Miraculous Ladybug & China
iâve seen so much Discourse about how miraculous interacts with the east asian aspects of its characters and worldbuilding. and most of it is negative. while i agree that there are lots of things miraculous could do much, much better in terms of its representation of east asia, the show as a whole has been so validating for me as a half-chinese person living in the West and i thought iâd make a list of reasons why.
1. It shows that you donât have to look or act stereotypically east Asian to be considered east Asian. Marinette doesnât look completely Chinese - in my opinion, she looks very obviously mixed. When she stands next to her parents, she looks like a very even mix of them both (if not more like Sabine). Lots of mixed Asians donât âlookâ Asian. But because mixed Asians often donât conform to a âtypicalâ Asian look, they might find it a lot harder to be accepted into Asian communities. Personally, while I recognise that i have a lot of privilege as a half-white Asian, I also was never white-presenting enough to be treated as white by white people. But when I tried to integrate into Asian communities, I often found myself having to âproveâ my Asianness - e.g. by speaking fluent Chinese. Seeing parts of the fandom invalidate Marinetteâs Asianness just because she doesnât âlookâ Asian has been super discouraging for me. Firstly, what does it even mean to âlookâ Asian? We donât all look the same!!!! Secondly, she doesnât have to âlookâ Asian or speak Chinese in order to be perfectly valid as an Asian character. She has nothing to prove.Â
2. Details in the show make it obvious that the creators and writers have really done their research into Marinetteâs background. I grew up in Shanghai (spent 14 years there). In fact, I grew up in the part of Shanghai that was shown most often in the Shanghai special (Former French Concession/Jingâan/Bund area). And when the Shanghai special aired, the level of detail that went into the design of the city brought me to tears. The signs were written in clearly legible Mandarin, the characters (except Adrien, lol) spoke completely correct Mandarin. I could recognise streets and areas because they were drawn so accurately that I instantly knew which part of town the characters were passing through. I was also very grateful that the Shanghai special showed Shanghai as it really is - a modern, cosmopolitan metropolis that still retains lots of traditional cultural influences. Too often, Asian metropolises are stereotyped as either cyberpunk, dystopian megacities, or ultra-traditional places full of pagodas and temples. Not only was the Shanghai special immaculate, there are details in the show that prove that the writers and animators have put a lot of thought into Marinetteâs Chinese background. The paintings, little bamboo plant, and rice cooker clearly shown in her home! The qipao detail on her new Lucky Charm outfit! The jade details on her Marinette Lucky Charm bracelet! The flower embroidery on her self-designed T-shirt that clearly echoes Sabineâs qipao! So many things that you will instantly recognise if you are Chinese.Â
3. Marinetteâs parentsâ relationship is positively depicted. As a child of a white man and Asian woman, growing up I was exposed to mostly negative stereotypes about this type of couple. (Miss Saigon comes immediately to mind). These stereotypes are too often accurate. Lots of white men DO fetishise Asian females or act superior to them, and there are lots of mixed Asian children that are a product of such relationships or, even worse, of American imperialist invasions of Asian countries. These are all very important things that need to be addressed. But Tom & Sabineâs relationship is equal, loving, and faithful - and it was the first time i saw onscreen parents and family environments that resembled my own. This made me feel ânormalâ in a way that other media that portray White male, Asian female couples certainly donât. Also, Sabine is pretty much the antithesis of a tiger-mother - which is the way Asian women have been negatively stereotyped for decades. I know that Kagamiâs mother unfortunately falls into this stereotype, but Sabine is a much bigger, more representative character in the show. If anything, Sabine is even more tolerant and supportive than Tom, who can be a little over-protective.Â
4. The subtly subversive way in which Miraculous tries to disrupt racial stereotypes and educate children about race. For me, the episode Bakerix is most characteristic of this. Marinetteâs grandfather broke with the family because he didnât like how Marinetteâs mother and father âmixed rice flourâ into traditional French bread. This metaphor is so obvious to me that Iâm astonished itâs not more widely discussed. Itâs SO CLEARLY referring to Tom marrying a Chinese woman and having a mixed-race child. In fact, they explicitly have Tom and Sabineâs wedding photo in frame multiple times during that episode. In the end, the lesson Marinetteâs grandfather learns is that Marinette is not a traditional granddaughter, but she is loveable and valuable all the same. Obviously Miraculous as a kidâs show canât outright say, âmixed race marriages are validâ, but they pretty much said it in as obvious a way as they could without outright saying it. Besides this, there are so many subtle subversive moments! I donât want to overstep any boundaries and speak about races I donât belong to, but another example that comes immediately to mind is Kim (the Asian) being the class âjockâ, while Max (whoâs Black) is the class ânerdâ. And both of them being best friends instead of having a rivalry.Â
5. Marinette canât speak Chinese and finds it difficult to learn - but is actively trying. Lots of half Asians (and not just half Asians, but full Asians who grew up in the West), have the experience of not being able to speak their mother tongue, and not being able to communicate with parts of their family. This is a pretty integral part of the experience of being Asian in the West. Even as someone who is fluent in Chinese, I still find it difficult sometimes to communicate. One of my favourite scenes in Miraculous is the scene in Kung Food where Marinette tries really hard to speak to her uncle via a translator app. The reason lots of us canât speak our mother tongue well is because it wasnât seen as something âcoolâ to be able to do, growing up. For example, most Western schools donât offer Chinese courses, even though all schools in China teach English. People get laughed at and called nicknames and racial jokes made for having a Chinese name instead of a Western one. But in Miraculous, Marinette is really trying very hard to learn Chinese, even though growing up in France means that she hasnât been able to access the resources she needs. Learning Chinese is framed as something âcoolâ and âdesirableâ - e.g. itâs a skill Gabriel wants Adrien to have.
So in summary, Miraculous Ladybug is certainly not perfect. But it depicts Chinese culture and the experience of growing up half Asian in a way that really resonated with me personally, as a half-Chinese girl growing up in the West. And I really think that the way theyâve shown this experience deserves more praise and recognition.Â
