#but WOC prominently on screen first

[bamf-jaskier]

RE: Your post. Here's my two pence as a WOC who grew up outside of western media culture and is engaging with it only now as an adult. I feel like a big part of it is

a) that there are POC in more visible and important roles. Most POC tend to get sidelined ALOT and dont tend to get enough screen time and promenence to challenge racists perception of what's 'right' according to their little self-absorbed bubble. You see this most visibly in MCU etc. With the reaction to black panther, Sam Wilson and the like. Even in a diverse film or show the main character is always white and their love interest (if not white) is always an acceptably light skinned person (colourism is A BIG problem even in non western media)

2) alot of these characters are WOC who pretty much ALWAYS get the short end of the stick and get basically a double dose of racism and misogyny. Especially if they aren't light skinned enough or suitably white looking. (Tangen but related is the way that Disney cast a half white-half Indian actress as an Arab princess even though there are so many talented middle eastern actresses for the position and the use/exploitation of actors with mixed white heritage as basically [insert race] lite [tm] which is unfair to everybody involved except for the system the profits from this whole thing). WOC are more vulnerable to harrassment, racism and criticism because we arent protected and supported the way white women facing misogyny tend to be black women especially bear the brunt of this. Companies especially wont bother to protect their POC actors look at all the star wars sequel trilogy actors who were harrased and threatened off of social media and had their characters and work ruined by white fans using shipping as an excuse for their internalised racism.

Personally I've left the fandom after season one and tend to move on from fandoms pretty quickly because I just don't have the energy to deal with all the casual racism anymore. Sorry for the long rant! I've just been bottling this up for a long time. Thank you so much for doing all you do and bringing up and challenging racism in fandom! I really appreciate it and follow you even after having left the fandom behind! Sorry if some of my explanations don't make much sense. I've tried my best to explain things in English but it isn't my first language and it's hard to verbalise these concepts without making it seem like I'm hating on people or being stupid. Much love x

First, thank you SO MUCH for sharing your thoughts. I read every word and you are right on every count.

I’ve loved fantasy since I was a kid and The Witcher was the first time I saw woc being centered in the story. And it was the first time I saw so many woc in a fantasy show, and the fact that they keep adding more woc to the cast is amazing!!

And we absolutely see backlash when any characters of color get starring roles. The abuse that Anthony Mackie had faced as Captain America is disgusting.

And you are SO right. The fact that there are so many woc in prominent roles puts a target on their back.

I am so disappointed in the executives and media team behind The Witcher and even outlets like Redanian Intelligence because they do NOTHING to protect their cast who constantly get shit on. Lauren tried to make a point about diversity but she ended up falling into the tolerance paradox and engaging with racists. And she did apologize and learn from it…but one half-assed attempt from a show runner is not nearly enough.

And the colorism point. SAY IT LOUDER. Because the show itself has some serious colorism and texturize problems when it comes to characters like Triss and Francesca. And to be honest, some of that problem comes from the fans demanding actresses of color conform to a white standard of beauty.

I totally understand you leaving the fandom. I’ve had so many fandom friends leave one by one because they couldn’t handle the racism anymore. Almost all of them were woc or poc and it fucking sucks and it’s sad but completely understandable. Honestly I feel really humbled and grateful that ur still following me despite leaving the fandom —- so thank you 💛

Also this was INCREDIBLY well verbalized and written!! You know exactly what to say and how to say it in a concise and knowledgeable way.

[writtenvideoessay]

Representation in Media

Media is terrible with representation. While there are many movies and shows with POC, they are often stereotyped, light-skinned, or tokenized. 

Specifically black women are almost always light-skinned and thin. Which, are not a problem, except that there are so few WOC who aren’t. In Suits, the two black women with prominent roles have very light skin and are very skinny. On Supernatural, Billie, one of the very few lasting POC, is light skinned, although not as skinny as most WOC in media. In All American, a show that is generally great about representation, the two female main characters are very thin and light-skinned. In Never Have I Ever, the main character’s best friend is a very thin light-skinned WOC. Zendaya, one of the most famous WOC in media, is a very skinny, light-skinned woman. On The Bold Type, the black main character is a thin, light-skinned woman. There are countless examples, and these are only the ones that I have personally watched. While it is not bad that there are light-skinned women in media, it is still representation after all, it is really telling that there are far more light-skinned women than dark-skinned. This stems, I believe, from the sexualization of light-skinned women, and the vilification of dark-skinned characters. By creating characters like these, and not characters who are dark-skinned and heavier, the producers reveal both their inherent prejudices and their view of the audience as all or primarily white, which is not accurate. 

Another very evident characteristic in most media is that most black characters are not allowed to become visually angry. Most of the characters I’ve listed never yell or shout or show anger like white characters do on screen. Black men are especially subject to this. In America, when black people were being given more rights, white men grew fearful that black men were more physically able than they. This led to a fear that women would prefer black men over white men. At first, when they appeared in media, black men were portrayed as brutish and animalistic. Subsequently, as black characters became more prominent and accepted, black men were re-characterized as calm, rarely rising to anger, and happy with their place in life, as an attempt to placate the fears of the white audience. 

Interestingly, a very prominent stereotype in media is the “angry black woman”, a black woman who is sassy and demanding but ultimately easily broken down into those two characteristics. The reason that WOC are allowed to be angry, but MOC are not is more rooted in sexism than racism, though it is of course related, but breaking it down, white woman are allowed for more characterization than black women. Often, instead of being given two personality traits, ex. sassy and demanding, they are allowed actual personalities. In fact, one of the biggest problems with representation is the characterization of black characters as boring, uninteresting, people who are really only there to check the box labeled “representation” or more likely “token POC”. 

There is, of course, more that I could say on the subject, as there is simply so many layers to racism in media, tokenism, stereotypes, and more. However, I try and write these essays based on what I see, movies and tv shows that I watch. What I have written I think delves into what these shows reveal about their unintended biases. And I am NOT saying these shows are bad, I love all of them, but they still contribute to these problems. 

I think that the audience of these shows and others are ready to see more representation on screen. Shows should have more dark-skinned women, more angry black men, and essentially more characters of color.

[escaperoom123movies-blog]

Escape Room 123movies Review

Regardless of the banner, there is an astonishing absence of jigsaw astounds in this film. Or on the other hand skeletons, really. 

So at the beginning of today, escape room 123movies I took myself to the films and saw Escape Room, which I've been interested about since the trailers were delivered. I love escape rooms, I've played through The Room and every one of its spin-offs on numerous occasions, give me some old fashioned riddle unraveling and I am SO there! While I was anticipating a few panics, I was trusting there wouldn't be anything excessively horrifying since it conveys a PG-13 rating. Ideally there would be more sharp climatic alarms than violent passing scenes, and I was correct! 

(Fun certainty: did you realize that there were two films that turned out in 2017 likewise called Escape Room? I didn't until I was attempting to discover pictures for this film! Evidently, those two motion pictures are… not incredible, however I can't by and by vouch for them.) 

