“Never Have I Ever” Finally a more diversed teen series.
“Never Have I Ever” Finally a more diversed teen series.
“Never Have I Ever” Diversity Teen Series
South Asian representation on screen is often confined to stereotypes. Sidekick nerdy friends with strict parents, taxi drivers with a thick accent, and images of impoverished children abroad flood our screens.
In addition to the high-school dramz, we are shown Devi grappling with two cultures: her Indian home life and her desire to be a normal teenager.
“Some loser tells me I’m too Indian, some other people think I’m not Indian enough,” she says, encapsulating the classic perils of growing up in a culture where you are always made to feel like an outsider – a relatable situation for many immigrant children.
Devi subverts the typical nerdy-Indian-girl stereotype: she is outspoken and confident, she openly talks about wanting to have sex and she doesn’t do everything her mother tells her to do.
She is by no means a perfect character either, and admittedly is quite annoying. She is selfish at times, rude to her mother and makes poor life choices based on what she thinks she should be like – most notably ditching her friends Eleanor (Ramona Young) and Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) when they need her most to impress a boy.
But aren’t most 15-year-old teenagers guilty of all of the above? Its good to see Indian, Asian and Latino teenagers.
