So… “In the last 10 years,
the animation audience has skewed younger. If you read on the social [media], you’ll find, ‘Oh, the
new seasons of Winx are so much more childish!’ They don’t know and they don’t understand that
we had to, you know? Because if we are now on Rai YoYo in Italy, which is a good channel,
but the target is up to 8 years-old, you can’t really do the kind of stories
which you did on Rai 2 15 years ago. I think that for those kinds of fans
which are 20 years-still and still like to watch the Winx cartoon, they will hopefully find their
sweet spot side on the Netflix Original Winx version, which is definitely maybe even
more edgy and dark than what they can imagine for being used to the very colorful world of Winx.”
Does anyone else hate this? If you’re currently wondering why
the hell Netflix is turning Winx Club into the next Riverdale, then you’ve probably been a fan
of the franchise for some time now, or rather, you were a fan long ago and forgot about it until it
appeared again in your social media. And you’re probably wondering where all the magic,
charm, and color went… in more ways than one. As a longtime fan of the franchise, and someone
who’s made far too many videos about it for my own sanity, it’s kinda surprising I’m only just now
making a video specifically about the live action series. And that’s honestly because
I’ve had literally no interest in it whatsoever, anticipating that it’d turn out to be a dumpster
fire since its announcement. But why is that? Well, today we’re gonna talk about it. For
returning viewers, you probably know about the franchise’s history from my past videos about it,
but new viewers are gonna get a crash course on the basics so that we can understand
how the hell we got to this cursed place. You can also watch my videos about that as well…
Do what you like. We’ll cover how the franchise began,
its several failed attempts at reaching English-speaking markets,
and why Rainbow is now trying to turn the story into every other edgy, poorly written,
heavily whitewashed reboot there is right now. Get some snacks and, if you’re of legal drinking
age, get some wine, cuz we’re in for a hell of a ride, fam.
Winx Club is an Italian animated series produced by production company Rainbow S.r.L.,
as well as RAI Fiction. Most American fans will probably
remember it either as a Nickelodeon show that mysteriously disappeared after a few years,
or - if you’re in your twilight and close to death like me - from the 4Kids dub around the mid 2000s.
“Close your eyes, and open your heart. Believe in yourself.
That’s how it starts.” See, Winx has been dubbed by
several companies, none of which have managed to dub the entire franchise. 4Kids changed a lot of
plot details and character personalities, similar to how old English dubs would butcher Japanese
anime when bringing it stateside, but that’s how most older fans got into it given it had wider
distribution than the more faithful Cinélume dub. Eventually 4Kids lost the license and
went bankrupt, but Winx would have another shot thanks to Nickelodeon,
whose parent company and lords of hellfire themselves Viacom purchased stock in Rainbow
and agreed to co-produce the franchise with them. “Nickelodeon surely is a very well organized and
professional company. We are very impressed also by the way they have reacted very quickly
with the marketing plan in these few months. But besides this, we think they know very well how
to market a brand and bring it to success. When there’s a ground, they definitely make it happen.”
The first 2 seasons were made into 4 one-hour specials, Nick dubbed seasons 3 and 4 along
with the first movie, and a year after introducing the show, premiered season 5.
Though the Nick dub can be considered more faithful to the original, it also clearly
was meant for a younger demographic than even the original series. Rainbow’s Winx Club was
similar to Disney’s approach in media, where their content is meant to be enjoyed by all audiences,
young and old, with a specific appeal to teenage audiences and hints at more mature storylines.
Nickelodeon removed that, instead having the series appeal to younger audiences,
most notably by resetting the Winx’s ages. By the fourth season,
the Winx had graduated from Alfea and were young adults on their own, but season 5 saw
them being quietly made 16 again and reinstated at Alfea so they might be more relatable to kids,
all while still trying to throw in lazy Easter eggs for older audiences who felt jipped.
Suffice to say, a lot of fans weren’t happy with this, and over time, Nickelodeon’s promotion of
the franchise dwindled, to the point season 6 ended as online-only releases in the States,
and later was aired as reruns on Nick Jr. Season 7 was actually meant to be co-produced with Nick,
but since then I’ve learned that Rainbow and Nick were still on good terms, and the co-production
ended instead because of budgetary slashes. Season 7 was then dubbed by DuArt Film and Video,
and in the post-Nickelodeon era, Winx has felt aimless, unsure of who it’s meant for or how
it’s going to reach them. Rainbow did attempt to appeal to older fans through the Netflix spin-off
series World of Winx, which had a completely separate continuity from the main series,
while the main series would be soft rebooted with an entirely new art style
to appeal strictly to young kids. Unfortunately, both had their share
of controversies with not only the declining writing quality,
but also whitewashing of the diverse cast, and even… stolen designs? Jesus Christ, Rainbow,
what the hell? But World of Winx was presumably cancelled after its second season, while season 8
faced so much backlash and little to no interest that it seemed the franchise was truly doomed.
