.
All I can say seeing these (pay special attention to this one, please) is that, while I actually agree with a lot of the critiques I'm seeing made, I am glad to see other people who are tired of some of the "race in fandom" stuff. I think it's important to talk about how things are portrayed, on the one hand. And there's not much to disagree with when what people are saying is that the whitewashing of The Last Airbender sucks. It does. And we should say so loudly. No argument here.
But on the other hand, I have seen discussions of these kinds of things turn into "well, if you disagree then you're just willfully *ist," and I have seen that sort of thing snapped at latecomers to pitched debates. And I do start to wonder how much of it's really productive.
I mean, there are a lot of people out there who face racism every day who aren't even going to know, much less care, whether some white director made some unsurprising but disappointing casting choice, or whether some plot point or character in some novel rehashes some ugly stereotype. As a female I see silly female characters in a lot of things, yet I don't see indignation at anywhere near the same level.
(Just to use an example, I see a lot of failtastica wrt gender in both Transformers canon and some of fanon. I don't try to mobilize all of the Internet in indignation. I do write Nova.)
It may well be that I'm white and that I don't see how race is different, but... I don't know. I'd love to see less failing, but I really do wonder if the way the criticisms most often get made is at all productive. It so easily turns into "you're with us or you're against us," like these secret-writers say. I wonder how useful that is, really. And I know, I know, as the boilerplate goes I'm white so I don't get to decide what's useful, but... eh. That use of privilege as a concept still seems like a useless maze to me.
I mean... I remember when all the Tropic Thunder stuff was going around. And I was really mad about that and saw no problem with saying so. But at the same time, even there I wonder... there's a much more important fight to get the r-word out of legislative language going on right now. And isn't that more important? Is it really true that one has to fight artists (no matter how bad the "art" they churn out) in order to effectively fight the other, more important battles?
I don't know. I don't think I ever did know.
But on the other hand, I have seen discussions of these kinds of things turn into "well, if you disagree then you're just willfully *ist," and I have seen that sort of thing snapped at latecomers to pitched debates. And I do start to wonder how much of it's really productive.
I mean, there are a lot of people out there who face racism every day who aren't even going to know, much less care, whether some white director made some unsurprising but disappointing casting choice, or whether some plot point or character in some novel rehashes some ugly stereotype. As a female I see silly female characters in a lot of things, yet I don't see indignation at anywhere near the same level.
(Just to use an example, I see a lot of failtastica wrt gender in both Transformers canon and some of fanon. I don't try to mobilize all of the Internet in indignation. I do write Nova.)
It may well be that I'm white and that I don't see how race is different, but... I don't know. I'd love to see less failing, but I really do wonder if the way the criticisms most often get made is at all productive. It so easily turns into "you're with us or you're against us," like these secret-writers say. I wonder how useful that is, really. And I know, I know, as the boilerplate goes I'm white so I don't get to decide what's useful, but... eh. That use of privilege as a concept still seems like a useless maze to me.
I mean... I remember when all the Tropic Thunder stuff was going around. And I was really mad about that and saw no problem with saying so. But at the same time, even there I wonder... there's a much more important fight to get the r-word out of legislative language going on right now. And isn't that more important? Is it really true that one has to fight artists (no matter how bad the "art" they churn out) in order to effectively fight the other, more important battles?
I don't know. I don't think I ever did know.