Lupin: race and mythology

Like most myths, Maurice Leblanc’s Lupin books are complicated, especially in how they are internalised and used by Assane in the Netflix show. It is more than just a demonstration of the ability of a thief to hide and move through the world – in many ways, the disguises and shifting nature of Lupin the thief is a metaphor for the way Assane felt the need to disguise and shift his own self and nature to fit into a world that saw him as the colonialised Other. He wears the aspect of white elite as comfortably as he does Black working class – he flows between these worlds as easily as the removal of a fake moustache.