I would agree that Sakura’s management of the cards could be seen that way. At one point, Kero tells her the cards that she’s captured like her. They’re often shown dancing around her, something that never seems to happen to Li. Amusing, then, that the ever-androgynous Yue should tend to be cold & distant to everyone, wrapped up in his love for Clow Reed.

As far as appropriating, turning the cards into Sakura Cards seems to serve that purpose for Sakura (also, most of the plot of the second movie does the same). If she doesn’t change the cards quickly enough, they will become useless. As far as the other characters…I will think on this.

It sounds like the anime and manga are quite different, and my only CCS experience is with the latter (I didn’t watch the show when it aired on American TV because, when I was 14, that would’ve been SRSLY GHEY). I think a lot of what you point out here also operates in the manga — the phallic v. yonic symbolism, the patriarchy coming through in certain characters and its subsequent subversion, and so on. And I’m all for magic-as-writing, perhaps needless to say, which is probably productive in every context ever. But, if I’m getting the anime’s direction right (and I may not be), there seem to be two key differences between the two installments in the franchise, and they seem more than a little contradictory. Firstly, I’d say the manga’s subversion of gender roles, and its giving Sakura “feminine writing,” is more overt. Gender really never seems to occur consciously to anyone, even; when it comes to picking objects of affection, everyone is fair game for everyone else (regardless of age, even!). But, on the other hand, the manga’s second major arc essentially consists of — well, I don’t want to say too much, but Sakura’s actions are much more dependent upon men. Her mastery of feminine writing is perhaps subverted. And this is stuff that happens after the Final Judgment bit. I’m horribly clumsy with feminist theory, so I’d be interested to see what you’d think of the manga.

What do you think of the “laugh” itself in CCS? Do Sakura or any of the other characters ever manage to appropriate what’s been turned against them? I’m thinking that Sakura’s kind management of the cards might be a “feminine” turning against the patriarchal rule they’ve suffered under Clow’s control — and would suffer under Li’s. It’s still not quite as juicy as the real laughter of the Medusa, but then Sakura hasn’t really managed to hit puberty yet.