#honestly the most accurate portrayal of mass in this show yet. just in this one line though

[anthonycrowleymoved]

“dean, this is massachusetts. there are a lot of catholics in massachusetts” SO TRUE KING

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. This is pretty long, so if you want to keep reading, it’s under the cut.

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

[shoujoinvestigation]

Our 2019 Drama Recs

Yes, we’re writing our 2019 drama rec post in 2021...! We didn’t have one earlier simply because we didn’t get to watch enough rec-worthy 2019 dramas in time. But here we are, having caught up with some great 2019 dramas back in 2020. It’s better late than never - and the same goes for you if you haven’t watched any of these. :)

1. Royal Nirvana 鹤唳华亭 (2019) + 别云间 the special (2020) recommended by Admin JL  

I just couldn’t go without ever expressing my ocean-deep love for Royal Nirvana. Life-changing. Monumental. Instantly an all-time favourite of mine after I binged it in emotional devastation. Honestly, it is not the easiest show to watch - it requires mental and emotional effort for its highly nuanced and poetic writing. But it’s also the surest way to etch a story into your heart.

It’s also a tremendously rewarding and cathartic story for me. It’s not everyday that we see such a strongly thematic and meaningful story, which means a hell lot to me with its exploration of father/child relationship, loss, obligations and morality - among many. Xiao Dingquan will forever be one of the most important, well-loved protagonists in my heart. We’re the choices we make more so than what we become in the end.

2. The World Between Us 我們與惡的距離 recommended by Admin JY

There are so many things that this show gets right that its critical acclaim is more than well-deserved. From mental health representation, influence of media, the concept of fairness, and showing the other side of a common dichotomous narrative, this show packs this all in a balanced, objective yet emotional portrayal within a mere 10 episodes.

Showing the aftermath of an unfortunate mass shooting, this drama explores the emotional perspectives of all those involved. It gives proper acknowledgement to the victims of tragedies yet balances out with very fair and accurate portrayals of the perpetrators' families and their own victimhood. At the same time, the show includes some of the most accurate and fair representation of mental illness that I have ever seen!!! Not only are mental health patients’ struggled deftly portrayed, but also the professionals’ perspectives and struggles are clearly represented.

The World Between Us is the wake-up call we all need to see beyond the biases we easily assume to see the the bigger picture, of the world not just between us but that brings us together. 

3. Hello Debate Opponent 你好对方辩友  recommended by Admin JL

This is a pleasant little surprise of a coming-of-age story! Quite rare for a cdrama. Centred around a university debate club, the story goes hard on competitive debate representation which comes hand in hand with its sensible character writing and development. It’s a feel-good and quirky drama about growth and friendship - and can provide comfort and nuggets of wisdom to youths and anyone else alike. If anything, you’ll learn a thing or two about competitive debate with this drama’s involvement of numerous professional debaters in its production. :)

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

4. When the Camellia Blooms recommended by Admin JY

No handsome or rich chaebol to save the day, no dreams come true of getting rich or living in a luxurious home in the city, no flashy glamourous fashion-show-like clothes - When the Camellia Blooms is instead quite truly a down-to-earth breath of fresh air KDrama.

For a slice-of-life drama, it includes many elements subtly yet skilfully woven together with important themes of family, community bonds and self-confidence. Even amidst the realistic struggles of societal biases and single parenthood, the show never fails to inject positivity into the situation, and more so by emphasizing the value of kindness.

With a strong cast and diverse characters, a subtle but solid OST and beautiful sceneries, this is definitely a lovely and heartwarming drama that breaks the stereotype of what it means to have a strong female lead and even what it means to write a romcom kdrama.

5. Please Love Me 拜托请你爱我 recommended by Admin JL

If you’re a steadfast fake marriage trope junkie like me, look no further. This is a drama I wasn’t expecting to enjoy - many romcom webdramas have been more misses than hits - but very glad I did. Straight off the bat, it was already pleasing for its sensible character writing - and eventually continues to prove that it fundamentally understands how two very different people come together in a relationship. It even provided me with little surprises of the usual trope - it’s one of the few romance stories which has its leads’ relationship held up after a mutual confirmation of feelings. Youyou and Yi Han are so wholesome. <3

Watch the official episodes, subbed, on Youtube.