Which leads us to Rainbow’s Hail Mary… Fate: The Winx Saga.
When the teaser dropped, my first response was… “This doesn’t look as awful as I thought it
would.” But the more it sits with me, the more it does bother me actually. The needless edginess,
the lack of vibrant colors, the horrific fashion that the real Stella would never allow,
and especially what’s been done to the characters. Let’s go over the broad changes this reboot is
going to be making, starting with the Winx themselves. We’ve still got Bloom, Stella,
Musa, and Aisha, but Flora has been replaced by a character named Terra with the same powers.
Why? No one knows! Part of me wants to say, given the actress’ appearance, it might be to appease
long-running criticisms of the girls’ designs being paper-thin, which I actually think is a good
move. I’ve downplayed that issue in the past, but it’s important for kids, and for anyone really,
to see a wide variety of characters in media, and that includes variety in body sizes and shapes.
However, Flora was Hispanic/Latina-coded. Terra is white. We’ll get to the whitewashing later,
it’s going to be its own section, but suffice to say I am absolutely not a fan of this change
given it seems its main purpose was having an excuse for a woman of color in the main cast
to be replaced by a white woman. Tecna, meanwhile, has been completely removed,
likely due to the perception that Tecna has always been the least favorite Winx.
But it’s not the Winx Club without Tecna. “It’s just not the same without Tecna.”
“Maybe we should call it quits, you know, like disband the club?”
“I hate to say this, but I agree.” “Me too.”
“It’s the right thing to do guys.” I feel one of the main arguments
may be that her powers and aesthetic may counter the edgy realism Rainbow’s going for,
but you’re telling me that a Hacker Tecna couldn’t be ridiculously edgy and cool?
Sky is still present here, but whether he’s a specialist is unknown to me,
as well as the inclusion of Redfountain and Cloudtower, but the only returning [specialists]
seem to be Sky and Riven. The Trix, likewise, have been condensed into one villain named… Beatrix?
Yes. Be. A. Trix. I… I hate it so much.
The world is likewise entirely different. A huge factor that helped set Winx apart from other
animated series, and especially other Magical Girl properties, was its worldbuilding filled
with a unique blend of fantasy and sci-fi elements. Magix City looks less like Diagon
Alley and more like a bustling metropolis of the distant future with flying cars.
“This is it? Magix? Capital of the realm of magic, most enchanted city in the universe?”
“Well, what did you expect?” “Dragons, gnomes, wizards,
shops full of magic wands!” “That’s fairy tale stuff, this is the real world!”
And the story went well beyond Magix, to other vibrant worlds like the frozen wastes of Domino,
sun-drenched Solaria, the lush forests of Lynphea, and more.
Instead, we have “The Otherworld,” which is… some generic-looking forest from every other
modern paranormal story. And Alfea has been changed from the iconic pink castle to this
budget Hogwarts-looking mess. The sci-fi elements are completely gone, and Winx feels less like
itself and more like it’s trying to emulate its contemporaries, and suffering as a result.
I don’t even think there are any transformation sequences, which is a crime. A huge part of the
fun of the franchise, even in the newer seasons, is experiencing the new transformation sequences
and songs, and most of all, relishing in new fairy designs. But that’s all gone now, and the girls’
fashion likewise is… awful. What the hell are these outfits? And what are these color schemes?
Stella would burn down the entire “Otherworld” just looking at this dreary dumpster fire.
So, Winx no longer feels like Winx. Rainbow is so desperate to pander to an imagined demographic
that it’s completely lost sight of what Winx fans have been craving, which is a huge mistake
if their goal was to make something just for the older fans who’ve been unhappy with the
franchise up to this point. It’s essentially like throwing sand into their eyes for years,
and then you promise to do right by them, only to pepper spray them when they let their guard down.
If I had to explain to Rainbow very clearly why fans haven’t been enjoying all of this,
it’s because we never wanted an edgy Winx. What we wanted was something true to the first four
seasons. Something that appealed to all audiences, but definitely had mature storylines that could
be enjoyed by teens and older audiences, and likewise, a story that grew up with its viewers.
Maybe the main series continues growing up with the Winx, and then you have another story based
on other fairies, or other characters in the Magical Universe, that’s a little bit more
kiddy? Or not even kiddy, just has the same tone as the first four seasons.
But none of this is even the worst offender. That title belongs to the whitewashing.
Whitewashing is the practice of taking characters of marginalized backgrounds,
or coded as such, and lightening their skin and/or removing their marginalized status.
It effectively makes them either white-passing or fully white,
usually as an attempt to make them more appealing to “broader audiences,”
which in corporate talk, means white audiences. Winx originally was praised for its diversity,
with half of the club being women of color: Musa as Asian coded; Flora as Hispanic/Latina coded;
and Aisha as black coded. “Coded” meaning that since they’re not from Earth,
they technically don’t explicitly match up with the racial categories we have in the real world,
but they’re designed and written in a way to evoke those races as to represent them in fiction.