THE PLOT 

Escape room 123movies begins in, amusingly enough, an escape room! It at first appears as though a richly beautified front room, and everything is quiet until Logan Miller drops through the roof. He's limping, beat-up, and in all out frenzy mode as he totters to a convoluted looking number-labyrinth lock thing on the entryway. He understands that he needs four numbers, however when he pulls on the 1, the divider inverse him begins shutting in. Fantastic. We're in that spot with him as he battles to search for hints to locate the four numbers required as increasingly more of the excellent room gets decimated and squashed behind him. He finds the four numbers required, so he thinks, however they don't work, and we watch as he gradually gets squashed… .. … ..and afterward we flashback to three days earlier. Here we meet three of our fundamental characters, Zoey (played by Taylor Russell), Jason (played by Jay Ellis), and obviously, Ben (played by Logan Miller). If you don't mind, note that Ben appears to be marginally more assembled here, as in, he's not being squashed in an escape room… yet. These three characters are unfathomably unique in relation to one another, and they each get a strange riddle box from somebody they know. The riddle box drives them to Minos Escape Rooms with the guarantee of ~fabulous money prizes~ on the off chance that they can fathom the unsolvable escape room. It is here we meet our other three principle cast individuals: Danny (played by Nik Dodani), Mike (played by Tyler Labine), and Amanda (played by Deborah Ann Woll). After Ben apparently breaks the door handle in the lounge area, the six unfortunates find that the sitting area IS the escape room, and the game has started. The remainder of the film is, you got it, an escape room! We learn all through the remainder of the film more about the characters and why they were picked for this lethal game through shockingly explicit subtleties in all the rooms, and furthermore, who sent them here in any case? 

There's a great deal of extremely sullen riddle understanding. Like, a great deal. 

THE REVIEW 

This film is incredibly fun. That feels wrong to state about a "mental loathsomeness spine chiller," however I swear it is enjoyable. As I would like to think, the film makes a captivating showing of uncovering minor character subtleties all through without dropping the huge bend until the correct second. I love things like this where you sense that you need to focus on everything about you'll miss something and genuinely perhaps you should watch it again to truly get everything?? I live for stuff that way. It was upsetting a result of what was going on and invigorating when something at long last went right. I truly appreciated it all in all, and I think my assessment of the film showed signs of escape room 123movies improvement the more I pondered it a short time later. Those are my preferred sorts of movies, the ones that make you consider them a while later. 

Presently it's an ideal opportunity to escape into the following room of this survey, (I don't know whether I'll have the option to keep up the play on words game for each audit, fam) so Spoiler Warning currently in actuality, and I truly suggest for this film you see it first totally ignorant concerning any spoilers or significant plot details!\ 

this room? This room directly here?? This is the most noticeably terrible room, undoubtedly 

THE MUSIC 

The music for this film was extremely novel when I saw it, and it's one explanation I need to watch it once more, since I'm certain there were prominent music minutes I missed. The score truly set up for anxiety and anticipation, and it helped me to remember the music played in each film where somebody's attempting to hack into a PC under a period limit. You know the one. Prominent music minutes incorporate the initial tune that sets the room we see Ben fall into, the melody that plays during the montage of Ben, Jason, and Zoey attempting to understand their riddle boxes, the end credits music, and obviously, that AWFUL contorted version of Petula Clark's "Downtown" that plays as a clock in the topsy turvy Pool Room, presented previously. Awful room. Most noticeably terrible room. Loathe it. 

Zoey is all that is unadulterated and acceptable known to mankind 

THE CHARACTERS 

By and large, there were a ton of affable characters in Escape Room, which is somewhat lamentable in light of the fact that a significant number of them don't, well, escape. All the characters were one of a kind, and I acknowledged how every one of them had various responses to the stressors in each room, as indicated by their character. Zoey is my supreme top choice, she was a joy to watch the whole film, and I so valued her being the outright brainiac of the gathering. More virtuoso WOC jobs in films, it would be ideal if you There was additionally an extraordinary character circular segment for Ben, which I incredibly delighted in, and there was a great deal of heart given to both Mike and Amanda too. Sadly, Danny isn't around sufficiently long to truly be created, and Jason ends up being a survivalist butt nugget with a significant predominance complex. Yet, for the most part, you felt for all the characters, and you needed to see them escape, which implied that their demise scenes for the most part hit you similarly as hard as they hit the survivors. Danny's passing is a stunner for every one of them, particularly Ben, and the manner in which Amanda's demise hits Zoey is grievous to observe however it puts Zoey into in-your-face survivor boss mode, which is entirely incredible. This implies, nonetheless, that Zoey is resolved to cut down the degenerate AF organization behind Minos escape room 123movies, which cool, yet in addition based off that last scene, NOOOOOOOOO!! 

This scene fools you into deduction everybody will be fine.

THE SCENERY 

Presently when I initially observed the trailer for Escape Room, I believed that each room would be intended for one of the characters explicitly. That is not really the situation, yet each room is definitely unique and extraordinarily fatal, with character-explicit subtleties woven-all through. They're totally structured so that you could see them being a real escape room in reality, with the exception of they all have an ACTUAL fatal curve, rather than entertainers and phony results. The little subtleties were extremely sharp and in some cases sort of tragic. The fire and stopped vent slither set off Amanda's PTSD in a truly gutting scene and prologue to her character. The tusk trophies in the room presented over each spoke to one of the notable reindeer from the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" tune, which was unpleasant for Ben due to his flashback and harsh for the crowd since that is unmistakably intimating that the reindeer have been butchered which like, impolite, keep Christmas separate from this?? My least most loved room is the cold winter horrendousness essentially in light of the fact that it was pulverizing watching them cooperate to both arrangement with Danny's demise and attempt to dissolve the key required out of the focal point of a strong square of ice while they're sharing ONE coat among them. Ugh. In any case, a nearby second is that dumb topsy turvy pool room. Plan shrewd it's extraordinary, however generally? Detest it. Abhor what occurs. Probably not. 

Goodness hello look! There are skeletons in this film! 

THE TWIST 

Alright, on the off chance that you've perused this far and haven't seen the film yet, trust me when I state you actually most likely wanna see it first before I proceed. 

For every other person? Here we go. 

Escape Room has really, two or three turns when you consider it. The underlying turn is, obviously, the way that all the risky snares are in reality genuine and dangerous. The stakes are REAL high. 

The following turn comes in the room equipped like an emergency clinic. Each character is attracted to a particular bed, set up in an unexpected way. It turns out, each character invested energy sooner or later in the emergency clinic, and each bed is an ideal amusement of their room. Through conversation, they discover that every one of them was the sole overcomer of something horrendous that transpired (we get little blazes about what these occasions could be all through the film). Zoey makes sense of that whoever is running the escape room must need to see who, among them, is the "most fortunate of the fortunate." 

After a couple more rooms and a couple more passings, we find Ben, who did undoubtedly endure getting squashed in the sumptuous lounge escape room 123movies (so I surmise in fact he simply didn't get squashed). He stumbles into a type of stockroom with an enormous screen that shows every one of their photos, and every one of them, put something aside for his, have a huge red "X" up and over. In his image, he is marked the "Champ." A hairy British man goes into the room to uncover the following turn: this whole thing was set up by a gathering of exhausted, rich individuals who are entranced by the human will to endure. English Beard declares that people have consistently adored viewing different people in close demise circumstances, and they have run these escape rooms on various occasions, similar to an investigation, to attempt to make sense of what it is that makes up a definitive victor (sidenote: notice how this is likewise sort of a burrow at the crowd to the film? 

[sexylazymercymama]

Ok. I love the costume, and the story, and all that, but the original quote wasn’t “women didn’t grow up on Star Wars”. It was “Women didn’t grow up on Star Wars THE WAY MEN DID.” Big difference, people.

Growing up- Where were my Princess Leia sheets? Endless variation posts? Princess Leia shirts? Star Wars heroines that weren’t Princess Leia?? When the Special Editions hit theaters, there was a huge flood of Star Wars merchandise of all varieties and hey, it’s the 90s, we’re going to get some token representation, right?  WRONG. 

