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How Netflix's "Fate: The Winx Saga" ruined the original by whitewashing its characters

January 26, 2021
Abigail Cowan in Netflix's "Fate: The Winx Saga"
Curtsey of Netflix
Sandra Salathe
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If you grew up in the early 2000s, odds are you stumbled upon a cartoon series called, The Winx Club. The 2004 Nickelodeon animated series, about a group of racially-diverse, female fairies who save the world, was by far my favorite show to watch. It also didn't hurt the characters had an impeccable sense of style, partnered with a infinite amount of sass.

When I discovered Netflix acquired the rights to the show, and was adapting it as a live-action series, I was a little excited. Okay, who am I kidding, I was extremely excited. That is, until I watched the first episode, and quickly realized how different the updated version was to the original. Naturally, when films and television series are remade, there are bound to be differences that don't stack up to the original version.

That's the process of screenwriting.

However, often times those differences are small. But when the nationality of an essential character is altered entirely, that's when it becomes an issue. The new Netflix adaptation of The Winx Club, titled "Fate: The Winx Saga," has received a lot of backlash specifically for that reason. Some have even accused Netflix of whitewashing its pivotal characters.

Let's unpack this, shall we?

For starters, it's important to understand why the beloved animated series garnered such popularity. Created by Italian animator Iginio Straffi, Winx Club featured female characters from different backgrounds, during a time when cultural representation was lacking in television. The series was no doubt ahead of its time.

Netflix diverged from the original 'Lupin'-and the decision is more important than we realize


Netflix diverged from the original 'Lupin'-and the decision is more important than we realizeconversations.indy100.com


While watching all five episodes of Netflix's Lupin, I couldn't help but think that the main character, Arséne Lupin is the French version of what Sherlock Holmes is to the British: the epitome of grace and class with a savviness that's unmatched.

After binging the Netflix adaptation, which is marketed as a combination of Riverdale and Harry Potter, representation appears to be nonexistent. In the original series, there a total of six female characters: Bloom, Tecna, Aisha, Musa, Flora, and Stella, who attended Alfea College for Fairies. In the animated version, Bloom and Stella are portrayed as white fairies, and Flora (depicted as Latinx), Aisha (who is Black) and Musa (who is generally referred to as Chinese) were the show's lead characters of color.

Yet in the Netflix series, the only character of color is Aisha. Although some mentioned Elisha Applebaum (the actress who portrays Musa) is part Singaporean, she is white-passing. Considering that the character of Musa was originally inspired by Lucy Liu, the role technically should have gone to a Chinese actress. I won't list all the problematic Scarlett Johansson references to make my point on why that's important.

In addition, during a 2011 interview with Italian magazine IO Donna, Iginio Straffi mentioned how Flora was inspired by J.Lo. Flora was always depicted as a Latinx character, with tan skin, long light brown hair with blonde streaks, and green eyes. However, Eliot Smith, who portrays Terra (oh yeah, Netflix also altered the name as well) is white.

It's obvious Netflix didn't cater to original show's diverse undertones, but it also shouldn't come as a surprise. Whitewashing is an eminent trend within Hollywood. One dating back to the silent picture era of the 1920s. But just because it's imbedded within Hollywood's DNA, doesn't make it acceptable.

fate: the winx saga

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.