Camila… is the opposite of Raine. Amazing character who's actively detrimental to the story almost just by existing? Especially as she is. Because she is a practical saint at this point with how much understanding she shows about everything… And that's a problem when it comes to Luz's character.
And one I'm not going to talk about because criticizing Luz gets you lit on fire by this fandom and I don't feel like it.
Instead, let's talk about the rest that has to do with her. Like your point with Eda! Why does Luz grab onto Eda so much when she has a mom who shows her such love and care? Who, as far as the show has depicted, has literally only ever once tried to repress her child and that's after Luz accidentally assaulted her principal with snakes. So, you know, did her job as a mom by being like "Child, you do not bring dangerous animals you cannot control to school. Here are consequences." Meanwhile, Eda is her magic teacher but it takes close to Adventure in the Elements for Eda and Luz to even have a truly amicable relationship. Before then, it's fairly transactional and with Eda not being all that on board with the idea of actually taking care of this weird human thing. It's not actively hostile (always) before then but it takes a WHILE and the show doesn't really let them actually spend a lot of dedicated time together. How many episodes do they spend where their story is about the two spending time together in S1? This same question goes for King btw and is really detrimental to the found family angle of TOH.
Amphibia got around this problem of giving Anne a loving set of parents and a found family by having the show actually be about the fucking Plantars and Anne. At least like three quarts of season 1 of Amphibia is just dedicated to their growing relationship and understanding of each other. How they conflict, how they better each other. By the end of S1, you understand why they call each other family because they've been through so much. They don't even have to have almost died for each other to earn that claim. TOH… Honestly kind of does really need to be able to say "I sacrificed myself for you so we MUST be close."
Because otherwise… What does Eda give Luz that Camila never did? Eda judges Luz WAAAAAAAY fucking more than Camila ever did. Eda mocks Luz more. Eda dismisses Luz's interests and eccentricities more. I know this may sound wild because of 'mama Eda' but more of you need to remember how often Luz ran off from Eda in S1 because Eda wasn't doing something Luz was interested in or was just not willing to actually do her job as teacher.
The other side of things I'll touch on is her turning out to be a secret nerd. I think this was a terrible choice on SO MANY LEVELS. It creates an almost us vs. them feel where Luz appears to think Camila can only ever have shown her understanding by being the same as her, all the backfill and retconning to make it happen makes Camila look like a questionable parent because while supporting your child is one thing, NEVER being willing to criticize them is an entirely different one and… It also took away perhaps the most unique thing about Camila:
She was a good parent who showed her child understanding… While being one who could never relate.
In most media where you have the outcast child, you have one of two parents. The quirky older generation that is very much so just like their child and so if they don't get along, it's because they do it the old ways or are a bit too caring. That or you get Stoic and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon. The parent who doesn't understand and doesn't approve of their child's outcast ways until the child proves the effectiveness of their ways and gets their approval.
Now, both of these aren't bad. I love Stoic and Hiccup and the generational thing can often provide good comedy and its own unique frictions, even if it's done less. Camila was genuinely special though. She appeared to be someone who'd never properly understand fandom or Luz's obsession with things being online or how she'd obsess over one character and she was FINE WITH THAT. She was okay with Luz being the way she was so long as it didn't hurt anyone. And when it did, what did Camila focus on?
Not the life skills. Not the attempt to make her more normal. Camila focused on the fact that it might bring Luz more friends. Because Camila didn't want those odd parts of Luz gone, she wanted her daughter to be happy and she didn't think the things that gave her success would lead to making Luz happy. But friends? Friends are a good bet for anyone.
But no, just, you know, throw that out. She's always been a nerd. She's always had some in to Luz's world. Maybe not a perfect one, she still doesn't watch anime, but she knows the struggles and joys so why wouldn't she be able to support them? Why wouldn't she support them in the first place? I mean, they COULD have actually gone with "I don't want her suffering the same pain as me," which they try to claim, but… Camila would have had to be more condemnatory then. If being a nerd and an outcast hurt her, and she doesn't want Luz hurt, why didn't she do more to stop Luz from developing these weird hobbies and interests?
And here is where we get to the biggest problem with Camila: She is a subversion without a point. The Isles are VERY obviously meant to be Luz's real home. It is where she is meant to be spiritually. Most media that decides to make the magical other world simply the more appealing option, the one that is across the board better for the main character, makes their home life shit. This is so favoring that world and eventually staying there permanently makes sense for the character and the narrative. You root for them to do so.
Making Camila so good complicates that a lot. It raises a lot of questions that could be explored… With a lot of time and a LOT more criticism of Luz. Vee is RIGHT when she calls out Luz for being a fucking terrible person for running away from her mom for the reasons she did. That she did have it good and had the potential to have it be a lot better. I have a blog saved in drafts about how Yesterday's Lie irrevocably changed my opinion on Luz because it pointed out blatantly the fact that lie referenced… Is a lot of what Luz claimed was other's faults when they were her own.
But the show doesn't have the time nor the interest to actually tackle the questions. Instead, Camila continues to be such a saint that she barely has a character. She'd live in the Isles if it made Luz happy.
Because like so much of the show, Camila starts as a good idea that feels like they were made that way to claim they were special without doing anything special with them.
Also still talked about Luz more than I meant to. Kind of hard with the character's mother I guess. Can't wait for this to be the post to gain traction then. *sigh*
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