#race bending

[mk-wizard]

... Ok. Because I’m a flexible fan, I am willing to believe that there are BIPOC folk in Middle Earth in the parts of the world that mirror Africa, Japan, China, Nigeria, Canada, the North Pole, the Middle East, etc. In fact, it would actually be awesome if someone with the creativity and willingness to expand the Lord of the Rings lore in such a way that these parts were explored and new characters, races and beasts from those BIPOC areas were invented. Diablo did and it’s wonderful to see that.

But if you’re going to just simply race/gender-bend one of the existing characters when everything about them has been established and knowing they are from the specific part of Middle Earth that mirrors the Celtic areas of Europe (which is as white as it comes)... you’re being lazy, uncreative and if I can come up with an idea to make BIPOC characters work in a way that makes sense, but you can’t and you’re paid to do this, then...

SHAME ON YOU!!

Types of people are not items on a grocery list you need to collect to complete a task. They are people with their own cultures, stories to tell and mythos. They deserve more respect than just taking an existing character and painting them another colour.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what this version looks like because they’re still pretending to be the white straight male character. If you’re going to create a BIPOC character. Create an actual BIPOC character. Not an existing white character in a BIPOC suit.

PS: I am well aware of Tolkien’s notes, but I have also read the books from top to bottom. Aragorn’s appearance has been confirmed and his culture is based heavily on Celtic/Nordic mythos. He is not black nor does it make sense for him to be black. Accepting that doesn’t me or anyone racist. If I was racist, I wouldn’t think of the idea of adding to the lore by adding BIPOC areas that would allow BIPOC characters to be created. Get over it, stop gaslighting and for goodness sake, stop whining about it. You’re not children.

[andythecorsair]

While procrastinating, I discovered that folks are mad about Hamilton: the Musical having PoC playing white historical characters. The show opens with Hamilton singing about being an immigrant. Are the white pride folks really that lacking in media literacy?

This all from the man-children upset by the Aragorn being drawn as black in a Magic: The Gathering crossover.

The limits of the human mind never cease to amaze me.

[xx-slug-xx]

White washing and race bending are two separate things. Idk how y’all feel about them, but here’s my thought process on the two

White washing- redesigning a poc fictional character to be white (not albino) because you think it would “look better”. Any time a poc character is redesigned to be white, it’s white washing. White washing is seen as racist due to the fact that doing so blatantly gets rid of poc representation in media. White people have dominated media for a good portion of history, while poc (for the longest time) were rarely depicted in media. When they were depicted, poc characters were mostly depicted as stereotypes. In the modern day, stereotypes are rarely seen in media has drastically increased sense then. However, white people still make up most characters in media (it also depends on what country your in too because most Korean media depicts people who are Korean, for example).

Race bending- redesigning a fictional character (often white, but can rarely be poc) as someone of a different race or ethnic heritage for the purpose of representation. Not necessarily racist, but can be depending on very specific contexts. Representation is not one of those contexts. If a character’s race or ethnicity is integral to the media they are a part of, and the story that is told (example being Black Panther), then it is generally a good idea to not race bend a character. However! Since the movie Snow White has no integral elements that revolve around race or ethnicity, then race bending the character Snow White is fine.

Race bending and white washing does not apply to characters who are not shown in their source to have a specific race (non-humans and characters who’s race is based on viewer/reader interpretation). These types of characters can be depicted as any race and no interpretation is “more canon” than any other. However, it does apply to characters who are shown to be race coded in some way (my go to example would be how Garnet in Steven Universe is heavily black coded). Race bending and white washing DOES apply to race-coded characters.

Also! Race bending and white washing does not apply to systems with fictives who appear to be a different race or ethnicity in head space than they are in canon. Alter race doesn’t exist, as the body is the only thing that dictates race for a system. A system cannot race bend or white wash a fictive, as how an alter appears in head space is not controllable. Fictives are also not fully representative of their source, and comparing them to such is gross.

Also, I am a dumb American and I have no other context for racism in fiction besides what I see in my country lol. So if anyone wants to add to this with different perspectives, then please do! also, feel free to correct any dumb shit I may have said about these topics!

