#proof that this is the kind of fandom a problematic show fosters

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

so y'all know that one fanart where scorpia kinda confronts perfuma about the whole leashing entrapta incident (and it's kinda played off as a joke)? look at the tags in one of the reposts.

this is so sick, so fucked up. i don't even have words to express how disgusted i am with this fandom.

[klcthebookworm]

FanFic Friday: Mission on Mimban 3 of 12

Previous Installments

Introduction, One, Two,

What Happens in the Chapter

Luke and Leia find an open tavern, tell the droids to go hide, and they enter to buy some real food with the miners coming off shift. They get through ordering a meal without alerting officialdom. The popular form of entertainment in this tavern is kicking the native sentients around, who are addicted to a liquor and will debase themselves to get any of it. Luke and Leia don't cause a scene with stopping this entertainment.

The waiter realizes Leia's not a miner by her delicate hands, which is kind of impressive, and tells an Imperial civil servant, which makes me wonder if there's a standard credit bounty for turning in suspicious people. Leia starts to panic and leave and Luke slaps her across the face. Leia sits back down and stays quiet as Luke tells the Imperial that he bought Leia and she's his servant. The Imperial believes this story and leaves them alone. Leia, now furious with Luke, tries to leave again but is stopped by an old woman who introduces herself as Halla.

Halla very shrewdly has their number, recognizing that they are strangers to the human population of Mimban and Luke's strength in the Force. Luke senses that Halla has the Force, but Halla claims to be a master. She works hard to move a spice shaker on the table. She offers to help them if they help her, and makes them admit how they crashed on the planet. They establish Luke and Leia's price is stealing a ship so they can leave. She warns them about Grammel, the Imperial in charge of the Mimban mining. Halla wants their help to find the Kaiburr crystal. As proof that the crystal is real, she shows them "a splinter of something that looked like red glass and glowed softly. The color was deeper, richer than red corundum. It had a vitreous luster resembling crystallized honey." When Luke touches the fragment, he experiences an increase in his perception of the Force. "It magnifies and clarifies... in proportion to its size and density, I think."

Luke agrees with Halla that the Kaiburr crystal must be kept out of Imperial hands, and Leia finally agrees to the expedition. They settle the bill and leave the tavern with no more attention paid to them. Then Leia kicks Luke in the shins outside and he lands in a ditch next to the walkway. Luke pulls her into the mud and they start wrestling.

Halla was watching, amused, until several large me came out of the tavern behind her. They paused, their attention also drawn by the wrestling match in the mud. They were all just drunk enough to be dangerous and the longer they watched, the quieter they became.

Much too quiet to suit Halla...

And that's where this chapter ends.

What I Liked

The miasma of narcotic incense and other smokes nearly asphyxiated Luke, and he had to struggle not to cough.

"What's wrong?" The Princess looked worried, though unaffected by the decadent atmosphere. "People are looking at you."

What kind of dive bars has Leia been hanging out in since she's unaffected by the deathsticks and et cetera being burnt in here? But I do appreciate it that it's not the dainty female hacking her lungs out.

Halla is a Force user, granted very weak and untrained. But given how angry Leia is at Luke just then (about to storm off again), I think Halla uses the Force on Leia when she's introduced.

"Hey honey... you okay?" a new voice inquired. Luke looked at the old woman who'd appeared next to the Princess. Placing a firm hand on the Princess' shoulder, she exerted a gentle but unyielding pressure. Still slightly stunned, the Princess sat down slowly.

Luke wouldn't know what to look for in this situation with his complete lack of training, but what else could defuse Leia that quickly?

What I Found Problematic

How the leads react to Mimbanites' abuse that happens right in front of them does bother me. Example One:

The big miner met this pitiful request by putting out a broad foot and kicking the native in the face. Luke winced and looked away. The Princess glanced at him.

"What's wrong, Luke?"

"I can't stand to see anything abused like that," he muttered, "human or animal or alien." He faced her curiously."How can you watch it?"

"I saw my whole world, several million people, destroyed," she responded with chilling matter-of-factness. "Nothing mankind does surprises me anymore, except that anyone could still be surprised by it." She turned her clinical gaze back to the scene at the bar.

Example Two:

Without further prompting the native dropped on its belly. An unexpectedly long, snake-like tongue darted out and began to lick the grime and mud from the man's boots.

