Cell recreation Disney Twisted Wonderland sparked controversy when it revealed a new character this weekend. The character is predicated on Claude Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Followers have referred to as him racist as Frollo was extraordinarily racist within the authentic Disney film. Right here’s the sophisticated half: Twisted Wonderland characters aren’t really the identical as their authentic inspirations. It’s all very messy, however we’ll get via this. I promise.
Twisted Wonderland is a gacha rhythm recreation the place gamers spend gems to roll for scholar characters primarily based on Disney villains reminiscent of Maleficent, Jafar, and Ursula. These college students aren’t really the villains themselves, however they take inspiration from the villains’ visible designs, film dialogue, and narrative themes. So that you get a Kingdom Hearts wanting anime boy performing like a controlling jerk and yelling “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD” at any time when somebody displeases him. Rollo is an occasion character, however he’s additionally a dorm chief. So it’s not obvious but whether or not or not gamers will have the ability to roll for him within the gacha.
In line with Twisted Wonderland lore, the villains did exist in some unspecified time in the future prior to now (Frollo is portrayed as a heroic statue on the academy grounds), although they’re identified for optimistic qualities moderately than the crimes they could have dedicated within the films. So there’s some narrative distance between Rollo and Frollo.
G/O Media might get a fee
However there’s concern amongst some that Frollo prejudiced in methods which are laborious for some gamers to disregard. Whereas the Queen of Hearts has very milquetoast traces, Claude Frollo is thought for calling a Romani character a racial slur and claiming that her persons are “not able to actual love.” Yikes. All Disney villains have horrible qualities. However a few of their storylines method real-life bigotries nearer than others.
Whereas one fan translator claimed Rollo’s persona is “good” moderately than genocidal, others didn’t assume that his canonical persona mattered. They had been involved that Frollo was too bigoted for use in a recreation the place everyone seems to be a stupendous anime boy. Whereas the unique Disney film contextualizes the extent of Claude Frollo’s villainy, the characters in Twisted Wonderland are portrayed as smooth, misunderstood, and sympathetic.
Whereas the general reception to the character appears optimistic, there are additionally many quote retweets expressing disgust that Twisted Wonderland gamers are simping for Rollo. I’m going to remind everybody that The Hunchback of Notre Dame got here out in 1996. Many younger individuals have by no means seen that film, which is a part of the issue. Media is recycled over time. It retains some context and loses others, so individuals have completely totally different publicity ranges to Notre Dame whereas it’s nonetheless straightforward to imagine that everybody has had the identical expertise.
Within the meantime, some Twisted Wonderland gamers are simply making an attempt to go off the sexy simps:
