As the weeks march forward, I continue to shelter-in-place with my family. This past weekend, we had a media first. I let my kid binge-watch an entire season of Netflix over the weekend. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Season 5 (the finale!)

For anyone unfamiliar, this is a feminist reboot of a 1980s show. The original version was cheesy and the female characters all looked like Barbie dolls. But the reboot not only has a great deal of body and racial diversity, it also has a great message about empowered young women and their allies fighting against fascism.

The series villain is named Horde Prime and is a meglomaniac who has been cloning himself. He wants absolute power over the universe. In the 5th season, the rebel princess alliance has taken a huge set of losses, and they are scrambling to try and stop Horde Prime before he gets control of the heart of Etheria and will be virtually unstoppable.

Horde Prime

I have no idea if She-Ra creator Noelle Stevenson is inspired by current events, but we can easily substitute Tr*mp for Horde Prime. Queen Glimmer says that “it’s going to take all of us” to win. The pronoun “it” could easily stand for defeating Tr*mp in the election or winning the Green New Deal. Regardless, her speech to her team is the inspirational talk that we all need right now. The Left has been hit with many defeats. We are facing multiple crises: COVID, the election, the economy, and the climate emergency. It’s going to take all of us.

I also love how this project of saving the world is being led by teen young women, as is also the case in real life, if we look at Varshini Prakash, The Sunrise Movement, Youth vs. Apocalypse, Greta Thundberg, and many more young women around the world who are fighting for climate action.

Here’s the clip. I definitely recommend She-Ra to anyone who likes strong female characters, sci-fi/fantasy, and is excited to see LGBTQ characters in kid’s animated shows.