#Indonesian representation

[jesncin]

Happy Trans Day of Visibility! This year I wanted to celebrate by showing you what Lunar Boy, our upcoming middle grade graphic novel, means to us as queer Indonesian representation: the thought process behind crafting a sci-fi Indonesian future that embraces queer history.

Pre-order Lunar Boy or add it on goodreads! Support QPOC creators and stories!

[flowerandthesongstress]

complaints I've already seen about Coral Island, a new Indonesian kickstarter cozy game: the barman selling a ruined dish is an uncalled-for jab at restaurant workers! cats shouldn't hang out outdoors! eew, this woman shouldn't display her pregnancy stretch marks! where are all the kippot! why is everyone in such good shape! preposterous! this partially deaf character talking in caps lock is triggering me! no one in doctors without borders would be that tattooed, this dreadful representation is literal murder! no doctor would forget her paperwork at a library, for that matter! why is a japanese fisherman talking like a scottish pirate, this is inaccurate!

meanwhile in the game: I freed a stone statue from a magical underground prison and he put an enchantment on my hoe. his brother asked me if I liked figs is he flirting. my hippie boyfriend is heartbroken because his bucket-wearing pet duck is sick but shhh watching tv will heal him. last night when I talked to the outdoors cat she mentioned that she has a crippling fear of birds and thinks of getting therapy. a stem academic looks like a kpop idol and is getting enough sleep. he wears his astrophysics degree all over himself like a linguist would have worn alphabet necklaces, just to spite his dad but it's not working why is it not working ah shit it's working. mermaids hired me as a janitor. it's not pro bono I'm paid in diamonds. my neighbor is worried that his shiba inu went back to rejoin the mountain whence it came from. a turtle won't let me pass until I serve her spaghetti. I'm fighting capitalism with a literal scythe. the local blacksmith is asking my opinion regarding a legendary battle hammer and if it's worth the logistics hassle. it's been a year crabs are still dancing in celebration their zeal is admirable but their choreography could use some work. this giant monkey covered in two layers of meta wants to sell me a nostalgic souvenir. I know it because he sent me a polite letter. how many propaganda flyers can I fish out of this pond a challenge. I barged into a local lab and upended a barrel of seaweed over intricate circuitry now my flowers are five percent prettier. the scientist at the lab attached a mermish translator to my diving suit via the power of coffee. hold on I'm doing meal prep for next week let me finish putting ectoplasmic slime on okra

[lamaery]

100 Portraits Training | Part 3 and 4 These are mostly from my ref folders for Adolin and Renarin :D Part three

15 - 16) Australian actor Remy Hii

17) Filipino-American actor Vincent Rodriguez III

18) German tennis player Alexander Zverev

19) Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto

20-21) Chinese weightlifter Lü Xiaojun

22) Burmese-Amercian mixed martial artist Aung La Nsang

Next to actors I looked for sportspersons to use as references, because they have enough of a public image that I could reference them with name (which felt better than just using random people from the internet). Actors are often shown often being very attractive (I should take more refs directly from movies...) and it was nice to also try more day-to-day faces. Everyone is beautiful in their own way, of course, but I wanted to look for pictures which didn't having the person they showed looking beautiful as their main objective.

Part four

23 - 24) Burmese mixed martial artist Aung La Nsang

25) Indonesian badminton player Tontowi Ahmad

26) South Korean sabre fencer Oh Sang-uk

27)Philipine pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena

28) Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto once more

As for links in this one hmm... This page by the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists has shot overview of some terms which are important to be aware of for representation (albeit from a theater perspective, but it's still useful) This piece by Khoo Wei Shawn is a brief look into how racial representation has changed in the cartoons using the Ducktales series as an example. His footnotes could be useful for anyone wanting to get deeper into the topic, too. And lastly another take on racism in animation by Ruth Dubb. This one looks at the depiction of black people in early American cartoons and the stereotypes that came with those. Most sources I could find were from an American view. Or least from people living within a Western and American context. In part that's probably due to the language barrier (I have some in German, but there we go again... difficult to share that with most people here). Different countries have their own history of people being racialised and how that intersects with other issues and themes. So if you know of or have interesting takes from non-American sources and perspectives on the topics, please share. :)

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Part 1 – Start of the project Part 2 – Kaladin Part 5 – Dalinar Part 6 & 7 – Shallan and Jasnah Part 8 & 9 - various people and skin tones Part 10 – a little bit for The Lopen Part 11 & 12 - Wit and Navani Part 13 - ofmd und Dev Patel :)

[pavnilschanda]

I saw a tweet talking about how non-Indians can't wear Pavitr Prabhakar's costume since many of its elements are derived from Hindu culture and I want to talk about it.

As an Indonesian person whose culture from the island of Java, I just want to say how happy I felt when I saw his costume in Across the Spider-Verse. My culture is heavily influenced by Hindu culture in the past. I wasn't really invested in the movie until I saw him. When I saw him on screen, I instantly thought of wayang, a general term of puppets that originated in Java.

I'll go give a rundown to elements of Pavitr's costume that resonated with my culture (and just cultures in Java and Bali in general):

The mask (even the tikka/tilak is rectangular like Pavitr's):

Left: Javanese mask, right: Cirebon's tari topeng dance

The bangles

Pictured: Wayang orang, also if you look at the left picture, he has a "tilak/tikka" similar to Pavitr.

