so, MASSIVE racefail in Supernatural J2 fandom.

(signal boost)

What has happened is essentially a Big Bang author thought it would be "a perfect idea" (quote) to set 80k words of slashfic in post-earthquake Haiti. The resulting story is a ridiculous epic of white privilege and the kind of racism that, while not literally going out and lynching minorities, is basically the emotional equivalent thereof.

This post catalogues what has happened and the ensuing discussions.

Thoughts on this:

- "...she wrote 80000 words of escapist porn using real people's personal and collective tragedy as stock footage, and characterised the entire population of Haiti as adoring subhumans by drawing on the collective store of racist tropes in the American unconscious instead of actually learning anything about Haiti, Haitians or earthquakes." (written by tiferet)

- (on whitewashing) People in Harry Potter fandom have British beta's to Britpick their fic. WHY IS THIS NOT DONE FOR RACE? ::wry:: is it because the British are white?

- people are defending the author? Gah. Again?

- "...a soldier shoots at a target, but hits an innocent person. Removing the bullet doesn't automatically fix the problem -- the wound is still there and the scar from said wound probably always will be.

Now, just to expand on that example a bit; imagine how pissed off the person would be if the soldier said he/she didn't intend to hit them and waited quite some time before removing the bullet. Imagine how pissed off the innocent person in question would be if, after all that, people kept asking why he/she got so angry in the first place. Or if the person was told to just get over it. Suddenly, the intent of the soldier doesn't seem so all-fired important, does it?

Perhaps more select fandom denizens (writers in particular) would think to check their proverbial aim if they had that example in mind." (written by emerald-skies)


There are tons of meta on this subject. There are tons of posts. I have no new thoughts or opinions really.

But I'm linking to this on the off-chance that anyone who's reading this HASN'T seen it yet.

If you haven't posted about this in your journal, please please please at least post a link. Spread the word.

edit: http://www.derailingfordummies.com/ heh.

edit2: rewritten a bit to remove unkind and incendiary language. Comment thread regarding the same will remain.

ahah. WORDS.

Apologies for beating on the same drum, but...

"We in fandom are a community of storytellers. We love the stories in literature, in film, in our history from all over the world. Words, images, videos and music are our currency, and we value them highly. We prize the connections we make through the intagible, the familiar rhythms of the stories we read and the stories we write vibrating through our chest like a heartbeat.

Stories feed us. Stories sustain us. They tell us who we are, who we could be. They tell us where we've been, and where we are going. Stories are what we leave behind.

If you think that stories are not important, if you think a movie that just removed real world people from the landscape of a source material that respected and loved their 5000 years of culture and history is no big deal, if you've never known what it means to be erased from your own world and told to be thankful for it, I want you to do something for me.

Stop thinking. Stop feeling. Put down your books, put down your pens, forget your stories. Close your eyes and plug your ears. Forget what your story sounds like. You have no myths. You have no history. Stop breathing with your heart and living in your head. Your dreams are worthless, because they are not real. They are not tangible. You can't sell them. They are worthless. Go outside and consume, consume, consume. But never question. Never speak. Never dare to feel that you've been malnourished or mistreated. Never, ever admit that you have been poisoned. Be satisfied; you are well fed.

Remember: It's no big deal. It doesn't matter. And neither do you."

--ssj10


Words. Someone actually wrote meta-y logical words about the incoherent WTF that I've been feeling about this matter. The topic of concern?

M. Night Shyamalan's movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.


... in a follow-up conversation with UGO.com, a writer pointed out that the film will feature a villainous nation of Asians attacking nations led by three white heroes, Shyamalan replied, "It's called irony." - from here.

"If you pay for this movie, knowing full well why its cast and its production are racist and problematic, then you are actively, in good conscience, supporting institutionalized racism. Period."

Word.

"Here was a fantastical Asian world, full of well developed and delineated countries, each with a distinctive culture and a carefully developed mythology born from real world Asian traditions, art forms, myths and religions. [...]

And here were the Heroes: Brave, noble, beautiful, strong, and Asian.

[...However] when the cast of the movie was originally announced sometime in 2009, the four main characters Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko, were all cast as white kids. An uproar occurred from the outraged fans--Asians and non Asians alike--because how, in 2009, could such a blatantly racist, discriminatory casting exercise in old school Hollywood whitewashing be justified? High budget Yellowface slated for release in 2010? It seemed almost too ridiculous to be true.

And so, Paramount responded by re-casting for one role. They re-cast Dev Patel, a young Indian actor, as Zuko. None of the other lead roles were re-cast.

Zuko is the villain. A villain, mind you, who switches sides and joins forces with the heroes to defeat the ultimate villain of the story, who just happens to be Zuko's father.

So now, we've gone from a completely whitewashed cast of heroes (supported by faceless, dark-skinned background noise otherwise known as extras, otherwise known as collateral damage, otherwise known as set decoration on par with that exotic vase from somewhere no one cares about in China), to a whitewashed trio of heroes who will eventually show our poor, misled brown child the light so that he can help them save the world from the rest of The Evil Brown People."


Yeah seriously just go read their post.

also: http://www.racebending.com/

Most Current Lowlight: Aang's tattoo, which used to delineate the lines of chi, is now a cross. SERIOUSLY?