#i don’t relate to other white people when it comes to specific stereotypes

[pinkfey]

it’s weird when your only two ethnic roots that are of some significance to your identity are connected to you via two grandparents

[jaggedteeth]

as the u.s. tour comes to a close, i want to take a moment to talk about a phenomenon i’ve seen taking place within mcr internet fan spaces these last few months, my thoughts on it, and how i think it relates back to digital media literacy.

(before we start, i want to make it clear that i’m just some guy and i am definitely not the most qualified person to talk about this, but i think some of the things in this post really, really need to be said. my hope is not necessarily to change your mind or to “get you on my side,” but to encourage you to think critically and independently, even during your daily scroll on social media.)

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so, what is this ominous phenomenon i’m talking about? i’m referring to some of the comments i’ve seen mcr fans make regarding gerard’s gender—specifically the public, speculative, and seemingly unironic ones that attempt to put a label or a semblance of a label on his gender nonconformity.

(i think now’s a good time to mention you should read this entire post before engaging with or commenting on it. stay with me. we’re in this together.)

here is a post that i think does a good job of explaining this a little more in-depth for anyone who’s out of the loop.

regardless of my personal opinions on all of this, i understand why it’s happening. much of mcr’s fanbase is trans and/or non-binary, and seeking out representation from familiar, comforting figures is not out of the ordinary. i don’t think anyone involved means harm, and this isn’t a callout post. i’m just adding to a discussion i think has been largely one-sided up until recently.

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what is the point of me making this post? to put it bluntly, i disagree with how much of the discussion around gerard’s gender identity and expression is being conducted.

(again, please stay with me.)

what is it, specifically, that i disagree with? is it the celebration of gerard’s gender nonconformity? is it the possibility they might not identify, partially or wholly, with their gender assigned at birth? is it the joy their gender expression has inspired in many mcr fans?

no. it’s none of those things; not even close. i can’t even put into words how i, a gender nonconforming trans man, felt when gerard wore his cheerleader dress in nashville. it was a special moment and i was so happy to see him happy.

but something that bothers me about the “gender wars” narrative is the idea that anyone who’s not all-in is, if not an outright transphobe, someone with deep-rooted biases they need to work through. i haven’t seen this from everyone, but it’s floated around here and there.

nuance in conversations like this is incredibly important. the human experience is rarely black and white. and i believe the notion that it must be, especially when it comes to topics such as queer identity, largely stems from closed-mindedness and fear, conscious or unconscious.

i have certainly witnessed people online assert that gerard must be cis, and there’s no way he can’t be cis, implying if he ever identified as anything other than cis that would be bad and gross and weird. i strongly disagree with that viewpoint because it’s transphobic and gerard is a real person who none of us know personally who can do whatever the fuck he wants. in the same way, i disagree with the viewpoint that gerard must be trans, and there’s no way he can’t be trans, implying anyone who disagrees is a transphobe who refuses to pay attention. because gerard is a real person who none of us know personally who can do whatever the fuck he wants.

i’m aware gerard has also made comments in the past about his journey with gender identity, the connection he feels to women and femininity, and even his experimentation with drag while he was in college. he’s said he should be referred to with either he/him or they/them pronouns, he’s an earnest supporter of the trans community, and he’s historically rejected the sexist shithead rock-dude stereotype.

i’m not here to downplay any of those things, nor am i trying to invalidate anyone who has taken comfort in or identified with those things. just a couple of points i would like you to think about, though:

some cis people also question their gender identity and/or use multiple sets of pronouns for a multitude of reasons (i’m not saying gerard has to be cis, i’m just giving you an extra viewpoint to chew on);

i’ve personally met plenty of men or male-aligned people who strongly identify with women and femininity. i strongly identify with women and femininity and i’m still 100% a trans man and will throw anyone who tries to tell me otherwise directly into the sun (again, i’m not saying gerard must be a man or male-aligned);

gender nonconformity and transness are complex, nuanced topics. labels can be useful, but they are not a be-all-end-all;

and i’m going to be blunt here—assuming and/or declaring someone is transfem when they haven’t publicly referred to themselves as such, just because they are comfortable discussing their own femininity and sometimes have a feminine presentation and feminine mannerisms, is basically an upgraded form of gender essentialism and completely disregards the existence and experiences of amab cis-passing queer people and gender nonconforming people. i understand it’s a tough pill to swallow, but intent doesn’t always equal impact, and just because someone may not see it that way doesn’t mean that’s not what they’re doing.

even if gerard is transfem, he’s still a real person who has a right to privacy and autonomy, and he never has to publicly label himself if he doesn’t want to. no one is entitled to seek out the details of his identity, but least of all us, a bunch of strangers on the internet who will probably never have a full conversation with him.

not one of us is an “authority” or “expert” on gerard way or my chemical romance. we can learn about the band’s history and public personas or laugh at the funny, quirky parts of their lore or cry when we think about how far they’ve come in the public eye, but what gives us the right to dig into every tiny crevice of gerard’s work and interactions and public existence searching for “clues” as to whether or not he’s trans? what gives us the right to label his gender identity for him—a process that is incredibly personal? i know “parasocial” is basically just another hollow internet buzzword at this point, but let’s not forget the very real consequences that parasocial relationships can certainly have.

do i think it would be fucking awesome if gerard came out as trans tomorrow? absolutely. do i also think it’s fucking awesome that they’re an older gnc person? that so many queer people have discovered and accepted themselves in part because of them? that they now exude joy onstage and bravely dress and act the way they do? one million times yes. and we can celebrate those real, concrete, factual things without tinhatting, overstepping boundaries, or jumping to conclusions. if they were to come out as trans tomorrow, that wouldn’t invalidate any of my arguments or make the behavior i’m critiquing acceptable, because the point isn’t about whether or not gerard is trans, the point is about how some of mcr’s fanbase is treating them.

gerard has uplifted and respected us time and time again without even knowing us as individuals. so i want you to take a moment to sincerely reflect and ask yourself this question: where is our respect for him?

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alright. i’m glad you’re still here. let’s talk about what can actually be done about this.

i think a lot of this problem boils down to a lack of critical thinking. yes, that’s thrown around a lot as a clapback on this website, but i don’t mean it as an insult. we’re all guilty of not thinking critically, myself included. especially in the age of the internet, it’s impossible to be perfect all the time, when we’re bombarded with information from every angle.

this is why learning about and consistently practicing media literacy is so important. it’s something i’m passionate about because i’ve seen firsthand, time and time again, how it can make or break a person and their worldview, to the point that i spent hours writing about it for my upper-level journalism courses (before i dropped out lol) and worked for two semesters as an editor for a college newspaper.

if these conversations about gerard were happening in private group chats between friends who already know one another, my opinions on the topic itself would still stand, but it wouldn’t be any of my business and i obviously wouldn’t think to write an entire post about it. but everything changes when these discussions are had on a public platform with little regard for nuance.

