#it's worth noting that these are just east asian shows i was watching as they were airing

[celestial-sapphicss]

how did i go from watching ELEVEN shows in January to ZERO in March UNFAIR i feel so empty 😭

[sage-nebula]

I have Volo Brainrot™ at present, and I really want to talk about what makes him such an interesting character to me, but I can’t talk about any of that without talking about the colonialization apologia / propaganda present all throughout Legends Arceus, so you know what, let’s just go ahead and do that now instead of waiting for me to get to it in my review. It would be easier to just link this post in the review anyway, particularly for those who don’t want to read a review that’s something like sixty pages long.

All of that said though, before we get into this: I AM NOT SAYING that this is a bad game or that you can’t enjoy it. I myself have enjoyed it a lot (my review score is going to be 7.5/10), and I really, really, really hope that we get future games in this style. I also enjoy many of the characters in the game, too. But that said, the story is Yikes on many different levels, and I think that’s worth talking about. You can enjoy things while being critical of them—or at least, I can. I love Pokémon with all my heart, and that includes calling out its flaws when it has them, which is what I’m doing now. So please note that I’m not saying you can’t love this game, because I myself do love it! But I am going to talk about the serious issues with the story, and if that’s discussion you don’t want to partake in, then turn away now.

Huge spoiler warning for ALL of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, including and ESPECIALLY the postgame. You’ve been warned.

Okay, so first, let’s talk a little bit about the history of Japan, and their colonization of the northern part of the island (and the surrounding smaller islands) and their oppression of the Ainu people. I’m not even going to remotely begin to pretend to be an expert on this topic. I am not Japanese, nor am I Ainu, and I strongly encourage everyone to seek out sources from people who are of Japanese and especially Ainu descent on this topic if you want to know more. I’m just going to give a very brief overview of the things I’ve learned from my own research, but again, I’m not an expert and I’m not pretending to be, so don’t quote me on this. (Although if you’re quoting a tumblr post in your academic papers . . . oh honey, no.)

So.

The two main groups of people in this little history lesson are the Yamato Japanese and the Ainu. “Yamato Japanese” refers to the people that most people think of today when they hear “Japanese”; these are the East Asian people who were indigenous to the main part of the island of Japan, particularly in the middle and the southern regions. Ainu, meanwhile, refers to an ethnically diverse group of people who were indigenous to the northern part of the island (known today as Hokkaido), as well as several of the smaller islands in the periphery of the main island. The Ainu people were established there before the Yamato Japanese decided to move north to further the Empire of Japan, and in fact there are many historical records which show the Empire of Japan interacting with the Ainu people to establish things like trades, treaties, etc. The Ainu had their own culture, their own language, their own religion. That was their land, they were their own sovereign nation.

And then . . . they weren’t.

Again, I’m going to give only a very brief overview, especially since I’m not an expert in the subject. But essentially, the Japanese Empire decided that it wanted to conquer what would later become known as Hokkaido, as well as the surrounding peripheral islands. If you’ve watched the meme-spawning video “History of Japan”, you will remember this as the part where the narrator goes, “. . . and they conquered the north finally, got that squared away.” Well, as can be expected, there was more to it than that. 

In the late 1700s - early 1800s, the Empire of Japan took its first steps toward conquering Hokkaido and forcibly assimilating / oppressing the Ainu people by conquering the southern part of Hokkaido. The Ainu still controlled the northernmost part of their territory and they and other indigenous groups (because I believe there were others too) still controlled the periphery islands—but the Japanese shogunate took full control over the southern part of the territory. And while this would be bad enough on its own, the Empire did not stop there. Because they viewed the Ainu as “beneath” them, as “barbarous”, they engaged in practices such as abducting Ainu women and raping / forcibly marrying them to Japanese men (to “better assimilate” them), and arresting Ainu men to force them to work in indentured servitude for years, sometimes a decade or more. These were only a few of the practices enacted to weaken the Ainu people, stamp out their culture, and drop their population.

And it gets worse.

In the mid- to late-1800s, the Empire of Japan fully annexed Hokkaido and the surrounding smaller islands. In 1899 specifically, the Japanese government passed laws which labeled the Ainu people as “former aborigines” and granted them Japanese citizenship status . . . which might sound good on paper until you realize that it stripped them of their rights as indigenous people (something that was not fixed until 2019). In many cases, Ainu people had their land forcibly taken from them and given to Yamato Japanese settlers, and it was made illegal for them to practice their religious and cultural customs, speak their language, and hunt and gather, so that they would instead assimilate into Japanese culture, language, and customs. And even though the Ainu had their status as indigenous people restored in 2019, not only is it far too late and the damage has been done (the Ainu language is nearly extinct), but a year later in 2020 the former prime minister said that Japan is the only country to have “. . . lasted for as long as 2,000 years with one language, one ethnic group, one dynasty.” So even after the Ainu had their status as an indigenous group restored . . . it was still being ignored by the government, even a year later. Which isn’t surprising, but it is depressing considering how much the Ainu population has dwindled due to the colonization and imperialism, how many of their practices have been lost, how their language is only spoken by a handful of native speakers now, etc.

So, what does all of this have to do with Pokémon?

As anyone who has played the games or is a fan of Pokémon knows, the region of Sinnoh is the PokéWorld version of Hokkaido. And as such, Hisui—which is the version of Sinnoh that we get to explore in Legends Arceus—is a version of ancient Hokkaido . . . or, as it was known before it was annexed, Ezo. In other words, not only did Game Freak base Sinnoh on Hokkaido, but when they decided to make a game about its ancient past, they included the fact that Hokkaido wasn’t always named Hokkaido by making it so that Sinnoh wasn’t always named Sinnoh. So if you’re wondering why the region was called Hisui instead of Sinnoh in Legends . . . that’s why.

Anyway, knowing that Sinnoh = PokéHokkaido obviously raised a lot of questions with regards to how Legends—a game which takes place back in the feudal era—would handle the question of indigenous people. Obviously, Japan has a very brutal history of imperialism and colonization with regards to Hokkaido and the Ainu people (and other places as well such as Korea, but this is specifically about Hokkaido / the Ainu). But at the same time, Pokémon is a game series for children which, while it has included heavy topics such as genocide and child abuse in the past, still tends to make its stories easily digestible and not too heavy for the children involved. Also, this is a Japanese game made by a Japanese company, and even now in the year of our Pokélord 2022 the treatment of the Ainu by the Japanese government and, I’d wager, many Japanese media companies isn’t exceptional. (Although there are many Japanese people with Ainu ancestry due to the aforementioned abductions and rapes, as well as Ainu people encouraging the interracial marriages in hopes that their offspring wouldn’t be as discriminated against if they were part Japanese . . . it’s a whole thing that, again, I’m not an expert on and am not really qualified to discuss.) So, would they just avoid it altogether by having everyone in the game be indigenous to the region?

Unfortunately . . . no.

To get this out of the way before anything else: The issue is not that we have an isekai protagonist from the future / our world / wherever. (I think they’re meant to be from the future of the PokéWorld, but I think it’s left open enough so that you can have them be from wherever you want.) It’s standard PokéFair for the protagonist to be exceptionally special, and if they are from future!Sinnoh, one could headcanon that they’re descended from the actual indigenous peoples of Hisui (so the Diamond Clan, Pearl Clan, or Ginkgo Group), so it’s not quite the pro-colonization propaganda it might otherwise be. While of course it would have been preferable to have our protagonist just straight up be from one of the clans (or maybe from like, a third clan formed by people who left those two clans because they were tired of the fighting and wanted a Third Option or something similar), the isekai aspect of the story isn’t the part I take issue with. Instead, the face of the colonization apologia in Legends Arceus is this face right here:

Words cannot describe how much I hate this insecure, ignorant little man.

This man is Kamado, the commander of Galaxy Team and de facto leader of Jubilife Village, a village that is full of no one but colonizers from outside the Hisui region. Kamado, and those who came with him, decided to come to Hisui to start a new life “free of war and strife,” and Kamado in particular aims to do that no matter what the cost is—including if that cost is, as he says later in the story, exterminating pokémon that he feels pose a threat. The game tries to handwave this by giving him a sad backstory about how pokémon razed his home village back in whatever region he came from (I would assume Kanto personally), but not only are we not told whether those pokémon were ever provoked or not, but it still doesn’t excuse Kamado’s shitty behavior toward the pokémon in the Hisui region who are minding their own business, or, most importantly, the indigenous peoples of Hisui whom he looks down upon, which the narrative never once takes him to task for doing so.

Let’s look at the Diamond and Pearl Clans for a moment, shall we?

The Diamond and Pearl Clans are, I believe, meant to be the PokéWorld version of the Ainu. While they lack the characteristic physical features of the Ainu people from back then (e.g. the women don’t have mouth tattoos, the men don’t have beards), their cultural practices revolving around their close relationships with pokémon and the Noble Pokémon that they worship and serve speaks very much to the religious practices that the Ainu practiced before the Empire of Japan made it illegal for them to do so. Specifically, the Ainu were largely animists; they believed that everything had a spirit or soul, but in particular several of the gods they worshiped took animal forms, and as a result those animals held high reverence among the Ainu people. So for example, Kim-un-kamuy was known as the “god of mountains” and was often seen as a bear; Rep-un-kamuy was the “god of the sea”, and was sometimes depicted as an orca. 

How does this relate back to Pokémon?

Well, as stated, not only do the Diamond and Pearl clans live among pokémon, but if you look at the Noble Pokémon which hold the highest importance in their clan, you’ll see that many of them hearken back to animals that held high importance in the Ainu religious traditions. Ursaluna is the most obvious, being a giant bear. But Basculegion is a giant salmon, and salmon were a staple in the Ainu diet (not to mention that they had a god of the sea / fishing / marine life as well). Deer were another animal which were very important to Ainu survival, and Wyrdeer is another Noble Pokémon. Obviously some like Electrode and Kleavor don’t have direct analogues, but there are still enough that do that make it so that this had to be intentional. Particularly considering how the Diamond and Pearl Clans are very close to pokémon whereas the colonizers are not, and the difference in the Ainu people’s animist beliefs versus the Yamato Japanese’s Shinto or Buddhist beliefs, and the fact that the Clans were, you know, already there whereas the Galaxy Team came from other regions . . . yes, I think it’s safe to say that the Diamond and Pearl clans are stand-ins for the Ainu people. (The Ginkgo Guild might be as well, though it’s harder to say because we don’t exactly know where they came from to my knowledge, or if Volo was even actually one of them for real. But more on that later on.)

Now, to be fair, most of the colonizers in Jubilife don’t seem to have any issues with the Diamond and Pearl Clans. And yes, they are colonizers and not immigrants because if they were immigrants, they would have made an attempt to live with the Diamond and Pearl Clans. It’s not as if they would have been turned away; Ingo fell out of the sky and the Pearl Clan not only took him in, but made him a Warden. Instead, the Galaxy Team has chosen to create a village of their own, with their own culture and inventions, and Kamado is pushing his own values and beliefs onto the Clans. They have created a colony, they are colonizing, they are colonizers. There’s no getting around it.

But as I said, most of them don’t seem to have an issue with the Clans. Arezu is able to become the hairdresser’s apprentice with no problem. Rei / Akari is willing to help Mai when she requests assistance at the start of the game. For the most part, the colonizers don’t seem to look down on the Clans . . . but Kamado absolutely does, and the worst part is that the game rewards him for his ignorant behavior.

First, let’s take a look at their history pre-game.

The Diamond and Pearl Clans have been at odds with each other for a long time, because they each believe that the other Clan is worshiping a false “almighty Sinnoh,” the god they believe created their world and rules over all of time (Diamond) or space (Pearl). Obviously, they’re both a little bit wrong in that they’re actually worshiping Dialga and Palkia respectively and just don’t know it, but whatever, that’s not the point. The point is, these are deeply held and highly valued religious beliefs for these Clans, beliefs that guide their people, beliefs that inform how they interact with pokémon and the world around them. And how does Kamado respond to these beliefs?

He refers to it with sarcastic scare-quotes.

Now, to be entirely fair to him, he does refer to almighty Sinnoh without the sarcastic scare-quotes in the previous line. But even so, referring to almighty Sinnoh with scare-quotes even once shows a disparaging attitude toward the beliefs of the Clans (especially since the context of this line is Kamado questioning Warden Melli’s assertion that the frenzy state was a gift from almighty Sinnoh to strengthen the nobles of the Clans). While it makes sense that Kamado wouldn’t have the same religious beliefs as the Clans given that he comes from a different region altogether, there’s a difference between not holding the same religious beliefs as another group, and disparaging their beliefs. Kamado isn’t showing respect here, and the fact that no one in the Clans was present for this conversation doesn’t matter. It’s clear that he doesn’t think very highly of their beliefs or practices, and while that makes sense considering how close they are with pokémon and how much Kamado himself dislikes / fears pokémon, it still doesn’t make it okay. And, more importantly, given the context of the way the Yamato Japanese colonizers treated the Ainu people and their beliefs (and forbade them from practicing those beliefs after they fully conquered the territory), it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But that said, it does get worse than this.

At multiple points in the game, Adaman and Irida (the leaders of the Diamond and Pearl Clans respectively) meet in Kamado’s office to discuss the ongoing situation surrounding the frenzied Noble pokémon. And during one of these meetings, we get the following:

I’m going to be honest: When I got to this part in my playthrough, I had to actually turn my Switch off for a bit and set it down because I was so appalled.

Read the dialogue again, and take note of who is saying each line. Kamado blatantly states that he and the other Jubilife colonizers came to Hisui to create a home for themselves (again, to colonize the land, not to actually join the peoples who already lived there and respect their way of life). Adaman then says that Kamado “[put in work] to get [the Diamond and Pearl Clans] to treat one another as equals and keep [them] from fighting.” 

I don’t know about the rest of you, but to me this reeks of “the civilized colonizer had to stop the barbarians from killing each other over petty squabbles.” And considering how the Yamato Japanese viewed the Ainu as uncivilized, as lesser, as beneath them? To say this isn’t a good look is an understatement. Particularly considering the fact that both Clans were just a little bit wrong about who they were worshiping (since neither was worshiping Arceus, the actual Creator of All), and the fact that Adaman and Irida both at different points in the endgame acknowledge this, this all amounts to, “the poor ignorant savages just didn’t know any better and needed the civilized wise colonizers to come in and set them straight.” It’s nasty. And considering how the Ainu people are still suffering to this day because of the imperialism and colonization (which the Japanese government tried to sweep under the rug by calling it a “redistributing of resources and unused land” or something like that), it makes it even more vile. (In other words, a story that is pro-colonization and pro-imperialism would be bad enough, but considering the historical context? Yikes.)

But still, it still gets worse! Because later on in the story, Kamado—due to his fear of the protagonist’s bond with their pokémon and therefore their overall collective strength—decides to banish the protagonist from the village. The protagonist then goes to the Diamond and Pearl Clans for help, both of whom say they cannot openly assist the protagonist because it would piss off Kamado. And I have to say, I found that to be appalling. Kamado is a colonizer. Kamado has no right to do anything in this land. He certainly shouldn’t have the right to raise an army to go hunt down a pokémon atop Mount Coronet, regardless of whether that pokémon is on the other side of a rift or not. Yet both Adaman and Irida—and, as a result, their wardens and the rest of the clan—kowtow to what he wants. Oh sure, they try to argue with him on your behalf when you’re being exiled, but ultimately they’re afraid of angering him, of going against his word. Kamado’s word is law. And considering he’s a colonizer and they’re the indigenous people, the fact that they’re shown to so easily bend to his will . . . while on the one hand it explains how Hisui changes to Sinnoh (and in the postgame, Kamado is the one who suggests this name change, which makes sense given that he’s the driving force of imperialism in this land and it was the Japanese government who changed the name from Ezo to Hokkaido, but still, gross), it’s still infuriating. Neither Adaman nor Irida, nor anyone else native to Hisui, should have to listen to Kamado’s colonizing ass. But they do, because this game’s story is full to the brim of colonization propaganda and imperialist apologia. There’s no way to get around it, that’s what the bulk of the story is unfortunately about. (And it really didn’t have to be this way, colonizers didn’t have to play a part even if the protagonist was isekai’d in from another time period / world, as I already explained. That they chose to do this is just . . . yikes.)

With all of that said . . . let’s talk about Volo, shall we?

For most of the game, Volo is a friendly merchant from the Ginkgo Guild who is very interested in the myths and legends of Hisui, much like his eventual descendant (reincarnation??) Cynthia will be. In the postgame, we learn that he is also completely off his shits and wants to, for reasons that are never explained to us beyond “I was sad once”, completely destroy and remake the world using Arceus’ power, similar to Cyrus. Now, while the bad writing surrounding his motivation is frustrating (because again, we never really learn what his true motivation is for wanting to remake the world; at least with Cyrus we knew it was because he thought humans sucked for having emotions, but with Volo we never get anything beyond “I was sad once and was like ‘why am I in a world that’s mean to me’" and that’s just not a concrete motivation), I feel like we can extrapolate what could have been his motivation if this game was better written and not so dedicated to being colonization apologia.

During one of his postgame rants, Volo says this:

Volo is one of Hisui’s indigenous people, despite not belonging to either the Diamond or the Pearl Clans.

