Ed stans trying to convince everyone it's problematic to think Izzy had better character development than Ed in S2 without making it about race challenge (impossible)

Yo another Helluva Boss Rant, Part Five thousand.

People are really out here saying we can't watch Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel as if they are some holy artefact. This may sound harsh but fuck off with that bullshit. Any show, movie, comic, and artist can be criticised for anything, yes some criticism is unhelpful I'll give you that, but at the end of the day, people can give their opinion on anything. Also, hate watching is a thing, a great example would be watching a bad movie because you love how horrible it is for example The Room, The Twilight movies, The 50 Shades of Grey Movies, or Any Disney Live Action Remake. All of these are absolute trash heaps but most people watch them over and over again because it's something to laugh at for a good while.

Vivzipop is a horrible person.

I might be harassed for a while but it needs to be said Viv is a horrible employer and person. She pays her animation staff dirt for all the hours they slave away on her intricate character designs, the fast paced action scenes, the more "heartfelt" scenes only to get low pay. Also her stopping her employees from finding better work like Lackadaisy, as we seen with the discord chat where an animator was explained to that Viv called them words like manic, insane, crazy just so they could find no other opportunities forcing them to stay with her. That isn't how you treat anyone, and if you think differently then I'm sorry to break it to you you're a bad person.

Of course the ableism, look as someone who has been called the R word multiple times in my life, I'm not offended by it being used in an adult show but only if you make it clear that it is a harmful word, unlike Viv who constantly teases the word as if it's funny to say, but like the coward she is never says it. JUST SAY IT AND BE DONE WITH IT. Yes I'll bust your balls about it but atleast it proves to me that you have some gumption.

I'm not a POC I'm far from it but I feel like this show can give people the wrong idea about women of colour. For Example, Millie is a bloodthirsty and adoring wife, but that's it she doesn't appear unless her husband is around or even does anything without Moxxie's approval. Also, it paints her as aggressive which is a common stereotype of black women. Verosika is a bitter ex of Blitzo and nothing more, wait I forgot a woman who enjoys sex. Now there is nothing wrong with sex or sex workers but again at this time that is all she is in the show and of course a discussion can be held about the objectification of POC in a sexual manner. Also Barbie....who is a fucking groomer and addict. These are three Canon Women of Colour and that's what we got, in my opinion not a good enough representation, because all these female characters are one note and objectively horrible people, also all are painted as angry and all of them have had at least two comments about their sex lives.

If these don't prove that Vivien M is not atleast a a ignorant person or at worst a awful human being then I can't explain to you anything, because your just choosing to be blind to reality.

As always you look great today/ tonight. l, have a wonderful day/night, and praise the frog lord.

Im sorry but can you explain how it’s racist to not support a show made by a company famous from exploiting its workers? Run by a man who doesnt give a shit about anyone other than himself and his money? How is Amazon not a bigger threat to equality, than people not supporting a show that happens to have a couple of actors of color in it? What about the POC working in amazon warehouses? The POC who will not be made rich and famous off this show, but will continue to suffer under this evil fucking rich white man’s power? Jeff Bezos will profit off of this, not people of color. If youre looking for ways to fight racism, go to a protest. Donate to causes that support POC. Punch a nazi or something, idk

I have explained this multiple times but I'll go ahead and do it again; How is your vitriol against a series, no matter how much you think Amazon cares about it's success, helping those same people? Lets go ahead and throw all realism out of the window for a second, imagine the boycott of this show is so detrimental to Amazon that it shuts down Amazon Prime entirely, how do you think that will help all those exploited workers? They're all out of jobs now, whose going to help them? Do you think the current state of the world has enough of a support net to catch those people? Have you actually considered what a boycott is, why they happen and what your actual end goal is in engaging in it?

Here's my prediction for what'll actually happen, Amazon will not get quite as much money as they expected too. They will look at the loudest voices and will see that most of them were from racist fans (who also hated that women were prominent in the show as well) and cut those characters played by non-white actors for the later seasons. They will also try to make back more of their earnings by exploiting those workers even more than before, possibly laying off some people in the process. They will start manipulating more of their fantasy content to appeal to those racist fans and those shows WILL get more viewers and less backlash because it won't be Tolkien and none of this strange religious-like extreme of defensiveness will be driving it's fans to hate on changes to canon. The white supremacist Tolkien fans will pat themselves on the back and consider it a job well done and return to watching and supporting Amazon, because few of them care about exploited workers.

Again, this backlash is not prominent for any other Amazon show, Critical Role is on Amazon but the pushback against that was minimal. In this situation we have a massive fanbase, a lot of whom are very protective of Tolkien for a variety of reasons, being manipulated by the racists within the fandom to hate on the show because they don't like that 'tolkien is woke now'. I'm sure a lot of people believe they dislike the show for good reasons, and indeed maybe Galadriel fighting is a deal breaker for you or something! But does that really deserve the kind of moralistic 'destroying tolkien's vision' rhetoric when PJ's films are entirely equivolent in these canon changes? Aren't we being influenced by other kinds of rhetoric from people who weren't outwardly racist until their favourite middle-earth had black people in it?

It is not racist to dislike the show or to dislike amazon. It's not racist to be loud about how much you hate what you've seen of the show! I actually never said it was. What I did say, was that if you do that I cannot distinguish you from those who are sending Ismael Cruz Cordova or Sophia Nomvete death threats and dogpiling on every single non-white person who says they're excited about seeing black elves. The arguments are the same, the tone is the same and often whole sentences are the same, it's just when they say 'they're ruining tolkien's vision, he's turning in his grave, this is just a corporate shill to appeal to the masses' they mean because black people are in it and a woman is fighting onscreen. And I am simply asking, are you all comfortable in tacitly supporting those people and are you sure your aggression towards the show is justified? Are you sure it is helping, if that is your intent? And are you sure the reasons for this aggression aren't infact misinformation spread by these aforementioned racist fans, when they are so incredibly prominent within the public fanbase?

TW/CW// Brief mentions of Homophobia, Transphobia, and Islamophobia, Mentions of Abuse, Racism, and general fandom idiocy

If you replace a poc with someone else, lets say another minority, and it is obvious that they r a minority, like they r wearing pride flag stuff, they're wearing a hijab, etc. and something vague that someone says about that person, like. idk. about them not being the kinda person you should hang around with. and you would call that person homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, etc. for saying that about the person? It isn't bigotry. If the statement could be applied to anyone. Then it isn't bigotry.

Yes this is about Billy Hargrove. Also YOU GUYS HAVE NO CLUE WHAT CONTEXT MEANS AND IT SHOWS. Max literally yelled at Lucas IN FRONT OF BILLY. HE WAS LIKE 20 FEET AWAY WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE FIGHT. She yelled at him that he makes her feel like shit/that he treats her like shit. And whether u wanna admit it or not, Billy does care about Max. And even if he didn't, he is forced to take care of her. He has to be the parent. SO WHY THE HELL. After hearing that this random boy he's never met, treats his little sister who he cares about and is forced to be responsible for, like shit. Would he NOT tell her that there are some people you shouldn't be around. And that that boy is one of them. And in the Byer house where he sees her with Lucas again, AFTER HE WAS JUST ABUSED BECAUSE SHE RAN AWAY, of fucking course he's gonna target Lucas and not one of the other boys. He hasn't seen them with Max, he has no reason to thing of them as being bad influences or harmful.

And fuck no it doesn't excuse his actions or make them okay. He still attacked a 13/14 (don't remember their exact age) yr old. But nothing about his words or actions are explicitly, outwardly, whatever word u wanna use, racist. And even if he is racist (which by the way, every yt person, especially/specifically in America has institutionalized racism at the very least which takes a long time, and lots of education to break down, which isn't gonna fucking happen when u live in an abusive household where you have other things you have to focus on so you and ur kid sister don't fucking die, especially in the 80's), Max never fucking says anything about it. Even if what he said or did was racist, Max never said or did anything. Obviously I could understand her not saying anything to Billy because she might think he'd get angry. But she never goes to Lucas trying to comfort him, apologize for Billy's behavior, anything.

