I want to talk about Alina's racism storyline in #ShadowandBoneNetflix as a PoC myself & a longtime fan of the books. Small thread

The idea that "They're racist to her because Ravkans are at war with the Shu" makes me very uncomfortable, because racism, as a term to use, has nothing to do with being at war. It's way bigger than that, and nonchalantly implying that—"there is a reason" for racism is incorrect.

The show blurs the lines a lot here & doesn't really get what racism means. It'd have been better to stress the war's role in those aggressions, rather than invent slurs & toss in the cringeworthy word "half-breed" & the very heavy-handed comments on facial features & so.

Another thing is how the racism is presented, which is a bit "white" imo. Racism is way deeper & has macro & micro levels, systemic roots, altered laws, layers of xenophobia...etc. It's not just slurs & "you don't look like us". Trivializing it that way is making me very uneasy.

There's also a botched attempt at conflating real life racism with what the Grisha face in their society, but that again isn't okay, because oppressing the Grisha, who are powerful magical beings capable of destruction, is very different from oppressing people who look different.

Also, I don't like the nebulousness of the Shu Han in the show. It reminds me of real life examples where peoples are kept in the public mind as those shadowy cultures to keep the fear alive. I'm told nothing of the Shu Han cities or inventions or books, just "they're the enemy."

I love the cast btw, they're just glowing. It's okay to cast BIPOC folks without showing them suffering for their backgrounds though, esp in a fantasy world. It's like, do we need to suffer in real & in dreams too? That's a Tantalus level thing.

Wanna go deeper? I'll tell you that most racists IRL don't wear specific colors & have thick angry brows & talk like a caricature dockhand & spew slurs even while saying "good morning". Racism is a spectrum, & its more insidious side is the more systemic & more dangerous one.

Books & shows like to portray racism as THAT WAY, to avoid the uncomfortable convos of tackling the deeper & more difficult to root out forms of bias. It's an unconscious pat of the back, that "We're not like those!"

Of course, there are bigger issues, like "She will save us all DESPITE being a minority", or "She is minority, but she has an important thing to give so we gotta TOLERATE her."

Also, where did the kids bullying Alina learn slurs? They spend most if not all of their time in the orphanage and there is only one keeper. There is no TV or radio, they are being schooled together I presume, so where do the hatred come from?