#the American side of the fandom using harmful stereotypes

[falindankovsky]

Look I love patho and love alotta the community surrounding it but Jesus Christ some of you need to think about the implications of some of the things you write/hc especially when it comes to indigenous people

*As user theburakhovskerrrr pointed out in a rb the kin is primarily inspired by buryat culture or other east-siberian cultures.*

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

I think you mentioned it a few times... But can we get a peak at anything left on the cutting room floor for Dekugate? Notes, cut contact, ect? If you feel okay with that! I just love this story and wanna see all your thoughts on it, even what didn't make the cut. Kinda like dvd extras I guess ahahh.

HOWEVER I get you cut some things for a reason and know how tumbler can be and don't want drama, so it's cool if you just don't feel comfortable with that.

There are two main story elements that got cut.

The first one is that there was originally going to be more of a subplot around Izuku having crushes on both Uraraka and Aoyama. I say ‘crushes,’ but it was closer to what it ended up being where he’s not sure how to feel about them or the idea of being close like that with anyone. When Izuku learned about dekugate, the internal conflict would shift to how his toxic fans would treat them. They’d hate Uraraka for being a girl since aggressive shippers tend to view male/female relationships as inherently lesser, but with Aoyama, they’d just be fetishized. But i worried that having overt shipping stuff like that would overwrite the focus on the fic in the minds of readers; the relationships would be seen as what’s at stake instead of Izuku’s mental health on its own. When I decided to cut it down from a subplot into a background detail, I favored the Uraraka parts because they fit neatly into the more misogyny-focused critiques.  And why did I end up focusing on that part?  For one, as a female-bodied person, misogyny, particularly misogyny coming from other women, is something I have more experience in and thus felt I had more to say.  That, and I worried that even if i made careful critiques about how women in fandom often fetishize gay men via reductive stereotypes and how applying that fandom behavior to real life people can cause harm, people would just see it as “ew gay ships are bad.”  If I were to ever do some kind of follow up, I’d give more time to the fetishization side of things.

The second major cut was a lot more detail about the backstory of Toshi and Inko’s relationship, as well as an expository dump of refutations for every single insane thing the dekugaters claimed.  Most of it was stuff so obvious, it really didn’t need to be spelled out, (why aren’t they holding hands and smiling in every photo?  because no one smiles and holds hands at every single moment, even two people in love.)  The rest was either shaved down to just the most relevant bits, or left to implication.

I’ll summarize the highlights under the cut:

- Toshinori was interested in Inko right away since by that point, he was the symbol of peace and constantly surrounded by hero worship.  Between being a naturally anxious person and the paranoia that comes with fame, he didn’t think it was possible for anyone to ever fall for the real him.  Then he met Inko, someone who called him a show-boating poser to his face, and fell head over heels right there.

- It’s only hinted at briefly in the fic itself, but Toshi didn’t come from a great home.  His hang ups about Izuku being named after someone came from the fact that he himself was named after a great grandfather in an attempt by Toshi’s mother to appease his anger for having a kid out of wedlock, with an American tourist no less.  He was already looked down on by his conservative family for being illegitimate, but once his mother ‘properly’ married and starting having more kids, they emotionally neglected him even more.  By the time he moved out to live with Gran Torino, they barely noticed he was gone.

- Inko’s biological parents were a low-level thug for hire who bounced between gangs, and her mother was a sex worker who gave her up for adoption, then later died of an overdose when Inko was a toddler.  None of this was particularly relevant for Inko growing up, but the dekugaters would eventually dig up the records and use them to fling accusations.  But until then, Inko had a fairly normal childhood all things considered.  She didn’t bounce around foster families too often, and the ones she had were good people.  Mitsuki was in the same home as her for a few years, and they kept in touch after she was adopted.

- Inko’s hero’s journey began when she was eleven.  She and some friends stopped at a convenience store to grab some snacks after school, when a villain took the whole place hostage.  Nobody was hurt, but it took almost two hours for any heroes to even show up, during which Inko thought she was going to die.  Afterward, she needed to know why it took so long for help to come.  This was a time before heroes were on every street corner, and her neighborhood was outside of the nearest agencies’ ranges.  She decided to fill in the gap herself.

- Her UA career wasn’t all that eventful.  She got into the hero course by using her quirk to pull all the bolts out of the robots, but she didn’t make it to the tournament stage of the sports festival until her third year, at which point she was eliminated in the first round.  Instead of going straight into hero work, she went to college to study management and urban engineering so she would have everything she needed to run a self-sufficient hero agency.  Before the dekugaters, she had plans to construct a new agency building that doubled as a community center.

- One of the big dekugate brain rot posts i eliminated before writing was a timeline breaking down Inko’s pregnancy to ‘prove’ it was fake, complete with the exact date they believed izuku would have been conceived on and it’s impossible because All Might was seen doing something else not with Inko that day.  This is unfortunately based on real posts.  But since I cut it, it didn’t need it’s refutation, which is that the dekugaters’ stalking isn’t as accurate as they think.  Their dates were top to bottom wrong, with inko becoming pregnant way later than they thought and Izuku being born prematurely.

- Their dating timelines were also screwed up, but mostly because they refused to believe All Might would commit to anyone so fast when ‘they were barely seen together’ aka if something doesn’t appear on social media, it doesn’t exist.

- Izuku still went to Aldera in this universe for 3 reasons: it’s in the neighborhood his Mom works in and he wanted the chance to see her on action walking to and from school; he still saw Bakugou as his only friend and he wanted to have someone he knew at his first public school experience; he played down all the bullying and quirkless discrimination to his parents until after he let for UA, otherwise they would have homeschooled him again and he didn’t want to be isolated anymore.

- izuku’s UA experience up to the point of the fic has been largely unchanged from canon.  This is because this is supposed to be a small, self-contained fic and it’s a lot easier for readers to understand when the conspiracy posts reference canon events.

- Melissa does know about the conspiracy, but just the part about her dad and uncle being together, none of the fake kid stuff around Izuku.  But because most of that fandom likes her, not many people have been obnoxious enough for her to think it runs any deeper than a few overzealous shippers.

If there are any other weird conspiracy claims from the fic you want context for, just let me know

[youneedasoultraveller]

Is the popular headcanon that Nicky was illiterate, stupid and barbaric fitting in the stereotypes about Southern Europeans / Mediterraneans ? I’m guessing it’s from the American part of the fandom that’s choosing to not respectfully write Nicky since he is white while being virulent towards anybody that doesn’t perfected and accurately write Joe because he is MENA.

Hello!

Mind you, I am neither a psychologist, a sociologist nor a historian, so of course be aware these are my own views on the whole drama.

But to answer your question, yes, I personally think so. It definitely comes from the American side, but I have seen Northern Europeans do that too, often just parroting the same type of discourse that Anglos whip out every other day.

There is an abysmal ignorance of Medieval history – even more so when it concerns countries that are not England: there is this common misconception that Europe in the Middle Ages was this cultural backwater full of semi-barbaric people that stems unfortunately not only from trying to (correctly) reframe colonialist approaches to the historiographies of non-European populations (that is, showing the Golden Age of Islamic culture, for instance, as opposed to what were indeed less culturally advanced neighbours), but also from distortions operated by European themselves from the Renaissance onwards, culminating in the 18th century Enlightenment philosophes categorising the Middle Ages as the Dark Ages.

Now this approach has been time and time again proven to be a made-up myth. I will not go into detail to disprove each and every single one misconception about the Medieval era because entire books have been written, but just to give you an example: there was no such a thing as a ius primae noctis/droit du seigneur; people were aware that the Earth was not flat (emperors, kings, saints, etc, they were depicted holding a globe in their hands); people were taking care of their hygiene, either through the Roman baths, or natural springs, or private tubs that the wealthier strata of the population (and especially the aristocracy) owned. The Church was not super happy about them not because it wanted people to remain dirty, but because often these baths were for both men and women, and it was not that in favour of them showing off their bodies to one another. Which, you know, we also don’t do now unless you go to nudist spas. It was only during the Black Death in the 14th century that baths were slowly abandoned because they became a place of contagion, and they went into disuse (or better, they changed purpose and became something like bordellos). And, lastly, there was certainly a big chunk of the population that was illiterate, but certainly it was not the clergy, which was THE erudite class of the time. It was in monasteries and abbeys that knowledge was passed and preserved (as well as lost unfortunately often, such as the case for the largest part of classical literature).

So what does this mean? According to canon, Nicolò was an ex priest who fought in the First Crusade. This arguably means that at the very least he was a cadet son of a minor noble family (or a wealthy merchant one) who was part of the clergy. As such, historically he could have been neither illiterate nor a dirty garbage cat in his daily life.

Let’s then talk geography. Southern Europe (and France) was far, far more advanced than the North at the time and Italy remained the cultural powerhouse of the continent until the mid-17th century. Al Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian States,  the Byzantine Empire (which called itself simply Roman Empire, whose population defined itself as Roman and cultural heirs of the Latin and Greek civilisations): these places have nothing to do with popular depictions of Medieval Europe that you mainly see from the Anglos. Like @lucyclairedelune rightfully pointed out: not everyone was England during the plague.

Also the Middle Ages lasted one thousand years. As a historical age, it’s way longer than anything we had after that. So of course habits varied, there was a clear collapse right after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but then things develop, you know?

Anyway, back to the point in question. Everything I whipped up is not arcane knowledge: it’s simply having studied history at school and spending a few hours reading scientific articles on the internet which are not “random post written by random Anglo on Tumblr who can hardly find Genoa on a map”.

Nicolò stems from that culture. The most advanced area in Europe, possibly a high social class, certainly educated, from Genoa, THE maritime superpower of the age (with…Venice). It makes absolutely no sense that he would not be able to speak anything past Ligurian: certainly Latin (the ecclesiastical one), maybe the koine Greek spoken in Constantinople, or Sabir, or even the several Arabic languages from the Med basin stretching from al Andalus to the Levant. Because Genoa was a port, and people travel, bring languages with them, use languages to barter.

And now I am back to your question. Does this obstinacy in writing him as an illiterate beast (basically) feed into stereotypes of Mediterranean people (either from the northern or the southern shore)? It does.

It is a typically Anglo-Germanic perspective that of describing Southern (Catholic) Europeans are hot-headed, illiterate bumpinks mindlessly driven by blind anger, lusts and passions, as opposed to the rational, law-abiding smart Northern Protestants. You see it on media. I see it in my own personal life, as a Southern Italian living in Northern Europe for 10 years.

Does it sound familiar? Yes, it’s the same harmful stereotype of Yusuf as the Angry Brown Man. But done to Nicolò as the Angry Italian Man (not to mention the fact that, depending on the time of day and the daily agenda of the Anglo SJW Tumblrite, Italians can be considered either white or non-white).

Now, the times where Nicolò is shown as feral are basically when he is fighting (either in a bloody war or against Merrick’s men) or when Yusuf is in danger. Because, guess what, the man he loves is being hurt. What a fucking surprise.

Nicolò is simply being reduced to a one dimensional stereotype of the dirty dumb angry Italian, and people are simply doing this because they do not seem to accept the fact that both he and Yusuf are two wonderfully complex, flawed, fully-fledged multidimensional characters.

So I am mainly concentrating on Nicolò here because as an Italian I feel more entitled to speak about the way I see the Anglo fandom treating him and using stereotypes on him that have been consistently applied to us by the Protestant Northerners. I keep adding the religious aspect because, although I am an atheist who got debaptised from the Catholic Church, a big part of the historical treatment towards Southern has to do with religion and the contempt towards Catholic rituals and traditions (considered, once again, a sign of cultural backwardness by the enlightened North).

I do not want to impose my view of Yusuf because there are wonderful Tumblr users from MENA countries who have already written wonderful metas of the way Yusuf is being depicted by non-MENA people (in particular Americans), especially (again) @lucyclairedelune and @nizarnizarblr.

However, I just want to underline that, by only ever writing Yusuf as essentially a monodimensional character without a single flaw, this takes away Yusuf’s canon multidimensionality, the right he has to feel both positive but also negative feelings (he was hurt and angry at Booker’s betrayal, allegedly his best friend, AND HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE – and I say this as a Booker fan as well).

I have not been the first to say these things, it is nothing revolutionary, and it exactly complements what the MENA tumblr users in the TOG fandom have also been trying to say. Both of us as own voices people who finally have the chance to have two characters that are fully formed and honest representations of our own cultures, without stereotypes or Anglogermanic distortions.

And the frustration mounting among all of us comes from the fact that the Anglos are, once again, not listening to us, even telling us we are wrong about our own cultures (see what has happened to Lucy and Nazir).

What is even more frustrating is that everything in this cursed fandom – unless it was in the film or comics – is just a bloody headcanon. But these people are imposing their HCs as if it were the Word of God, and attacking others – including own voices MENA and Italians – for daring to think otherwise.

I honestly don’t expect this post will make any difference because this is just a small reflection of what Americans do in real life on grander scale, which is thinking they are the centre of the world and ignoring that the rest of the world even exists regardless of their own opinions on it.

But still, sorry for the length, hope I answered your question.

[alastanor]

Hazbin Hotel Crash Course for New Fans

I am creating this post with the idea that with all the misinformation out there, that perhaps this will serve as a kind of resource for those just beginning in the fandom. And perhaps, in some regard, it can serve as an FAQ for others. I will mostly be covering Hazbin Hotel and lightly touching on Helluva Boss as the spin-off it is.

Who created Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss?

This is an important first question. The creator of both shows is none other than our Mistress of Miscreants and Mischief, Vivienne "Vivziepop" Medrano. She is a Salvadoran-American artist and animator that was born and raised in Maryland and studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating in 2014.

Vivienne has worked on previous projects like the comic Zoophobia, an animated music video of one of her characters from that series on her channel she credits for giving her channel a subscription boost. Other works include Too Loud, a project she worked on for DreamworksTV with Hunicast host Ashley Nichols.

Vivzie is currently working as creator, director, lead animator, lead writer, storyboard artist, character designer, all for both shows, and the producer of Helluva Boss.

What is Hazbin?

Hazbin, short for Hazbin Hotel, is an American animated musical comedy series for adults that aired it's pilot on Youtube on October 28, 2019. The show focuses on the theme of redemption and consequences and by August 2020, had earned a solid fanbase and had accumulated nearly 50 million views. A goal it later accomplished in December of the same year. As a result, Hazbin was picked up from television production by A24. As of this post, no information regarding production or a release date is currently known. The show currently has comics of Angel Dust and Alastor on the official website.

What is Helluva Boss?

Helluva, also called Helluva Boss, is a spin-off series set in the same universe as Hazbin Hotel, with a different cast of characters. Vivziepop has described both shows sharing the same setting, but having different concepts behind their story focus. Unlike Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss is still a project being created entirely by Freelance artists and is not restricted in it's voice actor casting. Because Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss share the same universe, details regarding Hell and how it functions are sometimes expanded upon in Helluva Boss. The show itself is it's own separate entity, however, and should not be lumped in with Hazbin.

What Does A24 Picking Up Hazbin Hotel Mean?

As previously mentioned, unlike Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel was picked up for production and distribution through major media channels by A24. A24 distributes to channels like HBO, TruTV, and Showtime but they also distribute to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.

