How To Write A Bully, A Look At Amity Blight
The Owl House: How to Write a Bully - A Look at Amity Blight
In this video essay, the speaker discusses the character of Amity Blight from Disney Channel's "The Owl House." The speaker analyzes how the show sets up Amity as a bully and how her character develops throughout the series.
Introduction
- "The Owl House" is a new cartoon that has gained popularity quickly.
- The speaker plans to do an initial thoughts and impressions video on the show after 10 episodes have aired.
- The focus of this video essay is on the character of Amity Blight.
Setting Up Amity as a Bully
- Episode 3, "I Was a Teenage Abomination," introduces Amity as cold, mean, and condescending towards Willow.
- As viewers, we are not supposed to like or sympathize with Amity in this episode.
- This episode sets up our expectations of Amity as the bully character.
Glimpses of Other Characteristics
- Despite being a bully, we see glimpses of other characteristics in Amity.
- She is studious and expects other students to work hard like she does.
- In Episode 5, "Convention," we see how passionate and dedicated she is to her studies.
Attending Emperor's Coven
- In "Convention," we see that Amity is attending to see the Emperor's Coven, an elite group of witches with access to all forms of magic.
- We see her face light up with glee when Principal Bump mentions current Hexside students joining the coven.
Bullying Loose Again
- When Loose bumps into her at the convention, we see familiar bullying behavior from Episode 3.
- While not defending her actions, it's mentioned that she's being mean because Loose got her in trouble at school and gives witches a bad name.
- From Amity's perspective, she's worked hard for her accomplishments, so seeing Loose casually look at magic irritates her.
Conclusion
- The speaker acknowledges that they are not defending Amity's bullying behavior but analyzing how the show sets up her character arc.
- Amity is a complex character with more to her than just being a bully.
Lilith's Protege
The episode introduces Amity's older twin siblings, Amara and Edric. They tease and bully Amity, but also welcome Luz into their group. They trick Luz into breaking into the library to find Amity's diary.
The Twins Tease Amity
- Amara and Edric are introduced as Amity's older twin siblings who like to tease her.
- They call her "mittens" and bring her a homemade lunch from their mother.
- They welcome Luz into their group, but also tell Amity to stop being a jerk to Luz.
- It becomes clear that they have a mischievous side when they spend the day pulling pranks in the library with Luz.
Breaking Into the Library
- Luz wants to befriend the twins in order to get closer to Amity.
- The twins trick Luz into breaking into the library at night by telling her they need to find something important.
- They discover that the Whaling Star has brought books to life when opened, causing chaos in the library.
- The twins reveal that they are looking for Amity's diary so they can post it around school as payback for tattling on them when they cut class.
Insights Into Amity
- The twins' behavior towards Amity suggests that she may be bullied at home as well as at school.
- This could explain why she lashes out at others and has a secret hideout in the library.
- Despite wanting to befriend them initially, Luz realizes that the twins' behavior is not cool and tells them posting Amity's diary is going too far.
A Portrait of Her When She Was Younger
Luce tries to explain herself to Amity but is interrupted by an altered Oda ban from doodle edrick drew odin takes a MIDI and tries to bind her to a book so he can have a friend forever. Enter Lazaro who tries to save a MIDI and failed some immediately but loose is able to knock the book over and make an escape with a MIDI.
Amity's Emotional Attachment to Books
- Amity seems to have a hard time making friends in real life, fiction, and books seem to be something that gives her a sense of belonging and being accepted.
- Odin seems to be an important book for Amity as she said she's read the books when she was younger, it was also the book she chose to read at the beginning of this episode.
- Books are likely a source of emotional attachment for her such as Odin and most likely Asura as well.
Breakthrough for Loose and Amity
- Loose offers Amity the fifth book in Nia's series since Luce noticed that Amity was missing. Fittingly, this book is the one where Azura befriends her rival.
- We get another big breakthrough for loose and Amity when they both acknowledge their faults towards each other.
Why We Love Amity's Character
- The owl house isn't doing what so many other shows do and drag out their bully's character arc.
- Each episode has built off of the most recently discovered traits of Amity.
- The potential plot points revolving around Amity are far more interesting than a simple bully character arc.
Amity's New Chapter
Luz hopes that Amity has turned a new chapter in her life where she can let her walls down and find friendship and belonging.
Amity's Growth
- Amity has grown a lot.
- She is turning a new chapter in her life.
- Luz hopes that Amity will be able to let her walls down.
- Amity has lacked friendship and belonging for much of her life.