Now, I mentioned earlier that I think that the Ginkgo Guild are also indigenous to Hisui, although I don’t think this is ever explicitly stated. There is a location in the Cobalt Coastlands that bears the Ginkgo name, and Volo says that he has the blood of the “ancient Sinnoh people,” indicating that he (or at least his heritage) is indigenous to this land, even if the other indigenous peoples don’t refer to themselves as the Sinnoh people (although they do refer to their god as “almighty Sinnoh” for the majority of the game, so). While it’s unclear if Volo is actually a member of the Ginkgo Guild, or if he’s just pretending because being a merchant is an easy way to gather information, he still plays the part well enough that he fools pretty much everyone into believing that he’s one of them, with Cogita even questioning him when he talks about the Guild as if he’s not one of their members (which is why it’s unclear whether he’s one of them or not). Regardless of whether the Ginkgo Guild is indigenous, though, I think it’s pretty clear that Volo himself still is; he says he has the blood of the ancient Sinnoh people in his veins, he has those strong ties to this land and (he feels) to his god, to Arceus. Volo being indigenous is undeniable.

So with that in mind . . . aside from “I was sad once and thought that sucked so I WANT TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD,” I think that a more believable motivation for Volo would be, “I want to remake the world so the colonizers never came here,” or something similar.

Think about it: It’s mentioned time and time and time again throughout the game that the Galaxy Team’s influence on Hisui is changing the culture of the continent at a rapid pace. Whenever you visit her outside of mandated story visits, Cogita mentions that with the arrival of Galaxy Team, the human voices in the region are growing louder. Both the Diamond and Pearl Clans are kowtowing to Kamado. They’re starting to move toward assimilating into Jubilife Culture, what with Arezu moving into the village, their open approval of pokéballs, etc. And while Volo does use pokéballs as well (and gives you the hint to smack pokémon in the back with them for better captures), we also know that he does still have a good relationship with his own pokémon given that he’s able to evolve his Togepi all the way, which requires high friendship. More importantly though, Volo is interested in history and culture that was lost; maybe it isn’t just wanting to change the fact that colonizers ever came to take Hisui, but also wanting to bring back the cultural traditions that have already been lost to time, to make it so that the ancient Sinnoh people aren’t so ancient anymore. Maybe Volo’s motivations aren’t that he was sad once, but that he mourns for a culture, for a people who have been lost, and wants to bring that culture to life again, to reshape the world so that it was never lost in the first place. And while it’s not my place to say because I am not a member of any indigenous culture that has been stampeded over by imperialism, I feel that if an indigenous person saw a chance to rewrite history so that their culture wasn’t railroaded over by imperialism . . . they would be tempted to take that chance. And I think that it would be wrong to call them a villain for doing so.

Ultimately, I feel that this bit here is the final nail in the coffin for the imperialism apologia in this game’s story. Because Kamado, the very face of colonizing imperialism, is “redeemed” and seen as a “good guy” after he bows to the player for beating him in battle, claiming that he now sees the error of his ways and will listen to them (when really all he’s doing is admitting that he really cannot beat the player in battle, saying “might makes right,” and ultimately just being an ignorant, colonizing coward). But Volo, someone who in his final rant is stated to be one of the indigenous people of the land, is not redeemed, and instead leaves declaring that one day he will conquer Arceus and use it to reshape the world. The colonizer who should have been the villain is seen as a Good Guy After All, while the indigenous person who wanted to remake the world for vague reasons (because perhaps they didn’t want to even question the colonization happening?) is seen as the definite villain who teamed up with PokéSatan in an attempt to conquer PokéGod.

And I just have to say, I think that’s a really bad look.

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. This is pretty long, so if you want to keep reading, it’s under the cut.

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Racism, antisemitism, and anti-Jedi sentiment in Star Wars (Part 3/4)

Part 3: Antisemitism and Anti-Asian racism

via @shadowaccio6181 :

There is also an article here regarding more current stereotyped perceptions of both Asians and Jewish people that I’ll quote larger sections from, because I think context is important:

This type of “faulty and inflexible generalization” that associates an individual with the perceived wrongs of an entire ethnic/racial group is almost the textbook definition of prejudice. Princeton University psychologist Susan Fiske and her collaborators published a series of articles examining stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. They show people usually assess a group along two dimensions: warmth (are they sincere and sociable?) and competence (are they capable and intelligent?). For example, her work finds the elderly are stereotypically perceived as warm but incompetent; middle-class white Americans as warm and competent; Asians and Jews as cold but competent, and homeless people as cold and incompetent.

People who are not friendly are more dangerous to others than are people who are not competent, who are more dangerous to themselves. When majority-group members with high levels of bias encounter members of minority groups they perceive as cold, biased individuals can feel they must react by verbally harassing, bullying or attacking them. That’s especially true if that minority group is being touted or perceived as threatening — the way some leaders are painting Asian Americans as responsible for spreading the pandemic.

Using a nationally representative, random-sample telephone survey that interviewed 571 respondents in the United States in 2003, Fiske’s research found Asians, along with Jews, are consistently stereotyped as competent but cold. Biased individuals, confronted with people stereotyped as competent-cold, often feel envy and resentful admiration. Envied groups are often scapegoated during periods of widespread social instability, because biased majority-group members perceive those groups as having both the ability and intention to disrupt society.

We also shouldn’t ignore the stereotype of Asian parenting: “the notion that the Asian American parenting style is authoritarian—devoid of warmth, controlling, unfeeling, and undemocratic—versus Western parenting, which is viewed as the more positive authoritative style—firm, but warm, highlighted by intimate parent-child relations… our perceptions of parental warmth are culturally concocted and notes that what is often perceived as “strict parenting” in non-Western or non-Caucasian families is often misunderstood.” Obviously, not all parents are perfect, but this is very much a racist stereotype.

Commentary from Annessarose:

Exactly this.

It is indeed true that some Asian parents are undeniably strict to the point of toxic helicopter parent. I know this for a fact, because I have so many (Chinese) friends who experience it. It is also true that there are Asian parents who are not like this, and that there are many parents who are not toxic, who are supportive of their children.

Ultimately, it's important to note that for many parents, their actions come from good intentions even when it manifests itself in decidedly toxic ways. They are human. This does not excuse toxic parenting in any ways, but painting Asian parents with one brush and portraying all of them as harsh and unfeeling and authoritarian does a disservice to the many parents who are supportive, who listen, who try their best to help their kids. Ultimately, people are complex. Reducing them to stereotypes is dangerous and toxic.

To Jewish Star Wars fans: please please please feel free to add to this conversation! I don't feel qualified to speak on this but I would love to hear & amplify your voice on this.

We also shouldn’t ignore the common stereotypes of Asians in film (source):

I really feel I need to point this out, but as an Asian American, I’m actually thankful Obi-Wan is played by Ewan McGregor, because if he were played by an Asian actor, it would make so much of fandom’s characterizations of him Significantly More Yikes.

Ewan McGregor is known for being naked on-screen and having sexually suggestive scenes. However, there's a stereotype of "the Asian man as effeminate and asexual", or if sexualized, they're "categorized as exotic and different... foreign." This stereotyping "both feminizes Asian-American men and simultaneously constructs alternative gender and sexuality as aberrant." And "it seems as if Asian men are also victim to extremes: In some portrayals, they are cold-hearted villains and ruthless Kung Fu masters, while in other films, are portrayed as “losers” who have all the brains but no social skills or clueless immigrants fresh off the boat." "...men were portrayed more negatively than women; Asian men are perceived as less socially skilled or seen as the enemy." And Asians are often paraded about “as an example for people, showing them to be intelligent, overachieving" but "Asians were more likely to also be perceived as antisocial, awkward, and lacking proper communication skills."

Annessarose's commentary:

Oh, boy. Do I have thoughts on this.

I grew up in a an Asian diaspora. And. Despite living in a primarily Chinese area of that community, these stereotypes still wormed their way into us. At school, many (Chinese) girls would talk about how none of the (Chinese) men were attractive, and how they were dreaming about the white boys they saw on television instead. As we grew older, I had several in-depth discussions with several of my close female friends, and we'd end up talking about how the reason we thought the white guys were more attractive was because the media we watched told us that that was what the beauty standard was.

On top of that, we also had that stereotype of Asians being intelligent overachievers internalized as well. Do you know how many people would cry over an 85%? Do you know how many people would complain about a 92%? Many people ended up placing their self-worth into their academic marks, and it was disastrous. Mental health was all over the place. Bullying based on marks abounded. Granted, this stereotype was not the only reason this happened; it's true that there are indeed parents who take nothing less than 100%, and let me tell you, it really fucked some of my classmates up. It was horrendous. But many parents were not like that, but the constant peer pressure + societal pressure to be perfect in academics and extra-curriculars and everything just so we could feel like what society told us Asians were like was tremendous even in an Asian diaspora.

I remember being assigned to a group of white classmates in elementary school. I remember them saying, "Oh, cool, you're in here!" and I was like "Why me?" They told me "You're Asian, you're smart, so we're gonna do well in this project." Similar stories abounded with my East Asian friends all across elementary school, and shaped how we felt when we entered our high school.

Even in diaspora, western stereotypes & racism can be destructive and toxic.

This is Part 3!

[Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 4]

[ageofevermore]

Magic In The Parks

SUMMARY — and maybe he was meant to find love in the happiest place on earth, or maybe they were just strangers in the same room at the same time

WORD COUNT — 5.2k

NOTE — happy halloween, i’ve been working on this for nearly an entire month. it’s a bit rough around the edges, but i’m super proud of it!

ADD YOURSELF TO MY TAGLIST

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆ﾟ: *. ☽ .* : ☆ﾟ. ─────

The air is sweeter in Florida, warmer too. Tom’s got his arms full of bags, and his hand held tightly, but he still takes a minute to tilt his chin upwards and inhale the tropical scent of Orlando. He’s spent a lot of time in the southern states of the east coast, but he’s thankful to be in company this trip. The black adidas bag on his shoulder is heavy, but valuable. He can feel the sharp plastic of a crown poking his back through the padding; one of many she insisted on bringing, and his smile widens.

Traveling with a toddler is difficult, and Tom much rather prefers the time of his parental experience where Posie wasn’t mobile. She’s all over the place now, wanting to see and understand the inner workings of everything mechanical. He’s sure he’s answered the question of how a plane flies six times within the last few hours, but he enjoys it. He enjoys everything about fatherhood; even single fatherhood. 

Posie’s been buzzing about this trip for weeks, ever since Tom told her they’d get to meet all of her favorite princesses during the week. He’s seen every movie thrice over, confidently quoting The Princess and The Frog in his sleep he’s sure. It was the requested theme of her third birthday party, and he has his suspicions that her fourth will be all the same in a couple of months. 

“Hold my hand please, darling.” He insists when she pulls away, not wanting to lose his tiny companion in Terminal C of Orlando International. She’s always been a bit of a wanderer, but her curiosity’s grown since landing in Orlando and spotting a plethora of poorly hidden Mickeys. “Thank you.” 

His teams arranged for a driver to escort them to the resort, n0t wanting to risk public transportation. Somehow he’s managed to go unrecognized, but he doesn’t want to leave anything to chance. Posie’s swinging his hand now, her small fingers twisted into his. The feel of her is soft, dainty, innocent even. It’s everything Tom misses when he lays her to bed at night and goes about the rest of his evening without her company. She’s his best mate, and has been since the day she was born.

The black SUV Tom’s put in order pulls around into the terminal, a driver dressed in a black and white suit coming to help load the bags into the boot of the car. Tom’s made a plethora of big moves this trip, like traveling without personal security, and not bringing a car seat for Posie. He’s almost regretting it now, but it wasn’t worth the bulk and invasion. He likes this quality time, something he doesn’t get much of with the amount of active projects he’s signed onto. 

“We’re gonna go see the castle, right, Daddy?” Her small sentences are full of glee, and she’s bouncing excitedly on the tips of her toes. Tom scoops her up onto his hip, handing off the black Adidas bag when the driver, a middle aged man named Phil, asks if he wants it in the back as well. 

“Thank you,” He nods towards Phil, the asian-american nodding as gleefully as he could show behind the thick black mask. “Yeah, we’re gonna see the castle, and all the princesses. What are you gonna sing when you see Rapunzel?” Tom asks. 

Posie doesn’t have to think for a single minute, smiling as she begins the motions of delicately brushing another's hair. “Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clocks reverse, Daddy, you sing the rest.” Her young voice is innocent as she struggles over syllables, maiming almost every other word in the song, but Tom understands it, and his heart swells with adoration. 

“Bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fates design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. Go ‘head, finish it, love,” Tom encourages, laughing at the shy blush that spreads across Posie’s neck. She presses her cheek into his arm, grabbing his fingers in her tiny fist with uncertainty. “We’ll do it together, yeah? Ready?” He waits for her to nod before they both softly finish the rhyme Mother Gothel makes Rapunzel sing nightly, “What once was mine.” 

“Good job, Daddy.” Posie encourages, laughing when the button of her nose is pressed and Tom smooths his hand over her head. She’s got flyaways going in every direction, the once cute ponytail he assembled at the crown of her head having slipped down towards her neck with all of her excited activities. She looks a mess, but the sight makes his heart grow fonder. 

“Who’s your favorite?” The driver asks, his friendly question opening the shy toddler up. Her lips split, and her looks between Tom and Phil to make sure it’s okay before continuing.

Her voice comes out like a soft symphony, and shyly her English accent carries through the car. “Tiana.”

“I quite like Mulan.” Tom exclaims, poking his finger into Posie’s side. She squirms away from his touch, a laugh pouring from her belly as she throws her head backwards. “Reckon I could be Mushu, what do you think, mate?” Tom asks Phil, the man under question shaking his head with a laugh. His grin is wide beneath his mask, having been ages since he’s heard a child laugh so wholeheartedly. 

“I think Mushu fits perfectly, sir.” 

-

Posie’s pressed into Tom’s side, sound asleep for the second time with the hem of his Star Wars shirt in her fist. Tom’s watching her blissfully, occasionally looking down at his phone to straighten out the last of their reservations, but for the most part, he’s devoted to her simple innocence. He had watched her sleep on the plane too, not remembering the last time he had the time to just sit beside her and admire what she’s becoming. 

“I miss that age.” Phil speaks softly. He’s kept quiet for a while, letting Tom just absorb the sweet cuddles he’s being offered, but he couldn’t let the father slip by without sympathizing about just how fast they grow up. “I have two at home.” 

“Goes by in a blink, doesn’t it, mate.” Tom smooths his hand over Posie’s head once more, breathing in deeply to settle the emotions brawling in his heart. 

-

Tom’s holding her on his hip again, coaxing sleep out of her eyes with the pad of his abused thumb. His fingers and palms are rough from years of stunt work with Sony and Marvel, but he still finds a way to make his touches gentle and sweet for her. His precautions surfaced from the first time he held her, just minutes after her delivery, and his pinky scratched the pink of her gentle cheek. He never wanted to feel that bottomless guilt and sorrow again. 

Posie’s fighting his gentle approach though, emitting soft whines from around her thumb as she poutily shoves her face into the crook of his neck. She’s been asleep for nearly an hour, which is longer than she naps at home, but Tom knows all too well how draining travel can be. They've only just been escorted into their hotel suite, and Tom wishes he had the patience to let her sleep until her sweet little heart's content, but he’s just about buzzing to get everything settled and begin the true festivities of their short trip. A week is not nearly enough time at the happiest place on earth. 

“Come on, darling.” He coos, bringing a hand down the small of her back and patting her bum. She’s as much of an easy riser as Paddy is, though where Paddy’s irritable, Posie’s cuddly. “Don’t you want to go see the pretty castle, love?” 

Posie lifted her head from Tom’s shoulder, petting the bridge of his nose sleepily. “Wanna go.” She mumbles, “Put my Tiana dress on.” 

Tom laughs, lowering her onto the hotel bed. She’s heavy in his embrace still, still mesmerized by sleep, but her eyes are open and buzzing with excitement. She traces the bag of costumes laying by the door, and her little fingers jet out in persistence. He detaches her arms from around his neck, kissing her little knuckles sweetly, before asking her to sit down so she doesn’t fall. She’s not the most coordinated little, and he’s not willing to risk the chance of her getting hurt. 

“Which one do you want, Posie? Yellow or Green?” Tom asks, turning around to look at his daughter. She’s on her feet again, reaching high above the headboard. Her fingers are just barely able to brush across the portrait of the Pixar characters, but she’s absolutely bustling with glee. “On your bottom, please.” Tom advises. He pulls the yellow dress from the bag, deciding against the green dress for the first night. 

Posie owns every princess dress ever, and in multiple variations. There’s about four Cinderella dresses shoved into the adidas backpack, Tom’s just barely managed to convince her to pack half of the collection, though he knows they’ll leave with at least another three in his suitcase when she lays her eyes on the gift shops collection, not to mention after the trip to bippity boppity boutique; which he’s already made a reservation for. He’s excited for the struggle though, because he knows it will have meant that Posie had fun. 

She mindlessly lifted her arms up when Tom came back over towards the bed, and he happily pulled her shirt from her body. At the moment, he couldn’t care for keeping the suite in a tidy order, flicking the shirt across the room, which prompted giggles from Posie who watched wide eyed excitement. “Reckon we can make it a bit messy, huh?” Tom teased, poking at the flesh of her pudgy belly. She’s losing the baby weight more and more every day, becoming almost unrecognizable in comparison to the infant decorating his home screen. It’s a bittersweet realization to have, and Tom feels as though he has the same thought every time she laughs. 

“Go ahead, angel. Throw them.” He encourages after standing her up on the bed and helping her out of her cotton shorts. Posie grins mischievously, doing as she was prompted and releasing the black shorts into the air. They don’t make it any farther then Tom’s shadow, but her head is still thrown back in exquisite belly laughs. 

