Hey, I saw you talked about the stereotyping of Kagami a while ago... I was thinking and the two big Asian stereotypes I know are the fragile Lotus Blossom and the scary Dragon Lady... Marinette was literally called lotus in Gorizilla and obviously Kagami is the dragon user... coincidence or more stereotyping? 🤔 (you can make this private if you want)
(others reading this: please read this post first)
These are ABSOLUTELY points of stereotyping. I don’t remember the lotus reference very well but yeah these are definitely not coincidences.
I’m not sure how much the actual Lotus Blossom trope fits, but using that particular flower to refer to someone who has an Asian mom and a white dad is 😬 bad. Kagami fits the Dragon Lady trope a little… too well and that REALLY frustrates me HAHAHAHAHA. While it is toned down in the adult themes department (thank god), the rest of it applying is so clearly Asian stereotyping.
I think one of the things that makes these two points even stronger is that Marinette and Kagami are intended to be narrative foils; they are meant to highlight each others different qualities. This isn’t a problem in and of itself, but the way in which it’s being done is where the issues lie. These two tropes that you’ve pointed out are a prime example of this: the Lotus Blossom trope is of a docile, meek, and [sexually] submissive Asian woman, while the Dragon Lady trope is that of a mysterious, strong, and [sexually] forward Asian woman.
Marinette is not exactly a stereotypical Lotus Blossom trope, but in this case it doesn’t really matter because on her own, she as a character isn’t a stereotype. What I mean by this is that her actions and portrayal themselves do not fall into a particular Asian stereotype; what is stereotyped about her are more the things that happen around her in reaction to her being Asian (e.g. her mom/family, design choices, etc.).
HOWEVER, because Kagami is her narrative foil and is VERY strongly stereotyped (cold, prestigious family, highly-specialized skill, emphasis on family honor), this automatically forces Marinette into the opposing stereotype, ergo Dragon Lady vs. Lotus Blossom.
What’s so bad about the Dragon Lady trope is that it stems from a long history of (particularly white men) exoticizing and fetishistizing the ‘idea’ of Asian women. It paints them in a one dimensional light and as something to conquer, to be entranced by; a puzzle to solve and something to bring home as a prize from war. Which is incredibly dehumanizing. And what’s unfortunate is that this stereotype has permeated western ideology (thanks Hollywood) so deeply and has been discussed so little that a lot of people can’t even recognize continued ‘representation’ of this sort as harmful. But it’s biggest impact is leaving the idea that Asian people (and women in particular) cannot/do not show ‘weak’ emotions like love and affection.
And so we come back to Kagami and Marinette.
Because Marinette and Kagami were immediately set as rivals, and because Marinette is the main character, the obvious intent is that the audience is supposed to root for her. And because we are meant to root for Marinette, it’s easy for our little chicken brains to categorize this portrayal as “Marinette good and show emotion so showing emotion = good! Kagami bad and no show emotion so no emotion = bad!”
Kagami being so strongly stereotyped is intended to read as “more Asian” than Marinette, so to associate “Asian-ness” with being “bad” and less desirable is incredibly harmful. Marinette, compared with Kagami, is more demure and soft, and because she’s “good,” she’s desirable. The Dragon Lady is demonized for being impenetrable and untamable, but the quiet and docile Lotus Blossom makes for the perfect prize. It doesn’t help that Marinette herself says that Kagami is an ‘ice queen’ and unlikable because of it.
The show enforcing that Marinette is the “good” character over Kagami’s heavily stereotyped representation (that is meant to be read as ‘more traditionally Asian’) is disrespectful and racist, especially when it’s very very VERY explicitly shown how removed Marinette is from Asian culture (ex. because she’s mixed race she can’t speak Chinese, doesn’t have a clue about Asian foods, is taught by A WHITE BOY about her culture, etc.).
It portrays being culturally western/European as being better than [what is meant to be read as] more culturally Asian. And that is racist.
There’s just… so much about how the Asian characters in particular are shown that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially because the most stereotyped ones are the women. Kim kind of gets a pass because he at least is a jock and not that bright, but with regards to Sabine, Tomoe, Kagami, Marinette: Thomas you’re on thin fucking ice.