My awesome feminist mother searched high and low and found two- yes, only TWO- Princess Leia figures in stores that were genuine action figures that could pose and do stuff and look like they could fight. One of them advertised having all these pieces but it was really, “oh hey, you can detach both her cloak and her skirt so it looks like she’s fightiing in a white bodysuit”. The Endor exploding speeder bike was awesome and I loved the poncho and there was a button to shoot lasers. Lasers!! I had never gotten toys with push-button lasers before.

But what did the boys have??? Star Wars bedspreads, and maybe Leia appeared off to one side. Star Wars posters with the ESB one having her receiving a kiss and not, you know, coordinating an evacution. Endless figures in multiple sizes. SO MANY SHIRTS WITH JUST THE BOYS UNLESS IT WAS A BIG ALL-CAST PRINT. Or she was there but only with her sexy one-hip-cocked and clearly not planning to fire the gun pose. Just.... so much merchandise.

We grew up with Star Wars. But it sure as HECK wasn’t the way that the boys did.

Now: Things have gotten.... some better.. Forces of Destiny was a nice effort, although I really only enjoy it for the fun poseable figures that I spent my childhood desperately longing for. But it barely accomplished a fraction of what DC Superhero Girls did. The surplus of girls’ SW shirts (although excessively feminized) have been good, although I prefer the standard non-FoD SW shirts that heavily or exclusively feature Rey. KO has 6 SW shirts with women characters on them. But still. Side rant ahead:

WHERE ARE MY WOC STAR WARS HEROINES???  What’s been the progress on that lately? Oh yeah, a bunch of bigoted trolls who no nothing of race theory arguing that we need to shut up about WOC in SW because “if you’re not a white woman, you’re a WOC” and Kelly Marie Tran is going to be our one token WOC to appear prominently on-screen and we all need to STFU. Endless ranting about Asia and colorism issues there aside, one is not enough. Not for me, not for my daughter, not for girls of color. 

What’s the closest SW has come to a woman appearing prominently on-screen that doesn’t have white skin? Tiny bit parts of a Black woman and an Indian woman appearing as Jedi masters in ep. 1 aside, there’s Sabine. A secondary character (and some sort of love interest for the main character, yet another straight white cis-male orphan who’s plucky and somehow has super-strong Force potential???) on an animated cartoon that isn’t doing nearly as well as the one that preceded it. And how’s her merch going, universe???

Oh, look at that!!! They made her white-skinned on the t-shirts!!! (all of them, not just the Henley) Why? Because they could have gold letters and all the different colors but, what, adding in a non-white skin tone upped the cost of printing by $0.05 per shirt??? Well, isn’t that special. And I swear, on the show, it feels like they’ve been animating her as lighter-skinned ever since they introduced her bald, Black Mandalorian friend (agh, can never remember her name). Lemme tell you a story:

Once upon a time, it was 2017 and I was at a nerdy Star Wars event. I passed a beautiful Black family- dad was Lando, one boy was Mace Windu, one boy was Finn, and the girl was a generic Jedi in robes and cloak complaining loudly and gloriously about how she didn’t even have a NAME and it just WASN’T FAIR. And I just wanted to sob and shout and shake down the foundations of Lucasfilm until they healed her pain.

She was making the face I made in the nineties when my parents couldn’t find me a single Princess Leia shirt. Or a predominantly Princess Leia poster. Or Princess Leia sheets. But WORSE, because at least I got a glimpse of the potential on screen. And what did she have? Her loved ones cosplaying as SW’s beautiful Black man trifecta and not even a name for herself.

So let’s add to this quote.

“Women didn’t grow up on Star Wars the way men did.” “Black people didn’t grow up on Star Wars the way white people did.” “Black girls didn’t grow up on Star Wars the way white boys did.” “Queer kids didn’t grow up on Star Wars the white straight kids did.” “Trans and enby people didn’t grow up on Star Wars the way cis people did.” “Disabled people didn’t grow up on Star Wars the way able-bodied people did.” I’m hungry and I’m cranky and I’m going to bed. But some things had to be said.

[rebeccariveraa]

Sandra Cisneros, Pixar's Coco, and Latinx representation

 Let’s talk about representation, but first, navigation. As in, I have only ever navigated and existed in this world as a women of color (WoC), more specifically, as a Latina. And everything within this identity that I have come to view as a blessing was once its own set of wounds, inherited or otherwise. When I say “inherited wounds”, I mean that women of color either know or come to know that this world was not built for us to thrive in (see racism, sexism, and all of it’s intersections) . And this knowledge is passed down or born into us. It is inherited. And then becomes a truth you cannot separate us from. You cannot separate me from my struggle without erasing a vital part of who I am. But that is understood by those I allow into my life. Now, if you do not know me too well, then here are the basics: 

I am a Latina WoC. I am an artist. I have big dreams. Many goals. No blueprint. And very little representation in the fields I wish to break into. All of these smaller truths have molded my bigger, more personal one which is that - 

I have had to carve out and fight for the space I occupy. I have had to dig deep and coach my now booming voice out of its body. I have had to seek out my own mentors, role-models, and inspirations who looked like me and navigated the world in a similar way. And mostly, I have grown up impatient and starving for representation. 

One way I actively heal and seek out representation is by consciously consuming and surrounding myself with art, films, media, literature, podcasts, and all content produced by women, PoC, and mostly Latinxs. This month it has looked like this: 

I’m not sure why Sandra Cisneros didn’t come into my life sooner being that she is one of the most prominent Latinx writers of our time, but I’m glad I was able to sit down with her words. There is an indescribably comforting feeling that comes with knowing that someone who shares the same name as your mother, has a father with a voice like yours, shares part of your history, can love in the same two languages you can, can easily pass for one of your tia’s, and dreams the way you do, has already accomplished so much. And it’s not that you ever need permission to be great, but reading her books felt like a silent permission. 

These books provided a mirror and a temporary home for me. An excerpt from A House of My Own illustrates why perfectly. Cisneros writes, "We find ourselves at home, or homing, in books that allow us to become more ourselves. Home 'is not just the place where you were born,' as the traveler Pico Iyer once noted. 'It's the place where you become yourself.'"

part 2 in this month’s healing looked like this:

Before going to see Pixar’s newest box-office hit “Coco”, I was warned not to wear my signature winged eye-liner to the theater. Two on-screen duets and several wet tissues later, I was glad I had adhered to that advice.

If after my previous spiel about representation and navigating the world as a Latina/WoC you are still wondering what warranted such a teary-eyed response (besides the fact that Pixar endlessly loves to pluck at the heart strings of their audience) I want you to picture this:

A young Latina woman with the goal of one day becoming a successful actress goes to the cinema and for the first time in her twenty-two years of living is watching an animated film in which the characters look like her uncles, and cousins, and aunts. For the first time she can point to the screen and say, “that is me”, “that is us”. And in this way, watching “Coco” felt like coming home; like walking into a room full of the people I love and belong to, but who are rarely ever celebrated - especially in such a public way.

I went to see this movie with my boyfriend and nine-year-old sister. Being able to take her to see this film was another victory in itself (on par with being able to take her to see Wonder Woman). I had to wait twenty-two years to see this kind of representation in film; one that is both authentic and empowering. But my sister is still in the midst of her childhood; still being molded and shaped into the person she will become later in life, and I hope that holding these mirrors up to her this early on in her development will prevent her from inheriting the wounds I have had to fight daily to heal myself from.

And so, in the midst of all the tears, the melancholic sounds of guitar strings strong enough to conjure my grandfather’s face, and holding the hands of my younger sister- a silent way of saying, “can you believe it, Sofie? He (the protagonist) has our last name?” a part of my younger, more broken self was healed and for that I am endlessly grateful.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

^^ THANK YOU

You and @limerental put my issues with these additions into words far better than I could have.

