I'm Not Really Here

May 21

The Random Fan: Ethics, Race, and Casting

Read This. Because, Once Again, carnivaloftherandom is SPOT ON:

Please heed the warning: SPOILERS. I’m putting this behind a cut, but there is seriously no way you won’t be spoilered for IM3 or Star Trek Into Darkness if you click through.

People threw hissy fits when Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Nick Fury, when Laurence Fishburne was cast as Perry White, when Idris Elba was cast as Heimdall. Lather, rinse, repeat as the fanbase erupted into ugliness. I will always want the right person in the role as written, but there are certainly issues with changing established characters’ race. Sometimes, when race is not an intrinsic issue for the character: it can be cast in the way that best serves the character. Usually, this involves changing a character from white to another race. Why? Because whiteness is very rarely a character-informing feature. This is because privilege isn’t a character trait unless you’re leaning on it and being a jerkface. Maleness isn’t a character-informing feature in most modern circumstances, hence we have Joan Watson on Elementary. (Who could still have legitimately been a combat surgeon in the Army in Afghanistan if they’d chosen to use that backstory. It is the 21st century.)

I will say that I had a very hard time writing this, not because of my feelings on these particular films but because there are a lot of discussions to be had about, “Colorblind,” casting. (note, please go visit racialicious.com for more information on racelifting, racebending, whitewashing, etc.) When we have a gender majority of 51% female, and 49% of children under age 5 and 51% of children under age 1 in the US are non-white, the fact that the number of roles for women and PoC (especially in futuristic settings) are shrinking is an obscenity.

Last year, there was a charge of putting caucasian actors in what amounted to “Yellow-face,” in Cloud Atlas. The film is chock-full of race, gender, age, and every other permutation of transformation for a handful of the lead and supporting actors. While I think that it can be said that a more organic use of makeup might have played better, I think that the film made absolutely critical points about the nature of “Othering” and the narratives we perpetuate in order to preserve our own status quo. These are conversations that we need to have, even when there is clearly not ill intent at play. The status quo has to be challenged in order for it to change.

That said, two recent films (Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness) handle race and adversarial characters in very different ways.

Now is the point at which I warn you again: Spoilers. Many, large, and varied spoilers. Deal with it.

Read More

Once again, CarnivalOfTheRandom is SPOT ON.

May 8

hugewiener:

There was a party on May 3rd at the University of Southern California with the majority of attendees being African-American and Hispanic USC students. The party was registered with the school, and there was another party directly across the street being attended by mostly Caucasian/White students. Both parties had similar noise levels according to dozens of accounts from both sides (source).

Two cops arrived to the party with the minorities and told them to lower their noise level; the party’s host told the attendees to go inside the house and they resumed the party in there with lower volume. A few minutes later the cops came back and students began leaving, and the cops arrested the host. More and more cops began to arrive and soon a helicopter came. All of this was while the students were filing out and more and more cops entered the home; furthermore, the white party continued across the street and some officers even went there to tell them to stay inside and safe. A white student told reporters that “basically they didn’t stop our party at all. They had no problem with us.” (source).

As the minority students saw all the cops and attempted to leave, some were tased, and some were slammed to the ground and arrested. Many resisted on the grounds that they had no idea why they were being arrested seeing as they were leaving peacefully and were over the drinking age (the party required ID). Even more cops arrived (source)(video).

Later that night at about 4:30am, a resident at the house where the white party was thrown was awoken by thudding. He rose to see two LAPD officers trying to speak to his roommate. They ordered him to wake up everybody in the (co-ed) house and as they did so they stumbled into two female residents shirtless and asleep, and one of the officers simply stared. (source)

The reason that they were in that house was to gather statements about how LAPD acted correctly against the minority students but the students at the white party’s house gave factual statements that did not incriminate the minority students how the officers wanted. They have complained about their home being entered without a warrant in the middle of the night but have yet to hear back.

On Tuesday USC will have an open forum in regards to the racial profiling that happened (at the party and in the past) at the school but that is not enough; this has to be more than a local issue and should be made known nationally. USC has issues with racial profiling and it is time that it stops. Anyone can help by signing this petition and making it big. (Photograph source)

Jesus fucking christ people.

(via wilwheaton)

Apr 29

mohandasgandhi:

brofiling:

white privilege radically changes the appearance of Tsarnaev bros

This is how brofiling actually works in real life. The Week Magazine ran with this image as their cover sketch.

Just so it is said, clearly and unambiguously: the Tsarnaev brothers are white guys. They are white. The FBI’s own wanted poster for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lists his race as “white”, but you would never know it from the cover image on The Week.

Hold up the cover to someone else, and ask them how many white people they can see on the cover. Chances are they will identify Gabby Giffords on the top left and the image of the Boston policemen (all white men) on the top right, but how about those two guys in the center? Nope, not a chance that anyone would say these caricatures look white.

