“The 100,” a CW show, has been consistently praised for being a progressive show, and one of the most feminist shows in a while. Don’t get me wrong, “The 100” does great in some aspects, especially in terms of sexuality and female representation. Representation means more than just having diverse characters. It means representing that diversity right.
The premise of the show is that Earth has been destroyed by war and is a nuclear wasteland. What’s left of the human race resides in a huge space station called the Ark. The Ark has limited resources, so when an adult commits a crime they are immediately sent out, or “floated” into space. People who commit crimes under 18, however, are just put in the Ark’s version of jail. The show starts when everyone realizes that the Ark is dying, so they send the 100 kids in jail to Earth to see if it’s inhabitable. From there, the show delves into an intriguing world full of questions about morality and ethics.
The leader of the 100 is Clarke (Eliza Taylor), a female protagonist. Clarke is a complex character that has many layers. The 100 follow her without question. Clarke is also canonically bisexual, which is huge when it comes to representation because there are not many bisexual characters on television, especially not when it comes to the main character. The 100 hosts a variety of female characters, and many are seen in leadership positions. Both leaders of the group of people that inhabited the Earth, the Grounders, have been women. Seeing women in power is incredibly refreshing and not something that often happens in shows.
Another aspect of “The 100” is that the show actually has moral repercussions. Everything that Clarke does has a reaction and consequence. There are many discussions about morality and ethics, and nothing anyone does is ever forgotten in the show.
I understand the hype surrounding this show. The writers treat Clarke and other leads with care, but when it comes to the people of color the writers have been known to throw obstacle after obstacle to them.
We can start with the Grounders. The Grounders are the people who inhabited the Earth after the war. They are presented as crazy warriors who don’t want peace. They are shown as less technologically advanced, using swords and spears rather than guns. When the 100 fall from the sky, the Grounders are seen as the bad guys, threatening their peace, when really the 100 fell into their territory. The Grounders are seen as primitive. They are also ALL people of color. This leads to a perception that any person of color is automatically less intelligent because of their skin color. Many arguments have been made against this claim, but the fact is that the leader of the Grounders, Lexa, is white. However, they have made her make-up so she seems to be a person of color. Using blackface to portray the leader of the Grounders just show that the writers deem them to be lesser. If they didn’t want to portray that the Grounders were only POC then they wouldn’t have used blackface on Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey).
There is a lot of cultural appropriation on the show. The start of the third season showed Clarke, a white female, with dreads. Lexa, also a white female, has a bindi. Cultural appropriation on a show that stresses its progressiveness just doesn’t add up.
Another huge problem with “The 100” is how the writers treat the character Raven (Lindsey Morgan). Raven is Latino and has been treated horridly. She has been consistently tortured on screen and been treated rudely by other characters. They always have Raven sleep with various men. This is in no way a problem, but in a show that proclaims it is so open about sexuality, the writer of the show, Jason Rothenberg, slut shamed her on Twitter. Many characters have slept with others, and yet the one that is shamed for it is the person of color.
I don’t think that the writers mean to be racist at all, but what they, and the fans, fail to realize is that there are many racist undertones in the show that need to be addressed. Science fiction has always been the most progressive medium for women. But a show needs to have representation of everyone to truly be effective and be able to call itself progressive. “The 100” has great potential to be an amazing sci-fi thriller with kick-ass female characters and diversity, but first, it needs to address the underlying problems.