"Jaskier being prioritized by large parts of the fanbase over Yennefer is an example a problem that fandoms have with latching onto white male minor characters to the point where WOC leads get sidelined" and "You're not a better Witcher fan for not liking jaskier" are statements that can both coexist and "Don't hate on the actor because you don't like the character" is just common fucking sense OH MY GOD

[fyeahbatcat]

Not batcat related but what did you think about the Wonder Woman movie? I love your blog btw!

Thank you!!! I haven’t seen Wonder Woman yet. I have tickets for tonight :)

Edit 6/30/17

Sorry I meant to give you an update right after I saw themovie but then the proposal happened the next day and it shifted my focus for awhile. Anyways, last year I was kind of asked about my thoughts on the thenupcoming Wonder Woman movie and I outlined my concerns about the potential forlightweight feminism, portrayals of violence, and the representation of theAmazons and everyone I am happy to say that I could not have been more wrong(for the most part). I’ve been begging the powers that be at WB for a WonderWoman for years and I fully intended to catch an advanced screening since itwas announced in 2014, but I was away on vacation that week so it didn’t happenand I had to do some extreme internet acrobatics to avoid spoilers. Between that,the letdown that was Suicide Squad,and the pressure of having the first *real* superhero movie starring a woman I thoughtthere was no way it would live up to my expectations.

That said: I am a changed person having now seen Diana ofThemyscira grace a giant plasma screen in her own movie. Watching Wonder Woman was a spiritual experience.In response to my own concerns about:

1.      The trailer looking too violent

It’s not that I expected there to be no fighting or violencein a multi-million dollar action movie I meant more along the lines of WonderWoman was created as a foil for violent hyper-masculinity and a symbol ofpeace. A lot of these themes have become very muted over the last severaldecades by mostly male writers who interpret Wonder Woman’s strength as coincidingwith traditionally masculine ideals when William Moulton Marston created WonderWoman as a symbol of feminine power. Because it was very clear that PattyJenkins and the DCEU is taking the recent New 52 daughter of Zeus origin story Ithought that they would mostly be relying on more recent versions of WonderWoman which, in my opinion, strayed too far from Wonder Woman’s importantlarger themes (until Greg Rucka, God bless him, came back to the series).

The ending completely shattered my expectations and I amhappy to report that I was wrong. The movie was all about Diana’s destiny andhow she became the hero that she is. By the end she decides that she wants tobe a hero that believes in the power of love. That’s exactly who Wonder Womanis. This was a feminist movie through and through.

2.      The diversity of the Amazons

You can read about what I had to say about the initial promoshots of the Amazons in my previous post: but what it came down to is the factthat diversity among the Amazons isn’t just a meaningless gesture of diverserepresentation or just for optics. It’s essential to Wonder Woman’s characterbecause she stands for equality among all women and intersectional feminism.People expressed concerns over how the first images of the Amazons were of allwhite faces and Patty Jenkins said was just Diana’s “immediate family” and the restof the Amazons would be diverse. It was a pretty unsatisfactory placation, buton that end Jenkins did hold up her promise. My exact words last year were:

So diverse like WOC will be playing actually namedcharacters who contribute to the plot and/or Diana’s development? Or diverselike they’ll all be in the background swinging swords, thrown a few tokenlines, and will be credited as “Amazon” #4? Because those are two verydifferent ideas of diversity?

Spoiler alert: it was the second one (though I think some ofthem had names, not that you would’ve known). It’s hard for me to criticize thedecision to cast Robin Wright as Antiope because my goodness she was born toplay that part. It was so thrilling to see an actress in her fifties in actionsequences and woman fighting as warriors free from the male gaze, but it justas well could’ve been Phillipus that also had a hand in training Diana. Evenafter viewing the movie Jenkins reasoning strikes me as defense for casting allwhite actresses in the most prominent roles for the Amazons, which is prettyexpected by Hollywood standards. There wasn’t even any need for Diana to havean “immediate family” as it didn’t contribute to the plot in any way.

Stray thoughts:

Okay I anticipated the “twist” but that didn’tstop me from thinking “If they make her the daughter of Zeus Patty Jenkins isgonna catch these hands” the entire time. I’m willing to overlook it but thatdoesn’t mean that I liked it.

Omg Diana’s characterization was so friggingood. A lot of writers make Wonder Woman too severe and serious, but Diana wasa character that was full of joy and humor. One of my favorite moments in theentire movie was when Diana swoons over the baby (“A BABY!!!!!!”) which wasadorable because they don’t have babies of Themyscira so it’s something thatshe didn’t take for granted. Also I loved it when she tells the ice cream manthat “you should be very proud.” It was just little moments like that you gotto see Diana’s human side and that she was a joyful, loving person.Also the scene in NML when Diana is socompelled by human suffering to cross the trenches and put an end to theviolence once and for all. This is the moment that she becomes Wonder Woman.I also think that they did a really greatjob of conveying what it’s like to be in a foreign place. Some of the mostinsulting stereotypes in media are that foreigners are just stupid and don’tunderstand anything (see Starfire). Dianacan speak dead languages and knows about literature. Diana wasn’t dumb by anymeans, but she didn’t quite know all of the cultural cues. Like when she didn’tknow why her and Steve couldn’t “sleep” together which Steve assumes this meansthat she doesn’t know what sex is and Diana matter-of-factly informs him that she’s“read all twelve volumes of Cleo’s treatises on body and pleasures.” And whenshe tries to hold Steve’s hand because “they’re together.” Cultural norms areregion specific so of course anytime you venture to a place unknown you, youdon’t know everything about there is to know about how to socialize with the peoplethere. The film did it in a way that was funny and honest without beingcondescending.

Gal Gadot and Chris Pine had some of the bestchemistry I’ve ever seen on screen. They were both so charming and funny. Evenmy mom liked them and she hates superhero movies.

“I wish we had more time.” I’ve never sobbed somuch from one line before.

Best universal human theme since The Dark Knight. Wonder Woman was allabout Diana’s journey of self-discovery. When she first leaves the island shenaively believes that all of the violence and evil in the world is a result ofAres’ influence and once she destroys him it will magically end. Before sheleaves she asks Steve if he’s typical representation of mankind.  Sure Steve Trevor was a genuinely good guyand that probably got her expectations a little too high, but he points outthat even he’s not a saint. No one is. When she first kills who she thought wasAres and nothing changed she became immediately disillusioned by mankind andrealizes that people are pretty shitty and it wasn’t just because of Ares. It’sSteve that brings her to this realization that: yeah we suck, but that doesn’t meanthat we’re not worth saving.

Steve got hella fridged. Well sort of. Steve’sdeath is really what motivated Diana to destroy Ares and continue to mentor theworld through love, so it’s a rare example of a male character’s death beingused as motivation for a female character. However, Steve was given much moreagency in his death than a female character would’ve been given. Steve died onhis own terms in a way that was really, really heroic and sacrificial. It’s almostthe way Batman went out in The Dark Knight Rises and how Steve Rogers “dies” inCaptain America. Compare that to GwenStacy’s death in Amazing Spiderman 2 whoseneck snapped in the last ten minutes just to make Peter all sad and angsty. Ithink that writers still have more expectations for male characters to beactive and think that it’s more acceptable for female characters to be passiveso in terms of gender representation in Hollywood there’s still a long way togo but hey it’s a start.

Scene that had me laughing even days later:

Diana, who has neverseen a man before standing in front of a bare ass naked Steve: What’s that?

