#fanart - asian media

[kiwinatorwaffles]

[sableeira]

You know how “the moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?” is used as an expression for love confessions? It’s said that Natsume Soseki came up with it after overhearing a student translate “I love you” to Japanese in a very literal sense. While there is no source confirming that this exchange actually happened, I still think a scene referencing the expression with Natsume randomly appearing would be hilarious

[barananduen]

"Inspire" - fanart of Chinese actor Li Dai Kun - Digital painting

I'm really proud of this >.< 🙏dontflop dontflop dontflop🙏It's the first proper (so, non-chibi) painting I've finished this year - it's been a busy/stressful year.

This started off as a practice sketch that, one night, I decided to paint "just for the lulz."

As such, I had no plan for ... well, anything other than was was on the sketch.😅 And then things (literally) grew from there.

Referenced from [this scene] in his commercial for Hua Niang skincare products.

More CDrama art: [#fanart - asian media]

[chellustrates]

what's a consistent artstyle 🗣️

[paint-music-with-me]

The fact that this fixation has bled to Tiktok and Pinterest (one app I use bc friend likes sending me memes and the other only to look at aesthetic clothes) is very telling of how much in a chokehold I am here. This is terrifying.

[caiwinsarts]

[angstics]

on my chemical romance's history of racism:

(edit: i wont rewrite anything since that will create discrepancies in reblogs. however, i will include these important additions: post 1 and post 2)

cultural appropriation is a neutral term that turns negative when people co-opt a culture without consideration to its people and history, or their prejudices and privileges. the rising sun japanese flag is an imperialist symbol used during japan's occupation of other countries from 1870 to 1945 (the guardian 2019). unlike other symbols of terror, the rising sun is normalized because of the japanese government's refusal to acknowledge its history. the symbol's meaning was popularized a few years ago when people from south korea protested its legality in the 2020 tokyo olympics (bbc 2020). aware or unaware of its history, americans have long appropriated the rising sun. in part because of their fascination with japanese art, in part because of orientalism -- a fixation on asian cultures that centers "exoticism".

my chemical romance has been associated with the rising sun symbol a couple of times. frank iero used to have a tattoo of it. gerard way designed frank's killjoys outfit to include it (seen in concept art and music videos). it is often used in mcr fanart.

tokenism is when something contains limited diversity to divert criticisms for the lack of it. my chemical romance has had a very white cast of characters in their music videos and stories. in the "i dont love you" music video, a main character is in black body paint. in the casting call, they specifically asked for a white man (there is 100% an online source -- please let me know if you have it). even casting a black person for this role would place him in a video that appropriated his skin color to mark his "difference" from the light-skin female character.

the female character points to the band's main problem with tokenism. if they arent casting a white woman, theyre casting a light-skin asian woman. the woman in the "i dont love you" mv is fetishized for physical traits stereotypically attributed to east asian women: big eyes, daintiness. east asian women feature most prominently aside from the band and main characters in the "welcome to the black parade" music video and photo shoot. the photoshoot is the only place where an ashy-faced black man and ambiguously tribal? brown man are seen (brought in by photographer chris anthony per the "making of the black parade" book). the director antagonist of the danger days music videos (shown in "sing") is a japanese woman. she is the only main character of color in the music videos and the killjoys: california comics. the focus of this post is on my chemical romance, but the comics are important to showcase that the reality is never "color-blind casting" or "limited roles". it's mostly white creatives (band members and directors and artists) who ignore non-white people when they cant use them, reflected as much by gerard way years later (nyt 2019).

"japan takes over the world" is a media trope that is built on the late 20th century fear of the return of imperial japan. this trope frames japanese people as unique aggressors, feeding into "yellow peril" fears of asian people "taking over" the white race. this trope is suggested all over the danger days universe, where the corporation BL/ind overthrows the US government. the appropriation of the japanese modern flag and lettering on the killjoys outfits, the primary BL/ind villain being a japanese person who only speaks japanese in videos, the official BL/ind website having a ".jp" domain and english-japanese translations. japanese people and culture only exist in this universe to decorate and threaten.

the point of this post is not to punish my chemical romance. in the decade+ since, they have made meaningful changes -- the sing it for japan project to aid japan during the 2011 earthquake-tsunami, developing diversity in gerard's comics / tv show, a mexican-american main character in the 2020 summoning video. people of color treated as real goddamn people.

however. all these faults exist in frozen time. there is no discussion attached to the work. so anyone, fan or casual, may come across it and not notice or care for these important issues. i know all this shit and i still fail to see instances of what i highlighted. it's difficult locating not only your own prejudices but those of others. those you look up to.

