#desi mermaid

[desigirldairies]

— If Mermaids were Desi 🫧🐚

[mororuart]

👑🐚 MerMay 9

[scarletsapphic]

Desi Siren Aesthetic

based on personal opinions

Rest of the series

Tw- slight mentions of death, blood and drowning

Heavy and perfect kajal, the definition of "siren eyes" in desi font.

Simple but layered silver and iron jewelry that makes the most hauntingly beautiful sound as they move.

Dark clothes with a faint shimmer that's enough to catch your eye, but not enough for them to be all too visible.

Dark purple and red lips that are mostly covered by a dupatta, for their eyes to pierce you.

Venomous and sweet scents of roses and spices,

Nails to match the thorns of the rose.

Blood red alta and dark brown mehendi.

Their voices echo in abandoned temples and caves by the shore as they "practice" their raags.

The most delicate touches, most gentle grips, till they're not.

Their nails digging into your skin as they drag you to your death, their eyes locked on yours with the most sweet smile on their perfectly cracked lips.

Their ghagras would be heavy enough for the weight to help them pull you to the depths of the water.

The sounds of their feet running on the slippery stones by the river would echo in your heart forever.

watch the instagram reel here!!! <3

[thesimoneashley]

Simone Ashley photographed by Pip Bourdillon before attending Vogue World: London

[joysandroses]

"ass or tits" the pre-teen days when I used to play all day and watch mermaids caught on camera(real) on YouTube

[pakcouture]

Kamiar Rokni’s version of a mermaid 🧜🏽‍♀️

[prince-of-khrysalis]

Nothing to see here, just a musketeer captain and his merrow first mate💗💙

[samarajethwa]

Attack on Artfight of deadPIXEL's character Aqu!

[craftymermaid]

Unrelated, but does anyone have any good resources on Indian clothes? Specifically patterns and techniques for garments like cholis and lehenga skirts. It's come to my attention I need to repair some of mine

[akatabitch]

I still barely know how to navigate this app (lol) but for pride month I wanted to plug some of the LGBTQ+ creators, artists, & small businesses I love. Samirah creates lovely poetry, tote bags, & tarot cards. I personally have the Brown Skinned Sirens tote bag and I loooveeee it. Highly recommend.

[descendantofthesparrow]

Oogie boogie bash was a blast, we got like 10 pounds of candy, and ofc i had to visit the small descendants section, even if it's Ror themed, it's still descendants and I love descendants.

Off to boogie boogie bash with @gladsturbations~~

[scarletsapphic]

DESI MERMAID AESTHETIC~

(Based on my own personal opinions)

Rest of the series

Indian pearl jewelry

Silver payal, jhumke and maangtika

Long wavy hair, weaved with jasmine

Gentle hands that make gajras

Elegant and bright sarees draped in nauvari style

The sweetest voices that flow through the air early in the morning

Small red and shimmering bindis

Lace-like mehndi

Smell sweet like jasmine and lotus

Eyes that linger on yours for a second too long

Long lashes with innocent gazes behind them

Will yell at you for hurting a fish

Delicate mirror and pearl jhumkis

Thin bangles that leave just a a faint ghost of a sound in your ears

Fine silver nose rings

Multiple baaliyan in their ears (tiny hoops)

Cherry red alta let's be honest

I'm pretty sure there's an underwater equivalent for sindoor for married mermaids idky desi mermaid screams sindoor to me.

Will sing you to sleep

Soft kisses and giggling (platonic/romantic whatever.. they're just affectionate as fuck)

I personally don't think they would swear unless you messed up real bad

Dramatic as fuck

watch the instagram reel here!!! <3

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

so 96% of you wanted to see me do a redesign of mermista. and while i can draw, i've been stuck in an art block so i opted to just draw over her current design. i don't hate all of it so i'm not changing everything.

let me go through the complaints i do have about her design.

first off, she does not look like royalty in the slightest. she just looks like some girl who likes the color blue. even the gold accents don't really help. i'm not saying she has to walk around in a gown and tiara but at least add something to her design to indicate that she's a princess?

secondly, those clown shoes are NOT IT. who even thought of that? they look uncomfortable and ridiculous, and doesn't make sense for her character design.