While I'm on the topic I might as well bring up the fact that NO ONE IN THE SHOW. EVER FUCKING TREATS LUCAS WITH RESPECT OR UNDERSTANDING IN RELATION TO HIS STRUGGLES WITH BEING A BLACK TEENAGER IN THE 80'S. In season 1, he gets SO MUCH shit from the fandom for not trusting Jane/El. A random girl who showed up out of no where, who, through no fault of her own, brings a bunch of dangerous ppl coming after the group. And basically no one gives Mike any shit for doing the same thing to Max in season 2. In season 4 when he is trying to fit in, to not be seen as a weirdo, outcast, freak, etc. So fucking many people treated him like he's an asshole for that. He is a black 15 yr old boy in the fucking 80's. In a town that is predominantly white. Where all of his friends are white. Most of the people at his school, are white. Of fucking course he's gonna do whatever he can to "fit in" and stay with the popular crowd. Not doing that would put even more of a target on his back. I'm so happy they put in that brief moment at Benny's where the only other black person on the team and at the house comes over to tell him it will be okay after the police show up. That he's not gonna be in trouble. Despite a good portion of the fandom being really diverse, be it queer, poc, etc. so many of y'all put the cishet yt characters on a pedestal and either ignore or straight up shit on the few queer characters & poc characters.

That's the end of my fucking rant for now. I'm tired. Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk. night guys.

Lucas's treatment being shit after 4 seasons is just horrible and the way they treated Erica in this season too? And you know the show will never focus on their characters and actual struggles ever, they are literally the only poc we have on the show aside from argyle aka the token funny mexican and kali who virtually got removed from the show. Robin as you said ais written like a sidepiece to a man aka steve, vickie barely was given any screentime or personality we dont even know anything virtually personal about her, also funny af that they couldnt even bother giving vickie and argyle a surname... will's character is trashed in each season with a less amount of screentime on the show. We will likely get vickie and robin as the only queer couple on the show which will happen only in the last season meanwhile the straight ships had at least 3-4 seasons of romance stories and content and screentime dedicated to them. Stancy teasing in s4 has more screentime than the potential queer wlw couple. Like bitch exit your ao3 world where you created an artifical version of the show. The duffers are mediocre writers and your average white men but fandom likes getting obssessed over your typical white men so ofc they will eat any shit these guys will put on their table.

It is soooo funny how this fandom loves to throw around how billy fans is what happens when “straight girls stan white man” but then has literally ZERO self awareness of what the fuck they’re doing. First of all y’all latched onto Eddie for no goddamn good reason cuz that’s one of the worst characters I’ve ever seen in my life. All your other faves on this show? White as Casper. Y’all can’t even hold the white men writing absolute garbage accountable for their terrible writing so like…. Y’all can’t even hide behind stanning the female characters as being any better cuz they all suffer from white woman syndrome and I say this as a white woman.

Seasons 1 and 2 were the only noteworthy seasons and people either cling to that and ignore that trash fire the show became OR its these new fans that jumped on when the show already sucked but they were already brainwashed into thinking stranger things was MEANT to be a goofy unserious comedy hour reminiscent of fucking riverdale which has rotted an entire generations brains. This fandoms critical thinking skills is just collectively embarrassing quite frankly

Hey, hope you're good.

I just saw your post about ofmd. I used to love it too, but I hated the fans and I don't fuck w zionists so I'm out of that fandom now.

But one thing I didn't know was that the fans were racist. Do you mind me asking what they said/did that was regarded as racist? Or just something you can vaguely remember?

I'm just curious is all. I was never overly involved with the fanbase, so I never saw anything like that.

hi!! been trying to think for a while on how to answer this. i was under a lot of fire from ofmd fans for a little while so i decided to wait to answer it anyways. i want to disclaim that i'm a pretty white-passing ojibwe kid, meaning i'm native american; all my commentary on the anti-indigenous (and other) racism i saw in the ofmd fandom is not from a maori perspective, rather just a colonized indigenous one in general. there's also the topic of the historical characters portrayed in the show being slaveowners and this being entirely glossed over in the show - which i can't really effectively speak on, other than to say it's disgusting. there is a lot of good writing on media like hamilton and ofmd that just almost completely erase slavery, but i'm not really equipped to write about it.

anyways!!! most of my issues with other people in the ofmd fandom came from their treatment of the character ed teach. now i used to like taika waititi before all this nonsense cause he was an indigenous filmmaker and i'm indigenous and want to be a filmmaker and i thought it was neat that he did what he did. i was super excited to see a Very Popular Show have an indigenous lead whose character was actually indigenous not just ambiguously brown!! and so when i came to the ofmd fandom i sort of expected other people to feel the same - not the case, to say the least. i saw no shortage of white fans writing fic about stede "civilizing" ed (the actual word that most people used) and people writing essays on how ed is abusive and izzy hands was uniquely his innocent (white) victim, and giving white characters this level of grace that ed was not afforded. and i think (couldn't tell you whether this is still accurate as i haven't seen s2 and i never will) a theme of his character was meant to be moral complexity, only white fans can't handle a morally complex character of color, especially not an indigenous one with complex relationships to white characters that they liked better. all the meta i read about ed teach that was written by anyone who wasn't indigenous just completely ignored his indigeneity like it had nothing to do with his character's written place in the world, like any oppression or disrespect ed received was as a result of being poor, or being a pirate, or being (no joke) uniquely aggressive and prone to violence (thus deserving it).

this is just a surface level of the way people talked and wrote about ed teach - racism all over. then, if i or any other fan who was a poc tried to speak up about it, there'd be outcry of puritanism and not letting people have fun and being too sensitive and immature for a fandom space. (although, there's something almost poetically hilarious about me, a 17 yr old, being told i'm too immature, by the same 30 some year olds who are now putting all their money towards their slaveownder rpf show instead of a real cause, let's not get into that, though!) i've not been in a lot of fandoms in my life, i kind of prefer to just enjoy things by myself and tell my close friends about it, but i can confidently say that ofmd was the most racist fandom i've ever been in, and the most hostile to fans of color. (and i was a homestuck fan!!!!) for a show that tries to pride itself on diversity, and a (largely white) fanbase who thinks that Consuming the Diversity Show makes them a Morally Good Person, the way i and plenty of others were treated by holier-than-thou white ofmd fans is just appalling. it's the worst fandom i've ever ever been in, bar none!!! and i think going forward if i like something i'm probably just going to stick to myself about it, honestly.

I’ve just listened to the entire Win With Black Women Twitter Spaces podcast with executive producer and lead writer Felicia D. Henderson and the cast of the entire Burns family of ‘First Kill’. And I just gotta say that I absolutely love how much thought, feeling and passion the writers and the actors have put into the characters of this show and specifically of this particular family dynamic. These characters… the black and POC characters especially… they’re multidimensional. They’re full of charisma and emotion and intelligence… and everything that matters. They’re whole ass human beings.

As it should be! Black and POC characters should have that dimensionality in art/entertainment, especially of the visual kind, so the audience can see for themselves the amazing range these talented human beings have but never usually have the opportunity to showcase due to discrimination in the work place and in the industry. And listening to the executive producer and the cast talk about all the representation they have in this show… I gotta say, I really trust them. I trust them to deliver us a fantastic Season 2. I trust them to deliver us a happy WLW ending between our main protagonists - our beloved Calliette. I trust them to deliver great representation.

I can hear and feel the authenticity in their voices and words. I can sense their conviction. I. TRUST. THEM.

I’ve got a lot of love and respect for a writers room that has got a lot of love and respect for each other and for the work that they do in bringing forth full authentic representation to marginalised groups of people. That is so fucking rare to get and to have. I’m just floored. I’m very invested in this show now because I’m realizing that it’s not a show with a cast/crew that doesn’t like what they do and only does it for the money. It’s a whole ass family of like-minded people with the same ultimate goal that are very determined on achieving it. And I will happily, without any hesitation or condition, give them every ounce of my love and support to help them achieve all of it.

