never shined through in what i've shown

[musesfool]

After following the race (and context) fail that's the big topic of discussion all over my flist yesterday and this morning, it feels a little weird to talk about Treme, a show that is set in the aftermath of a huge tragedy, but which doesn't, imo, fall into the same traps as the big bang story in question. (As always, native New Orleanians may

Comments

[dotfic]

I'd be hesitant to watch Treme for the same reasons you mention. But I want to see it at some point. As it is I can't stand to read any stories or see any pictures or read about 9/11.

But I think the point here isn't that it's never okay to tell a fictionalized account of a tragedy. It's in how it's told, and the representations and how it comes across.

[musesfool]

Yeah, I read the first volume of "Ex Machina" a few years ago, got to the last page, and uh, had to retreat gracefully from the rest of the series. It's 9/11-related and I was just not ready to deal. I was actually glad to be spoiled for that shot in the s1 finale of Fringe.

I think Treme handles it well. The stories are about the people, dealing with the devastation of Katrina, not about two white well-off guys who come to New Orleans to escape their manpain and fall in love against a backdrop of tragedy.

[nestra]

To me, the important point here is that New Orleanians are involved in the production of the show. The show is down there, in the middle of it, and some New Orleanians are writers for the show. I haven't seen the show, and this may come off as one of those "Well, it doesn't offend *me*, so it doesn't offend anyone."

Also, you know, Treme is not about two white guys having sex because the tragedy of New Orleans has taught them the meaning of life.

[musesfool]

Yeah, I think having locals on the staff, and doing the filming there in the city itself, is very important in keeping these sorts of issues top of mind for the showrunner (who I think tends to be aware of this stuff, but from his own sometimes myopic POV).

Also, you know, Treme is not about two white guys having sex because the tragedy of New Orleans has taught them the meaning of life.

And that sums up my whole post very pithily. If only I could have done it without using so many words.

[jerel]

Wow, that story is full of so much fail, even if it weren't an SPN RPF. (I didn't realize it at first...not my fandom. But about halfway down I said "wait, Jared and Jensen, aren't they...wait, WTF?!?")

People are asking "why didn't the betas say something?" They probably didn't know it was wrong. Unless you've taken the time to educate yourself about the culture and the society, and the psychology of disaster, you're going to write fics like this one. If you have taken the time, or you are part of the culture, you get something like Treme.

[musesfool]

I mean, okay, clearly setting a romance against the huge epic backdrop of world events is common (and often full of this kind of fail), but this is a disaster that is still ongoing! She started this weeks after the earthquake happened! Even if she wasn't aware of the racist/colonialist implications, surely good taste would warrant waiting until the bodies had gone cold before using them as props in her romance novel.

[jerel]

Good taste is in short supply on the internet...

[writingpathways]

I personally don't understand using tragedies to tell stories until over a decade or more has past. Even in Fringe when they showed the Towers and references Other Universe's 9/11 I felt weird about it.

Also, yeah, I was talking about this last night but you pointed something out that is so true: Just using the people of the tragedy as background is just SO wrong, they are the heart of the issue not setting.

[musesfool]

they are the heart of the issue not setting.

Exactly.

I still don't get how nobody involved in writing/betaing etc. didn't stop and say, "hold up, this is extremely sketchy."

[writingpathways]

Unfortunately some people are very sheltered inside their own bubbles, until they learn. I've had to learn few things the harder way, granted nothing like this.

[musesfool]

I guess, but this is an extremely recent tragedy. Even if she didn't see the racism or colonialism, surely the fact that it only happened six months ago would have made her (or one of her betas) see that it was in poor taste. I don't even know.

[soundingsea]

Yeah, exactly. Having the Actual Local People be the characters in the story is exceedingly different from having People From Elsewhere barge into the scene and start manpaining all over the place.

I know that I would be unlikely to watch a show set in downtown Manhattan in the latter months of 2001

I wasn't there, and I still don't think I could watch something like that. But if it were made by actual New Yorkers, I at least wouldn't object to it existing...

[musesfool]

*nod nod*

Treme has a lot of locals involved, which I think definitely makes a huge difference, just in terms of representing them respectfully and authentically. I also think avoiding exactly the set up of the problematic big bang story - heroic (white) outsiders come in to save the devastated (poor brown) natives locals - works hugely in its favor.