The Winx Reboot is an insult: what the bike tells us about Bloom
Original Bloom gets a bike :
She is disappointed because she was led to believe her parents had brought her a vespa.
She had two reasons for wanting one.
The first one being quite shallow, she wanted one because this b*tch Mitzy had one, and she wanted her to stop feeling superior for once. Envy, misplace pride, immaturity.
And the second one, much less shallow, was because it represented freedom and would have been a sign that her parents were finally willing to let her travel the world and her life the way she wanted to. Freedom, emancipation, longing for the unknown.
But she got a bike, and it sucks because now she can't do neither of these.
But she doesn't want to come off as an ungreatful teenager, so she swallows her disappointment and accepts the present, and yet at the same time she makes absolutely no effort at hiding her disappointment, it's written all over her face. Because she is a teen, and in this moment, she happens to be ungreatful, because she wanted a damn vespa.
This 2 minutes scene is packed with characterization, and it's such good writting, we learn so much about her. Perfect show-don't-tell.
Bloom is a teenager. She wants to be seen as an adult and yet she's still dependant on her parents. She has shallow and superficial desires, she's envious. She's petty when those desires are not fulfilled, and even though she lies to make her parents feel good about their present because she doesn't want them to feel bad, she's so bummed that she's unable to even pretend she likes it. She wants to be seen as a grown-up, and yet nothing screams teenager more than her reaction.
Bloom is flawed, shown into a light that is all but favorable. These are the first 5 minutes of the show and we've seen more flaws than qualities in her, and yet we like her introduction. Because we relate to her, to what she experiences. We were all, one day, envious teenagers who were bitter because they didn't get what we wanted, and it sucked, and at that time, we were Bloom. We see more flaws than qualities in her and yet deep down we know that it doesn't make her a bad person, because we relate to her and her experience. The writing trusted the viewer to put themselves inside of her shoes, and to understand the kind of person Bloom is on their own.
She's an ungrateful brat? Damn, I am too. I wonder what else she is.
Bloom feels like a multi-layered human.
(On a sidenote I realized writing this how much I miss the way charcters were written in the 90s/2000s, it was SO GOOD 😫)
Reboot Bloom (or BloomAI as I like to call her):
Gets a bike for her 16th birthday. Reacts as if it is the best damn present she's ever received.
Leaves you wondering what she has received for her fiveteen previous birthdays to be so amazed by a bike.
BloomAI's reaction upon receiving her bike
Why is she so damn thankful? Is it her first bike? ☠️ Did she specifically ask for a bike? If yes, why? Why is she so damn happy about this? Does she have a secret dream of becoming a pro bike athlet? Does she have a tragic backstory of Mitzy stealing her bike and breaking it when they were in kindergarden and she's been traumatized ever since?
My girl is damn near CRYING. WHY? What is the damn purpose of this scene, what are we supposed to get out of it? Well, nothing because it's empty, there's nothing in it.
The writers (or the robot in this case) doesn't care because Bloom is not written as a person but as an empty vessel that has to react to things a certain way to look good. Because she is a good person. And good people look good. Therefor to show that she's good... we write her to look good.
The present could have been a cockroach and she would have reacted the same because it's all meaningless.
And. it's. so. over. the. top.
The bike must have cost them a "FORTUNE". It's "TOO MUCH".
Girl. Yes, a bike has a cost but when you compare it to most things in life it tends to belong to the category of objects that are AFFORDABLE. And she says this, and you look at the appartment in the background and you think to yourself, girl, who do you think you're fooling, your parents are RICH. UPPER CLASS.
No human brain was involved in the writing of this whatsoever.
Original Bloom COULD have made this comment if she wasn't too busy being a moody brat because her living-place looked like the place of a working class/middle class family AT THE VERY BEST. Vanessa even made a comment about saving money to buy a vespa for her next year and you just BELIEVE IT, it fits into the picture, and once again you're given another information about Bloom and her family without being told. The characters are coherent between them, and in their interactions with the world around them.
Back to BloomAI. Next thing you know Bloom excitedly goes to the parc with her bike and flashfoward... the trigger to her unleashing her powers is the fact that the ogre attacks her bike 🤡. A bike she got 10 minutes ago.
It's official, this Bloom has never received a single present in HER LIFE because there's no reason for this ugly pink bike to be so damn special. Or she's just a raging materialist (she did bring up the fact that the bike must have cost them a fortune so she might just really be into money, who knows).
No but fr. Her 'personality' and behaviour don't make any sense. You look at this 3D model move and you simply turn off your brain after 3 minutes, because why even try understanding a character that isn't designed to be understood, but simply to be stared at?
Oh, and to add fire to this AI dumpster fire, in the next scene, not only does Bloom not give a damn about the bike anymore, but she leaves Mike and Vanessa on a whim without any remorse or hesitation whatsoever ☠️.
Original Bloom was dreaming of independance, so when she chose to follow Stella it was coherent with what we knew of her and she STILL showed signs of hesitation and doubt. But BloomAI?
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