The "dhoti"

Left: Kamen, a type of Bali bottom garment, Right: Sundanese men lower garment

General wayang pictures

Left: wayang golek (wooden puppets), right: wayang kulit (shadow puppets)

Conclusion

If he were to wear his original costume where he wears the dhoti I wouldn't have felt such a connection. Mind you, my culture rarely gets represented in pop culture like this, if even at all. There's Raya but that movie mostly represented mainland Southeast Asia. Basically what I'm saying is that people from Java (especially the Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese; the Balinese have so much representation already) are starved of representation and that Pavitr's Spider-Man costume is sort of a "breadcrumbs representation" for us. And I'll take it.

[faithfromanewperspective]

gotta say it now bc i've been spending so much time in the 5sos fandom where we're all super protective of our creators: I know supporting an author isn't the same. I know cassie doesn't put herself out there in the same way as zillennial musicians. and I know there are things people in the fandom disagree with her on and I'm not here to minimise that.

but everywhere I interact with the fandom and it's been like this for years now, jokes and things about how old we'll be when the series is finished and yeah it's funny to some extent but as someone who knows what pressure to create does to me, who knows how much it dries my creativity, she's on tumblr. she's seeing some of this. and we gotta tow this line and be careful: careful as to how we're treating her and also careful for the sake of fans ourselves--we don't want to be acting in ways that incidentally result in content being delayed and lower quality because she's been burnt out for ages and we're just giving so much pressure to read twp, read tbvotd and read whatever else she'll doubtless come up with after because she loves the shadowhunters world, she always ends up writing more for it even when she says she won't. and aren't we lucky for that? we love the tsc universe. and if we're old by the time it's all finished, that's the result of her loving this universe she created so much that she just kept writing for it. it's a blessing.

and maybe i sound like an aussie who grew up under a rock in the middle of the bush (which I am) saying this but. when my only queer representation was a singular jacqueline wilson book until i was 14 and read malec's story in tmi, when i've never seen another author portray such a diverse range of realistic neurodivergent characters, when i'm a half white poc with grandparents from borneo which is partially in indonesia and magnus is indonesian, I do find in myself some appreciation for her: the author who created a world of characters I see myself in and I do hope she's okay and I want her to recover from burnout, I know how much it sucks, and it still kinda baffles me how she'll share bits and pieces of her mental health experiences (and she's my parents' age!! and a lot more emotionally aware than most gen x's I know which I so appreciate) and we don't, largely, as a fandom, seem to care. like i get we're in a fandom for the characters and stories she created not her, herself, but like ???

I love seeing the artist behind the art they create. I love it when they're human and imperfect and yet we can still see the good in them that they put out to impact the world with, a legacy, and when we see their imperfections and we can acknowledge this all together, acknowledge and come together for the fans who have been hurt by these mistakes, oversights, harmful views, that are mixed in with the good. and I love it when we can still come together after this and be like, I support this creator, I want them to be okay, I want them to keep discovering love and I want to see it in their writing. and this I don't think should only apply to conventionally attractive twentysomething men who sing! maybe i'm biased in the observation that it is usually where I see the most artist support. or maybe it's actually a trend and as feminists, as people who see our dignity in more than being fuckable and more than being Perfect Leaders, we can do better.

and so i don't care when the wicked powers come out. i'll have finished my masters' degree before I finish that book series and hear the rest of kit and ty's story i started reading in high school. but that's okay. if that's what it takes to get a good story. i don't care when we get the final tec book, even though i've got two copies of the other two on my bookcase and don't know if the cover art will even be the same when the third one comes out. because we love pretty timely things but we're not owed them. and I have to say, this isn't completely true. I do care. I do want to know. I do want to experience that joy. but much more than that I want cassie to write at her own pace and I want her to enjoy it and I want her to keep discovering her own creativity and the proof is honestly in the pudding that every artist I've seen decide to do things at their own rate has ended up way more productive than before they decided that. and artists are people after all. it's what makes their art so good and forms the basis for the fandoms we're in. so I hope she knows it's okay to take her time.

[sleepless-crows]

honestly there's not a lot of south-east asian representation in media and i just love how in marissa meyer's 2 most popular series, one of them is half filipino, and the other i headcanon to be south-east asian because i've seen people connect their family line's names to indonesian (i think?) origins and she's described as having asian features. and i just really love and appreciate marissa meyer for that as a south-east asian myself

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Thank you for the advice! On the topic of the Miracle Box and character bloat, I do struggle with the latter as I'm quite fond of the Miracuclass and have already attach myself to them. I do want to give them character developments since the show never did, but I am aware that having a massive cast will be difficult to write. For now my source of inspiration is Young Justice since they have a huge cast of heroes as well.

As for the Miracle Box and the shows rep on Chinese representation, I'm curious to hear your thoughts and what you would have done about it. I am Chinese-Indonesian and we celebrate Chinese New Year so I'm pretty familiar with the Chinese Zodiac. There is a story that about the origin of the Chinese Zodiac, the emperor held a contest to decide the animals that will be included in the calendar. The first is the rat and the last being the pig. Interestingly enough a cat originally wanted to join the contest only for its spot to be stolen by the rat.

