#i think the solution really is to bring back oracle!babs... if there was another 'mother' it wouldn't feel so unbalanced

[casscainmainly]

Some Thoughts on Lady Shiva and Cass

(This post is me hashing out my feelings on modern-day Shiva + Cass, it's not complete or definitive or even particularly good. Also absolutely no hate towards any writers, but a warning that this post will be critical of/contain spoilers for Batgirl (2024)).

It's interesting to me that comics has trended away from the original David-Shiva-Cass set-up, where David is very emotionally involved with Cass (whether or not you label it 'love') and Shiva is the least emotionally involved - to Shiva being the most important figure in Cass' life, except maybe Bruce, and Cain completely gone. This isn't to criticise Batgirl (2024) (or Batman & The Outsiders, or Batgirls, or WFA...) but this phenomenon is genuinely like. Strange? Because even when Cass was reintroduced in the New 52, Cain was still the most important person in her life; she literally named herself after him. Then, when Detective Comics (2016) rolled around with its not-very-good Shiva writing, Shiva still didn't super care about Cass. But now we're at a point where newer people might think Shiva is her most important parental figure, which I honestly think shouldn't have happened.

The original David-Shiva-Cass dynamic is not only good because Shiva's uniqueness as a character shines through, but because it's a deliberate inversion of gendered and racial tropes. Here, the dad is more emotionally invested, and the mom is emotionally aloof - and she's not demonised for it, because she wasn't even originally Cass' mom. As soon as the Shiva mom revelation sets in, their relationship changes to centre that motherhood angle. This is reductive not only to their original relationship but to Shiva herself, who now cannot be adversary, ally, or anything else without it being filtered through 'Cass' mom'. I'm not saying this is problematic, because it's not the worst thing an Asian woman character has gone through, but it is disappointing when so much of the nuance Puckett built between Cass and Shiva has been lessened because of a bio connection.

To bring up the race angle - Cass and Shiva have always been connected through race. From Puckett's Shiva saying 'you and I are alike' to Brenda's mixed-race question prompting Cass to search for Shiva, Cass' understanding of her race has always been tied to Shiva. This is hard to articulate because a lot of Asian girls genuinely do have intergenerational trauma and tricky relationships with their mom, but like - this is a trope. The Asian girl with an all-consuming, contentious relationship to their Asian mom is kind of a trope at this point. What I found so refreshing about the original Cass parent set-up is that it's an exploration of different parental tropes than we usually get for Asian girls. Cass' struggle with a White dad paralleled Asian girls' experiences with the White patriarchy, and her struggles with Babs and Bruce were so realistic for two White people trying to care for, but not fully understanding, this Asian teenager that fell into their lap. But now that we've overemphasised Shiva, we've taken Cass' original struggles and moulded it into a much more typical Asian girl narrative. (I haven't even mentioned that her original set-up spotlights her biracial heritage much more than anything recent).

Brombal is clearly a Shiva fan, and has said that he aims to write a more nuanced Shiva. I'm not trying to call out Brombal - I think he genuinely loves Shiva - but why does 'a more nuanced Shiva' entail her caring/being invested in her daughter? Why should Shiva need that emotional/biological connection to be more fleshed out? Puckett's Shiva was nuanced without that. I'll even say Bryan Hill, in Batman & The Outsiders, walks that line - Shiva does love Cass, but she's not overly invested in her. In Outsiders, Shiva has her own morals, and the most emotional she gets is when her home village is destroyed. This isn't perfect writing, but Hill shows that Shiva has feelings outside of Cass, and motivations beyond motherhood.

Compare that to Batgirl (2024) - everything Shiva has done, and it's implied this extends to stealing the flowers, has been for/centered around Cass. The best Shiva bit was when she opened up about Carolyn, because that gives her something external! I know this is a story about Cass, but Shiva is at this point a deuteragonist - if Cass' connection to the Bats can be emphasised, Shiva can have something external too. Her connection to the Order of Shiva isn't even that fleshed out. Like, Jayesh straight up dies and Shiva has no reaction. (I do think this is a set-up for the resurrection of Jayesh, Shiva, etc. so this is not bad, but it does contribute to issue 6 feeling anticlimactic.).

(Also the Shiva/Bruce opposition was kinda done better in Outsiders too, whereas here the emphasis on 'motherhood' makes it feel like Shiva should be paralleling Babs. BUT I don't think this is Brombal's fault, most likely editorial shenanigans. It still does make the 'motherhood' monologues weird if Bruce is the parallel to Shiva).

All this to say modern-day Shiva and Cass flattens a lot of what I loved about the original Shiva-Cass dynamic. I do think this flattening is partially due to the reduction in Cass' parental figures - if Babs and David were here, it would be a lot more balanced, and we'd be able to see how they ping off each other. I also think Brombal will likely ameliorate or subvert a lot of the things I've said here, so this really isn't criticism against him or the series. But while Batgirl (2024) is far far better than other current portrayals, it also reduces Shiva to her relationship to Cass/motherhood/the 'Asian mother'. If Babs and David were here to offset this, I think Shiva's characterisation could potentially work. But as of right now, Shiva's over-importance isn't quite resonating with me, for either Cass or Shiva's sake.

(But I really am not a Shiva expert so take everything with a grain of salt, and I know many people do love Shiva-Cass in BG '24 so this is really my singular take!! It's not meant to invalidate anyone's enjoyment of anything.)