Warning: spoilers ahead.
Nimona, the animated feature set in a seemingly post-racial world, uses race-bending as it weaves a tale of the unlikely friendship between a shapeshifting teen outcast from society and a brooding knight framed for murder.
The film deftly twists familiar threads found in the original 2015 graphic novel by ND Stevenson to show a world devoid of racial strife. The prominent race-bending creates a new tapestry of fascinating new interpretations and resonances—perhaps somewhat sidelined in the original story.
Race-Bending to Amplify Other Pieces of Identity
In the graphic novel, most of the characters appear white. When adapted, the creators made intentional strides to clearly delineate different races for several of the main characters, a casting tactic growing in popularity called “race-bending.”
Race-bending, similar to gender bending, is when a role is cast for a performer of a different racial or ethnic background than the source material intended or specified. It has been met with mixed reviews. While many support attempts to create more opportunities for actors of color, some argue that it feels half-hearted and the resulting race-bent roles feeling inauthentic.
In Nimona, Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) is now Brown, and Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang) is an East Asian character. The opening minutes feature Queen Valerin, a Black woman tasked with governing over the multiethnic state, cuing the audience to depart from modern expectations (à la Queen Charlotte).
It is possible that the race-bending in the film attempts to intentionally level the playing field. Making characters like Ballister and Ambrosius nonwhite in a post-racial society, the conflicts they encounter can’t be read as purely racially motivated.
Further departing from the graphic novel, the movie focuses on…
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