What particularly really amazes me is the showrunner; Felicia D. Henderson is really listening to the cast’s ideas and views and wishes and choices for their characters. I haven’t seen that level of creative freedom and acceptance from the head of any TV show since ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’. So I know in my gut that this is something very special I’ve discovered and have become a very loyal part of. You guys have to trust me when I say this is worth it. Just listening to this podcast alone will convince you. They come from a very genuine and humble place. I very much doubt they’ll become corrupt or power hungry which happens so often in the art/entertainment industry.

‘First Kill’ will have extremely loyal and intense supporters and I’m proud and honoured to be one. God I am so happy that I took a chance on this show.

Finally, to Netflix,…

if you’re reading.

Don’t let us down. Renew this show for a Season 2. Because I will fucking cry my eyes out if you cancel it and you will not receive my custom ever again!

Sidelines are for sports games, not characters of color

I want to address the somewhat awful job ST has done with its POC characters not just in Vol 2, but over the course of the show. I've done a similar post talking about the queer rep in the show if you want to check that out.

I'm gonna start with Lucas, who's been sidelined from the beginning. I get this is rural Indiana in the 80's and you wouldn't expect a whole ton of POC characters fine fine fine whatever. But if you're going to include exactly one (1) POC main, you better hope to god you do a good job with that character. Look at S1 -- Will was central to the plot in a major way (duh), Mike was huge in pushing everyone to find Will and was well-defined by his close relationship with him, and Dustin's intelligence set him apart even in a group full of so-called nerds. What did Lucas get to distinguish him in any particular way? Nothing much. Even moving into S2 his character remained distinctly less fleshed out than the others

One part of S1 I did very much like, however, was this scene. I thought it was a great way to address the kind of casual racism that people who grow up with privilege can often display, even unintentionally.

Mike and Lucas had both showed up to school dressed as the ghostbuster Venkman and Mike tried to argue that Lucas should be Winston Zeddemore. Lucas pointed out that Mike only said that because Zeddemore was black, and he didn't want to be Zeddemore because he, like so many black characters in film, wasn't as interesting or influential as many of the white mains.

Ironically, a similar fate ended up befalling Lucas. He began to be drawn more into the spotlight in S2 and S3, but it was more in reference to his relationship with Max than anything else. Listen, I love Lumax (their relationship outclasses Mileven by a mile, argue with the wall) but Lucas needing a relationship with a white character in order to gain real traction within the show and the fandom is pretty fucking shitty.

S4 finally put Lucas' character on par with the others in terms of screentime, lines, and fandom attention, and the Duffers managed this oh-so-impressive feat through the power of... basketball. Come on, I mean really?

Yes, from what we've seen basketball is the fastest path to popularity in Hawkins High (Steve, Billy, Tommy H, Jason) but to make the only black character suddenly a basketball star when he's shown zero interest or athletic ability up until now... it doesn't sit right with me, let's put it that way.

Erica falls into similar black stereotyping as Lucas. We see little development for her over the seasons and from the first moment she's on-screen she's very much the Sassy Black Girl. There's nothing wrong with characters displaying stereotyped traits as long as you can give them other characteristics that define them beyond the typical fallbacks. If your character is essentially reduced to that stereotype, however, it's a problem. All we know of Erica, beyond her never-ending supply of clapbacks and sarcasm, is that she likes DND and My Little Pony. 90% of her lines are full of sass, no matter who she's talking to, and while it's entertaining at times (her calling Murray a bald bastard was funny as hell lmaoo) it can quickly get old. Erica's not the worst black rep I've ever seen, not by a long shot, but the Duffers definitely could've done better with her.

[Having the only black female character also be a staunchly avowed capitalist feels a little weird to me, but I honestly don't have a way to properly articulate why so I'm not going to go into that rn. Maybe in a later post.]

Watching Vol 2 was a crazy fucking experience for a lot of reasons, but watching Jason and his little basketball cult fully beat up black kids significantly younger than them was... really something. A mostly-grown guy full on rugby tackling a middle school girl with aggression that far outweighed the situation...

You can't tell me there wasn't racial motivation there, but the situation really wasn't handled that way on-screen. It wasn't filmed to really make the audience think about the kind of aggressions (micro or otherwise) that black kids in bumfuck Indiana would experience. It wasn't addressed as racially-motivated. It wasn't addressed at all, actually. Thanks to the racist implications of that moment (and, in fact, the racist implications of Jason's entire attitude towards Lucas & Erica) never being addressed ever, the whole scene came across as more gratuitous violence than anything. I'm not saying the show needs to hold the audience's hand and look in their eyes and spell out J-A-S-O-N = R-A-C-I-S-T, but the S1 Zeddemore scene proved there are ways to intertwine talks about racism into the script, ways to address problems like xenophobia without making it stilted or shoehorned in.

When you show the brutal beating of black children and then move on too quickly for the audience to fully process what happened, it takes away from the heavier implications of such violence.

Moving on from the Sinclairs, we have Kali.

I liked her character very much, I'm going to be honest. The way she embodied El's angrier, more violent inner voices, with El's return to Hawkins representing her turning her back on that side of her while never truly facing up to it, made her an excellent lens for the audience to see more of El than what we got in S1.

But brown women in media too-often fall into one of two categories.

the docile, meek woman who comes from a patriarchal culture and will always defer to the men in her life, even when it goes against her own desires and dreams

The angry, probably violent woman who rages against the world because she has been wronged in the past

Again, a brown character being one of these two things isn't necessarily bad, but when we're left room for little else around all the resentment Kali's built up? When there's almost no middle ground between the two extremes?? Let's not rely on the old stereotypes over and over and over again, please.

...

...Did someone say stereotypes? Oh hang on wait it looks like we have another one. I once again feel the need to establish that this is not hate on the character himself, Argyle was legitimately one of the best parts of the California group and I love him with my whole entire heart (& also Eduardo Franco deserves so much better from this shitty fandom).

But the first Latine character on the show being a stoner? That's the best y'all could come up with?? Argyle was funny, he was useful to the plot, and he was a nice foil for the often-serious characters he's surrounded by, but all that being said, I couldn't quite get rid of the nagging irk in the back of my mind every time he was on screen because the stoner Latine character??? At this point, all the blatantly stereotyped characters just make this shit boring and predictable. I don't even have anything new to say about Argyle because it's nothing I didn't just address in terms of Erica, Lucas & Kali.

I feel like the treatment of ST's queer and POC characters is definitely different. We see constant abuse and mistreatment of queer characters without getting any outwardly, happily-queer endings for them; with the POC characters it strikes me more as the typical sidelining and stereotyping that we see in a lot of mainstream media. I'm not going to sit here and argue over which is worse or which is more harmful to audiences, they're both shitty and I'm tired of it all.

Do better.

What do you think about the controversy around Pepa being lighter than her concept art?

