Race In My Fandom

...is being lazy

ATTN: the person who submitted the post about being white and writing a series of fantasy novels based on “the cultures and mythologies of the Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan and Tongan people.”

racebending:

thepeopleseason:

racebending:

I’m not posting the full submission because it was quite lengthy and the issues are very complex.  I tried to look for an Ask on your personal tumblr page but coudln’t find it, or else I would have sent this privately.  

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If we left the writing-about-other-cultures solely to members of those cultures, we would not have seen Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Yes, and I think one of the strengths of Avatar: The Last Airbender was that the creators really took the time to get it right.  

Without the effort to seek out feedback from different cultural consultants (eg. a kung fu expert who took the martial arts very seriously, a linguist and calligrapher to painstakingly make sure every word was written correctly, a cultural consultant on Asian American representation and stereotypes), Avatar: The Last Airbender could have been a very different product.  

I think the cultural consultant on Asian American representation (who worked on Seasons One and Two of A:TLA) did a good job of ensuring there were no dog eating jokes, advocating for more voice actors of color in the series, and making it a policy that no voice actors used a fakey “Asian” accent.  

And—this may not be a popular opinion—I actually think The Legend of Korra could have strongly benefited from additional cultural consultation, particularly from someone with a critical feminist theory perspective.  Support from someone coming from that framework probably could have provided the production with some constructive feedback on the depiction of privilege and oppression in Republic City and the way the Equalists were depicted, additional insight on colonialism and it’s impact on indigenous people of color (eg. the Water Tribe after Fire Nation imperialism and the fact that the villains this season were both Water Tribe and also two of only three significant brown characters in the entire season), the overall characterization of Mako in the Korra/Mako/Asami love triangle, and some of the weaknesses in Korra’s character development arc, etc.

(via writingfail)

thedeathberryredux asked: On the Cain and Abel movie casting, i (as a Jew) would like a actual Jew to play the roles of Cain, Abel and the rest. I'm not sure if Will Smith is Jewish, but if he is that's fine, i'd just like someone who is actually Jewish to play roles of Jewish characters. instead of a random white guy, or someone who isn't even Jewish. Sorry to talk of a topic that's old. And i don't mean to offend or anything....

It’s not offensive. This was something I was wondering about when I heard about the casting of the newest adaptations of Noah and Moses and wondering if those actors would be Jewish. I also thought about it when rewatching and reading up on Inglorious Basterds and thinking, “So they actually cast Jews to play Jews?”

We do not publish “reverse discrimination” stories. ”Reverse discrimination” stories are single issue stories that follow a predictable premise: what if [privileged real life group] was actually discriminated against/oppressed/un-privileged?

Examples: what if most of society was gay, and straight people were the discriminated minority? What if most male babies were killed and men were kept just for breeding? What if everyone was intersex, and cis-sexual people were considered “freaks”? Etc.

Not only are these “single issue” stories about discrimination (usually by authors with no real life experience with the forms of discrimination described, it’s just made up), these stories do not further our mission of promoting the inclusion and representation of real life minorities in spec fic. In fact, these stories do exact the opposite — they pretend that privileged, majority authors can understand and write about the dis-privileged/minority/oppressed perspective if they just turn the tables in a simplistic, linear thought experiment.

These stories also often frame the real-life oppressed people as the new oppressors: violent, insensitive, bigoted, etc. We believe the spec fic world does not need more “Poor oppressed men! Poor oppressed straight people! etc.” stories. These stories only marginalize already marginalized people even more. Please let minority/dis-privileged authors speak for themselves.

—

excerpt from the submission guidelines for Expanded Horizons, a magazine that has the goal of expanding diversity in speculative fiction.  

The editor of the magazine writes:  

“I’ve been REGULARLY getting plots pretty much like this in the Expanded Horizons slush pile for the four years we’ve been running the magazine. They’re standard fare, even though we have several explicit guidelines telling writers not to send them…which is less a “guideline” and more of a “no really, don’t send us this crap” rule…

“These stories are a dime a dozen. I’ve seen it with LGBT issues, with racial issues, with gender issues, and with other axes of identity. The concept is not new, not creative, not original, not fresh, and not clever. For any axis of real-world privilege, there are sci fi authors (and would-be authors) who think they are so clever for making themselves (as real-world privileged people) the “new oppressed people, oh woe is us!”

“…The sad truth is that this is the status quo of the slush pile, even for a magazine that explicitly demands that these stories not be sent to it. Usually, in my opinion, the authors are not explicitly setting out to be -ist, but they really misunderstand very basic things about How Oppression Works, and it shows, and it hurts.”

(via racebending)

(via so-so-justice-blog)

writingfail asked: where are you? you've been gone for a while :(

I’m being reaaaaaaallllllllyyyyyyy lazy.

irresistible-revolution: damnlayoffthebleach: Tiana and a mother-daughter pair at the movie theaters. (Princess and the Frog) Art by Isaia #fanart friday submission SoLDN: FANART FRIDAY So…this made me well up. Raining a monsoon on ma face ovah here. It’s ok, just go on without me Not to bring up old dirt, but when Sifu Kisu made that “Who cares what her skin color is?” comment, I thought of this picture but couldn’t find it. Nice to see it again on my dash :)

irresistible-revolution:

damnlayoffthebleach:

Tiana and a mother-daughter pair at the movie theaters. (Princess and the Frog)

Art by Isaia

#fanart friday submission

SoLDN: FANART FRIDAY

So…this made me well up.

