#white people critical

[daughter-of-the-clayr]

"jonathan groff and ncuti gatwa kissing is a big thing and well worth celebrating" and "rogue was not doctor who's first gay kiss and media pretending that it is is annoying and unfair" are two statements that should co-exist.

also i think people should be looking more at why the media is focusing on the "first gay kiss!!!!" and not on why it is such a big thing.

[anachronistic-falsehood]

leans into the mic. "saying all men are trash in response to the various ccs getting outed as abusers is the wrong move and will harm male victims of abuse and sa" and "the reason these male ccs were able to abuse people and cover it up for so long is because of rampant misogyny in the content creating space and it's important to listen to the women coming out with their stories right now" are statements that coexist. btw

[brw]

"but hamas is getting funded by extremist islamic hate groups!" do you think the U.S. government and military giving funding for israeli's war efforts against palestinians is a morally neutral and inherently righteous body that had no influence in the politics of southwest asia as a global colonial superpower. do you really think anything you can say about the people resisting oppression can't be said about the oppressors.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

"The end of liberalization in Poland, like its beginning, was accompanied by anti-Semitism. During March of 1968, an organ­ized “anti-Zionist” (a euphemism for anti-Jewish) campaign was launched against those self-defined Poles whom Polish society as a whole tended to regard as nothing but Jews. It turned into one of the most extensive witch hunts in the history of that country. The harassment began with an attack on and purge of a few people in top positions in the party, in the government, in the army, and in public life, but soon it broadened to include individuals of Jewish origin in all walks of life. They were pressured to provide proof of loyalty to the state and party, proof which, when given, failed to exonerate them. Anti-Semitic insults were hurled at individuals of Jewish descent. The students protesting peacefully against the end of liberalization and the tightening of controls in Poland were alleged to be misled into insurrection and counter-revolution by clever, traitorous Zionist plotters. They were mercilessly sup­pressed. When interrogated by the police, arrested students of Jew­ish or mixed parentage were repeatedly asked to state their nation­ality, and their response 'Polish' was rejected as not true. Others who were 'real Poles' were asked, 'why did you tie yourself to these filthy Jews?' or, 'why did you allow yourself to be used by these kikes?' Their 'Zionist' leaders were arrested and put on trial. The parents of these stu­dents—sometimes prominent Communists—were removed from their jobs, as were other individuals of Jewish origin. All of these were urged to leave Poland, but permission to do so was given to them only if they renounced Polish citizenship and applied for exit to Israel."

Celia Heller, On the Edge of Destruction: Jews of Poland Between the Two World Wars, pg 299.

[greenteacology]

maybe it’s just me but I got weird vibes from the “teen slang” bit last night? it felt uncomfortable…Aabria even mentioned how it was all AAVE and “why did y’all wait until I was here to do this” and they still kept going with the bit…

idk I know she said it in a lighthearted/joking way but I feel like the cast could have taken a hint and like. Stopped

[jesncin]

Okay, I'll bite, what are your feelings on the trans conner pitch?

Oh boy! Thank you for tossing me this bone because I have a lot of mixed feelings!

I notice that people online are very hot and cold about the Trans Superboy Pitch, they either love it or hate it and that doesn't leave a lot of room for nuance + discussion. So to be respectful to a fellow trans peer in the industry, I want to do a fair review/analysis of Skyrocket: the trans Conner Kent pitch by Magdalene Visaggio.

My general takeaway from the pitch is that I like the premise, but the details fumble the execution for me. I can really feel from reading the pitch that Visaggio cares about Superboy. She understands that he's a very weird legacy character who has struggled to find proper footing in the DC Universe after all these years. An effective legacy character is one who is able to spin off and expand upon the themes of the character whose mantle they carry. But the cheesy whatever-goes 90's-ness of Superboy's original run didn't give future writers a lot to work with in terms of a Superman Legacy Character.

It's why I genuinely believe the later retcon reveal that -part of Conner's DNA is from Lex Luthor- is a fantastic addition to his character. It takes a character who was just kind of screwing off to gentrify Hawaii back into the center of Superman's good vs evil conflict. But now Conner's problem is that his story is too tied to his origin and Superman's shadow. Placing Conner with the Kents in Smallville afterwards made him narratively redundant. What's next for him?

So let's dig into the pitch!

I like what's at the heart of this pitch. It's a very season-3-ATLA-Zuko "honor wasn't all it's cracked up to be" arc and I think that suits Conner's character really well! It's the details I have gripes with:

"Conner has been largely relegated to the Jason Todd of the Superfamily" oof, haha that's not a particularly fair characterization.