Look, usually I want to listen to accusing side when it comes to whitewashing because that is a real problem that comes from an inherently racist idea that dark skinned people are inferior. Most of the time I can see the point people are trying to make and how it's harmful, reason why I will be against it. We should, in fact, try to avoid representations that are demonstrably harmful for minority groups and give a chance for those groups to feel seen too. But on this case in particular? Yeah, no, I don't see the reasoning. Like, if you tell me that the entire Madrigal family was lighter and Pepa was meant to be the only visibly darker character but then Disney decided "nah, let's make her lighter too so she goes along with the rest", then I would be 100% behind the people saying that is fucked up, because it would be. But what harm is actually doing that Pepa is the ONLY lighter skin member of the entire family? Arguably the ONLY lighter skin character on the entire movie that has any relevance at all? Even Agustín has a little bit more of color than her. She is not the protagonist of the story, she is a secondary character at the best of times. She is not given an unfair amount of screen time compared with the rest of the family. People just point at the concept art and go "see, see?? Disney whitewashed Pepa!" without bothering to take into account that the movie is already FULL with POC everywhere, from very dark like Félix and Antonio to lighter ones like Bruno and Luisa. And that without even counting the townsfolk, who also come in a full range of colors everywhere. Like yeah, on the most literal sense of the world possible, they did whitewashed her, but what is the impact of this? Why do we need to dennounce it? What harm do we try to prevent by doing this? Especially when you consider that both Antonio and Bruno are WAY lighter on their concept art than how they end up being in the movie, so on Antonio's case there was blackwashing even. Nobody seems able to explain WHY is bad on any way, they just throw the word whitewashing and that is it, doing this is bad, so it must be bad on every circunstance possible. It sounds to me like the people who insist that EVERY story where a queer person dies is instantly a Bury Your Gays, no matter if the story is full of other queer people who manage to live happily ever after, which goes directly against the reason why the trope is bad, no matter if literally hundreads of other characters died already left and right all over the story and no matter if literally no one survived. No, a queer person died and that is bad and no, we are not going to even bother explain how because we don't fucking know either. The people doing this probably have the best intentions at heart, but it just feels so limiting and just plain unnecesary. I personally? I like that they included someone like her. Not only because she literally reminds me to my own tía who is just as dramatic as her, not only because she is the first latina character on mainstream media (outside of Latam shows) whose skin tone is exactly as mine, but because it feels true to Latine families to have that much range of colors. The Madrigals feel close to us because they are so different among each other. People who complain about not all of them having a samey tone or anyone looking different than the rest has never put a foot on any country of Latam, less than anything Colombia, and it shows. I also think that Pepa serves as a good reminder that 1. genetics are weird and when you have a demographic as diverse as latines, they are bound to be weirder than that. Most latines are mixed as fuck. It's extremely rare to find a latine that is 100% anything. And 2. not all POC need to look the same. She is not my favourite character, that titles goes to Luisa, Dolores and Camilo, but I appreciate her for what she is and I appreciate what the team behind the movie were going for by designing the characters as they did. Having said that, I do hope they use that concept art for something else because that lady was pretty

too.

Just ate some shitty chocolate and mulling over my growing dislike of the arcana

Like the characters in the game, fandom (ie. like 5 people), fanartist are cool and sexy

But I feel like I would’ve enjoyed the game more if Nix Hydra actually wanted to portray POC and weren’t such vague and lazy writers

Disclaimer: I talk about Asra but I haven’t finished their route so take this grain of salt

Taking a step back and looking at this game... i don’t like it. Here’s the main reasons why:

They claim to have a diverse story and world but honestly you could change all the characters to look white and nothing would change.

They are so fucking ambiguous it drives me insane. The world in this game is never built up at ALL and neither is the magic system. They have left hints and details of a bigger complex world but never elaborate on it even when it could be relevant to the story.

Magic

Details from some stories aren’t even in others. When explaining magic to my boyfriend I was making a-lot of assumptions about how magic works because everything is so vague.

For example, magic limits are brought up maybe twice. Herbal magic exists (Mazelinka practices it I believe), runes and charms are a thing, glyphs are a thing. All these things are great details for magic that could have been explored as other forms of magic other characters have. Julian using glyph magic was never explored further, Muriel using charms and herbal magic would have been great.

The fact that these are never revisited or expanded upon digs at me. It feels like lost potential.

The minor arcana is a world detail that is only prevalent in the weekly card reading when the concept of another set of arcana is super fucking cool? Even mentioning any form of the minor arcana in the major arcana realms would be a nice tie in. But no its never even mentioned.

The world

Reading the arcana, Vesuvia feels more like a symbol than a place. It lacks a sense of life ehich is strange considering how much time we spend there. Nadia, Portia, Julian and Asra are all people who have a knowledge and understanding of Vesuvia but exploring with them is so focused on romance they lose the chance of building this world.

The outside world follows suit. Aside from names you can’t really tell me anything from outside kingdoms. Anything said about Prakra and Nevivon is vague and broad, even when Julian and Nadia are speaking about it.

The assumptions I’ve made about this world and how it functions are doing a lot of heavy lifting in giving the world life. I’ll make a post about each place in the arcana world about these assumptions just because of how important they are to my interpretations of the characters race. Ill touch on them here.

Race and Culture

This is my biggest gripe with Nix claiming to be diverse. Sure the characters have different skin tones but you could make them white and it wouldn’t affect the plot.

Everyone in this cast is some form of racially ambiguous or their culture is not in anyway important to the plot if mentioned at all.

I cannot speak on Asra’s portion but they’re not from Vesuvia. Their mom wears a headscarf but its never shown whether this is a fashion piece or religious outfit. (The fact that no other person wears a headscarf and it looks like a hijab implies muslim faith exists but its never explained) Asra themself is a magical person in tune with themself. Having them show us some of their culture would have been nice.

Nadia, despite her arc being that of family, never shows any sign of the cultural aspects of Prakra. A nice character touch would be her growing distant from her culture while with Lucio in the palace (spurred on my Lucio’s lack of care and her apathy) and later in the story doing something significant and unique to her culture. Whether it be dressing in a way that’s distinct from Vesuvian citizens to praying or making a Prakran dish with their family.

Muriel’s cultural exploration is the best out of all of the characters as it’s a main plot point. Unfortunately not enough focus is placed on it. A great touch would have been language differences, perhaps even reclaiming the fading language of his tribe after its destruction.

Both Julian and Portia being from Nevivon and having lived on a pirate ship, I expected a deeper look into pirate culture and the life of Nevivon. None are elaborated on so Julian becoming a pirate in his upright ending feels empty as I’m not invested in pirate life at all.

Not doing the bare minimum to flesh out these characters culture means the world feels flat and the characters don’t feel like true representation. A hollow attempt at giving us diverse characters in what should be a living breathing world.

Race and Design

Again, everything is ambiguous.

The smallest gripe I have is that clearly the artists are not people of color. Granted I did get this impression from the fact that the palms of the hands arent lighter than the skin tone. Its a subtle thing but doing it shows a care for detail and it makes my melanin self very happy when it’s shown.

Another smaller gripe is how ambiguous Muriel and Asra look. I had assumed Muriel was just a white guy until the name of his tribe and seeing cultural wear gave a different impression. But I can’t fault anyone fir thinking he was white. Just like I can’t really fault people for thinking Asra is also white.

Why do the lighter skin characters have natural hair colors but as soon as Nadia and Asra are shown they have fantasy hair. While having colorful hair isn’t a crime, its a tactic often used to separate people of color from truly looking like people of color. It was a wall I had from connecting with these characters.

There’s not a single black person in this game. The more I think on it the more it bugs me. So many side characters and yet none of them are black. If the devs hadn’t said the baker is black you could make a strong argument that black or Afro-centric features don’t exist in this world. There is no kinky or very curly hair. Not a wide nose to be seen. Seeing an Asra design that was inspired by African culture and saw it fit the aesthetic so well made me even more confused why there wasn’t any.

It makes me sad truly. You can’t call your game diverse when it isn’t. The Arcana is not a diverse game. It’s a lazy game with a hollow attempt at representation.

I am open to discussion on this as it’s something I’m passionate about. So if you have any insights or want to voice your own opinion I’d be happy to hear it!

Never Have I Ever (mildly critical lens)

1. BIG THING. NHIE is not a show that was made directed at me. Yes it has similarities with my heritage as Indian but I am not American. Not born there nor raised. I am a diaspora Tamilian though, and my schools throughout most of my life have had very little Indians and even fewer Tamilians in them. Usually its just me.  So while there is overlap, Devi and I would have innately different experiences and worldviews.

2. Why is her last name Vishwakumar and her Dad’s name Mohan? Where that coming from. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most to all Tamil people use patronymic's right? Like am I right or am I tripping? Someone correct me. I checked Mindy Kaling’s bio and she took her father’s last name so I might be tripping? 

