afternoon delight

Every first Tuesday of the month (for the next four months), we will be hosting a fantastic giveaway for fans of the new Murdoch Mysteries webseries: Curse of the Lost Pharaohs – a peak into Constable George Crabtree's diary.

Win a copy of the screenplay for the first ever episode of Curse of the Lost Pharaohs, signed by writer Patrick Tarr and Yannick Bisson (Inspector Murdoch.)

All you have to do is:
1.) Retweet the following link:
http://bit.ly/murdochcurse with hashtag #COTLP

and include
2.) the answer to the following question: 
What is the mummy seen wearing at the end of the first episode?


By Monday, June 13th 2011 at midnight EST 
Watch the first episode tonight!

Winner will be chosen at random.

ETA MY LAST
I learned a lot from you guys; thanks for putting the panhandler story/discussion in perspective for me. It really helped me question my own biases. I really appreciate it, particularly to Tammy and Tally. Go T's! <3 <3


WARNINGS IN FANART
Since there's been a lot of recent discussion about warnings in fanwork, I was wondering if there was ever a discussion brought up regarding fanart - that is to say fanart that is hand-drawn?

If you've missed all the warning discussions, I won't link but I'll summarize that (and anyone who knows more about it, feel free to add):
- a few months back the 'to warn or not to warn' discussion happened regarding fanfic. Debates for both sides carried out, and fic archive AO3 created options for writers - they could warn, they could say 'no warnings' or they could say 'choose not to warn'.
- recently, the debate has come up again, this time about vids.

Now fanart is a completely different experience from fanfic and even from vids. It's one image, one shot, a three-second glance (...and then a longer stare from people who enjoy it, of course!) Unlike vids or fic, fanart doesn't always have to tell a story. However like fics or vids, artwork can very much have triggery imagery.

So my question: do you think art should include warnings? Why or why not?

Personally, I don't use warnings - solely because it's never occurred to me/no one has suggested that I should. I do rate my art, though. I use terms like 'NSFW', 'SFW', 'adult', 'all ages', 'nudity', 'slash' and 'het'. I used to use MPAA (R, PG-13, PG, G) warnings but I don't like those anymore.

And I wouldn't mind starting to warn, even if one person asked me to do so. Since I want as many people as possible to look at my art, I figure adding a few more words to my header is worth it.

eta: a good post about warnings

eta the second:awesome PSA how-to on blocking out text!

The media is having a field day with Shyamalan. Go on and type his name in Google and you'll see what I mean.

I feel like I keep needing to clarify myself, since people still seem to think that I am 100% joyful and celebratory about seeing him go down in flames.

Here is my prediction, because it's all too easy to see how this will play out:

- Shyamalan just keeps on digging his own grave and the media glorifies his ignorance. They are currently holding it up to the crowd of angry fans (anti-casters and pro-casters alike) while saying: THIS MAN IS TO BLAME FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE ANGRY ABOUT. They parade his interviews around, while people - children, even - gleefully want to 'tear him down'
- Fans and critics and everyone destroy Shyamalan's career and credibility, pinning him as the sole perpetrator of everything bad about the Last Airbender
- Shyamalan is painted as the scape goat. It seems almost willingly, given how many interviews he's doing right now. Was this clause in his contract with Paramount? Regardless: he is mocked, ridiculed, torn down, burned alive by the media. Fans vent their frustrations on him and him alone. He becomes the focus of ire.
- Paramount Pictures and Frank Marshall are completely exonerated, simply by not being present in any of this backlash. They will point only to Shyamalan and say "place the blame on him."
- Paramount Pictures and Frank Marshall sit back and watch fans - white, PoC - tear into the PoC director, deride his hypocrisy. This sparks debates in the media and among fans about PoC tearing down other PoC, internalized racism, white supremacy in PoC, white people slamming this one South Asian man, Shyamalan's victim syndrome and his derision for racebending.com, and so on and so forth.
- the media will eventually judge that this isn't a case of racism or white supremacy, it's just typical PoC prejudice against each other. People will congratulate themselves for thinking 'everyone's a little racist' and then move on to the next white-washed film with eager anticipation.


Paramount Pictures and Frank Marshall will wash their hands clean and lily white, with no inclination to address their own contributions in perpetuating - and publicly defending - institutionalised racism in Hollywood. "See?" they will say, "It was one of your own kind to did it! Blame him, not us! We're just naive innocents in all of this! Sort this out yourselves; us white executives have NOTHING to do with yours and Shyamalan's racism issues."