The massive cast could have worked if they got ride of Marinette being the source of everything wrong in the universe and just had each episode deal with a conflict caused by one classmate or another, so I don't think you have to abandon them if you're going to match canon's monster-of-the-week format. Just be aware that it's downright impossible to write 18 characters (all the teens) or 36 characters (teens + kwamis - Nooroo) in a single scene and have the audience be able to follow what's going on. I'd strongly encourage you to scrap making most of them heroes and just keep them normal teens, but it is ultimately your call as you're the one who knows what story you want to tell.

I absolutely get the temptation to use the whole class because I personally love Rose and Juleka, but I ultimately chose to keep them as minor background characters because that's what was best for the story and I live by the code of kill your darlings since my goal as a writer is telling good stories.

I'm familiar with the Zodiac myth because of the anime Fruits Basket, but I am not Chinese* nor am I an expert in Chinese symbology and beliefs*. Please keep that in mind as I discuss this next section. If I get something wrong, then anyone is welcome to chime in and correct me or to give further context as this stuff is really hard to research if you don't read Mandarin or Cantonese and/or if you don't have a background in this stuff to help set off your BS detector. A random blog could have good info or it could be written by a person making stuff up and I don't have the background to tell, so I'm skeptical of all of them which is why we're just going to talk about what's on Wikipedia here since that's usually at least mostly accurate and it gives us enough info for me to explain why I took one look at the zodiac stuff and went, "Hell no!"

My rewrite came about long before we knew all of the powers of the zodiac miraculous, so one of the first things that I had to do was figure out what to do about that because I wasn't going to just make up powers. I was going to base my stuff on the actual zodiac since I do try to be respectful to other cultures. This lead to me researching the Chinese zodiac*.

I very quickly realized how complicated this thing was. Every animal in the zodiac is associated with personality traits, two of the other animals, one of the five elements, and either yin or yang as well as several other things. I'll also note that Western representation of the zodiac has simplified it as there's more than just the 12 animals of the years. There are also animal signs assigned to the month (called "inner animals"), day (called "true animals"), and hour (called "secret animals") of your birth.

In other words, there's a lot of depth to the Chinese zodiac* and it has real cultural significance in China.

I was immediately wildly uncomfortable trying to come up with random powers that somehow respected that depth and significance. I also realized that the show didn't seem to be using the real zodiac to guide the powers it had assigned or the way the kwamis were being written, which also made me uncomfortable! I had previously assumed that they must have a cultural consultant to guide the cultural elements, but that does not seem to be the case for any element of the lore or Marinette's writing. Like to point out a big one, as best I can tell, a miracle box based on Chinese lore would not use a ladybug for good luck and it definitely wouldn't use a black cat for bad luck.

In other words, the miracle box seems to be about as Chinese as fortune cookies.

Between all of that, the character bloat, and the fact that the team is fighting one villain (meaning that you really don't need 17 powers), I decided to completely scrap the idea of the miracle box being tied to a specific culture and came up with my own lore that I won't go into here.

If I had the money to hire a cultural consultant or personal knowledge of Chinese* beliefs, then I would have considered redesigning all of the zodiac miraculous to be based on Chinese* beliefs and changed them into powerups to replace the colored macarons and cheese that have basically been forgotten about. (We are never seeing what the last three colors are for. Never!) I think that would have made more sense than the potions and it would have been more fun/limiting. It's basically how the show is using the zodiac anyway. The temp heroes are defined by their powers and little else since Ladybug is the only team member who is allowed to have a meaningful role on the team.

Basically, the Zodiac animals have a ton of potential to be something really cool that teaches us about Chinese* beliefs and I would love, love, love to see someone take that on. I mean, why have a main character who is half-Chinese and a box based on Chinese lore* if you're not going to capitalize on that?

*I bet you were wondering about all the red asterixis up there, weren't you? Well, buckle in because it gets worse.

I am not going to touch on this further because I am wildly unequipped to do so, but I would be remiss to not acknowledge the fact that the miracle box is said to be Chinese, but the miraculous monks are explicitly stated to be Tibetan, which is yet another "hell no!" There is a massive conflict over the fact that China claims that Tibet is not a country, but a part of China while Tibet claims to be its own nation. Some brief research on my part indicates that Tibet may even have its own beliefs around the zodiac and no. Just no. No, no, no! I'm not touching that minefield for a million dollars! Idk what the writers were thinking combining the two cultures like that, but that does seem to be what they're doing otherwise it would be the Tibetan miracle box or the monks would be in China. Writers, what are you doing?

Once again, I am not a part of any of the above cultures and I am not claiming to be an expert on them. I am just giving you my logic for why I took one look at the miracle box and went running for the hills. Aka why redesigned it to not be a mine field for my personal ethical code what which can be summed up as "research and represent all cultures to the best of my ability as cultures are not aesthetic. If I don't want to do the research (or can't for some reason), don't tie the setting/lore/whatever to a real culture." I'm not claiming to be perfect about that, but I do try and I like to think I know when I'm wildly out of my depth which was 100% the case here. No. Just no. No, no, no.

