The Future of Mixed Representation?: A Review of Shadow and Bone
“I live in East Ravka, but I’ve never been welcome here because I look like my mother, and she looked like the enemy.”
Quote from one of our articles or a quote from a new Netflix fantasy drama with mixedness as a key theme? You guessed it, we’re reviewing Netflix’s new hit series Shadow and Bone!
Welcome to the Grishaverse, a fictional Tsarist Russia-inspired world and fantasy story based on Leigh Bardugo’s novel of the same name. In it, Alina, an orphan and cartographer soon discovers that she might be the key to saving her country. In the books, Alina’s ethnicity is never explicitly specified but is widely regarded as white. In the show? Not so much. Alina’s character is instead Half-Shu, a fictional, East Asian presenting race. She’s played remarkably by the one and only Jessie Mei Li who also happens to be half Chinese and half English. Add in some Avatar the Last Airbender meets Game of Thrones? We were in. There were a varied amount of reactions and thoughts to the show and as a review we’re taking a little virtual tour around the MixedLife office to get some hot takes.
Our first question is...how do you think the show adapted the source material?
Hayley (MixedLife Social Media Team): By connecting two separate series whose characters barely interact in the books, author Leigh Bardugo’s description of the show as “pretty much a high budget fanfiction” hits the nail on the head. As someone who read both—Shadow and Bone the night before the show dropped—it was interesting to see how they managed to connect two storylines that were originally set years apart and to see all my favourite characters interacting. Despite the many changes to the book plot, I thought the storyline of the show was improved by all the modifications and the addition of the Six of Crows characters! However I think the lack of background information that was found in the books (like an explanation of the war) left non-readers hanging. Overall I found the balance of both complete plot divergence and direct quotes from the books nearly perfect.
Addison (Founder and Dad of MixedLife): I LOVED IT! I thought it was a fantastic fantasy adaptation, now granted I haven’t read Shadow and Bone since middle school but being able to see the Grishaverse successfully come to life was brilliant. I’m a big fan of fantasy and I think there’s a lot to get wrong, take the recent Winx Club adaptation or 2010’s Percy Jackson. Shadow and Bone weaves a world with depth and weight that feels 3D in both it’s magical concepts and production design. Obviously it’s not perfect by any means some of the alleys feel pulled out of any fantasy period piece but constructing such an ambitious fictional world on screen in a way that houses the story by neither overpowering it with unbelievable visual elements nor underwhelming with bland aesthetics, is no small feat.
Addressing the elephant in the room, what is your opinion on how racism was implemented into the show?
Hayley: With Shadow and Bone and the lead character of Alina came something that hadn’t happened to me before: my friends telling me I looked like a character on screen. Like most times I had found myself with asian and mixed representation, I immediately latched onto the character. However my euphoria quickly disappeared, when, within the first ten minutes of the first episode, there were five different microaggressions present. From calling Mal and Alina “rice-eaters” to the anti-Shu poster that was disturbingly reminiscent of WWII anti-Japanese propaganda, I found myself increasingly uncomfortable with what I was watching. That’s not to say that I wanted a race-blind world; Personally, I was glad that Alina’s half Shu heritage was actually acknowledged. I just think the show’s need to mention it at every possible opportunity in such a violent way was not the progressive moment they thought it was. There’s even a scene where Zoya calls Alina a “half-breed”. This is puzzling because Zoya herself is half Ravkan and half Suli—a “half-breed” by her own definition. If her problem with Alina was her being Shu, why did she use a term specifically for someone who is mixed, instead of one for being Shu? If she has internalized issues with her mixed identity, why is it never resolved or brought up again? I think this scene, with no real resolution, just felt like another cheap dig at Alina, and was disheartening to see coming from another woman of colour.