3. Okay straight off the bat, Devi annoyed the hell outta me. Like no joke...I really dislked Devi. But she’s a traumatized teenager who has no common sense and too much hormones. I’ve seen ppl like her so I’m fairly happy we have a flawed and messed up portrayal of a POC and doesn’t feed into the idea of perfection. But also Devi’s mom is suprisingly lenient to Devi’s disrespect man. like I see why but woowowowowo....she’s uncharacteristically tolerant sometimes. 

Now even though I get that Devi is supposed to be flawed and unlikeable. Because she is immensely selfish and bitchy with shitty communication skills. Devi’s friends forgive her waaay to fast. Like ladies, what are you aiming for? SAINTHOOD? Like at least let her grovel a little bit for being such a bitch. 

4. Love interest. Y’all heard me. WHY THE FUCK IS BOTH OF HER INTERESTS WHITE or at least definitely white passing. Like they did Paxton dirty man. Like was it too much? Was it too much to wish for Devi to have more Indian friends or like an Indian/POC love interest? I feel personally that it is such a weird precedent that has been set with POC centric love stories. And this definitely should be a critic that has come up before. 

You know which love stories resonated with me? Nalini and Mohan. Because it represented the possibility of like marrying someone (going off the assumption they were arranged to be married) and falling in love after marriage. A very real scenario for many many couples. Kamala’s entire shenanigan with Steve and Prasanth and having to choose between the uncertain boyfriend situation but losing family but keeping family and going with an arranged marriage. Also props to Kaling for not demonizing arranged marriages. Please please let season 2 explore Kamala’s struggle more. Hell even that one off thing with Eleanor and the tech crew boy was funny. 

5. Kamala’s whole character was many vibes. Because counting down and stressing about marriage is such a goddamn relatable feeling. I ain’t that much younger than Kamala and let me tell you the anticipation/fear is REAL. And like her talking in Ganesh puja and like weighting the options of being a social outcast or going with the arranged marriage and with the hope that like you’ll find someone cool.

6. I don’t like how Devi tries to reject her Indian culture and I really really hope they develop that next season or something and get her to find a balance. Because at the end of that season she did get a good talking to about trying to be Indian enough or too Indian and finding that balance but it doesn’t feel like she’s finding that balance and her being jealous of the other Indian girl does not bode well for me. 

ALSO THEY FUCKING MISSED OUT SO BAD. You make a series about a Tamil American girl and you don’t name drop any famous stars. Thala Thalapathy, Superstar??? VJS?? Surya? Dhanush? Nobody? Why? Like Devi doesn’t know them...makes sense. But like Kamala is from town right? She has to have carried some of that. Like that scene when she called them for a movie right? Why not name drop some famous ass classic like Baasha or Sachein or Roja? Like a cool nod to the Tamil kids out there watching this series to see parts of their culture and language included. Like even the soundtrack and songs have no Tamil songs? Like not even one for the heck of it?? WHY? IS THAT NOT SO SO MUCH MISSED REPRESENTATION? Like typical Tamil things like making a beat out of random shit, Tamil kuthu songs, Typical Tamil mega serials, food and enjoying food together. Like why wasn’t the food stated or name dropped. 

Personally, NHIE was really really really white palatable and it didn’t really get it into any roots of our culture especially for a girl struggling to find roots as in where she fits. Like you gotta show both cultures and let the audience and Devi figure out where she fits. If you show long Netflix shows like Pretty little liars, show alternatives like mega serials such as Chitti or Mudiyaathu Karuppu or Mettioli? Or if you wanna be more modern name drop Tamil webseries’s? If you wanna show English pop hits, show Tamil album songs and kuthu beats. IF YOU WANNA REPRESENT, THEN ACTUALLY REPRESENT. Don’t pull this generic ass BS on me!

5. I hope the lack of tamil culture in the series gets corrected next season somehow. I don’t have ANY ANY faith that it will. But I can be hopeful. Also I lowkey like that Devi has like a “rival” of another Indian girl. I don’t like that is is rivalry cause brown sisters gotta support each other and that’s sort of been the general motto from where I’m from. But like I get why and it would make complete sense. 

I really really hope that Aneesha is like super super Indian. Proud of her culture and brings a lot of her culture and its facets to discussions and not afraid to make her culture a focal point of herself.  It would be a really good foil to Devi and it might spark some thought into her and accepting or at least recognizing the cool shit about being Tamil. I wanna see that mainly cause I used to be lowkey ashamed for having a strong accent when I speak cause I was made fun of and I didn’t like having different lunches or listening to different music and not being part of the more Western culture. But I learnt to ignore that and became like 3000 times more proud of being Tamil and wore like traditional clothes to school, ranging from kurti tops over jeans at first and eventually wearing full on chudidaars and saris (saris to proms at least, I couldn’t wear a sari on a daily, half sari probably, sari would be hard). Bringing traditional sweets and food and distributing them to anyone who would ask and trading lunches.  Please let me see a brown kid who is proud to be brown and straight up in your face about it at times. 

(Unrelated but to Tamil/Indian ppl who had other Indian/Tamil kids in your school like was trading lunches or like sharing lunches common? Like its a pretty common Tamil thing to do and I brought that culture of taking some of everybody’s lunch and giving everybody a part of mine everywhere I went. But like was that a thing? )

Loki 1x04 Spoilers

Preface: I don't even really go here for shipping, and I have no strong feelings one way or another, but y'all are being really horrible right now, and it's impossible to go into the tag for a character I really enjoy and just have content for that character, or talk to people about plot developments, character revelations, *anything*, because everyone's just vomiting their shit into those tags... So I'm gonna piss a lot of you off right now, but I need to get this off my chest, and you're always welcome to block and/or unfollow...

Biphobia: By and large, most of y'all are just biphobic as fuck. And I know this because I've seen the posts going 'What was the point of making Loki bisexual if you don't give him a male love interest' and 'If they don't give him a male love interest, they should just not give him any love interest'. You're transparent, you're gross. This is unrelated to Sylvie/Loki, because the complaint here isn't related or limited to Sylvie, but purely about a male vs female love interest regardless of other factors. Note how no one cares about Sylvie, or shipping her with anyone, it's purely about Loki. I've been in fandoms long enough to know that most of y'all don't care about actual representation - you care whether or not your white fave kisses another (white) boy. None of you give a shit about the fact that we'll get an actual gay ship in The Eternals (but that's between two poc men, so I bet many of y'all will ignore it in favour of shipping the white GoT actors together, because you're transparent af). You're pressed because the first canon on-screen representation doesn't happen on your terms in the exact conditions you've set. Let me be clear: Bisexuals do not owe the gay or lesbian community same-sex relationships in order to be valid, and it's so insanely, stupidly hurtful to be reminded once again that we'll never be queer enough for queer spaces. A bisexual person dating anyone regardless of gender or sexual identity, is in a queer relationship. Full stop.

Sylvie/Loki: It's not incest, y'all. I understand not shipping it, not vibing with it, etc etc, but it's not incest, and I'm gonna need you to stop pretend that it's gross when it's not. It's not even really purely selfcest. They're not the same person. Variants are not all necessarily the same person from different points in time, like skinny Steve vs Serum Steve or Infinity War Loki vs D+ Show Loki would be. Sylvie and Loki are more like Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker vs Tom Holland's Peter Parker - different people who occupy the same role in the narrative of the universe, not all of whom make the cut. For all we know, Sylvie's Frigga, Odin and Thor are different, too. The Loki Variants in the post-credits and in the trailer shots prove that further - we have other female presenting Lokis there, two black Lokis, at least one east asian Loki... they're not all the same person. That's why the question is "What makes a Loki a Loki" and not "What makes us us/What makes you you?". They occupied the same role up until their nexus event, that's all.

Let me break this down for you: Thor + Hela = Incest Thor + Loki = Not Incest by blood, but they grew up thinking themselves siblings so YMMV on the levels of incestuous here (it squicks me out personally, but there's no blood relation.) IW Loki + D+ Loki = Selfcest, since they're the same person from different points in time. Selfcest isn't Incest - it's a fictional concept. Sylvie + Loki = None of the above. They're different people who play the same role in the universe. And even if you do consider it Selfcest - see above. It's still not Incest.

