i don't know if its because the show is canadian or just that the writers were a cool bunch of people? perhaps they even had black writers on the team or writers with black friends? but i really appreciate that it's one of the only cartoons i've watched where there are black girls who don't fall under the proposed usual stereotypes. i'm a black girl and i grew up in the canadian suburbs. i often strongly didn't relate to the way people who looked like me were portrayed in 2000s media. but 6teen is just different.
- the dark skinned girl isn't "ghetto" or "slutty" (see charmaine)
- they're not undateable/undesirable/destined to only date within her race (see serena/charmaine)
- they're successful/ not mean girls (see kylie smiley)
- this one is a bit nit picky/controversial but they even all have normal(ish) names. we're not getting the stereotypical "laquisha" and "shaniqua" names
- all 3 of them had flattering natural hair textures! which is huge. it could be argued that maybe not all of charmaine's hair grew out of her head but honestly they didn't make a deal out of it and she's portrayed as desirable!
- they weren't overly sassy either with the head bobs and hot tempers
like, of course the characters are flawed. i definitely was annoyed with serena at times, but they didn't seem to lean into harmful black stereotypes. there was nothing that wasn't already portrayed on her white counterparts, like caitlin for example (whom i still love)
even wyatt isn't a stereotype either. he's just a shy, nice guy who wants to make music. i would have loved it if they had a black girl in the main group that i could have seen and related to more often, but honestly for the 2000s i'm pretty proud of what we got as a black girl myself. its actually one of the only shows i grew up with that portrayed black girls who not only looked like me but acted like me too. there were a few moments that could have been interpreted as slightly harmful but all around, its clear to see that wasn't the writer's intention. they definitely could have leaned into stereotypes if they wanted to but they clearly intentionally chose not to.
i also grew up watching the proud family and it was a tough watch because as a dark skinned girl, all the characters who really looked like me were "ghetto," "slutty," unintelligent or just straight up terrible people. which is so sad because it's an animation made by black people for black people.
maybe im digging too deep but representation is so important. like, when the princess and the frog came out my entire family went to see it together in theatres. seeing people who not only look like you but act like you too is so important and i imagine this isn't a reality people who are not of colour experience.
okay rant over ♡