#surname discourse

[not-the-living-ghost]

“crystal pushed someone in front of a car,” “esther killed a bunch of little girls,” “monty emotionally manipulated edwin-” some of you need to perfect the glorious art of not giving a fuck

[lokiinmediasideblog]

ugh.. saw j*nquilclegane on the Loki surname discourse...

Ma'm, for the last time, the MCU is not Norse mythology! Learn to separate the two of them and don't involve yourself in the Marvel-related Loki fandom if you hate the Marvel adaptations so much! It's like going to a Mexican restaurant and asking for General Tso's chicken with Chow Mein.

Anyway, though I agree that both Odinson and Laufeyson would be painful to Loki, the discourse has gotten WEIRD. And kinda into "Don't hurt this fictional character's feelings."

[queerbauten]

seeing Joosttwt hand-wring vaguely about Joost’s “stances” on things and wondering what they could be talking about… only to remember he had the audacity to meet up with CMH (a Russian artist) today and realizing that oh, it’s just xenophobia

ETA: see the reblogs for my thoughts now that I know the full context

[firedragon1321]

We Need To Bring This Shit Back

[iliiuan]

Is keeping your father's surname a feminist action? No it isn't. It doesn't challenge the patriarchy in any way. It is an acceptable thing to do. It is what is expected of everyone. And it carries a lot of historical baggage about ownership and shit like that.

I’m getting fed up with this whole “feminism as an identity” thing. Time for “feminism as an action.”

So instead of asking ���can a feminist do x?” ask “is doing x a feminist action!”

Can a feminist take her husband’s last name? Mu. Null. Question un-valid, please un-ask question.

Is taking your husband’s last name a feminist action? No it isn’t. It doesn’t challenge the patriarchy in anyway, it is the status quo thing to do, it is what is expected of women, and it carries a lot of historical baggage about ownership and shit like that.

But that’s okay, your life choices don’t have to be 100% dictated by your politics unless you want them to. And it’s okay to really want to take his name while recognizing that you also want to do the feminist thing and keep your own, and it’s okay to feel conflicted and have a hard time making the choice. But no more of this enabling “as long as I made the choice myself it is a feminist choice” -bullshit. Own your choices, even the ones that aren’t informed by your feminist politics. You are still a human being and people do shit that contradicts their politics and even interests all the time. Just stop pretending that everything you do is feminist because you are a feminist, that’s not how it works.

[sixohsixoheightfourtwo]

@ the anon in my inbox earlier, if you're there - I was halfway into replying, tried to save the draft, & tumblr seems to have eaten it so here's a cut down version. It sounds like you're not expecting a serious answer & just messaged me to be like 'gotcha' so I'm sure this won't satisfy you, but here is one rec: 'The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On', a documentary from the 80s, kind of along the lines of 'The Act of Killing' and 'The Look of Silence' if you're familiar with those* (but a precursor obvs). here's a link to an Ebert piece about The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On. there are a couple more documentaries I've read about, not sure what else is out there. . And assuming you inboxed me bc of this post of twitter screenshots - u may like to know that Grave of the Fireflies is deeply critical of imperialist / nationalist patriotism.

If you want to make a point about Japan not facing up to its wartime atrocities .... literally say that...! you can . Say that. that's a major point that's worth making. but that's the answer to a different question.

[velvetvexations]

With Warless Weekend over, it's time I address Plaidos openly accusing me of secretly being a man! Oh, yeah, she's doing that now. I'm tagging this because I'm annoyed at Very Popular Tumblr Transfeminist misgendering a trans woman because her politics are too transmasc-friendly.

Isn't it great how she cuts this off, implying I think segregation by sex is not a big deal, rather than it being ridiculous she's made Michfest specifically her 9/11? I try so often to word everything I say in a way that can't be snipped like this but I clearly fucked up here.

Let's breakdown the reasoning given in her reply to a reblog concurring that I'm probably a sockpuppet:

Plaidos is assuming as TRFs always do that her clique is fully representative of transfems on Tumblr so if she never sees me positively interacting with them I must specifically be avoiding them. The reality is that I simply don't inspect the genitals of everyone I interact with.