Raining a monsoon on ma face ovah here. It’s ok, just go on without me

Not to bring up old dirt, but when Sifu Kisu made that “Who cares what her skin color is?” comment, I thought of this picture but couldn’t find it. Nice to see it again on my dash :)

(Source: damnlayoffthebleach, via ai-yo)

racebending: [IMAGE: In a promotional still from Cloud Altas, Asian actress Bae Doona cries as she is snuggled by Jim Sturgess in yellowface] If you don’t understand the controversy around Cloud Atlas, then in all likelihood, you are focused on the film in terms of its artistic quality. What you appreciate about the film is its grand vision: the sweeping soundtrack, grand special effects, universal concepts of reincarnation and rebirth, adventure on the scale of centuries or millennia. So I’d like to make something perfectly clear: our concerns are not about the quality of the writing, the story, the special effects, makeup artistry, or cinematography. Our discussion will be about social impact, culture, and politics. The nature of a multimillion dollar venture like Cloud Atlas is that it is shaped by culture and society. It is designed for the consumption of moviegoers. Millions of consumers will pay to see this film. The act of payment will encourage other films of similar cloth and make. The act of viewing will refine the viewer’s sense of pop culture, if only in a small way. … In watching the Cloud Atlas trailer, the parallels are clear. As with these other films, we see that white creators and performers are permitted to determine what it means to be Asian. It’s frustrating, because the trailer suggests a story that comfortably meshes with preconceptions and stereotypes of Asians: of a futuristic world of high technology and little soul, where the “all-look-same” vision of Asianness is directly translated into racks of identical, interchangeable Asian “fabricant” clones. It suggests a world where white actors (in yellowface) and Asian actresses enter into romantic trysts–while excluding the voices and faces of Asian American actors. … All too often in conversations about race in the 2010s, it seems that the racial conversation is all about performing the same racist actions but justifying them with new words. The use of yellowface, or even blackface, can be justified if the director uses the term “post-racial” or “colorblind.” But an honest look at statistics and demographics reveals that our society is anything but. We cannot enter a “post-racial” world by pretending problems do not exist, by pretending that lopsided representation is justified. Acting as an apologist preserves the status quo in favor of those who already have the lion’s share of representation, who “don’t care” about race issues because they are fundamentally content with the system. If you can see your race and gender reflected in 80% of the faces that dominate movie posters, then it becomes meaningless to you. It’s worth nothing. It doesn’t damage your self-esteem, as it does for American children of any demographic other than “white male.” For the rest of us, Cloud Atlas represents simply another film in the long tradition of Hollywood exclusion. It has been a very, very long road. We can only keep the discussion alive, despite how much further yet we need to go. An excerpt from Racebending.com’s latest article: The Cloud Atlas Conversation: Yellowface, Prejudice, and Artistic License.

racebending:

[IMAGE: In a promotional still from Cloud Altas, Asian actress Bae Doona cries as she is snuggled by Jim Sturgess in yellowface]

If you don’t understand the controversy around Cloud Atlas, then in all likelihood, you are focused on the film in terms of its artistic quality. What you appreciate about the film is its grand vision: the sweeping soundtrack, grand special effects, universal concepts of reincarnation and rebirth, adventure on the scale of centuries or millennia.

So I’d like to make something perfectly clear: our concerns are not about the quality of the writing, the story, the special effects, makeup artistry, or cinematography.

Our discussion will be about social impact, culture, and politics. The nature of a multimillion dollar venture like Cloud Atlas is that it is shaped by culture and society. It is designed for the consumption of moviegoers. Millions of consumers will pay to see this film. The act of payment will encourage other films of similar cloth and make. The act of viewing will refine the viewer’s sense of pop culture, if only in a small way.

…

In watching the Cloud Atlas trailer, the parallels are clear. As with these other films, we see that white creators and performers are permitted to determine what it means to be Asian. It’s frustrating, because the trailer suggests a story that comfortably meshes with preconceptions and stereotypes of Asians: of a futuristic world of high technology and little soul, where the “all-look-same” vision of Asianness is directly translated into racks of identical, interchangeable Asian “fabricant” clones. It suggests a world where white actors (in yellowface) and Asian actresses enter into romantic trysts–while excluding the voices and faces of Asian American actors.

…

All too often in conversations about race in the 2010s, it seems that the racial conversation is all about performing the same racist actions but justifying them with new words. The use of yellowface, or even blackface, can be justified if the director uses the term “post-racial” or “colorblind.” But an honest look at statistics and demographics reveals that our society is anything but. We cannot enter a “post-racial” world by pretending problems do not exist, by pretending that lopsided representation is justified.

Acting as an apologist preserves the status quo in favor of those who already have the lion’s share of representation, who “don’t care” about race issues because they are fundamentally content with the system. If you can see your race and gender reflected in 80% of the faces that dominate movie posters, then it becomes meaningless to you. It’s worth nothing. It doesn’t damage your self-esteem, as it does for American children of any demographic other than “white male.”

For the rest of us, Cloud Atlas represents simply another film in the long tradition of Hollywood exclusion. It has been a very, very long road. We can only keep the discussion alive, despite how much further yet we need to go.

An excerpt from Racebending.com’s latest article: The Cloud Atlas Conversation: Yellowface, Prejudice, and Artistic License.

(via so-so-justice-blog)

Naomie Harris as Eve from the upcoming Bond film, Skyfall. I don’t think I have even seen a James Bond film before, but for some reason I’m excited about this one.

Naomie Harris as Eve from the upcoming Bond film, Skyfall. I don’t think I have even seen a James Bond film before, but for some reason I’m excited about this one.