[11queensupreme11]

Come up with 13 fighters from the Gods' side and 13 fighters from the humans. You're only allowed 2 repeated fighters. [This time, add more goddess representation.] ~ ^(ФωФ)^

13 god fighters:

hera (i just wanna see her fight, this bitch is CRAZY, i know she'd totally win her round)

bastet, egyptian goddess of cats (i picked her because i like cats)

hel, norse goddess of helheim (i like her in the thor: ragnarok movie)

cheuksin, korean toilet goddess, yes you heard me right

yal-un eke, mongolian goddess of fire (she just sounds cool)

baba yaga (not actually a goddess, but a slavic folklore character, but if ror can have to ocs, then i can do this!)

manislat, phillipine goddess of broken homes (she's a crazy bitch that thrives on broken homes and gets pissed whenever ppl are happy 💀, probably hates child protective services? or maybe doesn't cuz they kinda suck too)

yudi or jade emperor, the chinese god of heaven

batara sambu, indonesian god of teachers (i would pit him against an american simply because he would be pissed at the low wages teachers have there)

enlil, mesopotamian god of wind, air, earth, and storms

raijin, japanese god of thunder and lightning

maui, hawaiian demigod (picked him cuz of the disney movie moana)

dievas, lithuanian god of light, sky, prosperity, wealth, ruler of gods, creator deity

13 human fighters:

christopher columbus (solely because i know he'd get absolutely wrecked and i would enjoy every second of it)

marilyn monroe (idk who she would fight, but she would win!!!)

cleopatra

elizabeth bathory (yes the psycho)

joan of arc

martin luther king jr (he would make a GREAT speech before beating the shit outta his opponent)

anne boleyn (not only will she win, but henry viii would become public enemy #1!!!)

karl marx (communism 😈)

sigmund freud (lets be honest, the gods are incestuous so he'd have a blast diagnosing them with oedipus complex/electra complex. this is his wet dream come to life!)

freddie oversteen (lured and killed nazis with her big sister!!!)

julius caesar (watch him get stabbed again LMAOOOO)

sappho (she will win by rizzing up her female opponent through the power of romantic poetry and they both will live happily ever after, the end 💖)

king arthur pendragon (he's in shrek, lol)

[gb-patch]

kinda weird how so many characters have fixed ethnicities like bae being korean, pran being indonesian, qiu being chinese, tamarack being german but whenever its a black character theyre just "black." you do know black people have ethnicities just like whites and asians right? asking since you clearly want your games to be diverse, accommodating, and provide representation but as a black person i struggle to find representation because it seems you willfully hold back information that i can connect to.

race overall means little to me when it just affects how i look, but my ethnic background is where i can pull inspiration from, it's where i know where i'll always belong, it impacts my lifestyle is almost everyway from the time i wake up from, what i eat, what i hear, etc. and its saddening how there's no character whom i might be able to share a connection to. and im sure there are pther black folks out there that feels the same way.

I'm really sorry. You're right that being simply black doesn't say much about their ethnicity and that's not great for feeling included. I unfortunately have a consistent issue where I don't flesh out side characters as much as I should. All the characters with a set ethnicity are main characters, or directly related to a main character.

Terry's and Randy's parents are only black and white because I didn't make them more developed ahead of time. Xavier doesn't have a proper ethnicity either currently (they're a side character in the DLC storylines). Shiloh and Jeremy only do because they're main characters from a prior game. Everyone else is a lead themselves or a family member of a lead. Side characters usually don't get birthdays and sometimes not even last names. But characters are characters even if they're not part of the main group and I should make more of an effort to give each a full identity of their own. I appreciate that you made the effort to talk to me about it.

[jesncin]

LUNAR BOY IS NOW AVAILABLE WHEREVER AMERICAN GRAPHIC NOVELS ARE SOLD!!

Let's make history today! A book about a moon boy's journey with diaspora angst, finding a queer family, and figuring out what it means to truly belong, is finally OUT! Not long ago I believed queer Indonesian representation like this couldn't even exist in my life time, but here we are! To celebrate, we got a book cake and nasi tumpeng. Culturally tumpeng is eaten to celebrate life milestones.

If you see Lunar Boy in a bookstore or a library, please take a pic and tag me or send it my way! It's my dream to see my book out there, but I likely won't see my book in my home country. Thank you :')

[aqours]

like it's been a huge racism double whammy lately a;sdkjasf

r/ao3 is having a huge circlejerk about the fact some of its volunteers are very pro-israel and members of the board more or less forced out a volunteer for being pro-palestine (there's also a very annoying thing going on there about how antis are incapable of understanding why this is a breaking point for some people on ao3 because they don't actually understand what our fiction=/=reality stances actually mean. they also tend to get mad at us uncomfortable with rpf) and an indonesian proshipper on twitter made a post about it and is getting flooded with comments about them being a white westerner when they literally are not

and a japanese artist on twitter made a tweet about how they like drawing and making black characters and representation and it's making that exact same crowd lose their fucking goddamn minds

i want twitter to crash and burn quicker

[starrlikesbooks]

Sorry if this has been asked before but do you have a list of queer books that either have an Asian main character and/or written by an Asian author? (Preferably Chinese, since I'm Chinese and I'd love to see that representation, but other Asian ethnicities are also welcome)

I'll link some lists other people have made! x x x

And here are my personal recs :)

Adult:

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki 🌈 (Chinese, Vietnamese)

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li 🌈 (Chinese)

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (Chinese)

On Earth We're Briefly Glorious by Ocean Vuong 🌈 (Vietnamese)

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho 🌈 (Chinese)

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo 🌈 (Chinese)

Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang 🌈 (Singaporean)

YA:

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao 🌈 (Chinese)

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (Chinese)

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert 🌈 (Chinese)

Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach (Chinese-Vietnamese)

The Cartographers by Amy Zhang 🌈 (Chinese)

The New Girl by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Indonesian)

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang (Chinese)

Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura (Japanese)

[angelnachos]

Impetigore (Indonesian name: Perempuan Tanah Jahanam)

This thrilling horror movie came out in 2019, written and directed by Joko Anwar.