Addison: While having a mixed asian character on screen was a breath of fresh air, the ensuing microaggressions and racism quickly became jarring. From a world-building perspective, inconsistencies ran rampant. While Alina was constantly met with words like “half breed” and our personal favorite “rice eater”, other half-shu characters (her best friend Mal) or black and brown characters (Jesper and Inej) faced no discrimination at all. Alina’s passive reaction to the microaggressions, while relatable, also pose a problematic element. Shadow and Bone is a book I read in middle school and one that I’m certain other young kids are also reading and now watching. Since the microaggressions are rarely addressed by anyone in the show, it offers no solution for how to stop microaggressions or how to navigate them effectively. This trend of introducing race into narratives without following through on how that impacts the world, characters, and audience beyond a surface level continues throughout the story (and has appeared in previous Netflix works *cough *cough Bridgerton). It’s also been heartening to see the wide-range of coverage on how the show covers race which further shows studios that not only are audiences watching, but are also critiquing and pushing them to do better. In the end, the show does do a decent job of tweaking Alina’s character by making her take more initiative and using the microaggressions to initially distance her from Ravkans in her introduction but misses out on building upon the racial elements to ultimately illustrate a more layered narrative. On a lighter note, I am happy to see a mixed race actor playing a mixed race role which can be rare to see on screen. With that in mind, the future of representation is hopefully one where race is taken to deeper levels and integrated more fluidly in the story.
Now there’s been some casting controversy throughout production, what are your thoughts?
Hayley: From the initial announcement of the cast, there was quite a lot of controversy. In the books, Jesper is described as being dark skinned and biracial. However, the show was met with criticism when Kit Young, a light skinned half Black man was cast to play the role. In addition to this, Freddy Carter, an able-bodied actor, was cast as Kaz, a disabled character who uses a cane and was inspired by author Leigh Bardugo’s own osteonecrosis and use of a cane. The casting of Danielle Galligan, a non-plus sized actress as Nina, who was described as a “fat girl” by Bardugo herself, brought both criticism from fans as well as inappropriate scrutinizing of the actress' body. Despite how well these actors may have played their roles, many Black, disabled, and plus sized fans agree that they should never have been considered for them in the first place. Recently it was also revealed that the stunt woman for Inej, (played by Nepali actress Amita Suman) was a White woman in “brownface”. This was not only insulting but wildly hypocritical, as the White showrunners and producers have been quite vocal about being proud of their “diverse casting”. I feel there is an obvious issue and erasure of marginalized people behind the camera when things like this come to light.
Addison: I think Hayley put it perfectly. This pattern of using apparent diversity as a marketing technique while the diversity in practice is lacking is one that we have seen repeated over and over again. There is some hope though. It’s rare to see a mixed Asian actress cast in a role specifically written for a mixed asian woman (with albeit more than a few errors) and being able to watch Jessie Mei Li as a light wielding soldier in a high-fantasy world was not only entertaining but somewhat emotional. Growing up, I watched as many fantasy and Star Wars films as I could - yet it took until now to find a show that had both a story I could relate to and someone starring who looked like me. Mixed representation has historically been lacking, oftentimes with mixed race actors playing monoracial roles or mixedness being rarely addressed in the actual plot. Shadow and Bone presents a new twist with a multiracial thematic being written into a previously developed narrative as opposed to written out. It is my hope that in the future color-conscious casting will be used in more of Netflix’s productions, and to hopefully more accurate lengths.
In the end, should we stream or skip?
Addison: Stream it! While Shadow and Bone suffers from underdeveloped racism that can border on negligent, personally being able to see myself represented on screen and in one of my favorite stories was still a breath of fresh air. I’d recommend watching with context in mind while also enjoying the oftentimes thrilling dialogue and brilliant performances.
Hayley: Stream it! Despite their depiction of “fantasy racism” receiving a mixed (haha) response, seeing so many people of colour represented was wonderful. Watching it will show the higher ups in the film industry that our stories are wanted and needed.
Let us know what you think below! Our opinions are also most assuredly not the last you should hear on this topic, if interested, check out these other resources and articles that dive deeper into race and Shadow and Bone.
https://slate.com/culture/2021/04/shadow-and-bone-netflix-bridgertgon-mixed-race-representation.html
https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/netflix-shadow-and-bone-racism-alina/
https://thetab.com/uk/2021/04/29/shadow-and-bone-racism-netflix-203626
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/04/10455391/shadow-and-bone-alina-shu-microaggressions-hapa-representation (interview with half asian writer on the show)
Some good tweets on the topic :)
https://twitter.com/cmliwagdixon/status/1385825025194958851?s=20
https://twitter.com/ZoeHanaMikuta/status/1386094183157428227?s=20
https://twitter.com/MorganAlMoor/status/1386039064600535041?s=20
https://twitter.com/ElloEllenOh/status/1386115817377435648?s=20
https://twitter.com/shuurens/status/1385808457241006083?s=20