clearspira wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 10:31 pm
With the greatest of respect, your opinion as to whether this show will endure or not is so heavily biased that you lack the objectivity to answer this question. And I cannot answer this question by judging the show on its merits because I haven't seen enough of it.
We are at an impasse. Or are we?
What is ''enduring popularity?'' What does this mean as a measurable statement? How do we decide what has stood the test of time and what hasn't? Many products are beloved upon their release and then later vanish from the public consciousness, or worse, end up despised. Power Rangers is a good example of the former, The Simpsons a good example of the latter.
I would say that the She-Ra Reboot currently occupies the slot of ''Demographic Niche'' as I like to call it. It is beloved by its two main demographics which are the LGBT community and little girls respectively but few others. Other examples of ''Demographic Niche'' would be ''Twilight'' and ''Fifty Shades of Grey''. No one but horny teenage girls and horny housewives liked those books and, crucially, they are both largely forgotten by all but those groups. Therefore we have evidence to suggest that If ''Demographic Niche'' is your goal, then yes, She-Ra will endure.
My honest opinion however is that one of the purest measurements of ''enduring popularity'' there is is when normies - AKA the people from outside the fandom or dedicated demographic - begin to consume your product. Star Wars didn't just become big because of fans. Star Trek didn't just become big because of fans. The Simpsons didn't just become big because of fans. These products became big because your normal Joe saw that the quality was there and went and watched it as if it was any other film.
What qualifies something as Nishe and what qualifies as normal. LGBT is a growing trend because in the last 7 or so years since Korra and Asami walked into the Spirit world LGBT in Western Animation has become the norm. To look at fandom Trek wasn't the pop-culture power house it is today and was cancelled after only 3 seasons and it wasn't until The Voyage Home when Trek became a Pop-Culture Icon.
And the people who Trek was aimed at, which was just about everyone given it's views on equality, which (at the time the show was on) was seen as a low income demographic. LGBT is no longer viewed by the mainstream as bad and most agree that there's just as much in this series.
Twilight was targeted at young girls and TBH, the first novel is just okay. Nothing is really wrong with it as it's just a regular Teen Romance novel. It could be argued that the series popularity was more of a result of the hate around the series instead of the series itself (though the increasing Eek of the series gave people who hated it more then enough fuel to critique).
She-Ra main draw, as stated in just about every review by "normies" talk about the shows characters and clever and surprising plot twists. The fact that this is a VERY Gay show is hardly ever mentioned in reviews. Even the negative ones tend to be more about ideas or character types that aren't liked rather then the fact that anyone is queer.
To go over to Power Rangers, it's STILL popular. I still see merch for this series being sold at costume stores and toy stores. Comic Adaptations of the Original Series is still being made and the show is STILL getting new seasons with companies still working to keep it on the air because there is still a demand for this series to go on. Today, I saw a birthday card that had the most recent team of Power Rangers wishing a kid that was made out as non-binary to them and there was only ONE left.
One last thing to keep in mind is Rom. As Linkara pointed out in his review Rom was made as a toy to be sold so Marvel was commissioned to make a ongoing comic series to market the toy. The toy faded but Rom endured and is still not only being written (now by Hasbro) but the influence on pop-culture is still being felt like the lore created around him in Marvel and things like Rogue becoming a hero is a result of Rom's impact in the comics.
The question that must be asked is why has Power Rangers and Rom endured despite having some what many would consider weak or un-engaging premises? With the former it was due to the narm charm while the latter was down to good writing. She-Ra has, IMO, clever writing, well round characters and is currently being used as the Gold Standard for the rest of the He-Man lore.
Just to give an example, over on Archive of Our Own, on the He-Man page the most popular characters besides He-Man himself are Adora, Catra, Glimmer & Bow and that's the Reboot version of these characters NOT the original. The most popular paring is Catradora and Glimbow.
But let's take a look back at Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey, after both series ended they were talked about a little bit but soon faded out of the popular conciseness with the former only getting barely mentioned here and there and the latter being almost completely forgotten. It has been over a year since She-Ra ended and there is STILL a demand for a She-Ra movie for a series that wrapped up most of it's major plot threads and character arcs.
I guess right now it's a matter of debate. After all DS9 is an amazing show and considered by many on par with TOS and TNG but it's never been able to break into pop-culture and I doubt it ever will despite it's engaging ideas. So, only time will tell.