The plot follows a woman named Maya. She decides to return to her home village with her friend/ business partner, Dini.

Without spoiling the plot, I wanted to talk about the beautiful representation of Wayang, meaning the dramatic performance of puppetry (originating from Java island). The puppeteer is accompanied by orchestras and usually performs behind a cotton sheet with a lamp behind it to create shadows. The Dalang, who is a spiritual leader and puppeteer, will usually perform from midnight to dawn. The audience members are able to watch from both sides of the cotton sheet.

The puppetry featured in Impetigore is specifically Wayang Kulit. It features beautifully painted two-dimensional leather puppets.

I can't stress how much I love horror movies that give me cultural insights. Whether it involves traditional art forms/customs or current day cultural norms. It's fascinating, especially as an asian american.

Links:

[ginger-snaps014]

I recently posted a defense of Snow White after all the live action controversy, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the other Disney Princesses that face similar pop-feminist treat. As such, here is my defense for my childhood favorite, Cinderella. Ps sorry for the long post, but she’s my favorite. Also, TRIGGER WARNING - I put the domestic abuse items at the bottoms as number 7, but it referenced throughout.

1. Timeless and Universal Story

For those of you who are unaware, Cinderella is not only iconic as a Disney princess, but a version of her story exists in most parts of the world. In Egypt, you have the story of a Rhodopis (written between 64 BC and 24 AD). In China, there is the story of Ye Xian which dates back to 860 CE. The Malay-Indonesian people have the tale of Bawang Putih Bawang Merah (the swing version). The Vietnamese have Tam Cam. The Algonquin Indians of North America have "The Rough-Face Girl." In Germany, the Grimm brothers published "Aschenputtel" in 1812. The English have “Tattercoats”. The Russians have Vasilisa the Brave, or Beautiful, or Wise, or Fair… she is too popular for a single name. In Italy, there is Basile’s Cenerentola (published 1964). There is the French Cendrillon by Perrault (published 1967) (this is the one that the Disney version is based on). And in America, the iconic retelling is Disney’s version from 1950.

I’m sure there are more retellings by different countries. These are just the ones I remember and could quickly find. These are also limited to (i) the most known versions for each area, (ii) female protagonists, and (iii) instances where the happy ever after includes marriage to a man of wealth and standing. There are many others versions which do not include these points. After all, the base Cinderella story arc is simple: (i) protagonist in a good position that reflects a culture’s values; (ii) protagonist falls due to an injustice and loses one or several of the the following: family, wealth, status, looks, etc.; (iii) despite the fall, the protagonist keeps the values appreciated by the culture; (iv) an outside source comes to the protagonist’s aid and provides advise or items; and (v) thanks to the combination of protagonist’s values and the advise/items, the protagonist lives happily ever after in a secure position that is equal or better than where they started. When dealing with the classic Cinderella, the fall should occur in the domestic sphere with a personal transformation occurring after the fall, and security is reached when a female protagonist can leave the abusive environment permanently. Because this is a defense of Disney’s Cinderella in particular, I’m going to focus on that Film in an American context.

2. Femininity as a Neutral

While pop feminist like to point out that Cinderella is shown doing primarily domestic (aka historically feminine) work, needs a pair of heels to change her life and is saved by a prince, they never dive deeper into their arguments. At the end of the day, traditional femininity is a mixed bag in this film.

A. Domestic Labor

Yes, Cindy is shown doing domestic labor. However, that domestic labor is shown in a negative light. She’s is in rags, worn out, and trapped. Domestic labor is not painted as something good. It is part of the representation of the abuse she suffers. The most artistic image of this labor occurs while Cinderella sings with the soap bubbles. That song is immediately followed up by the cat Lucifer destroying her work. Showing the endless and thankless nature of domestic labor.

B. Makeover

The heels are magic and part of her transformation. They are shown as “good” because of what they give her (i.e. the ability to go to the ball and the ability to prove her identity). Her makeover does not occur in a vacuum. We see Cinderella admire her own reflection in the movie multiple times (while in rags and transformed). We see her fawn over her mother’s dress and enjoy feminine things. She is not forced to give up her identity conform to the femininity those around her want her to have. She is given an opportunity to be herself. She is the girl who like ballgowns. She is the girl who enjoys shoes. The clothing is her expression. Not her cage. If Cinderella did not like such things, her fairy godmother would not have forced her to wear them. Forced femininity is wrong. So is hating on femininity for existing. And hating those (of any gender) that enjoy it.

C. Prince as a Symbol

Yes Disney’s Cinderella’s happy ending comes with a man, but he is not the point of the ending. If you ever noticed how underdeveloped the prince is, you are not alone. Because the prince is a symbol of Cinderella’s dream rather than a well rounded character.

