Having watched the first three episodes of Shadow and Bone, which I’ve otherwise really liked, the anti-Shu/anti-Asian racism Alina faces for being biracial is jarring and unnecessary. Frankly, there was no good reason to include it.
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I think Mal also cops a slur or two for being biracial (though the show hasn’t yet told us about his identity), but again, especially when we’re seeing multicultural Ketterdam every other scene, it doesn’t feel consistent. And again: there are Black Grisha!
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If Ravka specifically was painted as a white environment with racist underpinnings, with Ketterdam to serve as a contrast, that would still be shitty, but it would at least make narrative sense. Instead, it feels like racism for racism’s sake, as though that equals realism.
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As Alina and Mal bring biracial was an invention for the show - and I applaud the idea of more diverse casting! - there’s nothing in their arcs that requires them to suffer racism, and nothing in its inclusion that enriches the narrative.
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Plenty of Asian commentators have already pointed this out, but I’ll reiterate it: if you’re going to show the racist “downside” of being biracial, at least show the positives, too. But thus far we know nothing of the Shu except that Alina is half one & they’re a nebulous Enemy -
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- which, again, I don’t recall from the books; or not to this extent, at least. IIRC it was a political and sometimes cultural entity, not a racial one, and while those things can certainly get muddled, that isn’t what we’re being shown. Just flat racism.
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Which is a real shame, because Jessie Mei Li is doing a wonderful job as the lead - as are all the main actors thus far; the Dregs crew are *perfect* - and there’s great background diversity with characters like Nadia, Poppy and the Conductor. It’s just this one bit that sucks.
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I won’t say the racism is constant, but it has cropped up more than once an episode thus far, and feeling outcast by virtue of being biracial is cited as a bonding thing for Alina and Mal, so: YMMV as to how much of a dealbreaker it’ll be.
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But again, the rest of the show is thus far great, and I’m keen to watch more! And like. It shouldn’t have to be said, but it’s possible to critique the failings of a piece of media while still enjoying it. And I do want to be aware that harsher judgement tends to fall on shows -
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- which are female-led, or which are actively *trying* to do diversity even when they fuck it up at times, whereas big franchises like Supernatural or the DCU, we just tend to resign ourselves to a certain base level of fuckery, bc we didn’t expect better of them.
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All of which is a way of saying: this one aspect of Shadow and Bone sucks, it may very well be a dealbreaker for some & that’s fine, but the show is otherwise trying and doing a lot very well, and we can critique the one aspect while still supporting the other.
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End of conversation
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