I don't want to be deceived by this. It's almost comical, in a way, how easy it was to create a scapegoat in Shyamalan. It seems he's happily taken on this role, even to the point of saying (paraphrase) "blame me, not the studio". I can't even. I'm feeling embarrassed for the man and the nonsense he's so earnestly spouting - while concurrently mocking me and my cause. And I feel ashamed, so ashamed that he shares my background/cultural heritage.

I'm so happy I share ownership of the racebending.com group, because we an transition the supporters to place the blame of racefail in its rightful place: institutionalised racism, and EVERYONE who perpetuates it. Not just the brown guy. racebending.com has been misinterpreted and judged in countless ways by countless people from its inception; so accusations of us 'eating our own, you stupid PoC' will be no different.

EVERYTHING'S EXCITING
Google reviews for The Last Airbender as see for yourself.
From my amazing co-activist Mike - The Last Airbender: Pre-Screening

What's left? It feels like Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Dev Patel are hanging out in front of the camera, telling you about all the cool stuff they saw while watching the television series.

From my excellent co-organizer buddy jedifreac - Preliminary Thoughts on Race and Gender in The Last Airbender

Minna: And then there's this scene where Aang meets an "Old Man in a Temple," who is this friendly old Asian mentor stereotype who is all affectionate to him and then backstabs him! It is a twist! And then there was the scene with the East Asian masseuse. Since they cut Suki out--even after bragging about including an Asian actress to play this character--that means that the most prominently featured East Asian actress was a woman giving a foot massage. What is wrong with these people? Even after all the accusations of racefail, they throw in that unnecessary stereotype. And what was up with the "African American" village?

Ken: They weren't African American. They were African.

Minna: No...M. Night said they were African American and that he didn't have to include them, but he did, to be diverse.

From my awesome sister bossymarmalade - but we must always be polite about it

Do you think he even recognizes that he's not the hero and never will be? He's already learned from the media and society that the darker you are, the scarier you are; when will he start recognizing his face reflected back only as villain, as joke fodder, as exotic backdrop?

From Roger Ebert (his review is up as well) - Face Painting

The studios underlying assumption about marketability and acting capability of White over Asian actors is insulting, and to claim that their production is “diverse” because they cast Asians as secondary and supporting characters ignores the bigger issue at hand – the starring, main Asian characters are portrayed by White actors instead of Asian actors.

I'll clarify my stance on all of this:

- I am not happy this movie was made the way it was. I am a fan of the television series and if there was anything I would have loved, it would be an awesome Avatar: The Last Airbender movie spearheaded by an Indian-American director with actors of colour as the lead, protagonist, heroes.
- I desperately wish this movie was one I could have adored as much as I loved the series.
- I sincerely hope the best for all of the actors in this mess of a movie, particularly the kids (Ringer, Peltz and Patel).
- I place all of the blame for every bit of this film's failure - from the casting, to the discrimination, to the script, to the marketing ploys - on the shoulders of Frank Marshall, Paramount Pictures and Shyamalan.
- I had once been willing to give Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt, but since he has given me no respect, I feel inclined to return in kind.

Of course there will still be people who won't read the reviews and prefer to pay for this film and judge the movie for themselves. Here is my one last plea to boycott this film, for reasons that might have nothing to do with you but has everything to do with the story of 'the other'.

So in my previous post, silviakundera was like:

"(on a sorta related note: someone on the anon meme was like, "what do you want? for people to write the J2 as POC in these fics?" and I thought, 'heeeeey. wait. PEOPLE COULD DO THAT. (okay, on second thought, they would probably do awful things with it. but the idea! ) except wait--you were joking? so, why not? come on, don't tell me that's deviating from "canon" more than jared being a mermaid or jensen being a submissive ship captain IN SPACE.' I love how THAT's a total random and implausible suggestion--making the J2 actual participants in these cultures people want to write about, instead of sparkly white journalists)"

-- and really what I got from it was "what do you want? for people to write the J2 as POC in these fics?" and "heeey wait. PEOPLE COULD DO THAT" combined with the fact that my mind is currently full of the awesome that is The Racebending Revenge Ficathon --

And yeah. Stuff happened.

( racebending Supernatural. is this what you want? )

Hm, well. That didn't go too well for Sam and Dean. Guess I'll try again later?

ETA: ZOMG, PART TWO!!!!

Day 23 - A YouTube video
I'm not much into YouTube unless someone makes me GO WATCH THIS; so...I'll revert to my fannish default and link up a video related to the Beatles.

John Lennon - Stand By Me (video of John and Yoko)

Oh Johnnie. I generally don't care to go into celebrity personal lives because it's generally traumatizing for me to know that much about someone I've never met. The more I find out about John Lennon, the more I love the fact that Yoko Ono found him and took him in.