[correctopinionhaver]

[cocoabubbelle]

Personal Opinion:

I think Halle Bailey looks cute as Ariel and her voice is pretty.

Maybe I don’t have a huge problem with race-swapping or multi-racial (?)/blind race casting because I grew up with and loved films like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997).

You know, the one with Brandy, Whitney Houston, and Bernadette Peters + her extremely fraternal biracial twin daughters? (the last part was in jest)

The one where Prince Charming is Filipino and his parents are African-American Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber?

Maybe Disney is just doing a check box for diversity points, who knows? (I wouldn’t put it past them.)

I do see the aggravation of constantly race-swapping European-centric/made fairy tales, stories, myth, and folklore when there are PLENTY of POC-centered and oriented fairy tales, stories, and folklore that deserve to be and should be told.

That being said, I will call back to my previous post and politely ask fans, both old and new, young and grown, whatever race/culture/religion/orientation/etc you may be, to PLEASE be COOL to each other no matter what your opinions may be and however the film turns out.

[beasiannow]

Using Wonder AI Art Generator, the prompts were.

A Japanese Wonder Woman.

A Filipina Lara Croft

A Chinese Mrs. Peel

A Korean Dorothy in Oz

[pezboisworld]

After all these years it just dawned on me that Logan is whyte white.

Growing up, I genuinely thought he was Latino. Maybe whitino, but Latino nonetheless. When they finally showed his exceptionally whyte father I just assumed he was Latino on his mother's side. His bilogical mother was never confirmed, so there was no reason for me to question myself.

Reading Logan as Latino made him more indearing than antagonistic.

In my defense I did not follow actor's then so had no idea of Mathew Underwood acual ethnicity. And back then casting did not care about hiring for authenticity regardless.

[ohnaistars]

The Ballad of POC Wolfwood

Oh man, it’s nice to see people talking about Trigun again. The debut of Trigun: Stampede has been great for the manga and anime franchise that started back when I was getting my wings in the anime and manga world. Stampede for all of its triumphs has brought discourse up that has been simmering in fan spaces for a while but I’m finding it particularly interesting now: what do we do with…

[justsigneduptolookattags]

Something I noticed about part 5 fanart and reactions.

Something I always found interesting about when people changed the skin tones on part 5 characters, especially on Instagram art, is how upset American fans would get. Yet I rarely see italian fans upset, in fact half the time it's italian artists who darken the characters skin tones. I know Italy is a least decently diverse of a country so I just don't get the complaints?

It's not like it's Japan where it's widely less diverse?

I don't mind race bending or anything like that, I think it's all cool and great to see how people imagine other characters! But with Japanese characters I can at least mentally understand where the argument is coming from, even if it's rude.

Just curious why this is? Do people forget Italy is a diverse mediterranean country? Not super diverse but it's got a long history and decent levels of immigration from what I've researched. Anyone else's thoughts on this?

[mk-wizard]

Race/Gender/Orientation/Etc-Bending: The Popular Characters are being replaced too now

Hi

I said a long time ago that I did not agree with “bending” existing characters because I believe in respecting them if they were specified to be a certain way and I believe it is better to use the existing characters of the group you’re trying to include/represent especially since they’ve waited long enough. I will not argue with mantle inheritors, AUs or characters who were never specified to be anything, but once we say the duck is a duck, it’s a duck. And my only half-argument towards people never saying that the character is straight/white/Christian/etc. is that lots of characters never say they are what they are, but we’re not dumb. We can see what they are by getting to know them. We can see that Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil is straight even though he never said he was. And we can see (very beautifully) that Ruby and Sapphire from Steven Universe are lesbians and monogamists even though they never say they are. Using the reason “but they never said they were _____” can come across as an excuse not a valid point.

More importantly, for every time we “bend” an established character, we are throwing away a chance to star an existing character of that group. And the reason for not giving them a chance is just as weak and sounds just as much like an excuse; “It’s because they’re not popular”. Pardon me, but why create new characters then? Why pass mantles onto characters who aren’t like their predecessors? Plus, the whole “they’re not popular” excuse was the reason people used back in the day and it was steeped in bigotry. It was not ok then and it is not ok now. If we’re not going to showcase these characters now when the world is craving them so deliciously, when are we? And as for not being popular...