Also hello MCU fandom, Comics Bucky had a Threesome involving a version of himself, Deadpool is all about that stuff, the mythology Loki is based on has weirder shit. Please sit down and take a breath.

I fully understand not liking the ship for any reason including if it reads platonic to you instead of romantic, but stop trying to make purity discourse happen when the ship isn't incestuous.

Learn to tag your shit: Oh my god this is my biggest pet peeve right now. I just wanted to go into the Sylvie tag to find people talking about what we learned about her character, I wanted to find out what people make of her and Loki (regardless of whether you find them platonic or romantic), if anyone ships her with B15 like I do, to find gifs etc. I did not need to see all of you fail to grasp what incest is in her character tag, and I did not need to see you crying about Lokius in the Sylvia tag either. I'm sorry that your ship didn't go canon this episode, and I wanna tell you not to worry, we don't know if he's dead, it could still happen, and even if it doesn't, you can still ship it, but I've lost all patience because it's not about shipping wars, it's about being unable to engage with any show related content right now without being flooded with bad takes, rampant biphobia, discourse and drama. Screw this fandom. I just wanted to enjoy the bonkers story and awesome new characters.

Learn to curate your experience: And finally, if you don't like it, don't go there. Block the ship tag, it's as easy as that. Stop posting your salt into main tags. Let people enjoy what they enjoy. None of this is harmful, none of this is what you're trying to cry into existence,

Why you should stop making characters “aracial”

We see aracial characters mainly in podcasts or tabletop games. Sometimes they can be seen in comics. Aracial characters are made so the fans can assign them their own race/ethnicity headcanons. They could also be seen as cop outs because the creator doesn’t have to put effort into putting representation into their media. It’s just an easy way to make everyone happy. This post will tell you why aracial characters actually doesn’t help create representation and actually lessens it.

(TL;DR: Aracial characters cause harm because the default headcanon is to make the character white. There’s no good representation with it and causes discourse and BIPOC fans to be attacked and leave the fandom. To portray a good BIPOC character, do enough research to where you feel comfortable writing them. To have some gender-ambiguity, set a region with no specifics. For example, say your character is South-East Asian but no specific country. Representation in media matters and doing a cop-out isn’t the way to do it.)

Before we begin, let’s start with some definitions.

Aracial: without race or race distinctions

Race: the idea that the human species is divided into distinct groups on the basis of inherited physical and behavioral differences

Ethnicity: the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition, common set of folklore, ancestry, language, history, society, culture, nation, religion, or social treatment within their residing area

Nationality: the state of being part of a nation whether by birth or naturalization or ties to a specific nation

BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, Person of Color. Used when referring to all 3. POC is not synonymous with Black or Indigenous.

Race coding: writing an aracial character to be a specific race/ethnicity without explicitly saying it in the story

Headcanon: to note a particular belief which has not been used in the universe of whatever program or story they follow, but seems to make sense to that particular individual, and as such is adopted as a sort of "personal canon"

Canon: A piece of work -usually in reference to literature- that was written by the original author

I may not use all these words but they are nice to know. Lets begin.

Why are aracial characters bad?

Aracial characters aren’t inherently bad. If you make your characters race-ambiguous you’re not some type of bad person who’s too lazy to do real representation. You’re just got the right idea, wrong action. Aracial characters are just... not the best. Sure this means you can make your favorite character whatever race/ethnicity you want, but this can also cause discomfort and discourse.

In the early stages of fandoms (2000-2010s) lots of headcanons for these characters were mainly white. There was hardly any representation so you had to make it yourself. When there was representation, it came off as back-handed and hardly had any effort put into it. The art would look great but they didn’t have the right hair or facial features. They just looked like a white character with a tan.

Then came race coding. Creators, purposefully or accidentally, would put in subtle hints at a characters race/ethnicity. This would be through the way they talked, the celebrations they had, their traditions, or their struggles. This mainly happened with alien or non-human characters. Examples of these would be the majority of the Homestuck trolls, Steven Universe gems, and various podcast characters. BIPOC and white fans would figure out their hints and announce them, saying it would be wrong to headcanon them as anything otherwise. This is true as doing so would erase their identity and representation. As this grew, racism within fandoms grew. People would say “they don’t have a race! We can depict them however they want!” and throw fits when told the damage they’re doing.

Aracial characters can allow the freedom to depict your fans to project onto your characters but it also allows racism and attacks on harmless headcanons. It seems they can work but most of the time they do more damage.

How can I play/create a BIPOC character without accidentally doing harmful stereotypes?

You should always do research. When you play a wizard, what do you do? Research the spells it can do, the languages it can learn, and other important factors. When you play/write a BIPOC character, do the exact same thing. Research experiences, languages, clothing, and traditions. Is your character poor, well-off, or rich? Do they have immigrant parents, are they an immigrant themself, or have they been a citizen all this time and not understand the struggles of undocumented people? Are they in touch with their culture or slowly losing it? All of these can affect the way your character acts, talks, and grows.

If you’re a white person or simply someone who is writing out of your culture, this can be scary. You don’t want to accidentally say something wrong or put a harmful stereotype onto your character. To avoid this, research the stereotypes. See how they are subtly put into media like movies and TV shows. You may have seen some and not noticed because you never knew. When you have these, you’ll know how to avoid them.

Don’t see your character as a political thing. If you think “this is groundbreaking. I’m playing/writing a character of a different culture and must do everything right! I will be the best!” then you’re doing it wrong. Portray your character as you would if they were the same race as you. Or if you had them as aracial. Do not see them as scary because you might fuck up or brave because you’re stepping out of your comfort zone. They are a human being just like you. Sort of.

How can I allow my audience to portray my characters how they want and also have proper representation?

Maybe you don’t want to have a set race/ethnicity in place because you’re afraid or uneasy. That’s alright. Some of us need baby steps. What you can do is give them a region or race but no specifics.

For example, you can have a Latine or Hispanic character without specifically saying “They’re Mexican!” or “They’re Chilean!” This allows this group of people to say “Hey! I’m Latine or Hispanic! I can portray them in my culture!” This allows your audience to have a variety of cultures to choose from.

Having free-range like this with your characters is fun. It allows people to choose what they think best fits the character while also having some representation. It’s not a constant battle of headcanons and constant white characters. Nothing wrong with them it’s just seems to be the default when it comes to headcanons.

Representation in media matters, especially in ones where there is free will to interpretation. BIPOC do not get to see ourselves in media everyday so when we can put it in ourself, we do exactly that. We make the characters live our lives through our traditions and music and style and just everything.

When the representation is poor and lazy, it shows how much a creator doesn’t care about their audience and how they only care about their image. This can be seen in aracial characters. It’s just a cop-out so creators don’t have to worry so much about it and leave the work to everybody else.

FAVORITE SHOWS IN POSTERS

Well, we’re back for another installment of this tagged meme, this time for TV shows! I also stole this from/was indirectly tagged by @jcmorrigan. My taste in shows also differs a bit from my taste in movies, as I tend to like a lot of comedy shows with not as many horror ones. I’m not into shows as much as movies overall, but there are some that I am very passionate about so I picked twenty again. So, here we go for part 2, in order:

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend Of Korra (2005-2014)

I'm including these as one show since they take place in the same universe and tell a continuation of the same overall plot. Altogether this is probably the best piece of media to ever exist, including movies. It has so many great characters and villains especially and some of the most epic sequences, charming humor and heartwarming moments ever. I've never met a person who didn't like these shows, even people who normally don't like cartoons. My dad, who is biased against animation? He loved it. My mother? She loved it, watched it with her multiple times. My grandmother? Loved it. My ex-boyfriend? Loved it. My best friend? Loved it. I dare anyone not to, and I'm so glad it's making a resurgence since it's on Netflix for a new generation to enjoy.

