two got together and WAY better than when they eventually kiss, a moment I still get frustrated thinking about from a romantic arcās perspective.
Thatās probably not helped that romance is literally my main genre.
BUT letās go back to friendship rather than love. Because thereās another side to the coin for Anne: Does she go too far? She beats Sasha in the duel they have after all. Puts a sword to her throat and everything. Now for her to actually finish it here would have been a GROSS break in character and also hurt the idea that she cared about the average person much more if she let her anger boil into a pure murder rage here.
Her arc is about caring after all. Caring, acceptance and the ability to see more than the face value of those around her. We saw it first with her protecting her friends, despite knowing itād upset Sasha, acceptance of the love around her by believing in her new found family instead of the cruel barbs that she always thought were true and then the ability to see more by being able to properly see through Sashaās sweet veneer.
And somehow, in literally the last two minutes of the S1 finale, I have way more to talk about with the final part of a character arc in Amphibiaā¦ Than I do with half a season+ of The Owl House.
6. Paying It Forward
Whatās more satisfying than seeing a character arc come to fruition and make for a badass moment? Letting the lessons learned by that character rub off onto others!
Amityā¦ I have literally nothing to say about for. She literally FAILED the time she tried to take Luzās lessons and apply them to someone else and weāve never seen payoff for that attempt. Otherwise, she hasnāt interacted enough with other characters, especially in a meaningful way, to help anyone. In fact, mostly sheās either been very weakly trying to bring back threads that needed to be followed up on way before now to feel relevant (and just better than they are) or continuing to be told that she has some of her shitty traits, sheās just more accidental with them like still denying Willow is a super strong witch despite everything Willow has literally ever done the entirety of the series.
But Anne? Ohā¦ Oh Anne. After she beats Sasha, she gets ready to leave with her found family and you get the impression that while she doesnāt hate Sasha, that she still wants good to come to Sasha, youāre not sure where they lie as friends and I know that thatās a thread that continues into S2 just through osmosis with the fandom.
Wellā¦ That and because then the place they were fighting on explodes. Thatās even hyperbole. Someone literally destroys the supports for the tower they were fighting on. It knocks Sasha to the edge of the tower and she begins to fall and without hesitation, Anne goes to save her. Then Anneās found family joins her in trying to save Sasha but itās clear it just wonāt work.
All the while though, Anne is telling Sasha not to worry. That things will be okay despite the fact that theyāre all literally about to fall to their dooms. Honestly, this moment more than the duel seems to be when everything Anne said before hits Sasha. Sasha realizes just what a terrible friend sheās been and tells Anne āYouāre right. You probably are better off without me.ā
And lets go. Now, of course, she doesnāt die but from EVERYTHING weāve seen with Anne before now, the flashbacks to when they were together, how Sasha was WILLING TO KILL A MAN TO EXTEND HER GOALS, you get the feeling that if not for Anneās growth, they all would have died there. That Sasha would have stayed stubborn about Anne needing to support her. But instead she shows how complex sheās capable of being, and the fact that sheās capable of growth too, because Anne literally extended a hand to her to a place where they could be happier together.
As much as I love Anne standing up to Sasha, this is the part of the S1 finale of Amphibia that hits the hardest. I donāt even think itās because Iām a Sashannarcy shipper. Itās just a supremely well written scene that takes all the weaknesses of S1 of Amphibia and turns them into strengths. Honestly, it makes me baffled that I still havenāt watched S2 when obviously itās just SUCH A GOOD SHOW.
And it did all of that in one season. Anyone who wants to say Amity couldnāt have been given a smoother curve, one that wasnāt lacking in cohesion, honesty, or anything like that, wellā¦
7. The Pins
Honestly, the blog is mostly over but here are the followups now that you have a larger picture as to why theyāre problems for all the pins I made before:
The mystery characterās character arc:
This is what I think Amityās real character arc is. Itās not about growth, itās revelation. You constantly learn more and more that all the characteristics that were shown at the beginning of her arc and that helped provide the base of her character were actually all lies. Her character is incredibly different, and this is in part actually from something I brought with the one facilitating her arc.
Unlike Anne, who has good people treating her well and giving her reasons to believe that changing as a person would be a good thing, you have Luz CONSTANTLY lying to Amity, keeping secrets from her, fucking up Amityās life and in general only having less than a handful of times where Luz is doing something positive for Amity that isnāt to make up for having made her life worse. It makes it hard to believe that Luzās good nature rubbed off on Amity, especially with how insistent the show is that all the rough edges Amity had were purely from outside forces. That thatās not who she is.
Which isā¦ Accurate. A mystery characterās arc is different from a normal characterās arc because itās much more about explaining the reasoning behind their actions rather than growing them into a new version of themselves. Commonly, by the end, the first version you meet is gone because they have no reason to be keeping secrets. This also fits for Amity as all the class, respect, knowledge etc. that defined her character to begin with is fucking gone. She is clumsy, sheās a complete mess who gets embarrassed easily, she has bad grades and she is EASILY not the strongest in the main cast, beat pretty handedly by someone who is even two years younger than her, if not by Luz herself. And not for any reason like giving up magic entirely being something that she thinks would make her happy.
It justā¦ I mean, it can be entertaining to watch to many but to me itās become increasingly infuriating. And for it to have been fixed feels less like they needed 14 more episodes, like a full season 3 would have given them, but instead about at least three more seasons with the glacial pace that following up on any of Amityās potential went at during S2.
Personalities not aligning:
Like I said, Sasha has a whole character arc! Maybe once Iāve watched the entirety of Amphibia I can do a follow up and talk about her sort of arc that starts with a wake up call.
The excuses for Amityās first appearance
Any excuse about pressures from her family needed to be followed by her family ever being a factor to her. It has literally been a real thing on her mind once and it wasnāt about her mom hating her; It was about her having daddy issues. Because her dad is neglectful and too hands off. I really, really wish I was kidding.
So yeah! Those are my all together way too long thoughts on the subject that I hope were coherent enough to at least be entertaining. Let me know your thoughts, I always love new topics to ramble about that you can send me in my ask box and before I go I want to say that if you like Amityās arc and what not: Good for you! Honestly, youāre probably a happier person than I am because I want so badly to still love Amity and The Owl House and if you still like them, none of this should make you stop doing so or make you think youāre a bad person, itās just my ramblings and my insights. And Iām just a random dude on the internet with a bunch of jumbled thoughts.
One of which is to wish you a wonderful night and farewell.