From what I've read and seen, John Lennon was the most rawest of hearts, wrapped tightly by a protective layer of comedian-and-maliciousness. In the world of fiction, he'd be the quintessential self-destructive, self-isolating, selfish working class character...with the sensitive artist heart of gold, striving for accepting love.

And then there is Yoko. To say she saved his life would be an understatement. She is a feminist, an artist, an anti-racist advocate, a performer. She is strong and eclectic and emotional and persevering. She is Not White - this made a difference then and even now, if you happened to be the focus of John Lennon's love. People mocked her accent, her hair, her face, the way she dressed. They detested the way she understood John, while he pranced and mugged - she wasn't embarrassed by him. He never wanted to humiliate her publicly - she wouldn't allow it. When Yoko talked, John would look at her and listen. With Yoko, John admitted to being a misogynist, and learned to be a feminist. When they had issues and failings, John 'n Yoko worked it out. Yoko was clearly not the submissive Asian geisha to John's rock n roll ways - so the press made her into a Dragon Lady. There aren't much other roles for Asian women to 'play' in the perception of Western media.

Newspaper headlines discussed her relationship with 'John Rennon' (yes, they actually went there); so she addressed postcards they sent to Ringo Starr to 'Engrand'. Her patience and self-confidence matched John's complete lack of either.

Of course they weren't perfect, but who was - particularly back in those weird and earnest ways when people were trying to be peaceniks and anti-communist and sexually free and expressive and political and conscientious and abrasive against The Man. Things I take for granted, this luxury of self-discovery.

Anyway, check out the video. I picked this one because 'Stand by Me' is a common song; but even if you can't stand the sound of John's brittle keening, turn the volume off and enjoy John and Yoko: their love, their humour and most of all their AWESOME OUTFITS! XD


( 30 Days of Me Meme )

Day 15 - A fanfic Screw that. A fanfic writer.
bossymarmalade is the best writer of fiction and fanfiction that I know. And I can say this because she's my older sister and because it's true: she is the best writer that I know.

Most of her fanfic comes in easily digestible, bite-sized pieces that are a breeze to read - particularly for fandomers like you, who are ravenous consumers of ficcy goodies. They also come in a wide variety of flavours. One for almost everyone to sample and enjoy! I guarantee it!*
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Archive: HERE

ID meme - a great place to leave feedback if you don't want to leave feedback: HERE
-----------------------------------------------------------------
So! Stop on by and pick up a fic or two!

Beatles
four sides of the eternal triangle - Beatles, all of them all about Revolver, just pure gold, goddammit.

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
gold star for you - Willow/Tara and I don't even like Willow. I find this fic really reveals the style and voice of the author.

DCU Comics (Batverse)
pound foolish - Nightwing and Robin. I like to think that when sis wrote this bit of brotherly affection, she was thinking of her and me.

Futurama
keep your palms flat - Fry and Bender and you won't know whether to laugh or cry, which is exactly what a Futurama fic should be.

Harry Potter
she wore the dress - Padma and Parvati Patil. And in an alternate reality, this actually could have been my sister and me. There was that weird, nebulous turning point during the icky days of high school where it could have pulled us apart or brought us together. This sums it up.

Hellblazer
best of british - Constantine and Chas...a different sort of Holmes and Watson. :)

Homicide:Life on the Street
three-part disharmony - wherein Pembleton and Bayliss are Frank and Tim and the show is wonderful and right and this is canon, right? Right.

Monty Python RPF
joke sign - Cleese and Chapman, ba-dum-bup-ching!

NSYNC RPF
smile for the fans - JC Chasez of *nsync. Not for the faint of heart fangirl!

Merlin BBC
between our quests we sequin vests - Morgana, Gwen, Arthur and Merlin in the BEST MERLIN FIC I HAVE VER READ IN MY LIFE, EVER. I was crying at work, laughing so hard. Crying. OMFG. CRYING SO HARD.

MGM RPF
it's a helluva town - Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra and up to no good.

Murdoch Mysteries
king's is fine for courting - Det. Murdoch and Dr. Ogden and the court and geek over forensics. I mean. It can't get much better than this.

Prince of Tennis
eiji and the terrible secret - Eiji/Oishi, sweet like Ponta!

Sherlock Holmes
the sun never sets - Holmes and Dr Watson and this is the canon I have adopted into my own mind.

Simpsons
or a geodesic dome - Apu and Manjula and OMG IF THIS DOESN'T WANT TO MAKE YOU LIVE IN SPRINGFIELD, NOTHING WILL.

the underground awaits - Homer and Lisa. Everything about this is exactly why I loved The Simpsons so much. Even thinking about it makes me well up with tears (try it! You'll see what I mean).

