Disclaimer: This piece is largely spoiler-free of the show Ms. Marvel. Much of the content in this piece is opinion and based on my personal knowledge and experience. I speak neither for any other groups or individuals nor claim to have any more validity. I’d also like to note that when I talk about media, I mean mainstream media and the type I have been exposed to, which doesn’t necessarily include every single type of media and industry out there. Secondly, although I use the term “South Asian” throughout this piece, it is important to remember that many of the groups within this blanket term are often further marginalized and never represented.

Ms. Marvel, a TV show based on the Marvel comics, was released in June of 2022. It follows the story of an Avenger-obsessed Pakistani American teenager living in New Jersey. When she discovers that she has her own powers, she has to figure out how to balance her superhero identity with her American and South Asian identities, and help make her community a better place. As a South Asian American, I had a vested interest in the release of Ms. Marvel. Initially, after I watched it, I thought I’d write a review, but I quickly realized that it was expanding into a reflection on my personal relationship with my South Asian identity. So instead, I wrote more of an analysis and breakdown of Ms. Marvel: the first show to face all three of the challenges of featuring a protagonist of color, representing teenage life, and living up to the reputation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Historically, there has been very little South Asian representation in Hollywood. Although there are South Asian characters in classic shows, like Baljeet from Phineas and Ferb, presence is not the same as representation. A good example of this is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, an Indian character who has been in The Simpsons for 30 years. Although it’s widely debated whether he’s problematic or just funny (note: he was not voiced by an Indian person), the focus of this piece is on his significance. Honestly, it feels okay for him to just be a funny character, and as many argue, he follows the show’s style of depicting extremely stereotypical characters. However, he was also one of the biggest Indian characters on-screen back then. When a character based solely on stereotypes, like Apu, is the only Indian representation in mainstream media, it’s a problem. This creates a stereotypical representation of the group for viewers who do not regularly interact with members of the group. Stereotyping in place of representation or realistic depiction is problematic because it can lead to larger issues, like racism.

For a long time, shows and movies featuring South Asian characters, animated and live-action, have been on either side of a rhetorical “South Asian Stereotype Spectrum.” One side represents characters who lean deeply into their South Asian identities. Many have thick, somewhat fake accents and seemingly weird cultural traditions and family dynamics. Baljeet, the example from earlier, has a personality that can simply be defined as just nerdy and socially unaware. His personality practically screams “Indian American Teenager.” Same thing with Ravi, one of Disney’s attempts at a diverse cast, from the show Jessie. Again, nerdy, socially unaware, and really bad at sports; a common stereotype. It's not easy to say, statistically, how representative these characteristics are, but let me be absolutely clear: I have never, in my fifteen years of existence, ever heard anyone unironically speak with either Baljeet’s or Ravi’s accent. This pattern can be found in adult characters as well; The Big Bang Theory’s Raj has a distinctive Indian accent and just cannot speak to girls. On the other side of the spectrum, there are characters that lean deeply into their American identities. Kelly Kapoor, from The Office, fits here. No accent and no focus on South Asian identity (except when it’s the target of one of Michael Scott’s signature jokes). Similarly, Quantico features Alex Parrish, a half-Indian FBI agent, with only subtle references to her Indian identity. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to not discuss characters’ South Asian identities; it’s actually a form of representation. There are definitely many people whose South Asian identity has as small a presence in their daily lives as it does in Kelly’s and Alex’s. 

Although there are characters on both sides of the South Asian Stereotype Spectrum, it doesn’t mean there is complete representation. Not all South Asians have such a black-and-white relationship with their heritage. Luckily, in the past few years, things have certainly changed. Recently, as in this year, Bridgerton featured Kate Sharma, an Indian character who wasn’t sidelined. She fit seamlessly into English society while still being linked to her life in India, and her character was written so that her Indian identity was neither ignored nor all-pervasive. Because of her place nearer to the middle of the spectrum, Kate brought new representation to many South Asians. Today, there are two mainstream TV shows featuring South Asian teen girls as protagonists Never Have I Ever and Ms. Marvel. Never Have I Ever was a classic teenage drama, viewed through the lens of an Indian American, Devi. Like Bridgerton, Never Have I Ever addressed the mix of Indian and western cultures. Devi struggles with balancing her Americanness at school and her Indianness at home. Of course, this brought more representation, especially to teen girls, who make up a minority in film. Yes, it wasn’t perfect; for example, its portrayal of parental dynamics was not very representative of South Asian American parents as a whole.

