loving this thread! i watched the show religiously as a kid & LOVED it. i remember crying -- weeping is more like it -- during the finale of season 1 when sailor moon has to confront queen beryl. all the other scouts have been eliminated one by one, sailor moon is injured & limping toward beryl...but then she transforms into the moon princess & the spirits of her dead friends help her win! like, HOLY s**t she's standing there fighting tooth & nail & crying out for her friends to help her & they come back FROM THE DEAD TO LEND HER THEIR POWER OMG. i still find that incredibly moving...
crying crying crying
ANYWAY i'm gonna agree with a lot of what's been said above. sailor moon, for me, was awesome because it showed that femininity & girliness can be powerful. i was a pretty femme lil boy (still am
biggrin ) & sailor moon taught me that i can still be that & kick a**. the fact that makeup & jewelry can be magical & transformative was an eye-opening concept & has matured into my adult love for & fascination with drag & the performative nature of gender. the show/manga also show young people working with magical concepts like the forces of nature, love energy, the zodiac, precious gems, space & time, etc to empower themselves & heal the world. those are concepts that greatly influence my life as an adult, especially my spiritual path of witchcraft.
one thing i think we can critique the show/manga for is its depiction of sexuality. a lot has been said about how the US dub switched neptune & uranus from sapphic lovers to cousins, but what about the grander themes of romance vs. eroticism? think about it: the moon kingdom was initially destroyed just as moon & tuxedo mask (or prince endymion) were moving from courtship to...the next stage in their relationship. i'm not saying that the threat of this young couple having sex led to the end of the silver millennium, but the two events are certainly tied together. throughout the series moon & tuxedo mask are kept in the safe space of romance -- their love is about beauty, not sex. they are 100% virgins.
virginity plays a huge role in the show/manga. moon has a child with tuxedo mask, but she remains a virgin because chibi comes from the future. this allows for a holy family to develop in which the mother is still pure & sexless (kinda like mary & jesus). the imagery surrounding this trio is also super influenced by cultural notions of virginity: when they're all together, their pure love forms the chalice that allows moon to upgrade into super sailor moon. the chalice is an ancient symbol of the womb, feminine power, etc (just read
the da vinci code lol) but one that in this case is not marred by sex.
as a contrast to the virginity of moon & the other scouts, the villains are always super sexualized. they're mega busty, flirtatious, crass, etc. they're out to murder our heroines so they're evil, of course, but their villainy becomes tied to their sexualization. they're the exact opposite of our pure little school girls.
while the show/manga does a lot of great cultural work by showing that power can be wrought from traditional feminine sources (makeup, jewels, love) & that young people can employ the magical forces of nature to do good, it also subtly undermines its female characters by forcing them to remain in that holy space of virginity. it's the classic disney princess narrative: females are magical from puberty until sex, & sex should only exist within the confines of a romantic, heterosexual relationship. while they is undeniable, wonderful strength in these virgin goddesses, as an adult i recognize that the story doesn't end there.
WHOA wrote a lot!
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