Tom grins, holding the dress over her head and sliding her arms through the small cuffs carefully. She’s always hated being dressed, whether it was the actual act of putting clothes on, or continuing to wear them. She’s his little wild card, but he can’t help but melt at the sight of her in Tiana’s working uniform. 

“You look so pretty, my baby.” He coos, laying her down on the bed and kissing all over her face. Posie’s squeals and giggles are blissful, her small little fingers trying to push Tom’s scruffy chin away from her cheeks and necks. 

In retaliation, she digs her fingers into his sides, trying to mess with him in the same way he’s instigating her. Tom’s grin in splitting, mocking surprise as he pulls away from Posie quickly to glimmer with enjoyment and love. 

“Are you tickling me, Posie Grace?” Tom retorts, hands planted on the dips of his hips. Posie grinned, standing from the bed and leaping into her father's embrace with gleeful vigor and giggles. Tom’s never heard Posie laugh so much in her entire life.  

He’s damn near certain that his cheeks are going to hurt after their week long escapade, but he’s looking forward to the dull ache in his jaw. It’s been awhile since things have been so easy, and he knows that it won't last even a day past november second, but he’s cherishing it while he has it. He doesn’t ever want to worry about Posie being taken away, but with a growing argument from his daughter's maternal side, he’s not so sure his multiple day work week and constant travel looks appealing in court. 

“Ready, Princess Posie?” Tom asks, shifting Posie higher on his hip as he advanced towards the suites door. She nodded happily, fisting the neckline of his shirt between clammy fingers. She always did get clammy when she was feeling too much of something, a dead giveaway to Tom and anyone else that knew Posie Holland. “It’s gonna be so fun, right?” He pries gently, hoping to settle some of the overwhelming excitement and uncertainty she’s feeling. 

“Yeah!” She babbles shyly, watching her father grab two face masks and slip the smaller one around her ears and over her nose. She wiggles her lips for a minute before accepting the fate of the feeling. 

“We’ve gotta keep this on, remember?” He preaches, kissing Posie’s temple when she nods in confirmation. The entire situation isn’t ideal; Tom never thought he’d be taking Posie to Disneyworld for Halloween in the middle of a global pandemic, but he’s made sure to adhere to all the precautions and plan as strategically as he’s able. He wants to have fun, but he needs her to be kept safe and healthy. “Let’s roll, princess.” 

-

“Mickey’s over your nose, please.” Tom speaks softly. Posie’s been chattering up a storm about their recent trip around the Dumbo ride, and in her excitement the mask had slipped down. She giggles, clumsily pulling it back up and flashing a wide grin at her father. “Cheeky.” He muses, leaning up against the railing to his left and looking down at the little girl who's all his own. Her face is flush, a blush rising up her neck and around her ears from the heat, and flyaways from her ponytail have begun to frame her face. “Who are we going to see first, hum? How about Ariel, I quite like her.” 

Posie leans into Tom’s legs, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She’s completely overjoyed, but she’s shied away from multiple attractions, and he thinks the décor might be a little more intimidating then she’s letting on. 

“I wanna see Anna!” She beams, and Tom laughs, although not surprised. Her list of favorite princesses is endless, and every minute somebody else gets added higher onto the list. “No! I wanna see Rapunzel, can we see Rapunzel?” 

Tom’s thankful she changed her mind before he had to explain that Anna was located in an entirely different park, and that they definitely wouldn’t make it there by the end of the day. Posie grinned when the group of three ahead of them was escorted into the building, making her and Tom the head of the queue. 

“Do you think Tiana’s gonna like my dress?” Posie grinned shyly, fingering the yellow material covering her little legs. 

Tom nods in confirmation, giving her a look once over just to boost her confidence. “I think she’s going to love it, mate.” He smiles when Posie gets flushed, digging the button of her slim shaped nose into the denim of his jeans. “Do you think Cinderella will like my crown?” 

Posie pulled away enough to check the silver crown on top of her father's head, she pulled her hand up to her already covered mouth, and threw her head back in blissful laughter. She’d found it incredibly hilarious when Tom bought them matching crowns to begin with, she hadn’t even realized he had stuck the silver accessory through messy strands of hair on his head. 

Neither Posie or Tom has time to address the crown, because a Disney employee is smiling kindly at them, and asking them to follow the arrows into the princess greeting space. That brings another level of timidness onto Posie, as she clings to her father's hand and makes sure she walks behind his every step. She’s testing the waters. 

“Look at that, mate.” Tom points out Rapunzel in the line of princesses. She’s first followed by Cinderella, Tiana, and Belle, all smiling easily. Tom’s sure Posie’s eyes couldn’t have grown any wider at the sight and she completely freezes up, raising her arms and pinching her fingers to her palms with a pale flush. The redness that had once been spreading over her body completely replaced by nervousness. 

Tom lifts her onto his hip, a hand cradling the back of her head when she digs her face into his shoulder. Her fingers twist into the hair on the nape of his neck, while she looks Rapunzel over with uncertainty. She’s never been a fan of character costumes, Tom found that out at the Spiderman; Far From Home premier, but he hadn’t expected that shyness to carry over into princess costumes, especially considering she all but lives in her own selection. 

“Hello, Princess.” Rapunzel sings sweetly, her golden locks of hair twisting down her back as she flutters her fingers in Posie’s direction. The purple lace mask she’s wearing is similar to the pattern on the chest of her corset, just like every princess down the lines whose face mask matches their iconic costume. 

The interaction is the same down the line. Posie clings to Tom looking mortified as they pose for pictures at a safe distance, and make brief one-sided conversation, then move on to the next princess waiting. They’re at the end of the line now, and Tom’s growing a bit tired of making conversation with the princesses. They’ve all been incredibly sweet, but he’s not interested in the circular pattern Cinderella uses to mop the floors of her step-mothers house.

“Well, hello there, Princess! What’s your name?” Belle chirped, hands clasping the yellow silk of her heavy ball gown. 

Tom’s about to answer for himself and Posie again, but Posie’s shy wave distracts him. He can feel her skin getting warmer beneath his hands, but that doesn’t silence her this time. A shy frown pulls at her lips, but she looks Belle over with something similar to...trust? 

“Posie.” She whispers, before a shy smile breaks her lips and for the first time since entering the entertainment hall she looks comfortable. 

“That’s a pretty name Princess Posie! What’s your Prince’s name?” Belle asked, flowery hand movements getting a giggle from Posie’s chest. Tom can see the actor's heart nearly melt behind her eyes at the sound, and he chuckles to himself while Posie answers. 

“He’s Spiderman, not a Prince, silly.” Posie whispers, knowing she isn’t meant to be blabbering about Tom’s profession while they’re away on vacation. It’s quiet enough that the other three princesses, who are still heavily in character, don’t hear, but he still looks Belle over with worry that she’ll leak the news to the media. 

He’s made sure to dress down, avoid anything too revealing, and ditch certain aspects of his outfit that are an official identity giveaway to his following. His rolex is sitting in a safe back at the hotel room, his mask is black with a simple mickey design, and he’s instead of his preferred pair of grey sweats, or blue jeans, he’s in black Adidas joggers that he borrowed from Harrison. 

“Superhero, huh?” Belle muses softly, “Well, we better keep it a secret then. We can’t have everyone knowing, right Princess?”  

Posie lifts her head from Tom’s shoulder, smiling widely at the actor. Tom listens constantly as they talk for a few minutes, Posie grows more and more animated with every half sentence ‘Belle’ speaks and it brings back the wave of guilt he’s been surfing for weeks. His specific profession as portraying the live action version of Spiderman could have ruined all of this magic for Posie, it still has the possibility of ruining it for her when she gets to understand what an actor really is. She can only grasp that Daddy plays dress up when he goes to work, but when she realizes that Daddy is Spiderman, and without him there is no Peter Parker in Paris, he’s heartbroken thinking of everything else that ruins. Santa Claus, Disney World, cartoons. He only hopes he has a few more years of this easily achieved joy, before he single handedly ruins the magic. 

“Alright, it’s time to go, Princess Posie.” Tom snaps from his trance after they pose for another socially distanced picture, He’s not sure how ten minutes escaped him so quickly, but in the time that he’s been dreading Posie growing up, she’s found a life long friend in the professional princess actor. 

Belle sings her goodbye to Posie, but when he eyes catches Tom’s she nods, a silent promise that his secret is safe with her. 

- 

Posie’s warmed up to the characters a bit more since their first night at the Parks. She’s not overly excited about meeting them personally, but in close passing she’s bright with awe. The parks had secretly scheduled parades throughout the day, a method of trying to prevent large crowds from forming, but Tom was lucky enough to be in the know of them the floats would pass down main street. He had taken Posie to a few of them, and each time she warmed further to the idea of the Princesses and Princes...she still wasn’t exactly fond of the full body costumes though. 

Tom laughed gently as she plowed into his legs. It was their last full day in the most magical place on earth, and Tom had pulled out all the stops. He had scheduled another reservation at the salon inside the castle after hearing all about it until Posie fell asleep on his chest, a smile and glitter painting her face, and had booked them a reservation at the infamous character dinner.  

At the bippity boppity boutique, he wasn’t surprised that she had requested Belle again, and had gleamed with the same excitement despite the repetition. He was just happy he somehow convinced her to choose a different dress, instead of the same heavy and yellow one. She was spinning around his legs, absolutely bursting with joy. Her hair was tied into a half up half down style, and the bun on the crown of her head was framed by a small silver crown and a dusting of glitter. As the lighting in the waiting area dims, signaling the arrival of Prince Charming who is set to open the doors at six o’clock sharp, Tom catches a sparkle of blue shadow across her eyelids. He doesn’t know where his baby went, but somehow she’s gone. 

Posie’s clinging to her Belle themed pumpkin basket and wand, clicking together the heels of her clear blue heels. There’s a picture of Belle on the front of them, similar to the seven pairs she has at home for every other princess and fairy. Tom’s shocked she hasn’t branched into the Prince outfits yet, though he much rather prefers the days when he comes home from set, and her little body is dressed in his button downs and blazers, absolutely knocked out in the center of his bed like a starfish. 

“I’m gonna get sweets for Hazza!” Posie grins, fiddling with the plastic handle of the bucket. “And some for Paddy and Harry, but Sammy ate mine last time, so he doesn’t get any. Right, Daddy? Sammy’s gotta get his own.” 

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea, love.” Tom laughs softly, remembering the day his brother had been caught eating the halloween candy Posie worked tirelessly to collect. “Bet they’re gonna love it.” 

Posie goes on about the candy she wants to get each of the boys as Tom watches for the start of the small ceremony. The dinners are a small gathering, safe with covid regulations, and he can’t help but feel thankful that it’s a smaller audience. He knows it’s almost impossible to go unnoticed now, but he’s reserved a corner space to hopefully stay unnoticed. 

“Whose that, Pose?” Tom grins, pointing out Prince Charming as he rounds the corner. He’s got his arms folded behind his back, white suit with gold embellishments sparkling in the lights of the dinning hall lobby. 

“He looks like Haz!” She giggles, and Tom can’t deny that the actor does resemble his best friend a bit eerily. His eyes are a piercing blue, hair the same dirty shade, the only difference Tom can spot is the slim of his nose which is wider than Harrisons. 

“Do you reckon Haz should be a prince with you, love?” Tom asks, knowing that if he puts an idea into Posie’s head, Harrison has no chance of saying no. His best friends the worst with following Posie’s every desire. 

“He can be the Beast! I wanna be Belle.” Posie beams at the idea, “He can borrow my teddy, but he has to give it back.” 

“Why don’t we get him his own, yeah? I think he’d like his own teddy.” 

“And we can get Tessa a teddy, right? She likes watching Rapunzel with me! Can we get her a Pascal?” 

“Absolutely.” Tom agrees, just as Prince Charming cuts the red ribbon tying the dining hall doors together. The pair of them are ushered into the space a few seconds afterwards, and shown to their secluded table in the corner beside a bouquet of yellow roses.

Tom helps Posie into her seat beside his, eyes filling with tears for a reason he can’t name. It’s the same empty feeling in his stomach that he’s experienced since landing in Florida. It’s his baby girl growing up and not needing him for every small thing anymore. It’s her little personality and sweet soul, her gentle honey eyes and adoration for cuddles and family. He couldn’t be prouder of the little lady he’s raising, but he can’t help but wonder if he’s doing it right. 

He pulls out his phone, taking what has to be the millionth picture this week. Posie grins, her eyes showing specs of gold from the invasion of the flash. The blue dress on her body brings out the tan complexion of her skin, and Tom can’t help but think of how angelic her little life is. 

“I wanna take your picture!” She grins, reaching for his phone. Tom hands it over, pulling a large smile even though the expression is still hidden behind his mask. His eyes squint from the sheer tension of his tightly pulled lips, and Posie’s giggling so much her hands are shaking and the picture comes out blurry, but Tom loves it anyways. 

“Awesome job, peanut.” He smooths a hand over her head when she hands his phone back, tired eyes blinking at him despite the expression of excitement she’s still wearing. She’s been on a sugar high since takeoff back home, and Tom’s anticipating the crash once they get back home to their own beds and routine. 

After Tom orders their meals and drinks, the gentle halloween music kicks up slightly and the princesses and characters start to make their way around the venue. Posie tenses when she sees Mickey Mouse walk down the stairs, his halloween outfit adding to her uncertainty. Tom laughs gently at her reaction, taking her mask off of the table and pocketing it so it doesn’t fall or get misplaced. 

Mickey isn’t the first character to come over, it’s Tinkerbell, and after she drops some candy into Posie’s bucket, she makes flowery conversation before moving along to another table of children. Posie’s starting to enjoy herself by the time their food is served, forking a pile of cheesy noodles into her mouth between smiles and laughs. They’ve been visited by Jasmine, Elsa, and Prince Charming since Tinkerbell’s stop, but she’s ranting about wanting to see Belle. The candy bucket is nearly halfway full, and Tom knows there's going to be a fight about how much she’s allowed to eat before bed tonight. He’s prepared to lose and let her have it all, but he figures the responsible thing to do is break it up and make it last. 

Posie’s deep into a chocolate sunday by time Belle comes into view, and Tom’s quick to grab his camera when he sees the yellow dress get closer and closer. Posie’s face is smeared in chocolate ice cream and whipped cream, which is what Tom expected when he ordered her the treat in the first place. He’s not sure what it is about little ones and frozen treats, but even an ice lolly has her skin stained for hours. 

Her eyes grow wide when she realizes Belle’s standing at the foot of their table, hands gently clasped around the handle of an identical sweets basket. 

“Princess Posie!” Belle grins in delight, letting a few extra pieces of chocolate fall into Posie’s bin. She sends a wink towards the little girl, and Posie breaks into a sweet giggle. Tom watches the actor have the same look of adoration in her eyes at the sound, and he can’t help but notice the subtle tint of yellow around her pupils. 

A conversation about dresses and matching baskets breaks out, and Tom’s sure that Belle has overstayed her assigned time per table, but he doesn’t say anything. He quite likes hearing her and Posie chat about make believe and magic. 

When the actor finally does decide it’s best if she carries on, Tom makes sure to motion her closer. “What’s your name?” He has all intention of putting in a word with Disney management about how excellent she is, but selfishly he wants to test it on the tip of his tongue. 

“Y/N.” 

- 

The air is cold and bitter. Posie’s passed out on Tom’s shoulder, little arms wrapped around his neck and legs hanging limply at his sides. He’s waiting for Harry to pick the both of them up, wanting to get home and fall into his own bed with Tessa and Posie. 

His baby girl’s only just fallen asleep, her eyes rimmed red from crying throughout the entirety of the flight. She’s coming down with a fever from all the travel, and he’s sure the upset of leaving the warmth and magic of the parks has something to do with it.

She’s still wearing her yellow Belle dress, though her little feet are bare and cold because the princess shoes she insisted on wearing kept slipping off of her toes as Tom carried her through baggage claim. It’s the same as how this entire trip started. He can feel crowns, wands, and plastic shoes poking him through his backpack, and he’s surrounded by luggage and gift bags that giveaway where they had spent Halloween week. 

When Harrison pulls the car around, Tom is thankful that the seat warmers and heat are already on, and Posie’s car seat is buckled into place. Harrison shivers when he steps into the brutal cold to help Tom put all the bags into the backseat and trunk, cooing at the sight of Posie. She’s sunkissed, freckles dusting her cheeks and a flush running up her neck and ears. 

“How was it, mate?” 

Tom grins, thinking back to the sweet girl whose name sounds heavenly on the tip of his tongue. As he buckles Posie into her carseat, gently shushing her whimpers when he gets her arms through the chest straps, he tugs off his sweatshirt and puts it over her body like a blanket, before he turns his head to look Harrison over. 

“Magical.” 

[hunxi-guilai]

I am curious, what was it that drew you into CQL? Was it because you were studying Chinese literature, or the story, or just the hot actors (all of them)

(hope you two don’t mind if I put your asks together! I feel like my response for the second grows out of my answer to the first)

oooh, fun questions all around! So the reason why I’d first heard of The Untamed was when a friend messaged me in... October of last year? and was like “hey I hear there’s this show about supernatural sword gays solving crimes together in ancient China, it sounds like it might be down your alley” and I was like “??????!!!?!?!?!??? this is the convergence of all the narrowest alleys I have ever lived in, oh my GOD”

fantasy? I grew up on that shit. sword gays? my favorite aesthetic. all I want to become in life tbh. crime-solving? my dude, I took a literal semester of crime/detective fiction in East Asian lit and film and fondly called it my ‘murder class’ because the actual title of the class was too long. ancient China? did you mean my entiRE GODDAMN MAJOR

ahem. anyways. I contained myself and was like ‘ah yes that does sound like something I would be interested and will check out at some point’

fast forward to January, where I, uh, had to do some emergency oral surgery and was basically confined to my apartment for a few days, so I was like “I am on painkillers and deserve something nice” and pulled up this show

my god. ‘supernatural sword gays solving crimes together in ancient China” is not, strictly speaking, inaccurate, but CQL is such a wild ride from start and finish that my friend’s description truly had not captured.