“misinformation,” or the unintentional spread of false information—not to be confused with disinformation, where the person spreading it knows what they’re saying isn’t true—might not be a totally accurate descriptor for some of what’s going on here, honestly. none of us can prove what gerard is thinking or feeling. but based on what we do know, what he’s publicly and concretely shared with us, i think it’s as close as we can get. a lot of the posts i’ve seen don’t read to me as “hehe funny celebrity headcanon that’s obviously just for fun.” or even “i relate to this person’s art and/or publicized experiences, but i understand i don’t know them and at least some of that is just projection.” rather, they seem to make invasive leaps and use inaccurate vocabulary while simultaneously taking themselves very, very seriously, and that concerns me more than if a random tumblr user was just trolling to start fandom drama or something.

to put things into perspective, this is why every single one of my journalism professors drilled it into my head that you have to get your news from multiple sources. those sources must have differing perspectives and you need to look at every single one with a critical eye, no matter how trustworthy they may seem (listen, i get it’s way more complicated than that and i could go off on a whole other tangent about the glaring problems with mainstream news media in the united states and not in a cringefail right-wing way, but this is an mcr blog, so let’s just focus on the basic principle here).

obviously, i don’t think anyone should engage with transphobes unless it’s for the sake of making stronger counter-arguments, because their beliefs are provably harmful and false. but someone making good-faith criticisms of speculating about a stranger who has not publicly come out as trans and/or non-binary is markedly different. i’m not the only person who’s written something like this, and i encourage everyone to seek out similar posts and think about the points they’re making, even if you don’t agree with every single one of them.

this speculative commentary on gerard’s identity has spread like wildfire and created a polarizing echo chamber, from what i’ve seen. i understand why. but it’s still deeply worrying to me. seeing as this is primarily happening on tumblr, i’m concerned less because i think gerard will ever see or care about these posts (that’s obviously still important, though), and more because of what this says about how people in mcr fanspaces view celebrities they feel strongly about and engage with information they see online at large.

please do research on digital media literacy, and please use reputable sources with authority on journalism and communications to do so. don’t take what you see on social media at face value. don’t trust any one social media user to feed you commentary or shape your viewpoints, and that includes me. read with a critical eye. think about the possible implications and intentions behind the words other people use, big or small, and why those might be there. be aware of your own biases and blindspots. remember that you’ll never be perfect, not even close. and while you’re at it, learn more about the experiences of gnc people, and the experiences of queer people of all different ages, backgrounds, cultures, races, identities, perspectives, lived experiences, etcetera. if you can, engage in diverse irl lgbtq+ spaces. they put things into perspective in a way the internet never will.

but i still use tumblr in 2022, so what do i know?

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if there’s anything you think i overlooked or misconstrued in this post, tell me! i want this to be a living, breathing conversation, not a monologue. these are important issues and they deserve our time and attention. thank you so much for reading.

[renmorris]

I typed out a four paragraph anonymous message and then Tumblr crashed (T⌓T)

Anyway: saw another de role swap post, went to your blog to find solace, and remembered I’ve been meaning to send this to you because your blog is my go-to scroll when something in the de fandom annoys me.

I can’t believe some people don’t realise the reason Kim was a juvenile officer for 15 years was because of racism? The pinball thing makes it clear that at least some of Kim’s duties in juvie were undercover related, and Measurehead thrice (once while explicitly referencing phrenology) refers to Kim as ‘paedomorphic’. Kim was going undercover as a teenager or so at 38! This was 5 years ago, he probably already had some grey hairs! I feel like It’s pretty clear that this is due to a racialised stereotype of Seolites (read: East Asians) as ‘innocent’ and ‘childlike’. Disco Elysium is pretty clear on how racism goes beyond “I don’t like this person because they aren’t white,” like how Seolite people are specifically seen as ‘mystical’ or ‘shifty’, or how using Semenese culture and slurs is seen as ‘cool’, while Semenese people are seen as ‘aggressive’, and’ responsible for most crime’ (along with Mesque people).

Now that I think about it, the lack of analysis in the fandom of how Disco Elysium purposely presents racism, and different ‘types’ of racism, is probably one of the main reasons for the de role swap au and other Disco Elysian fan content that completely ignore how racism effects Kim’s character.

AH I’m so sorry about the crash, thank you for sharing this is all spot on 👏

and yeah Kim has been explicitly racially infantilized with his juvie roll and on top of that iirc the pinball machines themselves come from Seol so there’s another layer of in-universe racial stereotype at play here in the pinball case. (not unlike the premise of like, having an East Asian man go undercover as a gamer.)

and the fact that Kim can’t get out of its shadow is even worse for him. the fact that Harry can even remember Kimball Kitsuragi after forgetting everything else has to be especially painful for him. Kim despises the pinball case, that it happened and that it’s how he finally got out of juvie in his late 30s. and that for the other officers of the RCM- it’s an amusing joke

Kim isn’t someone who is characterized as having a wild rebellious streak in the past. It’s kind of the exact opposite. He’s clearly a Dolorian- the way he talks about how they’re Dolorian by default because the laws they uphold are Dolorian etc is painfully familiar and even the Volta he practices has Dolorian roots, he's a former moralist. i agree with fandom interpretation that he probably grew up in Coalition run orphanage as well. strong Dolorian upbringing, what you’d expect from a real life Christian orphanage funded by the government

He smoked weed like three times in his 20s and actively gets hurt feelings if Harry laughs it off because that one bit of rebellion is really important to his self image, like…I think it’s pretty clear that Kim didn’t have a substantial bad boy phase.

[bohemian-nights]

Let’s talk about the changed between white book laena to black show laena

Book leana had a pretty awesome life. She married at the age of 22 to a man she loved, traveled the world with him, had 2 babies and they lived happily on driftmark with her family together until she passed away at childbirth despite her loving husband doing everything he can to save her. + her husband remarried 6 months after her death.

Now let’s talk about show leana

She married daemon much younger than book laena, was neglected and unloved by him, was forced to live away from her beloved family and burned herself to death because “feminism” 🤡 only to have her husband sleep with another woman on her fucking funeral. And the showrunners claim they wanted to respect her character?????? Disgusting.

In the book laena is the only wife that daemon seemed to truly love. (Until nettles). He never cheated and they had a happy marriage. But when she’s black suddenly she’s the second choice to the white female lead. What a fucking joke. And then they absolutely spit on her by having her husband sleep with said white female main character on her funeral. This show treats its black characters like shit. I really don’t understand why people aren’t talking about this.

This shows deranged fandom tells you everything you need to know about the problematic way they treat black characters. We haven’t even got nettles’s casting yet. The most important dragon seed. Literally who gives a shit about the others? But I wonder why we have their castings but not the casting of the only canonically black character in the dance???? If nettles is not in season 2 I’m going to drop this show. If they’ll introduce the dragonseeds without nettles they are fucking disgusting.

All of this is why I criticize this shitty show and equally shitty fandom👏🏽

People try to act like you’re the crazy one for noticing how these changes affect the treatment of the characters, but nope fandom racism, more specifically fandom misogynoir, is real and it’s happening with HOTD.

Book!Laena was treated with love and respect, but the moment she became Black-ish she became worthless to both the showrunners and the fandom. All she's good for is to be a prop/placeholder. Hell, when she died people seemed more concerned about Vhagar, a dragon, rather than the woman who lit herself on fucking fire.

They made Laena into a stereotype just to make a crazed white woman’s death look better than it was and this demented ass fandom cheers it on.

Because she’s Black and not a cookie-cutter stereotype in the source material, Nettles' whole existence is a problem to these people and she must be cut, erased, reduced, etc.

They try to say she’s completely irrelevant. That the only reason people like her is because she's Black or out of spite, but I can think of a dozen white characters who don’t even come close to reaching her relevancy to the plot

This is why she’s always included where some characters like Ulf, Hugh, Sara Snow, Alys Rivers, Gwayne Hightower, and Silver Denys are omitted, and 5/6 of those characters are confirmed for s2. And I'm not trying to say none of these characters shouldn't be included(well we could do without 2 of them), but they aren't more important than her.

Nettles literally has all the qualities people usually like in characters(the ordinary girl who despite all odds does the unthinkable, she’s a survivor, she’s a final girl, she has one of if not the most powerful men in the realm willing to die for her, and she becomes a goddess like figure) yet she’s hated for it because she dares to be Black. They won't even try to relate to her or see her importance because she is Black.