Not only do I often argue with self-identified TMEs, probably even more than trans women, but Plaidos is literally responding to a self-identified TME who's talking about me having argued with them, so framing this as me going after trans women is ridiculous. I can literally pull up screenshots that I'm pretty sure predate me coming back to Tumblr where I talk about how it seems from what I observed on the outside was that the rabidly transandrophobic crowd was mostly non-trans women bloodletting for one or two idols, which is a notion I was unfortunately and despairingly disillusioned of upon getting into the trenches myself.

Also, "dishonorable"? Is she a fucking Klingon?

Annnnnd there's the implication I am in fact a trans man. She's certainly saying I'm not a trans woman and that's also misgendering because I've said repeatedly that my gender rests firmly on being Not A Cis Woman. But why simply "implicate" I'm a man?

Hilarious. Doubly so since I just recently found out that person runs my favorite Y2K blog, which I'm sure will get used as 'proof' at some point.

Do I seriously need to post fucking gock lol? Are we literally down to genital inspections at this point?

My blog has a pre-discourse history where I mostly reblogged images and argued about a Dungeons & Dragons show!* I'm literally a published author! What about all the very specific kinks? Being a scholar of Imperial Japan? The very specific opinions I have on very specific media? My specific fandoms?

What an elaborate character I've constructed to come up with a multiple system where the system members even have surnames and are the distinct sources of specific parts of my personality and interests, including one who's Christian and one who's attempting to learn Hinduism but has only ever briefly mentioned it about twice.

I think TRFs have never moved past the point in development where people don't exist when you stop looking at them.

*much of which was about how much I hated the transmasc player's cis lesbian PC; make of that what you will

I don't block people very often, but I do in fact do that! Thicced-Witch has openly talked about me repeatedly having her blocked and unblocking her when it did no good. I also have prettykittenpaw and fite-club blocked because they got into the annoying habit of coming on to every one of my posts, and my tolerance for prettyeelwithagun ran out when she stuck by Thicced-Witch's misgendering of people for the purposes of "satire."

God, this is all so, so stupid. Transfeminism, everyone.

[ciaran]

separate from the thread of discourse that inspired this (which was also ridiculous from beginning to end) - i just dont know what right a woman surnamed bhatt has to be making this kind of a claim. and a bunch of tumblr users who seemed serious about caste and caste politics are...taking it at face value? "considered casteless i.e. untouchable" and i am supposed to believe this? are upper caste trans women suddenly not upper caste because they are trans? is that the claim being made here? wow, i wonder why a woman with a prominently upper caste surname would want to say this while explicitly positioning herself as an authority on third world transfemininity

[dragon-in-a-fez]

you know one of the worst impacts of this whole streaming media enshittification era is that normal people never seem to talk about TV shows anymore. like in 2012 you couldn't go a week at my office without someone starting Game of Thrones discourse over their coffee break. in the 2000s people were always talking about their American Idol faves. when I was a kid in the 90s you had to be allowed to stay up late on Thursdays to watch Friends because everyone in 7th grade was talking about it the next morning.

but now? the most watched show of 2023 was Ted Lasso, a show that existed for three years before I even found out Ted Lasso was the name of a show and not just a guy. I still have no fucking idea what it's about. is Lasso a surname or an occupation? is Ted a cowboy? who the fuck knows. people who have Netflix, I guess? but not people who have Disney+, who probably all watched WandaVision but only talked about it on the internet.

I have a friend who's the biggest Star Trek fan I've ever met but I can't talk Lower Decks with her because she doesn't have whatever the fuck streaming service it's on and she doesn't pirate things for some reason.

our engagement with media used to be a casual part of the day-to-day social fabric and it's just like...not anymore.