So where does Ms. Marvel fit in? Firstly, its plot references, and even lives through, historical South Asian events, paying homage to the heritage of its characters. Representation-wise, it brings a lot to the table. For one, its soundtrack contains both old and new Desi music, from South Asian films to up-and-coming South Asian American artists. It also features big names in both Bollywood and Pakistani film, like Farhan Akhtar and Fawad Khan, respectively. Through these more subtle aspects, Ms. Marvel brings recognition and honor to South Asian pop cultural icons. In terms of characters, South Asian representation is usually just Indian representation, but Ms. Marvel portrays Pakistani Americans who practice Islam, an underrepresented religion. In addition, the parental characters are not the stereotypical immigrant parents from Never Have I Ever, nor super Americanized. Something that illustrates this is the fact they speak a mix of Urdu and English, showing the mix of their identities as well. Their dynamics bring a lot of representation to people whose parents are in between the two cultures. Again, not all South Asian American parents are like this, and these characters still ended up somewhat based on stereotypes. For example, third-generation South Asian Americans might not be able to relate as well to second-generation Kamala Khan. Ms. Marvel may have also fallen short of the accurate depiction in terms of racism. In the show, there’s a very clearly racist FBI agent, who is constantly looking for an excuse to arrest mosque-goers. While their rebuffs to her insults serve as comic relief, they don’t accurately capture many common experiences of Muslim Americans. Oftentimes, racism is experienced in the form of microaggressions, in more subtle, frustrating ways. To summarize, Ms. Marvel and every show and film trying to accurately represent South Asian people, is not a complete representation. Nothing will ever achieve that status, because every South Asian person and their relationship with their identities is different. But it’s safe to say that Ms. Marvel is part of the journey towards achieving more complete representation in Hollywood, rather than the destination.

The second distinguishing feature of Ms. Marvel is the prominence of teenage life. This much focus on teenagers has been done in the MCU before with Spiderman only. Hollywood has never been able to accurately portray teenagers, and the simple answer is that it’s because they’re all so different. It also doesn’t help that the writers of the characters haven’t been teenagers in at least two decades. One common complaint is that teenage characters look or act too old. Yet Ms. Marvel has avoided this issue; all but one of the actors playing teenagers were born after 2000, and Iman Vellani, the main actress, was in her teens even when the show was released. This is further supported by the comic-style animation of the show. But that brings up the contrary question: is Ms. Marvel too childish? In that sense, it could be. The colorful animations, eccentric transitions, silly texts, and the way Kamala runs her Youtube channel may seem a bit immature. One take is that this is a good thing because the MCU has consistently directed its media at adults. By changing focus to people in their teens, or even younger, Marvel is showing its flexibility and recognition of the actual audiences consuming its content. In any case, Ms. Marvel’s perceived immaturity doesn’t mean that the show doesn’t represent the teenage experience at all, it just doesn’t capture the entire experience (a recurring theme throughout this piece!). For example, a terminally online person like myself couldn’t possibly fathom why Kamala spends so much time doing stuff outside or fantasizing about going to AvengerCon. Even so, it managed to be more relatable than the average Hollywood teen TV series. Maybe this was because there was more focus on the superhero aspect, rather than the whole “high school experience,” something I personally have never really been able to relate to in the media. All in all, while the matter of accurate teenage representation in Ms. Marvel is a big point of contention, it definitely added something real to the media’s construction of the “average” teenager.

The third and final aspect of Ms. Marvel to consider is how it measures up to the MCU’s standards. This is the only MCU story that I read the comics for before watching. Because of that, some of the changes from the book to the show, especially in terms of plot, felt disconcerting or wrong. But it still felt like the show retained the main themes of the comics. On the other hand, the plot pacing was a little off, and it went through some plot points faster than it should have. It was only six episodes long, which may explain the need to rush through the plot in such a limited amount of time. In addition, there were a lot of character arcs that seem to be set up, like those of the supporting characters Nakia and Bruno, but were later sidelined in favor of the main plot. However the acting was definitely good; regardless of how good the characters themselves were, the actors accurately captured their personalities and emotions. In addition, the set design was well done; it was aesthetically pleasing and effectively conveyed the mood of walking through inner-city Pakistan. Overall, as has been the result with many of Marvel’s new shows, there was nothing particularly outstanding or horrible about Ms. Marvel in terms of traditional film characteristics.

Ms. Marvel broke many barriers by bringing more representation for teenagers and South Asian Americans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it didn’t accomplish everything perfectly, it's a big step in the journey to make Hollywood more diverse and inclusive of its audiences.