#racial representation

Now, of course I knew that the show was progressive; it's a show devoted to children's education, and most shows of that persuasion are, to some degree, inclusive and progressive, assuming they're practicing what they preach. Sesame Street, more specifically Elmo's World (my daughter's favorite), is on another level, though.

First off, Michael Jeter is a regular on the show, portraying Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle. Jeter was openly gay and HIV positive, and I should not need to explain why these two things are astounding. Yes, he was a decorated actor, but for an HIV positive gay man to be a main character on a children's show is, to my knowledge, unheard of in the years 2000-2003, when he died.

Second, they are deliberate in their racial representation. Sesame Street skits that my mother watched on television as a little girl have a mix of skin colors in the children who are shown and drawn. White people are not presented as the norm, and social harmony between races is preached on the regular ("That's About the Size of It" comes to mind). On Elmo's World, there's a segment in the Families episode that details the rituals and traditions of an Asian (probably, but not certainly, Chinese) family gathering. The little girl in the segment details what is happening and why in an informative way, and it's presented matter-of-factly rather than as a novelty.

Speaking of the children, I can't say with certainty that every episode of Elmo's World includes a child with a disability, but if not, it's damn close. Children in wheelchairs and speaking sign language are incredibly common, and the only mention of their disability is when a narrating child mentions that their friend has a special way of talking with their hands. Note that none of the episodes are "about" disability or sign language. The one I can remember off the top of my head is an episode about wild animals where one of the children going to the zoo speaks in sign (and they teach the narrating child how to sign the names of various animals, it's very sweet). Disabled children are not limited to being showpieces, either; the episode about Dancing has a segment where various children show off how they dance, and one of them is in a wheelchair.

I'd like to take a moment to remind you that most of the Elmo's World episodes we're watching were released between 2000 and 2013, if not even earlier (some do not have a marked date easily visible).

The thing that made me write this post, though, is the episode about singing. It's off a 2000 VHS, and has a segment where a muppet opera singer tells Elmo that there are lots of other types of singing, like Rock and Roll singing (cut to a video of Elmo dressed as Elvis and singing "Blue Suede Shoes") and Rap singing (cut to Elmo dressed as a mildly stereotypical 2000 rapper "rapping" about Elmo's World). I've watched this episode with my daughter more than a dozen times, but it just clicked today that Elmo was trying to enfranchise rap in the year 2000. Rap still struggles to be accepted as actual music today, much less twenty six years ago, and there's no question that that struggle is rooted in racism.

Born: February 1, 1901, Joplin, MO

Died: May 22, 1967 (age 66 years),

Beaumont to Detroit: 1943 ~Langston Hughes

Looky here, America

What you done done--

Let things drift

Until the riots come.

Now your policemen

Let your mobs run free

I reckon you don't care

Nothing about me.

You tell me that hitler

Is a mighty bad man.

I guess he took lessons

from the ku klux klan.

You tell me mussolini's 

Got an evil heart.

Well, it mus-a been in Beaumont

That he had his start--

Cause everything that hitler

And mussolini do,

Negroes get the same

Treatment from you.

You jim crowed me

Before hitler rose to power--

And you're STILL jim crowing me

Right now, this very hour.

Yet you say we're fighting

For democracy.

Then why don't democracy

Include me?

I ask you this question

Cause I want to know

How long I got to fight

Okay so for those who don’t know: Paranoid Gardens is a 6-issue comic released in 2024 by Dark Horse Comics, written by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon (Killjoys) with art by Chris Weston and colors by Dave Stewart — aka a completely white creative team, lmao (not surprised at all).

On paper, it’s supposed to be this surreal, off-beat story about a hospital for aliens, monsters, and “special cases” called Paradise Gardens, where “the unique” go to heal. But then — surprise!!! 😮 — an evil media corporation tries to buy it out!!!!

It sounds like it should be about capitalism, creativity, resistance and outsider identity… but what it really becomes is another Gerard Way fever dream where “weirdness” is a costume, “otherness” is aesthetic, and actual marginalized people barely exist.

