There is something so, so wrong with the way this show deals with Desi culture and religions (aka Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism).
1. Commander Lexa, played by a white woman, wearing the bindi.
ADC admitting it’s a bindi and gushing about choosing it
Yet, the CL fandom defends it, claims it’s not a bindi, worships ADC anyway, and acts like her sexuality absolves her of appropriation.
The bindi is also the Dharmachakra from Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.
2. Clarke Griffin, a white woman, wearing the tilak/tikka.
This is something the BC fandom, who despise Alycia, Lexa, Octavia, Tasya and Echo for appropriating Desi culture, act like never happened.
3. Octavia Blake, another white woman, wearing the bindi. (And what looks like either too much bronzer or the show’s staple brownface)
4. The brownface these women have been in.
and the stupidity of the writers.
5. Tasya Teles, a white woman who plays Echo, proudly wearing the bindi and tikka.
6. Religious appropriation.
The bindi and tikka are part of our religion, as are the Dharmachakra and concept of rebirth/reincarnation, which the 100 parodies, mocks and insults.
If one sees it from the colonisation narrative the anti skaikrus (CLs) are always harping on, if grounders are representative of any native people, it’s South Asians. Brown skinned, bindi-clad, and believing in reincarnation. (Except, of course, both sides are multiracial ethnic groups and both sides have glorified whites and demonised poc. Which brings me to:
7. The actual Desis on the show.
Sky Person. I don’t think we ever learn his full name, he exists as a prop for Abby Griffin, he has barely any screentime and has no storyline, personality, or development, even though he’s been a recurring character from the start.
Mount Weather. She’s a one-dimensional villain, portrayed as even worse than Cage, ruthless and cruel, amoral and unscrupulous, wants to murder children and drain them of their blood and marrow, and she meets a brutal end.
Like Jackson, she has a western name… other than the “Tsing”. Singh is an extremely common Punjabi last name and it’s completely butchered here just to westernise it even though the pronunciation is the same, It’s ridiculous, racist and honestly so hurtful.
Grounder princess. She was powerful, badass, albeit villainised, and she was killed so a white girl wearing the bindi (Lexa) could take her place. Which is absurd because Dichen Lachman is of Nepali descent and should have worn it instead. Also, having a brown east/south Asian woman play a lesbian and romance the bisexual lead would have been a hundred times more progressive and saved the show the brownface and cultural appropriation controversy.
Luisa D'Oliveira is of Indian descent, and Emori is awesome. She has screentime, development, a backstory, character- and there are rumours she’s dead by season 5.
The 100 needs to do better. The white cast needs to stop being so clueless, the writers need to stop using, twisting and mocking our culture and beliefs and names and history, and the actual Desi characters on the show need to be treated better and maybe get some of the screentime the bindi and tikka wearing whites get. No other culture is treated worse on the show than South Asian culture and I’m sick and tired of it.