[alien-of-earth]

Lego Ninjago and Race: An Analysis for the Upcoming Live Action

I know there’s been a lot of discourse in the ninjago community since a live action movie has been announced, and there’s sure to be even more after the cast list is released. Many fans are afraid the cast will be all white, while others don’t care what race the ninja will be. Non-fans looking in from the outside might say, “Why does it matter? They’re legos, they’re yellow.” I’ve seen this argument more recently, especially revolving Arin in the soft reboot Dragons Rising.

The point of this longer post is to explain how race still exists in Ninjago despite the plastic, yellow nature of the characters, and why making the cast entirely or mostly white would be a disservice to the fans and the source material as a whole. So let’s ninja-go into this topic.

Part 1: Hair and Black-Coding

When people claim that legos don’t have race, they often claim it’s because they are yellow. However, they forget that legos still have humanoid characteristics, and one of the easiest ways to tell when a lego character is black-coded is to look at their hairpiece.

Here are some examples of hairpieces clearly meant to resemble black hair textures/hairstyles:

When characters have textured hair (i.e. Arin and Euphrasia from Ninjago) or locs/braids (i.e. Mateo and Zoey from Dreamzzz), it’s hard to argue they’re meant to be interpreted as anything other than black. And if that’s not obvious enough, there’s also:

Part 1b: Voice Actors and Black-Coding

People of color voice acting non-human characters doesn’t determine race, but it does add to character coding. This can be seen in characters from other shows, such as Darwin from The Amazing World of Gumball. Even though Darwin is a 2D animated goldfish, he has been voiced exclusively by black voice actors. Because of his voice (and other mannerisms/narrative elements), Darwin is generally accepted to be black-coded.

Being voiced by a person of color does not automatically make a character black-coded, but it can certainly add credence to characters who already have black characteristics, such as Arin and Euphrasia.

Part 2: Names

Another reason it’s hard for ninjago fans to interpret certain characters as white is because of their names. While many have stereotypical “American white boy names” (i.e. Jay, Cole, and Zane), other characters have names that are certainly not strictly American. Examples include Wu (a Chinese surname), Misako (a Japanese name), Chen (a Chinese surname), Okino (a Japanese surname) and Sora (Japanese given name). Ninjago may be set in a fictional world of animated, plastic people, but it’s still based on real-world names, and considering how a lot of the characters’ names come from East Asia, there is merit to declare that characters like Misako and Sora are meant to be interpreted as East Asian.

Part 3: Cultural Influences

Now, to the most obvious reason why it would be absurd to put an all-white cast on screen: the cultural influences. I am not Asian myself, but other ninjago fans have expressed frustration about the cultural melting pot that is Ninjago. It takes influence from both Eastern and Western cultures for its setting, worldbuilding, lore, and fantastical elements. Ninjago puts ninja, samurai, Kabuki, and Oni from Japanese history and culture, Djinn from Arabic regions, the yin/yang concept from Chinese philosophy, and dragons from various cultures into one narrative. There’s even a character named Ronin (which means a “wandering samurai”).

Additionally, the ninjago language seems to be inspired by Tategaki, an East Asian style of writing.

What this means is that Ninjago is brimming with real-life cultural influences. They rarely come from the same places and are not always faithful or accurate. In fact, they can sometimes seem borderline disrespectful and stereotypical in the earlier seasons- particularly with the portrayal of Chen and pilot Wu. However, it doesn’t take a genius to spot the East Asian cultural influences on ninjago. This is clear in the character designs, attire, and especially in the settings:

Part 4: What does this mean?

In summary, Ninjago is a fictional setting that takes inspiration from East Asian cultures, and has coded certain characters as certain races through more indirect means such as naming and designs. Even though none of the ninjago characters have 100% canon races, there is still evidence that some are meant to be interpreted as black or Asian. Therefore, making all the ninjago characters white would be a disservice to the fans AND the source material because it takes away subtle but essential parts of the characters and world.

Additionally: Representation matters. It could mean a lot for fans new and old to see the ninja becoming humanized and seeing themselves on screen. Not only would an all-white cast be unfaithful to the source material, but it would be disheartening to fans hoping for racial representation, especially in an age where “wokeness” is considered a touchy subject in some areas.