So…let’s unpack it:

“Paradise Gardens,” usually shortened to the Gardens, is a surreal convalescent hospital that treats “extraordinary cases”: aliens, forgotten superheroes, maybe even dead people.

It’s overseen by Dr. Zerc, a slick owner-administrator who’s secretly negotiating to sell the place to a shadowy media conglomerate called Cheeky Monkey Films.

Our main character and POV is Loo—Louise Martinez, a nurse (a very boring one imo) with memory gaps and an implied trauma history. Then Grace (alien head nurse) and Susanne— a Black woman employee implied to be having an inappropriate relationship with the only other poc worker. Their love story is not explored.

Her alleged romantic interest is an unnamed brown man with a turban (i read it twice and i still can’t find his name, hopefully y’all tell me)— possibly an orderly or security guard; he’s never developed, his sole role is to “reveal” that Dr. Zerc is evil, but again? (we as an audience already hint that) and this information isn’t even revealed to the protagonist. so what’s the point other than shock 🤷🏽‍♀️?

He also buries the body of his white colleague, and eventually becomes the victim of a murder attempt in a bathroom (in a graphically violent scene), leaving him out of the rest of the issues (until the last one, where he appears in two pages max but remains voiceless).

so basically: that’s it. their only purpose of our poc characters is scandal and pain.

They have no impact on the plot whatsoever.

Finally we have the Monkey Corporation — executives in monk robes, gold chains, and literal monkey masks. They represent a pop-culture-devouring corporation that wants to take the Gardens.

Also: the “evil corporation wants to monetize weirdness” metaphor hits hollow when the author’s been selling that same rebellion for 20 years. So, the call is coming from inside the Hot Topic, sir.

And according to some reviews from “comicbook.com” or “The Comics Journal” among others: the book is described as “a surreal meditation on creativity and healing under capitalism”—a sanctuary for damaged “unique” beings threatened by commercial exploitation. The Gardens supposedly symbolize art, diversity, “uniqueness”; the Monkey Corporation symbolizes industry trying to package that art for profit.

That’s the intended reading. (Besides nothing new coming from him, lmao). However:

That’s where the story collapses. bc the comic keeps chanting about “protecting uniqueness,” but never defines it.

Every “unique” character is still a white person whose difference is being either: supernatural, tragic, or fashionable. The aliens and monsters stand in for metaphorical difference, while actual social difference—race, class, gender—doesnt exist.

So “uniqueness,” in Gerard Way’s vocabulary, seems to mean the aesthetic of eccentricity—people who look strange (Grace), hurt beautifully (Loo), and dress cool (the superhero).

Not the Black man in the turban. Not Susanne. Not anyone whose otherness might demand realism.

Because Gerard clearly wants to celebrate outsiders, but the only outsiders he can imagine are fantastical versions of himself . At this point and TO MY OWN UNDERSTANDING, MY OPINION!!!: It’s easier for him to empathize with an alien symbiote than with a racialized character of his own creation.

That’s why this book’s world is populated by white people, aliens, and then POC—but never allows those POC to be relevant or symbols of anything except background color.

Bc I’m being honest with y’all those two poc could be removed from the story and nothing would change story-wise.

So, yes, it’s diversity on paper—but hierarchy in practice.

there’s never any curiosity for what actual otherness looks like — just supernatural metaphors standing in for it. aliens, monsters, superheroes, sentient walls. everything except real people.

We can also talk about The Monkey Corporation executives who are dressed as Buddhist monks in gold chains and monkey masks. It’s like a blender of half-understood symbols: “spiritual East,” “greedy West,” “urban bling,” all mixed for visual irony.

The result manages to parody both Asian and Black cultural signifiers at once.

It’s what Edward Said warned about (and I encourage you to read him): the exoticized Other used for Western self-expression, not understanding.

Let me remind y’all that he has written an entire comic book series flooded with orientalism already with the same collaborator Shaun Simon in 2011. Clearly nothing has changed.