Why? Because in addition to being white they are also “Muslim”, which is the current dehumanizing “Other” that whiteness has constructed as a sanctioned target for violence in US popular culture.

This is how white privilege works in media representations and everyday life: when the criminal suspects are demonstrably white men, seize upon any aspect of difference and magnify it such that they become Othered, non-white, and menacing. If it is too hard to do so, simply dismiss them as aberrations and isolated cases of insanity. This is also how white culture, specifically the process of whiteness in conjunction with white privilege, portrays several non-white identities, including those that are now considered white but at one time were decidedly not so. For example, see here for how the Irish were depicted as violent apes or lazy drunks in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

If this story is true, Tamerlan Tsarnaev clearly self-identified as a white Muslim. The Week Magazne is active on Tumblr. Maybe they can help explain how this cover happened.

They. Are From. The Caucasus. Mountains.

They are CAUCASIAN.

YOU DON’T GET MORE WHITE THAN BEING UPPER MIDDLE CLASS COLLEGE KIDS IN BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS WHO ARE LITERALLY CAUCASIAN AND WHO SELF-IDENTIFY AS “WHITE.”

(via alisonborealis)

Jan 23

Understanding Ethnocrunching – How Racism Works In The Comic Industry

The point here is that historically-speaking, no one can make the argument that there haven’t been Black people interested in mainstream superhero comic books; at least, not from the late 1970s onward. I’m surrounded by very talented, incredibly intelligent and remarkably geeky Black professional writers all the time. Some of them create in the independent comics scene and others stick to Hollywood television and film. Almost all of them would love the opportunity to do work at Marvel and DC. So again, the question is why are the numbers so low?

If you’re interested in this conversation, then you need to get yourself a copy of Dr Jonathan Gayles’ (@shaftorsidney) ‘White Scripts, Black Supermen”: http://blacksuperherodoc.com/

(via mercurialblonde)

Dec 2

And now Firefly is Perfect.

(via malpertuis)

Aug 17

Identity Politics

Your first identity is defined by what you struggle against. It’s set down for you by the world, your parents, your social status, whatever.

After you overcome that, at least (most importantly?) internally, every identity after that is of your own choosing, in full knowledge of how you have changed, what you have become, what influences you, and what you allow to have power over how you live your life, and what you strive to be.

Or It Ought To Be.

Good night.

Jun 13

Dear Gamers:

I play.

I’ve played since I was a little kid.
Since I begged my dad to buy me a Nintendo LCD Donkey Kong, Jr.
Since I blew through three weeks’ allowance playing Defender at the laundromat.
Since you were a twinge in the left side of your daddy’s underoos.

I’ve been a gamer since I made friends with a girl in the 5th grade just to get at her Atari.
Since I missed the bus playing Galaga after school.
Since I missed the start of Return of the Jedi playing Tempest in the theater lobby.

You think you know. You don’t know…

Aisha Tyler, you are a hero to my people.

May 20

The Carnival of The Random: Race, celebrity, gender, and rape culture: What we refuse to see

carnivaloftherandom:

Last year, this incident occurred, we’ve recently heard of Alec Baldwin being stalked by a woman, and most people are familiar with Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder by a stalker-fan, or Paula Abdul’s stalker committing suicide.

Last week, Wil Smith was physically accosted by a journalist while…

Mar 1

13 Year Old Jada Williams Persecuted by the Rochester City School District Over her essay on Frederick Douglass.

unknownbinaries:

kamenridercaoimhe:

sanityscraps:

ladyatheist:

baddominicana:

thatmuchlove:

13 Year Old Jada Williams Persecuted by the Rochester City School District Over her essay on Frederick Douglass.

ai-yo:

jumpstart-therevolution:

theafrosistuh:

beautifulbrwn:

“On Saturday, February 18, 2012, the Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York presented the first Spirit of Freedom award to Jada Williams, a 13-year old city of Rochester student.  Miss Williams wrote an essay on her impressions of Frederick Douglass’ first autobiography the Narrative of the Life.  This was part of an essay contest, but her essay was never entered.  It offended her teachers so much that, after harassment from teachers and school administrators at School #3, Miss Williams was forced to leave the school. We at the Frederick Douglass Foundation honored her because her essay actually demonstrates that she understood the autobiography, even though it might seem a bit esoteric to most 13-year olds.  In her essay, she quotes part of the scene where Douglass’ slave master catches his wife teaching then slave Frederick to read.  During a speech about how he would be useless as a slave if he were able to read, Mr. Auld, the slave master, castigated his wife. Miss Williams quoted Douglass quoting Mr. Auld:  “If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” Miss Williams personalized this to her own situation.  She reflected on how the “white teachers” do not have enough control of the classroom to successfully teach the minority students in Rochester.  While she herself is more literate than most, due to her own perseverance and diligence, she sees the fact that so many of the other “so-called ‘unteachable’” students aren’t learning to read as a form of modern-day slavery.  Their illiteracy holds them back in society. Her call to action was then in her summary: “A grand price was paid in order for us to be where we are today; but in my mind we should be a lot further, so again I encourage the white teachers to instruct and I encourage my people to not just be a student, but become a learner.” This offended her English teacher so much…”

Wow.

