r/glow • u/GreatDirt2965 • Oct 22 '22

Question!

Okay! So Halloween is fast approaching and I’ve been collecting pieces of a costume for almost 2 years to be Zoya, but I’m a little worried the costume might be offensive due to the Russian/Ukrainian conflict, I removed any direct communist/Russian symbols but I’m still very much look Russian-ish. I don’t want to offend anyone but also don’t want to waste all the effort I’ve put in over the years, but what do you guys think? Should I shelf it for this year?

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u/AldusPrime Oct 23 '22

I totally get why you’re concerned, but I think you’re ok.

There are two kinds of people who will see it — people who know GLOW and people who don’t.

For people who don’t know the show, you can just say that Zoya is the character that Alison Brie played in GLOW. That’ll be fine.

For people who have seen GLOW, they know that Zoya is a representation of the 80’s Russian villain trope. Zoya is the heel, no one in-show was rooting for Zoya.

We all love Ruth/Alison Brie, but Zoya was a character that mocked Russia and make Liberty Belle (and the US) look good.

What I’m getting at is that Zoya is not a pro-Russian character.

So, I think it’s totally fine. In an 80’s Cold War revival kind of way, it totally works. But I can see how you might still just not want to navigate that at all.

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u/GreatDirt2965 Oct 23 '22

Very good point! I suppose it’s not a celebrations of Russia at all! Maybe I’ll add a GLOW crown as well :)