Star Trek: Reboot
my sign is vital - Spock/Uhura kdjsfhweuirhwkfjhkjavjghaweoirajsldkjsksafhkhfriowehakjfhkjghakerjfthweodfjalkfjdksghdfjkgh

Uncanny X-Men
meltdown - Alex Summers and Logan doing the summer road-trip thing...except they're uncanny X-Men and nothing ever goes right. Alternate scene to the graphic novel 'Meltdown'.




*not a guarantee

( 30 Days of Me Meme )

GENGHIS KHAN
Tell me what you imagine when you think of Genghis Khan. Let me know if it's similar to a dude clad in thick fur and leather and metal armours, maybe with a little pointy helmet? Maybe bearded and mustachio'd? Looking all leader-like, definitely, right? Sword or bow in hand? Horses nearby (or he's riding one)? Completely kickass and badass right? Leading an army and empire across the Asian continent, right?

Oh, and of course, Mongolian. right?

Well according to Hollywood, he's John Wayne MICKEY ROURKE.


MICKEY. ROURKE. AS GENGHIS KHAN.

I CAN'T. WORDS CANNOT EVEN EXPRESS THIS EXTENT OF BLATANT WHITE-WASHING YELLOWFACE.

I am so horrified. This is 21, Dragonball Z, The Last Airbender and Extraordinary Measures rolled into one ball of MASSIVE YELLOWFACE FAIL

Go on, someone - please play devil's advocate and justify how and why Mickey Rourke should play Genghis Khan. Please? I won't rage at you, I promise. I just want to know how this can be justified in ANYONE'S MIND. please, tell me?



-------------------------
THANK YOU
Thank you to the darling anon who gave me one jolly month of paid time on Dreamwidth!! Eee! Time to stuff myself full of awesome icons! \o/

things: experiences
~ been reading a lot of LJer's personal life experiences on my flist. Experiences that I haven't had personally, but my flist is like a human library for me: I'm constantly learning, and learning compassion.

~ Linked from everywhere: Sonoma County CA separates elderly gay couple and sells their home. I just. Just. I have no words for this injustice.

~ impertinence had a little meta on utilising female characters in fandom. In particular, this quote really stood out to me:

Stepping out of that mold takes EFFORT...You sit down to write a female character, and you don't have that massive, massive weight of fannish tradition helping you figure out where to start. You don't even have the weight of Western media traditions, really.

I fully confess: it is a personal effort for me to decide "I will choose to draw female characters" (and in addition, even "I will choose to draw characters of colour"). And no: My choices aren't due to any sort of personal affirmative action; it's not as if I'm slogging through drawing women out of some guilty (or bitter) obligation. It's not as if I'd actually much rather be drawing zomg!hottie!white menzz, yet I force myself to instead draw female characters so I can feel all sanctimonious and superior. None of that.

Blessedly, I find my own personal preferences are slowly shifting. Like, I find myself genuinely interested in non-conventional stories, by perspectives that aren't governed by the convenience and availability of the White Male Gaze. I want more Beyonce and Lady Gaga buddy videos (which I know, might be a product of the White Male Gaze; but personally I disagree). I want to seek out books, tv shows, movies, music with non-white male heroes. I want more beyond the default. I want to create more beyond white dude #1/white dude #2. And it's nice to want this! It takes effort, but it's effort I want to take.

(this isn't to say that I reject everything to do with white dude characters in fandom, fyi. 'white male'= default. and so prevalent in the mainstream pop culture that I lovelovelove, I can't avoid it. I just decided to make room for more non-white, non-male people in my fandom party. *hee*)

Um.

Dreamwidth is the bomb. I'm just saying!

HELP.
ETA FINAL: The group has been restored!! All it took was a day's worth of really fabulous determined people not letting Facebook get away with their foolishness. My goodness. Thanks, all of you.
( the background details )

run for yer life by bossymarmalade & glockgal
the beatles

warnings: murder, drug use
disclaimer: we've cocked up some of the beatles history, but to be fair, none of this is real anyhow.
notes:
bossymarmalade sez: i think this story has been working its way to the surface for fifteen years, only neither of us realized it.
glockgal sez: i am the mccartney to her lennon. without all the pizza and fairytales. (well, maybe a little)

summary: you don't get to the toppermost of the poppermost without a little sacrifice.
( run fer yer life )

FANDOM POLL
Because I need something to entertain me at work and I love learning about perceptions of fandom etiquette. :D

NOTES:
- Poll is about commenting habits for fanworks in any given fandom
- Poll is refers to the LJ-comment system for posted fanworks
- No answer is wrong.
- Comments are extremely welcome
- This post is public

[Poll #1508446]

credit to the original, because because because --

• comment with your username and the fandoms you create fanart for.
• people will comment telling you their favorite art by you, what character/pairing they think you best render visually, and other positive comments. they can also mention what they think you should create more art for, or anything else concerning what they like about your art-making.
• pimp it it to your journal and/or fanartist comms.
• this is a love meme. so no wank, no insults. please report any negative comments to me immediately.
  