They’d rather prop up psychos or mediocre flops just because they are white rather than ever admit that Nettles is an interesting and integral character to the Dance. She’s awesome. The man who created these freaking books that you claim to love and swear his word is law thinks she’s awesome and yet you want to deny that she’s awesome and has no real value because you’re scared shitless she’ll upstage your psycho(book!Missy Anne)/boring(show!Missy Anne) fave.

It’s nuts and like you, I won’t be watching s2 if Netty’s not there. They found time for a maid who shouldn't even be there, propped up Addam to the Gods, and gave Hugh an unnecessary sex scene, all while cutting Nettles out. Nope. I’ll skip straight to s3 cause I’m not dealing with this show's BS and blatant disrespect. It’s unacceptable!

[saintlupin]

i think what many people fail to realize about hp as a whole is that it has reached 100% cultural saturation. everyone has either seen the movies, read the books, or at the very least, they have some vague understanding of the overarching story line. but, still, most people are unaware of jkr’s vile bigotry, unless they are both: chronically online and in our hp-related/fandom adjacent spaces. i was actually having a conversation with a co-worker today who had no idea about jkr’s views/the active damage they have caused. yet, she’s not only queer, but also an ally to the trans community. and i think a lot of the people who go out of their way to send anon hate do so with a “white-lens” view of advocacy. that is not to say that every hater on the internet is a white person, but what i mean to say is: most of these individuals have never actually done the tedious and often exhausting work that real advocacy calls for.

it reminds me of when people think they can hastily plan for a strike, where they publicly announce that they are going to stop financially supporting a multi-billion dollar corporation for three days and assume that will “hit them where it hurts” and incite significant change. when, in reality, advocacy takes months of planning and preparation and prioritizes the needs of vulnerable populations first. people are reasonably angry, but they fail to turn that anger into action because our society as a whole makes “on the ground” advocacy work seemingly impossible.

what we do here in fandom where we dissect, pick apart, inspect, and transform canon from a critical lens or create joy and inspire imagination are quite literally revolutionary tools, and i say that with no exaggeration. this is not a new idea, in fact, it is something black activists, trans women of color, and other marginalized populations have been saying for decades.

i don’t believe fandom spaces are inherently revolutionary and i don’t think they are the end all be all of advocacy work, but i do believe them necessary specifically because they incite joy and create space for imagination. instead of a breeding ground for revolutionaries, they are a "practice-ground" for these revolutionary tools. they allow us to deconstruct the things that have caused harm and transform them into something joyful and imaginative, which is important because it does not erase the reality of what exists, but instead, allows us to engage with it under a new lens.

to want to denounce and erase all media for how problematic it is would be to disengage with works that have both failed us and brought us to where we are today. popular fiction and culture is a powerful reflection of social problems, and to erase them is to both denounce how far we've come, but also to leave us with nothing to look back on. what would the world look like if we had nothing to reflect upon? nothing to consider? nothing to dissect and say: this is what we've gotten right so far and here is what we've done wrong. it is specifically why disney+ has not removed content that is blatantly racist media, but instead added a black screen with words that read: "this program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions" with the stated intention of sparking conversations about harmful stereotypes. while disney is not a shining example of allyship, this corporation has still managed to grasp an important concept: to erase, denounce, and disengage with content that is problematic is to remove examples of racism, transphobia, xenophobia and disallow the critical conversations that fandom spaces can be host to.

when we erase examples, and therefore critiques of these things, we stop being able to identify them, becoming first oblivious and then desensitized to tropes and stereotypes that find its way into the imagery of the world around us, even when they are right in front of us.

big thank you to @saintgarbanzo for your input and for helping me find the courage i needed to post this

[volfoss]

MT-001->MT-003: Jungle Emperor/Kimba (1950-1954)

TW: Discussion of racism (specifically anti-black racism)

Before I get into the plot and well. everything bad about this, I want to quickly explain that this is the first out of 400 volumes of Tezuka's that I will be reading/reviewing. This is absolutely the worst of his works by far and I need to very much emphasize that for anyone who wants to read the 5.5 pages of notes I took (that are under the cut, due to length).

Summary of Plot: A white male lion is known for terrorizing an African village, and they make plans to hunt and kill him. These plans end up succeeding, and his mate, who is pregnant with his son, is captured and taken onto a ship. She gives birth on the ship and pleads with her newborn son, Kimba, to escape and become the king of the jungle, like his father was. The story follows Kimba as he tries to follow in his father’s footsteps, but in his own special way.

Characters: Kimba/Jungle Emperor is a mixed bag when it comes to characters. On one hand, Kimba and his family manage to be entertaining without speech. Their motives are very clear and they are written sympathetically. Jacques the rat is a really good addition to the cast and adds a lot to Kimba as a character. The animal characters have a pretty interesting dynamic with each other, and I feel the little screen-time the villain got was pretty decent. I’m not normally a very big fan of stories centered around animals in the specific way that this does it, so the aspects of the charming animals could be better for someone who enjoys that sort of thing more.

On the other hand, the humans are not written in a super in depth manner (at least not compared to his later works that I’ve read). The protagonists quite honestly fall flat most of the time and don’t lend a ton to the story. The worst of the badly written humans are the African characters. They are horrifically reduced to the worst stereotypes possible, given how Tezuka wants to portray them as “tribes-people”. They are portrayed as stupid and are shown as rather backwards. The best example of the latter is early on, when the leader offers “the best hut” to one of the white characters and when he goes to investigate it, all the promised amenities are either broken or just there for props. They are also portrayed as overly violent and also docile towards the white characters. I cannot express enough how this ticks every single anti-black stereotype in media box.

Another horrific part of this is their treatment of Merry. Merry is one of the two children, and in Volume 1, is kidnapped by the “Jungula Tribe” (as that is what this group is referred to) and by Volume 2, has formed an alter ego (or something along those lines, it’s not really made clear but it is handled badly) named, and I kid you not, Conga (or Konga, depending on the translation) and has taken over the tribe as their leader. She does this by creating electricity (which is pretty clearly implied as something that the tribe she now leads had never seen before, and treat it as something mystical and magical) by rubbing her pen against a cheetah pelt. Her taking over the group is seen as a sad thing but only specifically in the way that the other child that was her friend, feels very disconnected to her and cannot relate to her (and not the frustration that Tezuka was leaning into yet another trope of the white person having to lead the black tribe because they just know better. This is handled in that specific manner with her being pretty abusive towards the other characters, and is only really refuted in the manner of now there’s “good” people to lead them (who are white/Japanese) and the only big difference in the leadership is it is less abusive).

There is also ritual sacrifice, regarding the Pygmy (the specific group is not specified (otherwise I would be referring to them as such, as Pygmy is seen as a derogatory term) and this is how they’re referred to in canon) and many jokes about their short stature. They are shown trying to ritually sacrifice one of the white characters, and it is treated as horrific (but also with tones of comedy, as Tezuka constantly uses slapstick to show dumb the Africans in his work are), which from as far as I could find, was not something factual for the actual groups mentioned. Most of the groups mentioned seem to either be slightly made up (Jungula is one that I could not find any proof of anything similarly named existing) or slightly spelled off (but wouldn’t make any sense geographically, such as Gura (literal translation used here, the fan translation I’m using here just refers to this group as Donga, despite the katakana being “グラ”). This detail doesn’t really factor in with the already HEINOUS amount of racism but it is very interesting to me, as I feel it’s just another excuse for him to be using many stereotypes and mash them together, instead of portraying a nuanced version of any of the groups mentioned. Quite literally, they check off every single way to NOT treat African characters and there is no way around this part of Kimba, as these characters appear in pretty much every chapter. They are absent in Chapter 1 and 2, and I state this solely to make it very clear that in 21 chapters, the racism is present in nearly every single one. Genuinely and sincerely, there is no reason to read Jungle Emperor/Kimba for the characters (or really anything other than reading all of his works, like I’m doing) as they are all pretty flat and the very obvious issues are present throughout the entire work.