Hazbin Hotel could launch on HBO, Showtime, Hulu, or Netflix. But as of right now, that information is unknown. What we do know, however, is that Hazbin Hotel will not continue on Youtube. The pilot shall remain there but the first season will air elsewhere.

A24 picking up Hazbin also means the voice acting talent is more restricted, actors are required to be apart of the voice over union. This means some actors who played parts in the pilot of the show will no longer be present in the first season. Examples of this happening include, allegedly, Jill Harris who played Charlie in the pilot. The state of other voice actors remaining are unknown, however when asked by concerned fans on Twitter and again on his Twitch, Ed Bosco who voices Alastor responded he "was going nowhere."

Previous freelance artists, such as Ashley Nicols, are also no longer working on Hazbin Hotel. The same is true for many other talents who previously worked on the show. As a result, they have no idea as to the state of Hazbin's production and are unable to comment. Even Vivzie herself is unable to comment much to the state of Hazbin, however Vivzie has stated that the project is very close to her heart which leads many to believe the project is still in the works. It has simply been given a very tight lid against leaked information.

Cast of Hazbin Hotel

In this section of the post, I will be exploring each character, what we know about each character from a fully canonical perspective (and not the soft canon or outdated information that unfortunately lingers on the fan wiki).

Charlie Magne

Charlotte Magne, or "Charlie," is a compassionate yet naive princess of Hell who believes the reformation of sinners in Hell will help solve Hell's overpopulation crisis. It is an idea that has gotten her mocked, scorned, and laughed at many times. Nonetheless, she is stubborn and capable of handling herself when necessary. Charlie was voiced by Jill Harris in the pilot, with Elsie Lovelock as the singing voice.

Vaggie

Vagatha, more commonly known as Vaggie, is a sinner of Hispanic ethnicity short on patience yet displayed as one of the more sensible and prudent of the Hazbin cast. She is a lesbian and the girlfriend of Charlie Magne. She is also the manager of the Happy Hotel. For an unknown reason, she has a distrust towards men. Vaggie is believed to have died in 2014. She is voiced by Monica Franco in the pilot.

Angel Dust

Angel Dust, whose true name was revealed by Vivziepop to be Anthony, is a gay adult film star and voluntary guinea pig of the Happy Hotel. He uses the hotel as a free living space, and doesn't take Charlie's experiment of demon rehabilitation very seriously when we first meet him in the pilot. Angel Dust was a member of a strict Italian crime family, and died of an overdose in 1947. He is voiced by Michael Kovach in the pilot.

Alastor

Alastor is a part-Creole Louisiana native who mysteriously died in 1933. He is so nicknamed "The Radio Demon" for how he tore down Hell's original overlord hierarchy and broadcast his carnage throughout Hell. He demonstrates the voice and mannerisms of an old radio host, and is amiable, gentlemanly (in most situations), and polite. Despite this, he is a known cannibal, has been stated to have been a serial killer in life, and is described as asexual though Vivziepop is keeping his romantic orientation a secret. Alastor is voiced in the pilot by Edward Bosco.

Husker

Husker is a grumpy, sarcastic, and unenthusiastic pansexual alcoholic with a gambling problem. He is the front desk clerk and bartender of the Happy Hotel, mysteriously believed to have died in the 1970s. Not much else is known about Husker. He is voiced by Mick Lauer in the pilot.

Niffty

Niffty is the spontaneous, easily entertained and excitable housekeeper of the Happy Hotel. She displays being a bit boy crazy and a strong dislike for messes. Niffty is believed to have died in the 1950s, but not much more is known about her. She was voiced in the pilot by Michelle Marie.

Cherri Bomb

Cherri Bomb is the self-confident and daring cyclops demon from Australia with a penchant for explosives. She is a best friend and partner in crime to Angel Dust, believed to have died in the 1980s. Not much else is known about her. She is voiced in the pilot by Krystal LaPorte.

Other Characters

Other characters not mentioned, such as Sir Pentious, Mimzy, Baxter, and others are not mentioned because they have either not yet appeared and therefore are still prone entirely to soft canon, or even less is known about them than what has been shown above.

What is soft canon?

Soft canon, for ease of this post, is the word I am using for canon that is not official canon. And what this means is that it has not been solidified by the show or has not been reconfirmed since after the pilot by Vivzie as canon.

Vivzie herself has admitted to changing her mind on things (such as Alastor no longer being afraid of dogs), or adding things last minute (such as Cherri being Australian). Until either of these things happen, old information that predates the pilot should not be taken as infallible, solidified canon.

Response to Hazbin Hotel and About Fandom

The overall response to Hazbin Hotel has largely been positive. Within a mere few months, Hazbin's pilot accumulated views in the millions, and has ignited inspiration, creativity, and passion in dozens of fans.

However, there exists a loud minority on social media who believe Hazbin is harmful to the LGBTQ+ community due to the portrayal of characters in sex work, and other characters reduced to minority stereotypes.

Others believe it is sick and wrong to portray sins as something cute or sexy, and that Hazbin Hotel is an abuse of talent.

Others simply think the humor is not "adult enough" for them, and that the show is too childish.

These beliefs have ignited passionate discussions and arguments from both sides throughout multiple forms of social media.

Of course, there are also issues with those who claim to be fans of Hazbin Hotel. Those who display entitlement, and essentially ruin it for others. There have been those who have bombarded VA Twitch streams and demanded the VA do their voice request, which unfortunately makes the fandom less enjoyable for them.

There are also those who demand things from Vivziepop and other people they believe to be apart of the project. Regardless if they still are or not. These people make the interactions between fandom and artists more unpleasant and toxic. These people, unfortunately, think that because they have access to communication with creators, that it entitles them to make demands. It does not, but it paints fandom in a bad light and drags down the mental health of the artists working on Hazbin.

Others make social media posts highlighting their entitlement and lack of understanding.

The reason I bring up these people is in the hopes that, those new fans reading this, will think twice about acting the same way. Or stop someone who may.

Where to Find More Information

This is something that should be emphasized, and that is that the wiki can be used but the information on the fan wiki should be taken with a grain of salt.

Vivziepop has stated before that the fan wiki is outdated, and much of the other information that is confirmed canon is mixed in with old information and fan theory that has been perpetuated as canon. Making the majority of what exists on the wiki "soft canon."

If you are interested in finding more accurate sources of information, options include gaining access to Vivziepop's discord through her Patreon.

Following Vivziepop and the VAs on social media (this does not mean you should pester them for information), as well as tuning into any social media channels A24 may have.

Occasionally you will get snags of information pertaining to Hazbin through the grapevine on the Hunicast discord, however that is much more sparse and less likely given that Ashley Nichols is no longer affiliated with the Hazbin project.

Things for Fans

So you have watched the Pilot dozens of times now, and are looking for things to do that will tide you over until more information surrounding Hazbin is released. Or better yet, until Hazbin's first season is released.

Well, here are some options to consider.

1. Have you ever considered making a sinner OC or an Impsona? An Impsona is more in line with Helluva Boss, but it is still the same universe. Designing an OC and concocting how they would fit in the world is time consuming, and fun to think about.

2. If you have some spare cash floating around, how about supporting one of the community's artists and commissioning them for some art of your OTP, your OC, or your favorite character doing something interesting?

3. Consider reading more information floating around, things that other fans have noticed in Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel. Things such as theories based on behaviors and habits seen in the pilot, or in the comics. Headcanons are fun too, but sometimes people can perpetuate them as canon. Remember what makes something canon, so you can distinguish between theory and headcanon.

4. Enjoy Helluva Boss and it's expansion of the world and universe.

5. Engage in the occasional streams, events, merch dumps, and print signings perpetuated by Vivziepop to help keep interest in Hazbin alive.

6. Watch the Pilot and ADDICT music video just because you can and you have a mental stimulation craving.

7. If you are the creative type, you can create your own art or fanfiction of the characters you enjoy most.

8. Some members of the fan community have made fan comics, you could search those.

9. Watch the old Hunicasts on youtube, but remember that again Ashley is no longer affiliated with Hazbin, they are no longer allowed to do Hazbin streams, and the VAs cannot do voice requests. So if you attend a live Hunicast expecting there to be Hazbin, you will be disappointed. Regardless, the old Hunicasts are entertaining and fun, and can ease some of the Hazbin cravings.

10. Watch some of the animatics created from some of the funniest moments from the Hazbin Hunicasts on Youtube.

Let me know if I missed anything, but this was essentially me trying to put essential information for newer fans to the community all in one place. Hope it helps.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Sometimes I lurk in "old" tumblr fandom pages for things and have thoughts which may or may not be good, especially when they are one of the more YIKES (tm) ones even back in the day.

But, I overthink and my brain shifted to Teen Wolf. Now mind, I myself never got into that fandom as it was as I said YIKES (tm) for so many reasons. And I never really got into it as a series based on what I thought was amusing sometimes as background noise with some bad writing or acting. I just watched episodes as they came on and off when it came out as I just graduated high school I have never been committed to anything in it from an analysis stand point. And honestly this is a one time piece from my usual fandom niches lol, don't expect anything else from me regarding Teen Wolf ever again.

But I suppose with all of this hesitancy my biggest issue may have been with the fan base itself. For posterity sake, I'm mexican/chicana and raised in that typical sort of household community and such and a lot of this is really just my own messy thoughts surrounding the entire sub-culture of Teen Wolf through that lens.

My major focus for this is oh boy, Scott McCall.

Mostly for the good, I dunno 10 years now as a lurker for this series, I had noticed the habit of a lot of white-anglo (European for specifics) fans saying that they themselves don't see how he is Latino or even Mexican as a characterization. Which fair yes, Tyler Posey being Latino himself was shoddily incorporated by a white writer and not exactly explored as it is in fact a very american Hollywood tool when it comes to Latino actors and characters. But the really just tone-deaf use of this is the expectation of mexican-americans specifically seem to need to "be" a certain way to white fans. This issue is already largely ingrained within the latino community as a whole and this is glossed over in hollywood media itself as it either puts us in the pile of "just being american" and assimilated or some other outdated stereotype of "all Latinos are the same anyways".

A lot of the rhetoric against him is that he might as well be white, nothing is explored in his heritage. Which is a fault of the writing itself even when it leaned into heavy Mexican concepts for one of it's arcs. (That is also a whole other level of misappropriation by hollywood and it's absolute separation of anything mexican within it's own country).

Usually chicano/a characters are not allowed to have the exploration of what being Mexican is in America. It is encouraged very heavily in society for the past 80 years or so as media became for prominent. Scott from 2011 to 2017 was not allowed to be anything other than his american side due to the writers and it's prominently white base. He was singled out as another white boy through the writing as that is what hollywood does to latinos. In their eyes Mexican is American only so much as it can can be used as a minority point for clout.

It is a shame that Scott McCall through Tyler Posey was not able to recreate what it means to be Mexican American. Even as an actor for things, that get Tyler Posey socially grilled and called out for has an edge of growing up in the southwest chicano society of california even with his own actions and wording. I see this analyzed by white-anglos without a lot of the heavy needed cultural context to some of these actions. Especially for men in latino culture, there is a lot of machismo that is used by them that comes off as off-putting as arrogant and cruel. It is not an excuse for him but very much a culturally ingrained specific issue that we are all unfortunately aware of.

It is also uncomfortable as a Mexican to see certain words even with Scott McCall the character to have certain terms slung around by white fans degrading him on basis of "meta" analysis for the past 10 years. A lot of the popular ones are that he is not good enough, disgusting, selfish, taking away the rights and not appreciating the actions of the two other white male leads, he uses them. He is talked of as lesser, while innocuous through the usual white meta lens as not being harmful, is harmful when mexican americans are subjected to those words through a fictional character. Cultural ignorance seeps through and is brushed off as only being said as hate of the character who for all intents and purposes is one of the few prevalent main brown youth leads given to latinos, shoddiness be damned.

We do not have the privilege of having more to look forward to when a character that was made to be white is given to us. The ironic thing is that if he stayed white his actions would be praised given that Scott McCall's friend Stiles (the white secondary) is made to be "better" than the brown boy in plenty of fanworks. Scott becomes dehumanized and derided in these works to a frightening degree. He is unpopular to the white audience and only so much of the excuse of anti-character meta can be used when the social ramifications and ignorance seeps through to those of latino background.

[the-bloody-masquerade]

End of Year ask! So I'm playing Amanda, the Ventrue PC in Coteries. It's my first time playing a Ventrue, and I never realized how difficult their bane is. What's the most difficult Ventrue bane you as a player have taken on, and/or given one of original Ventrue characters?

Also from baddass-at-cuddling: Second end of year ask is what do you think LaCroix's Ventrue bane is? Maybe he can only feed from handsome mobsters like Mercurio? 🤔 [I’m gonna throw both your asks in one because the second answer is gonna have a lot to do with my first answer.]  And heads up trigger warning for mention of rape and slavery as I discuss a couple of White Wolfs more *edgy* character arcs.  How about post-first-week-of-the-year ask. That’s about all the quicker I move with these asks. 😅 So! The Ventrue! I love them so much and they are my favorite clan. A lot of people with project their frustrations of the real-world “top 1%” onto the Ventrue and tend to treat them scornfully, or worse yet, project those frustrations onto the people who like the Ventrue. Its just make believe folks! There are numerous reasons to be fond of the vampire aristocracy and not all of them automatically equate “I want to lick the boots of harmful capitalists in real life.”  Anyway, the Ventrue bane can be tricky but I think it is also one of the more appealing aspects of the clan due to how it is springboard for creativity and character development. There is no official “rhyme or reason” to why a certain Ventrue gets a certain Bane but I wanna take a little time to explain my personal pitch for how a Ventrue gets their Bane.  Its not really a singular cohesive idea but I cannot fathom not making a Ventrue character’s Bane relevant to their personality or backstory. Something that explores some aspect of their psyche. Maybe constructs that sense of “personal horror” that vtm says it so loves to cultivate.

I actually know of very few canonical ventrue banes and a lot of them are... dicey. 😬

On the completely innocuous end of the spectrum you have characters like Victor Temple from LA by Night who’s preference appears to be people who “know who he is” ie recognize his fame. Its simple, and not at all difficult as long as he stays in LA or its culture sphere where he as a music industry mogul and social media personality is well known. Pretty easy to tie this to Victor psychologically, he craves recognition and maybe a human aspiration was transformed by supernatural Ventrue ambition upon his embrace. Sure would be an interesting challenge for Victor to travel to an area of the world where his music empire wasn’t well known...

Then there’s Alexander of Paris who’s blood preference only allowed him to feed from women who were in love (but not married). Devilishly specific, perhaps tricky, perhaps not if the Toreador-level-pretty Alexander could just make his blood dolls fall in love with him. I don’t know enough about this character to say if this is backstory-relavant to him. 

On the dicey side you have things like our dear Jan Pieterzoon’s canonical blood restriction to only feed from rape survivors. Sort of recently I’ve seen people tossing about the headcanon that this could be made less stereotypically “White Wolf edgy dark shock value bullshit” if this was a reflection Pieterzoon being a survivor himself, and then exploring the aspects of a “personal horror” how having a blood restriction that reflects that. Because as far as I know, canon never does that, his restriction is just that way in canon to be edgy.  On the other hand, yet another canonical Ventrue with a... squicky blood preference would be Andrew Seneca, a former black American slave who found out after his embrace that his blood preference was in fact, slaves. 😬I am not equipped to parse out the handling of this storyline so I won’t try but he’s got a listing on the white wolf wiki if you want to know. Without getting into it, his backstory and blood preference certainly seem to be made for a very hardcore impactful case of “personal horror,” especially regarding what he was going to do as the ages marched on, but again, I can’t really speak to how it was handled. 

