The magic system is just political inserts (High Guardian Spice)

Everytime I dig deeper into this show i find more horrible subtext, it's like a matryoshka doll made of feces...

[BlackLightJack.]

A young, naiive, impressionable girl is forced into old practices and mentalities, and she seems really interested in the new ways of modern life. She's scared of dabbling in these new progressive acts because her mom doesn't want her to, but her lesbian family members step in, and help her get into it, so now she loves it.


What an incredibly specific scenario... huh....

[michaelknox]

The Lord of the Rings has better political allegory and Tolkien hated allegory.

[BrainWitchSiv]

The mom isn't being a hypocrite. Being a recovering drug addict and telling your child not to be one isn't hypocrisy. Now if she used one when Sage wasn't around, that's hypocrisy.

[affablesage]

She was raised on 'old magic', so maybe she feels right using it. They don't explain WHY Sage has to learn 'new magic'. They just tell her that she should just do it. They never ask her what her personal viewpoint on the matter is, or whether she wants to learn it because she wants to or because she feels pressure to do so because she gets bullied for using 'old magic'. They just cast aspersions on Sage's mother out of nowhere and we're just supposed to take that as them being in the right. What a load of shit.

[shadowbyname]

This entire show is one giant political insert cluster. This wasn’t made with the idea of telling a legitimate story, it was made with the idea of catering to a very specific demographic. Which I would be more understanding of if they did anything interesting or unique with it, but the fact of the matter is they just don’t here. Nothing about this feels unique to their world and certainly nothing about it is creative.

UPDATE: I think this comment says it enough, but just because I want my hunk of meat after suffering 7 episodes of this thing, I do genuinely consider it one of the worst pieces of media I've ever experienced. Nothing has ever come close to the levels of failure this show reaches. It genuinely does nothing right, and a part of me believes the show runners did that on purpose for whatever reason.

[espionKX]

You know the saying "don't knock it till you tried it"?
Her mom tried it
She didn't like it
She knocked it

She's not a hypocrite. She speaking from her own experience.

[BushSage]

Sage's old magic is so much cooler than new magic tho, its honestly OP, she should really embrace it rather than listen to what everyone else thinks. This is really counter intuitive to fantasy writing.

[Alkaahest]

Subtlety is a lost art. Truly. If they'd used the word "traditional", we would've understood without the slap in the face. Someone else reviewed this scene, and the best comment I saw for the video was this, "I think the better question here is *why did she stop being rebellious*."

[Uniquenameosaurus]

The funny part is, I don't doubt that this is what they were going for. But they still weirdly tried retcon it later by making Caraway use the shitty slow old magic WITH new magic for no reason.

They just didn't know what they wanted to do with it and had a different idea each episode.

[MrAuthorDS]

"Your mom used to be cool, but now she's lame, don't ask why." That's the only message I'm getting from this spiel.

I would think the reason that her mom gave up New Magic would be a PRETTY IMPORTANT DETAIL, but I guess agendas are more important than well-thought-out storytelling.

[frootsnacc]

I wouldn’t mind this as much if they bothered to explain WHY Sage’s mother despises new magic and reverted back to using old magic. Like, did she hurt someone in a way that involved new magic? Did someone hurt her in a way that involved new magic? We don’t know, cuz this is so poorly written-

[roseystudio]

I'm insulted by this insert! Why must they feel that Sage HAS to be like everyone else, and use 'new magic'? Why couldn't they just make her enjoy old magic, because of it's nostalgic or simple use? Did they really have to push this?!

[mahwiiiife]

Translation:
Sage: I don't know why, but being an alt E-girl feels so good. My trad mom would kill me if she knew I was "using new magic"
Anise: "Your mother wasn't always so conservative.
Aloe: "Bruh we are not talking about this"
Anise: "Yeah no your mother went through a phase where she did drugs and went to hippie rallies. Ashamed of this, after a few years she went back to being 'conservative'."

[GreenTomas]

“Your mom wasn’t always so conservative”. Uh conservative isn’t just limited to politics; it just means to uphold traditions. This show has the subtlety and nuance of a bleeding stomach ulcer

[aquano]

Knowing one of the leading animators/writers openly stated her sexism and bigotry against the same demographics that are seen as comically evil and irredeemable in the show (namely, straight men, usually white men on top of that), this is practically given. They truly put politics and representation (they still do a shitty job at THAT) before writing and characters. This is one of the worst shows I’ve watched lol

[jwchampagne]

So the moral lesson here is...?
When the older generation tries to pass its wisdom and help you avoid mistakes, feel free to shit on them because THEY made mistakes when they were young? Not the kind of message you would expect in a kid's show. It's like a twisted G.I.Joe PSA where they tell you, go ahead and play with that downed power line. You learn by doing!

[DonVigaDeFierro]

You know, the fact the blue-haired mom tried both "old" and "new magic" and chose to stick with the old, actually makes her point stronger, since she gave a fair try to both types and decided that "old magic" was better...

[GeraldineHero]

Anise and Aloe are so focused on calling Sage's mom a hypocrite that they forget to question WHY she stopped using new magic.
I bet all our parents did something really crazy or new in their days too, realized it was dangerous or unnecessary, and afterwards they try to warn us to not repeat the same mistakes.

Considering this show is hinting that new magic is hurting nature and creating Rot, maybe Sage's mom realized this and tried to encourage her daughter more on harmony and balance that the old magic is better at.

[Demolitiondude]

And in the ultimate irony and furthers the political hypocrisy. New magic is responsible for the crisis with the rot.

[mutantsandmemes]

Sage, your hat isn't _stupid._
Like the rest of your outfit, it's basic, bland and lacks any creativity - kind of like you as a character! So don't worry, it suits you perfectly 💖