Art: As always, Tezuka excels at drawing animals in a very specifically stylized way that still lends to how they would appear realistically. Kimba as a character has an instantly charming design and is drawn in such a way that all of his movements exude a lot of character. But unfortunately, the elephant in the room for the entire read through was how he chose to depict Africans. With the setting (and it being written in 1950), I did not expect it to be good but it is unfortunately a topic that is often ignored in mainstream discussions of Kimba/Jungle Emperor (often, I find what is most discussed is using Kimba/Jungle Emperor as a punchline to talk about Disney stealing the Lion King’s concept from this), and is one that I’d like to discuss in the review. They are a very prominent part of the story (given the setting) and to put it very lightly, this is the worst instance of this in his work. It appears again in (given this is the first thing I’m reading in this chronology, I’m sure that there will be more instances, but this is just from what I’ve read going into it) Black Jack and lesser known works such as Hungry Blues, but this is by far the closest to minstrelsy (with how the Black characters are drawn and portrayed, it very much leans into how older media (Hollywood specifically) tended to derive Black characters down to simple and offensive tropes). It absolutely does ruin any enjoyment, as it is VERY glaring vile and present in nearly every chapter.

Ending: The ending is very bad with how Tezuka clearly viewed Africa as a place to be mystified, with how the final words are. I feel that again, a lot of the messaging in this is stuff that appears in his later works but they are a lot more clumsily handled here (for many reasons). It was a very frustrating ending with how most of the Black characters died, and after that, the white and Japanese (implied) characters from different countries realized their differences (with no mourning for the dead, which happened when ANYTHING tragic happened to any of the non-black characters).

Misc: This was the work I was dreading the most, and reading it first has really just been a very frustrating experience due to just HOW blatantly vile it is. To get into the Lion King comparisons (as that is the typical mainstream knowledge of this manga), there are certainly some similarities. Kimba/Jungle Emperor focuses a bit more on the human side of things (in terms of being pretty blatantly anti-zoo (with the second chapter focusing a couple pages on Kimba’s mother telling him how living in a zoo would be no good life for them, and how zoos are discussed on Chapter 3 of Volume 1) and anti-poaching (most clear in the entirety of the first chapter) instead of animal life and drama there, like the Lion King covers. Honestly, a lot of the plot isn’t super similar unless you’re looking at it from a VERY broad lens (I know I see the scene of the stars forming the dead parent’s face cited a lot here, the fact he has an animal companion that watches over him (even a bird for a bit of the plot) a bit is similar (again broadly), there being an evil lion, and the dead parent plot point), as it really does just focus on different subject matter. It is more of a generational tale than Lion King.

Honestly, I think how Kimba discusses the difficulty for him to grow up for a bit in a normal household (with humans feeding and clothing him) and then having to return to the jungle is really interesting. It gets into his struggle with how he wants to be innately kind (and more “human”/domesticated) but he obviously still has those animal urges built in (a scene that really exemplifies this is in Chapter 5 of Volume 1, where the villain taunts him about the fact that Kimba is upset by a gazelle dying and won’t eat from it, like a normal lion would). It tackles a lot of topics related to how humans can be bad (specifically, the way that one of the humans (who is pretty clearly exploiting the African characters) was a guard at a Nazi camp and you are very clearly not supposed to like this character) and even how, in Chapter 5, Kimba bringing “civilization” to the jungle (he gets the animals that listen to him to build paved roads, restaurants and set up farming practices similar to what humans do) is something that makes some of the animals suffer. There is unfortunately also a lot of really poorly handled colonialism (specifically, in chapter 10, where the “good guys” take over the Jungula tribe and dress them in traditionally European clothing and it is seen as a good thing, as they are no longer under control of Conga. The way that it is handled in this is very muddled, and the way that Kimba bringing “civilization” to the jungle animals is a net positive is a very odd thing to me). It does have some of Tezuka’s trademark anti-war messaging but it honestly just really does not work well here given the rest of the topics. There are definitely glimmers of what COULD be a better manga in this but unfortunately it is buried under far far too much racism.

I want to take a small moment to analyze a section of this essay written on Kimba, as I think there is a lot to unpack.

From the section covering The Roles of Africans in Kimba:

“Fans of Kimba may have wondered why there are no Africans to be seen in Kimba’s jungle; or for that matter, why no English version of Jungle Emperor is available. The problem is ironic and must have struck hard at Tezuka: the depiction of the African tribes in Leo can only be viewed by any modern person as racist.

This takes a moment to process and absorb because so much of Tezuka’s work explores (and attacks) the tenants of racism. Indeed, works as early as Astroboy seem to focus on racism-as-an-evil with such a deliberate ferocity that we can (and must) conclude that any such accusations regarding Tezuka are false. Let’s also not forget his own slogan: “Love all creatures! Love everything that has life!”

We might then wonder how it is that Tezuka has produced these images which offend modern sensibilities and which necessitated the replacement of African natives in Kimba with white hunters and ultimately prevented the publication of Jungle Emperor in English. It must first be said that very few of Tezuka’s human caricatures are particularly flattering–even of himself. What we find offensive in these drawings however is their stereotypical nature.

It is my opinion that the resources that Tezuka first drew from for the creation of his native characters are in fact the problem. More than likely Disney is the culprit here; though one might also consider the depiction of natives in the 1933 feature film King Kong. Most telling however are the now deleted sequences involving a black centaur in Fantasia. Other works by Disney from this period along with this sequence were clearly not meant as racist, but we can only judge from the perspective of the 21st century.

One possible source for Jungle Emperor’s Africans: a censored scene from Fantasia 1940. Though this type of depiction of Africans was common in US comics and animation in this period, we know Tezuka was particularly interested in the works of Walt Disney…”

To get into my thoughts on this part of the essay, we first have to discuss the material mentioned as potential inspirations for how badly these characters are drawn, mainly Fantasia. Fantasia was released in 1940, a decade before Jungle Emperor came out, and the racism was about as bad as in Jungle Emperor. It had many racist scenes in the specific Pastoral Symphony scene of the film, that were then removed in 1969 (source). I do also want to cite a slightly lesser known Disney work from 1925 that is nearly exact to how the Africans are drawn in Jungle Emperor: Alice Cans the Cannibals. I am not saying that this is where he got the inspiration from, simply to bring up the point that there was a lot of media that would treat Africans as cannibals and prone to human sacrifice. This essay gets into a lot of the early Disney racism in a very in depth way that might be of interest in regards to this point.

In a similar way to Fantasia, Jungle Emperor also had to be redone, given how the original pages were nearly lost during the making of the anime in 1965. This led Tezuka to have to redraw a lot of it (which you can most certainly tell which parts of it were redrawn, given it was done in 1977 (for the collected Kodansha volumes)) and unfortunately, the racial caricatures are still present in this updated version. (source) I did want to make this comparison solely for media that is viewed somewhat similarly in the mainstream media (with not much discussion around the racism) that got revised later on. This is a thing however, that Tezuka would improve on in some of his works, but that fact does not even remotely begin to erase what he put in the Jungle Emperor. Even if the art was not as blatantly racist as it was, the way these characters are written is still drenched in stereotypes that obviously do still harm Africans now. In comparison to Disney doing all that they can to erase the existence of the material (and how, even in the modern day, they very clearly struggle to hold themselves accountable (specifically referring to Song of the South)), I’m not sure that I prefer the approach here with there being clearly enough fans of Kimba to fan translate it (as the version I’m reading had two different teams) and to praise it while doing so.