The constant comparing of Superman to Christian imagery. He's described as basically "Jesus goddamn Christ" in the pitch. The Tyrannical Kryptonians are named Saint, Shepherd and Savior. No surprise I don't like seeing a character who allegorically represented Jewish immigrants to be constantly compared to Christian imagery and deified.

It's inevitable with pitching to the company, but the pitch is bogged down by a lot of convoluted plot points. I get that it's necessary to pitch event tie-ins and universe hopping shenanigans, but it's a lot.

Leland feels like a plot device in this. I'm sure there were plans to flesh out the brotherly clone relationship between him and Conner so that he can feel like his own character, but from the summary he just kind of revolves around Conner the way the pitch describes Conner revolving around Superman. Oops!

Conner's relation to Luthor and Superman works as a story about legacy, bloodlines and the things parents pass down to their kids. It's best when handled thematically and not literally because it's easy to get into essentialist "good genes" vs "evil genes" near-eugenics talking points. Unfortunately this pitch has a lot of that vibe. Leland has more Lex genes so he's super smart. Conner and Leland are able to start a schism in the Future Tyrannical Kryptonian House by "proving their truer genetic link to the original Superman, unsullied by thousands of years of tinkering" thereby gaining allies. Not great!

The part where Conner wants to find "his own Metropolis" by moving to Dripping Springs, Texas. That's Jinny Hex's field of operations, so is it really his own space? I would've just given Conner a new town so he can better stand on his own and build out a unique cast system.

Okay let's talk about the trans stuff!

I get that it makes for an Iconic Visual Superhero Moment, but I really don't like the part where Conner steps through a magical crystal and pops out the other side as a trans woman. It robs her of having that discovery on her own. The pitch says "I believe that this is as natural a move as Iceman's coming out". And just?? Man, remember when Jean Grey read Iceman Bobby Drake's mind and robbed him of his agency by outing him through that invasion of privacy? For a pitch all about Conner's journey of defining herself, it weirdly robbed her of that moment.

The pitch does such a good job talking about how Conner feels like her whole life revolves around Superman and how pointless wanting to be Superman feels now that Jon Kent has taken the mantle. She has Clark's genes, goes to Clark's hometown school, is raised by Clark's parents and all that. So then why is she eventually named after the women in Clark's life? Constance "Connie" Lara Kent. Clark's Kryptonian mom and human grandma? Was the world so small that she could not name herself after anyone else or come up with a new name? Connie doesn't even get to name herself, her new name is one Martha Kent bestows her with. It's hypocritical, and doesn't have the same impact that Superman giving Superboy a Kryptonian name does.

Speaking of which, this right here is my biggest gripe. It's not in the pitch itself but?? Wait- why go on about how Conner deserves a name that's not given to her and then turn around and make Martha name her? Sure, Connie comes up with the superhero name "Skyrocket" herself but surely she also deserves to name herself considering the thesis the pitch built up about self discovery and agency right?

Also with all due respect, this is the whitest queer take on Conner's identity. I wish white trans people could understand that you can have multiple true names that reflect different parts of you.

When Clark gives Superboy the name "Kon-El" it matters that it's given. It ties so well to the idea of familial acceptance into a nearly-extinct culture. You wouldn't know how to reclaim that part of your identity when that culture's been wiped out, so of course it's an honor to be trusted with a name that preserves Krypton's culture. This is a common practice with diaspora reclaiming cultural names from closed cultures, they are gifted their names by someone more culturally connected. I think the pitch having Martha name Connie is trying to echo this, but it doesn't hit the same without that cultural context. It also undercuts the genuine joy Conner felt from finally having a name he truly identifies with. Conner was only ever referred to as Superboy before then. When Clark gives him the name Kon El, Conner cries out that Kon El is his "real name". It's one of his defining moments, and to have that be diminished by saying "It's still a name someone else gave him" is so disappointing.

Then there's the design.

This is gonna lean more into preference, but I'm not the biggest fan of this design! I get what it's going for but it has too much going on everywhere. It also doesn't have that proto-punk look original Conner had, so it ends up not feeling like him. It's too superhero, and not enough casual-wear-on-a-supersuit that Conner sports really well. I see how it fits in with the everyone-in-Superfam-is-wearing-jackets-era, but I also think those new designs don't look good either. Especially Supergirl's. I feel like Conner should be more punk post transition. No respectability beam for her!

Also the name Skyrocket? It's giving knock off-brand toy vibes to me I'm sorry D: People on twidder suggested Supernova and that sounds way better! Even Visaggio stated she prefers that name so you can't be mad at me for this.

Overall big conclusion feelings!

I've been following Visaggio's work for a while because it's awesome seeing trans people getting picked up in comics. While there are some things about her writing I like, for the most part I've felt like her work isn't my cup of tea. I tried reading up a bunch of interviews she's in to try to understand why her writing wasn't clicking with me, and what I discovered is that we have fundamentally different approaches to queer storytelling.

