#Patti & Robert

[disease]

ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE “PATTI SMITH” // NYC, 1978 [gelatin silver print | 13 7/8 × 13 3/4”]

[scarlet--wiccan]

Agatha All Along, the highly anticipated follow-up to WandaVision, begins airing this week on Disney+. Now is the perfect to revisit some important information about both shows and the context in which some of Agatha's new characters are being introduced.

WandaVision primarily followed the character Wanda Maximoff and expanded on her family history by introducing her late parents as well her twin sons, who are born from magic and age rapidly over the course of the series.

In the Marvel comics source material, Wanda is part of a large, multigenerational family of Jewish and Romani characters whose stories frequently reflect the systemic violence and oppression that both communities face-- including Romani Holocaust victims, who are critically underrepresented in both education and media. In the MCU, these identities and histories are completely erased, and the characters are all played by white actors. Alternate versions of these characters also appear in the Fox X-Men films, and are similarly whitewashed.

The Romani people are a racialized minority that originated as a South Asian diaspora, and who face severe systemic oppression in Europe and North America. The modern Romani population is quite diverse, but they are not of white ethnic origin, and despite the fact that Wanda and her family have historically been drawn with white features, they are minority characters and ought to be considered as such.

Depictions of witches and witchcraft are often entwined with antisemitism and anti-Romani racism. In pop culture, witches and fortunetellers are typically portrayed as visual stereotypes of Romani women. In the real world, fortunetelling is a profession born from survival work, one which Romani families are often heavily policed and racially profiled for practicing. While Wanda usually subverts these tropes, they are often played straight elsewhere in the superhero genre, and any story about witches, especially one featuring Romani characters, needs to be critiqued in this context.

Agatha All Along introduces viewers to a new cast of characters, including Lilia Calderu, played by Patti LuPone, and the enigmatic "Teen", played by Joe Locke, who is heavily speculated to be an incarnation of Wanda's son, Billy.

In the comics, Lilia is a member of a prominent Romani family in Wanda's community. Often lauded as the "witch queen of the gypsies," Lilia embodies many racial stereotypes about Romani women. In Agatha All Along, Lilia is depicted as an older Sicilian woman, however, being portrayed as a batty fortuneteller with a tawdry psychic shop, she still embodies an offensive trope. Although Lilia is far from "good" representation, this is not an improvement-- if anything, it's even more exploitative.

Billy was raised in a Jewish American household and places a very strong emphasis on his Jewish identity, in addition to having Romani heritage. His identity as a young gay man is always presented in conjunction with this heritage, not in spite of it. Though there is a significance to Locke being a gay actor playing a gay character, his casting-- if he is indeed playing Billy-- is not authentic. White gay representation should not supersede racial inclusivity, and it is not an excuse for whitewashing or Jewish erasure.

Marvel Studios recently announced that the character Doctor Doom will be played by Robert Downey Jr., who is returning to the franchise after many years in the role of Iron Man. In the source material, Doom is also a Romani character with a very similar background to Wanda's. This identity is central to Doom's character-- although he is written to be both morally and politically challenging, the liberation of his people has always been a primary motive.

Clearly, this type of whitewashing is an ongoing pattern in the MCU franchise. Although "Teen's" identity is still unconfirmed and Lilia may, ultimately, be of little consequence, they are part of a larger problem, and Agatha All Along needs to critiqued in that context.

[davidhudson]

Happy 77th, Patti Smith.

1975 photo by Robert Mapplethorpe.

[ahhmazing123]

SKETCHES I DID BECAUSE IM GOING THRU SOMETHING AFTER THE LATEST EPISODE

[formlessformless]

Patti Smith photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe - 1973

[undergroundrockpress]

Boat to Fire Island / Patti Smith by Robert Mapplethorpe.

[venusimleder]

Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith.

Ph. Lloyd Ziff

[digitulart]

class doodles

[fragrantblossoms]

Robert Mapplethorpe. Patti Smith, c. 1972 / Patti Smith, 1971.

[iiyarada]

This template is going around on Twitter rn, so I decided to make my version!!

[lascitasdelashoras]

Patti Smith en Chelsea Hotel, New York, por Robert Mapplethorpe

[las-microfisuras]

Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, 1978

[disease]

“PATTI SMITH” // NYC, 1978 ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE [gelatin silver print | 14 × 14”]

[gimbulbitovyi-pups]

Some eww scary realistic people from spooky month

[jacenotjason]

so uh @zleepysnails has a spooky month opposite au and i wanted to draw like one or two of them but I got carried away and drew like all of them... Well I mean the refs I got so

Despite some of these being ass it did take a few hours out of my night so... enjoy

This au has consumed my head, it's got itself a little home in my head, right next to Welcome Home. I'm just full of thoughts... I was losing motivation about halfway through so I do plan on redrawing some of them most definitely

FULL IMAGE:

quality? we don't know her

[marshall0w0]

EXPRESSION MEME