I feel that the insistence that it was just caricatures and not blatantly racist really falls flat when you consider how the characters in Kimba are treated. As I mentioned in the personality section, they are really just very flat stereotypes (with no names, as far as I remember, outside of the Chief) and do pretty blatantly fall into what is racist media. The various groups portrayed in Kimba are not done so with much compassion for them as characters and they are quite honestly just used as slapstick or to boost up other characters (whether by being villainous, and driving the heroes to oppose them or by, in a large panel depicting most of them dying (relatively graphically for this manga as well, with one character being shown in the jaws of an animal), which then brings the heroes together (not due to their death but because, seemingly, with them gone, the other characters realized that they (as the characters were from two unnamed countries) are not so different after all)). They are not even remotely given any compassion or depth compared to every other character and it really just falls into the old tropes of refusing to see Black characters as deserving of that depth (which quite honestly does feel like what happened here). They are shown more as a group and never really focused on them as individual people (as EVERY other character is given that).

There isn’t really a good way to handle the presence of very blatantly racist material in media, but I do think the repeated insistence of a lot of fans to insist that it wasn’t intentionally bad (or that it was just of its time) is not the way to go. Even if at that point, he had experienced the war (bringing this point up for a reason, stick with me), there are later examples of his work that deal with depicting Black characters in a caricatured way, most notably Hungry Blues. That was published in 1977 and still used similar caricatures (although the character in question leaned a lot less into stereotypes personality wise, as it was based off a real person he had met during the war). It is a very inexcusable part of his works and is something that is objectively the most prominent in Kimba (which is part of his early works). Even if a lot of his other works DO have very well handled anti-racist messages (Message to Adolf is one I can think of off the top of my head, Astro Boy also handles similar topics), this one objectively does not and I think it’s important to examine this in a critical way, instead of just brushing it under the rug. If you want to read one of his works that handles racism, anti-war, and the other messages he is known for, there are MANY that handle them better and not like this.

As a white person, I’m aware that my viewpoints on this matter may not hold as much weight as someone who would be affected by how these characters are drawn but I do believe with how little discussion of the very very blatant racism in this there is online, it is something that needs to be brought up. For further reading on the topics of stereotypes of Black characters in media, I found Donald Bogle’s book on the matter to be a very interesting read (although it does focus on Hollywood throughout the ages, some of the things in here did also apply to this) (link) and Henry T. Sampson’s book focusing on animated portrayals of Black characters (specifically, Chapter 3: Way Down in the Jungle: The Animated Safari) (link) to be very related to the topic at hand and be very excellent companions to reading about the topic of how anti-black tropes in media can be impactful and were very much part of the time period.

Overall Thoughts: I clearly had a lot to say on this one, as it is a topic that I do sincerely believe should be getting more coverage in regards to discussing this media. As a manga, it truly was one of the worst ones I’ve ever read, as the plot was pretty rough and the very obvious racism was well, obvious. On one hand, I do wish it was better and that when it was revised in the 70’s, that Tezuka took the time to show that he had grown from the mindset he pretty clearly had in 1950. On the other hand, the only value this has (in my opinion) is a very good case study on what not to do when writing African characters, as it truly fits every stereotype in different ways. I would not recommend this to a single person, it is easily by far the weakest of his works that I have read so far. The characters felt pretty flat and a lot of the moments clearly meant to be tragic fell pretty flat for me. The generational aspect was interesting but due to every other weakness of the work, just did not work for me.

[journalforamerica]

On My Block

On My Block is a coming-of-age story that works through the battles that come from living in the hood. Jamal, Monse, Reuben, and Cesar are a crew, best friends from before the show began. They’re each from different backgrounds, Monse having grown up without a mom, Jamal who has been living a lie to make his parents proud, Reuben (Ruby) who is too smart for his own good, and Cesar whose family is part of the local gang and in turn, force him into that lifestyle. This story relates to the screenings and readings by establishing a unique perspective with diversity at its core. 

From top to bottom: Ruby Martinez, Cesar Diaz, Jamal Turner, and Monse Finnie.

The characters throughout the show focus on their ability to be friends against hardships. The first season focuses on Cesar and his life inside the gang. The crew knows that this life isn't for Cesar and they do everything to help him. This type of life they live all relates to a cultural identity: a shared home, language, and even cultural barriers. Cesar, Jamal, Ruby, and Monse would do everything to protect one another, even if it meant danger for themselves. I think that speaks to their ability to adapt to their rough environment which can be attributed to the stereotypes that come with being Hispanic and Black.

Although this show focuses on four main characters, one character, Monse stands out among the rest. Monse identifies as multiracial: she’s Black, Latinx, and White. This weekly reading is about multiracial and mixed-persons. Being mixed in this country has many connotations and the article addresses how many students struggle with their cultural identity because they are multiracial. For example, in the NYTimes article written by Susan Saulny she writes, “..But, he continued, “I don’t even like to identify myself as a race anymore. My family has been pulling me in two directions about what I am. I just want to be a person.”.” (Saulny, 2011) It can be hard not knowing as well, Monse didn’t grow up knowing her mom or her heritage, but learning about that side also gave her a new perspective. She got to appreciate both sides, which is very similar to the reactions the students got when they realized they could celebrate themselves, not based on what they identify as, but just because they are there. UWM’s own Professor Gregory Jay once stated, ““Race,” then, can be socially constructed by marginalized groups as a vehicle for self-understanding, political resistance, and cultural affirmation.” (Jay, NA) Professor Jay means that groups like Monse’s can view race as a common ground rather than a diverging point.

GIF: Cesar (the one with the gun) was threatened (by the guy in the jacket) in a drive-by. The one in the jacket pulled a gun on him. Cesar's brother determined Cesar's best bet at living would be killing the other guy first. This isn't what Cesar wants. This scene depicts what I think can be seen in real life. I've never experienced it, but drive-bys and gang violence are real. They happen, and this scene shows what can occur if someone doesn't really want to participate but is at risk if they don't.

This next scene (shortened on YouTube), is an honorable mention for me. When it comes to racial identity or ethnic identity, this show doesn't explicitly touch on those topics. It's a given when the show features an entirely diverse main cast. However, this scene specifically plays into the intersectionality that was explored in this course. Socioeconomic status is always a topic that arises when dealing with racial disparity and identity. The Halloween scene is the first time the audience sees the characters outside the hood. They go to Brentwood, the preppy, rich neighborhood. The people in this neighborhood are almost entirely white and of a higher socioeconomic status than the main characters. As the scene will show, there's hostility between the poor and the rich kids based mainly on where they grew up and how they lived. I mentally noted this scene specifically as being one that screams importance regarding racial identity and status.

Citations:

Saulny, S. (2013, February 5). More young Americans identify as mixed race. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/us/30mixed.html

"Terms for Multicultural Studies: Defining "Race", "Ethnicity", and "Nationality" - Prof. Gregory Jay

[moonlarked]

So I just wanted to talk a little bit about the Songs post I made and the responses!

First of all: thank you @soryasongsaa @cogaytes @dizzythegreat @thebestbookshelf for responding! It means a lot to me that people are being so nice and willing to explain stuff!! ❤️❤️

My personal thoughts reading: I think it’s pretty messy. There’s no excuse for the stereotyping; it just seems lazy and unresearched. As someone who wants to get into writing myself, I would research for hours before even considering writing about a culture that isn’t my own. And, yeah, they’re elves, they don’t have human ethnicities, so it would be kinda weird to specify them as a specific nationality while not doing the same for the white coded characters, but Shannon should’ve put more into their characters.

