Spoilers for the original Winx Club and the reboot.

Trigger warning: Mentions of abuse. No graphic descriptions.

Winx Club is one of my favourite shows from my childhood. While watching the show, I felt understood without feeling like I was being spoken down to. Winx Club was a show about young girls for young girls. It didn’t need to tell you it was a feminist show that supported women of colour because it proved that with each episode.

While I enjoy edgy teen shows (sometimes), enough is enough. I don’t understand what could motivate the creators to take an iconic children’s show and make it into a white-washed, generic edgy teen reboot. If that wasn’t bad enough, the show continues to tell the audience that it’s a feminist text while showing the exact opposite.

Failed Feminist Messages

I love feminist messages within media but this isn’t a billboard. It’s not enough to simply use words like “mansplain” (especially when used incorrectly: a guy giving a new student directions is NOT mansplaining). Rather than highlight gender inequality and showcase strong, female role models, shows like this mock actual feminist discourse.

The original Winx Club worked because it knew that diversity and feminist messages are things you show, not things you tell. The main cast was filled with strong female characters and half of them were women of colour (Musa is coded Asian, Flora is coded Latina and Aisha is coded black).

The show revolved around six women without incorporating unnecessary competitiveness or drama. They were genuine friends to each other and Stella was Bloom’s best friend (not her bitchy suite mate). Yes, they had conflict but that’s in the same way that all friendship has conflict. At the end of the day, they had each other’s back. And not in a grudging manner either. They genuinely cared about each other and didn’t need to tear each other down over something as stupid as a crush on a man.

Fate does exactly what feminists tell shows not to do. Instead of following the message of friendship the original show promoted, this show basically says that women can’t be genuine friends. That they’ll always be bitching about each other and telling each other to get over things instead of actually being supportive.

The Girls

None of the main characters are likeable. Bloom originally had a great relationship with her parents. Original Bloom would lose it if someone called her mum a basic bitch. And her parents in the original show understood how to raise a teenager. They were protective but they also knew when to give her space. And while Bloom did suffer emotionally as a result of her status as a changeling, she also knew self control. Reboot Bloom is a chaotic mess. She’s edgy, doesn’t have a good relationship with her parents and doesn’t seem to have very many brain cells. What type of person do you have to be to drug the guy you like and free a murderer who confessed?

Stella is straight up abusive in the reboot. Yes, she does in turn get abused by her mother but that doesn’t justify her abusing Sky. And yes, she does abuse him. She threatens the girls he talks to and scares him out of being with other people. That’s manipulation and emotional abuse. I understand that abuse is a cycle but did they really have to make Stella, of all people, abusive? She’s supposed to be bubbly and vain but overall a good person. And she’s supposed to be Bloom’s best friend but she might actually be Bloom’s nemesis. In fact, she doesn’t really have a friendship with anyone. She manipulates Sky, avoids her suite mates and is tolerated by Riven. This is not the Stella I know.

Terra isn’t in the original show so I have very little to say about her. I just hate the fact that her character arc is reduced to her not feeling worthy because of her weight. Just once I’d like to see a plus sized character who is portrayed purely as a character and not a generic message about respecting people. This isn’t a campaign, it’s supposed to be a show.

Musa is so tropey. She’s supposed to be fun, bubbly and genuinely caring. She would never turn her back on someone who just wanted a friend. In the original, she even opened herself up to Riven after he escaped the Trix despite the fact that he hurt her. She’s forgiving and kind. Certainly not the type of person who would shut everyone out. Reboot Musa is not just edgy but also a bad friend. She makes no attempt to get to know her suite mates and instead follows a dude around campus. This is meant to be a show about friendship but the characters care more about random dudes than they do each other. Which further perpetuates the idea that women are bitchy and only care about male approval.