"I'm going to be sick," Luke whispered, barely audible. The Princess merely shrugged.

"We have our devils and our angels, Luke. You have to be ready for both."

Wow, how callous can you make Leia sound? This is the same woman who befriended the Ewoks later? This is the same woman who championed alien rights in the Imperial Senate earning the nickname ‘Little Miss Inalienable Rights’? This abuse is making Luke empathically ill, but it should make Leia livid and put her on a quest to find the Mimbanites' hierarchy and pull them into the Rebellion against the Empire. She doesn't even come up with it as an option for Luke to shoot down. She doesn't even mention it as something else to tell the underground about what's happening on Mimban. Granted in the middle of the tavern is not the place to mention your allegiances, but it comes off callous instead of pragmatic.

The slap heard through the tavern; Jake Skywalker has taken Luke's place again. This whole set-up is an infuriating display of 1970's condonation of domestic violence against women. You have a woman of course you have to slap her to keep her in line, as Luke point blank says to the Imperial at the end. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take the scene in order. The waiter, Elarles (new contender for the worst GFFA name) notices Leia's delicate hands and scurries to tattle. Leia points out the tattling to Luke.

"They do suspect!" she whispered tightly. She started to stand. "I've had enough, Luke. Let's get out of here."

"We can't rush off, especially if we're being watched," he countered. "Don't panic, Princess."

"I said I'm leaving, Luke." Nervous, she started to turn and leave.

First, I don't have a problem with the suspicious waiter turning them in and the Imperial scoping out the situation. Being found out is a standard complication for infiltrating a group. But who the hell is this woman freaking out and ready to run away? This is not Princess Leia Organa who lied to Darth Vader's mask maintaining her cover story. It didn't matter Vader had already pierced the cover story, but she sure the hell kept to it. Okay, these two haven't stopped and considered their cover story, but I expected whispering that we need a cover story not this that draws more attention to them.

Without realizing what he was doing, he reached out, slapped her hard across the face, and as heads turned in their direction said loudly, "No favors for you until I'm finished eating!"

One hand went to her burning cheek. Wide-eyed and voiceless, the Princess slowly sat back down. Luke frantically attacked his steak as the uniformed Imperial sauntered over to them, backed by the attendant at a discreet distance.

The only way this violence is justifiable from the HERO of the whole saga and protagonist of this novel is by agreeing that when women get emotional they deserved to be hit. I hope that Foster outgrew this misogynistic mindset by the time he was given the Force Awakens novelization. I think it's reprehensible and nothing Luke Skywalker as we know him would do. So he will not be hitting Mara to get out of this jam.

He thought furiously. "No, she's... uh, I bought her." Leia twitched, stared at him a moment before returning resolutely to her food. "Yes, she's a servant of mine. Spent all my earnings on her." He tried to sound indifferent, shrugged as he returned to his eating. "She's not much, of course." Her shoulders shook. "But she was the best I could afford. And she's kind of amusing to have around, though she tends to get out of line at times and I have to slap her down."

The bureaucrat nodded understandingly, smiled for the first time. "I sympathize, young man. Sorry to interrupt your meal."

I have made the argument that Luke is way more devious than the fandom gives him credit for, but this cover story doesn't make anybody look good. First the author because it looks like "servant" is just replacing "slave" without changing anything that makes slavery in this objectionable. There are other options for the cover story that could explain Leia's hands without using slavery. Second George Lucas because wow, you just couldn't wait to associate Leia with slavery. Third Luke Skywalker for not having any internal repugnance for owning people while selling the cover story. And no, I'm not basing that on the changes made to the Skywalker family history after this story was published; decent people should be horrified about owning people!

Alas this story was written before Leia was given Force sensitivity because Halla refuses to let her touch the fragment. "Touching it would prove nothing to you."

The mud wrestling: what are you IDIOTS DOING?! You are stuck on an Imperial-controlled planet and you both are wanted by the Empire with bounties. You have no fake identities beyond the miner outfits and just what credits Luke has left. So you do the stupidest, most childish thing you can think of? Both of these characters should be smarter than this. So Foster just wants to create a situation so these miners are a threat in the next chapter. That can happen without adolescent mud wrestling.