-

Have you watched these 2019 shows before? Tell us what you think!

~ Admin JY and Admin JL

[onceuponamirror]

(1/2) hi there!! I’ve followed you for a long time and im a writer and I’ve been toying with the idea of making one of the main characters (and her family) of an original story of mine Jewish. The story is very family oriented, and though her Jewish identity wouldnt be the center focus (the story is more about womanhood and queerness) it’s definitely important and will constantly come up. Since I know you’re jewish yourself, I was wondering if there’s anything about your Jewish identity you’d li

(2/2) like to be represented or touched on more!! Or if you had any recommendations for resources regarding Jewish identity for women and queer folks. I’ve researched quite a bit about Judaism in the past, so at this point I’m trying to find things to read about Jewish identity and maybe concepts people have a hard time reconciling with their faith, rather than just general information about Judaism. thank you for reading this at all!!

————

hi there! happy to help, but know i can only speak for my specific relationship to the culture. contextually: i was raised not with the religious elements as much as i was with the ethnic and cultural components, which in my experience is much more common for american jews. 

i think that as i’ve become more connected to my history and my culture, i’ve realized the really latent disparity that comes with diaspora. 

as in—in many ways, there’s a lot about american white culture that i don’t relate to or especially feel welcome within, but at the same time, many jews are also beneficiaries of white privilege. it would be wrong to say that i’ve experienced any negative profiling, especially as i personally am fair, green-eyed, and blonde. 

(certainly the discussion of white or white adjacent privilege in jews is not universal; i have a friend who is black and jewish and she’s talked to me about the struggle of having both feet in identities that sometimes feel far away from one another. but again—i can’t speak to her own personal relationship with that, nor do i want to try, as it’s not my identity)

but for askenazi american jews in particular, especially recently, there’s a real struggle in where exactly we fit in. the antisemitism is hypocritical and often unconscious on the liberal side, and vicious and veiled on the right wing side. 

for example—recently, in chicago dyke march, three jewish women were kicked out of the parade for having a rainbow flag with the star of david on it. this is a jewish symbol before it’s israeli, but they were kicked out because it made people think it was about zionism.

(zionism, for clarification, is the support of israel as a country—a very complicated subject, which i honestly don’t recommend you bringing up in your character if you’re not jewish)

there’s a trend in american liberalism that for jews to be welcome in safe spaces, they must not be “like other jews,” like the bad ones in israel. a progressive american jew must constantly defend themselves against the actions of a country which they possibly have never been to or have no personal relationship towards. here’s an excerpt from an article discussing this:

“By that hierarchy, you might imagine that the Jewish people — enduring yet another wave of anti-Semitism here and abroad — should be registered as victims. Not quite.

Why? Largely because of Israel, the Jewish state, which today’s progressives see only as a vehicle for oppression of the Palestinians […] no matter that progressives hold no other country to the same standard. China may brutalize Buddhists in Tibet and Muslims in Xinjiang, while denying basic rights to the rest of its 1.3 billion citizens, but “woke” activists pushing intersectionality keep mum on all that.”

[x] 

(i should note that i personally don’t support the actions and apartheid structure put in place by israel, but the fact that i feel compelled to make that delineation is kind of my point)

other related readings on the subject: 1, 2

and then of course, especially lately, there’s been an overt-but-coded rise of antisemitism on the right. if you ever hear the words “global power” or “global banks” or anything that alludes to some handful of people or families that control all the money in the world and are suppressing working class white people, it’s antisemitic conspiracy that jews somehow are puppeteering the world in domination.

what i fear, as a jewish woman, is not an individual attack on my safety, or profiling, etc—instead it’s about being a person whose entire cultural history is defined by being the scapegoat, or historically the boogeyman for everyone’s economic problems. 

throughout all recorded history, the jewish identity is tied to persecution and blame. in fact, one of the reasons why most american jews are eastern european (areas now russian, polish, ukranian, etc) is because although we migrated there and lived there for a long time, we were never considered citizens and thus fled to america as soon as we were able on a mass scale. 

