Is the way the show treats Alya /Nino / poc characters racist
Yeeesh. How should I, a 26 year old white lady, handle this question? Hmm…
There are arguments on both side I could agree with. It’s a delicate balance. Take Alya’s personality. She’s sarcastic, confident, head strong, and goes for what she wants. Nothing wrong with it, in fact it’s great to have a female character that takes no shit! But it’s also following traditional stereotypes of black women, that black women can’t be delicate or that they’re “brassy”. So, is Alya a good female role model or another POC stereotype? There’s solid arguments for both.
Nino’s suffering more from lack of screen time than anything. You could argue that the fact that they don’t care about him near as much as the White Rich Kids in the Heroes Roster is racist.His episodes have nothing to do with him - his likes, dislikes, dreams, family life - and have everything to do with Adrien or Alya. Animan was the first time we focused a little on Nino and he was barely in it. And of course by the end of it it’s kick starting DJWifi.
DJWifi (the NinoxAlya ship for the uninitiated) is where I also see arguments about racist undertones. Because of course the two POC best friend characters get together, just like the two bigger characters got together (Myvan), they couldn’t mix it up a bit. If DJWifi had more screen time in the build up, or more screen time not just being “adorable” but actually being a couple that banters and gets on each other’s nerves and have to compromise about things, then this would be more bullet proof. But as soon as they got together, that was it for them (especially for Nino). I wish they would’ve had more build up, more awkwardness with them. The two times they were alone before they became a couple, they didn’t have perfect chemistry. Nino laughed at Alya’s conspiracy theory about Chloe. Alya was pissed Nino changed her script without asking. How did they go from Kind of Bickering but Trusting Each Other to Perfect In Sync Couple? Because it’s rushed and ignored, it feels like something that was ticked on a checklist. POC Best Friends Characters get together, check! Because their relationship isn’t treated as important or doesn’t get the fleshing out, it lends itself to the “racist” argument.
And that’s what it comes down to. The show likes to have this diverse cast of characters with a wide aray of backgrounds, and then does nothing with it. Like, fine you don’t want to explore Kim’s Vietnamese family, he’s a background character. But Alya and Nino are in the main cast now. They’re part of the team. They deserve to be given attention and fleshing out beyond “Sassy Mom Friend” and “Her POC Boyfriend Who’s All About Her.”
