#i've decided against using the salt tags because ngl i don't really. like the salt tags. like i get it but also some people will just post

[eldritchmusing]

Okay, to dive right into it, there are some characters who I am excluding because, for the most part, I'm not sure what cultural things I would be able to talk about, so just letting everyone know: I will not be talking about the Agreste family, the Fathom family, the Bourgeois family, the Lavillant family, and the Raincomprix family.

Like I have problems with how the characters are written, don't get me wrong, but none of them have particular cultural things that I want to talk about. I feel like the Bourgeois and Agreste families will just have their own posts because Jesus Christ.

Originally, I was going to go into a breakdown of each character and why their ethnicities don't actually impact their characters in the subtlest ways, but I can actually easier summarize it.

What impact does having any of the characters being certain nationalties have on the plot that aren't just racial sterotypes?

For most, it literally has no effect at all (Alix being Amazigh, Kim being Vietnamese, Nathaniel being Jewish and Nino being Moroccan).

Some it barely has an effect (Alya being Martiniquian and Marinette being Chinese).

For Kagami in particular, her whole story boils down to the "oppressive Asian parent who is hyper controlling of her life", which is a racist stereotype about Asian people. It would've been fine if it was written by an Asian person, but it was written by a white man, so yikes.

And then there are other characters where, in my opinion, they should be POC because otherwise it's just flat out uncomfortable. Yes, I am talking about Mylène. She was only given her hair to show that she was a nature activist, and that's it.

Also this is a personal opinion, but I think Jalil's whole thing would've been less eugh if the family was Egyptian, because it could be that Jalil wants to reconnect with his Egyptian roots, something that he can do via studying their ancient history, but his father discourages it since it doesn't matter because they're in France now.

Before I close this off, I wanted to mention something that isn't racist I don't think but feels like a strange microagression: Lila. Like, I don't know how to word it, but having the only Italian character being a conniving, master manipulator at the age 13 feels like a strange microagression, don't know how else to word it.

Though I'll get into Lila and Chloe's writing later.

Anyway, that's it for now. See you later!