THINGS THEY WON’T SHOW YOU ON THE NEWS Because media likes to pit people against each other, enraging people, make people look bad and make more money for themselves.
Because GOD FORBID, Muslims, Arabs and especially Palestinians be showed in positive light.
What TV writers think is good LGBT representation: *protagonist teary eyed* My attraction to the same gender is so painful I wish I did not feel this way…but alas it’s my burden to bear. Also I have dated both men and women but I don’t like labels. *dies* What is actually good LGBT representation: *protagonist wearing sunglasses playing the saxophone in front of a giant bisexual flag* How am I doing? Well I’m just getting BI!!! Haha get it?? Because I like both men and women so I’m bisexual.
That picture doesn’t do this scene justice, it’s a musical number:
When guards, soldiers, community leaders, sea captains etc are mentioned in passing as side or background figures, they’re just as likely to be women as men, without any extra comment or explanation
I’m pretty sure there was just a Disney reference (in Sabriel ‘that’s what he did, it’s what he lived for’, in Little Mermaid ‘that’s what I do, it’s what I live for’—deliberate or not it’s cracking me up this morning)
He doesn’t spend a lot of time describing his female character’s bodies unless it’s practical mentions of hygiene or wounds
But also he doesn’t dance around the word ‘breasts’ when it’s the appropriate practical description of anatomy
Lirael has depression and suicidal ideation and is a badass heroine, Sammeth has PTSD but is still a badass hero, Nicholas the quintessential know-it-all white guy gets humbled and is the vulnerable character who needs rescuing
Mogget and the Disreputable Dog and their impatience with anything approaching YA drama tropes
The romantic elements that are so *mimes swoon* but also so subtle and also rational and drama free? I mean.
There’s even bits of domestic fluff in the middle freaking action adventure stories, I MEAN.
The political stuff in Lirael and Abhorsen is relevant, wow
Characters admitting that they’re afraid, including (especially) male characters
Some more honorable mentions
In Clariel, they mention it’s just as normal to be attracted to same sex as it is opposite – heavily implying Clariel is aro/ace.
The characters are racially diverse. It always makes me cackle that in the later books, Garth Nix makes more mentions of the Clayr’s skin, since so many people ignored the fact he explicitly describes them as dark skinned. Touchstone is pretty clearly described as black.
Women in leadership and guarding/protection roles. BONUS: w/out making dudes look incompetent in comparison.
Nix mentioning that The Clayr take casual lovers frequently and prefer to raise their kids with other Clayr, rather than their romantic/sexual partners.
Lirael has a service dog!!! The disreputable dog! And the dog sometimes tells Lirael shit she doesn’t want to hear.
Honestly, these books were so progressive and ahead of their time. Way, way better than Harry Potter imho.
Branching off of this wonderful, wonderful post, coz I just caught sight of the Solo poster on the way home.
Where is my Leia Organa origin story? Can you honestly tell me no one would be interested as fuck in that? How did Bail raise her? Did he watch her growing up outsmarting every single tutor and blowing everyone else out of the water and his heart clench in the memory of Padmé Amidala? You can’t tell me Leia never wondered about her birth parents. How much did Bail tell her? How much did he choose to reveal? How much of her history informed her future?
And more importantly, how much would it mean for girls to see this path to emulate, knowing her future? It is, of course, entirely possible that Leia was the exception rather than the rule when it comes to women throughout her upbringing, but it takes a village to raise a child, and I don’t think Leia would be the sort of girl to ignore the absence of women around her. If we must include that shoddy excuse for a sequel, at least give me Leia’s relationship with Holdo. And as someone who pursued Obi-Wan so relentlessly during IV, I imagine she would reach out to even rumours of a Jedi. And because we’re in the Star Wars verse- there is absolutely no excuse for not having any diversity. Give me women of all shapes and sizes, creeds and cultures, religions and races. Hell, give me aliens. There should definitely be aliens, considering how she became a senator- how else was she going to learn about foreign culture? Certainly not by just reading out of a book.