(side note: the friend who recommended this show to me hasn’t even finished watching it, for shame, if you’re reading this go FINISH THE GODDAMN SHOW so we can scream together!!!!)

full disclosure... I don’t think I actually got super invested in the show until episode 20? The scene where Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji meet Wei Wuxian for the first time since Wei Wuxian’s return from the Burial Mounds... god, that scene is incredible, I’m still working on a different ask in my inbox about it, but that scene was absolutely the moment where I was like “fuck, that’s it, I’m officially invested.” You can always get me on board with the promise of Mysterious Trauma and Unpacking That Baggage With the Appropriate Amount of Character Development and Consequence.

I’d known going into the show that CQL was based on danmei material but had to sublimate its homoerotic content into subtext; I was fully emotionally prepared to deal with some heteronormative love interest bullshit, but I’d also fallen deeply in love with 《琅琊榜》Langyabang / Nirvana in Fire a few years ago, which doesn’t even have explicitly gay content in its original text but still managed to be superbly gay, you go you funky lil political connivers, so like, still had some hopes for CQL to not be an incoherently heteronormative mess? And I was pleasantly surprised to find out that CQL was, in fact, still a mess, but more of the supremely queer kind than the incoherently heteronormative kind, which I’ll take any day.

in terms of daring decisions made by the CQL production team... god, like, the entire show?? They got away with an awful lot on a production level alone -- we laugh about wangxian staring into each other’s eyes for a minute straight with swelling music that is functionally their love theme, but it’s also worth recognizing that these are all conscious decisions that need to be made during the production process, from rehearsals to editing. The editors of the show really deployed every single filmic trope they could think of to code these two as love interests -- soulful gazes, close-ups and slow-mo on moments of physical contact and affection, a theme exclusively for their romance that the sound department whacks us over the head with at the slightest provocation -- and that’s not even touching on the incredible detail the props and costumes department work into the show as subtle wangxian hints (the book of gay pornography for one, Wei Wuxian wearing Lan Wangji’s clothes for another). And the MUSIC. Goodness, you could write thousands of words on the music alone.

but also the sheer courage of the actors for taking on these parts is, quite frankly, astounding? We talk a lot about their acting and talent and finely-chiselled cheekbones, but neither Xiao Zhan or Wang Yibo were like, exceedingly high-profile celebrities. They weren’t safe or unassailable by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, sure, they had a certain amount of press and fans, but CQL was the show that really catapulted them both into fame/stardom. For them to stake their yet-unstable careers on a show that might be pulled or censored or condemned for its illicit homoerotic content is incredibly brave of them. And then for those two (and the rest of the cast! special mentions for Liu Haikuan and Zhu Zanjin) to really do their research, to really fucking commit to their portrayal of these two idiots in love while knowing how close they were toeing the line of legality, I just -- god I love the cast and crew of CQL so much, they’re all so brave and so good and deserve the world

Even outside of All The Gay, I mentioned briefly at the end of this post that the scene where Wang Lingjiao rolls up to Lotus Pier to accuse the Yunmeng Jiang Sect of some bullshit crimes had me picking my jaw off the floor because that felt like such a bold commentary on censorship. The whole thing about the kite symbolizing the sun symbolizing the Wen Sect being shot down symbolizing the Jiang Sect’s irreverence and insult? It might read as far-fetched to a western audience, but there’s a long, long history in China, both imperial and modern, of someone writing the wrong metaphor in a poem and having their entire career destroyed in an instant (for example, there’s a Tang Dynasty poem by 贺知章 He Zhizhang that contains the lines 不知细叶谁裁出，二月春风似剪刀 / who can know who clipped out these slender [willow] leaves? The spring winds of February are sharp as scissors, which was construed as a critique of the then-emperor and blew up into this whole thing but you see what I mean, about the wrong metaphor at the wrong time -- this is what you get when you incorporate poetry into your literary tradition as a political vehicle!). But especially for a government that has literally censored Winnie-the-Pooh, that entire scene with Wang Lingjiao in Lotus Pier felt extremely unsubtle to me, to the point where I was like the gay is nothing compared to this, how did THIS pass the censorship board.

CQL is what most people would consider an 偶像剧 ouxiangju / idol drama, a genre which has a reputation for casting 小鲜肉 pretty faces in dramatic, high-budget series without actually having much content to back it up. And for the first like, five episodes, I’d dismissed CQL as the same. But this series just keeps upping the ante, not just in terms of in-universe stakes, but also real-world daring in terms of what content they address. It’s not perfect, it’s not like, the deepest show I’ve ever watched, but it’s pretty damn good for a show that had so much stacked against it from a generic and production perspective.

[writingwithcolor]

I'm a POC who writes mainly white characters but after seeing all the "diversity" posts on this site I'm wondering if I may be subconsciously prejudiced and now I don't know what to do. I feel like I've been doing everything wrong and yet I don't want to change my stories/characters to suit everyone else while not liking them myself.

To Write (or not write) with Diversity

No one can force you to write inclusive stories. Inclusive meaning media that consists of marginalized people, because that is what diversity really is - including people who have always been right there, but have been purposefully left out and erased from the pages of books and scripts. Those who are, when finally represented, are overwhelmingly assigned small, unflattering, and / or stereotypical roles.

Pages like Writing With Color are an offering. Our presence here is for those who choose to write with diversity. We aim to make being inclusive easier because we all believe in the importance of it. But as much as we know how enriching diversity can be, we cannot convince you to do something you don’t necessarily believe in.

Don’t do it because you feel forced

As you mentioned, you’ve read the posts. You know the facts. The decision cannot be forced upon you.  If anything, including diversity out of obligation alone could lead to bad representation. Forcing people to do things without motivation usually means it’ll lack effort, or be done with spite. Trust me when I say marginalized people don’t usually want to see themselves represented by someone who does not want them there. That unwelcome feeling shows. In short: Lack of representation hurts. Bad representation hurts worse.

I only ask that you have accountability.  

Now that you’re aware that your works default to white, you have a choice to make. I think a lot of us grew up reading and writing very white stories - both as PoC and white people - but once you possess the knowledge that things can be different, your next step is a conscious one. You’re not on auto-pilot anymore when you make everyone white (and/or straight, able-bodied, etc). You know better now. Own up to your choices.

So ask yourself: why have I chosen to write without diversity?

I’m afraid to write People of Color. 

Being uncomfortable writing People of Color is a big reason why people stick to writing white people, and only garnish their stories with PoC, if that. White people have long been the default, the everyman. White perspectives are “neutral” to approach. It’s daunting to go from feeling you can portray characters in whatever way you wish to suddenly having the weight of good versus harmful representation on your shoulders.

You don’t want backlash from getting it wrong. You also don’t want to be insensitive to groups. It’s easy to avoid writing them altogether, right? Sure. 

Be aware, though:

You’re making a choice to exclude people out of fear.

Of course, new things are scary. But that’s okay! Courage is the ability to do things that frighten you. Face your fears. Will you shrink away from the challenge, or use it to your advantage?

Let the fear fuel you to do better and to know better. Your concerns about writing PoC can drive you to get the research right in order to best represent people. If your fear is leading to more effort into thoughtful creation, you’re putting it to good use.

Let me tell you right now - you will mess up.

Maybe in small ways, perhaps in a big way. But mistakes will not kick start the apocalypse. Ideally:

Do your research to avoid the most obvious and devastating mistakes from the jump.

Equip yourself with the right beta-reader and sensitivity readers to catch those things. 

Even with errors, your story can be quite enjoyable for people who hardly see themselves represented. Yes, mistakes and all.

As a Black woman bookworm, if you write an exciting story about a Black girl on adventures and falling in love but mention a few questionable things about how she takes care of her hair…I will wince, but it won’t ruin the book for me. I’m willing to overlook some things, for the sake of my enjoyment, and let the author know how I felt about those parts in hopes they can improve.

Say you get something real important wrong. People call you out for it. I suggest you apologize, listen to their critiques, and do better. If possible, pull back the story and re-release when you’ve improved the piece. If that’s not an option, fix it in future works. Getting a finger wagged at you doesn’t mean lock up in fear and never write with diversity again. It means you improve.

Research PoC like you would on any topic:

For comparison’s sake, consider writing People of Color (or any group different from you) like writing other topics you’re unfamiliar with in-depth. 

For example: You may know the basics on Medieval England. The knights, royalty, and so on. But i’m sure there’s a lot of misconceptions mixed in there from television or unreliable sources. 

To write people from this perspective, you would do lots of additional research… right?  

If someone mentioned how you messed up on some of the facts, you would take note and dig into it more for the future…right? 

You might even have more experienced persons check your facts for accuracy beforehand to do the best job possible.

Approach researching PoC in the same way as other topics. There may not be hard facts on how to write an X character, but there are portrayals to avoid with explanations why, and roles people want to see themselves in.

I don’t like to be told what to write.

There’s this misconception that writing with diversity restricts creativity. I get it - there are things you’re being told not to do when writing certain groups. The lists of No’s can get dense. This reflects how poor representation has been for People of Color as there are a number of stereotypical portrayals folks are tired of seeing and has been detrimental to them.

Fiction simply reflects real life: People of Color being viewed through the lens of preconceived notions means being written on with those stereotypes in mind. It is a vicious cycle. Stereotypes are more than an annoyance - they can and do lead to real life consequences.

Being treated like a stereotype lowers our quality of life. Experiencing racism and daily microaggressions has a psychological effect - from insecurity, depression and PTSD - it is serious. (X)

Viewing People of Color by their stereotypes is what makes, say, a Black person who speaks with passion no matter what it’s about (and even if they’ve been wronged) too hostile and “Angry” to take seriously. If anything, they’re now a serious threat. And that’s dangerous for them.

Put yourself in the shoes of the overly typecast.

Think of a time someone misunderstood you. You had a bad day and acted grumpy. Well, being a grump defines who you are now. When asked, people describe you as crabby and humorless. Every new person you meet sees your every action through that lens.

Strangers tiptoe around you, as they can just tell you’re ill-tempered. Peers choose their words carefully, afraid of what might spark your wrath. Your children even inherit the title; teachers discipline them more and take other students’ word over theirs- your kids are snappy, difficult, and known to not play well with others, after all.

Wouldn’t that get old? Wouldn’t you feel it was unfair to be reduced to a label, and that you’re sick of being defined by it? Wouldn’t you have the desire to be seen for who you truly are, and can be? Perhaps you do get grumpy sometimes, which is just being human. You’re so much more than a grouch.

Stereotypes are not creative.

Writing outside of stereotypes open up so many more possibilities. How many times have we seen the Black Best Friend play out in media? You’re not being silenced when readers criticize your sassy sidekick. Your message has been heard, loud and clear - again and again and again. People are upset because it’s not anything new - in fact, it is quite old.  We want multiple portrayals. Why not create something new before you decide to write so closely to how we are always written?

OP said: I don’t want to change my stories/characters to suit everyone else while not liking them myself.

This should not be the case. Avoiding stereotypes has nothing to do with making unlikeable or even perfect characters. Simply make Characters of Color who go beyond stereotypes! Characters who are best friends without being arc-less doormats. Characters who are fierce and emotional and stand for something without being simplified to irrational, hostile, and angry. 

Knowing the difference between stereotype and culture is important, too. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re doing something wrong when their bias means they perceive your character as being stereotypical, or problematic, when they’re not. (See: Stereotyped vs Nuanced Characters and Audience Perception.)  

If anything, writing beyond hard labels leads to complex characters. Writing about new cultures is interesting and can be exciting. 

If you only like your East Asian characters when they’re geniuses or your Black girls when they’re angry without a cause…do some self-reflection. Why do your Characters of Color only seem “right” to you when they are flat, or confined to stereotypes? Why not allow them to be complex humans?

I’m not convinced that representation matters.

Well, representation does matter. A lot. While it has been written on so much, and there being countless studies, statistics, and personal accounts to support this, I would like to mention…

Representation (or lack thereof) lowers self-worth.

Studies show TV boosts the self-esteem of white boys. The confidence of People of Color and girls of all races, on the other hand, decreases when watching TV (X X). 

“If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves.” -Junot Diaz

The Racial Empathy Gap.

I want to be brief (too late, right?) so let me just mention another point of research for you: the racial empathy gap. Stereotyped depictions and the limited roles for People of Color are internalized by society, leading to lack of empathy towards People of Color and the enforcement of stereotypes in real time. Lack of empathy actively affects how PoC are treated, such as the belief that Black people experience less pain than others and therefore are misdiagnosed (their illnesses and pain are downplayed) and under treated (X X X). 

Fiction Increases Empathy.

In addition to the racial empathy gap, look into the studies on how fiction improves empathy. For example: reading about vampires increases empathy towards vampires. Imagine what non-stereotyped, marginalized depictions in fiction can do for empathy.  (X, X)

The strength in which people are against representation speaks volumes. 

If representation does not matter, then why are some people so angry when it’s there? Let’s take book to movie depictions: 

A Character of Color depicted as white simply means they were the best actor for the job, according to a vocal presence in social media. 

However, even a verified Character of Color being depicted as such leads to boycotting, accusations of being “Politically-correct”, and wide complaints that they can’t relate to the characters and they are poor actors. Never mind that so many Actors of Color attend prestigious schools only to get so far.

The hypocrisy speaks to a need for more representation, and a prevalent lack of empathy. 

The People Want Diversity!

On a positive note: shows that reflect the real world, aka include diversity, continue to get high ratings despite many obstacles: those who don’t want them there, lack of advertising or inconvenient airtime for shows with diverse leads, the ole bait-and-switch method, and hasty cancellations. Not to mention media simply refusing to be inclusive even when they know “diversity sells” (X X). Gee, I wonder why….

Audiences are more drawn to projects that feature a diverse cast, a new study finds, though mirroring the population in the United States remains a problem.

“Less-diverse product underperforms in the marketplace, and yet it still dominates,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, the report’s co-author and assistant director of the Bunche Center. “This makes no financial sense.” 

-Diversity in Hollywood Pays Off in Ratings and Box Office, New Study Finds

Diversity simply reflects the real world accurately. 

There is nothing forced about diversity. People of Color exist in the real world, go out and about, and have lives. Creators including marginalized people only seems strange because media actively scratches them out as much as possible, pulling the marginalized out of focus to zoom in on white characters. That is what’s unrealistic. 

Ultimately, you, the writer, will write what you want. Just ask yourself why you have decided this is what you want to write. Are you okay with that reason? Despite all the progress that is being made, you’ll blend in just fine with all of the other mostly white books and movies out there. And as people become more conscious and bored with the same stories, we can and will choose to ignore whitewashed media.

The good thing is that there’s so much awareness and activism going on with representation; the path has been paved for you and it is not lonely! 

There are resources out there, and WWC continues to be one of them.

More Reading - Diversity:

Braving Diversity: How to Write Yourself (and others) out of your Story  (An early WWC post quite relevant to you, OP)

Diversity exists in the real world 

The Key to Moving Beyond checklisting is not LESS diversity 

Bad Representation vs Tokenism vs Diversity: just existing without justification like in the real world

How to research your racially/ethnically diverse characters 

–Colette

[popwasabi]

“The Farewell” Review: Asian Family Dramedy Finds Bittersweet Humor in Grief

Directed by Lulu Wang

Starring: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin

It’s been a while since I’ve gone out of my way to see a film that didn’t feature super heroes, dog-loving hit-men, or giant atomic-breathing fire lizards but a chance to see Awkwafina flex her comedic and dramatic chops while supporting Asian American creative voices was too good to pass up in “The Farewell.”

Director Lulu Wang’s film, based on “an actual lie” that her family went through, is a mesmerizing bittersweet and often hilarious take on the cross section of immigrant family values and the love that holds it all together. It’s the kind of story that will make you want to hug your parents and relatives extra tight, while laughing your ass off and shows a new angle to the family dramedy through Asian American voices that Hollywood rarely touches on.

(Since I’m sure most of you NERDS don’t watch Indie films, here’s the trailer to get you up to speed.)

“The Farewell” tells the story of an Asian American woman named Billi struggling to find purpose in her life out in New York. When she learns that her Nai Nai (grandmother) is dying from cancer she is told she is forbidden from telling her about her condition as per Chinese tradition. Under the guise of a wedding for her cousin the family uses it as an excuse to get together to be with Nai Nai one last time but the secrecy does not sit well with Billi and now she finds herself struggling with keeping the truth as it slowly eat her inside.

The best thing about “The Farewell” is that it doesn’t choose a side in its East vs West dynamic that may feel apparent in the film’s trailer. In fact, it’s more closely East AND West when it comes to the message of the story. The film doesn’t aim to vilify Billi’s family for hiding the truth from their matriarch but rather simply state this is how it is in China. It doesn’t try to state that this is the right way of thinking either, of course, as plenty of the film’s dramatic frictions comes from this lie but the film balances this East and West ideology very well by ultimately choosing not to take a side and simply show how this family loves one another which is ultimately more important to its narrative.

Though the film has an ultimately tragic premise it is here that much of the movie’s great comedy comes from and often at hilarious levels. It doesn’t simply make comedic scenes take place between the family drama it actually melds the two perfectly as humor comes directly from the tragedy. Often while viewing this film in fact you might find yourself wondering if you should laugh or cry and sometimes, you’ll end up doing both and the film is better for it in this way.