Part 5: Other Thoughts/Clarifications

The beautiful thing about Ninjago is that the Lego nature of the characters allows them to be interpreted in so many ways. The characters don’t have canon skin tones, eye color, body types, ages, heights, etc., so they can be whatever fans want. Whatever the fans interpret them to be or even what they feel like, they can be. And I think that’s beautiful.

TLDR: I don’t want the movie casting to limit the fan’s creativity or headcanons. Even if the cast isn’t entirely white, I hope people continue to make creations with their own interpretations of the characters.

Also: I urge fans to not harass the actors if they are white. I feel like the ninjago fandom is above that but I feel inclined to make this statement in advance regardless.

Finally: I’m leaving this post wide-open to discussion and discourse. I did surface-level research for the ninjago cultural influences, so if anyone wants to add on to or correct anything, feel free to do so. All I ask is that the conversations remain civil.

That is all :)

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #4927:

Every time I think the takes on this hellsite can't get any more rancid I see yet another new and atrocious opinion. The latest discourse in my fandom is about a mixed actor who recently had the audacity to marry a white actress. The antis have gone the "Think of the children!" route and are accusing the actor's (currently nonexistent) children of cultural appropriation. Because they'd be only 1/4 Korean but would have a Korean surname. This somehow matters to antis.

[fandomluver-101]

I HAVE CAUSED DISCOURSE!

LoL Jayce canonically does NOT have a surname. We just call him "Jayce Giopara" because he's an apprentice of Clan Giopara.

Headcanon - LoL Jayce is from Zaun where surnames just aren't a thing. Clan Giopara said "PR nightmare, cover it up" and thus we get "Jayce, a bright boy from South Piltover" rather than "Jayce, a trencher from the Undercity."

My friend Steven is currently ranting on how that just makes the situation with Jayce, Viktor, and Pididly that much worse.

Headcanon - LoL Jayce thinks it's NORMAL for professors and mentors to take credit for their students and apprentices work. Hence why he says nothing (legit just says nothing) and I also headcanon that the one time he speaks up for something leads to him witnessing his greatest fear happen to someone, thus he continues to not speak up (Viktor gets stripped of his degrees and work when Jayce tells the Academy about his unethical project).

But on a serious note, it's weird how Jayce and Caitlyn in OG LoL lore didn't have surnames until Arcane - because Piltover is a society where your surname or that of the people backing you is actually important.

[zenless-zone-archive]

Fairy welcomes you to the ZZZ archive, the ideal place for fans to find and download official art more easily.

requests and submissions are currently open, see rules and notes below!

discourse of ANY kind is not tolerated here, good faith or not.

this is a sideblog that is managed by a single person who has serious memory issues, be patient. you can call me Fairy!

posts have both character and faction tags, mostly not including surnames, search for (character) "comics" "official art" "stickers" "character introduction/agent record" to find such

that's about it, I hope you find what you seek.

[anachilles]

“So, what’s the prognosis, Doc? Am I gonna live?”

Your firehouse buckies? 😍 or anything else with buck x bucky 💓

omg hi! and please yes give me all the excuses to write my firehouse!au buckies!! (for those who may not be familiar - this is firefighter!bucky and bartender/PhD student!buck) here's a little thing set significantly further along than where we're currently at in the actual fic lol. + shout out to @avonne-writes and their 'who's taking who's surname?' poll and the discourse for inspiring a little part of this lol. currently taking prompts from this list: [ x ]

"So, what's the prognosis, Doc? Am I gonna live?"

His voice hoarse and barely there, trust John to tease him even around the tail end of a thermometer, just as Gale went to pull it from his mouth.

'Suppose he can't be too sick if he still has jokes,' was the first thought that came to Gale's mind. The second thought though, sneaking up hot on the first's heels, was 'John would be cracking jokes on his damn deathbed so that really isn't as much of a reassurance as it should be.'