In the movie, the ball is set up last minute. From the moment of the king’s decision to host the ball to Cinderella’s midnight run, not even 24 hours have passed. If Cinderella had been only been dreaming of a ball and prince for the entire film, how could she be singing about that particular dream in the beginning of the movie. The ball has not even been planned. She can’t have. Her dreams referenced in “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” must then be about something else. Looking at the context of the story, we know it takes place in a capitalist, patriarchal, hierarchical society based loosely off 1800’s France. In a capitalist country, financial security comes from riches (like in the royal treasury). Hierarchical status come from high standing (like royalty). Female success in a patriarchy often equates to marriage. Cinderella was only taken care of and protected while someone who loved her was alive (her father). She knows the mere fact a person has a duty to take care of and protect her (the stepmother) is not enough. As such, Cindy would find love, not a contract marriage, more secure. At the ball, Cinderella does not even realize it’s the prince she dances the night away with. She learns after the fact.

And what is her happily ever after? A prince who loves her, marries her, raises her social standing, and provides financial security. He is the embodiment of love and safety in the society of the story. Is it wrong to dream about love and safety when your life is miserable due to the lack of both? Heck, I’m not in her situation, and I still dream of love and security.

D. The Stepsisters

Like Cinderella, her stepfamily enjoys beautiful things and fashion. They want financial security. They embrace femininity as much as Cinderella. But are despised for their attitude and actions. Cruelty, vanity, greed and jealousy. They push Cinderella down so they can appear higher than her. The toxic nature of these characters shows that femininity is not idealized on its own. It must be combined with other positive traits. Bows and ruffles do not make one a worthy person. Ballgowns and heels alone do not earn a happy ending.

Perhaps their failings are in the unfeminine sins of being loud and ugly, but other versions of these stepsisters (including the French versions) are described as beautiful and poised. They are still the antagonists. Perhaps it’s their vanity, but we spy Cinderella enjoying her looks on multiple reflective surfaces throughout the movie (bubbles, a fountain, a pond and a mirror). Cinderella cries as loudly as the sister sing off key. Despite the Disney Marketing Team using the term “Ugly Stepsisters,” the story focuses on the sister’s actions (like ripping up the pink dress violently) as much as anything else. Their cruelty is better remembered than the shape of their noses. It’s their souls that are ugly. And no amount femininity will change that.

E. Masculinity is also Neutral

While masculinity is not very present in this movie, it does appear in side or undeveloped characters. The unhinged king who acts rashly, violently and loudly (negative). The nervous duke who needs a vacation and seems on edge (neutral - but less traditionally masculine ). The underdeveloped prince (positive) . The nefarious cat Lucifer (negative). And the helpful mice - particularly GusGus (positive, but ignorant) and Jacque (positive, but condescending) . Marrying a man might have given Cinderella her opportunity to flee an abusive household , but the stronger masculine moments of the film (like the king with his anger and the midnight chase) are not seen as particularly positive. With such a mixed bag of representation, you cannot say masculinity is treated in a more positive light than femininity.

In fact, even adherence to gender expectations is varied. The king is the character obsessed with babies. That typical feminine trait is his redeeming quality. The evil stepmother is commanding. Her presence on screen is filled with power. The Duke is physically weaker and emotionally intelligent. The Prince is obsessed with “love” but not women in general. None of the men are ambitious with the potential marriage. The most adhered to gender convention is clothing. Something that this particular fairytale says can easily be transformed to match your true identity with a wave of a wand.

3. Capitalism and Media

Every piece of media contains parts of the society that made it. Cinderella is no different. You can see the Dior New Look as an animated fashion masterpiece, the glitter of postwar consumerism and influence of post-war propaganda. In 1950, the dream was to throw off the toil and dirt of the war years and drive in your Chevrolet Bel Air into a future of modern conveniences and beauty.

Some people have complained that Cinderella is too capitalistic - with her new magic clothing celebrating consumerist culture and with wealth being a part of her happy ending. Well, Cinderella was made in America post-WWII during the Cold War. Pro-capitalist sentiment was the name of the game.

Plus, many older and more recent versions continue this capitalist view because we still live within capitalist societies. They are merely reflecting the values of society back at the audience. There are Cinderella tales where the wealth is refused (1997 animated Anastasia for example).

Additionally, even in the Disney version, Cinderella must return to rags before she can achieve happiness. While in these rags, we see her happily daydream about the night before and hum to herself contently while getting ready to meet the duke (who is trying the slipper on all women). This joy did not require her to change into a fancy gown. Or adorn jewelry. She is not embarrassed by her rags. Her mood only sours when the stepmother locks her in the attic. The loss of her escape makes her weep. It’s the lack of freedom, not finery, that breaks her. Even the last images of this film show Cinderella running happily in a fairly simple wedding dress down a flight of stairs with her prince and entering carriage that pulls away. The last image of Cinderella is not entering a castle, wearing golden gowns, covered in sparkling jewels, or any definitive measure of her new wealth. It’s her escaping. With the person who loves her. Running towards a life free of abuse and fear.

4. Everyone is a Princess

One Cinderella retelling said it better than I ever could. Per the Little Princess, “I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty, or smart, or young. They’re still princesses. All of us.” Cinderella is not about a chosen one. A prophesied hero with special powers or abilities. It’s a story about a person being abused by those more powerful and overcoming that trauma. Anyone who was ever been made to feel like less than, can see hope in this timeless tale. I would expand this sentiment beyond girls to anyone who wants to be included because as Sarah reminds us being a princess is a state of mind. Anyone can do so if they are kind, remember they are worthy of love, and refuse to let others make them think their life has no value.