"my chemical romance" is the product of many people from 2001 to 2013. many of these people were male, white, american, and/or, most radically, liberal. clearly laying out what they did wrong is important. being careful with history and culture and personhood is important. prioritizing growth is important. constantly. forever.

[userdramas]

USERDRAMAS EVENT 13: TEAM SPIRIT

For our first event of 2024, it will be all about TEAM SPIRIT. This is your chance to highlight your favourite group or team dynamics, like a sports team in your favourite sports drama, or a group that functions as a team in an office drama you enjoy. You can also highlight your favourite music groups, or their subunits. Alternatively, make gifsets/edits primarily using the colours of your team:

CHERRY BLOSSOM = red JASMINE = yellow LOTUS = pink

We encourage you to make any type of visual content (gifs, edits, fmvs, fanart, etc.) of Asian media inspired by TEAM SPIRIT. This event will run from January 1st to January 29th.

TO PARTICIPATE: ✿ join our network  ✿ reblog this post  ✿ make visual content featuring this month’s prompt  ✿ caption your post as follows:  @userdramas event 13: team spirit [optional: insert quote/description/caption]

[jotun-design-party]

on fandom orientalism, ft. a quick visual example:

the example on the right is something i drew solely using references of the top results i saw on pinterest upon searching "jotun loki." please don’t roast my inconsistent handwriting

south asian cultures are often jumbled together for white artists of all kinds (authors, artists, movie directors) to create a sense of mystery and make things look "more foreign."

note: this doesn't touch on the antiblack racism in canon jötun designs; this post is primarily about fandom-sourced fetishization. i heavily encourage people to reblog and add onto this post anything i may have missed or added nuance

cut: links on orientalism, in-media examples, how this manifests in fandom-made content

i'd like to start off by saying that this post is a white person telling other white people how to spot orientalism in relation to fiction. i am by no means an expert on any of this, but my goal here is to start creating a less ignorant space that doesn't push people out of fandom.

i'm just trying to stir up more conversations about this and get other white people to think more critically about how they engage with the content they consume. nerd shit should never come with a sacrifice and it's extremely upsetting to see people of color consistently forced out of fandom communities, especially when modern superhero comics began as a way for jewish people to have a voice.

if this post upsets you, i don't want to hear it. don't tell me, "it's not that deep," or, "keep politics out of comics." it is that deep, and superhero comics have always been political. if you have the urge to leave a comment or send an anon about how you don't think it's a big deal, feel free to block me instead, because i don't care and you'll just get blocked anyway 👍

with that out of the way,

Q:

A:

there are countless ways to design a character in a way that makes it clear that they are an alien, or to make them sexy, and there is no excuse to perpetuate stereotype that put real-life people in danger to do so.

"Orientalist paintings and other forms of material culture... depict an 'exotic' and therefore racialized, feminized, and often sexualized culture from a distant land." [¹]

there are so many examples of this in loki fic and art. it's extremely common to see loki depicted as a feminine object of desire. they may have longer hair. clothing that serves more as an accessory than an outfit, that isn't suited to protect them from either the harsh cold of jötunheim or the sunburns one might get when surrounded by reflections of the sun off the snow. draped in jewelry, and in a compromising position.

i'm sure you can imagine how this can get especially out of hand in relation to thorki. i would speak more on thor's presence as both the white aesir prince or the strong barbaric jötun, but as i'm not comfortable consuming thorki content, i don't have enough context to speak on the stereotypes used outside of the art pieces i've seen while searching for jötun loki fanart.

i am, however, confident in saying that orientalism often serves as a device for fan creators to show a contrast between Asgard's white-viking-british-accent-magic-science-elegance. jötunheim, in the comics, is often portrayed as a less intelligent, cutthroat, barbaric, and bloodthirsty culture.

"There was always something unknown and uniquely different about Orients which reinforced the distinction between the European 'us' and Asian 'them.'" [²]

the green link in particular comes with a helpful tool for anyone who might be inexperienced in spotting racist themes in media. if you have trouble being confident that the media in question is orientalism, this link comes with a checklist scale to score how likely it is to be an offensive depiction.

an example that most of you will be familiar with is Disney's Aladdin (1992). the green link goes much more in-depth about the intricacies of Aladdin's orientalism, and i heavily HEAVILY encourage you to read it, as it will help fully grasp the way fetishization and demonization go hand in hand in orientalism.

here, i'd also like to use it as a comparison to show why this loki stuff is honestly... egregious.

by now, even the visuals here should seem very familiar.

the source goes on to use arranged marriage as an example of a common "trope" in orientalist fiction. as previously stated, i don't consume thorki fiction. however, i am EXTREMELY confident in making the guess that it tends to be a common theme when jötun loki is paired with an aesir thor.

i'd also heavily recommended this article and this wikipedia page, both on the negative and stereotypical portrayals of romani people; loki is a magic user, and i suspect that one of the reasons there is such heavy use of these appropriated, exaggerated, and fetishized themes and visuals is because of the demonization of romani people as tricksters, thieves, and witches.