2. Black Butler (2008-2014)

I never was big into anime growing up and only really started watching anime when I was like 16 and above, but this is one of the exceptions because holy shit is it ever dark and epic. I'm not sure I'd really recommend it for kids, it's more of a teens and young adults kind of anime and that's probably why it's so good, because it isn't afraid to explore dark and mature topics and do it with all of the intensity and gravitas required to do said topics justice. It has lots of great characters, and the story of demons who make deals with children who have a dark side is fun to watch play out.

3. Seinfeld (1989-1998)

My dad was a huge fan of this show so I watched it growing up since I was a toddler and it became a classic for me. I've watched thw hole show through at least 8 times, and I'll never stop because it never gets old or boring. It's also my only comfort show when I'm having a panic attack because of one time a few years ago when I was having a drug-induced psychosis episode and watching it calmed me down, so now it's like the opposite of a trigger and whenever I'm having an episode or something I watch it to bring me back to reality. For that reason it's more than a show to me, it's a medical treatment and I'm forever grateful to it.

4. The Good Place (2016-2020)

The big four shows made my Michael Schur all made it on this post (The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Office and Parks And Recreation), either in the main list of the honorable mentions, but this is my personal favorite of the four. It's so funny, quirky, relatable and basically tailor-made to suit my interests. Not only is it an entertaining and wholesome show, but I think watching it helped me come to terms with a lot of things like mortality, ethics, philosophy, religion and my relationships with other people. It gets  alot of different viewpoints across and if you're a very analytical and philosophical person like me you'll probably enjoy seeing it all play out. Not to mention, every single character is 'favorite character' material. It's rare you find a show with no filler characters in the main cast, but I genuinely can't choose who is best.

5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-?)

Another of Michael Schur's shows, this one is just barely under The Good Place and to be honest it was tough to pick my favorite between the two because they're both equally funny. I know it's kind of controversial right now because of the whole law enforcement thing, but I actually think they do a good job of handling social issues in the show and remaining respectful of real-life systemic problems. As for the characters, this is another one of those shows where every single character is gold and I think that tends to be a trend among Schur's shows in general. He produces damn good comedy, and damn good characters. I can't wait to see what they bring next.

6. Rick And Morty (2013-?)

This is unfortunately one of those cases of 'great show, horrible fandom' and for that reason I don't get involved in the fandom even though I love the show. It's a shame because it really is a great show, so funny and, again, such good characters. I think it's a lot more accessible than the fandom likes to claim, so I'm hoping more people will give it a chance and not get put off by the intellectual elitism of the fandom because it does have some of the most entertaining and batshit crazy episodes ever, poking fun of some of the staples of science fiction in media while also poking fun of itself the whole time. Unlike the fandom, the show doesn't take itself seriously and that's enjoyable nowadays.

7. Orange Is The New Black (2013-2019)

While this show is a comedy, it is also a lot of other things and it's probably made me ugly-cry just as many times as it's made me laugh. Well, maybe not as often, but those few scenes (if you've watched the show then you know the ones I'm talking about) made me hysterically sob hard enough to be worth like fifty minor sads. But I didn't even mind because the show is just that good, and it makes you /feel/ something in a real way. Probably because of just how real it gets in terms of telling stories that happen all the time in the real world, sometimes with inevitably tragic endings. But these things do happen every day, and it's important to shine a light on that. It's not just representation for LGBTQ+ but also for POC, the neurodiverse, the poor, and many more. Give it a watch to broaden your perspective!

8. Big Mouth (2017-?)

This is probably the grossest show I've ever seen but by god is it ever funny. Maybe it's because I have an immature sense of humor or something, but I love this show. It definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea and I don't recommend you watch this show with anyone else around because it will get awkward. I think part of its appeal to me is that everyone I talk to who likes it considers it so relatable to their lives growing up but for someone like me who grew up on the autism and asexual spectrum and who was physically an early-bloomer by years, nothing about this show is relatable to me in any way so it makes it all the more crazy and bizarre watching how the people around me must have experienced things. Did y'all really have these experiences with puberty in middle school???

9. Dexter (2006-2013)

I recently heard that this show is coming back for a reboot soon and I'm so excited because this is my absolute favorite drama/thriller show, as evidenced by the fact that it's the highest one on the list so far that isn't a comedy. I love the idea of having a protagonist who is sort of a villain (or at least morally dubious), and the idea of a serial killer who only kills bad people is particularly satisfying for some reason. Maybe because he's the vigilante we all deserve and want in this unjust and evil world of modern times? Idk but the very premise of this show set it up for big things and aside from the ending I think it delivered consistently.

10. Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

This show took us on some journeys, and you can't deny that. Sure, maybe it didn't always finish what it started and didn't always end in the most satisfying way, but part of its charm is that you didn't care because the experience was just so much fun. They took characters and stories that have been told to death and somehow managed to put a unique and unexpected twist on them, and that alone is admirable. Good twists, good villains, and pretty much every cliffhanger known to man will keep you hooked on binge-watching every episode.

11. RuPaul's Drag Race (2009-?)

A bit different than the other entries on my list in that it's not fiction but a reality competition show, but I couldn't leave Drag Race out because it's just so fucking iconic and perfect. Even when you disagree with the judges or can't stand a certain contestant you'll still be having a good time. It's got the personalities you love to love, the ones you love to hate, and the comedy that's completely meme-able. I mean just how much has this show contributed to pop culture and the internet? More than most of us, henny. I've watched every single season, even the international ones and all of the spinoffs. This show will probably be on for another thirty years when Ru is throwing shade from a hospital bed and I'll still be watching.

12. House (2004-2012)

Some people hate on this show, and I don't get it. I love House. Yes, he's an ass. That's the point. He's supposed to be unlikeable, and that's why I like him. Maybe because I always love the rude, sarcastic, misanthropic jerkass-genius characters for some reason. And I also love procedural shows, so it's a win-win. I also work in the healthcare field so it appeals to me for that reason too, because obviously the whole premise is outlandish which is what makes it funny. Of course it's not realistic for a hospital, so just enjoy the absurdity and don't get too hung up on the details of medical accuracy and professional ethics and you'll be fine.

13. The Office (2005-2013)

The third of Michael Schur's show and the last one that made the main list (sorry Parks And Rec, I love you too but there was just so many good shows to choose from and I saw you last so the nostalgia isn't as strong!) I don't think I need to hype this show up any, it's already a classic and you can't even turn around online without getting hit in the face by a dozen Office memes. You'll have to pry this show and it's relatable characters (especially Michael Scott) from my cold, dead hands.

14. All Hail King Julien/The Penguins Of Madagascar (2008-2017)

Like Avatar/Korra, I also consider this as one show for the sake of this list because it also takes place in the same universe (Madagascar, specifically) and I just couldn't choose one over the other because they're both so perfect. They're funny and I love all the characters (it cut out the weaker links of the Madagascar film series and just focuses on expanding the standout side-characters like King Julien and the penguins). It also delved into some lore, particularly the first show, and even though I didn't also agree with the directions it took (you may have seen me get salty about the ending because I cared too much), I can't deny how much I love it.

15. Bones (2005-2017)

One of the other scarce non-comedy shows on this list, it still has it's funny moments. It's also, like House, another procedural show that involves some medical stuff, but this time on a more scientific and forensic level which is even more interesting. It's nice to see a lead female with Asperger's, too. There's a lot of cop/law enforcement shows where they try to solve crimes, but this one is the best, and I'm saying that as a fan of CSI as well. Don't fight me on this, I'm right. Oh yes, it's corny, it's campy, it's cheesy, but I love every minute of it. Don't watch if you have a weak stomach though.

16. The Simpsons (1989-?)

We all grew up with this show, don't lie. It's been around longer than most people on tumblr have even been alive. Should it have ended seasons ago? Hell yes. But that doesn't take away what the first like 20 or so seasons gave us (there's a lot of argument about when the show jumped the shark, for me it wasn't until much later than the popular consensus). The characters are amazing, but the secret to the show's longevity is that they always return to status quo and there's comfort and nostalgia in that. Bart will still be in 4th grade when you're out there pushing 90. This show is persistent. This show is eternal. This show will outlive us all.