Winx does have a troubled past with depictions of race, namely with a racist joke during a very
problematic pageant episode in the first season where a black woman’s hair is made to resemble
an afro, and that - according to the story - makes her upset because she’s no longer conventionally
beautiful. This episode has actually been removed from YouTube and essentially banned,
but the scars remain. At the very least, 4Kids had the decency to change it so the girl’s hair
wasn’t the issue, it was her voice being made squeaky. So thank you, 4Kids. You did a good.
And this did not exist at all in the Nick version, since this plot was entirely skipped
over in the specials, which was also a good move. But for the most part, Winx has generally strived
to do better after this, especially with Aisha being the best written, most interesting of the
Winx, and a proactive, kickass, and beautiful black princess. There are still issues where
she faces far more hardships than the rest of the Winx, especially with her fiancé Nabu,
who is black and Indian-coded, dying in the fourth season after they’re finally happy, which…
kill me. But the show also normalizes interracial relationships, which we stan in this cardboard
box we call a house. (stans in ContraPoints)
But for the last few seasons, starting in the Nick era, the series began an art style
dubbed “Fairy Couture” for promotional material that features more washed out,
pastel colors, which had the effect of lightening all the characters’ skin colors,
including Flora and Aisha, who naturally have brown and black skin respectively.
This escalated eventually in World of Winx, where the Fairy Couture art style was fully adopted into
the animation, resulting in Aisha looking even lighter than Flora in the main series,
and Flora’s skin being lightened to the point she easily passes for white. And this was also
the case for the new season 8 art style, which actually is even more egregious on Flora’s part.
Now, I’ve been guilty of downplaying these issues by trying to play both sides,
saying that I believed Rainbow didn’t intend this. However, I was also a fucking clown.
Intent doesn’t even matter; the impact is what matters, and the impact is damaging.
The girls have been whitewashed, and frankly, whether Rainbow intended that doesn’t even matter.
It’s completely unacceptable because representation in media
matters. It shapes the way we view ourselves and how we view the people around us. It normalizes
marginalized people that many viewers may not know in real life before the news media can
demonize them, while for the marginalized, it helps them realize that they belong and
can have happy stories of their own. And this also goes for representation of LGBT people,
neurodivergent people, disabled people, and so on. The whitewashing has reached a horrible peak with
the live action series. Musa is portrayed by a white actress rather than an Asian one, in a media
landscape where Asian actors already struggle to get roles white actors get with ease. Now
this says not only can Asian actors not receive roles that don’t center on their race or ethnicity
specifically, but they can’t even get roles for characters meant to represent them specifically.
Aisha’s casting is fine (thank the lord), but Flora has been fully replaced by a white woman.
And no, this is not acceptable. If anything, it confirms Rainbow has been trying to push Flora
towards passing as white to reach the eventual point of fully replacing her with a white woman.
It’s gross, and is a spit in the eye to not only the good points of the show’s diversity in its
earlier years, but also Latino, Hispanic, and Asian fans who saw themselves in Flora and Musa.
So um… yeah. This show’s gonna suck. It’s a shame the franchise has gotten to this point, where
it’s so clear that Rainbow just doesn’t understand what fans loved about the show in the first place.
Straffi’s comments on needing to do things like this because only kids love animation is
utterly untrue and reads as overly cynical. Disney’s animated movies have always been for
all audiences, and enjoyed by kids as well as teens and adults. They resonate with all audiences
because of their competent writing and deeper themes that resonate with everyone, and age like
a fine wine as kids grow up with these stories and return to them when they need them in adulthood.
Likewise, shows like Steven Universe, The Owl House, She-Ra, and many more have proven
that animated series can likewise be enjoyed by all audiences. This idea that you have to skew
younger for animation reads as a culmination of this western idea that animation can only
be for kids and family audiences and no one else, and how animation is treated as a genre
rather than a medium capable of so many different, amazing stories for any audience.
Anyways (rant over), if you enjoyed this and would like to see more content like this from me,
including me probably bashing this show when it comes out, then be sure to check out my other Winx
content, including my old documentary series of the franchise for a more in-depth history,
as well as my videos rewriting season 5 to feel like the older seasons, because…
I’m a lunatic, I will admit. Also be sure to subscribe and ring that bell
for notifications because YouTube hates creators. And if you’re willing and able, please consider
supporting the channel over on Patreon, as Patrons get access to not only early content,
but also the private Union of War Discord server. I’m the Unicorn of War, and the fate of the
Winx Saga looks depressingly grim, and lacking in color of all kinds.
If I had a mic to drop-- well, I do have a mic on me, what am I saying,
but I’d rather not drop it because I don’t feel like risking it breaking… um… it’s gonna suck.