What Changes in My Fic

Mimbanites' abuse mini-scene is an opportunity to display some growth from Mara. Since she was raised on Coruscant in the Imperial Palace, the only contact she has had with aliens are the ones who have been subjugated as slaves or the ones trying to survive in the ghettoes created on Coruscant. Humans abuse aliens when they can is all she has seen. The equality in the Rebel Alliance ranks is a cultural shock she is soldiering through in her endearing Mara way (which probably isn't helping her reputation any), but Luke's reaction to the abuse puts her perspective in a different light. Actually that may be the best way to sum up their relationship. It gives Luke's empathy something to play off without making Mara callous, like the scene currently does with Leia.

Luke and Mara's cover story won't involve slavery.

Threatening miners will be threatening without being titillated by a mud-covered Leia.

We now have more scenes to fill out the plot events for the first act. Helping Writers Become Authors further explains this breakdown.

Hook 1% mark = Crashing onto Mimban

Set-up 1% - 12%

Inciting Event 12% mark = Finding the Imperial mining outpost

Build-up 12% - 25%

1st Plot Point 25% mark = Luke and Leia agree to find the Kaiburr crystal with Halla

[obsidianarchives]

What 'Harry Potter' Doesn’t Teach Us About Allyship & Activism

There is evidence through survey research that for millennials, Harry Potter has contributed to a more tolerant and inclusive political culture and increased investment in diversity and equality. In 7 books, J.K. Rowling gives us a magical world whose characters struggle with personal, social, and political challenges that mirror our own and provide for lessons that continually present themselves in new ways over time. It seems the major themes, like “authoritarianism is bad” and “standing up for yourself is good” hit their mark. When we look more closely, however, we can see gaps in the lessons Harry Potter gives us about heroism, allyship, and anti-racism.

"Anti-racism is defined by the Anti-Racism Digital Library (a research development initiative dedicated to the 9 victims of the Emmanuel AME Charleston 2015 shooting) as some form of focused and sustained action with the intent to change a system, institutional policy, practice, or procedure which has racist effects. "  -- https://sacred.omeka.net/

Harry Potter is not marketed as a story about race or even about activism, though these themes are woven throughout. The heroes of the story are the characters who fight against the idea that there should be an established hierarchy with pureblood wizards at the top, half-blood wizards underneath, and everyone else — Muggleborn, Muggle, and non-human magical creatures — at the bottom. The most prominent system of oppression in the book is aligned to blood status and not skin color, but the parallels between the ideology of pureblood supremacist wizards and the white supremacist Nazis of our world are overt and important. And so, I will use the terms anti-supremacist and anti-racist interchangeably as I talk about the work the heroes of the story do to overthrow Voldemort and the Death Eaters and what they would have done well to approach differently.

The Order of the Phoenix, our main band of heroes, does some great work in the fight against Voldemort. They save Muggle lives when and where they can, they protect Harry, and they show up to fight to the death for their cause. Still, it never seems to occur to the Order or Dumbledore (their leader, who is supposed to be the greatest wizard to ever live) that the fight against the Death Eaters is just one piece of a larger fight to destroy the pureblood supremacist systems they interact with daily. If the Order had realized this, they would have spent the 13 years between the First Wizarding War and Voldemort's resurgence continuing to engage in anti-supremacist work. This means the kind of work that happens away from the battlefield and over shared meals, with community service, and through identity-development is the foundation of true anti-racism and the only way we can see lasting change.  

"If the Order had realized this, they would have spent the 13 years between the first Wizarding War and Voldemort’s resurgence continuing to engage in anti-supremacist work."

An Order of the Phoenix that had a true vision for what a totally restructured and supremacy free Wizarding World looks like would have used the reprieve from fighting Voldermort to educate others about why wizards shouldn't fear or hate Muggles. They would have committed themselves to working for healing and new partnerships with the giants and werewolves preemptively. They would have built contingencies to fight for the closing of Azkaban and fair trials for those accused. They would have distributed the power and privilege they had in order to care for the powerless in their society. Instead, Dumbledore allows history courses in Hogwarts to be run by an uninvested ghost; Muggle Studies continues as an elective and not a requirement; Snape allows students in his house to make comments of blood purity unchecked; Vance, Podmore, and others at the Ministry allow bribery by wealthy families to go unquestioned; and the most marginalized and vulnerable members of the Order are left to survive on their own. The Order of the Phoenix could have multiplied 5 times in size over the course of 13 years and been so influential in the society that the fear and hopelessness felt by the general population when the Death Eaters resurge would have been replaced with resolve. Instead, they allow Voldemort to return to a world operating with business as usual.