those sleeves/armor (??? i honestly don't know what those are) and gold gauntlets also do not look practical in the slightest. they look like they'd be a hindrance for a swimmer. and guess what, she still has them in her mermaid form.

the OG mermista design wasn't the greatest but at least it looked like she could swim comfortably.

so my objectives were:

give her outfit a more streamlined look so it would make sense for her powers

make her look like actual royalty and not some girl with a cool color palette

expand more on the indian-inspired design and reflect that in her usual outfit, instead of putting her in a saree-inspired dress for one episode and calling it a day (i say saree-inspired because it's not really a traditional saree, but more like a modern and slightly western rendition)

i made two versions of her redesign - one with a dupatta and one without. the dupatta, i understand, could be a hindrance in certain situations but i just wanted to give an example of how to take inspiration from a culture instead of just using it for brownie points. a dupatta is something indians would wear with their casual attire, mostly with salwars, unlike sarees which are generally reserved for special occasions (there are sarees that are casual wear, but they're still not the most convenient).

secondly, i gave her a headwear inspired from desi wedding attire and older indian tiaras. mind you, indian tiaras themselves are a lot more complex and beautifully crafted, but 1. it would take me ages to draw all the details and 2. i figured mermista would go for a simpler look, especially when she's not at her palace. also, while indian headwears are usually made with gold and jewels, i gave mermista's headwear pearls because.. pearls, oysters, ocean. mermaid vibes.

i changed the shoes and gave her a pair that are inspired by water shoes. i know that she would transform into a mermaid while swimming anyway, but these still look more comfortable without serving clowncore.

i replaced her gold accents with silver because the gold doesn't really mesh well with the teal, in my opinion. while indians are known for their love of gold, a lot of people nowadays opt for silver, because it is less expensive and more compatible with casual wear.

i highlighted the fishscale pattern in her outfit since you could barely see them in the original.

i gave her a bindi and the necklace that 80s mermista wore, as a tribute to the OG show, and the design is complete. i know that some of these may not be the easiest to animate but if they could animate perfuma's cape thing, entrapta's hair and a hundred different outfits for catra; this design is just child's play.

let me know what you think of the redesign and if you want me to do the same for the other characters!

[hobiebrownismygod]

Let's talk about Desi representation again!!

I don't talk about this stuff often but when I do, I have some strong ass opinions

and yes I'm gonna be talking about none other than Pavitr Prabhakar at the end cuz he's just special to me &lt;3

Hollywood is lagging behind on Desi representation

You'd think one of the biggest film industries in the world would be able to represent us properly, considering the fact that we make up the largest group of South-Asian Americans and the second largest group of Asian-Americans in the US, but instead-

Western Television forces Indians to conform to harmful stereotypes

Some of the most popular Desi characters on screen are Raj Koothrappali from the Big Bang Theory, Devi Vishwakumar from Never Have I Ever and Kelly Kapoor from the Office.

Indian men are almost always portrayed as robotics engineers and computer whizzes, but with terrible social intellect, making them seem like awkward nerds.

Indian women are almost always portrayed as "whitewashed", or wanting to appear more western, with zero understanding of their own culture or language along with an unrelenting need for attention from white friends/colleagues.

These are both based on stereotypes that Indian culture is "toxic" and "too traditional" and that Indians are only interested in studies.

Most Desi characters in western media have stories that are solely based around their ethnicity and/or racial stereotypes.

British television actually showcases a lot more representation than Hollywood does

I was watching Polite Society, a movie starring two Pakistani characters as the main leads, and there was a dance scene where both the leads are wearing traditional desi attire. My mom turned over, looked at me, and asked, "Is this Hollywood? It can't be."

And she was right. It's a British movie with British-Pakistani actors.

The reason she didn't believe that it could've been Hollywood was because the dresses the two leads were wearing were traditional and beautiful and the song playing in the background was authentic Hindi music, not some random westernized DJ version of it.

A Hollywood movie would've never dressed up their Desi actors in actually flattering attire (*cough cough the Patel twins from Harry Potter) or have used real, popular Desi music in the background.