[sarroora]

I hope yall watching the World Cup shenanigans on TikTok

Because it’s glorious.

Like it’s such a breath of CLEAN, FRESH air when you watch something through channels that aren’t completely defiled to hell and back by hypocritical and racist western media. 

Just simply, watching the people have the time of their lives, exploring a new culture, trying to speak each other’s languages, learning each other’s dances, etc. just fills me with so much hope and joy. 

I have to limit my use of the app so it doesn’t take over my life BUT THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE FUNNIEST AND LOVIELIEST THINGS I SAW:

JungKookie and the Kookies (BTS)

Foreigners discovering Arabian beauty up close? Like so many people are falling in love with the Qatari artist Fahad Al-Kubaisi

Saudian fan reactions going absolutely BONKERS, [2]

The #WhereIsMessiGuy. Some people find him annoying. Others find him hilarious. He keeps crashing news reports. You be the judge

Amazing mishmash of dances from different cultures after matches.

Fans trying to talk to each other and obviously not understanding anything the other is saying and resigning to signing is one of the funniest things I’ve seen this week

The guy casually telling his boss he won’t be in for work the next day on TV and the journalist losing it 

Saudians and Japanese sword/katana fighting each other in the street

The Saudian and Japanese wins spurred a million memes of pure hilarity. Oh, and everyone wants a Saudia / Japan final showdown. Anime Style!

The fact that middle eastern fans are tagging the Japanese team ‘The Grandchildren of Captain Tsubasa’ sent me

The Sassy Prince becoming an internet celebrity overnight. I feel bad about this one tho. I hope the kid’s ok and keeps his privacy. Chinese fans are literally drawing fanart of him

Men being super invested in the traditional Qatari garb and headgear is super cool. So many reels of foreigners learning how to wear it properly and walking around with it through the city

THE LATIN AMERICAN FANS ARE ABSOLUTE DARLINGS

SO ARE THE ASIAN FANS. 

AFRICAN, ASIAN and LATIN AMERICAN FANS ARE GETTING ALONG AMAZINGLY. SO GOOD TOGETHER IN SPITE OF THE LANGUAGE BARRIER!

THE BRAZILIANS ARE HAVING THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES. Oh, and they ‘kidnapped’ an Arabian reporter while celebrating. He was taken away on their shoulders, laughing his head off

Closeup of a player waving to his fans. Grown men becoming 5 again and waving back so joyfully <3

Roleplaying in the streets

The endearing videos of tourists walking around Doha at 2:00am, marveling at the safety and peace of the city. It’s true, Qatar is extremely safe even late at night

Egyptian memes living vicariously through Saudia coz we weren’t eligible this time

People taking videos of the public bathrooms and clean and LUXUROIUSLY DESIGNED they are. LISTEN THE BATHROOMS LOOKED LIKE A 7-STAR HOTEL BATHROOM WHAT

#IsraelLeftOnReadIRL tag. A lot of reports of people from various countries refusing to do interviews with Israeli news reporters just further proves that governments do not really mirror the true sentiment of the individual. Governments strive to maintain diplomatic relations, but I have so much respect for based individuals who don’t sell out on their personal morals

(I’m aware that because of how TikTok works geographically, a lotta people on the western side of the world may not be getting a lot of this stuff. If you’d like me to send some your way, just let me know and I can share through my TikTok.)

[wingsdippedingold]

"thirdly—and this is the big one—i was not happy with manon being retconned into an asian woman, and this hugely impacted the way i viewed manorian’s dynamic. as an asian woman myself, seeing sjm canonically describe manon as a white woman in the entire series before depicting her as east asian in the Fanart That Shall Not Be Named to try and get the readers vying for diversity off her back was so astonishing to me. to think that she really believed with her whole heart that she could just substitute a whole different race for a white character so she could say “look i’m not racist actually!” was just 🫤. the ignorance of that woman is quite literally unbelievable to me. and it’s so much more frustrating because why didn't she just make manon asian from the start??? but anyways, clearly she didn’t think that ✨ethnicity swap✨ through because now i look at manon, an asian woman who is characterized as tough and unyielding (which is what made me love her), becoming pretty submissive to dorian, a cocky white man, and i get suuuuch an ick. this is something that i’ve often seen portrayed in media and not talked about nearly enough—where asian women are harmfully stereotyped as ‘meek’ and ‘submissive’ to men, especially white men, who often fetishize asian women for this assumption of docility and total submission to them. then people go and post things like “omg i love seeing dorian top manon he’s so hot 🥵” and “manon takes no shit from anyone except when it comes to dorian 😌” and i'm like noooo ty ❤️ keep those posts away from me ✋🏼." - @sharpen-your-blade

thank you so much for putting this in to words because she did the same shit with Amren. She describes her as ambiguous so if someone wanted to maker he poc SJM could just snatch it up (tbf she was describes as borderline plain which is how she loves to describe poc so many she was one from the start)

[barananduen]

Fanart of Wen Ke Xing from "Word of Honor" - Digital painting

Part of my "square cdrama chibis" series.