From Paste Magazine. I get where she's coming from, trans characters deserve to have multi-faceted narratives that don't overly center how they're othered at the expense of further characterization. But also? I just actually find the interior lives of queer people and identity interesting. I like writing the kind of escapism and joy that's informed by surviving and inheriting hardships rather than erasing those things or skipping past it. I think this is why Connie is robbed of her trans discovery in the pitch. Why we don't get to watch her grapple with gender identity in a political way. Queer stories about queer struggles are considered archaic and unnecessary nowadays. It's part of the escapism Visaggio values in her work; to give a place of respite for trans readers from the cruelty they experience in reality, but I don't connect to stories like that personally. Whenever I try to share queer Indonesian art and writing with my peers, I'm often told it's too painful to look at. That our pain doesn't fit the modern expectation for happy, empowering queer stories. "trans people get enough hardships in real life, they don't need that in their fiction" Visaggio still talks about her newest projects like this btw.

I'd love to see a take on Conner that more holistically continues the political immigrant themes of Superman. The white parts of fandom love interpreting Conner's identity crisis as primarily a queer struggle, but it's also one of a person grappling with his mixed heritage. He's a diaspora kid separated by a generation away from Krypton. He has yet to make peace with the Luthor side of his identity, one borne of generational trauma and resentment for one's roots. Instead of a take where his queerness separates him from the pressures of legacy, I want to see a Conner take that has themes that are intersectional about his mixed diaspora and queer identity. I want his superficial punk aesthetic to graduate into actual punk ideals. The anti-establishment and radical love philosophies of punk culture would make such a cool extension of Superman themes and it would make so much sense that someone facing so many intersections of marginalization would be radicalized from their experience. I want a queer Conner who isn't just empowering and idealistic, I want one that also gives space for queer readers to feel like their pain is seen too. Conner isn't "Truth, Justice and the American Way" he's famously "Truth, Justice, My Way".

There's a tendency in media criticism to treat marginalized talent as infallible, and I don't think that fair to creatives like Visaggio. Being able to look at their ideas with nuance instead of essentializing it as being Good or Trash is the best way to respect diverse creativity. And my nuanced feelings are that a white queer person who looks at Conner's story and just sees the queer part and dismisses the diaspora mixed heritage side of him,,, is not going to give me the Conner story I want to see.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

The most infuriating thing about outrage grifters saying "you can't criticize anything nowadays" is that they're the reason it's so tough to criticize anything diverse. Every review of something that's being targeted has to be written very carefully so racists won't think you're one of them and even then you know your words are gonna be taken and used against you to fuel some bigoted agenda. A man wrote a negative but good faith review of Glass Onion and Ben Shapiro stole his points to clumsily camouflage the rest of his review which is just far-right rage about Elon Musk is above criticism and how much he hates female protagonists of color. You make a criticism that you would have made if the protagonist had been a white man and it gets quote mined for some Youtuber's video about how the movie would have been perfect if only the protagonist had been a white man. You mix in criticism and praise and they only hear the criticism, because they decided they hated it just for having marginalized people and are looking for excuses.

If you make your own opinions, you get swarmed by a mob of people who get told their opinions by outrage grifters. This happens regardless of whether your opinion is positive or negative. But there is something uniquely infuriating that genuine, good faith criticism that respects the creators is being drowned out by people who think bigotry is "criticism" and that if they slap the word "woke" on it that magically makes it not racist.

[illinoaventing]

Being fighters against oppressive systems is cool until it's a white blond billionaire who doesn't utter a word about the genocide happening in maybe the recent longest geo-religious-political conflict ever that her country (she proudly represents) funding it. Oh and we might hurt her feelings for that because she just went through a breakup with a racist. Oh and she doesn't need to speak up about anything it's not her job, but commenting on a tiktok to disprove pregnancy rumors is so feminist and really shows how people need to stop commenting on women's bodies! It's serious matter.

[unlimitedbutchworks]

ultimately you have to remember that complaining about "4chan white trans women who are bigoted and so and so" is almost entirely pointless for any purpose aside from raising transmisogynistic sentiments in observers. this specter of an evil tranny is constantly looming despite the individuals being rare and often total shut ins, and people expect transfems to take this shit seriously and be constantly swearing off association with """bad people""". these people, when they do exist, by and large lack the power to actually do anything with their beliefs; obviously if they do it sucks but this idea that there are trans women ~getting away with it~ and that all transfem communities allow and hide this behavior is blatantly transmisogynistic in addition to often being completely imagined! its insane to act like you have to choose between resisting white supremacy and resisting transmisogyny, and yet, people wind up continually portraying it as this

[theweeklydiscourse]

What’s with the ATLA fandom’s bizarre tendency to discuss Aang as if he’s a real-life kid? It’s gotten to the point where if you criticize the messaging of the show or certain writing decisions that are conveyed through Aang, people act like you’re picking on a real person with real feelings. Furthermore, he’s also not a paragon of wisdom, yet people talk about him as though he is based on his fictional circumstances in the narrative. These two issues are connected somehow, both claims ignore the fiction of the show and blur the lines between fictional dilemmas and real-life moral dilemmas. Ultimately, Aang is a vehicle for the morals that Bryke wish to communicate and consequently, their shortcomings, blindspots and biases surface in his character.

