#i don't normally involve myself in poc discussions

[starlightafterastorm]

I made a meta about why I was disappointed in both Chuck and Moose’s storylines here. In that meta I expressed a wish for the writers to have switched the two storylines. I felt that it would have been a better choice in several ways and would have given better depth to each character as well as built characters on the show with a better basis in their original comics counterparts. 

Now. That meta was written and posted in Season 1 BEFORE Chuck’s second appearance in Episode 10, Jughead’s birthday party. It was long before the latest episode, season 2 episode 3 where we got to see more of Moose. With that in mind I want to address this response I got this morning to that meta 

annademac

At some point, doesn't the "let's give a poc a story about struggling with being a poc" become far less helpful then casting a poc in a story line that has nothing to do with them being a poc? Honestly, I didn't look at the two characters and even think about one being a poc and one being white. They were just characters with the story lines that they had.

I want to start of by saying this I mean for this to be a totally rational discussion and I apologize if I sound inarticulate and incoherent. It’s early, I have had far too little sleep and I am sick and injured. But I do want to give a response to this.

Full disclaimer. I am Asian. So yes I identify as a poc, woc. But I’m not the same kind of poc that Chuck and his actor, Jordan is. I can’t speak for all of the nuances in his experience as a young African American male. Nor can I speak about how it felt as someone with that kind of experience watch his storyline. I can, however, speak about what I’ve observed about how our society treats young African American males. 

While you make a valid point that, yes, not all poc characters need to have a storyline about their poc-ness and that it’s great to be able to watch a show and just enjoy their characters, those characters, those actors, and those storylines don’t exist in a vacuum. What I mean is that you watched Chuck’s storyline and didn’t see an issue regarding his poc-ness. I watched Chuck’s storyline and thought “This country has a history of painting young African American teens, not just males, as aggressive monsters and this is just another example.”

Because that’s true. Historical narratives have painted African Americans as more aggressive and lesser for it for how many decades (centuries?). African American males are literally dying in this country today because of this false stereotype that they are more violent and aggressive, especially sexually, at a younger age.

The writers took the first male African American Archie Comics character, (because Valerie predates him by a number of years) a character who is part-jock, mostly comic book artist who is often kinder and more supportive than other members of the cast and made him into a sex fueled jock with no remorse. 

Again, I understand that Riverdale is its own thing. That they adapted this character out. That everyone in this town is corrupt and flawed, even our main characters. I actually am really enjoying most of the adaptation and how they’ve changed a lot of the characters. 

But. This change with Chuck. Does nothing but turn him into a collection of negative stereotypes that is made worse by the fact that he is a poc. It feeds into this toxic narrative that perpetuates the image of African American males as sexual aggressors. 

My biggest problem with that storyline is that we’re not given any depth to Chuck’s character. In both of of his appearances we’re treated to a character who feels incredibly one note in comparison to the rest of the cast. His lines and his scenes give us no explanation, no back story for his character, and no reason for his actions. So, the viewers are left to assume that Chuck’s doing this just because he’s terrible. These are valid criticisms that would be accurate even if Chuck weren’t a poc. 

What I’m trying to say is that Chuck is bad writing. He’s honestly lazy writing. He’s not a character. He’s a plot device. 

These criticisms can be made for other members of the non main cast as well. Reggie, Dilton, Moose. They’re all pretty one-note. The difference is that we’re now getting more screen time for them to flesh out their characters. Which I’m super excited about. 

I love that Moose is now getting screen time with Kevin specifically. I love that we’re gonna get to explore that friendship (relationship?) now. I sincerely hope that, as much as I don’t like Chuck’s character, he does come back. And I think he will. I vaguely remember seeing something about him coming back. Because then he gets the opportunity to be more than just the “slut shaming black guy with no remorse”. I’m not looking to excuse his actions at all, but I’m saying that I want more from him and about him. Turn him into an actual character. Don’t excuse him but give him redemption. 

So yes, it is great for poc actors and characters to be able to have roles and stories that don’t revolve around their poc-ness. However that does not mean that their poc-ness is not a part of them and plays into larger implications of the cultural atmosphere. And in this particular instance, I believe giving Chuck that storyline did more harm than good. 

As a poc, you can never really disassociate yourself from your poc-ness. You’re always reminded of it. And as admirable as it is to think that we can watch a show and just think “that’s a character” without taking into account their poc-ness, that’s not really practical. 

If anyone else in the fandom who is more articulate or more familiar with this subject wants to chime in their two cents, that would be great. I’m gonna go take more painkillers and finish writing the latest chapter of my fic. 