So by now you’ve figured out that I have a preference for Ventrue whos blood preferences speak to something intrinsic to their backstory or character arcs. I actually have something of a mini-dynasty of Ventrue OCs who’s blood preferences I’ve put a lot of thought into. I’d love to go into that but I’d prefer to do it on my personal project blog. So I’ll do that and tag you in it, okay Badass? But I will answer the question of my speculation on LaCroix’s blood preference here (finally, lol). I’ve seen a few people in fandom take a pass at it and many of them do wrap it into psychological aspects of LaCroix that they’ve explored in their own works. 

I have seen a version of LaCroix where his blood preference is blood that is laced with alcohol and/or opium, ‘old timey comfort drugs’ speaking to his 19th century wartime backstory. 

I’ve also seen a take in which LaCroix’s blood preference is dominant women, setting up an accidental embrace and romance that the author wanted to explore.  The take that I use for my own fics is that LaCroix’s blood preference is real down to earth kind of people. Peasants, working class, to put it one way, but not because it contrasts with LaCroix’s presumed aristocracy. No, in my version LaCroix was born a common citizen into a family with only fair means. His vampiric blood preference for low-born hardworking folk is a reflection of almost all the people who surrounded him in life, family, hometown friends and soldier buddies. The kinds of people he remembers fondly from life. And our favorite even-tempered salt of the earth smuggler Mercurio fits that bill for LaCroix.  Another thing I’ve always pondered is if a Ventrue’s ghouls are necessarily a “tell” as to their blood preference. I think for young Ventrue it would be, since traditionally you gotta feed on the person you’re going to ghoul to ghoul them so they have to fit their blood preference. That and one of the primary purposes for a ghoul is a quick easy snack. I suppose older Ventrue could acquire ghouls who aren’t their preference by going out of their way. To make a ghoul you just gotta exsanguinate them, you don’t necessarily have to drink it. [Edit, I mixed this up, the only difference between a ghoul and embracing a new vampire is a ghoul drinks vampire blood while in a state of good health, a new vampire is created when they drink blood while having barely any other blood in their system, ie being exsanguinated. I ALWAYS get the methods of ghouling/embrace confused] So yeah, there’s a whole big barf of my thoughts and ideas about Ventrue. I just kinda tend to do that, take a relatively simple ask and be like “WANNA SEE HOW LONG I CAN TYPE???” When I get there I’ll post about my Ventrue OCs’ blood preferences on my personal project blog. Until then thanks for reading!

[fromthefishbowl]

American and English parts of fandom can often completely not understand cultural and nationality discrimination, and often perpetuate it in fandom. Like with Nicky being dumb in comparison to every other character, the jokes about his accent. I’m Irish, and the only time I find Irish characters they are either an alcoholic comedic relief, or a terrorist, or occasionally a priest/nun. There are stereotypes based on more things than just race, and they can still be harmful.

I’m so, so sorry you had to listen to that bullshit, anon.

I feel like anglophones seem to focus a lot more on the concept of race and completely dismiss how offensive certain remarks and stereotypes about nationality can be.

Before posting I had to force myself to edit out a paragraph about how I, an Italian currently residing in the States, have been asked way too many times if I’m “part of the mafia” (this usually comes immediately before telling me that I don’t need an education because I could easily find a rich man interested in having an “exotic wife with an exotic accent”) because I don’t like pity-party answers and wanted to focus more on what anon had said without sounding whiny.

The fact that I have also to explain to those people why Italians don’t consider mafiose organizations a good thing is disheartening too, not something that doesn’t make it as bad as other things!

I really like this fandom, its source material, and the hundreds of incredible creators that populate it, but sometimes I get the impression that a lot of people don’t like Nicky at all and only use him to prop Joe up.

Nicky, from what I have seen at the beginning of this fandom and digging through the tags, was often portrayed as this feral, ignorant, illiterate being who didn’t bathe while Joe was more often than not this extremely refined man of exquisite tastes and education. Like... they both are from the Mediterranean area, the historical cradle of universities and higher education, as well as having been raised in areas where cultures mingled because of commerce. Genoa was one of the most important cities for the production of soap too, during the Middle Ages!

I don’t know, I truly don’t understand why it’s so difficult to understand that other countries had and have problems too, even if US Americans would now categorize their people as being white. The fact that people speak out regarding issues in the representation of the white character doesn’t mean in any way that the issues regarding the representation and stereotypification of the MENA one are being taken less seriously or are being pushed to the side.

[good-omens-classic]

Hi Good Omens fans, ever since making this blog, and trawling through the archives for old art, I have been thinking again about trends from before the TV-show, and the way people draw Aziraphale and Crowley.  I wanted to make this post addressing it but this is not “discourse” or to start a fight, in fact I would be perfectly content if all I did was make people think critically about what I am about to say and not even interact with this post at all, but I feel like I need to say it.

Talking about any racist undertones to the way people draw our two favorite boys usually makes people dig their heels in pretty fast.  This is not a callout post for any artist in particular, this is not me trying to be overly critical of artists especially since they have more talent and skill than I do, and I’m going to address some common counterpoints that I frankly find unsatisfactory.  Let’s just take a moment to set aside our defensiveness and think objectively about these trends.  It took me a while to unlearn my dismissive attitude about these concerns so maybe I can help others get over that hurdle a little faster.  Now let’s begin.

I’ve been kicking around the Good Omens fandom since maybe 2015 and for art based in book canon, whether it was made before the TV show came out, or because the artist is consciously drawing different, original designs, I’m going to estimate that a decent 75% of all fanart looks like this

Aziraphale is white and blonde and blue-eyed while Crowley is the typical “racially ambiguous” brown skin tone it’s become so popular to draw podcast characters as nowadays.

And the question is why?  With the obvious answer being “it’s racist,” but let’s delve a little deeper than that.

A common thing I hear is that people get appearance headcanons fixed in their mind because the coverart of the book pictures the characters a certain way.  My first point is this only shifts the question to why the illustrators drew them that way, when there aren’t many physical descriptions in the book.  My second point is that while there definitely are cover arts that picture Aziraphale as cherubic, blonde, and white and Crowley as swarthy, dark-skinned, and racially ambiguous...

(side note: why is Crowley’s hand so tiny?  what the hell is going on in this cover?)

It’s much more common for the covers to simplified, stylized, and without any particular unambiguous skin tones

I don’t know about the UK but the most popular version in the United States is the dual black and white matching covers

And while you could make an argument that the shading on Crowley’s face could suggest a darker skintone, it seems obvious to me that lacking any color these are not supposed to suggest any particular race for either of these two, and the contrasting colors are a stylistic choice to emphasize how they are on opposite sides.  If anything, to me it suggests they are both white.

In short I simply do not buy the argument that people are drawing Aziraphale and Crowley this way because that’s how they were represented on the cover art of the book.  If you draw them the way they are on the cover then whatever, I don’t care, but I don’t believe that’s what’s driving this trend.

The second thing people will say is that Good Omens is a work of satire, and it’s based in Christian mythology which has this trend of depicting angels as white, and it is embodying the trope of a “white, cherubic angel” paired with a dark-skinned demon for the explicit purpose of subverting the trope of “white angel is good, dark demon is bad” since Aziraphale is not an unambiguous hero and Crowley is not a villain.  “It’s not actually like that because Crowley isn’t a bad demon, and Aziraphale isn’t actually a perfect angel” is the argument.  This has a certain logic to it and allows some nuance to the topic, but to this I say:

Uncritically reproducing a trope, even in the context of a satire novel, is not enough to subvert it.  Good Omens is not criticising the racist history of the church, and while the book does have some pointed jabs at white British culture (such as Madam Tracy conning gullible Brits with an unbelievably ignorant stereotype of a Native American) it is not being critical of the conception of angels as white and blonde or the literal demonization of non-white people.  That’s just not what the book is about.  So making the angel white and the demon dark-skinned, playing directly into harmful tropes and stereotypes, is not somehow subversive or counter-cultural when doing so doesn’t say anything about anything.

Please consider fully the ramifications of the conception of white and blonde people as innocent and cherubic and dark-skinned people as infernal and mischievous, especially in modern contexts...

Black people are more likely to be viewed as violent, angry, and dangerous.  Priming with a dark-skinned face makes people more likely to mistake a tool for a gun.  Black people are viewed as experiencing pain less intensely by medical professionals.  Black men are viewed as physically larger and more imposing than they actually are.  The subconscious racial bias favoring light skin is so ingrained it’s measurable by objective scientific studies, on top of the anecdotal evidence of things like news stories choosing flattering, “cherubic” pictures of white and blond criminals while using unflattering mugshots for non-white offenders.

This is why I say that if you’re going to invoke the “whites are angelic” trope, you better have a damn good subversion of it to justify it, because this idea causes real harm to real people in the real world.  And Aziraphale being a bit of a bastard despite being an angel, I just don’t see that as sufficient.  I am especially cautious of when it’s my fellow white fans that make this argument, not because I believe they do this out of any sort of malice or hatred of people with dark skin, but because I know first-hand it stems from a dismissiveness rooted in not wanting to think about it for too long because it makes us uncomfortable.  Non-white people do not have the luxury of not thinking about it, because it’s part of their life.

Now the strongest textual evidence people use, in the absence of much real descriptor, is this:

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong; Heaven is not in England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort" 

This piece of art has circulated in the fandom for so long I don’t know the original artist and it’s been used for everything from fancovers to perfume.  This is where I found it and it’s one of the first things that come up when you google this quote about Aziraphale.  

Doesn’t it just feel like this is the man that’s describing, some blonde effeminate gay man?  Well guess what, there’s the “blonde as innocence” trope rearing its ugly head again, because the stereotype of gay men and effeminacy as being a white and blonde thing is--ding ding ding you guessed it--racism.  And why would intelligent suggest a white and blonde person, except if the stereotype of a dark-skinned person is less intelligent?

Now the point of “people assume Aziraphale is British” is another sticking point people will often use, claiming that the stereotype of a British person is white and blonde.  I guess this has some merit, since the British empire was one of the biggest forces behind white colonial expansion, and it seems disingenuous to assign “British” as “nonwhite” as soon as we’re being satirical, in the same way I found it distasteful that the TV show made God female when so many of the criticisms of the church are about its misogyny and lose their teeth as soon as God is no longer male.

However consider that 1.4 million Indian people live in the UK.  I heard a man say aloud once that the concept of a black person having a British accent was a little funny, as though Doctor Who doesn’t exist and have black people on it.  And I’m not overly familiar with the social landscape of the UK, but I understand they’re experiencing a xenophobia boom and non-white Brits aren’t considered “really British.”  The stereotype of non-white people not being British only exists because of reinforcement in media.  If you really want to be subversive, drawing Aziraphale as Indian goes way further than drawing him as white IMO.

Now let’s talk about Crowley.  He is almost always drawn with a darker skin tone than Aziraphale, even when they are both white, and while I’ve outlined above how this is problematic on terms of linking light skin with innocence, I think it does have an extra layer.  I think it also has to do with the exotification and fetishization of brown skin and non-white people.

This artist’s tumblr is gone now but their art is still on dA and while it’s definitely beautiful and well-done, I think this is a very good example of what I’m talking about.

Crowley and Aziraphale necessarily contrast each other, so describing Aziraphale as “British” might suggest that Crowley is “foreign-looking.”  I also know *ahem* that the fandom generally thirsts over Crowley to hell and back, so making him a swarthy, tall dark and handsome is not necessarily surprising.

An interesting thing happened when the TV show came out, and everyone started drawing Michael Sheen!Aziraphale and David Tennant!Crowley more and more often:  It’s not ubiquitous, but it does happen that sometimes artists will draw David Tennant’s skin darker than it actually is.  The subconscious urge to see Crowley with dark skin is for some reason that strong for many people.  And I really encourage people doing this to think about why.  Not naming any names but I’ve working with fanartists before for collabs who I had to ask to lighten “bad guy” demon’s skin tones because it looked like they were making the skin darker on purpose to make them look scarier.  This person is a perfectly pleasant person who tries not to be racist!  And we both still fell into it accidentally, and it took me a while to notice and point it out, because the ingrained stigmatization of darker skin is pervasive yet often goes unnoticed.

What is the solution?  I don’t know, and as a white person I’m not really qualified to make that call.  Do we draw them both with the exact same skin tone?  Is it better to make them both white?  Should we make both of them non-white?  Should we only make Aziraphale non-white?  I am consciously aware of the fact that the Good Omens fandom is mostly white people, so most of the art we make is being both made by and consumed by white people, so I don’t feel comfortable saying “draw these characters of color specifically” because that can also veer into fetishization territory very quickly.  This is not specific to good omens but I think we should pay attention to what fans of color say in all fandom spaces and weigh our choices even if they seem insignificant.  And it’s important to realize that fans of color will not be a monolith in their opinion either, and it’s our responsibility to recognize that everyone can be affected by racism and social issues differently, the same way all women are affected by misogyny differently so just because one woman says such as such is misogynistic and another says it’s not.  I’m sure there are non-white fans who think it’s perfectly fine to draw Aziraphale as white and Crowley as ambiguously non-white.  I’m not saying they’re wrong.  And I’m not saying you can’t reblog this kind of art, or that people who make or made it should feel bad about themselves.  But so often this sort of thing goes unaddressed just because people don’t like thinking about it, and well, avoiding hard questions never really goes well I think.

[violethowler]

Mixed Signals

As we near the end of this series of essays, I’d like to take the time to talk about something that I’ve been wanting to discuss in relation to the Kingdom Hearts series for a while. I briefly mentioned it in my previous essays but never went into detail because I figured some corners of the fandom would be unreceptive to discussion if I brought it up. But given how many times I have seen Kingdom Hearts fans praise this series for its lack of negative male stereotypes, I think it worthwhile to explore how the series handles gender norms in relation to the Heroine’s Journey. 

Maureen Murdock developed her template while working as a therapist with women in their 30s who had pursued careers in heavily male-dominated fields only to find themselves feeling burnt out and unfulfilled once they achieved their goals. A significant part of her inspiration for the Heroine’s Journey came from her patients describing how they had set out trying to achieve success in these environments by emulating the men in their life such as their fathers, while pushing away the influence of their mothers[1]. As such, deep down the themes of the Heroine’s Journey reflect on the struggles of someone who doesn’t meet the ideals of what society tells them a person of their gender is supposed to be and critique those gender norms. 

On a meta level, Kingdom Hearts represents a fusion of cultures, made from a collaboration between an American and a Japanese company. While there are a few places where the two cultures overlap in terms of gender norms, it isn’t a 1:1 comparison. Therefore, the gender norms of both cultures should be taken into account when analyzing how the portrayal of the two leads in Kingdom Hearts aligns with the critique of gender roles presented by the Heroine’s Journey. 