Give me life upon Themyscira, give me my Amazons movie. Bloody hell, on that note, give me my Xena movie. Give me my Black Widow movie. Give me more women to learn from, to look up to, to aspire to be, to adore, to love, to appreciate, to laugh at, to hate.
hate the fandom idea that if you criticise something it means you hate it and hate everyone enjoying it. that’s false. i can’t stop criticising overwatch, but if you’d look at my blog for 3 seconds you’d also see i love the game. every book i’ve read in the last couple of years has contained things i criticise them for, and yet i’ve read my top favourite books of all time during that time as well.
the idea that you can criticise a creator’s work and the idea that you can still enjoy it can co-exist. acting like everything you consume can never be criticised is dangerous, because it means people won’t talk about improvement in, for example, portrayal of minorities. it also shows how extremely privileged the anti-discourse part, the “just enjoy the work” part, of fandom is, because complaining about artistic discourse purposefully shuts down voices that aren’t white, cisgender and heterosexual: it’s white fans that complain about how fans of colour ruin their fandom by bringing up racism; it’s cis fans that complain about how trans fans ruin fandom by bringing up transphobia within the work; it’s heterosexual fans that complain about how lgbt fans ruin everything by bringing up homophobia.
criticising media is healthy, it’s good, and it’s what improves what we consume. criticism is a part of the artistic culture, part of a discussion between consumers and its creators, and fandom needs to realise that it can’t separate itself from that.
So like i was looking it up and apparently Crazy Rich Asians will be the first Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years (the last one being 1993′s Joy Luck Club) AND the very first Hollywood rom-com with an all-Asian cast too! Why are ya’ll not talking about it more??? This is a big deal guys, we should give it the support it deserves!
Guys….GUYYYYYYYYYYYYS
Have you seen the poster?
The trailer?
Have you seen how CONSTANCE WU shines in it?
We have to support this movie. Let’s show Hollywood that we want more Asian stories with an Asian cast. LET’S GO SEE THE HECK OUT OF THIS MOVIE!!!
I didn’t even click the link but I know and am around enough crazy rich asians to tell from the photos that its already accurate.
Can we also talk about how this is a role that normally would be given to someone in their early twenties and Constance Wu is 36? This is awesome!!!
Omg this is like the beautiful love child of a kdrama and American rom-com! Also I will watch ANYTHING with Constance Wu in it because she is pure magic! Cant wait for this!!!
Y’all please watch this I’m begging you. It ain’t malaysia but Singapore is close enough man im legit crying. When this drops I’m going to cry like a baby
Y’all gotta watch what you say to kids and in front of kids. I was working with some young black kids today and one of the girls asked me why I had my hair natural. I told her I’m just taking a break from weaves and braids and all that and she said oh girl no we too dark to have our nappy hair out like that. She was 9. She said she doesn’t leave her house without it flat ironed because people will think she’s broke and ugly. This is also the same girl that last summer told me that we needed to go inside out of the sun because boys don’t like girls with dark skin. Little kids don’t come up with this stuff themselves, they hear their parents or other people talk about things and internalize the self hate or will tell these hurtful untrue things to their darker peers.
I work at a library, plenty of kids say shit like this. Since I like art, I draw dark skin girls with them everyday. I draw natural hair. Dark brown eyes. Draw with them all the time. Sneak in messages about self love. I try to tell them frequently I love their natural hair no matter the length or even if it’s damaged, let them know they are beautiful it’s not fucking cute that people demand black girls, and these are children, to be literally perfect. That’s not okay. I show them pics of dark skinned girls etc. like it’s up to us to help them and we all can do so much even with very little. Their parents might be trash, but positive encounters with people combats the toxicity and it does help I’ve seen it myself
This is the first black woman director in #CannesFilmFestival jury in all of its history . And she is dropping gems everywhere.
#AvaDuVernay #FemaleFilmmakerFriday
wupacing 