similarly, the reason why so many german jews didn’t leave at the start of the holocaust was because they felt as though they were germans; they just didn’t think their neighbors and government would turn on them until it was too late.

so the lesson lingering there for a lot of young american jews is that no matter how comfortable and integrated you may be with the culture of your country, people en masse will still always turn on you and blame you, especially when there’s economic or political elements to it. 

it’s a cultural wariness, basically, and that’s what i mean about the disparity of diaspora. we often say never again, but there’s a imprint of don’t get too cozy. 

you are, but you aren’t. 

it’s not all so wrought, though.

there’s also a lot of warmth and humor and self-deprecation in the jewish identity—the kind of thing necessary to handle the burden of so much historical atonement and loss—and there is, at least in the jewish community in which i grew up, a lot of acceptance and love.

orthodox judaism can be as rigid and sexist and racist as any other orthodox religion, but reform judaism (which is progressive and much more the norm) is super accepting, especially of queerness, at least in my temple. 

again, i can’t speak so much to the faith of it, because i ended that relationship with the religion after my bat mitzvah. i can speak more to the themes of the holidays and cultural navigations if you want, though. 

a portrayal of jewish characters i loved that might help you: schmidt on new girl, norah from nick & norah’s infinite playlist, jonathan safran foer in everything is illuminated (basically autobiographical/writing himself), shoshana dreyfus in inglorious basterds---actually, the ENTIRE family in the show transparent is an amazing and unflinchingly accurate portrayal of a modern jewish family. 

tl;dr, all that being said though, honestly, if you’re not jewish, i don’t know if it’s really your place to speak to the specific current relationship towards diaspora. 

i think you can allude to it, certainly, especially if your character isn’t sure where to align themselves in terms of their relationship towards social justice, but it’s a very complicated identity that i personally am still figuring out how to navigate, and i can’t really speak to what narrative you want to explore more specifically than what you asked above.

honestly, a lot of jewish humor is making fun of the sometimes accurately stereotypical things we do, and i’m not sure you, if you’re not jewish, should be doing that. but i think self-deprecation, sarcasm, warmth, respect for contextual history, and adaptability are good cultural traits that would be alright for you to play with! 

if you want to send me specific examples, i’d be happy to tell give you a more specific opinion on things. and i think it’s great that you want to tell a story with representation!!!!

let me know if this was what you meant, hopefully this was helpful~

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #140 - Singin’ in the Rain

Spoilers below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

This post is dedicated to @hyla-brook, as I can no longer watch this movie without thinking of my friend.

1) This film is not only one of the best movie musicals of all time, but one of the best movies of all time period. More on that coming up.

2) The opening credits include the line, “Suggested by the song...” In fact, the entire film was written AFTER the songs with only two exceptions (“Moses” and “Make ‘Em Laugh”), with all the other songs already being released and known to the world at the time. This effectively makes Singin’ in the Rain one of the earliest karaoke musicals (alá Rock of Ages), but today the songs are known largely if not exclusively because of the long lasting popularity of this film.

3) The backstory given by Don (Gene Kelly) is a wonderful opening to the film for almost countless reasons.

For one, we get a strong establishment of the friendship and loyalty which exists between Don and Cosmo (Donald O’Connor) as relationship as important to the film as Don’s love with Kathy. We also get a clear establishment of the film’s sense of humor, giving us a nice juxtaposition of expectations vs reality (“Dignity, always dignity.”) and incredible slapstick moments. It is also one of the most accurate portrayals of how someone finds success in Hollywood: through an endless stream of shit jobs in the hopes that you’ll be noticed. Kelly’s and O’Connor’s comedic brilliance are on full display, and we also get our fist inkling of the tumultuous relationships between Don and Lina.

Don [after he gets a lead in a movie, to Lina who was a jerk before]: “Are you doing anything tonight, Ms. Lamont? [She shakes her head no.] That’s funny...I’m busy.”

4) In case you ever think Hollywood making normal people feel self conscious about themselves is a modern invention:

Female Movie Patron [while Lina is onscreen]: “She’s so refined. I think I’ll kill myself.”

