#media stereotype

[mask131]

I was forced to correct... SO MANY PEOPLE about this. And they all made me feel for it, ranging from "You're spoiling our fun" to "You're just insane". I am glad to see finally someone else in my life point it out X)

[writerofstuff]

Dead Boy Detectives was surprising.

It surprised me when, instead of Crystal dropping in and fracturing Charles and Edwin's thirty years of friendship, they went with Crystal sinking into the fold of Charles and Edwin's friendship and becoming an important and unique addition to the group.

It surprised me when, instead of Gay Boy Pining Over Straight Best Friend, they went with Gay Boy Realises Feelings For Straight Best Friend And Confesses Almost Immediately with a bonus of Straight Boy Accepts Confession With Surprising Grace And Nothing Changes, Not Really.

It surprised me when, instead of making the female characters repetitive and semi-rational and ultimately less powerful, they went with characters who are smart and selfish and kind and cruel and strong and flawed and oh, they happen to be female too.

It surprised me when Charles liking Crystal did not affect one bit of how much he loved Edwin.

It surprised me when Jenny talked about spinsters with cats and Niko did not bat an eye.

It surprised me with Edwin and Niko. It surprised me with, we have forever to figure the rest out. It surprised me with Crystal's kindness, Jenny's empathy, the casual and absolute, the good you do will come back around.

Dead Boy Detectives was surprising. One day, I hope I can sit back and watch another show and none of this has to be surprising anymore.

[prokopetz]

I you watch a scene in a fish-out-of-water scifi or fantasy scenerio where the alien or wizard or what-have-you is struggling to understand an "Earth concept" that really shouldn't be that foreign to them?

Like how many times have we seen such characters get tripped by slang or metaphore? Like, yes they don't understand it, sure; but rarely does this happen in a context where it is sensible to believe the speaker was being literal.

The trick is understanding that the "eccentric but harmless space alien" media archetype is really just an uncomfortable caricature of an autistic person.

[idkthisismyusernameiguess]

Could the Ace Attorney fandom stop pretending that Phoenix Wright or Miles Edgeworth or any of the main cast is white? Idgaf if the localized version is set in America. Asian Americans exist. You are consuming a piece of Asian-made media, not everything is about white people

[nyenylon]

I believe in gay mice I fear

[jesncin]

I didn't want to talk about MAWS Lois' hanbok any more than I already did in the Asian Lois essay, so this is more of a tiny expansion on what I lightly talked about. It's what the character designer said about her hanbok design that doesn't sit right with me:

“I remember feeling strongly about wanting to inject some aspect of her Korean heritage without disrupting her characteristic as a spunky and resourceful intern/reporter.”

I've covered already that this wording poorly implies that "Korean heritage" (like the whole thing I guess) is at odds with Lois’ "spunky" personality but like, I don't think folks realize how racist their line of thinking was. If you're looking at Korean women wearing traditional outfits like this:

and you think these women can't be "spunky" or "resourceful intern/reporter" people, then what does that leave? What do you think of these women? Are these women passive? Obedient? Submissive? Just because they're wearing traditional clothes? I think back to this essay: Thinking outside the rainbow: women of color redefining queer politics and identity (which I recommend reading), and how the many queer Asian women talk about how they're not clocked as queer people because queer culture defaults to white queer culture.

The point being, if you're redesigning a "tomboy" "hanbok-inspired gala outfit" and you come in with the mindset that traditional Asian clothing = a passive woman, then you're coming in with racist and misogynist biases. I'd be more understanding if there was an explicit desire to design a hanbok for action heavy scenes where Lois needs to run around a lot, but then why say it "disrupts" a character's personality? Why bring personality up at all?

Again, I don't think the MAWS crew are racist mustache twirling villains with malicious intent to make racist caricatures of people of color. But this is a crew that wrote in character design notes for Vicki Vale to design her as "Indian-American or Asian American" (implying Indian people are not Asian when they are in fact South Asian), and casted a Filipino actor as Sam Lane (a contextually Korean character, because the crew think Asians are interchangeable), lazily designed a Native American Lois hologram with a feather on her head and ended S1 on Thanksgiving, made an in-show joke at Black Jimmy's expense that he doesn't understand bigotry, and had character designers say Korean Heritage "disrupts" Lois' personality. No, I don't think the MAWS crew are racist. I do think they're woefully ignorant about portraying people of color, and have some internalized biases to think through. All of which rightfully deserve criticism.

