Some time ago I made a post on Twitter, but I had forgotten to post it here and I think it is a very important topic that has not been touched enough and that generates conflicts between those who love the She-ra series and those who do not.
First of all, I must highlight the fact that many people talk about a toxic relationship in the series due to the repetitively toxic behavior of a very important character, I talk about the Catradora couple and the character of Catra respectively. And I know that many fans will immediately come to tell me that Catradora is far from being a toxic couple and that Catra at least had “reasons” to adopt such a manipulative, angry, vindictive and indolent personality. But, despite the fact that I am a fan of the series and of the couple, even though my favorite character in the series is by far Catra, I must agree with the people who accuse Catra of being an extremely toxic character during most of the seasons and that the Catradora couple is formed around that toxicity. It’s true, and I can’t deny the horrible actions and misbehavior of Catra’s character in front of Adora and the other characters that accompanied her (Entrapta and Scorpia).
In this post I am not going to excuse Catra at all. However, there is a very important point of the character that I have seen that almost nobody has touched and that for me made the difference between hating Catra and making her my favorite character far from any other in another animated series that I have seen. And that point is that Catra has BPD.
What is BPD? Well, BPD stands for borderline personality disorder, and I quote, which is a disease characterized by difficulty in regulating emotions. This causes marked changes in mood, impulsivity and instability, self-image problems, and unstable interpersonal relationships. There may be frantic attempts to avoid situations of real or imagined abandonment. The combined result of living with borderline disorder can manifest itself in destructive behavior, such as self-harm or suicide attempts.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, I do not have a degree in psychology, but I have a firm reason to believe that Catra suffers from borderline, and that is that I have borderline.
Yes, and it has been a constant daily fight against a dangerous enemy, who is capable of harming those I love the most and breaking my strongest relationships, myself. Catra became a very powerful character for me, because she not only traced how terrible it can be for a person to have zero control over their emotions and the tremendous damage it can cause to those closest to them, but also the importance of redemption. and self forgiveness. I have not been the best girlfriend, daughter, sister and friend, because for years I had zero control over my unregulated emotions, which often led me to commit cruel, deprorable (almost unforgivable) acts towards others and my mental and physical integrity. I became what many would accuse as “toxic”, and it was years of group and individual therapy to take control again and forgive myself for the things I did. To this day I seek to make amends for my mistakes and not destructively punish myself for what I did. Well, if there is something that the BDP does not do, it is to make you unaware of your actions. You know when you are hurting, you know when you are doing something that you are going to regret enormously, but the emotion is so uncontrolled that it only remains to see how you destroy everything you love. I will never excuse what I did under the argument of suffering BPD, I was and will always be the culprit of the things I did, but the important thing is not only to accept the blame, but to understand that after all, you can forgive yourself and do things well from now on, especially with the people you hurt the most.
And Catra went through the same thing, obviously summarized in a short period of time because, after all, it is an animated series and there is not much time to be able to work on all the details of a disorder and its rehabilitation, but she went through the same thing that I had. The triggering of the disorder, the constant emotional decline, the breakdown of relationships, toxic and destructive behavior, wrong decisions, self-sabotage, rage and uncontrollable anger, personal acceptance of the problem, the decline, the long process of improvement and finally, redemption .
Catra (for me) has BPD, I have BPD, and we will have it forever. And I understand that those who do not know this possible theory continue to believe that Catra is an extremely toxic and harmful character for Adora and her friends. But once you understand why Catra might be behaving like this, you can capture the essence of the character and begin to forgive her.
Personally, it seems to me that the character lacked more acts of redemption (and that is also why I am looking forward to another season or movie of She-ra, so that I can see her developing more with the other characters and talking about such serious issues, such as the Angella’s death), but I could still appreciate Catra’s effort to mend the damage she did to Adora and the princesses during their long period of anger and toxicity. And for me that is enough and I hope it continues like this.
I also leave the discussion open, and I understand that it might not be enough to convince everyone, but I wanted to say it because the character of Catra, like the Catradora couple, is something very important and related in my life, because it made me understand that there are times when one can become the villain in the lives of others, but one can change and start doing things right (obviously with psychological help).
And finally, loving the series, its characters and Catradora is not supporting or promoting toxicity (quite the contrary).
Thanks for reading <3 Love u all.