(That look we all gave when we tried to avoid spoiling “Endgame” to friends a couple months ago before they got a chance to see it.)

The film does such a wonderful job of making good, bittersweet humor out of this familiy’s struggle with tip-toeing around the truth that you’ll simultaneously want to sympathize with them and laugh at/with them at the same time. The humor can be both outrageous, dry and sometimes even dark in this way and makes for a very complex viewing experience. It’s a great balancing act that projects both emotions in perfect harmony from start to finish that’ll have you crying from laughter and sadness.

It’s the cast though that makes all this work perfectly as they form a believable loving but slightly dysfunctional family from various parts of the world. Tzi Ma is great as Billi’s father who struggles in his own way with his Chinese principles and his newer American beliefs. Diana Lin reminds me almost too much of my own mother, who is both loving and haranguing toward Billi throughout the film. And Zhao Shuzhen will make you wish she were your grandmother as her undeniable charm keeps the story humming along at a delightful and loving pace.

But it’s Awkwafina (real name Nora Lum) of course who shows off her impressive range here as both a dramatic and comedic talent that brings this all together here. Her catchy one-liners and star-making performance in last year’s “Crazy Rich Asians” was one of the film’s big highlights and she’s no less charming in “The Farewell” as well. 

Awkwafina carries this film as the audience’s primary western point of view but again it never turns to condescending of cultural traditions as our main character struggles internally throughout the film but never vilifies what is going on either. It’s a highly nuanced performance that shows Awkwafina’s star is indeed rising and deserving of recognition when awards season eventually rolls around.

(Side note: If I ever get famous I want to party with Awkwafina haha)

So, now it’s time for me to get on my soapbox again for a minute. If there was any doubt that diversity and showcasing minority artistic talents is important just look at all that’s changed in the wake of last year’s “Crazy Rich Asians.” I mean, just look at this picture of the theater I went to see this film at this past weekend.

It was a full house and it wasn’t even the showtime I originally wanted to see it at because the previous one had sold out too! And this wasn’t a crowd of predominantly Asian folk seeing this film; viewers of seemingly all backgrounds came out to see this wonderful family dramedy. It’s further proof that these films about the Asian American condition are relevant and more importantly have mass audience appeal.

On the surface a film like “Crazy Rich Asians” (especially compared to the complexities of this film) feels like a pretty standard rom-com but by getting it in theaters past all the countless bull shit, nay-saying it effectively broke down the door for new films that featured Asian Americans. In just a year’s time Henry Golding has already starred in “A Simple Favor” and is set to star in two more before the year’s end. John Cho was able to make his directorial debut with “Searching” and is set to play Spike Spiegel in Netflix’s “Cowboy Bebop.” Ali Wong’s “Always Be My Maybe” was a huge streaming hit as well on Netflix last month. And Marvel Studios is finally ready to have an Asian American super hero make his debut in Shang Chi later in the MCU’s phase 4.

(Ali Wong is just delightful if you didn’t already know btw.)

This is what I mean whenever I say Hollywood needs to give these films a chance because look how much has changed with just one movie. Who knows if a movie like “The Farewell” would’ve had a chance at even minor independent film stardom if a movie like “Crazy Rich Asians” hadn’t been given a chance to shine first on the big stage.

These movies and these people deserve a chance to tell their stories because they are relevant, they are poignant and more than anything they are good fucking stories! “The Farewell” is easily my favorite film of the year and I am grateful to “Crazy Rich Asians” for making it a possibility to be here. And if you think diversity still doesn’t matter then kindly just go fuck yourself because Asian Americans, these films and these beautiful, heart-wrenching and often funny stories are here to stay whether you like it or not.

(Seriously though can we like hang out, Ms. Awkwafina?)

“The Farewell” is well worth searching for a theater that’s playing it on the limited release circuit and will have you laughing and crying at the same time before and after the credits roll. It’s a film that will undoubtedly leave a mark no matter what cultural background you come from because the love in this story is relevant to everyone.

So, go see this movie and don’t forget to bring your Nai Nai too.

 VERDICT:

5 out of 5

*Me after the credits rolled.*

[shar357]

White Rose

Found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15240171

Summary: 

The red rose whispers of passion,

And the white rose breathes of love;

O, the red rose is a falcon,

And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud

With a flush on its petal tips;

For the love that is purest and sweetest

Has a kiss of desire on the lips. (John O'Reilly)

Kirishima goes shopping for the suits and gives off all the wrong impressions with the outfit he chooses for Bakugou... or does he?

Notes:

Hanakotoba: the language of flowers

As a cultural note, many couples in East Asian countries will wear matching clothes as a form of PDA. Also, I didn't personally watch the movie. This is just based on spoilers I have seen and some headcannon.

_____________________________________________________________________

Before Kirishima came to high school, he decided to completely changed his appearance, but he had to do it on a tight budget. He spent 90% of his money on workout equipment in order to prepare for the UA entrance exams and, considering he placed second in the practical, it was money well spent. That didn't leave much money for an entire wardrobe overhaul.

Considering he'd be wearing his school uniform, PE clothes, or hero costume most of the time, Kirishima decided that it would be better to splurge on quality hair products in order to pay homage to Crimson Riot rather than worry about his attire. He could always bargain hunt. Casual clothing wasn't all that important for a heroic image anyways.

Still, even he had to pause slightly when he saw the crocs in the thrift store. These were clearly a fashion faux pas. However, the crocs were comfortable and, after checking the price tag, insanely cheap. It was manly to be bold and this item definitely made a statement. So, he wore those crocs right out of the store with no shame. Later on, he went back to that same store and repeated the process with a number of animal-print shirts.  

That being said, he wasn't shopping for casual clothes right now. He was looking for formal wear and he wasn't on a tight budget, so he should probably try to be stylish, especially since he was also shopping for Bakugou. A tiny voice at the back of his brain was extremely curious about what Bakugou would look like dressed to the nines. A larger voice near the front really just wanted to impress Bakugou with his fashion sense since he was still holding a grudge over the 'Shitty Hair' nickname.

Meandering around the racks in the boutique store, he considered what to do next. The store clerk - Nakamura - had a quirk called Dimension that allowed her to find out the precise measurements of anything based on sight and had written down the sizes he would need after he showed her a photo he'd taken of Bakugou on the docks from their first day on I-Island. Kirishima had actually been trying to capture the sunset over the ocean instead, but Bakugou leaned back while standing up on the railing and ended up in the shot by mistake. He looked rather peaceful and Kirishima couldn't help but smile softly at the memory.  

Shaking his head, he went back to focusing on perusing the racks. He'd already picked out his outfit and most of Bakugou's. Strangely enough for a menswear store, there hadn't been any black suit jackets in Bakugou's size, so now he was trying to figure out something else to complete the outfit. There weren't actually many clothes in the store that were Bakugou's size in general, though Kirishima did like the crimson dress shirt he'd picked out.

After setting a dark green jacket back on a rack with a scoff (It was Bakugou's size, but it would also make him look like a Christmas tree.), something in the periphery caught his attention. Walking over, he picked up the vest and started tracing the white rose detailing with his thumb. It was pretty and soft. Bakugou, however, was full of scowls, death threats, and a predilection for violence. Floral was definitely not the style of a guy who enjoyed Punisher T-shirts and heavy metal.

Still, the white roses reminded him of the day on the docks again. Which was a strange association, because there weren't any flowers around that day... just sea breeze, golden sunlight, and the occasional squall of a seagull. Kirishima had thought it was a bit sad that other people weren't outside enjoying such a beautiful afternoon, but maybe the relative isolation was what made it possible to accidentally capture a photo of a relaxed Bakugou Katuski in the first place.

It was hard to try to put the vest down after that thought for whatever reason. Biting his lower lip, he decided he might as well get it. There wasn't anything else in the store that caught his eye and he'd have to return Bakugou's outfit if he couldn't convince him to go to the reception anyways. Walking up the register, he handed Nakamura the clothing and she began placing them neatly in white boxes.

"These look quite nice. Might I suggest adding on a black tie to your boyfriend's outfit?" Kirishima felt a bit startled at the assumption.

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend. We're just friends. And ties aren't really his thing." Kirishima had nixed the idea of getting Bakugou to wear a tie from the start, even if he did somehow convince Bakugou to go to the reception. Bakugou steadfastly refused to wear a tie with his school uniform. There was no way he was going to wear one now. Nakamura's eyebrows lifted slightly.

"Sorry! I only assumed because of the outfit you picked for him..." Kirishima felt confused by that reasoning. He knew it was unusual to buy formal clothing for your friends, but he didn't see how the outfit itself would lead her to think they were a couple. It wasn't like the kanji for 'love' was emblazoned on it with rhinestones or something. They were just clothes.

"... how about I comp a black tie as an apology? If he doesn't want it, you can always just use it for yourself at some point."

"No apology necessary! It's honestly fine. Though, I would appreciate the tie, if it's no imposition." Who was he to turn down free clothes?

"No imposition at all! That will be ¥45000" Kirishima moaned internally at the price. No wonder the tie wasn't an imposition. This party better be worth the expense.

_______________________________________________________________________

When Kirishima came back to the hotel room, Bakugou was lounging on his bed, reading something on his phone. Kirishima set the bags near the foot of the bed and flopped down right next to Bakugou, earning himself a pointed glare.

"Watch it, Kirishima." Kirishima  just grinned.

"Hey, Bro! What's up?" Bakugou shrugged and went back to reading whatever it was on his phone. Kirishima decided there was no time like the present. The shopping centre would close in less than  thirty minutes and he'd prefer to return Bakugou's outfit today rather than set aside time to do it later on.

"So... about that reception..."

"I'm not going. This is a vacation. I don't want to hang out with our shitty classmates." Kirishima sighed. He had a feeling Bakugou was talking Midoriya (who he'd been hostile towards since they started school) and Todoroki (a more recent grudge) more than anyone else. He really hoped Bakugou would chill out about it all one day, but that clearly wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Well, I want to go." Bakugou grit his teeth.

"Go. I'm not fucking stopping you." Kirishima decided to try again.

"I'm your plus one here, not the other way around. We can always leave and just do something else together if you hate it that much." Bakugou turned his head to look him in the eye.

"Why even bother going in the first place, then?"  

"Because, it might be fun! I like our classmates and I bet there's going to be a lot of great food..." Bakugou rolled his eyes at that. "... and I already bought us outfits anyways. Just give it a shot!" Bakugou flicked him on the forehead.  

"Is that why you suddenly felt the urge to go shopping for three hours? I'm not about to show up somewhere in a tiger printed suit, fashion disaster." Now, it was Kirishima's turn to glare.

"They're good-looking outfits! Even the store clerk said so."

"The clerk said that because you probably spent a hell of a lot of money, you gullible idiot. How much was it all? Why'd you even buy stuff for me?" Kirishima decided the ceiling was way extremely interesting. Definitely more interesting than staring at Bakugou's scrutinizing gaze.

"¥48500..." He heard a scoff. "... but they really do look nice! And I bought you stuff because I want you to come with me!"

"No." Kirishima turned his head to look at Bakugou again and pouted. Bakugou quickly flipped over so all Kirishima could see was his back.

"Please, Bakugou!"

"Hell no."

Kirishima decided to let it go. This vacation had been going so well and it wasn't worth ruining by fighting about some party. He'd expected this, but he couldn't help but feel disappointed by the outcome. It made the last few hours feel like a colossal waste of time.

"Alright, I'll drop it. I'm going to go back to the store and return your outfit, then." Bakugou turned back around at the quiet tone his voice had taken and pursed his lips.

"Let me at least see what you bought first." Kirishima felt like he was being pitied. He didn't like it.

"No, it's ok. There's not any point if you're not going to wear it." Bakugou considered this for a minute and groaned.

"Fuck.... fine. Show me. If it's not completely shitty, I'll go to the damn party." Alright, that was a pity almost yes, but he'd sacrifice his pride for a second if only to feel better about how much time he'd just spent shopping. Kirishima smiled and nodded. They both sat up and Kirishima reached for one of the bags, tossing it at Bakugou.

Bakugou grumbled a bit about how there was no way this was going to look decent anyways while he pulled the white box out of the bag and Kirishima smirked. He knew he'd made some good selections.

However, Bakugou froze, eyes wide open, after he lifted the lid on the box. It was almost insulting if he was this surprised that Kirishima could pick out decent clothing. However, he doubted that was the case, because a pink tint was quickly darkening Bakugou's cheek. Maybe he was feeling sick? Before Kirishima could open his mouth to ask, Bakugou spoke up.

"Is this a confession?" Kirishima felt the back of his neck heat up slightly, thinking back to the store clerk's comments. It was just supposed to be a nice outfit! What was everyone else seeing that he wasn't?

"What makes you think that?" In response, Bakugou held up the vest. Kirishima blinked.

"It's a floral vest?" Bakugou looked at him accusingly. Was it suddenly a crime to get a patterned vest or something? Sure, it was an odd choice for someone like Bakugou, but it was still just a vest?

"These are white roses." Kirishima wasn't getting whatever point Bakugou was trying to make.

"So? Does that mean something?" Bakugou's face heated up even more before he answered.

"White roses are 'the flowers of light'. They symbolize purity, devotion and eternal love. I fucking just taught you this for the modern literature final..." Kirishima's face heated up as he suddenly remembered going over Hanakotoba while Bakugou hit him over the head with a workbook. Shit. This was awkward.

"Um... I must have forgot. I... I didn't intend it as.... well... really, I just thought it was a nice vest. I'm going to go return it...." Bakugou let out a breath and the color of his face started to die down.

"It's... whatever. You don't even have time to return it now, anyways. They're just clothes, right?" Kirishima checked the clock across from the bed. There were only fifteen minutes before the store closed. He really wasn't going to make it in time. Kirishima swallowed and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, just clothes. So, are you going to go to the reception?" Kirishima wasn't so sure now. The outfit was distinctly not shitty, and they both knew that, but their was a lot of tension in the air because of that freaking vest. Kirishima wouldn't blame Bakugou if he backed out. Honestly, Kirishima kind of wanted to go curl up and die in a hole somewhere but that would be an extremely unmanly response.

Bakugou thumbed through the rest of the items and placed everything neatly back in the box.

"It's not a shitty outfit. I said I'd go if it wasn't shitty." Kirishima should have beamed at his success and felt happy at the news. But all he could think about was how he'd just unintentionally confessed to Bakugou through a damn vest and now Bakugou was going to be wearing said vest. It was making his heart pound uncomfortably. He needed to change the subject from clothes or parties to literally anything else.

"Cool... do you want to play Smash?" Bakugou quickly nodded and got off the bed to start setting up the game and grab their consoles. They didn't mention the conversation again and the tension eased, though it refused to completely leave the air.

_______________________________________________________________________

They got ready at the last possible second, Kirishima hogging the bathroom so he could style his hair. When Kirishima finally got out after Bakugou pounded on the door for the 5th time, they both looked at each other, paralyzed, but not uncomfortably. The tension was back full-force but... it wasn't entirely unwelcome now, for whatever reason. Maybe they'd just gotten used to its presence.

Bakugou looked extremely handsome. Seriously, the clerk was apparently amazing with her quirk because his clothes fit him perfectly. The shirt matched his eyes well, and... he just looked great. Still, Kirishima, felt a little surprised when he noticed Bakugou's neck. He took the silky material in his hand.

"You're wearing a tie?" Bakugou frowned slightly.

"Why the fuck wouldn't I? It was in the box." Kirishima wanted to point out that he'd never seen Bakugou wear a tie, regardlesss of if a tie was part of an outfit, but he once again was beaten to the punch, this time by a whisper.

"We match." Kirishima looked over his outfit again, and then Bakugou's. Seriously, how had Kirishima not noticed this in the store. It wasn't an exact match, of course, but the outfits definitely paired closely together. They had the same color palette. Kirishima looked up at Bakugou's face and smiled brightly. Red was definitely a good color on them both. It felt pretty nice to be matching. They looked like a team and it reminded him of fighting alongside Bakugou for the first time at USJ or being his horse for the cavalry battle.

"Yeah, we do."

_______________________________________________________________________

It turned out that Kirishima left his phone in the hotel room. They decide to skip the banquest and wander around the tower. It's only the two of them and it feels pretty peaceful, just like being on the docks. Bakugou looks as calm as Kirishima feels, meandering aimlessly. He had intended to go hand out with the rest of their classmates, but their was time for that later and the silence somehow felt warm.

Chancing a glance at Bakugou's face when they pass by a window streaming moonlight, Kirishima think back to the sunlight before and how it framed Bakugou's face similarly. How white roses are apparently the 'flowers of light' and how they mean devotion. He thinks back to promising to be Bakugou's horse for the cavalry battle, completely unbreakable.

And of course, he'd just picked the vest because it was pretty. That promise was meant specifically for the tournament. But it's getting harder to convince himself any of that is true. It's like he's forgetting his own intentions and losing himself to a breeze that whispers something deeper than friendship. Subconsciously, maybe he was trying to say something after all.

[etherealblasphemy]

the story that doesn’t know what genre it wants to be

my brain had an idea for a sci-fi/adventure/dystopia story, and here we are. we have the wonderful Sanders Sides in the starring roles, along with some ocs because I needed to put the name “calrex bennova” somewhere. enjoy my headcannons as offering #1 :)

The Universe:

-Made up of thousands of galaxies, what we mortals call “AUs”

-Common languages include Laolae, Kirou, Aresan, and Falafel (I was hungry writing this)

-Rumors say that there is a dangerous creature lurking in the cold depths of space, but only conspiracy theorists on message holograms would believe that...

