#issues: actor

[representativecharacters]

Character(s): Alexandra "Alex" Casoy (originally Heung) and Britney Akiwara

From: Totally Spies!

Representation: Multiracial - Latinx, Asian (Alex), Asian (Britney)

Their Importance: Alex is one of the main protagonists and is a spy at WOOHP. She is the nicest out of the three girls and has a thing for Chinese food and clothes. She often gets kidnapped by men who want to marry her, like Clover does too. 

Britney is an occasional replacement for Alex and a sidekick. Sometimes she even joins the team completely. She also gets in danger in every one of her appearances.

Issues: They are both voiced by white women, Britney is portrayed as super perfect, and Alex is shown to be fairly ignorant when it comes to countries. She literally once asked if Siberia, Russia was in Hawaii, and if a tsunami was a type of treat. They meant no harm, but some people may be bothered by these things.

Thanks to @thedisneytardblr for the write-up!

[representativecharacters]

Character: Caitlin Ryan

From: Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High (Degrassi franchise)

Representation: Epilepsy

Their Importance: Any time a character with a disability is represented, rarely is it in a main recurring character. I've also found that characters with epilepsy, unfortunately, are so incredibly rare.

But Caitlin Ryan is a character who is diagnosed with epilepsy and is required to take medication for it. There's light talk (very brief) about seizure triggers (with Caitlin's father concerned that lack of sleep could trigger another seizure for her), and it shows Caitlin taking medication and having two episodes of absence seizures (something that is especially rare in epilepsy representation, as television shows near exclusively think of seizures as photosensitive and tonic-clonic).

Her epilepsy was something I was worried was going to be a one-time-shown sort of very special episode thing, but it isn't. She takes her medication casually in a few episodes and mentions it when relevant to conversation.

Overall I was impressed by how much they mentioned and got correct. Though the writers, I do believe, discussed the topic of epilepsy and seizures with neurologists.

Issues: The whole introductory episode feels very overly-dramatic, but with a show like Degrassi I feel like it's to be expected. It also has a couple characters antagonize Caitlin (for petty reasons) about having Epilepsy/taking medication.

It also shows Caitlin having a seizure in a scene which just made me uncomfortable, as someone with epilepsy, as it was an incredibly dramatic example of what appeared to be a tonic-clonic seizure.

And also, to my knowledge, the actor who played Caitlin (Stacie Mistysyn) doesn't have epilepsy in real life. So that could be bothersome to some.

[representativecharacters]

Character: Alexandra "Alex" Casoy (originally Heung) and Britney Akiwara

From: Totally Spies

Representation: Biracial -- Alex (Latinx, Asian -- Korean in original drafts), Japanese (Britney)

Their Importance: Alex is one of the main protagonists and is a spy at WOOHP. She is the nicest out of the three girls and has a thing for Chinese food and clothes. She often gets kidnapped by men who want to marry her, like Clover does too. Britney is an occasional replacement for Alex and a sidekick. Sometimes she even joins the team completely. She also gets in danger in every one of her appearances.

Issues: They are both voiced by white women, Britney is super perfect, and Alex is shown to be fairly ignorant when it comes to countries. She literally once asked if Siberia, Russia was in Hawaii, and if a tsunami was a type of treat. They meant no harm, but some people may be bothered by these things.

Thanks to @thedisneytardblr for the write-up!

[representativecharacters]

Character: Princess Isla Kokoro

From: Barbie: Princess Charm School

Representation: Japanese

Their Importance: Isla is one of Blair Willows and Hadley Ainsley's friends. She is shown as nice, somewhat shy at first while meeting Blair. She is also into music and was shown to be a DJ and songwriter. When she and her friends were stuck in a room by Dame Devin, the villain, Isla ultimately freed them by figuring out the passcode on the door rang to the same melody that she remembered hearing somewhere. 

Issues: She’s also voiced by Shannon Chan-Kent (who's Asian, as she’s Chinese-Canadian, but not Japanese).

Thanks to @thedisneytardblr for the write up!

[representativecharacters]

Character: Haley Cropper

From: Coronation Street

Representation: Trans woman

Their Importance: She’s one of the few prominent trans characters in British media and it’s thought that her storylines - including winning the respect of the street, lovingly raising foster children and fighting for the right to be legally married to the man she loves - played a role in educating the British public about trans issues.

Issues: She eventually developed pancreatic cancer and chose euthanasia in another particularly well-regarded storyline - after being a prominent character for almost two decades. She is also played by a cis woman and not a trans actress.

