Raising Dion
Every week, Netflix has a top ten preview. In the lastest top ten in the country, Raising Dion has become a major hit. Raising Dion is mostly based off of a kid being born with superpowers but relates to everyday culture events. Dion is the only African American in the show along with one other. “As origin stories go, Dion’s (Ja'Siah Young) is ripe for symbolism. Newly enrolled at an Atlanta elementary school, he is one of two black students and struggles with acceptance (the other, more popular one, Chris, has a YouTube channel, which is a point of envy).” Dion struggles with being African American because he feels as if he looks the same but the principal thinks differently due to a situation after school. “In one particularly familiar scene, a white school administrator blames Dion for assaulting another student, who is also white, despite the fact that he did not do it. It’s one of the shows more nuanced examinations of race and power, and how criticism their binding is early on in the lives of black children.” At first, Dion did not know he had superpowers until he focused extremely hard, in the living room, with his mother. Dion did not know how to control legos and action figures flying around in a circle until his mother yelled at him and it distracted his focus. Dions mother was frightened by his powers and the fact he did not know how to control them. “In the debut, when Dion first tests his abilities, he nearly destroys the house—Legos and action figures coil into a ferocious cyclone, his very own twister of destruction.” After the incident, they packed their things and went to their lake house in the middle of nowhere. At the lake house, Dion and his mother get into a paddle boat and sail into the middle of the pond. Dions mother makes his focus very hard in order for her to see his powers. Behind his mother, he uses his superpowers and focus to make fish come out of the pond. As the fish struggles for water to breathe, his mother tries to get him to focus on her because he is killing the fish. So with Dion being the excellent kid he is, he brings water up to the fish. After he placed the fish back into the pond, his superpowers got uncontrollable causing trees to break and the woods to cause a natural storm. “The second time, on a lake, he and his mom almost lose their lives when, again, his powers prove too forceful, conjuring the hellish fury of nature.” In conclusion of Raising Dion, the show projects as a superhero show but it is predictable. The further you get into the show, the more you understand this is a pop culture show and people dealing with everyday life. “In the kingdom of superhero fiction, Raising Dion is, in many ways, a first. For all the show’s faults—its weak script, its haphazard and predictable plot movements—it understands how static the genre has become and suggests a correction.”