-Strings of galaxies are often ruled under one leader, because most species are kind and have their act together unlike humans

-Speaking of humans, Earth is dead. :) there was a great meme war (haha no, it was something much more dark...)

-Logan, Roman, Patton, and Virgil are all outlaws aboard the ship Sanders Yersinia, all with prices on their heads.

Logan:

-A highly advanced prototype of AI-ingrained people. They look like people, function like people, but don’t have icky emotions get in the way of reasoning and judgement.

-Oops Logan’s creator made a mistake so Logan does have something resembling emotions.

-His original name is L.O.G.I.C., but whatever it stood for was lost to a fire, in which Logan’s creator also perished. Patton called him Logan by accident, and the name just stuck.

-He is wanted for trying to break into a laboratory to “fix” himself and reprogram himself.

-Logan is quiet and suffers from love... of learning. He unfortunately doesn’t have infinite memory, so he sometimes must delete some of his knowledge in order to acquire new information.

-He is actually connected to the Cloud, which remained after Earth screwed themselves, so he understands all human languages and also has a secret habit of going onto human websites like Tumblr and YouTube. (He enjoys book commentaries and audiobooks.)

-The most mature of the crew of Sanders Yersinia; plays adult way too often for his liking

Roman Prionsa:

-A usurped prince from the Galaxy DR-34-M (i’m not creative lololol),  on the run from the new King’s soldiers, who want to finish the job of destroying the royal family.

-The biggest idiot of the crew

-After Virgil introduced him to Disney, with the (unwilling) help of Logan, Roman won’t stop singing the songs and quoting them from heart. Virgil regrets his decision.

-He suffers from constant nightmares, in which his family is burned alive at the stake at the hands of the one who exiled him and he can do nothing but watch.

-Roman is very generous and understanding and gentle to everyone but can be extra and obnoxious with the flip of a Bitch Switch, which has landed the crew in several less-than-optimal situations.

-One time Roman tried to out-flirt a mermaid on an aquaterrestrial planet and ending up burning down a couple trees and getting his head blown up double its size by said mermaid. (“It’s finally big enough to fit your ego!” -Virgil)

-Despite his overly-dramatic “charm”, he won’t hesitate do run into battle if it means saving his crew members or innocent bystanders. He will also be extremely serious when the time calls for it.

-He occasionally wears make-up because a pRINCE HAS GOT TO SLAY

-Oh Roman also has butterfly wings he can unveil at any time and an everlasting flower crown/halo of light around his head. He was born glamorous.

Patton Hart:

-His real name is Pattryon Heartasea, but “Patton Hart” is so much easier to say (and it doesn’t autocorrect, so there’s that, too).

-He lived in a magical world called Noira, and is called a Drisine, also known as Shapeshifters.

-Patton’s “true form” is a woodland creature similar to a centaur, but galloping is not allowed in the ship, so he has to settle for running around as a human. Patton’s true form is beautiful, full of flowers and cookies and everything fluffy ever to exist. You will actually die if you look upon his true form (unless you’re a Drisine yourself) because no-one can handle something so pure.

-He has telekinesis, enhanced reflexes, and a larger spectrum of emotions.

-This makes it harder from him to articulate his feelings, leaving him feeling misunderstood and sad.

-The crew is known as the Patton Protection Squad, and will hunt down and destroy anyone who even looks at Patton wrong. They are alternatively known as the Virgil Protection Squad.

-Patton loves baking and enjoys visiting markets on whichever planet they visit to gain new recipes and is already to cook for his fellow crew mates.

-He is the closest thing the crew has to a fighter/soldier. But Patton doesn’t believe in hurting others who’re just doing what they’re told, so he refuses to fight, much to the dismay of everyone else.

-His crime is refusing to fight. Noira is very close to Roman’s home planet, and thus is also under the rule of Roman’s family. As a teenager Drisine (his seventies in human years), he refused to fight for the royal family because it was against his morals and was thusly imprisoned.

-Roman, on a tour on the castle in preparation for the day he would succeed his parents, saw Patton in a cell and immediately had him freed.

-Roman and Patton are now inseparable friends and will die for each other without hesitation.

Virgil Sorge:

-The last survivor from Earth. He witnessed its destruction and is now anxious that every little thing will destroy the last things he loves in his life.

-He was 20 when he was picked up by a alien ship surrounded by blue and red lights.

-He‘s quiet and moody and has really low alcohol tolerance, as discovered by Roman.

-One of the only things from Earth that he took with him is his hoodie, which his mother hand-knit for him for his sixteenth birthday and is basically the last thing he has to remind him of her.

-He knows every MCR, P!ATD, TOP, FOB, Green Day, Black Veil Brides, NateWantsToBattle, and Ivalo song there ever was (note: ivalo is not a real band, please don’t be confused when search results yield nothing about them).

-He’s overprotective of his crew members and is always the first one to offer medical help in any situation.

-Virgil is Logan’s apprentice. Logan knows there will be a day that he will break, so he’s training Virgil to do all of his jobs when that day comes. Virgil, of course, just thinks Logan wants to show off his knowledge, but he’ll do anything that’ll prove his worth.

-Virgil technically never committed any crime, he was just so grateful to be saved from the dying Earth that he fought alongside the crew and eventually people just decided four troublemakers in jail is better than three.

Calrex Bennova:

-My OC who I love. go and fight me. You can’t win against someone with a name this cool.

-Calrex is from a planet lost to time and space. They hardly remember anything from their past, other than screaming and their parents’ silver eyes full of tears. (Foreboding, I know. You’re welcome my brain writes nothing but angst)

-If they were human, they were be a mix between Alaskan Native American, Latinx, East Asian, and Pacific Islander. They basically look like a fusion between Yuuri Katsuki, Moana, Miguel from Coco, and an Inuit (I can’t name any Alaskan Native Americans because there’s NO REPRESENTATION in the media).

-They’re originally found by the crew in a dark back alley behind a pub called “Sleeping Stars” and are taken into the crew because 1. they’re a badass bitch and the crew needs an actual fighter and 2. they have some pretty rough injuries.

-When they wake up, they freak because why are they in a spaceship? and why is someone watching them as if they care? and if they don’t want to claim the bounty on their head, and they don’t want their body, what the fUCK DO THEY WANT? FRIENDSHIP?

-Cal is known intergalatically as “The Pirate” because they have a history of petty offenses. Oh, and they also are rumored to have wiped out an entire galaxy without mercy. But even Cal doesn’t remember that, so...

-They always wear combat boots. Always. Even to bed.

-Their first night in the ship, they refuse to sleep with everyone else in the Dorms, so they sleep in the Control Center on the floor. But a mysterious member of the crew brings a sleeping Cal a blanket and a pillow :) kindness still exists, happily

Thomas:

-The Sanders Yersinia’s A.I.

-Loves making puns, overanalyzing every possible outcome of every possible situations, informing their passengers of useful information at the worst possible moment, and playing Disney songs to wake Roman up from his beauty sleep.

-Logan even designed an avatar for Thomas that appears on the screen, though only his waist above is ever shown.

-He can never be sad. Ever. You are doomed to always have an optimist’s perspective at the worst of moments.

woooo I think this is long enough for now. AnYwHo, I hope you enjoyed reading my first attempt at creating an AU; hopefully I didn’t bore you all to death. Apparently some of you all actually wanted this, so here’s my first attempt at a tag list (so many firsts aaaaaahhhhhh...)

@asofterfan

@alix-the-skeleton

@hufflepuffsscrewdriver

@v-blue-writer

thank you all for wanting this and actually motivating me to write something :)

[blushingkth]

Phoenix Pt.1 (KTH)

Description: You’ve been a high class running Secret Agent for 3 years, your partner along the way Jeon Jungkook has stuck by your side in all you missions. What you don’t expect is another Secret Agent (who you’ve had many bad experiences with)  from a different company has decided to join your company.

Parinings: Taehyung x Reader ft Jungkook

Warnings: Mentions of sexual scenes, vulgar language, angst, fluff.

Authors Note: Surprised y’all with a Kim Taehyung Series. I’m still working on my Min Yoongi requested series which i am trying to perfect. Its taking me bloody ages to go over and plan but the plot is definitely worth writing! Enjoy!

Part1/Part2

“I-i’m getting downgraded?” Both yours and Jungkooks mouth drop in shock as Bang Si-Hyuk, your former boss announces.

“Jungkook, i need you to understand where i’m coming from. You’ve been amazing at your job. You have the whole package and you’ve been with Y/N, accomplishing every mission. However, Y/N’s been here longer than you-”

Before Bang Si-Hyuk could continue, Jungkook rudely interrupts “Yeah! By a year!”

He glares at the younger boy, signalling him to be quiet “Theres a new mission. Except this mission is major. It provides accuracy, focus and logic. I just think Jungkook” He sighs before continuing “I don’t think you’ll be ready for this mission”

You bite your lip as you watch Jungkooks face turn in disbelief. Man, he was getting it from Bang Si-Hyuk. Jungkook scoffs “I- don’t get it. Boss, i’m the high class male agent out of everyone who works here. What do you mean that i’m not ready?”

“You need more training for this Jungkook. I don’t want you to die as soon as you step foot out there. The missions i give you, yeah they’re mediocre and for you and Y/N its easy to handle. You get the job done in absolute minutes! But for this one? No, i want to save you Jungkook. Its best if i drop you out of this one”

“Boss, i think you’re making a mistake. Since when did you stop believing that a guy like me won’t be able to do such an effortless task?” Jungkook argues back. He wasn’t going to let it slide.

“Effortless Jungkook? Other Agents from different Services have failed. Dong Woo from Starship. You think he died from training? No. Starship had to make up a lie. He died whilst completing the task. It was that embarrassing that they had to make up a stupid lie and say he was dead from overworking his training.”

You gasp lightly and you feel your body tense. Such words had made you feel pity. Jungkook stayed quiet, his head drooped down as he fidgets with his feet.

“This mission is urgent and its strenuous. It requires great effort and logic to complete this. This commission is not only saving the nation, but the whole entire world” Bang Si-Hyuk commands, folding his arms. Suddenly, the gold phone on the desk starts to ring.

“Sir, he’s here”

“Send him to my office Celia” He says to the phone and places it back. You furrow your eyebrows as to who Bang Si-Hyuk was referring to the mystery person he was telling to come in.

“B-boss, please” You watch Jungkook walk desperately to Bang Si-Hyuk, his eyes pleading for hope “I can do this mission. I know i can. I’m all you’re going to get boss. I have enough to fulfil what you asked for. And Y/N won’t be able to do this mission by herself”

You shake your head in agreement. To be honest, when Bang Si-Hyuk mentioned that this mission is targeted to save the entire world, you were a little skeptical and shaken. What you heard about what had happened to Dong Woo had made you uneasy. You’ve done multiple mission for the Country and other South East Asian Countries with Jungkook. But for the World? You cringed.

“She won’t be doing the mission by herself” He simply states, standing back up and leaning against his desk.

You look at Bang Si-Hyuk, surprised and a wave of relief washed over you. Jungkook looks at you in suspicion and you shrug your shoulders to him, clueless. “So, you’re saying i’m being r-replaced?”

“Thats right, Jungkook” He nods his head and Jungkook felt like he wanted to breakdown. All his hard work and effort for the past 2 years had gone down the drain. Whats worse was that another person was going to take over his place alongside with you. He couldn’t bare to see you do missions with another person. Not if it was him. Since when did he go wrong?

“Boss, then who is going to do the task with me?” You raise your hand slowly at him, asking politely. Jungkook looks at him, eagerly waiting for an answerto find out as to who this mystery person was.

Just in time, you hear a knock on the transparent glass door. You and Jungkooks head both snapped to the door, a black figure appearing behind it.

“Come in”

Your body froze in incredulity as your mind clicks at the familiar man. More like rival. Your eyes widen and you silently gasp at the sun kissed skin and silver haired man dressed in all black. “Kim Taehyung” You sneered under your breath. He closes the door behind him, smirking at Jungkook and taking a glance at you before he bows to Bang Si-Hyuk “Hello, boss”

“Ah, Taehyung, right on time my boy” He smiles. You bit the inside of your cheek as you slowly bow to respect him. You hated him. You hated every single thing about his lying, stuck up ass.

“No, you’re kidding me” Jungkook shakes his head repeatedly, undefeated as he refuses to believe that Taehyung was replacing him. You walk over to Jungkook and lightly rub his back as you stare at Taehyung, whilst Jungkook gave him a nasty glare.

“Y/N, meet your new partner. Kim Taehyung” Bang Si-Hyuk gladly points to the man, who smirked in triumph. Oh how he loved looking at Jungkooks despicable face.

“T-this thing” You refer to, making Taehyung raise his eyebrows at you “Is going to be working with me?”

“You have a problem with me Y/N?” Taehyung plasters on a confused expression “I’m a little hurt by what you referred me to as a...thing.”

You scoffed at his fake facade and crossed your arms “Yes I do. I’m not going to work with some deluded, stubborn, self-centred boy.”

Before Taehyung could argue back, Bang Si-Hyuk interrupts before you go insane “Okay, lets calm ourselves. Taehyung here has decided to transfer from YG”

“Probably because they got tired of his snobby, conceited persona” You hear Jungkook mumble under his breath.

“But what about his training? Our training is much more advanced then YG’s. It’ll take him several months to become like one of us” You persuaded, trying to make an accurate point. You weren’t going to let some fool work with you.

You’ve had terrible experiences with Taehyung. Once, you were both assigned on the same task, both of your argued as to who was going to complete it that you lost track of time and you let the criminal get away. Thankfully, you shoved Taehyung away and chased the culprit, shooting him with your Lipstick Gun that happened to be the closest thing to take out and shoot.

Taehyung didn’t lie, he knew you were one of the best Secret Agents he had ever seen. And for a female as well, he was surprised at how quick you were. At one point he thought that you were better than him, but two could play the game.

As soon as he got a call from Bang Si-Hyuk about the mission and having to partner with the you, he accepted straight away, filing a retirement letter to YG. He found you fascinating. The work you had succeeded in. He wanted more of you because he knew you had some concealed secrets in the way your eyes looked at him, making him fluster. You were beautiful too. Your long hair that would flow in the wind as he watched you run and tackling the criminal to the ground, putting him in head choke and shooting him was spellbinding. Your innocent but daring features were a match for his evil, valiant self. He wanted you for himself.

“Oh we’re talking about Kim Taehyung here!” Taehyung smiles widely at Bang Si-Hyuks compliment “He doesn’t need months of training. It’ll only take him a couple of weeks for him to get used to the weapons and tactics that we use which are different to what YG  use. And thats why you’ll be teaching him Y/N.”

Taehyung kept the smirk on his face, having to work with Y/N made his heart warm up. Finally, he would have more time to spend with her. No matter how much Y/N hated him, he was going to prove he was worth everything.

On the other hand, Jungkooks heart sank. Deep down his self esteem and confidence had vanished in seconds. Devastated and broken, he frowned in defeat. He no longer had Y/N by his side. Jungkook was ready to punch the man in the face but he held back his pent up anger and stayed still.

If things could not get any worse, Jungkook wasn’t your partner anymore and second of all, you were having to train Taehyung. Meaning you’ll have to see him everyday, hear his whiny voice everyday, look at him everyday. You felt sick.

“Y/N, why don’t you show Taehyung around our building whilst I talk here with Jungkook privately. Yes?” Bang Si-Hyuk smiles at you and Taehyung and you pause for a second before plastering a fake smile “Y-yes, boss”

You follow Taehyung behind as you leave. You quickly give Jungkook a reassuring smile but he just frowns back like he was about to cry. Your heart ached for him. You both went through so much and for someone like Taehyung to come and take his place was astonishing.

Before Taehyung could say anything, you quickly open your mouth not regretting a single word “Listen here you bastard. I don’t like the fact that I have to work with you as my partner. I have respect for Bang Si-Hyuk and as crazy as it sounds, guess what? I hate you.”

Taehyung ridiculed at your insult “You think i don’t feel the same way too?  You’re not special Y/N. You’re not in charge here. Stop acting like a Queen and act more professional”

“Professional? How rich of you to say that” You gasp, ready to slap the shit out of him.

“Oh Y/N. My lovely Y/N. You’ll never get enough of me. I’m all you have, but better this time. And I hate you too” Taehyung shows his boxy smile which you roll your eyes at, ignoring the butterflies in your stomach.

“If you hated me you wouldn’t have accepted the mission to work with me.” An idea popped into your head and you leaned closer to him.

“I know you wanna get in my pants Taehyung. You wanna know how it feels to have your soft hands touch my body and how you grip my hair as you pound into me so hard that i would be stunned. Hm, Tae? Is that why you wanted to work with me?” Your words had gotten more seductive and the tone in your voice hinted flirtation as your hands gradually rubbed up and down his sleeve.

Taehyung gulped nervously at your arousal. He thought you looked so sexy, biting your lip and your hands touching his arm, feeling heat rush down to his crotch. He couldn’t move as you stared into his eyes seductively. He’d never been sweet talked before by a woman. It was always him who would make the move first. He wasn’t going to let you get to him, a snigger escaping his lips as he looks either side before grasping your arm and shoving you against the wall, your feet barely even touching the ground. His hand was now wrapped around your neck. You could’t breath a little but you gave him a glare as he caressed your soft cheek.

“Oh baby, i wanted to work with you to not only fuck you, but to be better than you my love” Taehyung raunchily says. You took things even far by letting a light whimper which made him fluster.