(GIF originally posted by @casey-jones)

5) Lina Lamont.

Lina’s character is established immediately from the second she opens her mouth: drunk on power, more than a bit of a moron, and a selfish jerk. She’s hysterical and Jean Hagen totally loses herself in the character. No, that’s not Hagen’s normal speaking voice, but you thought it didn’t you? That’s how incredible she is in the role, and it is easy to forget how much brilliance she shows off when compared to the trio of Kelly, O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. This film wouldn’t be nearly the classic it is without Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont.

6) In case there was any question: I am Cosmo.

Studio Rep [about Lina]: “The studio has to keep their stars from looking ridiculous at any cost.”

Don: “No one’s got that much money.”

7) There are going to be so many Cosmo quotes in this recap, I’m just warning you. Because, you know, I’m Cosmo basically.

Don [being swarmed by fans]: “Hey Cos, do something! Call me a cab!”

Cosmo: “Okay, you’re a cab!”

8) Debbie Reynolds as Kathy Seldon.

What on earth can I say about one of the greatest actresses of all time in only her fourth credited screen real knocking it out of the park? I honestly don’t know but I’ll try to figure it out as I type. Reynolds is...perfection. In a trio of incredible performances I think she may give the strongest. Her chemistry with Kelly is great, subtle, trusting, and she does just such a wonderful job of making Kathy an amazing character. She’s not some manic pixie dream girl. She has her own desires, her own dreams, her own sacrifices she’s willing to make. Reynolds is able to portray Kathy as honestly good while still remaining interesting, honestly optimistic without being too naive or annoying, and honesty is just the word to apply to Reynolds’ whole work in the film. I love it.

9) One of the things I LOVE about this film is that Don and Kathy are not a “love at first sight” type of relationship. Don’s hitting on her is obviously because he’s a cad, she shuts him down, and then they’re able to have this unique conflict with each other where they both sort of act like jerks. Yet later they develop an honest connection with and affection for each other in such little time, it speaks greatly to the chemistry of the performers. One of my favorite love stories from this era of cinema.

10) The advent of the talkies are captured pretty accurately in this film. Everyone is skeptical about it, thinks it’ll be a fad, but the few likes Cosmo and studio head RF Simpson see how it could (and probably will be) the future.

11) I don’t think there is a better showcase for Donald O’Connor’s skills as a physical comedian than in “Make ‘Em Laugh”.

According to IMDb:

Donald O'Connor recalled, "I was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day then, and getting up those walls was murder. They had to bank one wall so I could make it up and then through another wall. We filmed that whole sequence in one day. We did it on a concrete floor. My body just had to absorb this tremendous shock. Things were building to such a crescendo that I thought I'd have to commit suicide for the ending. I came back on the set three days later. All the grips applauded. [Gene Kelly] applauded, told me what a great number it was. Then Gene said, "Do you think you could do that number again?" I said, "Sure, any time". He said, "Well, we're going to have to do it again tomorrow". No one had checked the aperture of the camera and they fogged out all the film. So the next day I did it again! By the end my feet and ankles were a mass of bruises."

The entire number is just packed full of classic Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton style gags all done to a fast pace number and it gets to the reason this old school movie musical has lasted the test of time where others have failed:

Most old school movie musicals have songs which don’t serve the film AT ALL they could be totally skipped and nothing would change. In some respects this film is the same. HOWEVER: the numbers are just so wildly and fantastically fun and entertaining that you are never bored by watching them. You are just so focused on what is going on and enjoying it so damn much you wouldn’t dream of skipping it (for the most part). THAT is why this film is such a classic. THAT is why it stands the test of time.

12)

RF [after pitching a talkie to Don]: “Lockwood and Lamont! They talk!”

Lina: “Of course we talk! Don’t everybody?”

Man RF, you did NOT think that through.

13) For me, “Beautiful Girls” is always the number I want to skip. It just is not nearly as entertaining as some of the other ones. It does nothing for me.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

14) Be still my beating heart.

Don: “Kathy I’m trying to say something to you but I’m such a ham. I guess I’m unable to without the proper setting.”