Read and reblog!!

“this offended her English teacher so much that the teacher copied the essay for other teachers and for the Principal. After that, Miss Williams’ mother and father started receiving phone calls from numerous teachers, all claiming that their daughter is “angry.”  Miss Williams, mostly a straight-A student, started receiving very low grades, and she was kicked out of class for laughing and threatened with in-school suspension.
There were several meetings with teachers and administrators, but all failed to answer Miss Williams’ mother’s questions. The teachers refused to show her the tests and work that she had supposedly performed so poorly on.  Instead, the teachers and administrators branded her a problem. Unable to take anymore of the persecution, they pulled her from School #3.  Wanting to try another school, they were quickly informed that that school was filled and told to try “this school.”  During her first day at this new school, she witnessed four fights, and other students asked her if she was put here because she fights too much. Long story short, they took an exceptional student, with the radical idea that kids should learn to read, and put her in a school of throwaway students who are even more unmanageable than the average student in her previous school.  To protect their daughter, her parents have had to remove her from school, and her mother has had to quit her job so she can take care of Miss Williams. To date, the administrators of School #3 have refused to release her records, even though she no longer attends the school, and they have repeatedly given her mother the run around.  We at the Frederick Douglass Foundation have contacted school administrators in regards to this situation and have also been told to hit the pavement.
That’s what we intend to do.  If this school will sacrifice the welfare of an above-average student whose essay, that they asked her to write, they find offensive, we intend to make everyone aware of this monstrous injustice.  The school has a job, and it is not doing it.  We would like as many folks as possible to call the Principal of School #3 and complain about this injustice.  Her name is Miss Connie Wehner, and she can be reached at (585) 454-3525.  This treatment of Jada Williams cannot stand.

See Video of Jada reading her Essay Here
Read Related Blog posts Here, Here and Here”

——-

wow wow wow i am just

omfg

wow

this country. i cant anymore.

And white people wonder why we’re pissed the fuck off.

As someone who wants to be an educator, this just blows me away. The racism here is so obvious that I barely need to point it out. I just want to add that this is kind of the opposite of what teachers are supposed to do in general—as a teacher, it is your job to get your students thinking, not discouraging schools of thought you find offensive. Especially not when that student’s “radical idea” or whatever is essentially that everyone should learn to read properly.

I…

Dear God.

What the fuck?

… What? No. Seriously. What?

What in the Actual fuck? Are you people fuckingmorons? Or just regular morons? Or did maybe something hit you in the head and cause you to lose that part of your brain where you’re teachers and responsible for teaching children, a job which includes actually listening to what they have to say, and then, oh I don’t know, Seeking To Address The Problem?

I just… I don’t even know anymore, people…

“Angry?” I’ll fucking show you “angry.”

(via teratocybernetics)

Feb 27

@LeVarBurton, in the latimes:

Great interview with LeVar Burton over on Hero Complex. He talks about “Star Trek,” “Reading Rainbow” and “Roots.”

On castmates:

PKD: Who do you see the most?

LB: Brent [Spiner] and Marina [Sirtis]. Jonathan travels a lot directing. Patrick infrequently. I go over there or he comes over here. Gates [McFadden] is busy with her theater. Michael Dorn is out spending his money.

On fans:

PKD: Any notable fans?

LB: Jimmy Fallon is a big fan of the show. He does all of these singer impersonations and a couple of months ago he did Jim Morrison singing the “Reading Rainbow” theme song. It’s really good.

On race:

PKD: It seems like Geordi always got shot down by women. Constantly. Did you ever bring that up to the showrunners?

LB: Mm-hmm. It was frustrating to me. I mean from a writer’s perspective, I get that it was the idea that the nerd or the geek is inept around the feminine form. But I was never comfortable with it. And I also thought there were some other things going on. Sociological things. Everybody had a sexual identity, even Data the robot. But Geordi didn’t. The Klingon did. But the black man didn’t. You’d have to be a black man to have the perspective, because you see that pattern repeated throughout popular culture, so it becomes a familiar pattern that you notice readily.

Bonus nerd thing: Just realized Times’ staffer Patrick Day’s initials are PKD.

Photo: Astronaut Mae Jemison appears in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” with LeVar Burton. Credit: Robbie Robinson / Paramount Pictures

Yeah the PKD thing threw me, for a second.

Having been rewatching all of TNG, recently, these ideas are fresh in my mind. I was, in fact, just last night, thinking about the fact that Geordi never has a successful relationship, and it’s a little upsetting to me, for obvious reasons.

And now this has me wondering how many of my early relationships were coloured (so to speak) by this invisible architecture of bias… Hm

(via sunfell)