On Thursday, December 10, 2020, Netflix finally unveiled the first trailer for the series "The Winx Saga", a live action adaptation of the animated series that rocked an entire generation. Problem:
If you passed by, The Winx Club was a cult animated series from the 2000s, which followed the adventures of young fairies learning to control their power in a school of magic. Netflix has embarked on a rebranded live-action adaptation Destiny: The Winx Saga, available from January 22, 2021.
A series between "The New Adventures of Sabrina" and "Riverdale"?
On closer inspection, the trailer promises a show in the vein of a Riverdale mixed with New Adventures of Sabrina. As the Teenage Witch goes to say goodbye in a final season, December 31, 2020, Destiny: The Winx Saga therefore seems to be timely. Not to mention the fact that all the ingredients seem to be in place for Winx version 2021 to become THE new Netflix teen series, a genre very popular on the platform. Rivalries and sentimental stories will indeed be present in Destiny: The Winx Saga, where five young fairies enter Alféa, a boarding school in the Other World. As for the drama, the public is already served, since the trailer is far from appealing to everyone …
The trailer for "Destiny: The Winx Saga", a case of "white washing"
One of the great strengths of the 2000 animated series? It had the merit of being resolutely inclusive, unlike the reboot. The early fans were indeed disappointed to see that this adaptation did not go in this direction. The character of Musa, for example, is not played by an actress of Asian origin. No more than the character of Flora, whose skin was initially quite dark, which is now white. Logical that the young racialized girls of the time, who had felt represented at the time, considered themselves betrayed. After Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange or Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, we are therefore witnessing yet another case of whitewashing.
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Some were also surprised by the dark tone of the trailer, the show seeming to move away from the pop and colorful aspect of the 2000s animated series. Netflix has, it seems, tried. to go in the direction of the reboot of New Adventures of Sabrina, by focusing on a treatment much less light than the original version … To judge the final product, we will have to wait until January 22, 2021.