<center><font face="arial" size="3"><b><font color="#6600CC">the ♥</font> <a href="your thread here"><font color="#669933">fanart love</font></a> <font color="#6600CC"> ♥ meme</font></font></b></center>

FANART MUSING
It's interesting to see the sign-ups at yuletart as well as the questions us Mods get from participants and potential participants. Questions that are unique to a fanart fest, I think. Like -

- is my type of art acceptable for this fest?
- can I mail my art to my gift-receiver after the fest?
- I don't consider myself a fanartist; can I still participate?

It's really neat, I mean. Do fanfic fests get questions like these? I can't imagine someone being unsure if what they write can be construed as fanfic. Do fanfic participants ever want to submit like poem epics or....?

It's just another example of how in fandom the two fanwork biggies are Fanfics and Fanart - but the fanart umbrella stretches wide and is very nebulous.

In yuletart a lot of discussion was needed for us to define what constitutes as acceptable fanart for the fest. We made the decision to not allow photo-manipulations, graphics, template 3Dmodel pose-art or vidding*; but we do accept:

- drawn art (traditional or digital)
- animation
- crafts (knitting, sculpting, foodart and more!)
- cosplay

and our very VERY murky area:
- photographs taken by the artist (must create style/story)
- collages/paintovers (where the collage is manual and/or is used to create a style/story)
- 3D modeling/texturing/rigging/rendering

I mean! Lookit all of those choices of fanart! This is why I find yuletart such an exciting and creative fest. But sometimes a bit harrowing for the Mods, heh. We have had to make judgment-calls not just about whether someone's art is acceptable content-wise, but also whether it fits into our definition of 'art' without the situation getting wanky.

Anyway. I think we've covered all our bases in the FAQ. Here's hoping we won't have to make such a judgment call this year! The sign-ups are still going wonderfully strong - keep 'em coming!


* I've seen vidding being used under the category of fanart; but do vidders consider themselves a separate category? Or do vidders refer to themselves as 'a fanartist'?

FANDOM SURVEY
Via notrafficlights:
If you were thinking of filling out that Fan Fiction Survey, make sure to read this first before giving away precious information about your ficcish habits.

-----
DISNEY=dom MARVEL=sub
In other news, Disney Corporation buys Marvel Company. The jokes about a Mickey Mouse/Wolverine team-up have begun as well as people crying about Marvel becoming 'family friendly'...I think the bigger WTFDKJFHKDJF is that one of the four largest megalomaniac media corporations has now bought over a comicbook industry Big Fish. That's not very family friendly to me. It's all business, folks.

(On the bright side, Tom mentioned that hopefully they'll release Disney's stable of EXTREMELY TALENTED artists onto Marvel to revamp their 2D animation style. Because a Marvel animation to rival that of Warner Bros' DCComics' [now ex-]artist Bruce Timm? That'd be kinda win.)

-----
FACEBOOK FAILURE
One last thing - Facebook starting to wane? I've shut down most of my profile and only really use mine to:

a) Rant about things like Stopping Child Torture, Racebending and (more frivolously) yapping about movies.
b) Planning parties/get togethers/meet-ups with RL friends.

The latter is invaluable because I'm pretty sure Vancouver has the highest population of Facebook accounts. (And spas for dogs...just so you know what kind of city I live in). So eh. Sure, New York City might think Facebook is leaving; but Lotusland, we ain't gonna let it die!


OMG...Kingdom Hearts + Marvel? NO STREET FIGHTER STYLE, I DEMAND FULL-ON ACTION-ADVENTURE STORY LINE WITH SORA, DONALD DUCK AND JEAN GREY, KTHNX. *headspinz*

YOU TOTALLY KNOW IT, THAT'S RIGHT.

( STAR TREK REBOOT FANART MEME - warning, giant-asstastic image )



NOW YOU MUST DO IT. IF YOU AREN'T ALREADY. HERE BE TEH BLANK

AVATAR/ZAZZLE/VIACOM UPDATE

FOFL ZAZZLE HAS PUT THE ORIGINALLY REMOVED RACEBENDING PRODUCTS BACK FOR SALE.