[realbeefman]

in my mind palace thinking abt the lethal weapon 6 deleted scene where charlie crossdresses and gives dennis a lap dance before violently choking him out. and they say romance is dead.

[alaskan-wallflower]

it’s kinda funny how almost every character with albinism in media is always portrayed as a villain. as if that isn’t feeding into every stereotype out there.

the only protagonist i’ve found with albinism in media was in a book where the girl turns out to be a witch. which is arguably on the level of bad as the evil albino stereotype.

idk why this bothers me so much. nobody knows about albinism and it’s not like it’s actively discriminated against. but i wish there was more media where more normal people had albinism instead of the PWA turning out to be an evil villain or a witch, they turn out to be a normal person with normal struggles. like give me a story about a character with albinism trying to navigate the world on their own terms, trying to fit in and such WITHOUT using stereotypes.

like yes. i know people being ignorant towards a certain condition isn’t the worst thing in the world. maybe i have no right to complain about it given the other tings that are happening in the world that kinda trump issues like this. but it’s still an issue. the fact that people believe these things is just sad to me tbh.

another thing that bugs me is when people refer to us as ‘albinos’. like not everyone hates that word. some PWAs are okay with it. i just say it because it’s shorter and easier to type out than ‘person with albinism’ but even in media seeing the character being referred to as ‘the albino’ makes my stomach turn. people use the word ‘albino’ to refer to animals; most of the time. the word itself can feel dehumanizing sometimes, in certain contexts. for me it’s better to say person with albinism. it’s putting the person before the disability and it doesn’t feel as degrading.

anyway. my inbox is always open if you have questions for me about how to write a character with albinism. i know nobody is gonna see this or care but i just thought i’d say smth.

[anxiously-sidequesting]

*(Mariah Carey Christmas bells)* all i want for Christmas is..... more black centric hairstyles in the crown shop in wizard101

[writeouswriter]

People need to start understanding the difference between actually harmful or "bad rep" vs just rough around the edges but still complex and nuanced rep that doesn't quite line up with your own personal experiences or the over-sanitized ideal of what you think "good rep" should be

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

I disagree that the daddy kink convo should've been replaced with a heartfelt meaningful conversation about their mutual issues with their fathers because as much as you complain that the relationship isn't developed for Buck, it isn't developed for Tommy either, and it would be a disservice to the reserved guy that Lou says that Tommy is to make him immediately open up to someone without showing the proper progression and storyline leading up to that

the kink convo worked for both characters (both are just dawgs i guess), it was very mutual, and i still don't understand the perspective that Tommy's comment came out of nowhere, i run based off of the assumption that all flirty buck convos are... flirty...????

I understand why people want this, because the acknowledgement of Buck's parental issues comes with a burning desire to have a genuine conversation about it, but something that fits his character should not come at the cost of another character.

A scene should fit to everyone involved, and at most, it should've been a kind of... maybe a conversation of buck going 'yeahh... i got issues with my dad, that's why Bobby means so much to me, he's kinda like the dad i never had.' and Tommy's response being 'Yeah, i see that... my dad sucked but i had Gerrard who sucked too, so... yeah... he's the dad i already did have lol.'

OH...

OH WAIT...

ITS ALMOST LIKE THEY DID.

this conversation should happen eventually, but when it actually has meaning. At a point where Tommy is actually going to be willing to open up a little more (since we kinda see that he is a little bit more reserved with Buck still in this season), and maybe it's in favour of servicing Buck as a character, or Tommy, or BOTH. But you cannot put a character on the line bc you pearl clutch over the fact that your 'baby' pretty boy fucks severely.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

shadow weaver: i care about the safety of everyone in etheria and i’m actively trying to help protect everyone

fans: omg shadow weaver evil!! she’s just selfish and wants to drive catra and adora apart!

catra: i’m going to abandon adora on her deathbed just because she didn’t choose ME over the safety of the entire world. i only care about adora if she prioritizes me over literally everything else.

fans: poor catra, she’s so right! she just wants adora to be happy!

[alwaysbewoke]

[iamred-iamyellow]

oh the urge to watch lalaloopsy, my little pony, ever after high, strawberry shortcake, barbie, and monster high

[alexmey-does-an-arts]

ghhh i am just. sinophobia its fucking everywhere on the western internet it is just SO widespread and accepted. and even when people aren't actively sinophobic they're just utterly ignorant about. any aspect of chinese (hell, even pretty much all asian) culture and i never see people even ATTEMPTING to learn about it. i have not met a single white person who has pronounced my last name correctly. It is one of the most common family names on the goddamn planet. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR