#stuck in the stereotypes

[stickaflaginit]

I Can Show You the World...(of Orientalism)

Everyone loves Disney movies, but does anyone notice their exuding of cultural appropriation? Unfortunately, the company's roots in racism extend into the modern era. Let's explore the well-known, 1992 Disney's Aladdin through colonial interpretations of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The film's stereotyping of Persian culture runs more rampant than Aladdin after stealing dates from marketplace vendors.

Aladdin's western producers make their biases against the Middle East known immediately in the film's opening song, Arabian Nights:

"Where they cut off your ear / If they don't like your face/ It's barbaric, but hey, it's home"

European colonizers' tendency to label cultures different from their own as savage and unsophisticated derives from western need to justify exerting control over non-western cultures. Consequently, the Achaemenid Persian Empire's military skills and political administrations were defined by the west as forms of inhumane brutality and domineering, while Europeans labeled their own terrorizing and forceful conversion of non-western cultures as necessary to achieve a metaphorical "greater good". In actuality, the Persians used their skills and administrations to increase trade throughout their empire for the true "greater good" of their people.

Source: “Persian Empire.” UShistory.org, Independence Hall Association, 2022, https://www.ushistory.org/civ/4e.asp

Image Source: “The Original Lyrics of ‘Arabian Nights’ in 'Aladdin'.” Zimbio, Livingly Media, Inc, 2022, https://www.zimbio.com/The+Biggest+Disney+Movie+Controversies/articles/MjhJFTxyeuD/Original+Lyrics+Arabian+Nights+Aladdin

Despite all characters in the film being arguably Persian, Aladdin and Jasmine, identified as the protagonists of the film, possess European features and "white" accents, while Jafar, identified as the antagonist of the film, possesses features and an accent common among individuals who lived in the Achaemenid Persian Empire. European colonizers associated "good" with western and "bad" with non-western. Consequently, individuals living in the Achaemenid Persian Empire were labeled as threats and ostracized from the west's definitions of civilized. In actuality, the Persians were a diverse culture, and many of the individuals living in their empire belonged to conquered territories that didn't prioritize violence or cruelty, and were largely allowed to keep independence under Persian rule.

Source: Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.).” The Met, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acha/hd_acha.htm

Image Source: Pantozzi, Jill. “Aladdin Finds Its Jafar Plus Adds Another Woman to the Disney Story.” The Nerdy Bird, The Nerdy Bird, 2017, http://thenerdybird.com/aladdin-finds-jafar-adds-another-woman-to-the-story/

Aladdin takes place in Agrabah, a fictional city representing western perceptions of the Middle East. Both the city itself and the people within it are heavily stereotyped. Depicted as an exotic fantasy of technicolor and greed, where women are objectified bellydancers and men are either poor merchants or sly thieves, Agrabah reeks of European idealism, highlighting colonizers' beliefs in the "mysteries" and "dangers" of foreign world powers, such as the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Consequently, Persians were viewed as enemies of Europeans, despite Europeans making assumptions of non-western cultures' inferiorities and shortcomings. In actuality, the Achaemenid Persian Empire cared little for European affairs, instead expanding into regions of modern-day Africa and Asia at the height of the empire's power under ruler Darius the Great.

Source: Beviano, Christina. “Orientalism in Film: Aladdin Over the Last Century.” Orientalism in Pop Culture, Orientalism in Pop Culture, 2023, https://wgst2013.domains.drew.edu/christina-bevianos-post/film-aladdin/

Image Source: “Agrabah.” Disney Wiki, Disney Wiki Francophone, 2019, https://disney.fandom.com/fr/wiki/Agrabah

In recent years, Disney has attempted to correct the film's orientalist overtones through producing a live-action remake; however, the original story of Aladdin is inherently stereotyped to fit colonialist, European views of the "exotic" East, meaning the company should leave adaptations of Aladdin in the past and focus on producing new films that won't be tainted by their racist counterparts.

Misconstrued interpretations of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire continue to exist due to modern, western biases towards non-western cultures, passed down from legacies of colonial ignorance. Bottom line? Western societies need to stop viewing themselves as magical genies destined to "save" non-western societies through preachings of racism and white supremacy.

[starryluminary]

I liked The Arch Villain and The Schemer a little too much

[charlie-rulerofhell]

LDPDL. Stalking, staring down and manhandling his men since somewhen after 1877.

[heart-aflame]

I think it'd be funny if the lords in black got stuck in human form and had to be at the school because someone forgot to unsummon them, that Nibbly would be the first one to experience human illness because he ate something bad, and none of his brothers are sympathetic but they are confused.

Except Wiggly, who knows that humans get ill from the silliest things, and just can't be bothered to care that Nibbly brought this on himself, when he's trying every fucking day to leave the school and physically can't.

It's probably the black altar he hates the most, at this point, and a few of the reasons include the teenagers and teachers that are there, bothering him at all times. He still has most of his powers, but it's still infuriating that they can't leave the school.

Nibbly isn't helping, none of his brothers are helping, he'd interact with the kids who summoned them in the first place, if they hadn't graduated already.

[science-lings]

I love that capcom made Phoenix Wright an art/theater student with a hot pink sweater and the main motivating factor to become a lawyer being to follow a man and won’t just say he’s queer because it’s so obvious. He’s been in one single romantic relationship with a woman and never dated again just so that he could have room for plenty of gay subtext. I think at this point if he dated a woman in canon it would instantly kill half of the fanbase including me. There would be actual riots. No one would be civil about it.

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

[katyspersonal]

Oh wait no

I have a feel that Thiollier falls for that one Japanese character trope of a guy being born so soft and frail that his parent(s) and/or community think it is a shame to even perceive him as a man and thus either he is raised as a girl, or self-inflicts that femininity onto himself in shame (Iirc Dangan Ronpa had an example of latter? @sweet-sirin can you confirm or deny?)

And usually this type of character later struggles to recover his masculinity and generally sense of self as a man once he got away from "influence"! Not to say that a guy can't confidently rock feminine aesthetic and kick ass, but not with this man's absent self-esteem. He speaks meek and apologizes for being so weak and pathetic! Basically Thiollier is anime

[gokupowers]

Bay area stuck (Asian HCs)

[ladyloveandjustice]

i'm not one of those 'media literacy is dead and our youth is wrong' people but the tags on that atla poll are. making me want to say it.

[anti--transid]

Lovely reminder that radqueers only ever want the "hehe quirky cute" parts of disorders, every "transautistic" being I have ever met has only ever wanted the romanticized, "hehe yippee uwu", "cutesy"/socially acceptable spinterest, stereotype autism, never the "violent meltdowns in public", "literally cannot mask without physical pain," "had to drop out of school bc of autistic burnout", "medium/high support needs" autism

They dont want the disorder, they just want the stereotype in their head.

[ofweave]

every single companion in bg3 is bi/pan and if you disagree block me because youre gross <3

[imperial-agent]

Hello! I just completed the 5some scene witb Halsin and Astarion and I dont really have anyone to comment this with I hope you dont mind me dropping here real quick to say [SPOILERS]

So... he just dissociates no matter what? I completed Astarion's quest and I could swear that meant he wouldnt dissociate in the scene. But I think what bothers me the most isnt even the dissociating itself but the lack of response from the Player Character. I just LET him?? I dont comfort him, I dont stop the whole thing in its tracks??

And its the only way to get Halsin's backstory?? Am I doing something wrong? I feel so conflicted about the whole thing. Opinions? Thanks for reading this far if you have, sorry for any inconvenience!

I don't claim to be the best source on Astarion lore or on his storyline consistencies/inconsistencies since we're like a bitter divorced couple, I can't talk about him without getting slightly annoyed. But,

I got that exact same scene (5some) after Astarion's story conclusion. To me it makes sense that he's still distant - we fixed his Cazador situation but we didnt fix his sexual abuse issue because he never brought up the trauma. I'm assuming you didnt romance Astarion ang got this scene? For me, a non-Astarionmancer it made sense, since he never told me about his intimacy issues in the first place. But if that happened to you, and you romanced him, then I can still understand him being distant in that moment. He's not that into sex with other people and you just asked him to perform in front of 4 others. I can see how he would default to an auto-pilot. But that's assuming you did romance him. If you didn't then there's not much to be surprised about. He's tired of performing seduction.

To me, it's not that big of a deal that the PlayerCharacter doesn't respond to catching Astarion drift away. Without romancing him and learning about his baggage PC at best can only assume that Astarion is not into sex due to his past of sleeping with his victims and that possibly bringing up bad memories. Since the narraror line about him being distant during the encounter was only a brief mention (narrator mentions PC and Astarion catching eyes for a moment, any further descriptions of his performative behaviour are a general description of the scene since nothing is visible, not necessarly describing what the PC is seeing).

What! I! Fully! Agree! With! You! Is how Halsin's mega traumatic backstory is only ever accessible through a hidden option (i wouldn't even call it a mission, just a random NPC conversation) in Act 3. That conversation could have been naturally implemented into the (currently bare-bone) Halsin romance route. This is why I'm still screaming about letting the players have access to Halsin as a companion in Act 1 already, so that he can go with the PC to the Underdark. That could lead to him having some flashbacks to his time there, and perhaps slipping in some titbits during idk the exploration of the wizard tower in the underdark and him seeing the chain mounted to a wall and that bringing up some nasty memories?? Like the story writes itself, it's all there but I'm guessing the devs had better things to do then flesh out their fanservice and fan demands. Like adding Halsin as a romance options SHOULD HAVE BEEN a post release thing !!!

My opinions are more or less summed up here. It's ass that an abuse victim such as Astarion gets all the special treatment and a catharsis while Halsin, who also went through a traumatic experience doesn't. He actually laughs it off. But that's okay, people cope differently. So why not have us explore his backstory more? Well, it's crunch of course. The devs had no time to put love and care into Halsin even tho him being a romance option/companion (so those conversations about his past wouldn't come up) wasn't even on their initial goal list, just something a few discord people suggested.

I feel like the writers had too much on their plates and too little time to make sure inconsistencies in character motivations/ reactions, backstories don't occur. But we should all be happy Astarion got all the attention he deserved. Oh, you're saying there are other companions in this game too? Since when?

[anxiously-sidequesting]

Since it seems like in the Wizard101 universe the different schools actually have like, differing aspects and characteristics to them (that are at least portrayed as accurate and a well known fact of nature) rather than the horoscope treatment (where nobody can agree if it even exists or not), I wanna see instances where any individual of a certain class diverges from their magical (spiritual?) capabilities

Like, since Diviners are supposed to be good at technology give me a Diviner who can't read or understand building instructions, or doesn't have a good concept on precise measurements or shapes. OR LIKE what about a Myth wizard with aphantasia.

Like how dependent are these traits, that when a wizard is born and their magical alignment is decided (somehow) who can say how accurate these traits even are. Like what is the probability of being born a Life wizard with "non-Life" attributes?

(me pushing away the GNC agenda that keeps trying to come into this post /j) This opens up a lot of possibilities as to what Magic really means in the Spiral; like is it just what you're able to do, the spells that you're able to cast? Or does it get more complex than that and does it play a bit of a deeper role when it comes to emotions, identity, etc.

Like imagine meeting a wizard that you have no idea what their magical class is; and then when it comes out they're a Pyromancer everyone is like "HOLY SHIT???? You act NOTHING like a Pyromancer you give me Balance wizard vibes"

This concept is super interesting to me because it adds so much context and depth to Magic as an entire whole rather than just a game mechanic with Some Lore taped to it. This opens up like 9 other plots I can list off both hands right now and I want all of you Girlies to think about this

[sillywormz]

why don't i have a gf or a partner yet it's a mystery 🤔😔 <- voice of a woman who avoids human contact whenever possible and doesn't socialise and is ugly and unsettling to look at and would rather die than make the first move or actually initiate flirting with anyone

it's a big mystery guys

[bizlybebo]

google how to have long hair without waiting 37832 months

[elegantwoes]

I just saw a reddit threat on what characters could do the most damage if they read the book series and now I can’t help but wonder what would the Starks reaction be if they read ASOIAF together.