In terms of Japanese cultural norms, Sora’s emotional openness, compassion, optimism, and ability to easily form connections with others are fairly standard for male protagonists in Shonen stories[2]. However, following the first game in the series, the narrative begins to deconstruct this archetype over the course of Sora’s character arc. From KH2 onward we see him use his cheerfulness and optimism to hide his own insecurities and self-doubt. Our first introduction to his life on Destiny Islands depicts him competing with Riku in physical challenges, while the other kids talk about how much stronger than him Riku is, setting him up for a disproportionate focus on physical ability over emotional. This leads him to believe that he has no strength on his own and must rely on the power of his friends in order to be worthy of recognition and praise. 

Related to Sora’s insecurities about his own strength, one archetype found in both Japanese and American culture is that of the masculine protector. The idea that a man must be ready and able to physically defend the people he cares about from harm, often to the point of self-sacrifice. In fiction, this trope is most frequently employed with a character’s friends, siblings, or romantic partner. The gender of the protectee can vary depending on the story and their relation to the protagonist, but male heroes protecting female love interests is one of the most common ways I’ve seen this trope be expressed. 

Failure to uphold this ideal is commonly used as a source of angst for the male protagonist. Heroes who fit this mould are known to brood heavily if harm comes to their loved ones that they are unable to protect them from, and in some stories may be ridiculed or shamed by others around them. There are also variations where the hero’s inability to protect them is used as a source of angst for the protectee in addition to the main character. Common in stories where the one being protected is a friend, sibling, or love interest, some narratives will have the protectee react to the hero’s inability to protect them by deciding to “toughen up” so that they don’t need protection. 

As mentioned in my first essay, the protagonist of a Heroine’s Journey and their Animus are frequently depicted as two sides of the same coin, with shared core character traits that manifest in contrasting ways because of their different circumstances. At the start of the Kingdom Hearts series, both Sora and Riku have built their sense of self-worth around their ability to live up to this idealized protector archetype. Their insecurities stem from their perceived failure to adhere to that role, with each of them coming at it from a different direction. 

Being the older of the two, Riku is presented as physically stronger than Sora, something which the other kids on Destiny Islands make note of in the first game. Tidus talking about how, despite getting stronger, Sora is “still no match for Riku[3]” and that Kairi “can always count on him(Riku)[3]” frames Sora’s insecurity about wanting to be on equal footing with his Animus as being rooted in his perceived inability to fulfill social expectations.  

When they meet again in Traverse Town, Riku’s first on-screen reaction to how Sora has changed since they last saw each other is surprise and confusion at Sora being able to defeat threats like the Heartless on his own, indicating that the root of Riku’s insecurities - which Maleficent of course exploits - is his belief that the value Sora places on their bond is conditional on Riku being needed as a protector. If Sora can fill that role himself, then what purpose does Riku have? 

In keeping with how protagonists are usually depicted fulfilling this role to the point of self-sacrifice, Sora and Riku have both shown a tendency towards throwing themselves in front of an enemy attack to protect someone they care about, such as when Riku leaps in front of Xemnas’s aerial blade to defend Sora in the final boss fight of Kingdom Hearts II, or when Sora puts himself between Kairi and Terranort. Xigbar even comments on this tendency when he talks about how he doesn’t admire “one guy leaping into danger if it means someone else might have to jump in to save him.[4]” 

From the western perspective, one of the things that many English-speaking fans have praised the series for is its avoidance of negative stereotypes in the writing of its male characters. A common cultural attitude in the United States holds that a man must always be stoic and aloof with everyone but his romantic partner. That a man who is open with his emotions, especially if it involves crying, is weak and unmanly. That engaging in activities that society associates with women and femininity makes one less of a man. 

But Kingdom Hearts, from the point of view of western fans, rejects all of that. The writing of the series allows its male characters to express the full range and depth of their emotions and not once does the narrative ever frame them as weak or pathetic for it. None of the male leads are ever made fun of for crying or expressing vulnerability, and they never reject doing something simply for being “girly”. Not only that, but the arc being set up for Sora to learn to acknowledge and work through his insecurities and self doubts instead of hiding them as an allegory works as a direct rebuke of the idea that showing emotional vulnerability is somehow unmanly. 

On another layer, Sora’s arc can also be seen as a critique of the Japanese concept of Honne and tatemae. Tatemae (literal meaning: “built in front” or “facade”) is the behavior and attitude one presents to the public that conforms to the expectations of society in addition to the individual’s station and circumstances, while Honne (literal meaning: “true sound”) represents a person’s true opinions, which are kept hidden except from close friends and may or may not match their tatemae[5]. This can sometimes be used on a more interpersonal level to evade confrontation and avoid hurting others’ feelings, such as when someone says “we should hang out sometime” with no intention of doing but not wanting to hurt the other person’s feelings by admitting that they aren’t interested. 

The idea of keeping one’s true feelings separate from what one says in public fits with how characters in the Kingdom Hearts universe have been shown to hide their own inner darkness and in some cases deny that it’s there, which Xehanort took note of in his conversation with the Master of Masters in Re:Mind. We also have Donald and Goofy’s talk in the beginning about how the Gummi Ship “runs on happy faces[3]” instilling in Sora - despite their good intentions - the idea that his negative feelings about the destruction of his home are a burden to the trio’s ability to complete their mission. As a result, Sora continues to downplay his own sadness and other similar emotions across subsequent games. As a contrast to this, Esmeralda tells Riku in Dream Drop Distance that everyone keeps things locked inside sometimes and that it’s okay to keep some things separate from the world at large until they’ve had time to figure out their feelings for themselves. In this context, the version of tatemae that Donald and Goofy present ultimately causes more damage in the long run, while Esmeralda offers a healthier model of the concept. 

So from a Japanese perspective, the Kingdom Hearts story is deconstructing two common archetypes found in coming of age narratives aimed at pre-teen and teenage boys and at the same time offering a critique of a common cultural attitude about individual expression. Meanwhile from a western perspective, the series defies conventional norms of masculinity and male characters in fiction while also critiquing elements of those views at the same time. 

Both of these are perfectly in tune with how the Heroine’s Journey structure provides social commentary on gender and cultural norms.

The fact that the series challenges the audience's perception of gendered narrative archetypes and social norms from multiple perspectives is also reflected in how it mixes the symbolism associated with its two lead characters. For example, the series repeatedly presents canon Disney Princess romances as parallels to Sora and Riku, but which of the two corresponds to the Disney Prince and which one is the Princess varies from one game to the next: 

Sora acknowledges in the first game that like Ariel, he wants to explore the outside world. The same game also presents Ursula tricking Ariel into helping her as a parallel to Maleficent’s manipulation of Riku. 

Kingdom Hearts I presents the Beast as a parallel to Sora through their shared refusal to give up after being laid low by Riku upon their arrival at Hollow Bastion. Meanwhile in Kingdom Hearts II, the Beast is presented as a parallel to Riku, as mentioned in my previous essay. 

The first game parallels Sora to Aladdin through similar shots of the two calling out for Riku and Jasmine respectively as they are forced to flee the location of a boss fight (the Cave of Wonders for Aladdin, Monstro’s stomach for Sora). Kingdom Hearts II uses Aladdin avoiding Jasmine at the start of Sora’s first visit to Agrabah to parallel Riku avoiding Sora throughout KH2 as a whole. 

While not considered an *official* Disney Prince (he’s still unofficially marketed as one), Kingdom Hearts III connects Hercules diving into the River Styx to save Megara’s soul with Riku’s sacrifice for Sora at the Keyblade Graveyard. Meanwhile in KH2, Hercules’s attempts to hide how exhausted he is trying to meet everyone’s expectations greatly resembles Sora hiding his doubts and insecurities. 

The fluidity of which one corresponds to the Disney Prince and which one is the Princess in these parallels also carries over to other narrative symbols. In visual mediums, the protagonist and Animus of a Heroine’s Journey are frequently depicted with a Yin and Yang motif - light and dark in balance with each other. In visual depictions of the concept of Yin and Yang, Yin is the black side - representing darkness and associated with femininity - while Yang is the white side - representing light and associated with masculinity[6]. Visual depictions of Yin and Yang use the Moon to symbolize Yin and the sun to represent Yang. Many visuals include an opposite color dot in the middle of each side, representing how the two forces balance each other out - there is darkness within light and light within darkness, so to speak. 

The depiction of Yin as darkness with an inner light aligns with Riku’s character arc over the course of the series, but Sora is the one associated with moon imagery. Meanwhile, Yang being the light with a bit of darkness inside matches how Sora is on the path toward learning to acknowledge the darkness in his own heart, but Riku, who walks the “Road to Dawn[7].” is the one visually connected to the sun. Even in other pairs that have narrative parallels to Sora and Riku, the Yin-Yang motif differs from conventional depictions. Instead of the typical male Yang and female Yin, Yozora and Nameless star’s Yin-Yang motif has the gendered colors reversed. Nameless star is dressed all in white with dark hair, while Yozora wears dark clothes and has lighter hair. 

This kind of fluidity in terms of symbolism and narrative parallels is perfect for a Heroine’s Journey. Many stories that follow the formula symbolically associate the male love interest with the archetypal damsel in distress, with the female protagonist being cast as the knight in shining armor heroically storming the castle in order to free them. But in the context of a Heroine’s Journey that is setting up a same-gender romance with two male leads, it adds an additional layer of meaning: 

A well known stereotype involving same-sex couples is that their roles in the relationship will be exactly the same as the roles that society associates with an opposite-sex pair, with one always corresponding to the “female” role and the other to the “male” one. The Uke/Seme trope common in fanfiction from the early 2000s is a notable example of this. By presenting a romantic relationship between two male leads where the symbolism and narrative parallels are framed in a way that depicts the implied gender roles as constantly being in flux, the narrative sends a message that people are too complicated and flexible for every romantic relationship to fit into the same rigidly defined roles.

In conclusion, the depiction of Sora and Riku both as individuals and as a developing romantic relationship is consistent with how the Heroine’s Journey challenges gender and cultural norms from the perspective of two different cultures. By following this narrative framework, the Kingdom Hearts series deconstructs gendered narrative archetypes from both Japan and the United States, reflecting its origins as a crossover between franchises popular in each country. 

Sources:

[1] The Heroine’s Journey; Maureen Murdock; 1990. 

[2] TV Tropes; Stock Shonen Hero; https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockShonenHero

[3] Kingdom Hearts; Square Enix; 2002. 

[4] Kingdom Hearts III; Square Enix; 2019. 

[5] Wikipedia - Honne and tatemae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honne_and_tatemae

[6] Wikipedia; Yin and Yang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

[7] Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories; Square Enix; 2004. 

[collaborationandresearchproposal]

Wednesday 5th, Research proposal: First Draft

Title

Evil Kweens: A Queer Look At The History Of Villains And Monsters In Animation And Film

 Report type

Extended essay

 Proposed table of contents

 The Hays Code

 -       Guidelines are technically voluntary, in practice the major Hollywood audios used the Hays Code guidelines as convince the means of staving off pressure groups

 -       Directly influenced the content of almost every American film made between 1930 and 1966

 Queer-coding and Queer-baiting with focus on Disney and modern media

 -       both are issues for the LGBTQIA+ community as they seek to capitalize on these marginalized groups

 -       Queer-baiting: portraying an obviously queer relationships with the use of cues and subtext without acknowledging it or perhaps even gas lighting it.

 -       Queer-coding: writing a character with queer stereotypes as a form of representation without explicitly acknowledging that the character is queer.

Queer-coding isn’t always bad. It’s all about the creators’ intentions.

Queer-baiting however is pretty much always harmful.

-       Disney villains

 Lycanthropy and other monstrous subtext/ parallels. Allegory or myth?

-       talk about werewolf’s (Teen Wolf, Harry Potter, Buffy)

-       Frankenstein (Mary Shelly, Rocky Horror Picture Show,

 Question

 Is representation of LGBT individuals in animation and other forms of entertaining media good for the community or just a way for corporate big wigs to swindle money from hopeful queer people who would pay to see at least one shred of a character who is like them?

 Limitations

-       it may be hard for me to stay objective given that I’m in the LGBT community myself

 -       risk of outdated sources and temporal context problems. A project of its time will certainly play a part but more importantly the LGBT community is quite fickle it changes a lot as new identities and constructs get introduced so it may be hard to find a viable source.

 Background

The Hays code was published in 1930 and was based on three general principles:

 -       no picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.

 -       correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama entertainment, shall be presented.

 -       Law, natural or human, shall not be included, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

 These were developed in a series of rules grouped under the self-explanatory headings Crimes Against The Law, Sex, Vulgarity, Obscenity, Profanity, Costume Dances (I.e. suggestive movements), Religion, Locations (I.e. the bedroom) National Feelings, Titles and Repellent Subjects''  (extremely graphic violence)

 Typical features of queer- coded characters

 -       high cheekbones

 -       thin bodies

 -       feminine beauty

 -       dramatic of voice and actions

 -       male characters may talk or sing in falsetto or have camp ness to their voice and a female character will most likely have a deeper voice (Maleficent, Evil Queen, Ursula- who is actually based on a drag queen)

 -       these characters may also drag out their words and walk about at though slinking (Scar, the Lion King)

 Examples or queer-baiting

-       Myka Bearing and H.G. Wells (Warehouse13, SYFY)

Warehouse13 took a hit in ratings after its fourth season, meaning its fifth only had 6 episodes. It seemed to queer fans in particular that Myka and HG had a blossoming romance. It was even confirmed in the last episode that HG is indeed Bisexual but also in the last episode, Myka ends up with series long partner who at many points has been akin to the brother she never had. Their relationship was definitely flirtatious and I'm not saying that closing out the electric romantic arc between them would have saved the show, it was cancelled anyway, but It would have been nice since the interactions that HG and Myka had were actually what pushed fans to secure the final season. However you can’t be too mad as the show does have probably one of the best portrayals of a gay character on tv.

 -       Sherlock and John Watson ( Sherlock, BBC)

 -       Captain America and Bucky Barnes (MCU)

 -       Spock and Kirk ( Star Trek, NBC)

 -       Emma and Regina (Ounce Upon A Time, ABC)

 -       Stiles and Derek ‘Sterek’ (Teen Wolf, MTV)

 -       Merlin and Arthur ‘Merthur’ (Merlin, BBC)

 -       Dean and Castiel (Supernatural, ABC)

 Lycanthropy

-       seems to be synonymous with the homosexuality- parallels between teen Wolf and Buffy the vampire slayer’s respective coming out scenes

 -       the Queer-ness of Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter Franchise- J.K Rowling has admitted that Lupin’s Lycanthropy is a metaphor for AIDS/ HIV but has further dismissed fans’ theories that Lupin is Queer.

 -       Homophobia and HIV- homophobia acts as a major barrier to ending the AIDS crisis and at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, gay men were so my led out to receive abuse as many believed they were responsible for transmitting the disease.

 Overall aims

 -       explore the impact of queer-baiting on queer communities

 -       investigate true intentions behind the Hays Code

 -       Make people aware of what’s good representation and what’s bad representation.

 Research methods

 I plan to use relevant books and articles. I will also be looking to Disney films from the Disney renaissance era and looking into monster stories such as the Wolfman and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein's Monster, paying close attention to subtext and possible parallels as well as comparing them with more modern sources such as Harry Potter and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 These are appropriate methods of research because they will allow me to get others’ perspectives on the topic and allow me to analyze the villains and monsters in detail and give me visual material to talk about deeply.