5. Bow down to the Princess that saved a Studio

Prior to the release of Cinderella, Walt Disney’s studio was facing imminent foreclosure. Disney owed the Bank of America millions of dollars.“Cinderella” proved to be the hit the Disney studio needed. Had it flopped, Walt Disney would likely have gone out of business; instead, it was a huge hit, and, in 1955, he opened Disneyland. Disney reportedly said the magical dress transformation sequence in Cinderella was his personal favorite piece of animation. Cinderella has remained visually recognizable and iconic over 70 years after her introduction. She is often used as the face of the “Disney Princess” marketed items. No doubt just the art of this movie changed the pop culture landscape forever. Without Cinderella, there is no Disney World, Little Mermaid, Mulan, Marvel Studios (as we know it), Owl House, Mary Poppins, Parent Trap, Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King, Mighty Ducks, Remember the Titans, Holes, Inside Out, Encanto, Coco, Princess Diaries, Hocus Pocus, etc.

6. Personal Bias

I will own up to my own bias. Cindy and Buffy (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) were my two main fictional heroes. I love them. It should be noted also that I am blonde with lighter eyes so I strongly identified visually with Cinderella on screen. She is one of the reasons I so strongly support increased representation for the POC, LGBTQA+ community, disabled people, etc. I remember how much it meant to see someone who looked like myself on screen. I can’t imagine not wanting others to experience the same joy.

**Trigger Warning Domestic Abuse**

7. Classic Cinderella, a Domestic Abuse Survivor

A. Her Story is a Survival Story

A classic Cinderella character suffers from and escapes domestic abuse. Disney’s Cinderella is no different. She is a victim who overcomes her circumstances and becomes known as a role model, heroine, and royalty. The film narrator directly states, “… Cinderella was abused, humiliated, and finally forced to become a servant in her own house. And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind.” Her suffering does not limit her ability to find happiness and success. She wins. She escapes. The fact her success is in part due to her friends and support network is valuable. And at the end of the movie, Cinderella must run down the stairs herself to the get the Duke’s attention. She must take that last step to obtain freedom. That’s often the hardest step. And it was her choice and action.

There is nothing wrong asking for or receiving help. Cinderella’s worth is not diminished because she has friends. We should be encouraging domestic abuse victims to reach out and get help. It is an incredibly dangerous situation, and the victim’s life is most as risk at the moment of escape. Cindy relied on mice, a fairy godmother and royalty. If you are in that situation, pleas feel free to rely on a friend, family member, hotline, etc. Get yourself to a women’s shelter that can give you a roof, clothes and food. Cinderella received goods from her godmother. There is no shame in getting help.

Cinderella is not less valuable because she did not escape on her own. She just needed to escape. Happiness is only found outside of the abusive environment. This is the story of survival. Remaining gentle and kind despite the world. Not letting your trauma darken your heart. How can that not have value? Especially, when this is such a real world issue.

B. Blame Society and Abusers, not the Woman

In the context of a story which is loosely based on 1800’s France, we see no working women (other than Cindy as a servant). To leave without a reference (which the stepmother would never give) or a husband to provide, Cinderella would have ended up a prostitute. There were no domestic abuse shelters in the 1800’s. There were no ways to support or save herself within the world shown on screen without a “miracle”. If leaving a domestic abuse situation in our world is hard, dangerous and requires aid, Cindy required more. She required magic. Neither Cinderella nor any other domestic abuse victim should be blamed for the faults of their society.

We should also not fault Cinderella for being abused. I don’t understand how conveyers of pop-feminism can clearly explain the issues with victim-blaming in sexual situations, but then fail to grasp the exact same concept in popular narratives. Is it the animation as a method of storytelling? The fact the victims find happiness despite their trauma without always resorting to punishing the evildoers? The fact that these victims are hyperfeminine? As if looking a certain ways means you are asking to be hurt. How is this supposed to make real victims feel when they hear the cruel comments? When they identify with Cindy’s situation? Don’t blame the innocent party for failing to stop the actions of the abusers. Only the abuser is responsible.

C. Real World Issue and Inspiration

Much like Cinderella, we exist in a capitalist, patriarchal, and classist society. The USA struggles with domestic abuse and child abuse even today. On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe forms of domestic abuse (Domestic Abuse Statistics by the NCADV). In 2021, a reported 452,313 perpetrators abused or neglected a child. In substantiated child abuse cases, 77% of children were victimized by a parent. In 2022, 21% of people alleged to have abused a child were themselves children. (Child abuse statistics by the National Children’s Alliance).

The issue was even was worse in the past, which might explain why certain older versions of Cinderella still resonate. For the majority of western history, domestic abuse was explicitly legal. Maryland was the first state to make hitting your wife illegal in 1882. In North Carolina in 1886, the beatings had to be severe enough to cause permanent injury or malicious beyond reason to be punishable. Wife beating only became illegal in all of the United States in 1920. There were not serious legal changes between then and 1950 when Disney’s Cinderella was released. Domestic matters were seen as something private to handle at home. In 1962 (12 years after Cinderella’s release), Domestic violence cases were transferred from Criminal Court to Family Court in New York, making it nearly impossible for perpetrators to be criminalized if he or she assaulted someone. Also in 1962, the first guidelines for recognizing child abuse and neglect are printed. Maine opened one of the first women’s shelters in 1967. In Chicago during the 1970s, women’s who left their husbands due to battering were denied welfare because of their husband’s salary. The Child Abuse and Prevention Act only passed in 1974. Terms like emotional and physiological abuse were not used or recognized until right before the 1980s. Stalking wasn’t identified as a crime until the 1990’s. The Violence Against Women Act was not passed until 1994.