Gale squinted as he examined the numbers. The light was low in the early winter morning, the sun not having quite fully risen yet. He'd usually have switched even just his own bedside lamp on as he got himself ready to leave for the day, but with John's groan of protest that particular morning, he’d quickly switched off again.

It'd been a restless night, and even though they were both feeling the impact of John's tossing and turning, and the seemingly inability for him to breathe at all through his nose anymore, the man himself just looked downright exhausted with it. He'd eventually managed to fall asleep with his hot, clammy forehead pressed into the back of Gale’s neck, plastered to his back, and Gale hadn’t the heart to try and move him despite how he had then been overheating.

"You know there's another, arguably much more enjoyable way to do that..." John leered, even if half-heartedly, and if only to fill the silence as Gale's eyebrows pinched at whatever he saw on the little digital screen.

See, this is why they'd more or less permanently shacked up at Buck's place rather than his. He had stuff like thermometers lying around. Stuff an actual home has.

Gale looked up at him then, incredulous. "You're really trying to flirt with me, sitting there with a 101 degree fever?" he said, turning the thermometer as if to prove his point. Incredulous, but not surprised; not really.

"Baby, if I'm ever sick enough that I don't want to flirt with you, make you blush all pretty like you do, that's when you should be worried."

Gale had almost been tempted to smile at that, until John had to cut himself off, a sudden bout of congested coughing rattling from his throat.

Capturing the inner corner of his bottom lip between his teeth, Gale sighed, his long legs unfolding from beneath him and as he got up from where he'd been perching on his side of the bed. He crossed to John's bedside, pulling the covers further up around the other man’s chest.

Gale clicked his tongue slightly, though his expression and voice betrayed him in their co-ordinating softness. "All of this because you just had to be the hero and go jump in the damn lake."

Off to the side of them, Maverick jumped up onto the bed, sleepily curling in at Bucky's side in the warm spot Gale had just vacated. She bumped her head against John's hand, eager and impatient as the day Gale met her. John responded without even having to look away from the conversation, his fingers scritching at the especially soft little spot of fur behind each of her ears.

��Hey, I saved someone's life."

Gale wordlessly took his phone from his pocket, showing him the text he'd already gotten from Benny, "Just FYI - let the record show that the guy knew how to swim and your boy did not have to jump in after him."

Uh, since when did his team all acquire his boyfriend's number just for the purposes of ratting him out?

"Well how was I supposed to know that?! It’s called due diligence."

Either way, he'd ended up with what seemed to either be a wicked cold or the beginnings of the flu for his trouble.

"You make up for your lack of sympathy with your excellent bedside manner, Doctor" John said, talking half to himself as Gale strode out to the kitchen at the sound of the kettle whistling.

He continued as the other man reappeared a minute later, a steaming Fire Department-branded mug in one hand, his own filled travel mug in the other. "Huh, that's kind of funny, seeing as you will be and everything. Dr Cleven."

“Not that kind of doctor,” Gale muttered, and John breathed out a faint laugh. He knew the difference, duh, but it was cute when Gale interpreted things so literally sometimes before he could think about it.

Gale quirked a brow as he set the mug down on John’s bedside table, batting aside lozenge wrappers and tissues with the rim of it to make room.

"Y'know what has an even better ring to it, though? Dr Gale Egan..."

When the idea of marriage came up between them, it was always in an abstract, vague kind of sense, underpinned by off-hand comments and passing jokes relaying the image of some version of their life that lay a safe distance away on the horizon. It wasn't right in front of them yet, but it felt comfortably inevitable, which made talking about it casually not really a big deal. One of the more common jokes being what they do in terms of surnames.

Gale could tell John was sentimental about his father's name in a way he himself wasn't about his own. It was never said so outright, but he got the sense that it was either a matter of hyphenating (even with John's arguments that neither Cleven-Egan or Egan-Cleven 'sounded right'), or Gale taking John's.

