#ngl this kinda commentary is not my strong suit but okay let's chuck this out here

[muninnhuginn]

Also I didn't say it outright last post, but the whole thing about normality has always been tied into societal expectations about roles and about gender. It's always kept implicit really, but the series has always been pretty good at showing the societal expectations and then showing characters who flout those expectations by their very existence.

When Becky said that Damian was meant to be the protector, it was clear she meant because he was the guy and Anya the girl. When Martha's group in the military were being used to pretend to be a more 'equal' military rather than actually provided the same training as the men. When Yor was terrified that remaining single could put under suspicion and everyone in her surroundings piled on the pressure for her to get a partner. Henry was also subject to pressure about marriage after he was outspoken on his anti-war views. They're all being pushed into boxes for the sake of society, with only lipservice paid to the idea it could be any different.

But Anya is young enough to not "know better". She's surrounded by people who don't conform to the idea of male protector and female protectee, and so the idea that it "should" be that way isn't even on her radar. Martha's group, meanwhile, died because they were actively lambs to the slaughter. Martha saw it happen, but she survived, and was able to make it back. Henderson in her story plays the role that would be the "wife back home" in any other tale, whilst Martha is out at war. And Yor now may be part of a family unit, but it isn't one that inwardly conforms, for all they attempt to outwardly fit in. Loid does much of the housework, whilst Yor is the strongest physically of the family, (attempting to) train up Anya and providing a mentor-like role to Becky. And despite their roles not being the most traditional (or perhaps, in many ways, *because* they're not), they make it work.

The cinema extra chapter though, really does sum it up. By providing a broad range of female characters, from Martha (an older woman who's never been in a relationship) through to Becky (an upper-class girl obsessed with the idea of romance but still friends with Anya who's middle-class at best and interested in anything *but* romance) the series is able to both show the societal structure and show how to some extent that structure is a self-perpetuating lie, that none of the generations truly conform to