#because I saw someone say that the movie is problematic because Nimona is white and the “most oppressed”

[elistodragonwings]

Nimona isn't a representation of the most oppressed person in our society, she's a representation of white Christian conservatives' worst fear regarding gender - when they hear "transgender", what they imagine is a white trans woman, someone who they think is a man ("danger") trying to secretly infiltrate them by disguising themselves as a white female ("harmless/nonthreatening").

Nimona herself seems to understand this "white girl=non-threat" bias. When the one little girl sees her as a dragon, she shifts to the most non-threatening shape she can - a cute white girl - and it still fails because the whole point is that society thinks that image is an act to fool them. It's also why she rejects Ballister's belief that things would be easier for her if she stayed looking like a (white) girl. Not only is that impossible for her, but people don't believe she really is.

Because again, her story is not about who on average experiences the most oppression, it's about a particular type of oppression that comes from many white Christian communities in the US.

Imagine if, instead of a "harmless" looking little white girl that appeared in the woods to young Gloreth, unable to even throw a rock, Nimona had instead stumbled out of the woods looking and acting like young Ballister when he jumped over the fence and attacked a training dummy. Would the town have even allowed her to hang around long enough to discover she was a shapeshifter? Probably not. A young-Ballister-looking Nimona would arguably have faced more oppression up-front, but it's a different experience than being seen as a secret, insidious threat, which is the type of oppression being depicted here.

And yes, the society looks racially diverse, but we don't actually know that. We do know the Director is white and kills their black Queen, while Ballister looks like a stereotypical American perception of a "foreigner". So I think we can reasonably conclude that we're expected to bring our real-world knowledge of racial bias to understanding their world. (We also don't know how accepting this society actually is of diverse relationships, or if Ambrosius's relationship is tolerated simply because of his high status).

Therefore, I think it's worth considering (likely, even) that this society is a depiction of the evangelical Christian expectation that "racial diversity" means everyone has assimilated into their cultural beliefs. So it's not a depiction of a genuinely racially diverse society oppressing an apparently white girl, it's a depiction of a particular type of Christian fantasy world and the consequences for two different types of "outsiders," one who looks like an outsider and one who, at first glance, doesn't.

#nimona #analysis #because I saw someone say that the movie is problematic because Nimona is white and the “most oppressed” #Also is she even really “white” when it's not clear she's even human #or just white-passing #but that's a whole other conversation #that I am not equipped to hold #Just putting the question out there #elisto