soc_puppet: Words "Baseless Opinion" in orange (Baseless Opinion)
Socchan ([personal profile] soc_puppet) wrote2020-08-17 03:05 pm

(no subject)

Made it to the fourth season/second arc of She-Ra! I feel like this arc can be subtitled "Scorpia Needs A Hug".

I also have thoughts on Double Trouble.

For those of you who missed it, Double Trouble was a female character in the original series, and was rebooted as nonbinary. They're a shapeshifter, and they're a villain. (Well, they're kinda mercenary? But they've been hired by the villains.)

When they were introduced, there was some backlash; ultimately, showrunner Noelle Stevenson pointed out that it was important to have representation of all sorts when it comes to nonbinary characters, and that includes villains. And I can see where she's coming from; I just have two little things I'm kinda uncomfortable about with this particular representation choice.

First, Double Trouble is, to the best of my knowledge, the only nonbinary character in the new She-Ra. As is frequently pointed out by [tumblr.com profile] writingwithcolor, having villainous representation can be mitigated by also having heroic representation of the same identity. I haven't really been following She-Ra fandom that closely, only paying attention when someone I follow reblogs a bit, but I feel like someone would have said something if another canon nonbinary or genderqueer character showed up.

Second, the type of representation that Double Trouble specifically provides is redundant. Nonbinary shape changers are not new, and nonbinary shape changing villains in particular are not new—see: Envy from FMA for a very well known example.

I'm not trying to knock anyone who likes them! If Double Trouble speaks to you, then more power to you! Honestly, they're a pretty fun character in general. I'm just personally a little tired of being served the same meal over and over again, with maybe different spices, when I say I'm looking for a specific flavor.

(BTW, if there's another canon nonbinary or genderqueer coming up, this is your cue to tell me about them. Or to just tell me they exist, I'll take anything.)


Okay, mini-rant over.
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[personal profile] izzet_bedtime_yet 2020-08-17 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)

That may have been me, heh. I generally worry a lot about trans actors being pigeonholed into trans roles/the general idea that if the actor is trans that means the character is trans. On the other hand, a cis woman playing a nonbinary character ties into this broader stereotype of nonbinary people as just another sort of woman....