[pickingupmymercedes]

Lewis being co-chair at the MET is something he build for years as a fashion enthuasist and now part of the creative process within the industry (although I have my critics to how that's unfolding)

you don't get invited to the MET just because you know someone there. just as you don't invite someone just because you know them.

please stop the discourse that Lewis could invite your favorites just because you want them there.

especially white f1 drivers.

the theme is literally fashion in the afro diaspora manifestations. Black Dandy is the MAIN inspiration.

there's not a single driver on that grid with the credencials to participate in a MET with that theme just because they know/work with Lewis.

[nemuru1044]

"Ansbach is so level-headed and tame compared to characters like Varré, he must have been the only sane member of the Mohgwyn Dynasty!" OKAY SO while I find that idea certainly funny, I don't think it's 100% accurate

First, Varré is a missionary-- he kinda needs to be over-the-top in order to seduce the Tarnished into joining the dynasty.

Second, it is heavily implied that-- while maaaybeee not a bloodthirsty zealot-- Ansbach was certainly not. Innocent? (i don't know the words to describe him lmao)

"Markedly different from the finessed swordplay of the dynast, this is an aggressive last resort of an incantation that gave rise to Ansbach's fearsome reputation." (Ansbach's Furious Blade)

"...But an old fear lurks beneath, together with the cold, unflinching discipline that once honed his blade, now employed to enhance Blood Oath and dynastic skills." (Wise Man's Mask)

Ansbach was a cold, vicious, and SKILLED fighter. Dare I say he may have been one of the most feared knights in the Lands Between before he was charmed.

[aishaglas]

can i just say im kinda sick of chappell roan

[lunamond]

I really hope that the lotr fandom will soon move on from discussions about Rop's legitimacy as a Tolkien adaptation.

The current climate of people either fully dismissing the whole show or declaring it a full-on masterpiece needs to stop. I (for the most part) enjoy watching the show and therefore find myself more often than not on the side of the latter. But, I really wish we could have more productive discussions about the actual content of the show other than just how well it lines up with the lore, including calling out some major issues that I haven’t seen discussed at all.

In all the discussions about orc families, short vs. long-haired elves, ring mechanics, etc, It's definitely noticeable that nobody (neither fans nor antis) seem to have called out the super racist orientalist elements in the Rhun storyline.

[freshbeeth]

fuck it. off the hook songs + irl equivalents playlist

(link in title, tracklist below cut)

OtH first, IRL second

i will NOT be accepting constructive criticism

[satisaranea]

when people stop using the excuse of “olive [skin] is a spectrum!” when referring to any character that hails from the seam, i can die peacefully.

for reference: the seam — dark hair (straight, with the exception of haymitch and his curly hair,) olive skin, gray eyes. (e.g, katniss, gale and the hawthornes, haymitch.)

merchants — blonde hair (curly,) pale skin, blue eyes. (peeta, delly cartwright, mrs. everdeen and primrose.)

yes, in the case of the seamfolk, it is definitely possible that they are simply tan white people. however, in the racial context of appalachia, there is a population of native americans (who often have olive skin and straight dark hair,) along with the melungeon population (which includes people of color.)

suzanne collins would've made the distinction, as she did for the merchants if they were white. this theory is unlikely though, considering that systematic oppression plays a role within their race. (the seam are worse off; they're the poorest part of the district with people casually dying of starvation in the streets, they're also workers in the mines and more likely to have lung problems/die from mine collapses if not explosions. they also run a black market for sake of trades and food. the merchants run shops and are better off than the seam.)

i'm not saying at all that white people can't be olive skinned, i do very much agree with that and it's something i acknowledge. but again, appalachia, where twelve is located, has a population of people of color in which fit the description (which could likely be native americans.) there's a stark difference in both sides of twelve's population and their races, and if suzanne had made the seamers with the intention of them being white in mind, katniss simply could've said it was a white-predominant population with the notion of seamfolk being darker.

with all of this in mind, no matter how you flip it, the seam-originating characters in the movies are whitewashed. and that takes away from the history of these people and takes from their oppression and representation of history in a book that already deals with racial issues and such things.