 Potential outcomes

 -       The research will be helpful for me because it will allow me to increase my awareness on a subject that I am already passionate about and interested in.

 -       in a wider context this may help more people to understand the meaning and history behind the characteristics of their favorite villain and any possible subtext that may be lurking beneath them.

 -       educate those that are unaware or the issues queer-baiting and queer-coding pose.

 Timeline

Bibliography

Brooke, M. The Hays Code the moral code that governed mid-20th  century American filmmaking. Available at http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592022/ (Accessed: 16 March 2021)

 Cheng, Z. (2020) Queer-Baiting: What Is It and Why Is It Harmful to The LGBT Community?

Available at:https://hypebae.com/2020/6/queer-baiting-what-is-it-why-harmful-lgbtq-community-tv-shows (Accessed: 16 March 2021)

 Elliott, J. (2016) Becoming the Monster: Queer Monstrosity and the Reclemation of the Warewolf in Slash Fandom. Dissertation. University of Florida. Available at: file:///C:/Users/me202/Downloads/Becoming_The_Monster_Queer_Monstrosity_a.pdf (Accessed 16 March 2021)

 Ennis, T. (2020) The Strange, Difficult History of Queer Coding.Available at: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-strange-difficult-history-of-queer-coding (Accessed: 16 March 2021)

  Hays, H, W. (1931) Online. United States: Production Code Administration, Appendix 1

  Hutton, Z. (2018) Queering The Clown Prince of Crime: A Look at Queer Stereyotypes as Signifiers In DC Comics’ “The Joker” FIU Electonic Theses and Dissertations. 3702. Availale at https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3702/ (Accessed: 16 March 2021)

 McLeod, Dion, S. (2016) Unmaksing the Quillan: Queerness and Villiany in Animated Disney Films. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of the Arts, English and Media, University of Wollongong. Available at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/4802/ (Accessed 16 March 2021)

 Smith, M. (2015) Making Things Perfectly Queer: Art’s Use Of Craft To Signify LGBT Identities.The University of Brighton. Available at: https://cris.brighton.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/4754843/Complete+E+Dissertation+Jan+2016.pdf  (Accessed: 16 March 2021)

[moonshadow-memes]

don’t be sorry, be better

hi i’m moonshadow memes and i’m just as sad and disappointed as the rest of you. i usually don’t post about stressful meta like this because it’s upsetting and there’s very little we can do about it as viewers. however, i have a lot of young followers, some of which are passionate fandom friends who are anxious about it, and are having trouble processing how to deal with the news. 

the brave ladies who spoke out (and those who didn’t feel safe to, and those who still work there) have every right to expose the injustice they face in any workplace. especially in the cut-throat Hollywood industries where people are routinely pressured to perform at the cost of their own well being. it is highly competitive with a strict hierarchy based on gender and who has the better industry connections. it needs a serious looking into. (i get the impression that this push for better management attitude is the main reason this is happening, as the people involved made it clear they don’t wish for the show itself to suffer)

i’m not going to take sides or ask for proof from either party, that should be discussed with their lawyers and in safer environments than the troll-infested social media platforms. any public response they publish may be used against them, or hurt their chances of finding future employment, so please don’t try to have either side give statements or explain things to fans.

if there’s something we can do to help, we should wait for them to feel safe to talk about it and then spread the word, or we can ask them in private how to best help their cause without putting them (or current employees) in danger.

i will not be bycotting the show. the animators, the voice actors, the character modelers, the interns, the junior writers, the guy who mops the floors; they deserve success. we’ve seen them talk passionately about the show, we personally spoke to some of them on panels and on twitter and on discord, they are real people and this is their show just as much as it is the senior writers.

i’m also in favor of not drowning it simply for the fact that the show has upped the standard for children’s animation tenfold: amazing characters, compelling plot, creative world building, no skimpy outfits, no sexualized teenagers, no enforced love drama. even the non-american languages and accents are shown to be beautiful and worthy of admiration.

i don’t want Netflix to cancel something this good in favor of shows that are dumber, full of harmful stereotypes, but evidently easier to advertise to children. 

if you want to stop watching the show, that’s fine, do what feels right for you and what makes you happy. just don’t expect others to do the same, or accuse them of awful things for not making the same decision.

if you want to keep watching the show, that’s fine, i know a lot of fans who would rather not get involved in real-life aspects of a production because it’s an escape from an already stressful life.

if you want to watch the show but not talk about it, or if you need time off to make up your mind, or if you’re still excited and want to disregard all of the scary anxiety-inducing problems, that’s also fine and good and valid and if someone gives you trouble over it send them my way.

as for me, i will watch season3 and post to this blog about it, but only because my netflix sub has already been paid this month and this is the only show i had planned to watch, so i guess this is my last payment. i will not be recommending tdp to others until i know the working conditions have improved.

i made a lot of fantastic friends in the fandom, it took me out of a two-year bout of depression, and i absolutely adore every single person who draws and writes and memes about it on tumblr, you’re all my children and i love you. so no matter what you decide to do, know that the real primal source is the friends we made along the way.  

[notcrypticbutcoy]

[1/2] Hey Lu! This is kind of a strange ask, but I've loved Malec since the books first came out, and have recently been getting into writing for the pairing. My issue is, I don't watch the show, and I don't... really enjoy watching TV, and especially drama (yay social anxiety!), so I have no desire to watch SH. A lot of the Malec stories are from people who watch the show, and while I've read enough to get a gist of the storylines,

[2/2] and I have nothing against Matt or Harry as the characters, I still have a mental image of Malec from the books’ description. I’ve also seen that a lot of people are Opinionated about book descriptions vs show descriptions, and as someone who’s written for both the books and show, do you have any recommendations for how to deal with writing for a strange amalgamation of both?

I don’t know quite why, but I’m really pleased you sent me this ask. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the show, it vastly improved upon many of the books’ issues (of which there were SO MANY) and the exponential growth of the fandom is wonderful. But there seems to be a common misconception that everyone who used to be in the book fandom (people like me!) just, like, blindly loved the books. And that’s not true! At all! In fact, I spent a lot of my time in the book fandom whinging with other people about canon, and analysing its issues, and someone wrote their damn dissertation (? the American equivalent, whatever that is?) on double standards in straight writers’ treatment of LGBT characters in YA fiction, using Alec as their main example. It was iconic.

But I digress. The truth is, to be completely honest with you, I ALWAYS write a strange amalgamation of book and show canon, with a little bit of a “fuck all canons to hell and back” thrown in. I have written my physical descriptions of the characters in line with show canon for the last few years, but that’s just because I haven’t read a SH book for years, so in my head, Alec and Magnus now look like Matt and Harry, not whatever I imagined when reading the books.

So my advice is this: someone will always tell you that your characters in your fic are out of character. Don’t worry about it. Someone will tell you that they simply could not possibly continue to read your fic because Alec had blue eyes. This is a strange squick, imo, but each to their own. I understand that it can be jarring to read a description that contradicts the image in your head. (Leaving a snide comment about it is attention-seeking and looking for a fight. Ignore it.) You’ll see people analysing how Magnus should always be written like THIS, or how Alec should never be written like THIS, and anyone who does is a BAD writer and a TERRIBLE person. Scroll past it.

And sometimes people won’t like your fics for other reasons, and that’s fine! As long as they’re not being rude about it, it really does not bother me if someone decides they don’t like how I write Alec so they stop reading my fics. That’s up to them! I’ve certainly done the same, sometimes.

(A side note: analysing a character’s canon characterisation is completely different and fun and I always love reading that kind of meta! Passive-aggressive subtweets about certain writers who write characters in certain ways is boring and unnecessary. Scroll past it.)

(Although, side note number 2: sometimes people are talking about more important things, like how certain stereotypes in fics can be harmful - e.g. the “tiny Magnus” trope. This is entirely different and is definitely something that you should pay attention to. Critical discussion is good!)

Truthfully, as much as the show differed from the books, Magnus and Alec are, at their core, the same characters. They’re not the same, by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t think they’re quite as different as people sometimes make them out to be. Alec is a bit of a dick and he adores his family and Magnus is pleasantly disarmed by his honesty. Magnus hides his centuries of hurt and vulnerability behind power and sass and beautiful clothes and Alec turns into a disaster gay in his presence. (For example.) Conversely, Magnus is less morally grey in the show. Alec is more confident in the show. (Alec is also OLDER in the show, which I think is relevant. And also segues into a whole other discussion 😬). The show characters are more developed have have more depth to them, I think.

Pick and choose. Write the things that best fit whatever world you’ve thrown the characters into. Write the traits that you find interesting, or fun to write! I’m sad that Magnus lost his sass a bit after season 1 - cue me sometimes writing an overload of Magnus’ snarky comments and flagrant innuendos. Sometimes I want to write some h/c, so everyone gets more angsty and traumatised. Sometimes I need more detail/backstory (particularly true when the show was only a season or two in) so I steal from book canon, or completely make it up. Fics are fics for a reason - canon can be embraced in its entirety or you can ignore the whole damn lot of it, and both are completely valid.

I mean, I’ve never written a particularly in-character Jace or Clary in my entire life, because they annoy me so frequently in canon. (Both canons.) So I cherry-pick the traits I enjoy writing, and toss the rest out of the window.

So, TL;DR:

- I am apparently incapable of answering an ask in a helpful, concise way, lol

- write whatever you enjoy! if it feels authentic and if you’re having fun writing and you’re excited by (or at least interested in) what you’re writing, then people will read it, I promise.

- people will always find something to complain about. you can follow every rule that one half of twitter gives you, and then the other half will go ballistic. there’s no right and wrong. people have opinions on things, and that’s fine! but there are always going to be differing and conflicting opinions, so you can’t please everyone. if you try to, you will drive yourself mad and you’ll stop having fun writing fics. trust me - I’ve been there! just enjoy yourself - that’s what fandom is for!

An important one:

- tag your fics with TMI/SH chronicles and the SH show in the fandom section. that way, if somebody is really determined not to read anything containing any hint of book canon (or show canon) they can avoid it

I hope that helps! Have fun writing!

[rwby-redux]

Preface

RWBY is the breakthrough anime web series created by the late Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth. Originally teased on November 5th, 2012, and officially debuted July 18th, 2013, the series follows the journeys of four young women enrolled in an academy that trains monster-slaying warriors known as Huntsmen. Set in the fictional world of Remnant, the story initially focuses on the surface-level plot of fighting against humanity’s ancient adversary, the ever-present Creatures of Grimm; over time, it becomes apparent that things aren’t what they seem, as the cast slowly begins to connect a string of heists committed by a criminal syndicate with the violent acts of a terrorist cell. The series is aired weekly on Rooster Teeth’s website, with its main arcs spanning 12 – 16 episodes per volume. In the years following the show’s initial release, RWBY has spawned numerous merchandise and related media, including two spin-off shows, multiple side-stories published as mangas, two standalone books, three mobile games, a behind-the-scenes artbook, and OSTs for every volume to date.

As of Volume 7 there are 98 episodes in total with a collective runtime of 18:52:00, or approximately 1,132 minutes, with more episodes and side content underway.

At best, they’re visually interesting; at worst, they’re disappointing.

Let me take a second to backtrack before the lynch mob starts to sharpen its pitchforks. The series deserves much of the praise that it’s gotten. RWBY was the first American-produced anime to be released in Japan (and if you’re a fan of anime, you know how insane those words sound). The 3D models and animation from Volume 4 onward are breathtakingly stunning, and even before the show made the leap from Poser to Maya, the fight sequences managed to be equally creative and entertaining. The show was nominated for and received multiple Streamy Awards, and was awarded Best Animated Series by the International Academy of Web Television. The Volume 1 soundtrack reached number one on iTunes, beating out the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Such is RWBY’s (and Rooster Teeth’s) reputation that it managed to attract the attention of, and later bring on, industry veterans and vocal legends such as Jen Taylor, Josh Grelle, and Aaron Dismuke.

That’s to say nothing of the fandom this franchise has amassed, of kids, teenagers, and young adults alike. RWBY has generated dozens of forums dedicated to fanfiction, fanart, and roleplaying. Thousands of people the world over have bonded over this show, fans from all walks of life. They’re passionate about this series. The fact that I’m writing this post is a testimony of that. If I didn’t care about RWBY, I wouldn’t be sitting on my couch at 3 AM, hunched over my laptop in my pajamas.

If RWBY is so good (or occasionally threatens to become good), you might be wondering, why, then, does this blog exist?

Well, because…when you stop and look at it critically, it actually kind of sucks.

Despite initially being written by a three-man team, the series is full of inconsistencies and an underdeveloped cast. The characters, especially from Volumes 1 — 3, are full of one-dimensional stereotypes whose contributions to the story amount to a three-word summary: “The School Bully,” “The Wacky Professors,” “The Racist Cop,” “The Cutthroat Bitch,” “The Anime Waifu,” “The Audience Surrogate,” “Discount Elle Woods,” and so on. Fundamental elements of the story, like Aura, Semblance, and Dust, are either poorly-explained or not explained at all, and the limitations of those core concepts can change at a moment’s notice to suit the needs of the plot. The primary antagonist of the first three volumes is universally hated by the fandom for having no discernible motivations beyond being “ambitious and power-hungry,” and having a personality that consists exclusively of irritating smug. The show-writers, despite repeatedly promising queer representation, have failed to make even one of their ten central protagonists queer. This isn’t touching upon the fact that the first openly-gay character on the show was an antagonist, or that the next two were side-characters who were relevant to the plot for all of seven episodes, before vanishing from the story entirely. The two leads that are currently being hyped as our first queer main-cast members have only been repeatedly teased, with said characters never once uttering the words, “I’m bi,” “I date women,” “I’m not straight”—nothing but narrative subtext and playful winks from the VAs whenever a fan asks if they’re queer. Subplots end up having no pay-off or get entirely forgotten mid-volume. The story is so protagonist-biased that the heroes are frequently able to get away with being hypocritical, or committing criminal acts because “it was the right thing to do,” with their POV framed as an infallible “fuck you, got mine” verbal gut-punch to the audience (while other characters in the show, who often make the exact same calls as the heroes, are ridiculed by the show and the fandom). Whenever the story isn’t spray-painting stolen cars and selling them to their original owners, it manages to clumsily handle allegories for real-world issues such as systemic racism, mental illness, abuse dynamics/victim survivorship, and gray morality. The worldbuilding is absent from the main show and has to be supplemented through RWBY’s spin-off series World of Remnant. The story’s setting feels flat and lifeless at times because the “cultures” of this world are never established.

The list goes on and on.

So if this show has so many flaws, why are we still having this conversation?

Because I’m captivated by the untapped potential of this world. When you brush away all of the detritus, you can see the wealth of raw material buried beneath. This is a world where the gods have forsaken their creations, with one having even deliberately created the monsters that hunt humanity. The two characters who are central to the history of this world are tragic figures, one cursed with immortality as a punishment for demanding that the gods revise the first draft, and do away with needless death; and the other, cursed to ceaselessly reincarnate into the minds and bodies of like-minded souls, waging a war of attrition against a person warped beyond recognition by the capricious spite of the gods. This is a world of forgotten magic, of shifting allegiances, of characters embarking on personal journeys and unearthing deadly secrets. It’s a story of people from all walks of life learning to cooperate and work together, forging friendships and alliances in order to face the challenges that lie ahead.