Moving on: the protagonist is EXTREMELY boring!! we’re three issues in and i still don’t understand why we’re supposed to care about this woman. like. genuinely. we know nothing about her — and not in a mysterious, “ooh memory loss” kind of way, just in a “there’s literally no character here” kind of way.

she has no backstory, no defining motivation, no reason to exist besides wandering through the plot looking vaguely confused. meanwhile, they waste actual page space giving some random retired superhero a backstory that adds nothing to the main story.

There’s a character that I really liked!!!: Grace. And she could’ve carried the whole book, imo. A nurse infected by an alien organism—half healer, half threat, neither human nor extraterrestrial—is a perfect metaphor for assimilation, embodiment, care and the mystery of life.

Her design is gorgeous, and her arc—if developed—could’ve said something profound about transformation or the fear of losing humanity.

Instead, she’s sidelined until the finale, where her origin story?? The whole fusion with the alien is so ??? under-explained?? idk. I didn’t like it. It felt like getting a candy when I ordered a burger.

The same goes for the vampire’s group therapy with ghosts—a concept begging for exploration that’s dropped after one page.

also, who even are these monkey people?? why do they want the gardens?? we’re told (through visuals) they want to turn it into some corporate brand or toy line or something — but it’s never clearly explained. is it about profit? power? aesthetics? who knows. it’s like the writers came up with a metaphor and forgot to give it logic.

and that’s the wildest part: this comic literally has proof of alien life — an idea so open and limitless for storytelling — and instead of exploring it, they… just don’t. no worldbuilding, no deeper questions, nothing. like:

how do you have aliens and still manage to make it boring??

critics keep saying “it’s interesting how alien life blends into normalcy,” but honestly? that’s not interesting — that’s the baseline for good sci-fi. the point isn’t that aliens exist, it’s what they mean to the people around them. we don’t sit around wondering where Chewbacca comes from; we grow to love him (or hate him) because of his relationships, personality and the way the story unfolds. that’s storytelling!!!

this comic doesn’t have that lmao 😭😭🫩🫩 and I was really excited to read it bc I really liked the premise and the characters designs!!

My final thoughts:

There’s a big question i keep asking myself with gerard’s writing:

is he intrinsically racist (given his previous and current work, his personal relationships, creative network and the people he chooses to platform) or just a bad writer who keeps writing racist things?

This was released in 2024 and although is not nearly as harmful or gross as the killjoys (which is pure orientalism), or just complete poc erasure like Umbrella: Gerard Way has had decades, resources, and the goodwill of an enormous fanbase. Yet his lens hasn’t shifted since 2007. He keeps returning to the same idea of “the misunderstood special white person vs the system,” as if that’s the only story worth telling 🫩. Also who set that system up, my guy?

And I believe at some point, “bad writing” stops being an excuse when every new work repeats the same pattern: a white, quirky protagonist framed as an outcast in a world that punishes “difference,” while actual marginalized people are either background scenery or disposable tragedy.

He could learn, but he’s made himself largely inaccessible to criticism. And that’s the most disappointing part: not that Paranoid Gardens failed, but that it failed in exactly the same ways his earlier work did.

I’m going to read “Mother Panic” next and hopefully enjoy it 🙏🏽🙏🏽🕯️please don’t be weird🕯️🙏🏽🙏🏽 and write a more hopeful review!!

dead end: paranormal park is a good step forward for representation, especially in kids media.

the show features a lot of good LGBT, racial, and neurodivergent representation that we don’t see enough of. 

this being said, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that our steps forward never seem to center, or even include black people.

i am urging the people who read this to apply what is being said here to OTHER shows and movies you think have good representation. yes even if you like them.

I am so sick of reading sentences like: "Vampires aren't that bad", "The Burns family is prejudiced against Vampires.", "Why did Cal break up with Juliette? She saved Theo's life!" or "Talia is a bad mom for throwing Theo out of the house". I think each one of these is wrong and problematic, so here's my essay on "Please stop idealizing Vampires for the sake of understanding the Burns family."

"Vampires aren't that bad."