My heart doesn’t get mushy romantic for much, but "You Were Meant For Me”...It is just so beautifully staged, the lighting and setting is incredible, and Kelly is able to portray such honest emotion in the song that...I LOVE IT!

15) “Moses” is another example of a number which really doesn’t serve the plot in anyway but is just so damn entertaining I don’t really care! Donald O’Connor is great again, and we get some nice bromantic fun!

16) We get like a solid ten minutes of this film’s excellent comedy in two back to back scenes: when the filmmakers are trying to deal with the sound equipment, and when they see just how poorly it worked in the final film. It’s accurate really to today too: audiences will forgive crappy visuals but if your sound is shit then your film is shit. I know this because I’ve directed a number of films with shit sound (most of them back in high school).

17) Don’s conflict is perfectly summed up in one line:

Don: “The picture’s a museum piece. I’m a museum piece.”

The film’s mostly a musical comedy so it’s easy to forget about Don’s conflict, but he’s an actor in a changing industry and his first encounter with Kathy had him questioning his skills. Everything he does for the movies in this film is driven by that issue.

18) “Good Morning”.

Another song which is totally superfluous and serves the plot in no real way, I totally love it. It shows the trio at their best together in a wildly fun and entertaining number. But it was a pain to shoot!

After they finished the "Good Morning" number, Debbie Reynolds had to be carried to her dressing room because she had burst some blood vessels in her feet. Despite her hard work on the "Good Morning" number, Gene Kelly decided that someone should dub her tap sounds, so he went into a dubbing room to dub the sound of her feet as well as his own.

During a TV interview Debbie Reynolds shared while filming "Good Morning" one of her feet was bleeding, requiring flesh-colored bandages beneath her hose. As the trio collapsed on the overturned sofa, she turned her head to Donald O'Connor and said, "Thank God that's over." Watch closely and you can see her say it during the dubbed jolly laughter.

Their effort yielded one of the best numbers in the film!

19) The iconic titular song/number: “Singin’ in the Rain”.

Pretty much everything you need to know about Kelly’s devotion and hardwork in the film can be summed up by this fact:

The "Singing in the Rain" number took all day to set up--and Gene Kelly was very ill (some say with a fever over 101). When it was all set up, Kelly insisted on doing a take--even though the blocking was only rudimentary (starting and ending positions only), and the director was ready to send him home. He ad-libbed most of it and it only took one take, which is what you see on film.

Kelly’s sheer joy and the memorable/simple imagery is what makes the number so iconic. It is truly relatable, and its existence makes walking in the rain just a bit less melancholy.

20) Hey, remember how I’m Cosmo?

RF: “Cosmo, remind me to give you a raise!”

Cosmo: “Oh RF!”

RF: “Yes?”

Cosmo: “Give me a raise.”

21) Okay, “Broadway Melody”...

“Broadway Melody” is THE most superfluous number in the film and honestly the one which could probably be cut. It is very entertaining - and much more engrossing than its equivalent in Kelly’s An American in Paris in my opinion - but it’s just so damn long! It works as it’s own short film. However the visuals are incredibly strong and Kelly is in top form, so it obviously doesn’t ruin the film. But honestly it is the song you are most easy to skip and keep watching.

22) Aww, these two...

Don [to Kathy]: “From now on there’s only one fan I’m worried about.”

23) So far Lina has been a funny antagonistic dunce in the film, but damn if at the end she doesn’t turn into a manipulative evil jerk. I LOVE IT! She shows off she’s smarter than she’s shown [at least a little], boosts her own public image, almost sabotages Kathy’s career, and tries to extort RF into giving her more power. It is the fact she flies so close to the sun which causes her downfall, but damn if she ain’t just EVIL!!!!!

24) According to IMDb:

In the "Would You" number, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is dubbing the voice of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) because Lina's voice is shrill and screechy. However, it's not Reynolds who is really speaking, it's Jean Hagen herself, who actually had a beautiful deep, rich voice. So you have Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing Jean Hagen. And when Debbie is supposedly dubbing Jean's singing of "Would You", the voice you hear singing actually belongs to Betty Noyes, who had a much richer singing voice than Debbie.

25) These three are just so happy to embarrass Lina.