The story since last time you joined this hoohah:
- Zazzle removes products from the racebending store, claiming it's copyright infringement
- I inquire clarification
- They tell me Viacom claims intellectual property
- I'm like wtf and post on my LJ
- SO MANY PEOPLE GIVE ME AMAZING ADVICE, including the kickass people from otw_news and jedifreac. the hero to my sidekick.
- BoingBoing.net does a write up about it.
- Zazzle tells me that the products were removed because Viacom does routine searches on Zazzle to remove IP
- I put up MORE products, some saying 'CENSORED BY V1ACOM'
- One of those products gets removed, claiming again 'intellectual property'.
- I file a DMCA counternotification from Zazzle
- scrollgirl, bless her, emails Viacom and asks them for an explanation.
- VIACOM REPLIES IMMEDIATELY (!!!) saying:

We didn’t take anything down from Glockgal’s Zazzle store. Zazzle did it without our request or our knowledge. When we eventually heard about what they had done, we asked them to restore the merchandise as quickly as possible.

- Zazzle products...back for sale. Including all of the keywords.

Most hilarious part? Try doing a keyword search for 'airbender' on Zazzle. Other than a couple more obscure products which had never been removed, my products are the ONLY ONES THAT SHOW UP.
(this is subject to change, if the Zazzle or Viacom peeps read this journal. Hiya! *waves*)






This has been one incredibly surreal event in my life. The blending of fannish and real life...crimeny. Good god, a big thank you so EVERYONE who helped and gave advice and told me not to just shrug and accept this.

heh

AVATAR: ZAZZLE/VIACOM FAIL
Wow. OH WOW. All but one of the products on my racebending.com Zazzle store has been removed because "it contained content in violation of Viacom's intellectual property rights". This means not just images (all of which were drawn by me), but also WORDS.

Apparently a t-shirt saying 'Aang can stay Asian and still save the world' is a copyright violation, but images and words taken directly from the cartoon are just fine. Deleted as well, right after I made this post. Well...okay then. O.o

Anyway, this just means I get to make more Zazzle products and be more circumspect AND publicise on my Zazzle store that my products were removed by Viacom's orders. Awesome...?

( screencap vof images for the record )

ETA 1 - Zazzle's response to my request for a DMCA notice. ( read it here )
So I did a search for 'avatar the last airbender' and 'airbender' and found a total of two items (mine and someone else's) t-shirts. So now I'm thinking Viacom has removed EVERYONE'S products that used the search 'airbender'...not just racebending's products?

Hmmm.


ETA 2 - All's well in Zazzle/Viacom HappyLand. The racebending store now has all its products back up. Read about how it happened HERE
---------------

AVATAR: TAKE THE QUICK SURVEY!
I urge you all to fill out this quick survey over at the racebending community. Or if you're feeling lazy, you can fill it out here and I'll pass on the message:. Copy and paste in comments:
<b>AGE</b>
<b>GENDER</b>
<b>ETHNICITY</b>
<b>REASON (THREE SENTENCES ONLY)</b>

Thank you!
---------------

AVATAR: YOUTUBE CHANNEL!
Yeah baby! Racebending.com now has a YouTube Channel! It's specifically geared towards making boycotting videos for the movie, but we're also looking for creative and insightful videos regarding the protest.

More info is HERE on making your own boycott video to add to the channel (you have the freedom to be creative, but polite). If you have a video about Avatar that you'd like us to add to our Favourites, please contact [email protected].

And, if you have a webcam or a video recorder, make your own video! I'm considering buying a webcam just for this purpose! And then maybe later for....sexy purposes.*





I KID, I KID. I AM VERY SRS BZNS ;D

BINDI?
DISCLAIMER: I'm using 'Wolverine and the X-Men' as an example. I'm not offended by the cartoon, I just laugh at the story/characterization of the X-Men. My personal opinion, which doesn't affect this discussion and doesn't judge your enjoyment of the cartoon. (in short: I like tons of stuff others laugh at; but I know you don't judge me for it. ;D)

I've watched a few modern-day cartoons (most recently the laughable Wolverine and the X-Men) and noticed a vaguely delightful increase in speaking, Asian-varieties of NPCs*. In particular, Indian women (generally depicted as scientists, teachers, doctors). And generally they:

a) wear a bindi**
b) have an Indian accent

**( Digress to a LOLwtf about the Wiki entry on bindi )

So like, okay. It's a cartoon, right? Cartoons need to simplify, stylise and provide easy indicators so children can immediately understand that a character is heroic or evil or a boy or a girl. So a brown character, she could essentially be any variation of brown-skinned races in the world - until the creators slap on a bindi and give her an Indian accent.

Is it necessary? Can we have a speaking!brown character without providing cultural indicators? What I mean is:

• can a child watching the cartoon comprehend that the character is a certain race without the cultural indicator?
• for a child, can it be a subtle, subconscious form of Othering?
• and, is it really necessary for the child to comprehend the culture of the character if it's not particularly necessary to the story?

Most of the speaking!NPCs are just that - NPCs. They forward plot and no complex characterization. Interestingly, - most of the cartoons I watch being American cartoons - this cultural indicating/branding applies to white NPCs, as long as they're outside of America. In Wolverine and the XMen for example, scenes/people of Germany where hilariously situated in some olde tyme burg and the NPCs all dressed like peasants from 1896. And...I'm pretty sure they carried torches (not flashlights - actual fire).

Last question - if I win the lottery, should I commit myself to the research and investigation of race and racial shortcuts in cartoons? Because now I really really want to. And if I enlist you guys to help, I'll totally give you $5 (Canadian).



PS - 'NPC' means 'non-player character'. If you didn't already know that, your nerd-level has just dropped by 5 points. XD

AVATAR: MORE CASTING!FAIL
So remember how there were rumours floating around that the nations would be cast according to their lead actors? So in essense:

Air Nomads (heroes, victims of genocide): white people
Water Tribe (heroes, oppressed, canonically dark-skinned): white people
Earth Nation (good/bad, repressed): anything 'exotically Asian'
Fire Nation (evil, genocidal tyrants): brown people

Remember that? Yeah well it's all true. Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub and Cliff Curtis have joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER.

As much as I love - LOVE these guys, what's paining me so much is this:

• some fans of colour saying "Well, Fire Nation ain't all that bad! There's...this one character and...oh this other one character." Yes, sure. And they only way they can be good is when WHITE PEOPLE TELL THEM THEY CAN BE GOOD. Give the brown character a cookie for turning on his entire evil nation!!


• some fans of colour are saying "Yay, it's so good to see brown representation! I'm so proud!" It's sad that PoC are reduced to saying "Well...at least...they're...visible!"


• fans saying racebending and aang-aint-white are 'fanwanks'. This is just wretched.

And remember: in the cartoon, THE WATER TRIBE WAS THE DARK-SKINNED NATION. AND THE HEROES. NOW THEY ARE ALL WHITE. Once again, Hollywood is showing adults and children that White is Right. What a great adage to believe in in the year 2009.

-------
AIRBENDER: WHITE WASHED WATER TRIBE
This is killing me. Filming has begun in Greenland. What do you think about that photo? What do you think when you see that village? Hey, take a look at the people who live in Greenland!

I'd give you one clue: It's not white people.

I'm still trying to get over the fact that they've kept everything Siberian Yupik/Inuit based, except the people. They are blatantly whitewashing and they don't care. I CAN'T. I CAN'T WRAP MY HEAD AROUND THIS.
--------

Still in its rough stages, but it's functional!

AVATAR: AIR AND WATER = WHITE
There was a small but successful protest in Flushing, New York which has all been recorded here. The most disturbing discovery being that, according to what the auditioning actors told our protesters (quoth sidepocket_pro):

The casting director inside said that they are casting around the race of the actors they have chosen, so this is how the tribes will break down:
- Water Tribe = White People
- Fire Nation = Indian People
- Earth Nation = "Asian" People
Which if rumors are correct, the final puzzle piece is:
- Air Nation = White People

And this is what it means:

• The two nations that contribute the three main heroes of the film are now (conveniently) white.


• Even when people disagreed about Aang's race, most people agreed that yes, Sokka and Katara are definitely darker-skinned characters and look to be Inuit-based. The Water Tribe was - on whole - the darkest-skinned characters in the show, and they were the heroes Their nation has been completely white-washed.


• Oh! But guess who the dark-skinned ACTORS get to now play in the movie? THAT'S RIGHT, THEY ARE NOW THE VILLAINOUS NATION.


• This Asian-based fantasy world is now composed of: generic!Asian (periphery roles), South East Asian (villains) and two nations of generic!white (heroes). ONCE AGAIN, WHITE IS THE DEFAULT "RACE" FOR FANTASY CHARACTERS

--------------------------------

THE WASHINGTON POST has written an article about the casting of The Last Airbender! (OH! If you keep getting the login screen, read the article HERE.) And I am loving this Casting Director Ricketts more and more with every gem that drops from her mouth:

"There's been some talk that we're casting authentic Asians as a response to the backlash, which is totally wrong because our world is multi-ethnic and the 'Avatar' world will be multi-ethnic.'"