Steve:

Steve:

Steve:

Steve: This is awatch.

Bottom line: I loved this movie. I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I’mgoing to go see it again this weekend.

[wellesleyunderground]

WU Reviews: The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 Episode 2 Recap by Roheeni Saxena ‘08 (@RoheeniSax)

Handmaid’s Tale Episode 2 opens, and we are with June, laying in the back of a flatbed truck, while she delivers a monologue about freedom, wondering aloud, “is this what freedom is?” Unfortunately, this opening speech, like the final lines of Episode 1 (see previous review), is lacking. This writing issue is likely to continue throughout season 2: without Margaret Atwood’s precise and purposeful writing to guide June’s monologues, her interior dialogue is becoming increasingly inelegant. However, (if we are being VERY generous) the deterioration of June’s critical thinking may also be a purposeful choice made by the writers. When she is delivered to her new hiding place, she thanks the man who transported her, and in parting she says, “under his eye,” leaving the viewer to wonder about the deterioration of June’s mind - Gilead has begun to colonize her thoughts. Regardless of the colonization of June’s mind, the real thrust of Episode 2 lies in Emily’s storyline.

In Episode 2, for the first time, the viewer enters the world of “the colonies,” where Alexis Bledel’s Emily was banished at the end of Season 1. Bledel’s Season 1 performance was simultaneously surprising and inspired – given the opportunity to play something other than a Rory-Gilmore-type, Bledel’s genuine talent and skill were undeniable. Episode 2 is absolutely written to (once more) show off what Alexis Bledel can do with a real part. As she returns to the show, her on-screen presence bursts into the episode, shoveling dirt in the colonies, where she has been banished as an “unwoman”. Emily’s inner strength and intense fear while living in the colonies are both palpable, but the most interesting scenes in her storyline are her pre-Gilead flashbacks. In these flashbacks, we see her as a brave gay academic, as a gay woman whose most prominent academic mentor has been lynched on campus for being gay, and as a woman attempting to flee the country with her wife and son.

In her flashbacks, Emily lectures on the microbiome, shutting down mansplaining students in her classroom, and encouraging her female students of color to pursue science (as a WOC STEM PhD candidate myself, this is particularly compelling to me). As the pre-Gilead timeline progresses, Emily and her department chair (who is gay, just like Emily), discuss the “new political climate” (ring any bells, 2018 progressives?). He advises her against teaching in the coming semester, and she incisively infers that he is “hiding the dykes” due to political pressure. Then, he echoes a sentiment many older LGBTQ people have been sharing lately in 2018, that he never thought that he would see the next generation going back into the closet. In response, Emily informs him that she absolutely will be teaching next semester and won’t be going back into the closet. He sardonically replies, “welcome to the fight, it sucks.” (In the last few years, THIS queer WOC has had the same conversation with mentors and older professionals – luckily, my peers and I ARE here for the fight…. because the truth is that it was never over anyway.)

Given this country’s most recent family separation policies, it is particularly poignant for the viewer to watch Emily being separated from her family. When she and her wife attempt to cross the border with their son, she produces their marriage license, and she is told that the document is no longer recognized. She is told that it is not valid, and they are not married, because it is forbidden by the law. Emily asks the border police (Gilead’s ICE?) what law forbids it, and when the customs agent will not clarify, it is clear to us (the viewers) and to Emily that he is referring to the BIBLICAL law, which obviously has no place in the state’s legal system. Unironically, just last week in the US, Attorney General Jeff Sessions used the bible as justification for the separation of immigrant parents and child at the US-Mexico border, and the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders supported this stance.

This Handmaid’s Tale episode was written well before some of this country’s highest public officials would use the Bible as justification for splitting up immigrant families, and its portrayal of this recent reality seems almost prescient. We are currently living in a time when the most incisive satire is, sadly and truthfully, easily trumped by reality (pun intended). Also, just a quick aside, when Sarah Huckabee Sanders verbally supported Jeff Sessions’ decision to quote Romans 13 as justification for separating families at the border, Playboy White House Correspondent Brian Karem implored her to show some empathy, at least in terms of her identity as a mother – that’s right, we now live in a world in which cis/het/male reporters from PLAYBOY have more empathy for families who are separated at the border while seeking asylum than women who work at the White House have.

One of Emily’s last actions in this episode is to administer some pills that she labels as “antibiotics” to a mistress (wife) who appears in the colonies because her husband had an affair. Emily administers this medication in her role as a caretaker who attempts to grant humanity to her fellow unwomen in the colonies. We, the viewers, momentarily think she must have an endless reservoir of kindness, particularly as she justifies the gesture with the comment, “a mistress was kind to me once.” However, later that same day, when Emily goes to check on the sick new unwoman, we realize that we have been fooled, just as the former mistress has – the pills Emily gave her were actually poison, not antibiotics. As the shocked former-wife lies dying, and the shocked viewer watches, Emily says to her, bitterly, “Every month, you held a woman down while your husband raped her. Some things can’t be forgiven.” Then, Emily tells the wife that “she should die alone,” and walks away. Emily’s brutal response to a former wife’s appearance in the colonies is a response to a brutal world – she responds violently to a world that has treated her violently, and this action seems to echo Zora Neale Hurston’s sentiment, “If you’re silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it” – Emily did NOT enjoy her pain, and she wants people to know it.

Also, just some asides about June’s storyline in this episode: June’s narrative in Episode 2 is less character-driven and more expository, giving the viewers insight into the history of how Gilead rose to power. As she continues to hide from the Gilead’s police force, June and the viewer come to learn that she is hiding out in the former offices of the Boston Herald, one of the oldest US newspapers, winner of eight Pulitzer prizes. We also come to realize that Gilead’s armed forces slaughtered all the newspaper’s staff, as part of their efforts to control the press and take control of the government. Additionally, when Nick comes to visit June, we see her frustration as she appreciates just how trapped she really is – even when he gives her keys to a car and the means of escape, she knows she’d never be able to make it out of Gilead alive, and screams in anger as realizes that no keys, no gun, nothing can save her from this system that’s designed to use her as breeding stock, keep her separated from her child, and kill her. Then, realizing that she has absolutely no agency in this social structure, June chooses to assert her agency in the only space where she is able to assert her personhood – in her physical relationship with Nick. In this context where June literally has no other outlets, her choice to have sex with Nick is a transgressive act, as she uses her body for her own pleasure, to distract herself from her own fear and pain, and to dominate the man she has access to.

[lilquill]

@igotablankpage yeah, I get what you mean!

Cultural identity doesn’t have to be the central part of a piece of work in order for it to be important to your characters and to who they are. You don’t have to, idk, have a Hindu South Asian character celebrate Diwali or Holi or something and have that be a very important part of the storyline, for instance. The conflict and the plot do not have to depend on identity.

But race, culture, ethnicity, etc. are literally so immersive that you can’t ignore them when creating a character, which was the point of my post. There’s plenty of ways to subtly incorporate a character’s race and culture and stuff into the piece of work.

Examples like Lara Jean’s fashion sense in both the books and the movies are successful ways of doing this!

I guess a sorta decent rule of thumb is, if your character of color was replaced by a white character and the meaning and nuances of the story would not change, then it’s not good representation.

What do I mean about this? Let’s go back to the example of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before movie. It’s a fake dating high school romcom; pretty straightforward stuff in that sense.

However, if Lara Jean were white, the story would truly be totally different. Here’s why:

LJ’s fashion sense would be strange and out of place.

The undertones of the conflict with Genevieve would be totally different. Part of what I enjoyed about the characterization of Gen and the clash between Gen and LJ was that it was a story about a white girl being deeply jealous of a woman of color and thinking that this woman of color doesn’t “deserve” the affection of a white guy. That stuff hit pretty close to home. If LJ were white, it’d just be catty white girl vs. nice white girl, which is pretty standard fare and loses the undertones of subtle commentary on manipulative white women and racialized misogyny.

The stuff about LJ’s family wouldn’t work at all. The beginning scene where her white father tries to make Korean food to remember LJ’s Korean mother would not make sense. It would not effectively convey the impact of LJ’s loss. Furthermore, the sense of sisterhood, and the focus on familial themes, would lose the undercurrent of close relationships between family.

The really sweet way Peter bonds with Lara Jean over her culture (the Yakult!) wouldn’t work out. It wouldn’t be as intimate or meaningful.

The scene with Lara Jean, Peter, and Kitty watching Sixteen Candles and commenting on racism and uncomfortable tropes in western media, as well as how poc often have to overlook blatant racism in media in order to just....have a good time and not lose our shit all the time because of how pervasive racism is, wouldn’t make sense.

Perhaps most prominently, the emotional impact of me and other woc being able to see a woc be truly loved on our screens in a super cute and well-made Hollywood romcom like that would not have existed. It wouldn’t have been as impactful or meaningful to me. It wouldn’t have felt as close and intimate and understanding. (And, by the way, when Jenny Han was trying to get this book made into a movie, many studios wanted to whitewash Lara Jean, which would have totally changed this story.)

Do you see what I mean? I could go on; there’s other things in just this single movie alone where the cultural identity of characters is really important to how we perceive the story, and how race and culture impact the characters. 

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is very much not a story about BEING an Asian American, or even more specifically a biracial Korean American girl. It’s just a romcom with cute tropes at its core; the conflict and the story aren’t about the identity. However, even then, the story and how we consume it is very much impacted by race and ethnicity and culture.

The characters are impacted by their identities. This changes how we read the story. This changes how these stories were written in the first place.

(And also, quick side note: I know I’m using Hollywood movies to make my point for the sake of white westerners understanding my point a little better, but one of the best ways to understand other cultures better is to consume NONWESTERN media. Don’t rely on just Hollywood and western literature and stuff to understand other cultures! I’d recommend watching nonwestern movies and stuff with a friend of that culture as well just to heighten your understanding.)

On Representation, Diversity, and “have characters of color just don’t write about the experience of being a person of color”

Alright. I’m gonna piss a bunch of people off and also confuse a bunch of well-intentioned white people because I don’t think that you can write about a character of color without talking about the experience of being a person of color of a certain culture.

Seriously. There’s so many conversations celebrating how people have narratives where it “doesn’t matter” that one of their characters is a person of color and that their characters’ identity as a person of color “doesn’t affect the storyline” or whatever.

I’m going to cut right to the chase here: as a reader and storyteller of color, I’m not a fan of narratives where race doesn’t affect the story.

My race and culture and ethnicity ABSOLUTELY impact the way I perceive the world around me! For instance, many South Asian families bond with lively debates and discussions and lovingly roasting their family members. The way that I develop positive relationships, often with a solid dose of conflict and loudness and argument, is therefore fundamentally different from the way a white person would develop relationships; in fact, many white people are intimidated by how loud South Asians like myself are. We’re dramatic and loud and love jokes with wordplay! That’s just how it is and it means I form bonds with people differently.

I also have different values. White people are often more individualistic in culture, with more weird distant formal bonds with their parents (shit like referring to their parents by first name or, on the other end of the spectrum, calling their dads “sir”???) as opposed to the more comfortable and closer bond I have with my parents, where my family is all up in my shit literally all the time LMAO.

Literally white families are SO DISTANT to the point where white people consider practices like co-sleeping with your young child, something very common in South Asian families, to be child abuse?? Like, as if keeping your baby in a crib in another room where they’re not close to you and it’s harder to hear them isn’t dangerous but apparently suffocating a child while sleeping (which is very rare especially since co-sleeping is a practice that has gone on for MILLENNIA) is the bigger threat here??

White kids might perceive that as invasive or a violation of their privacy; I don’t perceive it that way because of the way South Asian families are structured. There’s a stronger emphasis on closeness with family. Of course, there are situations of kids being estranged or difficult family relationships or child abuse in South Asian families as well, but family is more valued in my culture.

The plants I put in my garden are different because of my identity; flowers like bela (Arabian jasmine) and bougainvillea and roses and gladiolus and marigolds and such things are what I’m fond of because of biases based on what my parents and grandparents like. I even once grew nenua (a type of squash). (I’m gonna get my hands on a raat ki rani soon I hope!!) And, of course, not every South Asian is partial to these flowers, but there’s definitely a cultural aspect as to why I personally like them!

The colors and patterns I gravitate towards are also different! I’m not a big fan of western “neutrals” and I find bright colors more appealing, especially because hey, those vibrant shades look better on brown skin! And GUESS WHAT, part of why the western world gravitates towards neutral colors in formalwear is because of colonialism and a disdain for the vibrant colors and dyes that colonized countries used. I love wearing jhumka earrings and statement necklaces and bright, vibrant jewelry as well. Now, obviously, this isn’t the case with every South Asian, but there is certainly some level of impact on these choices from my culture and upbringing.

Hell, even the food I eat is different! I drink chai in the evenings. I gravitate towards spicier dishes and better seasoning. I don’t eat meat other than fish/seafood and chicken and occasionally turkey because of cultural stuff, though ofc lots of South Asians are vegetarian and on the flip side lots of South Asians DO eat red meat and stuff.

And this isn’t even universal to ALL South Asians by any means, because my parents are specifically Hindu and from northeastern India and I’ve grown up in California! And there’s so many other details I could go into but for the sake of not writing a twelve-page essay I’m stopping here. 

Basically, my point is, I don’t want representation where race “doesn’t matter” to the story. Race impacts so many aspects of my life and how I perceive and interact with the world around me.

It’s ridiculous to me how so much “representation” is basically just starting with a default of a white character, making her brown, avoiding the stereotypes, and that’s….it. It doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel authentic to take away cultural impacts on your characters. People start with white western archetypes and tropes and try to mold them to fit characters of color, instead of starting off with an authentic character of color, and it really, really shows.

Especially because Tumblr and writeblr are such white spaces, and also because culture is usually picked up from the environment as opposed to online, the conversations centered around “representation” are always about “don’t do x stereotypes” as opposed to how to actually learn about other cultures and actually….write a character of color. So many of y’all only know how to NOT write a character of color as opposed to how to ACTUALLY write a character of color.

I see so many lists of tropes and things to not include in stories, and not enough things about values and family structures and food and fashion and ways of developing relationships and all that fun stuff that will shape who you are as a person.

And some of y’all don’t even TRY to, I dunno, engage with the culture of your character of color to actually write them. For instance, if you’re writing a South Asian character, go explore South Asian cinema! Go make South Asian friends who can tell you little details about their lives as they, y’know, exist and are your friend! In general, explore the movies and literature and music and dance types and food and drink and whatnot of the culture your character is from! Form relationships with people of those cultures; it’s the internet! I know this is a super white space but there’s PLENTY of poc on here! Make an effort, not just to avoid harmful stereotypes, but to write a character of color whose identity actually MATTERS.

When I’m reading escapist fantasy/sci-fi/romcom/etc. literature where characters aren’t being hurt by racism, I don’t want a story where RACE doesn’t exist, I want a story where RACISM doesn’t exist. I want cultural understanding, empathy, and compassion!

I don’t want a role a white character would play just switched out with a character of color.

For instance, in the movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean’s identity as East Asian is reflected in her fashion choices; book author Jenny Han lent inspiration for this. The Yakult drinks she likes, inspired by Korean tastebuds, plays a role in the story, too. These are details that don’t necessarily heavily impact the plot; it’s a fake-dating high school romcom. But they make a more real, fleshed-out character. Their little details, little in-jokes and references, showing that the character’s race and culture actually MATTER to the story.

There’s a part in Pacific Rim where Raleigh Beckett, a white man, is frustrated with Mako Mori, a Japanese woman, for not going against the wishes of her father figure, Pentecost. When he tells her she doesn’t have to obey him, she responds, “It’s not obedience, Mr. Beckett. It’s respect.” This depicts her cultural understanding of family and respect; her relationships and her responses to things are impacted by her culture.

This is what I’m talking about! In order to write an actual character of color, you MUST write about their experiences to a certain extent. Of course, don’t make your characters of a certain culture a monolith in terms of personalities and responses and all that, but understand how they may be similarly impacted by their identities.

Now, don’t write a whole damn novel about a character coming to terms with their racial identity and coping with racism, but you absolutely MUST holistically incorporate their identity into your narrative.

Otherwise, it’s not actually representation. It’s you essentially writing a racebent white character. It’s you using a white default and trying to adapt it to totally different experiences.

[ectora]

I agree some people tend to mix up the two. But to be honest, during my rewatch, i analysed the stories as well (i jus didn’t do a post about it cause it’s too complicated to actually made sense of it in writing). And based on that, I still feel it’s kind of unfair to blame Abigael for plot importance . 

I agree that a lot of stories were badly written and handled. I do agree that none of them genuinely had good writing, they all had a lot of flaws in theirs stories and their buildup. I would not necessarily agree tho that Abigael had a big importance. She was involved in some episodes with the whole overlord story that i agree, it also made sense but these episodes were not actually that many. A lot of times actually, her involvement in the episode was around another character, often Harry. I see your point however about the separation which can make it seem like Abby would be on the same level as TCO. I dont necessarily see it, but i understand your point. I do absolutely agree about the connectedness though tho. In season 2 I feel like Abby’s story was a little bit more connected the sisters but this season it feels completely disconnected. Not necessarily last episode because at the end of the day what she did was help them with a task but episode 306 and 308 was not really connected to the main story and i do agree they need to do that. I feel like they want to go along with her redemption first ? i don’t really know for sure. 

If we try the og, i think you are right when saying she doesn’t really have someone to be paralleled with. Cole was way more involved that she ever was. All the characters i think of are mostly love interests, which she isn’t (yet i guess). To be honest, in the og charmed, the only two other consistant two characters who had a real impact in the story were Cole and Leo. Which were a lot more involved so they cannot really be compared. 

I agree to be honest. Listen I have no issue with people disliking Abigael. It’s a tv show, all characters are not for everyone. And biases exist on both side. People who like her will see more depth to her character and reasoning behind actions meanwhile people who dislike her will demonise any of her actions. It happens and in some extend it’s ok (as long as it does not reach the point of demonising other characters to defend Abby or hating and complaining about her every two seconds. I do believe as well that some people dislike her to the point they are kinda ‘obsessed’ with the idea of disliking her. By that i mean that they will focus so much on her and how they dislike her that her presence in the show will just seem a lot more prominent than it actually is. there is a lot of perception which will differ. 

Which brings to the issues about the fans. I completely understand there are issues to be talked about when it comes to ships and characters. And that’s a hundred percent valid. My only issues come when people are hypocritical about it. If you use a critic against abigael/abimel, but then completely ignore it in your own faves (i mean you in general), that just makes your argument lose some of its weight in my opinion. And obviously my biggest issue is when people are completely against abimel but dont actually advocate for a better sapphic ship. If abimel isn’t your cup of tea, that’s fair enough. But 1) don’t ask for the character to die, that’s problematic on its own and 2) then demand better treatment for Mel and her relationships. As said, if both Maggie and Macy are having love stories with mains, then so should Mel.  Because, not gonna lie, when straight shippers come strongly at f/f ships, it always feels a bit weird to me.  

 There are definitely issues that need to be addressed concerning her character and in the optic/messages it gives to be honest, as you said, especially on a show where the leads are woc.  The writers sometimes are very questionable. I do not really understand because they can have such beautiful scenes and have other scenes like Macy kneeling in front of Abby. I don’t know if the point of the scene was to be uncomfortable and bad or not, but in every case in was just bad. Because even tho the intention in the scene was not racist, it came out as such. So I agree these are definitely things that need to be talked about and fixed. 

In terms of screen time in general, i do think it’s not bad. The sisters definitely have the lead, tho i think a balance between them, and in the use of such screen time needs to be find. I do believe Harry has a bit too much imo but I also know he’s very connected to the sisters and their every day lives so it makes sense he would have the most screen time after the sisters. But i do believe some of his screen time could be given to jordan a bit. I think Abigael’s screen time is about right, however in season 3 it has been a bit weird because Abigael has been in what, half the episodes ? (when episode 10, she will have been in only 5 of them). this is where the connectivity is needed, because all characters should be connected to the main story. 

When it comes to LGBT, the show really needs to work on these issues. I agree, i think season 1 just seemed better because it was actually more importante in the story. I wasn’t aware there was a lot of drama between these two ships. I mean it’s social media and fandom, so I am not surprised but well. either relationships weren’t as develop i’d say compare to her sisters’ relationship, once again. 

I understand the worry. I can’t really say anything as I am white. I know a lot of people have also not really liked that argument when it comes to Abby/Mel/Ruby. Because the fact is, Melby is a ghost relationship imo. Ruby appears once every four episodes for a couple of scenes and it just does not feel natural imo. And it does feel like they are going for Abimel, which in my opinion, with the state the show is at now, would be the best option. Six mains, three pairings. that’s rather a good balance. and the best option at the moment. because right now, their lgbt representation seems performative at best when it comes to ships. 

There are definitely new aspects to worry about when the leads aren’t straight white (and man). the writers room is rather diverse tho, and you can definitely feel it in some scenes (for example if my understanding is correct, 306 had a writer that isn’t straight and the gay drama wa funny). but it also makes it even more surprising when they do things that just do not look good. But then again, it’s a show that promised three latina leads and casted three actresses and only one is actually latina among them. so this show can do good but can clearly miss as well. 

I completely understand the worry tho. I know it is not the same in terms of diversity but i think the feelings of fear of what could happen to poc/lgbt+ is pretty common. you always fear something bad is going to happen because we are so used to it. Even in shows that seem like you can trust them about representation and minorities. For example if you take Maggie and Jordan, I truly do believe he is there to be her love interest and that he is not going to be replaced. But you still have this what if that never leaves. and it can be exhausting. I always feel the same with lgbt. 

the show definitely has issues wuth their writing of non hetero relationship. Season one was ok-ish. season 2 was a very big mess in terms of that, and season 3, there is even less content than season 2. And I am part of the people who think Abimel is something they are planning to go for. Everything points at it. It would make complete sense when you look back at it (but again, tho it makes complete sense for it to happen, what if). And I understand that, in that instance, they don’t really want to put too much effort in a relationship (melby) that is not going to last, which has kind been hinted to at this point. But at the same time, i think it’s still kind of questionable. Because again, it is easily compare to straights. Maggie with Antonio. Who has been in the show or talked about a lot more than Ruby at this point. And we all know he is only there to bring some drama in Maggie’s life when her long term LI is going to be Jordan. So when it comes back to it, at best Melby is just a temporary relationship they dont really want to get invested in while waiting for abimel to be able to happen, but it’s still not a great look as the only, or at worst, it’s the actual relationship and it just shows a complete lack of interest to give us proper representation. Which i still kinda find hard to believe but also it’s the CW. In either case, it is not a great look. 

