#cloud atlas*

[donaardaardendrian]

[sunsetquotes]

I believe that there is another world waiting for us. A better world. And I’ll be waiting for you there.

David Mitchell; Cloud Atlas

[pommedepersephone]

My son and I continue our Ben Whishaw binge. He is absolutely enamored with Cloud Atlas.

We might be related.

[darthjess-writing]

"I believe there is another world waiting for us. A better world. And I'll be waiting for you there." – David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

This is a quote from one of my favorite books, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, but I dare you to try to convince me this is not what Padmé's last thoughts were.

[bnmxfld]

Travel far enough, you meet yourself.

David Mitchell / Cloud Atlas

[logray]

The comment Lana Wachowski made at that trans100 event - about how she knows a lot of black people that would vote against trans-friendly bathroom bills, and that they should know better because black people used to be forced to use segregated bathrooms - is probably one of the worst things I've ever heard a white LGBT celebrity say. She and her sister have a long and well-documented history of being two of the most racist people in Hollywood, and this is a perfect example.

While she didn't directly say that black people are responsible for preventing trans-friendly legislation, she still heavily implied it. She still singled out black people as opponents of trans rights. She still, for some reason, basically said that black people being transphobic is worse than nonblack people being transphobic because it's also hypocritical (never mind that you can certainly say the same for cisgay transphobes, who she never mentioned, but she felt the need to single out black people because it's... bathroom-related?) and that she expects better of them - why would you expect better treatment from a cis black person, but not from a cis white person? She also heavily implied that trans people and black people are wholly separate, mutually exclusive communities, as if there are no black trans or transfem people

@ardourie this is what came to mind instantly when I saw your posts over the last couple of days. The Wachowski sisters love to make their films & shows racially and culturally diverse, they love to fill their shit with nonwhite people (who can be cis, straight, gay, but conveniently never transgender, as if that can be chalked up to coincidence), but their respect for blackness & black people crumbles as soon as they meet a black transphobe. Suddenly black people have to be singled out as transphobic. Suddenly transphobia is worse when it comes from a black person. Suddenly blackness is antithetical to transness and suddenly those are separate communities.

The Wachowskis are racist. Lana Wachowski is racist and her remarks at the trans100 event were antiblack. Audiences are way too ready to overlook the anti-Asian racism in Cloud Atlas, they're way too ready to overlook the comments the sisters made about white saviours not being a real thing, they're way too ready to overlook the active removal of any and all references to Norsefire being racist or white supremacist in V for Vendetta (despite making it clear they're anti-LGBT!), and they're way too ready to overlook the trans100 comments. They're influential white artists, and so (like we see constantly on this platform) any attempt to address or criticise their racism is met with allegations of transphobia. It's not transphobic to point out when trans people are racist. It doesn't make you a TERF to point out when transfems are racist. It doesn't make you transphobic to point out when trans people make the LGBT community unwelcoming and hostile towards black or other nonwhite people.

The Wachowskis, their comments in real life, and the media they make, are racist. They perfectly exemplify the kind of stuff Tyler's been posting about, where they drive qpoc out of the community, decry criticism from people of colour as transmisogynistic, and are racially exclusionary in their support for LGBT rights.

[toweroftickles]

re: cloud atlas, surely yellowface is bad no matter what

Well, generally speaking, yes, of course, but I don't think this is exactly that. I sincerely apologize to anyone on this blog who I offended with my post about "Cloud Atlas;" please let me explain if you're unfamiliar.

If it makes you feel any better, here are pictures from the same movie of Halle Berry (a black actress) and Xun Zhou (a Chinese actress) portraying blonde white women.

There's also another instance of an Asian actor playing a white character that I very much don't want to spoil for those who haven't seen it.

The central storytelling concept behind "Cloud Atlas" is reincarnation. Each actor plays a singular soul, essentially one character, that is reborn in different eras, places, cultures, and bodies across six smaller interlocking stories. And we, the audience, see how they evolve, and how their choices and their stories echo throughout the centuries in ways big and small. To quote the movie itself:

"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others...past, and present. And by each crime, and every kindness, we birth our future."

Doona Bae (a Korean actress, one of the film's six lead roles) alongside Halle Berry (a black actress playing an old Korean man). No really, that's her. The makeup is fucking incredible, if you haven't noticed.

The idea of actors playing multiple ethnicities is central to movie's thesis. It's not just white people; "Cloud Atlas" has a very diverse cast and all of them share in this process. Men play women, women play men, Asians play Mexicans, black actors play Indians, white people play Koreans and vice versa, and Hugh Grant plays a cannibal. Essentially, everyone plays everyone. And if we aren't able to recognize these actors in those roles, the impact of the story is completely lost.

I don't think this is like John Wayne putting on awful slanted-eye makeup to play Genghis Khan; there's a specific purpose here that only works with an ambitious narrative of this size and scope. It's about connections that shatter the boundaries of time and space, beyond borders of race and sex. It's easy to dismiss that as drug-induced New-Agey hokum (I certainly don't believe in reincarnation IRL), but to be offended by the prosthetics, in my opinion, is to miss the point entirely. And incidentally, the only people that I've ever seen upset by this movie (so far) have all been white.

"Cloud Atlas" is an achingly beautiful and poignant film of endless imagination that doesn't deserve to be forgotten alongside the dreary garbage heap of Oscar-bait, and I'd encourage everyone to watch before judging too harshly.

Sorry for going off on a tangent to extol this movie's virtues! XD But this is something that's very important to me, and I really don't want anyone to believe that I'm the type of person who finds yellowface or minstrel shows funny. Jimmy Kimmel can get fucked.

[rogerdeakinsdp]

BOUND (1996) written and directed by Lana & Lilly Wachowski CLOUD ATLAS (2012) written and directed by Lana & Lilly Wachowski, Tom Tykwer

[iceforcutie]

Honestly, Sixsmith, as ridiculous as that thing makes you look,

I don't believe I've ever seen anything more beautiful.

[gravity-rainbow]

"Our lives are not our own… we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future."

-- David Mitchell, The Revelation of Sonmi 451, 'Cloud Atlas'

[presidentpoppy]

I drew timothy cavendish holding my catnap plush

[deadeyes-o0]

from The Revelation of Sonmi-451 ~ Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

[sometimesonearth]

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[andreai04]

Perhaps those deprived of beauty perceive it most instinctively.

[pantheshroom]

*stumbles across this photo of Frobisher and Sixmith from Cloud Atlas*

Me: Oh my god it’s Robin and Edwin!!!

*watches the movie, forgetting about the Kill Your Gays trope*

Me: Oh my god nevermind!!!