You see my point?

It is so uncommon to see well-thought-out Desi representation in TV nowadays, where to see real diversity we have to watch movies made by the same country that colonized us.

Ironic.

British movies/shows with desi leads have far better South Asian representation than anything I've seen in Hollywood recently.

The Hollywood movies starring Indian leads, like Slumdog Millionaire or Bend it like Beckham were filmed in the UK, and because they were filmed in the UK, they had fantastic South Asian representation.

Not only does Hollywood refuse to create shows and movies about real problems that South Asians face, but they also don't cast South Asian actors in good roles.

When's the last time you saw a South Asian actor playing a character that wasn't a walking stereotype? When's the last time you saw a South Asian actor playing a character that was a genuine part of the story rather than just comedic relief or a random smart kid in the classroom?

Not often, right?

Me, personally, I didn't grow up with a lot of South Asian characters or actors in shows/movies that I watched. In fact, every time someone even close to my skin color showed up on TV, I was on the edge of my seat because it was just so rare to see it.

This is why representation matters.

You've heard about all the young girls with braids being so excited when the new little mermaid with Halle Bailey came out. Well, us desi kids wanted that too.

I wanted to see a Telugu speaking girl with wavy hair and dark skin who would wear traditional clothing to Desi get-togethers and parties, go to the temple with her family, eat vegetarian Indian meals, etc...

I wanted to see a character who was a representation of me and my experiences as an Indian-American. I wanted to see a character that was at least a representation of Indians or just South Asians in general.

Instead, we were given characters that ridiculed their own culture, were extreme stereotypes and furthered the existence of casual racism in western society today. So many Desi kids experience small acts of racism on a daily basis because people have been so desensitized to the existence of these stereotypes.

Telling South Asians that their culture is a joke and feeding non-asian children media which pokes fun at other cultures is harmful, not only to us South Asians but also communities that could end up being targeted next.

Pavitr Prabhakar; Representation Matters

If you've been following me or if we're mutuals, you probably know I have a tiny obsession with Pavitr Prabhakar. But why?

Because of all the reasons I just listed.

There are few South Asian characters us Desis can look up to these days, and Pavitr Prabhakar is one of the maybe two or three characters who have great writing, magnificent representation, and overall a fun vibe.

He's likable, funny, smart and best of all, unapologetically Desi.

He's just like all the other side characters, with a little bit of his own culture mixed in. He's not being shoved down our throats to further an agenda about fake diversity, he's not a walking stereotype and best of all, he was designed by Indian creators.

He's refreshing and exciting to follow in a world full of a demand for half-hearted representations and the people who created him were obviously putting their hearts and souls into it.

He's awoken a love for Indian culture amongst, not only Desi children themselves but also among westerners who, prior to this, had thought of India as a "3rd world" country, because that's the agenda that Hollywood pushes onto many South Asian countries today.

WE LOVE PAVITR PRABHAKAR!!

This was kinda all over the place but I just had to get this off my chest &lt;3

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/10/discrimination-against-indian-americans-happens-more-than-you-might-think/

[fandomshatewomen]

It makes me so upset that both the marvels and blue beetle has been treated like shit by their studios and by the fandoms that the studio have created . Like both did poorly in box office but that was not the fault of the movies itt was the fault of the studios absolutely doing nothing to premote the movies during the strikes and also the fandom (white af) being Jackasses about the films.

Brie iman teyonah and xolo deserve so much better and a fucking major apology for what happened by the studio 😔😔😔😔

racism and sexism totally have a part to play in it too though. like yes the studios are shit for not properly advertising it but like theres this deep set hatred of people of color in the comics fandom. like Monica Rambeau has always been Black, Jaime Reyes has always been a brown Latino, Kamala Khan has always been Desi and muslim. white people are constantly saying they don't want white characters racebent anymore (Iris West Allen, Ariel from the Little mermaid etc). but when presented with actual characters of color white people claim its a woke agenda thats them.

Like its just really frustrating superhero movies are finally super inclusive (racially at least) and now the whites are nowhere to be found.

and before anyone comes into our inbox to complain about this just look at how well Barbie did in theaters.

mod laina