When Gale thought about the idea of shedding his father's name, he felt so much nothing it almost pissed him off because shouldn't it evoke something? Is that not the most normal reaction to losing such a defining part of your identity, feeling some sense of sadness? Of loss? It felt more to him like shrugging off a grimy, weather-beaten old coat turned threadbare in the elements, not particularly pleasant but reliably familiar. It was simply what he had.

Looking now, he took in the pallid, rheumy face and contrastingly long, firm lines of a man who loved him like John loved him. Who loved him so unshakeably, proved to him over and over seemingly without even really having to try; who made it look easy. Who loved him in a way he didn't think he ever could be loved, or be prompted himself to love like he loved John back.

"Well, then I guess you have until I finish my PhD to marry me."

There was a weird beat of silence and neither seem to be sure whether they were still joking or not.

“You saying you want to marry me? Is that a proposal? A deathbed proposal?” The look that bloomed on John’s face was as adorable as it was utterly insufferable. It was, however, quickly dispelled however by a sudden sneeze. He reached for more tissues, the groan that followed evidently vexed.

It cut through whatever tension had inadvertently bled into the moment, though, and Gale smiled. “Bless you. Tempting proposition that it is…” Gale finally said, as he checked his watch. When he continued, there was an edge of regret in his voice. “If I want to be Dr Anything I’d better get going.”

A noise echoed from John's throat, half displeased, half mournful.

Gale sighed and leant forward, bringing a gentle hand to John's fever-flushed cheek, his thumb stroking lightly on the sharp angle of his cheekbone. "Now, you get some sleep and drink plenty of water, you hear me? You can have more of these here pills in like a couple more hours. I should be home around 3ish, but text me if you need anything or your temperature gets any higher."

His voice was as even and steady as ever, only John could tell he was fretting slightly by how unsettled his hands were, and how they kept touching him, fiddling with the blankets, smoothing things down that were already smoothed down as he spoke.

John reached out and grab Gale's wrist, stilled it, in a odd reversal of their usual roles. "Okay, okay..." he acquiesced lightly, easily, and was immediately rewarded when Gale's fingers laced into the sweat-damp curls that had fallen down into his face, moving them aside so he could press a kiss to his forehead. His lips lingered for an achingly welcome half-beat, before moving to press another to his cheek.

Gale tore himself away then, grabbing his wallet, keys, and the steaming travel mug where he'd abandoned them on the dresser, and tossed his bag over his shoulder. A few second later, he was gone.

“Dr Gale Egan” is all John thinks about for the rest of the day.

In between naps, that is.

[castiels-slinky]

Jewish Hawkeye Pierce HCs!

Okay, I know there's a lot of discourse about the idea of Hawkeye being Jewish, but idfc. I'm Jewish and he's Jewish because I said so. All of these are my personal headcanons about him and his Judaism. If you disagree, good for you! I don't!

Hawkeye is, in fact, a practicing Jew (jk, he perfected it!). He's reform and is Jewish on both sides of the family.

His father's side had always lived in Maine and had Anglicized their surname, which is why his name is Pierce in the first place.

He absolutely LOVES the holidays, but doesn't celebrate like he used to when his mother was alive. He still often visited his mother's side of the family in New York, though.

Daniel Pierce and Hawk always loved living in Crabapple Cove, but they would hide their Judaism, as Daniel worried about their safety.

Hawk was most in touch with his culture (since the passing of his mother) when he went to med school. He got to truly bond with other people like him, including the queer community.

He's fluent in Yiddish and often has conversations with Sidney exclusively in Yiddish. They might throw a few English words in to fuck with someone.

Father Mulcahy is super tight with other chaplains, especially the Rabbis. Thanks to this, he's been able to lead private services for Hawk.

Going to school in New York was a cultural reset for this man. He was like. "I need to be more overt about it but like. In a silly way..."

LATKE FIEND. HAWKEYE WOULD DIE FOR A GOOD LATKE.

Somewhat unrelated (but not really), but Hawk is a HUGE Tom Lehrer stan. He'd do anything for him.