O RLY, MS RICKETTS?? Then why is the Inuit-based nation now white? ANYONE WITH EYES could tell that the Water Tribe was not white, even Jackson "I need a tan!" Rathbone. So is the Water tribe now gonna be Nordic? Or Icelandic? Or vampiric? The paler they are, the better the hero, amirite?

Anyway, bless the Washington Post, they did a bang up job of reporting. The best (saddest?) bit is on the last page with the quintet of hopeful actors and DeeDee Ricketts' 'helpful' advice.
--------------------------------

Let me get a few things clear, since there are a lot of people who have a thousand different opinions about what and who aang_aint_white is:

1) People who are protesting this do not hate white people. People who are protesting this do not have a political agenda. People from all spectrums of politics and race support this cause.

2) AAW is not composed of a handful of disgruntled nerdy white fans who scream racism but sekritly just want some other pet actor to play the roles. We are not all-white and the only thing that concerns us about this casting is white-washing, yellowface and discrimination.

3) AAW isn't composed of disgruntled Asians with nothing better to do than pick on honest-working white actors and innocent!sweet!Hollywood. We are not all-Asian and we are concerned about the systemic racial bias in Hollywood that has been going on for decades. If we don't speak up, this will continue.

kthnx!

AVATAR: PROTEST IN NEW YORK AND VIRGINIA
Reminder: The Last Airbender has put out a call for PoC as background roles.

aang_aint_white has the dates, times and locations on both HERE.

There's also now a Facebook event for the Flushing, NY protest, started up by sidepocket_pro who plans to attend. GO HERE If you live close/in Flushing, please consider joining in the protest!

Here's a really swell flyer from the FB event for people to print and distribute. Print/download them from here and here.

From a rather unfunny article in the Washington Post:

The producers are looking for actors of Mongolian, Cambodian or Laotian heritage, which suggests the filmmaker is responding to previous criticism from "Avatar" fans about the cast looking a little too Caucasian.

Responding? Responding how? By making sure everyone with non-speaking roles gets to be Asian, while the white actors save the world? Oh! Oh how GRACIOUS of them. Yeah, that's exactly what we want, thanks so much. *bows, bows, wags head, bows*

Honestly, I would have been less aggravated if they just cast everyone as white actors/extras and have done with it. But this is just insulting. This kind of response only serves to rub in my face just how much they believe only white actors in lead roles will bring in the $$$$$. I JUST. GYAH.

If you live nearby either Flushing or Arlington but you can't attend, please consider printing out the flyers over the weekend and posting them in public areas or leaving a pile of them in a public area? THANK YOU I LOVE YOU FOR IT!

<3 <3 <3

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER - LULZ
Man, I haven't done a Google search for 'aang-aint-white' in a long time, and yet it never fails to be full of fail.

I finally found a commenter who thinks racism is over (see comment 10). I feel like I should win a prize or something! I mean, I've joked about that whole "But we elected Obama! We're post-racism!" tripe, but I never thought I'd actually see it. Not only are we post-racial, but WW2 Japanese internment camps were fear-based (not racist!) and lynchings don't happen any more.

HAAHAHAH WHY ARE PEOPLE SO --. Anyway. I won't say what.

Even better, I also found the most confused reaction to Aang-Aint-White ever. I mean, is he for a diverse cast? Or is he against it? Or does he only approve of it if people agree with him and hate 'tangential liberals'? This is why Canadians get a bad rap - because they get angry about stuff, but then they flip-flop on points and therefore make NO POINT. The best part of this is that he's under the impression that the creator of aang_aint_white is...oh where's the quote, it's so gold...ah:

Except the chick who started the "Aang ain't white" movement on Youtube is white. The vast majority of people who I've seen up in arms about this are white. I've seen extremely little asian interest in this at all; because really most asians don't give a fuck about Avatar. Its fan-rage, and most of the fans of Avatar are pasty white kids.

So...is he saying that only Asian people should be angry about this? Or just white people who AREN'T fans of the show? Or....?

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAH WHY ARE PEOPLE SO ---. Right. Not gonna say it.

Now I'm gonna Google 'Avatar whitewash' and see what I can find! Wheeee.....?
-----------------------------------

-- Oh and to clarify, I've been using the royal 'We' in the past few Avatar-related posts. Not out of pretentiousness; I literally mean 'we' as in the core-group from AAW. It's truly been a group effort (massive stress on effort) and so I feel like I should be inclusive. :D Rah rah rah!

-- Over on racebending, there's an interesting discussion on Inuit Culture in the Last Airbender Movie. I figure some of you might wanna join in! I plan to as well, once I get my thoughts formulated, hehe.

-- And later, more on the East West Players, their group members and their upcoming production!