[14th-centuary-capitalism]

The Boy Who Danced On Air

So you may or may not know that The Boy Who Danced On Air has been called out for being offensive. As someone who has been promoting this show for over three years I feel responsible for sharing why I no longer want to support it.

I don't know how to do the read more thing, so just keep scrolling.

After years of having only a handful of fans and barely any recognition, some Afghanistan natives found out about the existence of the musical and started criticising it. Their complaints were that it portrayed bacha bazi as if it were an Afghan tradition and that it romanticised pedophilia and child trafficing. On top of this, as Afghanistan is very rarely mentioned in western media- much less the setting of an entire play- the fact that The Boy Who Danced On Air exists how it does perpetuates harmful ideas of Afghans in general.

I will not argue against this. I'm not Afghan. I've never visited Afghanistan. I don't know any Afghans I can discuss this with. I'm from the-middle-of-nowhere, Scotland and the only discussions of anything related to Afghanistan that are had here go along the lines of "I know someone who fought in Afghanistan." This is so not my place to defend anyone or say "Oh but they didn't mean to be offensive." In hindsight, I agree with all the criticisms being made that I was too ignorant to spot.

I'd highly recommend that anyone confused about the situation go to @/theboywhodancedonair on instagram and read through the comments. Plenty of Afghans have offered their DMs if anyone needs a more in depth explanation than I can give.

I've deleted all my posts praising/promoting The Boy Who Danced On Air and I'd urge any of my followers to do the same. (And if anyone finds a post of mine that somehow slipped through the cracks, let me know so I can take it down too!)

To anyone who was offended by the show: I'm genuinely so sorry for promoting it. I'm embarrassed and ashamed of myself for failing to realise that it was not okay, and for failing to research enough about bacha bazi before supporting the show.

For a year and a half, I supported and promoted The Boy Who Danced On Air because of three songs I saw on youtube. I loved these songs and wanted to see more, and I recognised they were from a small show that no one else was talking about with a fully Asian cast and LGBTQ+ characters. I didn't pay attention to whether or not the people behind the scenes were also POC and blindly assumed that there must have been several Afghan people in the creative team, because why wouldn't there be? I donated money to the kickstarter for the cast album so I could hear more of these songs I loved, and listened to it on repeat when it was finally released. I persuaded friends to donate and listen. I quickly bought a digital ticket when it became available this month and shared the link on tumblr where a handful of my followers did the same. I'm putting all of my cards on the table here so you can see just how involved with this show I was and how ignorant I was. It didn't even occur to me to look into whether or not Afghan voices were being represented in this show, I just optimistically assumed they would be until I got a digital copy of the programme a few weeks ago and my heart dropped at all of the white faces on my screen. I researched bacha bazi just enough to know that it is not a respected and normalised custom in Afghanistan, just as sex trafficing is not respected or normal in the UK. Going into the show with this knowledge I assumed that the throw away comment about "people in the cities think this is bad" (or words to that effect, I can't remember the quote) would be enough to show that child trafficking is just as illegal and abnormal there as anywhere. Looking back, of course that's not enough. Of course this show that never lets you forget it's set in Afghanistan has to do more than that to explain a little-known concept to non-Afghan audiences. It's quite incredible it took so long for this to be condemned.

I'd never actually seen the show I was supporting so much until this month, and with every shortcoming it had I had assumed better without actually looking into it. This is not my "please forgive me" youtuber apology plea, it's me admitting that I was stupid and naïve. I fell in love with the music quickly and loved it so much I made excuses for everything else. I had criticisms of the show, like with anything, but these were all in one post in my drafts along with a dozen other unposted jokes and praises about it. Other than the big things tbwdoa has been criticised for, I don't like that the character of Jahandar was written to be so conflicted and apologetic, for as much as I love morally grey villains, there's no ambiguity in the actions of a pedophile and rapist- real or fictional that person is evil. The storyline has too many branches and the writers tried to tackle too many big topics that they couldn't do any completly successfully.

Sorry if this is rambly and incoherent. I've done my best to address this and share my point of view. As I said in a previous post, my personal and family life has just been unexpectedly changed forever so apologies to anyone who is only hearing about this now or was expecting me to speak about it earlier.

I'm donating £30 to a charity which helps victims of sex trafficking. This is a little over the amount I spent on the album kickstarter as well as the digital ticket of tbwdoa. I'd like to find one which specifically helps victims in Afghanistan and I'll share any links to those I'll be donating to when I decide which. In the following months I'll be donating more once I have an income and I will do more to educate myself on actual Afghan culture. I encourage other fans of the show to do the same.