Vampires in recent media are often portrayed as 'human', allowing us to empathize with them. I think this is a cool take on Vampires, however, this sometimes results in people ignoring/forgetting that they are supposed to be harmful to humans, that they were once mystical creatures that humans feared for a reason. Especially in First Kill, the fandom tends to forget that the Vampires introduced here are a threat to humans and behave in problematic ways. Look at these statements about the Fairmonts:

their initiation ritual is the 'First Kill'

we see several instances of the Fairmonts killing someone in the show...

... while this is not even necessary for the family's survival; they do kill regardless, because it is not regarded as something bad, but rather something 'natural' they do

Juliette and Oliver are the only ones openly questioning this practice, struggling with being born into a family which inevitably commits crimes, while at the same time fearing exclusion

Now, please tell me again that Vampires are "not that bad", when the show portrays them like that. Of course, they are not only 'evil monsters' either. Everyone in the Fairmont family is a well-developed character, and we like and empathize with them because of that. That's a great accomplishment of the writing here. But i feel like people empathize with the Fairmont family too much, because vampires are regarded as "cool" or "fancy". And then there is the missing understanding for the Burns family, and that's where this whole issue gets problematic.

"The Burns family is prejudiced against Vampires."

Yes. Yes, of course they are, and they should. Vampires are dangerous 99% of the time. If you were a human in this series, and you met a Vampire, would you really take the chances? Would you really think "Oh yeah, vampires go around killing people all the time, but I'm sure this one is going to be different." Now, Juliette tries to be different. But Cal had every reason to be sceptical in the beginning. And i am very convinced that Cal would not have fallen in love with Juliette if she was the 'typical vampire'.

The Burns family is of course also killing, but in comparison to vampires they do it to protect themselves and others. They view monster-hunting as something honourable, and as their destiny. Of course their view on monsters is highly biased (Calliope even mentions that). But there is a reason for that, because Vampires are an actual threat.

"Why did Cal break up with Juliette? She saved Theo's life!"

Okay, first of all, Juliette saved Theo's life by accident. And second of all, Theo being a vampire has huge implications for the Burns family.

Yes, Juliette saved Theo's life, but what kind of life does he have now? He is forced to live the life of a Vampire. He is one of those 'monsters' he has been trained to hunt his whole life. He never wanted any of this. His family is also now working 'against him', meaning that he lost his home and the support of his loved ones, while simultaneously needing to adapt to a whole new life. He in no way owes Juliette to be thankful for that.

And Cal lost her brother. She has every right to be mad at Juliette for that, who definitely should have known better. I'm not saying Cal is an innocent and perfect character. She isn't, she is flawed as well. But breaking up with Juliette made so much sense in the moment. That people expect her to betray her family like that and do not recognize her feelings honestly makes me sick.

"Talia is a bad mom for throwing Theo out of the house."

This is the statement which causes me the most pain, because this is so wrong. You might accuse Talia of a lot of things, but being a bad mom? Never.

Put yourself into Talia's shoes for a moment. Monster-hunting is this noble, honourable job you have done for years. And you are not only doing your job, you are living for it, sacrificing so much things on the way. And now your son is a monster, too. Which means he will be forced to do some monster-related things. Which means that it will raise suspicion among the people you are working with. And friendly reminder, these people are trained for recognizing behaviors of monsters/vampires. What do you do? You love your child, but letting him stay at your place will probably lead to him being uncovered, and most certainly getting killed. Apart from that, you have a huge reputation to protect. If your son's secret is being revealed, this might as well be the end of the life you have been living so far, as they will not allow you to participate in the monster-hunting anymore. Your passion, your destiny and your the way of life you have grown to love so much, all of that would be gone forever.

Talia letting Theo go was the best choice she could make. To protect him and her family. And it was not an easy choice, you could see how heartbroken she was.

In conclusion...

I always thought I was taking this issue too serious. After all, this is just our 'trashy little sapphic vampire show'. But I still see people siding largely with the Fairmonts, failing to understand the Burns. These characters are so nuanced and developed that you can empathize with/criticize every single one of them. And it is the fact that they gave us well-written characters of different racial backgrounds, and people still decide to side with the white family, that is really bothering me.