It could easily have the bones of an epic fantasy series as long as it remembers to drink its milk.

RWBY’s issues aren’t insurmountable. Most of them are the byproduct of the series’ blind adherence to “rule of cool,” the motto that practically codified the beginning of the show. From Volume 4 onward, the series took a radical shift in tone that tried to be “more mature,” and only succeeded in making the earlier episodes absurd in hindsight. Why, in Volume 6, are the characters concerned about civilian endangerment, when in Volume 2 they happily pursued a giant mech in a highway car-chase scene that would’ve caused untold collateral damage and civilian death? This change in storytelling created a thematic disparity that reoccurs time and time again, retroactively emphasizing just how inconsistent the worldbuilding and storytelling are.

It tried to be Avatar: The Last Airbender, and what we’re left with instead is Game of Thrones Season 8.

Now, I’m not using this blog as a platform to damn Monty Oum (or claim to be a better creator than him). But it’s important to address the flaws in his story, and to acknowledge that his passing doesn’t make RWBY somehow sacrosanct or immune to constructive criticism. RWBY has flaws, ranging from nitpicky to potentially capable of causing real-world harm (in the case of the aforementioned queerbaiting and racism analogies). I’m a firm believer that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum; art is informed by our beliefs just as much as art informs our beliefs. We can still respect and admire the potential RWBY has to offer, while being mindful of where it needs to improve.

That’s where this blog comes in.

At the end of the day, the RWBY Redux exists as a thought experiment. I’m writing it chiefly to entertain worldbuilding ideas and headcanons I’ve spent years musing on. I’m not asking readers to agree with any of my numerous stances, nor am I going to shy away from other fans’ criticism as I hammer this project out. With a little TLC, perhaps I’ll manage to create something that manages to be more complex than its source material. And if you choose to follow along with my endeavors, hopefully you’ll find this project equal parts engaging and entertaining.

Wish me luck.

[galactichoneybee92]

Thoughts on Isaac and Representation

I don’t have a point- let me just say that now. This also stands to be perhaps my most controversial post, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take in order to get my thoughts out. This will be long and rambling. You have been warned. 

With the release of Sex Education Season 2, fans have been introduced to a character named Isaac, to mixed response. He is Maeve’s new neighbor, a barrier to her relationship with Otis and potentially a new love interest. 

It’s not unusual to introduce a new love interest into a show to prolong the drama and keep the tension will-they-won’t-they romance alive. In season one we Otis in love with Maeve, thwarted by the fact that Maeve was dating Jackson, and that Otis never really believed that Maeve could like him anyway. Resigned with this fact, Otis attempted to move on with Ola who had appeared conviniently around the time that Maeve had realized her feelings for Otis and ended her own relationship. It was all very ships in the night. 

In season two we get a sort of role reversal: This time it’s Otis in the relationship and Maeve left pining, thinking that he could never love her. It makes sense that this would be the time to introduce a new love interest for Maeve, sort of HER Ola, if you will. The difference here is that Ola is sweet and wonderful and Isaac is sketchy AF. 

I hate him, and I’ve made no secret of hating him, because personally I find him sketchy and manipulative.  There are other fans who like them though and ship the two of them. That’s fine; it’s a perfectly valid opinion, and shipping wars have been around as long as fandom. That’s nothing new. There is another issue though...

Isaac is in a wheelchair. 

While that isn’t necessarily a problem in GENERAL, it is something that effects the way his character is handeled, as well as viewer interpretation. It’s my experience that in media, certain characters are usually gifted a sort of “plot armor.” While that term is most commonly directed towards characters who play too pivotal a role in the story to be written off, I find it often also applies to characters who fit into the role of “representation.”

But wait, you might say, that doesn’t sound right. POC and queer characters get killed off all the time. It’s practically a horror movie trope, and “Kill your gays” didn’t come from nowhere. To which I would reply: Exactly. We have all seen it a million times, have raised it as an issue, and I would like to think that as a society we are attempting to move past it. That gay characters are less likely to die because of the attention brought to the “kill your gays” trope.  

It’s my understanding that these common minority tropes originally stem from their initial introduction into media. At first they didn’t have any representation at all, and then gradually they were allowed to be incorporated in media in small ways that didn’t offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities. A very famous example would be the inclusion of African Americans: At first they weren’t in movies at all. Then they were(sort of?) but they were represented by white actors in blackface. Then when black actors were allowed to play their own roles, those roles were harmful stereotypes; You wouldn’t get a black actor playing a heroic lead, but he would be the brutish savage, or the “mammy” character. They were either relegated to minor side charactes, comic relief, or the villain- roles that didn’t challange the views of society. 

There was a similar experience in regards to homosexuality in films, where once gay characters started appearing they were portrayed as sexless comic relief or villinous. The general idea behind it seemed to be that there could be homosexuality in films, but it had to be shows as wrong and corrupt, or destined to end in tragedy. After all, how could anybody in such a relationship possibly be happy? Ridiculous. 

While media  (and society) are still making strides towards diversity and inclusivity, you can’t say that media isn’t in a better place now than it was even ten or twenty years ago. I was born in the 90′s and the amount of difference I see even in the twenty-seven years I’ve been alive is actually a little astounding. I can’t even imagine the difference for people who are older than I. Even just since I graduated highschool (2010) I’ve seen such a huge difference in regards to representation across the board and while we still have a ways to go we are certainly far from where we started. 

But what does any of this have to do with Isaac? He isn’t a POC, he isn’t in any way queer. No, but he is disabled which is another sort of representation and one that doesn’t get as much publicity. As such it is admittedly one that I don’t know as much about, but If I had to guess it’s probably because theres never (to my knowledge) been a big court case about whether or not disabled people deserve rights. It’s never been a hot button issue in a political debate the way that race politics or gay rights have and so I feel like it hasn’t gotten as much attention. Still disability representation is still a topic that comes up in conversation when discussing media.

So what does that have to do with anything? Why was I talking about plot armor? I had a reason, I promise. I’ve found that due to the problematic history of representation, shows (at least the socially aware ones) have been taking strides to try to avoid falling into the same harmful patterns as their predecessors. Since there was a long history of POC characters being cast as villains, evil characters to be defeated by the white protagonists, there was a stretch of time there where you wouldn’t see a single POC villain at all. It wasn’t quite true equality, but it was an effort to combat the harmful stereotypes that the media had perpetuated for so long.

Eventually we got to a place where it was generally acknowledged that you could have a POC villain as long as they weren’t the ONLY POC in your entire movie. The same goes for people of various gender and sexual identies. You can have a gay antagonist, but it’s impportant to include other gay people who ARENT evil to show that it’s the character that is evil, indepent of his sexuality. This isn’t seen as often however, probably due to the relative novelty of the inclusion of queer characters, which is why my examples for these points are POC characters who have a comparitively longer history of inclusion. That’s not to say that the history has always been positive, just that queer inclusion is a newer development and active disability rep seems even more recent. 

I apologize if I’m phrsasing any of this poorly, but I’m hoping that you’re tracking the main points. Now. I repeat: What does ANY of this have to do with Isaac? 

Isaac is, as of now, the only disabled character in Sex Education. As such, I feel like it’s kind of expected for him to be given “plot armor”, not in regards to being killed off but in his depiction. As the show’s only example of disabled representation, as well as his introduction as a love interest for Maeve, I feel like the expectation is that he would be a protagonist. At the very least he would be a good guy.  And maybe some people think he is? I don’t know, he has his fans, but I’m not one of them. 

This is the part of my post where I stop having a point and just start listing my thoughts.

When I met Isaac I expected to like him and I wonder how much of that stemmed from the fact that he was in a wheelchair and as such I expected that the show wouldn’t possibly portray him in a negative light. Even when he was rude to Maeve in the beginning I was willing to forgive it- I don’t mind my characters being prickly and Lord knows no other character on this show is perfect. And he was handsome, and snarky, which are usually traits that I love and I really REALLY expected to love him. However as the show progressed he just gave me bad vibes. I find him manipulative and untrustworthy.

I’m not going to go into my feelings about Isaac because I’ve already made one very long post duscussing his character, but instead I’d like to discuss his role in the show and how his disability factors into that role.

As I said before, it makes sense that this season would introduce a new love interest for Maeve. It’s not a terribly uncommon formula in shows like these. Considering that Maeve is considered the “bad girl” (even though we all know she’s a cinnamon role that just deserves ALL the love) who has self esteem issues and an inaccurate view of herself, I was honestly surprised that the show gave her such a cute, healthy relationship with Jackson. Were they perfect for each other? I don’t personally think so, but there wasn’t anything inherently problematic in their relationship. Jackson is a legitimately nice guy, I wish him the best and he was a pretty good boyfriend. 

It wouldn’t be unheard of though to see her fall into a more toxic relationship, and while that’s a very strong term that even I am hesitant to use toward Isaac at this point, it does look as if the groundwork might be there for that kind of subplot. It could really go either way at this point- maybe Isaac’s actions are influenced by his own personal insecurity and he would be much nicer once they were in a relationship. Or maybe he would be scared of losing her and things would get worse. It’s not just the fact that he deleted her message in the last episode, but that he’s seemed very manipulative throughout the entire season. 

It seems to me that Isaac fits the stereotype of the abusive boyfriend- He’s handsome and charming, but also very skilled at manipulation. If you watch their relationship, it also falls into a lot of the same patterns as romantic comedies. That’s not meant as a compliment however, a lot of romantic comedy relationships are built on very questionable foundations. The leading men do a variety of unethical things, but are forgiven on behalf of being handsome and funny and those actions are forgiven and even romanticized for the sake of the love story. This also reminds me of Maeve and Isaac. How often does he push himself uninvited into her life? How often does he managed to get out of facing the consequences of his actions?

It’s a fairly common trope tbh, and the only thing that isn’t common is that he’s also physically disabled. Which honestly lead me to doubt whether or not he was being sketchy or not. Like, could I be wrong? I eventually concluded that I don’t think I was, but it leads me to consider the fact of his disability on viewer perception. 

Are viewers more likely to forgive his behavior because his wheelchair paints him in a more sympathetic light? That isn’t to say that everyone who likes him only does so because of the wheelchair - I’m sure some people just legitimately like him- but I wonder how many do? And why? Is it because you feel bad for the character? Or is it because, as our only disabled character, we are programmed to view him as a protagonist? Is his disability part of an effort to be more inclusive, or to subtly subvert our expectations regarding his character? Neither? Both?

If he is indeed going to be an antagonist then that raises further questions in regards to Isaac as disability representation. On the one hand, it’s not like being in a wheelchair automatically makes someone a good person- as with any other demographic of people there are going to be nice guys and assholes.

Is it better that they’re treating him like they would anyone else? Like, he’s just a regular guy who happens to be in a wheelchair, and the guy that he is, is prone to questionable behavior. Is it better that they’re treating him the same as they would any other able bodied character in this role? Or, as their only depiction of a disabled character, should they be portraying him in a more positive light? I personally find him to be very manipulative, and often he uses his disability as a part of his manipulation. Is that just an example of Isaac being opportunistic and using the resources available to him, or is it indicitive of a larger problem with his depiction? 

Have physically disabled people faced the same issues in media as other groups, in that their depictions were historically negative? I’m going to be honest with you here, that’s not a question I know the answer to. I haven’t seen them largely portrayed as villains, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t happened. 

I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, and I won’t until I see where season 3 plans on taking this, but these are the thoughts that have been circling my mind since I finished season 2. Do you agree? Disagree? Did any of this even make sense? 

[knotty-hottie]

@alycat919 So, we haven’t talked before, but your post in the Ouran High School Host Club tag reminded me of my final paper for my Gender/Women Studies and I thought I’d share it. I promise I’m not tagging for drama, but just because I wanted to thank you for reminding me. It was a lot of fun to write a research paper about my first anime, and, despite the negativity I talk about in the paper, it’s still a personal fave of mine. You’re free to scroll past this if you aren’t interested, or to engage if you are. I just want to share the work I’ve done with the fandom I’ve explored. 😁

Ouran High School Host Club: Rich in Benevolent Sexism and Rape Culture

He pinned her against the bed, looming above her like a wild beast. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide, her nightgown bunched, her breath caught in her chest. The two stared at each other, like predator and prey, for a split second that felt like an eternity. He opened his mouth, and spoke, surely, calmly.

“You should fix that, ‘being a guy or girl doesn’t matter’ naivety of yours. It’s your fault for being too defenceless.”

It may sound like something from a badly written smut piece, or the rape fantasy of a young person, but in Ouran High School Host Club, this is the reality of our heroine, Haruhi Fujioka. She is a ‘commoner’ (lower middle class) student at a school for Japan’s most elite, having gotten in on a scholarship. After an incident involving her stumbling into an occupied music room in search of a study place, a vase worth ¥8,000,000 (equal to approximately $73,000 in today’s United States dollars), and some classic anime tropes, she ends up as a member of the school’s host club. The series itself describes the host club as “[The place] where the school’s handsomest boys with too much time on their hands entertain young ladies who also have way too much time on their hands. Just think of it as Ouran’s elegant playground for the super rich and beautiful.” The series is one of the most famous of all time in the anime community, coming in at spot 20 out of the top 50 most popular anime of all time on the Anime News Network. On SBS, Ouran came in at spot 40 on a fan-voted poll for best anime of all time. On Funimation (the anime’s publisher site) and Crunchyroll (one of the most popular anime streaming sites of today’s day and age) Ouran comes in at 5 stars. It’s a well known, well liked piece of media, that has earned itself an anime adaptation from its manga origin, a dating simulator from its anime adaptation, and a live action reboot based on all three of the previous iterations. Yet, somehow, underneath all of the things to like, there’s a dark underbelly that many willfully ignore or are just plain unaware of. The series perpetuates gender roles, rape culture, and some not-so-subtle homophobia. The way that it gets away with these things is by portraying them through the lens of benevolent sexism, which catches readers, watchers, and players alike off-guard.

Benevolent sexism falls under the larger umbrella of ambivalent sexism, which is divided into two main categories. The first category is hostile sexism, which is what most people think of when they try and imagine sexism. It is described by Dictionary.com as, “[sexism] reflecting negative views of women who challenge traditional gender roles.” It is the toxic, hypermasculinized form of sexism that many are taught to look for. It is the comments of, “You aren’t a real woman if your hair is short like that,” and, “Women are dumber than men.” On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the idea of benevolent sexism. Rather than comments of, “Women are weaker than men, making them inferior,” we hear the benevolent sexist say, “Men should protect women, as it’s the right thing to do.” It’s those moments where women are told they look better when they smile, or are in dresses, or have children in arm. The words are complementary and polite, but they hold the same message as those negative comments of the hostile sexist. Ouran works carefully to craft its message so that it doesn’t insult its main fan base (young women), while still getting its message across. For example, there’s the character of Renge Houshakuji.