In addition to their shortcomings in anti-racist work in the community, the Order fails at true allyship within the organization. The Order capitalizes on the marginalization of members without real attempts to change their position in the larger Wizarding World. Remus, Dung, and Hagrid are all good examples of this exploitation. If we accept that the only possible job Dumbledore could find for Lupin in 13 years is as a teacher at Hogwarts, then we must ask: why must Lupin work in order to deserve care? Could they not come together to provide basic necessities for Dung and Remus, secured room in the Hogshead perhaps? If we accept that none of the Ministry-connected Order members can stop Fudge from sending Hagrid to Azkaban with no trial, hearing, or proof, then we must ask how they helped him recover? The expectancy of Molly to care for everyone, the expectancy of Sirius, Remus, and Hagrid to relive their childhood traumas without argument, and the expectancy of Mrs. Figg to fill the role of multiple people with no magic of her own are just a few additional examples of the lack of true allyship and care for one another within the organization. What incentive would a wizard without a direct link to Dumbledore have to join the Order when they see so little benefit? What reason would house-elves or goblins have to partner with the Order when the Order allows for the mistreatment of elves in their care, has little interest in the freeing of elves overall, and shows no value or respect for goblins and others. 

What the Order of the Phoenix teaches us is that measuring heroics or goodness by ideology alone clouds our reality. A character should not simply have to align with Dumbledore or hate the Death Eaters is to be accepted as good. It is this measure that allows for debate on whether a character that delights in the abuse of children under his care is in fact a hero because he also seems to believe that Voldemort is bad and receives Dumbledore's knighting into the Order of the Phoenix. It is also this measure that allows us to see Molly and Arthur as faultless despite their desire for an enslaved elf, the racist and sexist beliefs we see in Ron and the other boys, and the unfair judgment shown towards others like Fleur and Dung. It is the measure that ranks Albus Dumbledore as the greatest wizard of all time despite his manipulation of the most vulnerable and his willingness to sacrifice others, and the selective nature of the injustices he chooses to fight. Sirius Black tells us that the world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters and I think we need to accept that the world is also not divided into bad people and heroes. There are many of us, arguably decent humans, who have incredibly far to go in backing up our beliefs and values with real action and change before we earn any badge of honor. The Wizarding World’s problem is this flawed perception that if they just get enough people to believe the right things, society will restructure itself. This magical world, like ours, doesn’t want to question, it doesn’t want to reconcile, it doesn’t want restorative justice, but is then shocked that supremacist uprisings keep occurring.

"This magical world, like ours, doesn’t want to question, it doesn’t want to reconcile, it doesn’t want restorative justice, but is then shocked that supremacist uprisings keep occurring."

In our world, this looks like not challenging problematic family members in their views and then being surprised when they are recorded acting on their beliefs. It looks like not reporting sexual harassment in the workplace and being shocked at the number of victims your team member has assaulted.  It looks like spreading trans-exclusionary rhetoric and still believing you are champion of the marginalized. We must do better than our beloved characters in this series that we look to for guidance by remembering not to ascribe the evils of the world to one person or government. There is no one "big bad." When we are not all intentional about learning the actions and ideas that reinforce and perpetuate systems of oppression so that we can interrupt those things daily, our good hearts are meaningless. 

The millennial generation is often called the Harry Potter generation as a compliment and a nod to how accepting and progressive we are. But maybe it’s time for the Harry Potter generation to grow up and be more. Because just being accepting — or just focusing our energy on one Voldemort at a time — isn’t actually what tears down systems of oppression. It’s the daily work of practicing what you preach and committing to learning more. The Harry Potter generation, like Dumbledore and other Order members, is comfortable “knowing where we stand” and nothing more. But just as we’re left questioning the “goodness” of Snape, Sirius, or even Molly and Arthur, future generations will question ours if we don’t actively live out our self-claimed anti-racism.

If you are interested in learning more about Anti-Racist work, you can visit Ibram Kendi’s anti-racism center, RacialEquityTools, or Teaching Tolerance. The Harry Potter Alliance is an awesome organization that is dedicated to making activism accessible and sustainable. There are also incredible Harry Potter fan communities engaging in critical fandom and collectively using their learning to foster change in the real world at Black Girls Create and Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.