Anyway, I still love the Songs. I feel like they’ve been fleshed our more, but it’s been pretty rocky. And now I’m gonna stop bc I don’t want to say more about a subject that I don’t really have a say in.

Thanks for giving me your perspective!

(below the cut is more of a personal vent, so you can stop here if you want. ❤️)

I’m gonna talk about my OCD now and how it connects to this situation.

It’s hard to explain, but basically I’ve discovered that I need my special interest (I’m autistic) to be perfect. If I find something that’s problematic about it - like a social media post - I’m gonna take the whole day to ruminate to try to get rid of that awful panic. Which sucks, because I have a life beyond fandom.

This started with Wanda Maximoff. The movie version. Basically the first character I ever really connected with due to her mental struggles and anxiety and coping mechanisms. I saw a lot of myself in WandaVision.

Now, this is Tumblr, and a lot of this discourse is on Tumblr, but in case you aren’t caught up: basically: Wanda Maximoff is a Jewish-Romani woman. The comic version, that is. The movie version is a white woman from a made up country called Sokovia. And many posts have called out the way that the mcu translation has been… less than accurate. They’ve added stereotyping and outdated tropes while not even letting her be her original ethnicity. And the actress playing her hasn’t exactly been well researched on the situation - she’s pretty ignorant and has said some problematic stuff.

“Whiteness” is a controversial subject and many people have argued over the race of Romani and Jewish people. Not to mention her representation in the comics is less than progressive in some areas. But having Wanda being played by a white woman takes away meaningful rep from historically persecuted minority groups.

Is any of this my fault? No. Did I still have a mental breakdown frequently about this? Yes.

You have to understand - I ADORED this character. In many ways I still do. This doesn’t excuse the problematic parts, but it caused me to be in constant self-loathing. I convinced myself I was horrible because I related to to this character. This caused me to look up posts about this subject in hopes of something that would fix this, something to prove all these people wrong.

It was a cycle. I wanted to die frequently. It may seem like I was overreacting, but my mind was in constant panic mode and to me this seemed incredibly important.

You know what saved me? Well, talking to my parents of course, and learning about ocd, and getting counseling.

But also: Keeper.

Returning to a series that genuinely gave me joy. Letting myself escape.

That’s where the Song twin controversy comes in.

You’ll probably guess I was pretty panicked when I found out about this controversy. It felt like Wanda all over again. I feel like I’m falling into this cycle again.

But I’m deciding I’m not gonna let myself do that.

I’m gonna accept the bad. I’m gonna like what I like. And I’m gonna talk about my feelings instead of bottling them up.

The Song twins are problematic. People have a right to call them out.

And I still love Kotlc. I will continue to love it and talk to others who love it.

I’m not going to fall into that misery again. I’m going to tell my ocd to fuck off. I’m going to go to therapy. I’m going to get better.

❤️❤️❤️

[flowerkicker]

I love Beau and relate to her as a non-white queer girl, but I have something to say when it comes to her design.

Beau’s character art shows her as ambiguously brown. The actor who plays Beau is white. Her character class is a Monk which in dnd terms is a spiritual fighter that utilizes ki and kung fu bullshit to fight. While all the dnd classes are stereotypes, this one is specifically made with an oriental~ aesthetic. Occasionally she is referenced as a “tan human” otherwise it doesn’t get much deeper canonically. Beau’s story however has connections with jade jewelry, a familiarly Chinese tradition (I am Korean American with ties in China through my grandpa. He gifted me jade bracelets growing up). All of this is to say, I always feel weird whenever I think about it because I can’t understand any reason to do these things besides wanting an “Asian aesthetic”. It doesn’t feel like someone simply playing a non-white character for the normalization especially when, in Beau’s design, she has light blue eyes despite clearly being brown (a common practice to make non-white people look more “pretty”or “unique” by giving them conventionally white characteristics).

Asian culture is commonly used as a tool to make characters feel cool and exotic as well as superficially cultured (I believe the term for this is Orientalism). I don’t want to single just this character out when this a larger pattern, and probably none of these things were intentional. I wish people recognized the implications behind these types of characters. As an Asian girl to see this constantly happen but never be addressed, especially in content I hold dear to my heart, it doesn’t feel good. There is a lot more to being Asian, an already broad fucking term, than exotic looks and foxy eyes.

I am curious what other poc who watched campaign two thinks about this.

[what-if-nct]

i’m probably going to get so much hate for saying this but, i don’t think changing ariel to be black was necessary tbh-

i wish they kept ariel white and then introduced a black character as a friend or something — but not like the token black friend like how shows like the proud family (for example) did to dijonay but a character that has a personality and an engaging backstory.

i would imagine a black girl with gradient pink hair with natural big curls that would go up to about her shoulders, wears purple bra and fins and would love to sing since her family were a tree of talents with her little brother being a math genius, her big sister being a great cook, her mother being a great dancer and her father being an awesome actor. they’re like one of the most famous families under the sea making them the same level as ariel since she’s also quite well known in the sea universe.

and then ariel- idk- gets tired of people seeing her as a celebrity and wants to be seen as a normal fish until she meets the black girl, that we’re going to call sasha, and they could relate to each other to what they had went through.

yeah i can sense the black twitter from here but before people say anything, i am actually black myself so i’m saying what i think should happen since it was supposed to “retell” the story of a princess in life action

(lol i’m scared)

I understand where you're coming from and actually the Little Mermaid cartoon series had a black mermaid who was deaf. Also I'd say Dijonay was less a token black character cause it is a mainly black cast she is more so like the personification of every black stereotype in one, plus the colorism in the proud family but we're not going to get into that. I'd say Andre from victorious was a token black character.

I personally feel it doesn't matter either way, like if they made Ariel White, Black, Latina, Asian, Polynesian it's really not a big deal and doesn't matter either way. Any choice is a good choice and I think Halle was chosen for her talent and also she has a very ethereal Disney princess face, But I remember watching Brandy's Cinderella, I had the vhs and me and my sister would always watch it in our playroom. And I think it is just nice to see classic Disney princesses in different ethnicities.

And the interesting thing is in the Brandy version, Cinderella was black, The prince was Filipino, and his parents were black and white and the stepmother was white but had one black daughter and one white daughter and as a kid I never even questioned it at all, it didn't matter, and I think getting to that place of anyone can be anyone and race not even be included in the deciding factor is a great place to be.

Disney even did this with the descendants, they decided to make Cruella black and her son Carlos was mixed. , and Ursla's daughter Uma was black, they didn't need to but it was just a nice choice. But with all of the white princesses except for Merida they're not attached to a specific culture, there stories are very adaptable to anyone. But with Pocahontas, Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana, and Moana their stories are tied to their culture, even Merida, her story is very tied to her culture as well. So obviously they shouldn't change in the live action version.

Also Toni Braxton played Belle in the beauty in the beast on broadway and Keke Palmer played Cinderella on broadway because they were just the best women for the part and I think that's all that should matter. Like when people were upset that Zendeya was MJ in spiderman when I can tell you she was simply the best woman for the part, Zendaya is such a great actress, I think it's just something that really doesn't matter and is just a nice choice.

But I do agree that there should just be more well rounded black characters and even more princesses of color I know disney releases a new disney princess every five or six years but give us more princesses of color, a princess from Brazil, from India, and more asian, Black, native and middle eastern princesses who don't have to fight or spend most of the movie as a damn frog, let them just , be pretty and sing to animals too. I'd also love that.

[royal-canadian-air-force]

How do you find Canada? I'm from the UK,and even though I spent a week there once, I didn't get to know much about the place.

It’s almost midnight and I’m feeling talkative, so you’re getting a stupidly long response.