“Mhm? Did you like the way i ran chasing the criminal on that mission huh? Having him in a chokehold and straddling his body on the ground. Did it excite you and your dick? I bet it did. You loved every second of it. So mesmerised” You talk back, your tone so sickly sweet.

Taehyung clicked his tongue at how you were so ravishing being held up against the wall and the words hitting him hard. He felt his crotch harden at the thought of him being dominant. Maybe even switching roles eased him. You loved riling him up.

“No words Taehyung? Do you want to kiss me? Is that it?” You lick your lips before he crashes his lips against yours so passionately. You hesitate to kiss back but your hands found its way to his hair, gripping it lightly. His hands were no longer around your neck but they were gripping your thighs, pulling you up against the wall so you were sitting on his arms. He pulled away and left a trail of kisses down your neck. You moaned gently in accomplishment and he looked at you deeply.

You were going to have fun toying his mind for a while.  

[scripttorture]

Torture in Fiction: Iron Man

One of the establishing films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man is now older than I would like to think about and has helped establish the character as a fan favourite and a house hold name.

 And like most of the Marvel superhero films it uses torture. Today I’m going to have a look at how the story uses torture and how well it does so.

 In case anyone hasn’t seen the movie here’s a little synopsis of the relevant plot details.

 The story follows Tony Stark, a wealthy white American genius who makes his living designing and selling weapons. While demonstrating a new type of missile to troops in Afghanistan Stark’s convoy is attacked and he’s kidnapped.

 Held to ransom by a pan-Asian terrorist group Stark is ordered to build them weapons. When he refuses he is tortured and when his captors are unsatisfied with his progress they threaten another hostage (a man called Yinsen) with torture as well.

 Then (because it’s a superhero story) Stark builds a super-suit, escapes and goes on to become Iron Man.

 Once again I’m rating the depiction and use of torture, not the movie itself. I’m trying to take into account realism (regardless of fantasy or sci fi elements), presence of any apologist arguments, stereotypes and the narrative treatment of victims and torturers.

 I’m giving it an 8/10

 The Good

 While it’s certainly not the most harrowing or horrific the torture scenes in Iron Man are among the best I’ve ever seen. The high points are:

 1)      Stark is near-drowned and Yinsen is told he’ll have hot coals put in his mouth. Both tortures are portrayed accurately.

 2)      Torture doesn’t change the opinions or ideals of either Stark or Yinsen. Despite threats of (and actual) violence they both remain resolutely opposed to their captors.

 3)      When under torture and ‘forced’ to agree to manufacture weapons Stark responds very realistically: he lies. He says exactly what he thinks his torturers want to hear as part of a calculated ploy. It buys him a reprieve from torture and time, which he uses to escape.

 4)      This is echoed with Yinsen. When the terrorists start to suspect that Stark isn’t building their missiles Yinsen is threatened with torture, accompanied by the demand that he tell them all what Stark is doing. Helpless and restrained, the glowing coal inches from his face Yinsen lies repeatedly and convincingly.

 5)      Neither character is portrayed as particularly macho or somehow superhumanly resistant to trauma. While they’re both ‘good guys’ their resistance to torture isn’t connected to their morals. The scenes leave the impression that these two men are just trying to survive.

 6)      Torture is shown to have a lasting psychological effect on Stark. He is not portrayed as ‘broken’ but torture changes him. He’s shown being distant from the people he cares about, he’s often angry and occasionally obsessive. In later movies he seems to struggle with addiction.

 7)      Torture also has a significant effect on Stark’s outlook on life and it’s very much not in the way his torturers intended. Stark stops making weapons and starts to disrupt terrorist cells and destroy illegal stockpiled weapons. His opposition to the group that held him is entrenched and that’s shown to be partly due to torture.

 8)      The scenes are emotive and shocking and there is never the remotest suggestion that any of this is ‘ok’. Torture in this movie is always and completely wrong. That shouldn’t be rare.

  The Bad

 1)      It’s interesting watching this and thinking about the politics of the time. Stark isn’t waterboarded: in waterboarding the victim is strapped down on their back and a wet cloth is placed over their face, their feet are raised, more water is poured over the cloth and it prevents them from breathing. Stark has his head held in a bucket of water. And yet I can’t help feeling that waterboarding is what the film makers are invoking here. Which means that at a time when the USA was getting bad publicity for waterboarding illegally detained brown men, these film makers chose to show a white American being tortured in a similar way by a group of ambiguously brown Arab-coded men. That does not sit particularly comfortably with me.

 2)      The tortures shown are not normal for the region of the world and the people shown. Neither character is subjected to falaka, a staple torture across the Middle East and this region of Asia. Stress positions characteristic of the region are also not used. Instead a very ‘American’ torture is used against Stark and Yinsen is threatened with a scarring torture which is now vanishingly rare.

 Miscellaneous

 It’s worth noting that the only people tortured or threatened with torture in this movie are the heroes.

 And there is a strong tendency in fiction to show torture as more effective and more justifiable when the victims are ‘bad people’.

 Overall

 Iron Man does a bloody good job handling torture.

 The bad points I’ve highlighted indicate a lack of understanding for the region but I think that’s offset by the weight of what’s done well. From the scenes themselves to the effects on the characters.

 Too many action heroes seem to shrug off torture as though mental health issues make them lesser. Stark genuinely seems to struggle after his escape and that struggle does not destroy him.

 And I love that he not only lies but lies repeatedly and successfully. This is tied to his intelligence but I think it’s played more as a factor of his personality then of intelligence per say. Stark resists by lying because it’s how he personally can best resist.

 Whatever the flaws in the rest of the movie, the way Iron Man handles torture is very good indeed.

Disclaimer

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. 

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

[nedraggett]

Run ragged

It didn’t work.  And while I wasn’t surprised by that, I did want to tease out why, at least for myself.

I honestly was openly skeptical of Blade Runner 2049 for a while, so I can’t hide my bias there.  I wasn’t totally ‘salt the earth and never mention it again’ then and am certainly not saying that now.  But each new trailer left me feeling more ‘uh...really?’ and the explosion of immediate praise from many critics even more so.  I wasn’t contrarian, and neither did I think groupthink was at work, but I suspected a massive wish fulfillment was. 

So I generally avoided reactions after that and figured I’d wait for things to die down a bit -- even more quickly than I might have guessed, seeing its swiftly collapsing commercial performance over here. My Sunday early afternoon showing near here was about maybe 2/3 full on its third weekend, so it’s found an audience, but I’m in San Francisco -- I expected an audience there. Enough friends have posted theater shots where they were the only person in the room to know this is dying off as an across the board thing, and never probably was.

I’m not glad it failed, but I’m not surprised -- in fact, being more blunt, I think it deserved not to be a hit.  The key reason for me played itself out over its length -- it was boring.  It’s a very boring movie.  It’s not a successful movie except in intermittent moments.  

That said, of course not everyone agreed (I’ll recommend as an indirect counterpoint to my thoughts this piece by my friend Matt, which went up earlier today). And boredom is not the sole reason for me to crucify it -- there were a variety of things one can address.  I’ll note two at the start since they could be and in a couple of cases I’ve seen were particular breaking points for others:

* The sexual politics of the movie, however much meant to be in line with the original scenario as playing out a certain logic, were often at least confused or hesitant within a male gaze context, at most lazily vile beyond any (often flatly obvious) point-making.  I often got a mental sense of excuses that could be offered along the lines of ‘well...you know, it’s supposed to be like that in this world, it’s a commentary!,’ which is often what I’ve seen in positive criticism of, say, Game of Thrones. Maybe. That said: not that any sort of timing played into it, but the fact that Harvey Weinstein’s downfall began two days before release, and the resulting across-board exposure and on-the-record testimonials from many women against far too many men, couldn’t really be escaped.  Further, since the fallout was first felt, after all, in the film industry, seeing any film, new or old, through the lens of what’s acceptable and who gets through what hoops -- and who is broken by the experience -- is always important.  It’s not for nothing to note that the original film’s female lead Sean Young got shunted into the ‘she’s crazy’/’too much trouble’ file in later years where male actors might perhaps find redemption; the fact that she played a small part in the new film made me think a bit more on her fate than that of her character’s.  (Another point I saw a few women brought up as well -- having a key to the whole story be pregnancy and childbirth as opposed to infertility wasn’t warmly received.)

* It’s a very...white future. Not exclusively, certainly. But people of color barely get a look in, a quick scene here, a cameo there. A black female friend of mine just this morning said this over on FB about the one African American actor whose character got the most lines, saying: 

to have the only significant black character be this awful, creepy man who seemed to be an "overseer" type to the children, was really uncomfortable and another perfect example of scifi using an 'other' narratives or american slave narrative but within a white context. We all know what it's supposed to represent and so it's just straight up lazy writing at the end of the day and exploitative.

Meantime, another sharp series of comments elsewhere revolved around how a film perhaps even more obviously drenched than the original in an amalgamated East Asian imaginary setting for the Los Angeles sequences barely showcased anyone from such a background. Dave Bautista certainly makes an impact at the start, but after that? The fact that I can think of three speaking roles for actors of that (wide) background in the original, as in actually having an exchange with a lead character, and only one in this one, maybe two if you count the random shouting woman in K’s apartment building, is more than a little off.  Add in a ‘Los Angeles,’ or a wider SoCal if you like, that aside from Edward James Olmos’s short cameo apparently has nobody of Mexican background, let alone Central American, in it, and you gotta wonder.  My personal ‘oh really’ favorite was the one official sign that was written in English and, I believe, Sanskrit.  Great visual idea; can’t say I saw anyone of South Asian descent either.

Both these very wide issues, of course, tie in with the business and the society we’re all in -- but that’s no excuse. And there are plenty of other things I could delve into even more, not least my irritation over the generally flatly-framed dialogue shots in small offices that tended to undercut the grander vistas, or how the fact that Gosling’s character finding the horse carving had been telegraphed so far in advance that it was resolutely unremarkable despite all the loud music, etc. My key point remains: boring.  A sometimes beautifully shot and visually/sonically striking really dull, draggy, boring film.

The fair question though is why I think that.  A friend in response to that complaint as echoed by others joked what we would make of Bela Tarr films, to which I replied that I own and enjoy watching Tarkovsky movies. Slow pace and long shots aren’t attention killers for me per se; if something is gripping, it will be just that, and justify my attention. Meanwhile, the original film famously got dumped on for also being slow, boring, etc at the time, and plenty can still feel that way about it. Blade Runner’s reputation is now frightfully overburdened and certainly I’ve contributed to it mentally if not through formal written work; it succeeds but is a flawed creation, and strictly speaking the two big complaints I’ve outlined above apply to the predecessor as much as the current film, it’s just a matter of degrees otherwise. But if you told me I had to sit down and watch it, I’d be happy to. Tell me to do the same with this one, I would immediately ask for the ability to skip scenes.

I’ve turned it all over in my head and these are three elements where things fell apart for me, caused me to be disengaged -- not in any specific order, but I’m going to build outward a bit, from the specific to the general, and with specific contrast between the earlier film and the new one.  These discontinuities aren’t the sole faults, but they’re the ones I’ve been thinking about the most.

First: it’s worth noting that the new film brings in a lot of specific cultural elements beyond the famed advertising and signs. Nabokov’s Pale Fire is specifically singled out both as a visual cue and as an element in K’s two police station evaluations, for instance. Meanwhile, musically, I didn’t quite catch what song it was Joi was telling K about early in the film but a check later means it must have been Sinatra’s “Summer Wind,” featured on the soundtrack.  Sinatra himself of course shows up later as a small holographic performance in Vegas, specifically of “One For My Baby,” while prior to that K and Deckard fight it out while larger holographic displays of older Vegas style revues and featured performers appear glitchily -- showgirls, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis in his later pomp, Liberace complete with candleabra. All of this makes a certain sense and on the one hand I don’t object to it.

But on the other I do.  Something about all that rubbed me the wrong way and I honestly wasn’t sure why -- the Nabokov bit as well, even the quick Treasure Island moment between Deckard and K when they first talk to each other. The answer I think lies with the original film. It’s not devoid of references either, but note how two of the most famous are used:

* When Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty introduces himself to James Hong’s Hannibal Chew, he does so with a modified quote from William Blake’s America: A Prophecy. (This fuller discussion of that quote and how it was changed from the original is worth a read; it’s also worth noting that Hauer brought it to the table, and wasn’t planned otherwise.) But he doesn’t do so by spelling out to the audience, much less Chew, that it is Blake at all.  You either have to know it or you don’t. If, say, we saw Batty clearly holding a copy of the book -- or maybe more intriguing, a copy in Deckard’s apartment -- then that would be one thing...but it becomes a bit more ‘DO YOU SEE?’ as a result. Clunkier, a bit like how Pale Fire worked in the new film.

* Even in the original soundtrack’s compromised/rerecorded form, I always loved the one formally conventional song on the original soundtrack, “One More Kiss, Dear.” I just assumed as I did back in the mid to late 80s, when I first saw the film and heard its music, that it was a random oldie from somewhere mid-century repurposed, a bit of mood-setting. It is...but it isn’t.  It’s strictly pastiche, a creation of Vangelis himself in collaboration with Peter Skellern, an English singer-songwriter who had a thriving career in his home country. It just seemed real enough, with scratchy fidelity, a piano-bar sad elegance -- which was precisely the point. You couldn’t pin it down to anything, it wasn’t a specifically recognizable element. It wasn’t Elvis, or Liberace, or Sinatra. 

This careful hiding of concrete details -- even when the original film showcased other clear, concrete details of ‘our’ world culturally, but culturally via economics and ads -- is heavily to the original’s benefit, I’d argue.  There’s a certain trapped-in-baby-boomerland context of the elements in the new film that, perversely, almost feels too concrete, or forced is maybe a better word. It’s perverse because on the one hand it makes a clear sense, but on the other hand, by not being as tied to explicitly cultural identifiers -- whether ‘high’ literature or rough and ready ‘pop’ or whatever one would like to say -- the original film feels that much more intriguingly odd, dreamlike even. I would tease this out further if I could, but it quietly nags -- perhaps the best way I could describe it is this: by not knowing what, in general, the characters, ‘human’ or not, read, listen to, watch in the original, what everyone enjoys -- if they do -- becomes an unspoken mystery. Think about how we here now talk about what we read, listen to, watch as forms of connection with others; think about how the crowd scenes in the originals feature people all on their own trips or in groups or whatever without knowing what they might know. We know Deckard likes piano, sure, but that suggests something, it doesn’t limit it.  We know K likes Nabokov and Sinatra -- and that tells us something.  And it limits it.

My second big point would also have to do with limits versus possibilities, and hopefully is more easily explained.  Both films are of course amalgams, reflections of larger elements in the culture as well as within a specific culture of film. The first film is even more famously an amalgam of ‘film noir’ as broadly conceived, both in terms of actual Hollywood product and the homages and conceptions and projections of the term backwards and forwards into even more work. It is the point of familiar reference for an audience that at the time was a couple of decades removed from its perceived heyday, but common enough that it was the key hook in -- the weary detective called back for one last job, the corrupt policeman, the scheming businessman, the femme fatale, etc. etc. Set against the fantastic elements, it was the bedrock, the hook, and of course it could be and was repurposed from there, in its creation and in its reception. 

2049 is not a film noir amalgam.  Instead, it’s very clearly -- too clearly -- an amalgam of exactly the wrong place it should have gotten any influence from. By that I don’t mean the original film -- above and beyond the clear story connections, its impact was expected to be inescapable and as it turns out it was inescapable.  Instead it’s an amalgam of what followed in the original’s wake -- the idea of dystopia-as-genre -- and that’s poisonous.

Off the top of my head: Children of Men. The Matrix. Brazil. Her. Battlestar Galactica, the 2000s reboot. A bit of The Hunger Games, I’d say. A bit of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (not a direct descendant of the original at all, of course -- George Miller always had his own vibe going -- but I caught an echo still). The Walking Dead. A fleck of The Fifth Element. Demolition Man, even, if we want to go ‘low’ art.  But also so many of the knockoffs and revamps and churn. There could be elements, there could be explicit references, there could be just a certain miasma of feeling.  But this all fed into this film, and made it...just less interesting to me. 

Again, the first film is no less beholden to types and forebears.  But the palette wasn’t sf per se, it was something else, then transposed and heightened and made even uneasier due to what it was.  2049 has to not only chase down its predecessor, it has to live with what its predecessor created.  But did it have to take all that into itself as well? It becomes a wink and a nod over and again, and a tiring one, a smaller palette, a feeding on itself. And it’s very frustrating as a result, and whatever spell was in the film kept being constantly rebroken, and the scenes kept dragging on.

This all fed into the third and final point for me -- the key element, the thing that makes the original not ‘just’ noir, the stroke of genius from Philip K Dick turned into tangible creations: the replicants, and the question of what it is to be human. Humanity itself has assayed this question time and time over -- let’s use Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a start if we must for the modern era, it’s as good as any. We as a species -- if we individual members can afford the time and reflection at least -- seem to enjoy questions of what makes us ‘us,’ and what we are and what we have in this universe.  This much is axiomatic, so take that as read.

The replicants in the original film -- famously thought of differently by Dick and Ridley Scott, to the former’s bemusement when they met and talked for their only meeting before the latter’s death -- set up questions in that universe that are grappled with as they are by the characters in different ways. Between humans, between replicants, between each other, lines always slipping and shading. Their existences are celebrated, questioned, protested against. But we don’t live in these conversations for the most part, we tend to experience the characters instead; it’s often what’s unsaid that has the greatest impact. And if the idea of a successful story-teller is to show rather than tell, then I would argue that, again, flawed as it can be, the original film succeeds there be only telling just enough, and letting the viewer be immersed otherwise. (Thus of course the famous after the fact narration in the original release insisted upon by the studio, and removed from later cuts to Scott’s thorough relief.)