Renge first appears in the manga in ‘Episode 3’ and in episode 4 of the anime adaptation. She is what is known as an otaku, which, in modern culture, refers to someone obsessed with some aspect of pop culture (whether that be video games, anime, movies, etc.) to the point that their social life suffers. In Japan, the word has become a word similar to our ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’. In American culture, the word is considered derogatory, and usually falls in line with words like ‘weeaboo’ and ‘wapanese’. Renge wholeheartedly accepts her otaku status, locking herself in her room to do what she enjoys most; playing dating sims. After a turn of events, she ends up at the Host Club, believing that she is in love with Kyouya Ootori, a host who looks identical to one of her favorite characters. After she reveals that this is why she likes Kyouya, she is bashed for her hobbies and considered crazy. The moment her hobbies come to light, they are painted as wrong and she is vilified, even though her male counterparts are considered just and right in there own hobbies. When Hani, one of the hosts, is depicted as morally correct for acknowledging that he is allowed to like the color pink and cute things rather than martial arts. Renge is one of the few female characters in the show that is depicted as having personality traits outside of, “infatuated with handsome boys” and “ultra feminine”, yet she is considered “crazy” for expressing those outside traits. It isn’t that she isn’t traditionally feminine, but that she has more to her character than that, much to the dismay of her male counterparts. She has her own hobbies and ideas. She knows exactly what she wants and goes for it. Even if her methods are questionable and a bit on the stereotypically crazy side, she still goes after her aspirations.

When Tamaki, one of the main characters of the show, greets and flirtily welcomes Renge to the club, she flinches away at his nonconsensual touch. She seems shell-shocked, blushing in what seems like embarrassment. After she comes to terms with him touching her face without permission, she slaps him, calling him a phony (among other insults), and leaving him emotionally beaten before going to Kyouya, the one she really wants. She decides to reinvent the Host Club’s characters in order to help Kyouya make more money, which should, she believes, make him fall in love with her the way she loves him. She is shown to get her ‘comeuppance,’ in a sense, when everything she goes for backfires. Kyouya reveals that he does not like her, she nearly ends up hurt, and she is told that she must take her time and learn about others in order to have a good relationship of any kind. When you come into relationships expecting someone to act a certain way, you are harming your chances of a healthy relationship. The message is good, but Renge’s fate is not quite as nice. She becomes a frequent background character, used for exposition, cheap plot device, and/or the voice of the fawning fan girls. The closest we get to her personal hobbies is the fact that she sometimes cosplays and, if we’re lucky, hear her talk about them for five or so seconds.

Another example of women in the show comes in the form of Benio Amakusa and the rest of the Zuka Club. In the third book of the series, specifically in ‘Episode 10’, we are introduced to Benio. She is dressed in the men’s uniform, has short hair, and is openly flirtatious with Haruhi, acknowledging Haruhi’s sex publicly to the Host Club’s dismay. Once Benio and company reveal to the hosts that they are, in fact, women, Tamaki labels them all as lesbians. All three do end up showing attraction of some sort to women, but the fact that he labels them all as such simply because one is shown to enjoy dressing in the men’s uniform and having short hair is a disturbing thought in and of itself. Tamaki sees that one is a lesbian, and begins making assumptions about their collective character based on that assumption. He goes so far as to pass out in shock at the presence of lesbians, and, once he awakens, says the following to the three Lobelia Woman’s Academy members; “You girls are all wrong!! What can come from a woman loving a woman!? Why did God create Adam and Eve, if not--!” He’s cut off before he can finish the thought, much to the LGBT+ community’s pleasure. Much to the community’s displeasure, however, is the imagery used in the anime to depict lesbians as nazis, having them do the nazi salute to a flag labeled “women”. Back to the plot, once he believes that he might lose Haruhi to this all-girl’s academy, he has some of his fellow hosts dress in exaggerated womanly clothing and wigs so that she can have ‘the best of both worlds,’ so to speak. The hosts think that, if they act ‘womanly’ enough, they will be a satisfactory replacement. Haruhi proceeds to explain that she had never even considered going with the girls, as her home was with the hosts. The Lobelia girls promise their revenge in a seemingly silly and typical manner.

In the only other episode that the Lobelia girls show themselves in, we get to see them kidnap Haruhi and, under the guise of needing Haruhi to perform, trick her into a situation that would lead to a non-consensual kiss in front of a large crowd, if not do more to her. When you watch the show, there doesn’t seem to be much going on aside from a silly and ridiculous plan that some rich lesbians are pulling to get revenge on the ‘noble and correct’ Host Club. When you really think about what’s happening though, it’s scary. They kidnap someone. They nearly sexually assault someone. What does it say that there only true gay representation resorts to these tactics when they are previously thwarted? The girls are basically degraded to recurring villains with silly beliefs, antics, and existences. Why is that?

In volume 5 of the manga, ‘Episode 17,’ we get exposed to Ayame Jonouchi, who is entirely skipped over in the anime. She makes a return in the live action series, however, holding her own arc in the third episode of the series. She’s incredibly intelligent, notably attractive, and, according to the hosts, a monotone speaker. They even go so far as to call her, “Miss Morse” and “Morse Code Lady” at one point. She is described as scholarly looking and strait-laced, and holds a major grades complex. The last of those points explains why she has always been in the top two of her classes grading system, holding the second place position hostage directly under the Host Club’s Kyouya Ootori. Once Tamaki transfers to Ouran, however, she gets knocked down to third, much to her displeasure. She becomes a foil for Tamaki in a sense, showing that her struggle and constant practice to gain knowledge will never be enough to beat the natural tendencies of her male counterparts. After checking the traditional genders of all of the names listed on the sheet for her class, I discovered that there was only one other girl on the page. Her position? Seventh place.

Ayame’s tale’s conclusion is a little bit painful to watch, as it is near a cliche at this point. It turns out that she actually loved Tamaki for a certain comment he made about her straight hair during their first meeting. Her hair is naturally wavy, leading to her having self-image issues in the face of her crush that lead her grades to drop just enough for Tamaki to take her spot. Her wavy hair being exposed by the rain, a breakdown of frustration, and a few compliments from Tamaki later, she discovers that she is beautiful no matter how she looks on the outside, and becomes a regular customer of Tamaki’s. She is petite, cisgender, heterosexual, and pale. The only reason we know that she continues attending the Host Club is because it is literally written into the final panels of the chapter. We never actually see her again in either rendition of the story.

The most famous ‘woman’ in all renditions of Ouran High School Host Club is Haruhi Fujioka. She is a first semester high school student. She is of the lower middle class. She lives with her father that, in every rendition of the story, is called a ‘tranny’ who works at the local ‘tranny bar’ (rather than addressing him as a drag queen at a drag bar). Her mother was a lawyer before her passing. She is attending Ouran Academy on a scholarship. Her hair is short, she needs glasses, and she can’t afford a uniform. She wears her father’s hand-me-down clothes and her grandfather’s hand-me-down glasses to save money. She’s blunt, book smart, and open minded. She’s a lot of things, but, somehow, she gets some of the worst treatment of the series. She is the reader’s insight into the author’s world; the character being exposed for expositional purposes, so to speak. For the sake of brevity, let’s walk through some key episodes of the anime (which is the story’s most well-known adaptation) and talk about what goes wrong in each one.

In the first episode of the series, “Starting Today, You Are a Host!”, we are introduced to Haruhi Fujioka, the protagonist of the story, who is simply looking for a quiet place to study, and, by mistake, stumbles across a club room in use by Ouran Academy’s Host Club. The members (specifically Tamaki, the series’ largest offender) proceed to insult Haruhi on monetary grounds, insert themselves into her personal space, and assume her gender identity and sexuality. After Haruhi drops an 8 million yen vase, the hosts (again, primarily Tamaki) begin to call Haruhi a dog and basically use her as a servant/errand runner. At one point, Tamaki calls Haruhi a ‘piglet’ in reference to her poor ‘servant’ status putting her beneath him. Later in the episode, Haruhi is revealed to be conventionally attractive, her wants are ignored as the hosts makeover her. Her hair is cut, a uniform is bought, and contacts are put in to make her fit the traditionally beauty standards of manhood (as, for the moment, some of the hosts are under the ruse that she is, in fact, biologically male and cisgender). Once this happens, all who attend the host club seem to treat Haruhi better. She is talked to by girls (which, many argue, is understandable, as she is now a host. My counter-argument is that the girls had to request Haruhi in the first place, something they likely would not have done before Haruhi’s involuntary makeover) and the hosts begin paying her real attention. Tamaki begins claiming Haruhi as ‘his own’ to other people, signalling that, to him, attractiveness is the primary trait that is needed to be on the same level as him, personality be damned. He also proceeds to invade her personal space without consent, which leads to her calling on Mori (another host) for assistance.

Once we hit the final moments of the episode, we find that Haruhi has gone to a changing room as her uniform has been soaked in the events of the episode’s climax. Tamaki, yet again invading personal space without consent, walks in with little to no warning on Haruhi changing, discovering her sex is female. He is shocked and embarrassed, reacting in a seemingly cute way to the discovery. Kyouya eventually comments on the predicament, laying out on the table the true message of the episode. “Could this possibly be the beginnings of love?” he asks the viewer, turning to the camera. He wipes over all of the harassment Tamaki has done to Haruhi, ignores what she really wants in the moment, and waters her character down to ‘love interest’. She is the pretty, feminine foil to Tamaki’s handsome, ‘persistent’ (read as; incessant harassment) personality. They are clearly ‘meant to be together,’ and the show makes it clear in that moment that they will be together whether she wants to be or not as the men in her life see it that way.

In the eighth episode, “The Sun, The Sea, and The Host Club!”, we find the most controversial scene of the series. Before we can get to that, however, we need to walk through the circumstances that lead us to it. The Host Club is on a trip to the beach (after all the men in Haruhi’s life argue about which swimsuit she should wear, of course), and the male hosts decide to figure out what Haruhi is afraid of via a game. The game is that whoever finds out what Haruhi is most afraid of gets pictures (taken and supplied by Haruhi’s father) of Haruhi in middle school (the more I rewatch these episodes, the more creepy things I realize are in them). After a long day with no results, Haruhi gets called up upon an overlook by some of the Host Club’s guests. As she makes her way up to spend time with them, some drunk men beat her there and begin harassing the guests. They grab the girls, asking them if it’s dull without any boys around and ignoring the girls’ pleas to stop. Haruhi, arriving upon the scene, throws a bucket of shells at one of the offenders, calmly asking them to go away. She stands her ground when one of them attacks back, allowing for one of the girls they were harassing to get away at her own expense. After some verbal abuse, Haruhi is thrown off the overlook into the water below, where Tamaki immediately goes in after her. The other hosts handle the assaulters, and, once Haruhi is proven to be safe, the berating begins. “Are you one of those?” asks Tamaki. “Actually a martial arts master, like Honey-senpai?” He grabs her, and goes on. “How could you think that you, a girl, by yourself, could do anything about those boys?!” After Haruhi explains that her actions were a split second decision and she didn’t have time to think, he yells at her, “Well, think about it, you idiot! You are a girl!”

Tamaki and the rest of the male hosts seem to be on the same page, insisting that Haruhi needs to apologize for her actions. Haruhi, on the other hand, does not see any wrong in what she did, which leads to some friction between herself and Tamaki. The two refuse to speak to each other until one apologizes to the other. At dinner, to avoid talking, Haruhi overeats to the point of making herself sick, which she notices only after being chastised again by the hosts sans Tamaki and Kyouya for her actions. After they request an apology from her, she finds that she needs to empty her stomach’s contents and runs to the nearest bedroom. She finds out that the room is, in fact, Kyouya’s, and that the two of them are now alone, prompting the series’s most controversial scene. Fans sometimes call it, “The Scene in the Dark.”

Haruhi apologizes to Kyouya on multiple grounds as he takes the time to lay out all the hassle she has caused him. When Haruhi offers to pay him back, he points out that he has far more money than her and that she is already in debt. He turns down the lights as he lays out her dilemma and brings up a new solution as he leers at her; why doesn’t she pay him back using her body? While she stands there, attempting to process what he’s said, Kyouya takes action. He grabs her arm. He throws her upon the bed. He straddles her, pins her to the bed, and tells her, bluntly, “You should rethink your own gullibility, that things have nothing to do with a person being a guy or a girl. You’ve made a mistake in leaving yourself so open.” He looks her in the eye and, in simple terms, lays out that he could take her. He has more money, more power, and, most prominently, a penis. Haruhi says that he is bluffing, and, luckily, he was. He gets off of her, and she comments that he is “nicer than she thought” for the experience he’s provided. Bisco Hatori, the creator of Ouran, drives home her message bluntly. Women are weak and should be protected by the men in their lives. They should be passive and, if they fail to be such, should immediately apologize. If a man decides to not sexually assault or rape you, he is nice. You should be thankful that he has the courtesy to not sexually abuse you. It’s legitimately terrifying that this is the message that is being sent out.

As salt in the wound, the very next scene is with Tamaki and Haruhi, with the latter cast as a scared little girl in the damsel in distress trope. She hides herself in the closet, curled in a ball, as the audience and Tamaki discover that Haruhi is scared of thunderstorms! She explains that she has always had to rely on herself as her mother is dead and her dad is constantly working. In response, Tamaki promises to take care of her from now on, she seems to come to a silent agreement to lean on the men in her life more, and the two have an emotional make up moment. Haruhi gets love and support from her friends again once she begins to lean on the men in her life and accept the help. I’ve seen other people argue that the message of the episode is that everyone needs to rely on others sometimes, which is a fair argument, but I can’t bring myself to agree the more I look at it. If it’s just about relying on others, why is there the scared little girl imagery? Why do they even emphasize Haruhi’s sex at all in this scenario if it’s not about that? Hatori knew what she was writing, and the message she sent out. She had a plethora of other ways to explore this theme, and she wouldn’t have written it this way unless she meant for it to be taken in a gender-biased manner.

I could go on, but I feel that I’ve explained my stance on the matter. Ouran High School Host Club is a classic anime in the anime community. A lot of people I know and that I’ve heard from in my life grew up with the show, and some still seek a romantic partner like one of the hosts. In all of the series’s adaptations, we find that certain themes remain prevalent. Women are meant to be pretty, submissive things that are interested in their male counterparts at all times. If you have your own interests, you are obsessive and crazy. If you like the same sex, you are against men. If you take a leadership position, you’re a nag. If you stand for what you think is right, you are a bother to the men around you. It’s scarily similar to what I’ve seen on social media. If you talk about sex too much, you’re a slut. If you talk about sex too little, you’re a prude. If you are too skinny, you’re on drugs, too fat, you have no impulse control. It seems that there is no ‘right’ woman to possibly be, in the fantasy that is Ouran or in the reality we face daily. We can only hope that, someday in the future, we can look back at Ouran and unanimously see it for what it is; a romanticized sexist daydream disguised as a teenage anime romantic comedy.

Works Cited

2400 (2011). Thoughts: The Merit Scene in Ouran. [online] Midnight Express. Available at: https://2400express.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/merit-scene-ouran/ [Accessed 11 Oct. 2018].

Adler, J. (2015). ‘Ouran High School Host Club’: Haruhi, Heteronormativity, and the Gender Binary | Bitch Flicks. [online] Btchflcks.com. Available at: http://www.btchflcks.com/2015/03/ouran-high-school-host-club-haruhi-heteronormativity-and-the-gender-binary.html#.W6qeFGhKjrc

Darlington, T. (2009). The Queering of Haruhi Fujioka: Cross-Dressing, Camp, and Commoner Culture in <cite> Ouran High School Host Club </cite>. [online] English.ufl.edu. Available at: http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v4_3/darlington/

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[chaj]

via planamag.com

Western reactions to K-pop, the acceptability of racist Asian jokes, and the perceived threat of Asians

Source: Big Hit Entertainment

This is a guest article by EC

Follow EC on Twitter at @ececlulu

The first time K-pop boy group BTS performed in America was on their show, American Hustle Life, where members “worried they wouldn’t find 200 fans to fill the venue” they were tasked to perform at in 2014 (Billboard).