So it depends on where you are.

I live in the prairies (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan), so my answer will be more specific to that. Politics, that’s a shit hole I won’t get into. Could be worse though, could be America. Geography, pretty flat for the most part where I am, but there are some really epic mountains. And I mean really epic. The lakes aren’t half bad either, and even the endless stretches of farmland are quite cozy during road trips. That’s one thing I like here, the average road trip is at least three hours at minimum. Anything else is basically just a drive. Lots of road trips here. Weather is unpredictable as fuck, but summer storms are amazing, and there’s pretty skies. The snow isn’t the worst either. Culturally, it’s pretty freaking cool. You have First Nations cultures, anglophones, and francophones as the main ones who have a big impact. Lots of festivals and events related to all those. Good food. Although First Nations people definitely still need better treatment, especially when it comes to environment, and how much things cost up in the territories. Our touristy places aren’t bad either, although some are overly hyped, you can easily drive to the next town over from the touristy ones for a proper experience. No one here can drive. Pretty sure nowhere in the world has good drivers, but still. The people from BC never follow speed limits, people from Ontario act like they own the road, and people from Alberta don’t know how to use a turning signal. Wildlife is alright. Polar bears are your biggest concern if you’re up north. “If it’s brown, lay down, if it’s black, fight back, if it’s white, goodnight.” Basically, we get bears almost everywhere, but Polar Bears are the ones you definitely don’t wanna see. Moose are big, menacing, and if you hit one with your car, the moose will walk away while you probably have a concussion. Canadian Geese are overly sensitive, way too aggressive, and absolute menaces . Sometimes you can walk right by one with nothing happening, other times one will randomly dive after at you from the sky (speaking from experience with that). We have housing issues, and inflation is a bitch, but I suppose that’s a bit of a world wide issue. We’re pretty LGBTQ friendly, although we could be a lot better *cough*danielsmith*cough*. We have decent hockey teams, in fact my team just had a win today. Our NFL teams suck ass. We only have I think one real baseball team now. We also have lacrosse (which is basically hockey, with how aggressive it is) and curling (which is boring to watch but surprisingly fun to play). We have lots, and I mean lots of fires during the summer. Our seasons are basically winter, fake spring, construction, fires. Not specifically in that order either. Lots of there stereotypes are fake (we are not nice, trust me) but I have noticed more and more people with a light, stereotypical Canadian accent. Ignoring Newfoundland and Labrador, they have their own thing going on with accents.

I could say more, but that’s probably already more of an answer than you were expecting. Overall it’s alright. Could use some improvement, but no country is perfect. I’m still debating maybe moving back to Ireland one day, but that’s a strong maybe.

Yeah, Canada is pretty chill

[digitalmedia-curation]

Race and Video Games

Now, my former blogs were based around how changes in gender and sexuality were integrated into certain types of video games and how the people have reacted to such changes. There has been a blog explaining how games have changed and developed over the years based on the opinions and preferences of the people. At first, it had to do with the expansion of the character creation function, but then it had gotten to the point of where you could give feminine qualities to male characters and masculine qualities to female characters. It was an oddly specific update that matched with the growing times of people being accepted and acknowledged as a different gender by their unique physical qualities. Then, I had discussed how female gamers and female characters are more sexualized and treated as eye candy due to how they are made to appear in game, which has been a topic of discussion many times. It was most likely done for the appeal of the male gamer community, which is larger compared to the females, but it mostly reflects how women are often viewed in real life in terms of being seen for just their looks and not the value they actually hold. Lastly, we had discussed a form of discrimination regarding gender roles and how it relates to video games on a major and minor scale. It all started how little kids were made fun of or ostracized for playing with toys and activities that goes against their gender roles, either by their friends or even by their own parents, and it had matured to the point of video games. Although much has been covered,  I have never really touched the subject of race. Of course, race has been one of the largest subjects of social conflict and discrimination for centuries, but over the current times it has ‘watered down’ to something we commonly expect from certain people or unintentionally ignore. In terms of video games, race may not be as big a problem as gender and sexuality, but there has been some form of discrimination in terms of creating your character. To be specific, certain character creations don’t have many options when it comes to changing the skin color. Of course, the default option in any game would be having pale white skin, and sometimes there are games that don’t offer any other alternative other than the ones relating to sports. I’m thinking it may have something to do with the stereotype regarding the main character’s you see on certain shows, which mostly happen to have light colored skin. Additionally, although it hasn’t been in any current cases, there has been a stereotype going on where the characters posing as the villains in the story tend to have darker skin colors, which has been pointed out in several videos. Fortunately, it hasn't been shown recently so it hasn’t posed as big of an issue. I do recall that in the past, one of my friends made a joke about this one topic, specifically how the main character of a certain rpg is always some plain looking white guy instead of anything unique and out of the ordinary, or at least offer a form of character creation to that he could input his own idea. He acted like it did not bother him at all and that it was just a joke, but I can tell that he has seen quite a lot of that ‘little stereotype’ and by now it has gotten pretty old over the years. Perhaps it's because most of those games originate from japan and such where most of their lead characters are their own race since the setting often takes place in their country, or even a reason relating to that. In that case, I do understand since if it was the other way around then it would make sense for the developers to do so, which for me personally it does not bother me in the slightest. Then again in terms of the types of gamers that get very sensitive and critical of certain games, then I would imagine that lack of creativity hitting a little nerve deep down.

[abbysirlgf]

— WHY IS JOEL SO POPULAR ? (RESPONSE)

pairing : none, just analysis trigger warning(s) : suicide, child death and mentions of race. word count : 570

On my old account, where I originally posted this analysis on my old account I received a few comments that I personally believe need to be responded to because some things were misunderstood. Therefore, the following arguments I will make are responses to the specific points that were previously brought up.

Henry killed himself because he couldn’t live with himself after killing his brother

I appreciate this point completely. It is true that Henry only killed himself due to the fact that he had to kill his brother in order to save others. However, I do feel I address this in my analysis - my point was that people of colour have to be overly sensitive to other people's needs or they run the risk of being considered ‘unreasonable’ or ‘merciless’. Though I am aware of the fact that not all people would perceive them this way, we still have to acknowledge that this stereotype exists. The experience of a person of colour and a white person will always be different because of the systemically oppressive society we live in. Even if the case is made that there would be no oppression in a post-apocalyptic world; this can be quickly dispelled due to the fact that things such as homophobia are still upheld

2. Show Joel did try to kill himself; but Sarah’s death wasn’t his fault

This is also a valid point, and I wasn’t trying to imply that his experience is to be diminished, I was simply trying to bring to light other issues presented in the show / game. Joel did try to commit suicide, and he was not at fault for his daughter’s death. Yet, I’m also not entirely sure that I agree with the implication that Henry was at fault for his brother’s death. I am aware that Henry was the one to pull the trigger on his brother, however I would liken it more to the actions of a doctor taking someone off of life support, rather than a murderer. Sam himself questioned whether people that become infected lose consciousness or not. In either case Henry would not be at fault. If they do lose consciousness, then it would be akin to terminating someone in a vegetative state. If they don’t lose consciousness, surely Sam would also want to stop his own actions, whether that meant dying or not. Therefore, I would not say that Henry was at fault in his death - we cannot fairly compare the two suicides / attempts because in doing so you diminish the importance of the other.

