Review: 'Fate: The Winx Saga'
“Fate: The Winx Saga” tries to mature by destroying its younger self and illustrates the limitations of the young adult and fantasy genres in live-action adaptations.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
It is not the easiest task to take an original work of fiction and adapt it for television or film, especially when that source material is beloved by many. “Fate: The Winx Saga” faces the struggles of live adaptations in the young adult and fantasy genres and is crushed under the weight of them. There are so many of us who grew up watching “The Winx Club”, the show’s original source material, which makes the re-envisioned narrative of the show a disappointment.
Premiering in 2004, “The Winx Club” offered us a magical universe where we could meet fairies, witches and other mythical creatures. The plot largely follows the protagonist, Bloom, and her friends as they study and train as fairies at Alfea College. For the mid-2000s, it was unlike other shows I had watched, as it showed me what fantasy could truly be. However, in the live-action adaptation, key characters have been removed. The erasure of diversity presents viewers with harmful character archetypes and stereotypes, heavily promotes heteronormativity and woke-fishing, and also fails to explore the boundaries of masculinity and femininity following from the original show and comics.
There are six original fairies: Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna and Aisha. Flora and Tecna did not make the cut and instead, we are given Terra as a substitute. Aisha, Musa and Flora were the three women of colour in the cartoon, yet the latter two are whitewashed. Flora was originally inspired by Jennifer Lopez, while Musa was inspired by Lucy Liu. The young adult genre has not actually moved on in terms of diversity and in those few moments, it has the opportunity to create this without it being tokenistic - it fails.
The whitewashing in young adult fantasy has not slowed down in recent years - there is even the erasure of diversity amongst the specialists and teaching staff. The remaining specialists, such as Brandon, Stella’s love interest in the cartoon, were removed. Flora and Tecna’s romantic interests, Helia and Timmy, were removed and they were part of the cartoon’s healthiest relationships. Nabu, a wizard in the cartoon, and Helia were also opportunities to show different men of colour.
Ironically, Sky and Riven are the only specialists remaining from the cartoon, and they are arguably the two most toxic men in the original show. Although their cartoon counterparts are examples of toxic masculinity, the tensions in their friendship served as a platform to showcase how that toxicity worked within male friendships. “Fate” gives us a righteous Sky and a rebellious Riven and they both lack depth nor offer any substance to the plot line. There is no attempt to explore the boundaries of femininity and gender tensions beyond masculinity as well.
The specialists were regarded as heroes, but even then, the fairies were always more powerful and capable on their own. In the episode, “The Black-Mud Swamp”, the fairies end up helping the specialists repeatedly. Palladium, a male teacher on the show, brought forward questions about gender identity since he never really adhered to traditional masculine characteristics. The nuance has been stripped from the existing stories. Of course, the cartoon was not perfect with its many plot holes and the proportions of its characters, but without these complexities, the live-action show is just injected with a false sense of wokeness.
There is nothing special about the villains in “Fate” either. The cartoon villains, the Trix, are condensed into a singular character: Beatrix. The Trix embodied toxic female friendships and this could have been another space to explore the boundaries of gender dynamics in the live-action adaptation since those are the questions young adults are exploring in their lives. The majority of magical beings besides fairies and the specialists are non-existent in the storyline. The witches address tensions that exist between those who are fundamentally different, however their existence is only mentioned towards the denouement of the season.
“The Winx Club”: Season 1, Episode 7
Beyond gender, “Fate” promotes heteronormativity and woke-fishing. We have Bloom and Sky, Stella and Sky, Musa and Sam. These are the ‘good’ characters and they are heterosexual. Riven, Dane and Beatrix exist in this almost-polyamorous homoerotic trio and they are ‘bad’ characters. Heterosexuality is associated with good. Homosexuality is associated with evil. There are weak attempts at showcasing body positivity. Terra is repeatedly insulted for her weight by Riven and surrounding characters - we get nothing out of it, other than being told that fat-shaming is bad. It serves no purpose in “Fate” other than to show other characters that they should not underestimate her. In the exposition of the show, Bloom is already lecturing Sky on mansplaining, and it similarly serves no purpose.
The dialogue is painfully clunky. I know the show is supposedly aimed at older audiences, or rather at young adults, but it is more for pre-teens who are navigating what they want in the genre of young adult fantasy. For example, Sky delivers a cringe-worthy monologue: “When I fix other people, I don’t have to think about how f*cking broken I am. We’re all broken, Bloom… There’s a charm in that, too.” Sky’s cartoon counterpart was not that much of a narcissistic himbo in comparison to the one in the live-action adaptation.
There is far too much happening in a short period of time and yet nothing of substance is being produced. “Fate” is riddled with pacing problems. For instance, the point about the dragon flame comes at the end of the season, unlike the cartoon that features it immediately. All of the twists come towards the end and by then, we are too exhausted with all the problems of the show. There is basically a military takeover at the end of the season and we find ourselves in dystopian fantasy fiction. In its attempt to remake itself, reincarnate itself, it has created a show that is not authentically itself. It has destroyed itself.
It’s not supposed to be a kid’s show, but it doesn’t do justice to young adult shows. It would have been better if they just dropped the pretence of linking it to its original source material. The original plot had a good storyline. If “Fate” wanted to be a really good show, then this re-envisioned storyline just needed a modicum of faithful execution for it to be a good remake. Even without comparing it to the cartoon, just to remove my comparisons, “Fate” still has problems that don’t make it enjoyable. It has to compete with the original source material because it has not moved itself from the shadow of it.
“The Winx Club”: Season 2, Episode 8
“The Winx Club” works - at least in the initial seasons of the cartoon - because it’s a cartoon. We are free to explore the unlimited nature of Magix and the other realms that existed in the cartoon. With “Fate”, we are not so far from our angsty teen realities. Instead, this live-action adaptation is brought closer to our already-existing perceptions of fantasy worlds. They have chosen to reconcile with the real world by incorporating technology and vehicles when we are supposed to be within a fantasy. In the absence of the cartoon’s uniqueness, “Fate” takes a beautiful Y2K cartoon and then transforms it into a visual Gen Z nightmare.
These problems in “Fate” highlight the larger issue of how the genres of young adult and fantasy fiction are becoming increasingly stagnant and repetitive in their storytelling. Here, the show defers the originality of its source material and shapes it to fit into a mould that has been used too often. It does not stand out against “Shadowhunters” (Freeform, 2016-19) or “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” (Netflix, 2018-20) in the fantasy genre. Nor does it stand out amongst much older live-adaptations in the young adult genre, such as “The Hunger Games” (2012-15), “The Divergent Series” (2014-16) or “The Maze Runner Series” (2014-18).
Since the debut of the trailer, we have been reminded that it is not a strict remake of the original show. Rather, it is an adaptation that has been reworked into a show that can be targeted at older fans of the original show. The plot, the characters and the overall aesthetic of the show has lost its originality in trying to do so. For the majority of us, “Fate” is a show we will briefly watch and quickly forget about. Meanwhile, the original show will be revisited for its originality and its true magic.