Thanks to anon for the write-up! 

[representativecharacters]

Shape of Water Triple Post

Character: Elisa Esposito 

From: Shape of Water

Representation: Mute

Their Importance: Elisa could have easily been just another cutesy mute child figure thrown in for weird quirkiness. While she’s definitely unconventional and idealistic, but she’s also shown to be intelligent, determined and assertive, being the main player in freeing her lover from his prison. Despite the media storm about the sex scene Elisa’s sexuality is treated in a very un-lurid, un-gimmicky way. She’s shown in sexual situations, and no one assumes she’s “too innocent” or “afflicted” to enjoy a fulfilling relationship, which is a welcome change from the usual pity-filled, desexualized disability narrative. The one person who ever makes anything of her muteness is the bigoted main villain. Also, most other works would’ve made a big deal of Giles and Delilah being friends with Elisa and learning sign language for her (i.e. it automatically shows them to be unusually nice to even consider it). Instead it’s treated very matter-of-factly. 

Issues: Able-bodied actor

Character: Giles

Representation: Gay

Their Importance: His characterization is a refreshing subversion of the usual virtuous gay best friend: being a marginalized minority doesn’t make him wiser or more moral than anyone else. He clearly has a good heart but is also willing to turn a blind eye to horrible things happening under his nose has to be essentially nagged into action by Elisa. Despite his initial unwillingness, he’s a vital part of rescuing the Asset.

Character: Zelda Delilah Fuller

Representation: Black

Their Importance: She’s a loyal friend to Elisa. Much like Giles she initially refuses to risk helping the Asset but spectacularly comes to his defense after initially trying to stop Elisa mid-rescue attempt.

Issues: There have been complaints about her being stereotyped and underused in comparison to the other heroes.

Thanks to anon for the write-up!

[representativecharacters]

Character: Hermann Gottlieb

From: Pacific Rim

Representation: Disabled (mobility impaired, cane user), MLM

Their Importance: For a start, there aren’t many physically disabled scientists working for the forces of good in films like this. No one ever calls attention to his condition in-universe and it isn’t a source of personal angst. He has a hilariously grouchy, snobbish personality and there’s no indication that it has anything to do with his disability- i.e. he’s not a “bitter crip*le”. It also doesn’t get in the way of him helping to save the day though it doesn’t conveniently lessen when he needs to do something heroic. His gait and physical mannerisms are also more realistic than most disability portrayals. While there’s plenty to complain about where Uprising is concerned the scene where Herman fakes a medical emergency in order to beat up an elevator-full of henchmen and rescue Newt (the only scene where attention is called to his disability) is utterly brilliant. He also has an incredibly sweet and comedic relationship with his co-worker Newt- it’s still uncommon to have a focus on a disabled person in a relationship that doesn’t make a big deal about how great the non-disabled person is for interacting with them.

Issues: As is usually the case he’s played by an able-bodied actor. Also while Burn Gorman and Charlie Day have been famously vocal about their characters’ being in a romantic relationship with each other it hasn’t been officially acknowledged in canon. 

Thanks to anon for the write-up! 

[representativecharacters]

Character: Yael Baron

From: Degrassi: Next Class

Representation: Nonbinary, Jewish

Their Importance: When we see nonbinary and binary trans characters in media, they are usually already out from the beginning. This is not the case with Yael, who starts questioning their gender in season 4 and we get to see their delicate process of coming to terms with the fact that they feel "in between". Yael starts wearing a binder and when their friend calls them a girl, they look uncomfortable, although at that point in the show, they don't know why. A few episodes later they learn what "genderqueer" means and come out - first to one of their friends, then to everyone else, and start using they/them pronouns. Degrassi had several coming- out storylines before, but they never had a nonbinary character, and the fact that this character is also Jewish makes me even happier, especially since Yael is played by a Jewish actor and their religion is mentioned in the show as something important to Yael.

Issues: Yael and their friends bullied another character and sent her threats back in season 1, and while Yael was quick to apologize for it, they still went along with their friends' plan to troll and threaten another person before realizing how wrong this is. Yael is also played by a cis woman, although this probably has more to do with the creators' original plan to write Yael as a cis lesbian than transphobia, as far as I'm concerned, as one of the writers even stated that if they planned the "Yael comes out as genderqueer" storyline from the beginning, they would've cast a nonbinary person to play Yael.

Thanks to anon for the submission!