3. People of the same race are more likely to find a person of the same race hot

Though I understand what you were trying to convey, I don’t agree with this at all. People may find others similar to themselves more attractive, but physical appearance is not the only factor that counts when it comes to attraction. This also implies that the fandom does not have a lot of people of colour to relate to, and that the ones that are shown aren’t compelling or interesting enough to be considered past their looks. I, myself, am a person of colour who is heavily involved in the fandom; moreover I also favour a character that portrays a different race to my own. Additionally, there are plenty of depth-filled, intriguing and amusing characters of colour in the game - most notably Henry, Jesse, Dina, Lev, Manny and many more. They all feature their own compelling personalities and are also individually attractive characters. I also believe that in saying this, you have further proved my point. You don’t find Joel attractive because of his strong character and general strengths and flaws; you enjoy him because he is conventionally ‘pretty’.

[fortressofserenity]

OCs

When it comes to original characters in fanworks, there seems to be a paucity of black and brown OCs. Not to mention, either they get marginalised or attacked badly for this. You also have people who think African people aren’t that relatable, even though they’re chill with werewolves for as long as they’re white. They also ignore African countries, even though they’re just as interesting as European and Asian countries. In fact, in some precolonial African societies and countries homosexuality was widely practised and tolerated.

But you won’t see that many fans admitting this, perhaps because they have a tendency to other and marginalise, even ostracise black and African people a lot. Admittedly, I don’t think it’s that hard to come up with black original characters you really have to be really interested in and care about them to come up with them in the first place. I actually came up with a lot of black and brown Jojo OCs, especially since they come from South Africa, the Philippines, Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.

I actually think Cameroon is more interesting than France, or at least just as interesting. But I don’t think people are willing to bother looking up on actual African countries, even though these days this is becoming more accessible due to growing internet usage (internet use in Cameroon is around 33.1%). I even found documents about Cameroon on shadow libraries, so it’s not that hard to find if you’re willing to find these at all.

But alas, more people continue gravitating to the global North and more specifically western countries even though African countries are just as interesting. Likewise it’s not that hard coming up with black African OCs, it’s not that hard in my case but that’s because I remain interested in African cultures and countries. Even then, it’s not that hard coming up with a nonstereotypical black OC. But that involves seeing blacks as people, free of stereotypical preconceptions.

I guess this might be a barrier to creating more black OCs, if that’s ever really the case.

[howlscifer]

Back in the tags with a new guide pertaining to writing people of color, specifically east asians! This will be a general expansion on some areas that I’ve already covered in my historical guide which you can check out over here. Again as a preface, I’m speaking as someone who comes from an east asian background but, some of the topics I’ll cover below may also relate to asians as a whole. As always, if you’ve found this helpful and useful, please reblog ( this helps coverage more than likes do. )

001. So, a short and brief summary but one big stand out I see with rps that explore east asia the lack of awareness between the very big differences between different east asian countries. China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan etc, are not interchangeable. To mix them all together and call it representation severely under cuts the historical conflicts, the misrepresentation of cultural differences and frankly the lack of effort to use google. If you’re going to center a roleplay around an asian thematic, be specific. If I can see France and England distinctly differentiated,  then you can do the same here, it’s not that hard :)

002. Lack of research in fleshing out 3 dimensional characters. There seems to be an overarching issue where asian characters, specifically their names, aren’t properly researched and considered. For ex: Characters immigrating to the west from China are likely to use a “western” name ie: Jessica, Christine etc and use their chinese name for their middle. Whereas those in Japan who immigrate are far more likely to keep their Japanese name.

003. Religion in asian culture is vast and different. Honestly, I’ve seen some stereotypes of buddhism, taoism and etc. Not every asian is going to adhere to those kinds of religious beliefs. There are asians who are also raised devoutly Christian or Catholic, or even Muslim practicing asians as well as Jewish Asians. It’d be nice to see diversity over here too. Make sure you also research and not just slap it on and end up looking like a clown.

004. Tokenism! In 2022! You know you’d see it! This is just a general note to not group asians together and call it a diversity win. Like gee, got 1 chinese, 2 koreans, 1 japanese, I filled the quota!!!! Like fucking don’t do that and also on this note, please actually consider branching out and including south east asians or just other people of color. And also, if you’re using face claims, I’d like to say that most asians and people of color can tell when you half assed the effort and picked the one asian actor that’s getting media attention in hollywood. If you can look up five alternatives for white blonde ladies, you clearly can make the effort to do the same for others.

005. Mixed characters are people with stories too, I’ve said it in my historical post but I’m going to say it again, if you willingly choose to ignore the ethnic makeup for mixed characters and solely focus on the white half of their identity, you’re being fuckin racist. So stop it!

006. Positive stereotypes are still stereotypes!!! It’s getting really boring seeing characters just be smart or quiet. There’s more to it, incorporate flaws that gives your character more than an #aesthetic. In addition on this note, not all Asians are rich top 1% or mid class, explore outside of these socio-economic norms. Poverty is a very real thing and as always, be mindful and research!

007. Characterization! Don’t white wash asian characters. Can’t count how many times it’s done in the rpc where there is zero to no effort given in writing or incorporating the cultural significance of the fc and instead, the whole background or core elements are fully westernized. Let’s go back to the basics, we’re not a “look” to fetishize. Parts of what makes us distinct is our food, our traditions, our language and etc. If you’re just going to skip over it completely and make them a basic Karen, don’t bother attempting to represent minorities.

To sum up, the basis of avoiding most of these issues is just doing the very bare minimum, research! Use google, there’s so much content out there these days. And if you’re really at a loss of what to do, ask people who are from those specific area you’re looking into ( again, not one person can speak for an entire nation, everyone’s experiences are different so be mindful ). I know most people are happy to help but we’d like to see people try and put the effort to google before backpacking off of asians to get the answer, it is not our responsibility to educate you. With that said, happy writing, avoid the points above and you’ll be doing great.

[writingwithcolor]

Black Changeling Character

Kitkat asked:

Hi!  I‘m right now working on ironing out a book idea I’ve had for a while, but I wanted to ask something before the plot gets too set in stone and all.  So my MC (one of three; two of which are non-white) is black.  Her parents passed away when she was young from a car accident.  She doesn’t and hasn’t ever really had any stereotypes related to her skin color.  She‘s strong and brave but also gets to struggle and show weakness.  However, my current idea for a kind of plot twist is that the real her died in the car crash and the current her is actually a changeling.  Would it be best if I didn’t do this?  Since it’s a bit iffy for her to be non-white but not human, I wanted to check with a PoC before I proceeded.  Thanks!

Characterization and avoiding tokenism

To keep this from getting iffy, while keeping your MC a changeling, is to make sure there are other Black characters aside from them, specifically, human ones. This would solve any tokenism issues that could possibly pop up and help to negate dehumanizing Black people.

Execution here is important though, so having sensitivity readers could help catch any red flags that could slip into your work. Especially since you’ll be developing a fantastical being (Changelings/Faeries?) either drawing heavily from existing lore or simply having your creations inspired by existing lore. 

Be sure to be mindful of how you’re creating their biology, culture, etc. and how it would impact a Black character. How will they be perceived by readers and in-story characters? You’ll want to remedy any potential pitfalls (such as having heavily bestial changelings that could dehumanize your Black MC by falling into stereotypes). I don’t know if it’s part of your story, but having other Changelings or supernatural beings could possibly help here as well to show the diversity within said group.

Changeling and Autism 

Another thing that comes to mind is how Changeling myths have been historically connected to Autistic people in some places. You could look into this angle as well to see if you can draw inspiration if that is an angle you want and are able to carefully pursue. Doing some research into this and keeping in mind Disability/Neurodiversity stereotypes is important here too though, since there is a lot of dehumanization possible via this angle as well. If there are “this is what it’s like to be human” type comments and themes in your book you want to make sure you don’t add any ableism by dehumanizing characteristics and mannerisms that are typically seen in Disabled and/or Neurodiverse people, especially, in this case, Autistic people. 

~ Mod Alice