Race In My Fandom

Disney Set to Unveil First Latina Princess, Sofia

trackster:

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kyssthis16:

queenofadodi:

so-treu:

labrownrecluse:

tortasahogadas:

soy-chorizo:

nbclatino:

There has been Jasmine and Belle, Mulan and Pocahontas, but never before has there been a Latina Disney princess. Until now.

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is everyone thinking what i’m thinking? or

amazing

amazing

Of course there are Latin@s who are fair-skinned, but a vast majority of them have darker skin. I would have thought that, if Disney wanted to create their first Latina princess, they would have gone with a phenotype that looked like most Latin@s.

(via racebending)

Argo

I think the biggest problem I have with Argo right now is not that Ben Affleck (white) played Tony Mendez (Latino). It’s that, according to the reviews out there, he played him really well. And it’ll be nothing but fodder for the whitewashing apologists.

“But he did a great job! Isn’t acting more important than what the character looks like?” If that’s true, then why aren’t we seeing more racebent roles.

Unlike racebending, whitewashing is a historically negative act that Hollywood continues to use for various reasons (among them being that white people like to watch movies only with white people).

I found this interesting article that brings up the whitewashing. It also points out how Argo suffers from “America Saves the Day” syndrome when in fact it should be Canada (of all countries). Here’s a quote I like:

When I see the true Mendez, I see someone that looks more like Esai Morales or Edward James Olmos than Affleck. There are plenty of talented Latino actors in Hollywood that could easily have played the role. Yet, once again, Hollywood chose to whitewash the part and add yet another example to its long history of racial discrimination (a UCLA study found that of all leading roles, only 1.2% go to Latino actors).

And this:

The heyday of obvious propaganda may be behind us, but films that serve as propaganda still get made, and that is precisely what Argo has become. By striping away the true identities of those involved, the movie only serves to foster racist attitudes, undermine Canadian valor, and could go so far as goad Americans into supporting yet another war with a Middle Eastern country.

“Argo” fosters Hollywood’s racism by casting Ben Affleck as Latino.”

Supportive POC: Dear any POC on tumblr who blog about television and/or fandoms

The Hunger Games is on the American Library Association’s frequently challenged books list for 2012 (which is based on challenges from 2011). Not too surprising, considering the violence. What is interesting is that one of the reasons the ALA website lists is the fact that THG is “anti-ethnic,” an accusation that does not appear on the previous list (challenges from 2010). When I first heard about it, I laughed. The only people who were being anti-ethnic were those fans who complained about Rue and Cinna’s casting. But is there a point?

If you take Suzanne Collins’ words in an interview with EW, then Katniss and everyone in District 12 are white, despite being described as having “straight black hair” and “olive skin” (pg. 8); traits common in every race on the planet. So in all of North America, only a handful of characters are described as having color, and those people all come from District 11. The rest of the characters have been defaulted to white by most readers (including myself, I should admit). Today, minority births outnumber whites. Yet in Collins’ version of America, we can say for sure that The Hunger Games only contains two characters of color*.

But does that make the book “anti-ethnic”? And what does the ALA mean when they say anti-ethnic? Is it the lack of POCs, how they are represented or both? With the casting of Rue and Thresh, I read comments saying how it’s racist that Rue will be swinging from trees like a monkey. The fact that District 11 is an agricultural sector, where people basically work like slaves, also didn’t sit well with readers. And then there are the character arcs for Rue and Thresh. I read a post that said how the tributes from District 11 are only there to solely help Katniss- Rue pointing out the tracker jacker nest and healing Katniss’ wounds; Thresh saving Katniss from Clove -thus making them magical negroes.

Collins definitely wasn’t interested in writing a book full of racially diverse characters, but I don’t think it’s fair to call The Hunger Games anti-ethnic. Aside from District 11 and 12, Collins rarely described the skin colors for other characters. For all we know, Cinna could have been black in the original story and not just for the film. The same goes for the other tributes of color in the movie that were all killed off within seconds of the Games starting.

But that’s just me. Any thoughts?

*Just want to make it clear that I’m only talking about the first book; not the film adaptation, Catching Fire or Mockingjay.

Updated: Because of Writing Fail’s comment, I went back and reread that interview from EW and Collins never said she was white, just wasn’t biracial. But she still doesn’t seem to want to refer to Katniss as a WOC.:

Some readers have expressed real frustration that white actors were cast in the roles of Katniss and Gale, who they felt were clearly described as biracial in the book. Do you understand or share any of that dismay Suzanne?
SC: They were not particularly intended to be biracial. It is a time period where hundreds of years have passed from now. There’s been a lot of ethnic mixing. But I think I describe them as having dark hair, grey eyes, and sort of olive skin. You know, we have hair and makeup. But then there are some characters in the book who are more specifically described.

Sorry about that.

Just wanted to say I deleted a lot of posts that were irrelevant to this site, and I promise to write more. (lies)