Two days ago, BTS performed live at the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ to millions of viewers and rang in the new year in America. Yet, Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper of CNN chose to comment on how they were “lackluster”:

“I mean…here’s the deal. We gotta get real. We just saw BTS, we think they were phoning it in.” — Andy Cohen (2:06:46 on the countdown here)

All while BTS was still performing on stage.

I wasn’t surprised. Disrespect towards Asian artists isn’t new in the United States. Unfortunately, informed by a history of devaluing and antagonizing Asian work, Western reactions to K-pop haven’t been as accepting as media outlets have made them out to be.

Creator Ethan Klein of H3H3 Productions has never been one to shy away from controversy, especially on Twitter and his H3 Podcast series.

Indeed, when Blackpink came up in “The Most Liked Music Videos” segment of YouTube Rewind 2019, Klein commented:

“I don’t like K-pop, I hate K-pop. I don’t get BTS. They look like — They’re just a bunch of — How did this become a thing in Western culture? Where all these grown men and little girls are jerking off to little k-pop boys. It’s like a little fetish. It’s like a little tw*nk gay fetish about these k-pop boys.” — Ethan Klein, H3 Podcast #164 (25:45–26:10)

#h3h3isoverparty trended on Twitter almost immediately after the episode’s release. K-pop fans criticized how Klein characterized them as “little girls,” emphasizing the diversity of the fandom. Other fans called Klein out for xenophobia and homophobia.

Klein did not take the criticism seriously. In response, he tweeted:

My message to K-pop fans: Lighten up nerds, it you can't handle your hobby being made fun of a little bit then you are really are just a bunch of little girls jerking off to kpop boys.

 — @h3h3productions

To the rest of the world, this may be easily brushed off as just fandom drama. Yet on a deeper level, Klein’s comments reflect troubling stereotypes. His comments add to a history of Western racial humor typecasting, antagonizing, and devaluing Asians — normalized by comics, presenters, and public figures.

We’ve seen it before. 2016, on the Oscars stage: Chris Rock’s tasteless skit involving Asian children, ironically after criticizing the Oscars for lacking diverse representation (Vanity Fair). 2017, from the Chainsmokers: member Alex Pall joking about not bringing his dog to China in a Chinese interview (Mashable). 2018, in a comedy podcast by then-to-be-SNL member Shane Gillis (he got fired for this segment): “Why do the fucking ch*nks live there?” when discussing reasons for disliking Chinatown and Asians (Vox). 2019, in an unaired “America’s Got Talent” segment: Jay Leno’s tired joke about Koreans eating dog meat (NBC). All perpetuate damaging, xenophobic stereotypes about Asians. All portrayed as harmless humor.

There’s a lot to criticize in K-pop. Fancam spamming, cultural appropriation, sex crimes, etc., the list goes on and on. But stereotyping groups and the industry as a whole isn’t productive.

Categorizing something as humor can be extremely effective at perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

After all, the easiest response to someone taking offense is to counter: “it’s just a joke!” It’s an easy way to absolve the speaker of responsibility. Suddenly, it’s the listener’s fault for getting offended; they’re too sensitive, or too slow, or just unable to take a joke.

Now, imagine you’re at a bar. Or in an auditorium. Or at the Oscars. Or wherever you’re among an audience where there’s more than just you listening. I don’t know how many times I’ve kept quiet because everyone else around me is laughing.

Here’s the thing, though: not everything that elicits laughter is a joke.

There are good-natured jokes, and then there’s just plain old mockery.

If we look at racial humor, Yumi Nagashima, for example, incorporates lots of stereotypes about Asian women in her acts. Hasan Minhaj bases material on his Indian family and identity all the time. Misha Han, Joel Kim Booster, and more do similar things. But these comics incorporate stereotypes effectively. Often, their jokes are funny because their punchlines subvert what the audience expects according to their preconceived notions. Or, they attest to a universal experience between them and their audience. Most importantly, their jokes effectively provoke an examination of relevant social dynamics. Take one of Hasan Minhaj’s jokes: “Americans hit on the arm and bruise the body…Indians slap on the face and bruise the soul.” This plays on the stereotype of Asian parents utilizing corporal punishment, but consider the “bruise the soul” part. The joke prompts reflection — how and why does corporeal punishment bruise the soul? There’s an implied statement on the Asian practice of corporal punishment and how it affects children’s development here.

But where’s the punchline with the Asian jokes mentioned earlier in this article? Is joking about Asians eating dogs going to make Asians and Asian Americans listening reflect upon their dog-eating habits? No, because most of us don’t. Eat. Dogs. And even if we did, why is a joke about Asians eating dogs more acceptable than a joke about Westerners eating cows or pigs? We have to acknowledge the inherent cultural bias in these hackneyed comments about Asians consuming dogs. (See a great article about the double standard here).

Cheap shots like this only serve to denigrate Asians and Asian Americans. Like Klein’s and Gillis’s segments, their comments are mere bashing. Once called out, they attempt to mitigate reactions by characterizing their comments as humor. So why did they consider their comments acceptable in the first place?

The fact that racist Asian comments are considered acceptable says something about how Asians are viewed in the United States. Think model minority. We’re meek, submissive, quiet. We’re followers, listeners, takers of what we can get. We don’t complain about what we can’t get.

First, how problematic is it that this is considered what’s “model”?

Second, this makes us an easy target. Mockery works best when it’s one-directional.

The portrayal of Asians as meek and submissive has special implications for Asian men. As Klein echoed in his comments about K-pop, Asian men are effeminate, weak, and only desirable as fetish symbols.

Now, calling a star “gay” isn’t a new comment in pop culture. Justin Bieber, One Direction, and countless other young male stars have been insulted in a similar fashion online. Once these insults are levied at stars of Asian descent, however, racial implications are emphasized. To call a man “gay” and a “tw*nk” suggests emasculation and effeminacy, reflecting Asian stereotypes perpetuated by early racial theorists. Assistant Professor at Lebanon Valley College, Julia Meszaros, sums it up well in a HuffPost article:

In order to “prove” to the world that colonialism was indeed a “civilizing” mission, Western theorists utilized discussions of others’ aberrant sexualities to justify their interventions abroad. As white Europeans colonized large swaths of Asia, white masculinity was posited as the apex that men could potentially reach. Asian men were placed on the opposite side of the spectrum and constantly portrayed as feminine and weak in the face of European conquerors. The colonial stereotypes regarding Asian men’s femininity continue to inform our current racial stereotypes. — Julia Meszaros, HuffPost

The stereotypical portrayal of Asian male stars isn’t new. Psy, when Gangnam Style became popular in the United States, received similar emasculating comments. In an analysis of Western media coverage of K-pop published by the University of Chicago, author Jenna Gibson notes that:

In addition, even supposedly positive appearances brought with them problematic stereotypes that likely colored the view of K-pop among readers or viewers. Particularly when discussing Gangnam Style and Psy, articles often described him as unattractive, chubby, and quirky, exoticizing and ultimately dismissing supposedly shallow Asian pop culture, as well as feeding into problematic stereotypes of hilarious but ultimately emasculated Asian men. — Jenna Gibson, University of Chicago

Here, we see a conflict between Western media’s desire to take advantage of the hallyu wave and its inability to tell informed, aware stories because of internalized biases. K-pop’s ability to generate buzz and conversation is undeniable. This is why there’s been a surge in news outlets covering K-pop and celebrities dropping K-pop names to attract views and clicks. And by the nature of media, there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is relying on clichéd stereotypes to frame commentary. Stereotypes that inform judgment.

Klein likely meant to generate controversy with his comments, not attack a whole racial group — he’s basked in the attention that fans on both sides have given him in the past few days. Yet no matter the intentions, the result is the same, and it again reflects upon how casually racism against Asians is accepted in the Western world today.

Furthermore, we can differentiate between standard anti-pop reactions and anti-Asian reactions by identifying an anti-Asian narrative painting Asians as alien and not belonging. About K-pop entering the US, Klein exclaims, “how did this become a thing in Western culture,” exasperated. Here, BTS and K-pop are portrayed as infringing upon “Western culture.” Subtext: they don’t belong — they shouldn’t belong. Klein’s comments, while reflecting standard anti-pop reactions combined with emasculating stereotypes against Asian males, also reflect another troubling angle on Asians: that they are somehow threatening to the Western status quo. It isn’t hard to draw a parallel between this stance and Yellow Peril, emphasizing again just how racially charged Western reactions to K-pop are.

Yellow Peril, a racist term originating from the 19th century, describes the existential threat that Asians pose to Western culture and lifestyles; it was popularized as Asian workers began to immigrate to the West. Economically, Westerners feared that Asians workers, who often worked for much lower wages, were undercutting native workers and stealing their work. Sexually, racial theorists painted Asian men as predators of white women and Asian women as hyper-sexual and submissive. Politically, Asian immigrants were seen as potential security threats and carriers of communism. These stereotypes combined built up the metaphor of Yellow Peril, which informed legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and race riots such as the Chinese massacre of 1871. The depiction of Asians and Asian forces as threatening continues to exist and inform action in today’s society. White flight, when white people move out en mass out of ethnicized suburbias, often comes from fears that their children will be unable to compete with minority children in public schools. We see headlines about China encroaching on trade almost every day. And online, anti-Asian rhetoric festers in forums, posts, and social media.

Western society fears Asian improvement. It tells the Asian individual, yes, pull yourself up by the bootstraps enough so that he/she can be used as a model, an example, but never pull yourself up high enough to threaten existing power structures. Racial rhetoric places Asians as a convenient separator between white people and other minorities. The perceived success of Asians is used to delegitimize struggles faced by other ethnic groups; at the same time, Asians are still not welcomed into spaces traditionally inhabited by whites. The integration of Asians occurs when it only reinforces traditional hierarchies.

Pop music is not just a cultural export but also part of Korea’s economic engine. As K-pop songs begin to hit the US iTunes and Billboard charts, and as BTS begins to perform on shows such as New Year’s Rockin Eve, SNL, and GMA, the potential of K-pop unseating American pop (and by extension, Asian culture becoming more present in Western culture) becomes very real. This perhaps explains why as the Western music market has clamored to profit off of K-pop, they’ve carved out a niche for it instead of integrating it into the existing system. Despite high chart positions, K-pop songs are rarely played on radio. The VMAs were criticized for singling out K-pop as a category this year. Washington Post has called this “separate but equal” (Washington Post). And Klein’s comments, in an attempt to minimize the perceived threat of K-pop, infantilizes its fans and emasculates its idols.

BLACKPINK (Source: udiscovermusic)

It’s interesting to note that Klein’s first reaction, upon seeing a BLACKPINK music video, is to comment upon BTS’s entry into the US and not BLACKPINK’s. First, BTS is the representative group to Westerners right now. But beneath that, BTS is a male k-pop group, and in our examination of reactions to K-pop, we cannot ignore the implications that gender may have. Different stereotypes of Asian men and women likely inform differing reactions to K-pop groups as well. Asian women have been historically stereotyped as submissive and compliant. Yet Asian men, on the other hand, have been also stereotyped as predatory to white women: Asian men are a threat to dirtying or contaminating the purity of the white race, as perpetuated by Hollywood and WWII-era propaganda. Emasculation is a solution, as is redirection. Comments describing Asian men as asexual or gay invalidate their supposed sexual agency against white women, and these stereotypes may explain why Asian men are often seen as the least desirable type of partner. Steve Harvey utilized a punchline in 2017 based on the idea that finding Asian men attractive is amusing (Hollywood Reporter). Data from Yahoo! Personal in the 2000s showed that “more than 90% of non-Asian women said they would not date an Asian man” (Sage Journals). And 10 years later, OkCupid’s data shows Asian men rated lowest by women on their platform (OkCupid).

Pop culture has fed into this stereotype. As Eddie Huang from Fresh Off the Boat wrote in a New York Times opinion piece:

“The structural emasculation of Asian men in all forms of media became a self-fulfilling prophecy that produced an actual abhorrence to Asian men in the real world” — Eddie Huang, The New York Times.

Keeping Asian men undesirable proves beneficial to non-Asian men, as non-Asian men will never be the “most undesirable one.” An ego boost of sorts. However, K-pop’s popularity proves that Asian men can be attractive in the West, thus threatening this dynamic between Asian men and non-Asian men. Deconstruct further and we return to the concept of Yellow Peril, of restricting the spread of Asian culture, ideas, and genes. To racists, with K-pop, as masses of female, white fans begin to find Asian men worthy of idolizing, the popularization of Asian men connotes not just a cultural takeover but perhaps a racial takeover as well.

K-pop has continued to break boundaries anyways — groups playing major stadiums, BLACKPINK headlining Coachella, NCT 127 appearing on major talk shows — so I’m optimistic. Ironically, growing up, I don’t think my friends or I have ever been questioned for idolizing white pop stars as Asian Americans. Our favorites: Taylor Swift and One Direction. Neither have Western stars ever avoided the Asian music markets. Linkin Park, Beyoncé, Avril Lavigne— all have toured China in the last decade. Dua Lipa just attended MAMA 2019. And arguably, collaborations between K-pop stars and Western artists can be seen as attempts to capitalize upon K-pop’s popularity as much as they can be seen as attempts to penetrate a Western market. It’s just that Western reactions to K-pop can be informed by Western stereotypes against Asians.

I think back to when I went to Poptopia this year, when NCT 127 played last. Fans called out 99.7, the organizer, for letting NCT 127 apparently headline while other artists such as Halsey and Lizzo were not headlining.

Fans Expressing Their Discontent (Source: Facebook)

In reality, Halsey and Lizzo played the longest sets. NCT 127 only played four songs: Cherry Bomb, Regular, Superhuman, Highway to Heaven. Yet during the break between Lizzo and NCT 127, I watched as throngs of attendees streamed out of the stadium, leaving only a sea of fans holding green lanterns in front.

As a family passed by, I overheard the son asking, “Mom, is the concert over?”

“It’s over, we’re going home,” she answered decisively, while the son looked back at the fans congregating in the front.

Attendees were still streaming out as NCT 127 danced to Cherry Bomb. Less than half of the floor and 100s sections stayed. I couldn’t stop thinking about how disheartening it must be to dance to a leaving audience. Of course, not being able to finish watching the concert could be attributed to other things. Needing to rise early for work or wanting to avoid the traffic, for example. But secretly, I griped about attendees not being able to stay for just 15 more minutes out of respect for a new group. It seemed to me that they weren’t taken seriously because they were new, they were Asian, and that they were foreign. Like the CNN comments. It’s true that Cohen and Cooper might not have found the performances engaging. But to criticize on live national television, while the group was still performing in the background, conveys a fundamental level of disrespect.

Perhaps, the question isn’t if K-pop is ready for the United States, but if the United States is ready to accept K-pop as legitimate.

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CNN, H3H3, and BTS: The West’s Disrespect of Asian Artists was originally published in Plan A Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.