Carole and Tuesday is a delightful anime series on Netflix- here is a brief review of it and how the show does representation right!
Representation and proper representation is a topic most of us has thought about, just because a show includes a diverse cast doesn't make it good. When done right, proper representation can not only make people feel seen but also heard. Just because your characters come in a range of different shades, doesn't make it good representation. How does Carole and Tuesday fare?
Carole and Tuesday Setting
Carole and Tuesday take place in a world where Earth has fallen to ruin and some have been able to make their way to Mars to thrive. This helps to set the overarching theming of the show; and the way characters interact with the world it's built, helps diversify the cast in a productive manner. Characters aren't just a colouring book for you to fill in, people are diverse in different ways.
Themes
Despite what the disclaimer has you believe, the show has a clear message and theme that relates too closely to reality to be a coincidence: Immigration and refugees. In the words of Melon Teee on Youtube: "We can't help but write what we know". Though we cannot say for sure where the influences derive from, we as the audience may find examples from our reality from which we can draw close parallels.
Carole and Amer: Victims of the System
Because the characters already live in a world with built around its theme, the way that characters interact with it helps make the inclusion of the theme make sense and serves to allow characters to feel genuinely passionate about the issue.
Carole and Amer are a good example of this, both characters grew up together as orphans at a refugee camp. However, one ended up making it to Mars as a child, whilst the other escaped from the camp and made his way to Mars independently with nothing to his name. Carole being the former and Amer the latter. The show presents two people of similar circumstances (and perhaps race) but ends up veering into different yet still similar paths in life. Amer becomes a rapper under the name Ezekiel and takes a more direct and aggressive approach to the political landscape of Mars, by making a music video heavily criticising Mar's government. This results in Ezekiel's arrest and deportation to Earth with the claim that his visa has expired immediately after.
On the other hand, Carole is more gentle in her approach. Focusing her music on spreading hope in response to the political strife on Mars, singing 'After the Fire' with Crystal and Tuesday at the Mars Grammy Awards. The situation worsens and many characters are forced into action, Carole (and Tuesday) takes a more direct approach this time but still remains true to her gentle self through a collaborative song, relating to hope sung at the Mars Immigration Memorial Hall.
The Simmons: A Privileged Perspective
Though not a victim of the refugee crisis in the show, Tuesday comes from a privileged perspective; coming from a rich household consisting of her brother Spencer and mother Valerie Simmons. The three are also seemingly Caucasian. In the show, Valerie is one of the presidential candidates, who's policies aim to remove and refuse Earth refugees from Mars. Valerie chooses this path in order to win the presidential spot despite her honest beliefs, due to the manipulation of her political consultant, Jerry. However, even when Valerie finally decides to right her wrongs by dropping out of the race, the show does not take responsibility away from her; something which I find that many shows tend to do when trying to redeem a character.
Tuesday on the other hand is much more sympathetic towards Carole and her fellow refugees, to a certain extent, Tuesday feels guilt over her connection to Valerie. Recognising the issue and what she can do, Tuesday chooses to do what she can to stand up against her mother's bill and campaign by raising awareness through song.
The brother, Spencer is similar to Tuesday- feeling sympathy for the refugees, but stayed more closely to his mother out of loyalty. When Spencer finally comes to the realisation of what truly was going on, he decides to work with free-lance journalist Kyle to obtain information and proof of his mother's campaign's misdeeds. Spencer is slightly more outgoing than Tuesday and is much more involved politically, as he is expected to follow in his mother's footsteps to becoming a politician.
Spencer acts as his mother's aide and appears beside his mother during her campaign tour. He starts off the series being loyal to his mother and distant from his sister, however over time his bond grows with his sister. The care Spencer has for Tuesday eventually led to him intervening between Kyle and Tuesday. (Kyle had reached out to Tuesday for information on her mother) Though at first, Spencer is peeved by Kyle and the legitimacy of his work, he slowly begins to see the truth behind what the journalist says as he observes his mother and Jerry.
Again we are seeing three people in similar circumstances coming off of different paths. This is diversity. Being diverse in colour and thought should be the norm because that is good representation! The characters and their multiple ethnic backgrounds in Carole and Tuesday integrate themselves into the story seamlessly, making use of its world-building to make it possible. Characters aren't being defined for the colour of their skin. Simply including and making them textbook stereotypes or nothing special, creates unnecessary emphasis on the character, this ostracises people, making them seem abnormal.
What can we take away from this?
In short, Carole and Tuesday is one of the sweetest shows you can find on Netflix with a good dosage of proper representation, characters vary not just in skin tone but also in terms of personality and thought.
If you've watched the show, what do you think about it and the representation present in the show? Do you know any other shows that you think provide good forms of representation? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section below!
Written by @dearmacherie
Illustrated by @dearmacherie
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