Given that Cinderella is a story where the victim, not only escapes, but thrives, it has merit. Because that the majority of domestic abuse victims are women, Cinderella’s gender and femininity seem all the more valuable. I know of at least one survivor who used this film for comfort while growing up. I hope she has stayed safe.

Cinderella is not defined by her pain or abuse. She is defined by her perseverance and good heart. She is defined by her escape from the abusive home. She is defined by finding love, security and acceptance. She is a valuable character who deserves to be iconic. I hope every survivor can see a little of themselves in her gentle kindness.

[lurkingteapot]

It's here! I'm enjoying myself a lot and thought I'd share some bits and pieces, again, starting with the introduction.

Introduction: Boys Love (BL) Media and Its Asian Transfigurations by James Welker, in: Welker (editor), Queer Transfigurations. Boys Love Media in Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2022. p. 1–16. [Jstor]

I took notes by hand while reading, tried to type them up as coherently as possible here.

BL is an umbrella term for all sorts of media (going by volume, the primary mode is still written – prose or manga) that depict male-male romantic and sexual relationships and are primarily marketed to young women. BL has had fans 'around the globe' since the 1980s, especially in East and Southeast Asia, though it really 'dramatically expanded in popularity in the current century'. (p. 1)

Asian BL fandoms do not exist in isolation from the rest of the world (p. 2)

queer as in a) gender/sexuality-related expressions that flout social norms, b) queering norms of (female) sexuality and c) creating breathing room for queer individuals (p. 2)

there's no clear line between BL and LGBTQ media (p. 2)

why 'transfiguration'? -> transit from one culture to another (p. 3)

BL: minor and often underground as a genre, still

4 overlapping attributes of BL and fandoms: 1) transnational + transcultural media phenomenon, 2) useful tool for unsettling gender and sexual norms, 3) cannot be separated from LGBTQ issues including politics, 4) BL is political (p. 4)

note on piracy of BL, its impact on Japanese producers, and how this is rarely discussed (*) (p-5)

1980s/1990s: BL makes it to Taiwan, Korea, China -> category blurring? (p. 5)

shipping as a part of BL fandom (p. 6)

legal issues in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore (p. 7)

shipping/fan works were a part of BL culture from the 1970s onwards (cf. Welker 2015) (p. 7)

seme/uke dynamics + shifts? -> mutability of gender (p. 8)

way of alternatives to masc stereotypes for cishet men (fudanshi) (p. 8)

blurring of gay and straight? (p. 8/9)

taboos around BL in Japan arise because it's often sexual and women engage with it (p. 9)

elsewhere in Asia: BL often serves as 'first conscious contact' for middle-class Indian and Indonesian fans with homosexuality -> may prompt reconsideration of own preconceptions/ideas/religious doctrine. (p. 9)

"representational appropriation" of images of gay men (cf. Ishida 2007) (p. 10)

fans turning activist for queer rights in Taiwan (p. 10/11)

rosy image of Japan among gay male fans of BL in mainland China (p. 10)

BL as progressive force for good (p. 10)

impact of US lawmaking on international fan communities (p. 10)

fan wars in South Korea (odeokku vs hujoshi) ca 2016; -> more recently: SK version of yaoi ronsou? (p. 11)

BL queer in that it flouts and facilitates the flouting of sexual and gender norms, has been pushing cishet fans to think about queer rights and the social standing of queer folks, sometimes even pushed fans to activism (p. 12)

grouping chapters under national/regional headings potentially misleading -> borders not so clear in the lives of fans and the texts they engage with (p. 13)

(*) I would LOVE to read more about this personally, anyone got anything? point me!

… this took entirely too long and I REALLY need to work on my handwriting, but I hope this might've been interesting to some. If you read this book (or anything else from the realm of BL scholarship), feel free to hmu, I'm an amateur but I love to talk this sort of stuff!

[petrichorade]

I WANT TO

"I want to love you purely:

With words that unable to be spoken by the wood to fire when it turns them into ashes.

I want to love you purely:

With signals that unable to be delivered by the cloud to rain when it fades them away."

- Sapardi Djoko Damono

A hitsuhina offering, folks! ((yeah finally))

The artwork were meant for HH Week Day 3 - 'Summer Rain' theme but I'm unable to finish it in time as I had to handle some real life priorities //cries//

As for the poem, it was originally written by Indonesian famous poet, Sapardi Djoko Damono, who's also the pioneer for lyrical poetry in my country XD the moment I saw that poem, I felt like it would fit the Day 3 theme, hence I attached it under the artwork. Just because there's a word 'rain' on it, sorry not sorry

As native Indonesian, the poem's meaning actually sounds a lot more beautiful than what I've translated ;w; translating is kinda hard since you often unable to deliver proper context when crossing languages, but I'm badly want to share this beautiful poem to all of you, as it also looks great as representation for Toshiro's agape toward Momo no matter in what universe they were living >< so last but not least, I hope all of you like my art and beautiful poem by the late Sir Sapardi Djoko Damono!