We didn’t know who Black Panther was, but as soon as we met him, the world fell in love with him. He is noble, kind and badass. And evidently, irreplaceable.

Blade was not well known before his movie debut, but now, EVERYONE knows who he is and remembers his trilogy. Plus, it was thanks to his movie debut that the superhero movie genre had new life breathed into it.

Wonder Woman hasn’t had a solo piece in years, but once she finally did, she roared and soared (at least the first film did). She is an extremely positive female and bisexual icon because of her brave and beautiful soul.

However, not only are other great characters remaining on the shelf or second fiddle, Hollywood has reached a new kind of low. With the upcoming film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, they triple bent April O’Neal to be plus sized, plain and black.

When Hollywood did THIS, my last lingering bit of tolerance towards “bending” was broken and not because of what they did to April. It is what they did to existing characters in TMNT who are of the three groups and what’s worse is that... THEY ARE POPULAR!!

Irma Langinstein is plain and everyone knows who she is. Her personality, quips and role are legendary.

Beepop and Rocksteady are plus sized and even were so when human, and everyone knows who they are. They were the stars of the 80s cartoon.

And last but absolutely not least, there is Baxter Stockman who is black and not only does everyone know who he is, he is an iconic TMNT villain! One can even argue, he hits the notes for being body positive. He is not only plain, but unlike most black male characters, he is not tall, statuesque, muscular or has perfect teeth. He has big awkward teeth, he is either short or average, he is skinny and lanky, and his ears stick out. Yet even with all that, he is a frightening force to be reckoned with.

I can’t lie or hold it back anymore. When Hollywood decided to “bend” instead of using the existing characters, I was enraged. I’m STILL enraged because for once, the “they’re not popular” reason isn’t just a poor excuse, it’s a lie.

This is exactly how far across the line Hollywood has gone. It not only refuses to give the spotlight to existing characters, it is now kicking them off of the stage. Also, it is not going to stop at TMNT. It’s going to happen in DC, Marvel and more. One can even argue that it was already happening.

However, there is hope and this phenomena can be stopped if we stop accepting it. We have to say “no” to bending and speak louder when suggesting existing characters. And not just with our words. Our actions matter too. Stop watching and reading material that “bends” instead of using existing characters. After all, it is a business. If we stop consuming this kind of material, they’ll stop making it. Also, let’s show them what we want with fanart and bringing up the characters we want by their names. If representation and inclusion the right way are important to us, then let’s act like it is. Stop settling for “bending” and acknowledge the damage it is really doing. It’s no longer just lazy writing, it’s a disease that is killing characters.

Say no to lazy writing. Say no to saying great characters aren’t good enough especially when they’ve proven that they are. Say no to having to secretly be white/straight/Christina/etc. just to be accepted.

If you are beautiful and amazing enough to be shown to the world, so are the characters who are like you.

PS: If you agree with me, please reblog this.

[pxppermxnt-tea]

I've noticed a lot of debate between "race banding white characters into black is okay for rep" and "race bending characters is never okay at all". I've spoken with some people who have different opinions but those are the main, it's either don't do it or only so it under certain circumstances. It makes me kind of curious to do a social experiment tbh.

[correctopinionhaver]

and here are the other two musketeers:

[angelled-art]

💥🔥 Fire - combustion bender Mala 🔥💥

{Mala from my Avatar AU, in which I tried to guess what the original HTTYD story would look like if the characters had abilities from the "Avatar: The last Airbender" universe}

I don't have any specific facts about her for this AU yet, probably except that she became an Combustion bender at 18..

Maybe later I'll add something else here))

[boanerges20]

Southern 100

[beasiannow]

New Rejuvenation cream from China doesn't play around.

[dear-ao3]

do you usually watch F1 practice sessions?

when i have time i do but i’m not right now on account of the fact that i am on a train and the internet is bad