26) Kathy’s teary eyed look at Don when she realizes he WASN’T being a total jerk by having her sing for Lina and in fact letting the whole world know who she is just...be still my heart.

I miss Debbie Reynolds.

Singin’ in the Rain is a classic of cinema. Even though it falls into the trope of songs which don’t advance the plot, the songs are just SO fun to watch! This film is pure entertainment, with great acting on all parts (especially from the trio of Kelly, O’Connor, and Reynolds) and just honest character writing. It’s SO good! Go watch it if you haven’t!

[anonymouscatt]

Traditional New Years fandom meme under the cut:

1. Your main fandom of the year: ...Honestly, I don't even know. It probably would have been Mass Effect, given that I replayed the trilogy over the summer and Andromeda was supposed to come out; but that game was delayed and I've just sort of been dabbling in things for the latter half of the year. IDK this year has been awful in more ways than one.

2. Your favorite film this year: Arrival! It was great, surreal, my mom and I loved it. I hadn't seen any previews until the movie was already out, someone mentioned it on Tumblr and I realized it was a movie based off of one of my favorite short stories and I wanted to see it immediately. Zootopia and Rogue One were also good.

3. Your favorite book this year: Hugh Howey's Wool trilogy was the most engrossing thing I read this year; all three books were packed with interesting dilemmas and secrets, and I could not put them down. I was hooked by the end of the first chapter. Corrine Duyvis' On the Edge of Gone is a close second for its awesomely accurate portrayal of an autistic character.

4. Your favorite album or song this year: I discovered the band Arrows to Athens early on this year and have been enjoying their music ever since; my favorite song by them is Ghosts in the Water.

5. Your favorite TV show this year: The TV show I was most excited for this year was Black Mirror! I saw their first two seasons and really enjoyed the Twilight Zone vibe updated for modern television. This season had twice as many episodes as the first two, but I still wanted more. My favorite episodes were Nosedive, San Junipero, and Hated in the Nation. This year I also enjoyed watching iZombie, Dark Matter, and Stranger Things on Netflix.

6. Your favorite tumblr moment this year: BODE. Don't let your dreams be dreams.

7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year: I don't know that I joined any new fandoms this year? In January I played the video game SOMA and was captivated by the dark, existential story. I read a bunch of fanfiction about it for several weeks.

8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year: Last year I was disappointed the new Mediator book hadn't come out; this year I'm disappointed that it DID come out and I hated it. The characterization was way off, it rehashed old plotlines that had previously been resolved, and was ultimately not a good continuation of the series. The fact that I was really looking forward to it made the disappointment even worse. Also Mass Effect Andromeda got delayed until next year and I was really looking forward to that too.

9. Your fictional boyfriend of the year: The characters I read the most shippy fanfiction about this year are probably Hancock and Nick Valentine from Fallout 4. I wish they had been more developed, like, say, Bioware characters are, but the game gave them good base stories and fanfic helped fill in the rest of the blanks.

10. Your fictional girlfriend of the year: You know what? Leslie Knope. I need someone to commiserate with through this mess of a year, to share outrage with, and to distract me with waffles and scrapbooks and a new positive outlook on things afterwards. That's who I needed this year.

11. Your biggest squee moment of the year: I went to San Diego Comic Con and met Christopher Lloyd in person! I have a picture of it! I saw the rest of the BttF cast in a panel, too, it was awesome.

12. Your most missed old fandom: I will never forget my first RPG, not only because I love it, but because there have actually been recent updates! Apparently an indie game developer is remastering KotOR in modern engines with updated graphics and maps, and it looks AWESOME so far. Even if they never release a playable game it's amazing to see what those places could look like in better graphics. Also I can play the original game on my Kindle Fire now. I have played it in an airplane. Technology is amazing.

13. Your fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to? ...I've been sitting here trying to think of something, and I can't? Someone recommend something to me.

14. Your biggest anticipation of the New Year: Considering that for the last few years my biggest anticipations have subsequently been my biggest disappointments, it would probably be wise not to hope for anything this year. That being said, I cannot help myself, I am still extremely excited for Mass Effect Andromeda. Here's hoping it does not disappoint.

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. 

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!