Lao Wen from Word of Honor, who may pop up anywhere and everywhere and buy snacks with your wallet. But only if you have nice shoulderblades.

For more, click this tag: #fanart - asian media

ARCHIVE LINK

Originally posted to my DA on Nov. 30, 2021, here: https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/A-Lao-Wen-899310138

[moondal514]

It’s so wild to me how mainstream TGCF is. Like all these normie art accounts I follow on Instagram that don’t even post fanart, or if they do it’s certainly never for East Asian media, are doing fanart for TGCF. My bestie, who does not watch any East Asian media at all or interact with fanart accounts, keeps sending me TGCF fanart drawn by the pretentious art accounts that she loves. It’s so wild. I love it

[littleaxoltotlisabouttokill]

HEY LMK FANDOM

hi besties. First thing (this is relevant) I'm black. Good old African American yippee

Ok.

Let's talk about Chinese erasure.

LMK is a retelling/revisioning of a NUMBER of Chinese Mythologies. Most focused of being Journey to The West a story mostly focused around Sun Wukong.

Now. I have seen, so much fanart, fanworks, headcanons, character redesignes that change the characters from yellow legos (the legos actual colors NOT the fact they are Asian we're not doing that) to more realistic/human looking characters. And a lot of the time these include making these characters Black/Blasian.

Now first of all: I'm not talking about..i think its October? The October challenge to redraw characters as Black/African. I'm talking about art and work just year round.

Hey, first of all, I love that people are drawing more POC characters. But can you make these characters THE RIGHT FUCKING RACE?

The characters in LMK (Redson especially i see so much shit of him being black) are CHINESE they are CHINESE MYTHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS/RETELLING OF SAID CHARACTERS. They are NOT black.

I love seeing the representation and people learning to draw POC characters but please please do it with characters who arent as culturally significant as those from LMK. There's most of the Steven Universe Characters, there's any white characters from media NOT based in mythology you can draw as black but please please please do not forget

LMK is in China.the characters are Chinese. Draw them as such. Learn to draw Chinese characters and hairstyles.

please 🙏 Chinese culture deserves the amount of respect and time your putting into ours

Edit: I am not saying drawing them with tan skin is bad. Chinese people can be tan. but if you give them fucking braids and cornrows aka: black protective hairstyles then your just erasing their ethnicity aka: FUCKING CHINESE.

also please reblog! Tumblr doesn't have an algorithm like other sites so if this spreads it has to spread through reblogging so please do

(Free Palestine)

[brybryby]

hi there! as a mixed asian immigrant who was fully prepared to lie to themself thoroughly enough that waylon park was, indeed, korean it was really cool to see your design of him! and even cooler to see your essay on the topic and its significance! i thought it was very thoroughly + well written :)) have a nice day!

hi hi!!! aaagh thank you, I really appreciate the message :)) in recent years, i’ve been investing more and more time/research on U.S. history through various perspectives, and it’s been fulfilling being able to apply that to my favorite medias/characters. i do my best to convey these topics as I don’t want to misrepresent certain cultural communities—even ones that I identify with—in discussions surrounding western media (despite that, I’m sure there are parts in the essay that could be worded better baha), so thank you, your message means a lot to me!! :)

(and I totally relate in preparing to lie to myself hhhdhdhdhs)

I hope you have a nice day also!!!💜💜💜

here’s some silly little Waylon fanart hehe:

[pandoraparrot]

Something I like about Ninjago, Dreamzzz and all other Lego media is the differences in the fanart.

I love seeing the differences in cultures, height, hair and all of those other physical differences that can all be accepted because their only real reference was a yellow block person.

In some other media artists have to follow the written media or they risk being called racist or not truly being part of the fandom. But Lego has none of those problems.

Like, you can see the differences in the art and how each character is portrayed and viewed by each artist. Because of this we can have an Indian Cole, or a Lloyd who’s taller than Kai, or an Asian Logan and nobody can say that it’s wrong. It’s really amazing.

To all the artists that draw these beloved Lego characters, add your own touches and your personal headcanons. This also goes for the writers. Go wild. Keep drawing and writing. I promise, we’ll love it.