By default, that level of quiet...I would almost call it ‘awe’...in the original can’t be repeated with the same impact. The bell cannot be unrung, but that’s not crippling. What was crippling was how, again, bored I was with the plight of the characters in 2049. How unengaged in their concerns I generally was. One key exception aside, I never bought K’s particular angst outside of plot-driven functionality, and frankly they often felt like manikins all the way down from there. Robin Wright’s police chief had some great line deliveries but the lines were most often banal generalities that sounded ridiculous. Jared Leto’s corporate overlord, good god, don’t ask. As for Joi and Luv, Ana de Armas and Sylvia Hoeks did their best, and yet the characters felt...functional.  Which given the characters as such would seem to be appropriate, but their fates were functional too. Of course one would do that, of course the other would do that, of course one would die the one way, of course the other would die that way, and...fine. Shrug. 

So, then, Deckard? Honestly Harrison Ford had the best part in the film and while I found him maybe a bit more garrulous than I would have expected from the character, he did paranoid, wounded and withdrawn pretty damn well. Not to mention comedy -- the dog and whisky combo can’t be beat, and it’s worth remembering his nebbishy ‘undercover’ turn in the original -- and, in the Rachel scene, an actual sense of pathos and outrage. I bought him pretty easily, and it made everyone else seem pretty shallow. When K learns about the underground replicant resistance and all, the bit about everyone hopes they are the one was nice enough, but the rest of it, clearly meant to be a ‘big moment,’ was...again, dull, per my second point about the limited palette. A whole lot of telling, not much showing, and such was the case throughout. It was honestly a bit shocking -- but also very clear -- to myself when I realized how little I cared about humans or replicants or any of it at all towards the end. It all felt pat and played out, increasingly unfascinating, philosophy that was rote. It could just be me, of course -- maybe this is an issue where the stand-ins of replicants versus realities of robots and AI, along with the cruelties we’re happy to inflict on each other, means the stand-ins simply don’t have much of an imaginative or intellectual grip now.

Still, though, I’ll give the film one full scene, without Ford. As part of his work, and to answer the questions in his own head, K visits Ana Stelline, a designer of replicant memories. This, more than anything else in the film outside of certain design and musical elements, felt like the original, or something that could be there. It introduced a wholly new facet -- how are memories created for replicants? -- while extending the idea that instead of one sole creator of replicants there are multiple parts makers with their specialized fields in an unexplained (and unnecessary to be explained) economy. Stelline’s literal isolation allows for space and the limits of communication to be played out in a way that makes satisfying artistic sense, and Carla Juri plays her well. It builds up to an emotional moment that sends K into an explosive overdrive that is actually earned, and Juri’s own reaction of awe and horror is equally good.  But -- even better -- the scene ends up taking a wholly new cast later in the film, when more information reveals what was actually at play, and what K didn’t know at the time, and makes the final scene a good one to end on in turn (and by that I mean back in her office, specifically).

The problem though remains -- one scene can’t make a film. One can argue that it’s better to reach and fail than not at all, but it’s also easily argued that one gets far more frustrated with something that could have worked but didn’t. I don’t think an edit for time would have fixed the film but it would have made it less of a slog while not sacrificing those visual/sonic elements that did work; it still would leave a lot of these points I’ve raised standing, but it would have gone down a little more smoothly, at least. But sometimes you’re just bored in a theater, waiting for something to end.

[bigyack-com]

Three Seattle Icons and other heart-wrenching stories - brunch feature

Who remembers Frasier, the bumbling psychiatrist with a radio show and an oddly-named brother called Niles? This sitcom of the ’90s – laughter track notwithstanding – appealed to the “intelligent viewer” of the time, quite unlike the much-talked about feature film set in the same city in North West America almost two decades later. 50 Shades Of Grey showcased helicopter travel off the top of the shiny new skyscrapers of Seattle with as much aplomb as Frasier used the satellite tower in its opening graphics.Why would anyone want to travel to Seattle? Isn’t it a “business town” with “bad weather” that’s best characterised by “techies, aviation geeks and their extended visiting families?”You’re right. You’re also terribly wrong.I landed up in Seattle by chance. A Singapore Airlines flight flew me “the wrong way” and brought me eastwards to Seattle. (I say “wrong way” because Indians still tend to fly to the US westwards via Europe, or utilise the fantastic connections in the Middle East. The good part: I arrived in a great mood.)SQ flies its new A350 on this route, and with its morning departure and flat beds, the product competes with the legendary SQ service for top spot. Unfortunately, someone (not me!) had requested a non-vegetarian Hindu meal for me, though the crew tried to rustle up an alternative. They also offered me double dessert: I had the sinful cheesecake and also the ras malai that had been part of my pre-booked meal. I landed a happy man. The short trip to Seattle started with proof that the city was, in fact, a small town at heart. For which other major metropolis will take you away from its spanking new skyscrapers to a modest bazaar and call that the tourist hotspot?Coffee and morePike Place Market is Stop Number One for every Seattle tourist, and thankfully, it is still frequented by enough locals to ensure it’s not a total trap. Stalls selling seafood, veggies and flowers compete for your attention with street performers whose time has been meticulously charted at strategic spots. What wins at Pike Place, however, are the food tours; sure, they’re large-proportioned, messy and all-American, but you could run back to your hotel to burn it all off.

The Starbucks café around Pike Place is mecca for it’s fanatics ( Shutterstock ) Across the street from the market is one of the three brands Seattle is known for. Starbucks claims its first ever café opened on this street, which is only partly true, because the “first café” was actually housed in a building down the road. But you’ll see a line of Starbucks-fanatics (note: I call them Starbucks fans, not coffee lovers – there’s a difference! – and I count myself amongst them) waiting in line to get in at any time during the day. Me? I skipped the queue, took some pics in the doorway, then went to the Starbucks round the corner and got myself the same coffee I’d have gotten here anyway!Interestingly, it was in a Seattle store that I was served my cold Frappuccio drink and asked, ‘Do you need a straw?’ It took me a few moments to realise the new caps were designed so one could now sip from the cup. No need for single use plastic straws! #AttaBoyRound the corner from this “first Starbucks” was another line of tourists, and this one I chose not to skip. This led to a store called Pike Place Chowder. Open just a few hours every afternoon and selling a decent version of what could be the “dish of Seattle,” this restaurant has perfected the art of playing demand and supply to its advantage.

If the signature dish on Singapore Airlines is the satay (right), the dish of Seattle is the chowder (left) ( Shutterstock ) Talking of tourist traps, would you go to the Seattle Tower? I usually pick one of the top three “traps” when I visit a city, and it’s usually the one that gives me ideas on how to break away. This tower turned out to be a pleasant surprise: newly renovated, with a revolving base, a transparent floor and some cool selfie spots. Don’t miss the one where a camera installed in a building a mile away zooms in on the tower and to your face! Worth more than an Instagram story for sure!Right next door is the Chihuly Garden and Glass installation that may seem like a promotion for a living artist, but gets you some extremely post-worthy pictures.With flying coloursOn the afternoon of Day Two, I set off to discover another “brand” Seattle is known for: Boeing. The aircraft-maker, until recently one of the most profitable in the world, started operations from a suburb called Everett just outside Seattle, and still has a sizable base there. The factory is an aviation geek’s delight, and is suitably serviced with hourly tours of what they claim is “the largest factory in the word by volume.”

Walk through out-of-service aircraft of different types at the Museum of Flight ( Shutterstock ) A talkative lady Uber driver takes me up to the airfield, leaves me her number and a proposition to “hang out” the next day (I kid you not!). The staff at the welcome desk are friendly: Welcome, they say. You’re early, but we can include you in the earlier group. Only: no cell phones or cameras allowed!We are then escorted to an auditorium, given a brief history of Boeing and a whole lot of instructions, then herded into buses to see the factories. Now I’ve been to airplane manufacturing facilities before, but the one at Everett surpasses all expectation. 747s, 787 Dreamliners, and the narrow-bodied 737s at different levels of completion stare you in the face. Some are just the fuselage, others are getting their wings attached, and watching the mechanised process of a million-odd parts coming together to form one large airplane is magical.

Art and nature come together at the Chihuly Garden and Glass installation ( Shutterstock ) It is not until Day 3 that I finally walk off the beaten path. And here is the soul of Seattle. Japantown, or Nihonmachi, was a thriving neighbourhood that spanned more than a dozen blocks before the second world war. Then Pearl Harbour happened. One visit to the grim realities of what followed will wash away your notions of America being the “free-est” and fairest of them all. Stories of concentration camps, families torn apart and an entire race almost wiped out tug at your heart. The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is a great place to start. And before you think this is all morose, you’ll see the young Asian volunteers conducting the tours: sure, injustices happened, but they’re well in the past with the promise to never be repeated.You will also learn that while there are Chinatowns and Little Italys the world over, Seattle chooses to be one step ahead and calls this area the “International District,” inclusive of all nationalities, races, cultures and their traditions and quirks to become a richer, more future-forward city instantly. One for the #AVGeekOn the morning of my last day in the city, a photograph in The Seattle Times showed an airfield on the outskirts of the city where the 737 Max airplanes, returned from airlines all over the world, were parked. This new model of the narrow body aircraft by Boeing was found to have a fault a few months ago, which caused two fatal crashes. All the airlines that had purchased the airplane were advised to send them back. Here was a huge airfield with almost 100 of these aircraft from different airlines parked together.

The Boeing factory is an aviation geek’s delight ( Shutterstock ) The #AvGeek in me was excited. Despite the lack of time, I hopped into an Uber and insisted on being dropped by the side of the airfield. The fence wouldn’t allow me to enter, but with the help of a selfie stick, I got some great pictures anyway. Right next door, I also discovered the Museum of Flight, which has a space pavilion as well as an arena that allows you to walk through out-of-service aircraft of different types: they have a former 707 that served as Air Force One, the iconic Concorde and even the first Boeing 747 ever built!Home feels What’s the third iconic Seattle brand, you ask? Answer: Amazon! But instead of looking for a factory tour for this one, I’d simply recommend a short drive to one of the fancy suburban townships. You will see Indian techies doing well enough for themselves to bring in their families (parents included)… enough to make any Indian visitor feel right at home!The bumbling Frasier and erotic 50 Shades aside, Seattle could well be America’s “small city” that’s on the verge of becoming too big too soon.Follow @JamalShaikh on TwitterFrom HT Brunch, January 12, 2020Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunchConnect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch Read the full article

[hungryego]

Why I love EGS so fucking much

I first checked out El Goonish Shive many years ago. If memory serves, this was in the early 2010s. I don’t recall reading much that didn’t feel like wish fulfillment and it didn’t draw me in so I left it. More recently, a friend of mine who I got into killsixbilliondemons (one of the best webcomics around today) and who reintroduced me to the Mistborn series recommended it to me. I vaguely remembered a few aspects but had no real memory.

EGS is a bit of a mess, really. This is because in its earliest days (2002, amazingly) it was poorly drawn, over-the-top silly, and more than a little problematic at times. Characters were not so tightly defined and there was a lot of nonsense. There was a magic gun that would transform people (mostly gender and furry stuff) but it was... kind of bleh? It’s hard to say. The author has admitted that at that time he was worried about reactions to any sort of trans-related theme so he overcompensated with the character’s reactions to Tedd’s... thing.

By the first real arc, Sister, things were starting to come together. I don’t really want to get into details, but that arc, while flawed, led to some amazing stuff down the road. It was also the first serious plot, which gave it more weight than a comic that was mostly random nonsense.

A bit later the Painted Black arc came and that was rather good. Still far from perfect, but Dan’s art style was drastically improving and Grace’s backstory was explained. It was also a lot darker than previous storylines. Don’t get me wrong - darkness is fun as hell but sometimes there’s too much and I think later EGS managed to set a balance between sadness and good cheer.

I don’t want to detail every story arc by any means but I feel like those two were important milestones for the comic. They helped me actually get into it.

As the story is today (obviously there are spoilers so, you know, don’t read if you're worried about that), there are a lot of fascinating characters, many of whom are queer. Actually, I’m pretty sure most of the main cast is some level of queer (the only one who I’m not sure of is Susan, but she has other issues that are treated well). Magic is abundant but surprisingly logical in that it is explained in a manner that is consistent and its rules generally don’t bend or break.

The basics of it in that world are as follows:

* Normal people can’t do magic, but they can acquire it through the intervention of magic immortal beings (who usually only give them marks in very specific scenarios or when they want to get something done as they can’t affect the world directly)

* People generally acquire magic in the form of a mark, which gives them access to one spell. Through practice (and often an intense event, emotional or otherwise), they can awaken and start acquiring new spells (chosen by magic, which has a will of sorts)

* Uryuoms have transformational powers and physical abilities that are like magic but internal in such a way that they have resistance/immunity to a lot of magic

Note: Uryuom aren’t aliens but are aliens and I’m still not really sure about where they came from. They featured heavily in some earlier stories (especially Painted Black) but haven’t shown much other than as background characters since then.

It’s worth describing the main cast and also some auxiliary queer characters of interest.

Note: in EGS, the word ‘transgender’ was used a lot with regards to transformation spells/technology, but trans characters in the standard sense of the word do exist. When I say “turned into” I’m referring to magic that physically changes their bodies, not their identities (which are separate).

Trans and/or gender non-conforming (identity is weird, don’t want to paste the label of trans onto certain characters):

Tedd Verres - arguably the main main character, although there are many arcs where they don’t show up much. One of the original two characters. Half-Japanese and born with some rather unique magical potential (and lack thereof), AMAB. Tedd has always been androgynous but would get extremely defensive if anyone referred to them as female. They learn about genderfluidity from Grace in a glorious moment. As the story currently is they are working out who they are, and since magic is going to change they’re dealing with the emotional ramifications of whether they’d rather be stuck as a boy or a girl in the likely event that magic changes.

Elliot Dunkel - the other first character in the strip along with Tedd. He starts out rough when it comes to gender stuff (see last panel here, first panel is flashback in following strip) but ends up zapped by a transformation gun and turned into a girl. Eventually he dispels it with a crystal but that creates a double under the ‘curse’ (Ellen, cis) and gives them both powers. Elliot’s is the ability to transform into a girl (and shapeshift under those parameters). He’s at first frustrated by the fact that he HAS to (because of the circumstances of his acquiring said powers he is forced to use up excess magic energy or else he’ll unintentionally transform at random times, something that would be rather inconvenient), but later on he realizes that he’s never really cared about being a boy or a girl and he was just dealing with societal baggage. Oh, and he develops the power to transform into a female superhero. It’s great. Realizing that he actually likes who he is and that being fluid is a part of who he is (all glorious moments of character development). Seriously, he went on a date with his girlfriend as a girl and it was so fucking cute and they are adorable together and just wow it was so cute. Elliot’s agender but also somewhat genderfluid. Also, mostly into girls but definitely enjoys men as well.

 Yes, both of the main characters (initially ‘boys’) later on realized that they were a variety of genderfluid.

Grace: Grace is part alien? (Uryuom insist that they are not aliens but their origins are still unclear), part human, part squirrel (Uryuom eggs can have DNA from up to twelve sources, to my memory). She’s a person of color who is a natural shapeshifter. I don’t recall where it is clarified but she doesn’t really have a sense of any sort of gender as she’s always been a shapeshifter and that’s just natural to her. Basically agender. Also, has discussed how human bodies shouldn’t be limited to characteristics of one gender, has explicitly discussed the lack of binariness to gender and sex and is just generally super wonderful.

There’s also one or two side characters who are trans and don’t have access to any sort of transformation powers.

Most relevant is Sam, a fan of an in-universe analogue of magic the gathering who is a closeted transguy (only is himself at tournaments). Also, an overdramatic doofus who is like one of those pokemon trainers who go on about wearing shorts because of how much easier it makes to run around. He is wonderful. He has a date (or a not-date because people are awkward) with one of the main cast members (Sarah) and as such is likely to become a recurring character.

It’s worth pointing out that of course EGS isn’t totally unproblematic (but what is, really?) and that in a world with magic transformation things can get a little weird but it’s definitely well done by more recent years. The stuff this year especially is just fantastic. Seeing characters break past socialization and realizing that they aren’t what they thought they were is fantastic.

Also, most of the other cast is some variety of non-straight:

Sarah (third character to be introduced) is bi (more into guys but definitely into girls too).

Nanase (Japanese) is a lesbian.

Ellen (Elliot’s female duplicated created by a cursed artifact) is a homoromantic bisexual (and dating Nanase).

Justin is super gay.

Also, a bunch of recurring side characters (or side characters who are definitely going to come back because of going on a gay date with one of the main cast members) are queer - Rhoda (bi or lesbian, person of color), Catalina (lesbian), Luke (gay, ethnically ambiguous), Ashley (Elliot’s new girlfriend, bi, east asian).

Lots and lots of gayness.

Apologies for general weirdness of the post. I’ve been dealing with a lot of mental health problems lately but I want to tell the world that EGS is one of my favorite webcomics and that whatever problems it has in its earlier years it more than makes up for. Give it a try if it sounds interesting.

Also, there are anime-style martial arts, founded by a man who mastered a few martial arts and watched way too much anime to the point of obsession and it actually works.

Dan Shive (the author) hasn’t explicitly stated his own identity but doesn’t really have a gender.

EGS tumblr - @egscomics

Also, reading the comic helped me realize that I’m genderfluid (not in a male-female sense but more of a female - nothing - weird stuff sense).

It’s good.