Honestly, if they were going to change the show this much, why didn’t they just make a new show with new characters? Did they really have to completely rewrite the original characters and make them all predictably edgy? I would’ve been fine with a new show. But the reboot destroyed all of my favourite characters from my childhood. They took a show that was meant to show the power of friendship and instead had 5 girls who hurt each other with every breath. Reboot Winx Club is not a model for genuine friendship. It’s a train wreck.

Which is ironic, considering it spends so much time trying to prove that it’s a self-aware feminst show.

Everything That Made Winx Club Special Was Replaced With Something Generic In The Reboot

Whether you loved or hated Winx Club, you cannot deny that it was unique. It so successfully incorporated magic and technology that I didn’t even notice this was a deviation from the norm. Not to mention, Bloom defied tropes around colour symbolism by wearing blue despite having red hair and fire powers.

Winx Club was also not afraid to depict instances of men being abused by women. The men of the show were allowed to be kind, sweet and vulnerable. They weren’t forced into archetypes of toxic masculinity. They were allowed to be human first and foremost. And this was because of the sheer number of positive female role models in the show. In having a diverse cast who were also humanized and not simply inserted for brownie points, it allowed the characters to be people rather than stereotypes.

There was no risk of the men overshadowing the women because the women were strong in their own right. There was also no need to downplay the strength of the men because again, the women were strong in their own right.

The Reboot takes all of that and chucks it out the window. Rather than showing a unique blend of fantasy and technology, it chooses instead to go with the generic, edgy, urban fantasy magic school. Instead of allowing the male characters to be vulnerable in their own right, they are instead reduced to the pointy end of an unnecessary love triangle. Not to mention that Stella abusing Sky is completely glossed over so that the other characters can guilt him over his inability to extricate himself from his abuser.

And yes, Riven was originally a jackarse but he also had a brain. He may have gotten caught under Darcy’s spell but that was only after an expert manipulation game that eventually lead to Darcy enchanting him. And once he realised that he was on the wrong side, he did not act in self preservation. Rather, he put himself in harm’s way in order to make amends.

And now this reboot wants me to believe that he’s incapable of thinking through his lust. And worse still that he would victim blame his (supposed) best friend by saying he “Always went after the crazy ones” rather than having an actual conversation about the guilt Sky is probably feeling over Stella threatening to harm any girl he talks to. And worse still, Riven didn’t even know Bloom when he accused her of being crazy. And he justified it by saying all gingers are crazy and then made a joke about their sexual prowess.

Once again, none of the characters are likable. Except for Beatrix who’s at least interesting as a villain. Even Faragonda is a poor imitation.

Missing Characters

This entire show is supposed to be profitting off of nostalgia but all I feel is disappointment. Where’s Flora? Techna? Brandon? The Trix? And half of the cast of the show? Did the creators really get rid of Brandon just so they could create a generic love triangle and pitt two women, who were originally best friends, against each other?

I’m sorry for saying this but the Winx Club writers have gone about this in entirely the wrong way. They have completely misunderstood why Winx Club was originally so popular and in this way, they took a sinking ship and pushed it to the bottom of the ocean. I don’t speak for everyone but I never watched the show for its magic, I watched it because of its characters.

In writing out half the characters of the original show, they’ve made it impossible for fans (of the original show) to watch it without feeling disappointed.

I Liked Some Things, I Guess

The acting was good. I liked Beatrix. She may have only been one person, instead of three, but she made up for it with her intelligence, quick thinking, magical powers and selfishness. She honestly may have been the only part of the show I genuinely enjoyed.

I like the architecture of the school. It’s pretty. Um, that’s it.

Final Thoughts

I don’t generally review shows I hate. I find it a waste of time but this show angered me in a way I didn’t think was possible. And when I wasn’t angry, I was bored. And that’s definitely worse. I don’t think I’ve ever done a review where I’ve been this harsh. And maybe I’m being unfair, I don’t know. Some people say it’s a good show if you forget the original exists but it seems pretty generic to me.

Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the show or even if you’re planning to watch it. But if you want my opinion, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.