I’m sorry I ended up writing you an actual essay as a response lmao 

Thank you so fucking much for taking the time to do the time comparisons! It's maddening how people use the same "she takes up too much screen time" excuse used on SC/Lena to basically make Abimel shippers feel bad. From one fandom where people hide behind flimsy excuses about why they don't want a better wlw love story to the point it almost feels homophobic, to another, eh? Something giving me hope compared to SG is that these showrunners/writers seem to care about feedback. Thank you again.

Heh anon ! My pleasure, I’m glad some people are finding it useful/enjoying it 😊

The screen time argument is way too often used when it’s not a fact tbh. I’ve seen people keep saying Abigael kept stealing screen time and I genuinely didn’t remember Abby being in the show that much. And listen, I don’t even care if someone dislike Abby but my issue is when people 1) use wrong information 2) are hypocritical about it. Because most people who use the screen time argument don’t even apply that to Harry. Cause they like him for example. I remember a similar thing happening in Supergirl with lena tbh. Tho I do thing there are some differences between the two, mostly because Supergirl had a way too big of a main cast imo which will create disparity in the cast’s screen time (Kelly’s is ridiculous tbh, same with Nia’s last season) and because lena slowly built her importance in the show. Which isn’t a problem because she’s still not as important as Kara and Alex. But she happens to be the second most important person in the lead’s life so she will have a spot. And her story goes well with the overall plot. People use that argument with them cause even tho sc isn’t romantically canon, they’re mad it’s canonically the second most important relationship in the show. The power sg would have if both Dansen and SC were canon would be absolutely unmatched.

On charmed tho, Abigael is so far from having a similar place than Lena in the show. I’m doing season three now and I think she’s absent of like, half of the episodes that aired ? People complain she has screen time but objectively, she is a main. She WILL have screen time. People can dislike the fact she’s a main cause they don’t like her character. That’s one thing. But they’re acting like her time is disproportionate when it’s ... really not. My biggest problem is when straight people are using this argument against Abby or abimel because they often like Hacy but don’t say anything about them which just shows the argument is just a way for them to excuse the dislike and is not actually a reason of the dislike. Again, there is no issue not shipping a pairing or liking a character. They’re not for everyone. It’s just, don’t be hypocritical about it.

The fact Abigael is a main is one of the reason I want abimel so much. Because we deserve to have our rep be in the main characters. We deserve to have our ships stand on the same level as straight pairings. So in charmed, when macy is with Harry and Maggie had Jordan, we definitely deserve to have Mel with Abigael. As for the writers Im hopeful while also being careful because well, sapphics get burned all the time. I do believe they are building abimel because well, it’s obvious. But also I know some people are very vocal about their dislike of Abigael so I just hope they don’t listen to that. But I do think abimel has very strong changes to be canon soon enough !

[stvrgrs-archive]

James “Rhodey” Rhodes

This guy deserves so much better from fandom. He’s been there since IM1, been in seven movies and we sleep on him so damn much.

We could easily draw parallels between him and Bucky: supporting character who looks out for his reckless best friend and ends up having some traumatic shit happening to him while supporting said best friend.

And so one could say that Bucky is Steve’s Rhodey and vice versa. But then, why on earth is the st*cky fandom so big and the RhodeyTony fandom, well, isn’t?

🤔 (in case you don’t believe me)

Answer: fandom is racist af

Heimdall

Ah Heimdall, where would Asgard be without you? This guy ran all of Asgard while Thor, Loki and Odin were off doing whatever. He brought all of Asgard’s people to safety during Ragnarok and helped Thor out hugely in The Dark World. He is straight up the entire reason Asgard didn’t just combust - well, didn’t combust sooner.

On top of all that, he used his last moments to send Hulk to earth to warn everyone. He’s a hero and no one gives him enough credit for it.

Sam Wilson

A parallel could also be drawn between him and Bucky, and yet, as with RhodeyTony, the SamSteve part of fandom is significantly smaller than st*cky.

He’s been an incredibly important person to Steve (although he should be able to matter outside of his relevance to a white man) and yet is completely overlooked.

Sam was the one beside Steve’s bedside when he woke up in TWS, he supported him completely throughout both TWS and CW and his loss undoubtedly weighed on Steve just as much as Bucky or Tony. And yet I’ve seen very little about it. No edits, no meta, zero, zip, nada.

Also, regarding SamSteve as a romantic ship (and I say this as a huge stony shipper), why the hell is stony shipped more than them? I could probably count on one hand the number of explicitly positive interactions Steve and Tony have had with each other on screen, anything else has to be extremely read into while squinting A LOT.

SamSteve is tbh probably one of the healthiest shops involving Steve and yet fandom consistently choose stucky and stony over it.

Wonder why 🤔

Helen Cho

One of the only WOC to actually have lines and a (semi) prominent role in the MCU before Black Panther and Ragnarok came out.

An intelligence to rival Tony Stark and Bruce Banner and yet nothing. I have never seen her in fics, I’ve seen a handful of edits of her, that guy with the Tony Stark tattoo gets more attention in fandom than she does.

She built the cradle Ultron used to make his body that would actually become the Vision and she gets zero credit for it.

Luis

Ah yes, here we have yet another white man’s side kick. (One of?) The only prominent Hispanic characters and once again he’s so overlooked. I haven’t seen Ant Man and the Wasp but I know in Ant Man he’s so supportive to Scott and such a brilliantly funny and likeable character (kudos to the actor here, Michael Peña). He’s pretty savvy even though he uses that for stealing shit but so does Scott so and resourceful and he needs more recognition for how great he is.

Wong

Was Master of the New York sanctum (and then got replaced by the Gifted White Boy, such a low key racist trope), clearly a powerful magician, stood alongside Gifted White Boy to defend the planet and also gets no recognition. 🙃

Ned Leeds

Same story as RhodeyTony and SamSteve, why the hell isn’t he shipped more with Peter?

(Psst, it’s cause he’s a fat Filipino kid)

He’s SO smart and it pisses me off how no one talks about it, like he’s 15 and able to hack a Stark suit and modify it. 100% would also be able to get the Stark Internship.

Liz Allen

If I’m not mistaken, she’s the first WOC to be involved in a romantic relationship in the MCU. I don’t think white people understand how big that is. Like, Peter and Liz were canonically together and there’s barely anything about them together.

For reference:

She’s super smart and hardworking and really sweet and deserves better.

Brunnhilde/Valkyrie

Valkyrie is a really brave and skilled fighter who takes absolutely no bullshit and she’s just an overall really badass character. She’s been through a lot and come out the other side and does not get enough credit for that.

Maria Rambeau

I only saw Captain Marvel once back when it came out, so I could be remembering this wrong, but weren’t her and Carol the only two female Air Force pilots? Even if she wasn’t, working her way to where she was shows how dedicated and hardworking and smart she is. Also being a single parent to Monica, especially back in the 80s.

She deserves so much more recognition, especially outside of her relationship with a white women

Under appreciated MCU characters: an incomprehensive list

James “Rhodey” Rhodes

Heimdall

Sam Wilson

Helen Cho

Luis

Wong

Ned Leeds

Liz Allen

Brunnhilde (Valkyrie)

Maria Rambeau

Now, if we all think very hard, maybe we can think of why these characters may be under appreciated so much, hmmm?