17. Ash Vs. Evil Dead (2015-2018)

Sorely underrated. This show is hilarious, gruesome and campy as hell and I love it. I don't think you necessarily have to watch the Evil Dead movies beforehand in order to get the plot of the show, although it would probably help. In my opinion this show ended way too soon and I'm hoping someday we'll get a comeback because Ash is the reluctant, self-absorbed hero we all need and it's 2020 so at this point there really might actually be a demon-zombie apocalypse and who's gonna save us then if not for the impulsive womanizer with a chainsaw for a hand?

18. Malcolm In The Middle (2000-2006)

Another show I grew up with, I don't think it gets as much credit as it deserves. It has some damn funny episodes and great characters, and it did a lot of the popular sitcom tropes before they were 'cool'. Some other great sitcoms, The Middle in particular, took a lot of influence from this show and it helped pave the way for the future of sitcoms at a time when they were about to make a comeback. If you want a good show about the real experiences of growing up, this is a much more accurate representation of the highs and lows of being an awkward tween from a dysfunctional home.

19. A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)

Unlike most people I actually liked the movie version from the early 2000's, and I read the books growing up so I was excited when I saw there was a live action television adaptation of it on Netflix because I felt like they cancelled the movie franchise too soon. I was interested to see how new actors would handle the roles, and I was not disappointed. I wouldn't say I liked either portrayal of the characters better or worse, they both added their own twist to it and this show is a great and loyal adaptation to the books, probably because the author was so heavily involved. He knew just when to stick to the books and when to improve upon what he had done with the benefit of hindsight. This show is basically the books, but remastered.

20. Winx Club (2004-?)

Sort of an odd one out on this list, but I really love this show even as an adult and it may surprise you to learn it is still going on and the most recent season came out last year. They take big breaks sometimes in between seasons, but it's still going strong and in multiple countries. The only thing I don't like about watching this show is all the different and inconsistent dubs since the original show is Italian and each dub only goes for a couple seasons so by the time you get used to one set of voices/names for the characters oyu have to abruptly switch to another, but it's still worth it for the beautiful animation and cool characters (especially the villains!)

Honorable Mentions: 

13 Reasons Why, America's Next Top Model, American Horror Story, Arrested Development, Bates Motel, Battlestar Galactica, Black Mirror, Care Bears, Chernobyl, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Criminal, CSI, Duck Dodgers, Goosebumps, Kenny Vs. Spenny, Kim Possible, Kingdom Hospital, Lazytown, Lost, Making A Murderer, Mayday, Mindhunter, Modern Family, Monster High, Obsession: Dark Desires, Parks And Recreation, Prison Break, Project Runway, Queer As Folk, Queer Eye, Salem, Schitt's Creek, SCTV, Spongebob Squarepants, The Emperor's New School, The Good Doctor, The Haunting Of Hill House/Bly Manor, The Middle, The Pretender, The Walking Dead, The X-Files, Through The Wormhole, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Unsolved Mysteries, Yugioh

Tagging: @bullet-farmer​ and anyone else who wants to!

Can you please elaborate why it is considered problematic that SJM wrote that elain is uncomfortable around lucien? You mentioned in a previous response that it was not a good move for her to write elain being uncomfortable by a disabled POC but I’m not quite sure why that is a problem because she is not uncomfortable because of his disability or race- her discomfort has nothing to do with that.

Also, racism is not an issue in prythian the way it is in real life. You have high lords such as helion and tarquin (among others) that are explicitly POC and there has never been mention of any hostility towards them because of the color of their skin. The only discrimination I can recall is between high and lesser fae which is classist not racist.

I’m just confused why it is considered ableist or racist when SJM decided to write how elain is uncomfortable around lucien when it has nothing to do with his skin color or disability.

On another note- would it have been racist if amarantha (a known rapist) was written as a WOC rather than white? I’m just trying to understand your point of view and I’m a little lost. To me, acotar is a diverse world with characters of all races and some are good, some are evil but pretty much every character has done something morally grey at at least one point in the series. And none of that is not specific to one race vs another. There are white characters that are good, morally grey and downright evil. And the same can be said for other races.

I appreciate any further elaboration you can supply!

Hello! I will try my best. I don't mind answering questions like this! I recognize that I have had a lot of education about these topics and I have learned A Lot from Black women on Twitter over the years. I hope to share it in a way that is useful. I can maybe make a reading list if anyone is interested, but people should definitely ask around so that it's not getting filtered through just one person (aka me).

So the whole thing with talking about race in the fandom is that race does not function the same way in the acotar world as it does in ours. You are correct about that. You may have seen my post that attempted to break down various ways that characters access privilege in Prythian? Either way, yes. It is not a one-to-one correspondence with our world and the book world.

However, there are issues within the acotar world that mirror issues in ours, and the way that fans engage with those issues can reveal underlying prejudices. I mentioned in this post that we don't have to intend to do these things. (Also, intent versus impact is like diversity, inclusivity, and equity training 101. It's one of the first, and most important things you will learn. Even if you didn't mean to harm someone, they still feel hurt, and it's important to acknowledge that.)

The issue with the way people talk about Lucien - and I mentioned in another post that this is perhaps just as much on Sarah for creating this scenario as it is on the fandom for hopping on that horse and riding - is that there is a history of white women being painted as the victims of Black men specifically.

I'm going to put the rest of this under the cut because I want to show you some examples.

I hope that I don't have to explain why this is disgusting. There is a real-life example of this ^^^ if you google Emmett Till and read his story. This is by far not the only example of a white woman claiming that a Black man (or boy, in his case) was harassing her in some way, and often, that has resulted in lynching.

These are clearly older examples, and also really good examples of how people of color can be dehumanized, but these problems persist. The methods are just more subtle. More recently, it could result in police brutality. When that women called the police on a Black man in NYC last summer, it played into the long history of a woman claiming that she was being threatened or victimized by a Black man. As @gimme-mor explained in her post, the concept of white womanhood is often used as a way to uphold racism and white supremacy because it shows people of color as being violent threats, giving white men (and white women) a reason to retain their privilege.

You're probably wondering now what the fuckity fuck this has to do with Acotar and Lucien. I am getting there!

Because of this historical context, there are many slurs and stereotypes used against POC that on the surface, seem innocent. However, they have a deep, dark history of oppression and violence. It's not about the "one time" that someone said one racist thing, but generational trauma. I can't speak to what this is like as a lived experience, and so I would really appreciate anyone who does want to add on!!!

For example, just to take us away from acotar for a minute, there is a problematic, sexist and often racist trope in which characters get fridged. This is a term used to refer to the way that women, women of color, or characters of color (this could include queer and disabled people as well) are killed off to further a white person's story. This happens SO OFTEN. Nehemia was killed in ToG to motivate Aelin. Sorscha was killed in HoF to hurt Dorian. In a multitude of super hero and action movies, the wife or girlfriend of the main character is killed off in order to provide either pain or motivation to the white male hero.

Individually, these events are whatever. Taken as a whole, though... it shows a trend that the girlfriend of the hero is disposable. It shows that people who are not white, straight, able-bodied males are worthless, and only function to further someone else’s plot.

So that's what is sort-of happening here. After a long, long history of white women positioning themselves (or being positioned) as the innocent victims of brutish, violent, barely-even-human men of color, there are some disturbing parallels when people try to say that Elain is a shrinking violet next to Lucien's insistent attentions.

The context is everything. It's not about this one event, but that there is a history in the real world of this trope playing out over and over, and it has even been an explicit tactic used to perpetuate white supremacy.

This context influences the way that we interact with one another in fandom. The point of that post was not to critique the acotar series itself, but to expose some problematic aspects of the fandom.

I am not going to speak for anyone else, but I think that the original intent of pointing out this parallel between Elain/Lucien and white feminism was not that we want people to stop saying that Elain feels this, or Elain feels that, or Lucien is doing this or that, etc. The reason why this has been mentioned in the past is because there are some very uncomfortable, violent historical precedents set, and while people may not realize that those exist, they may be unintentionally furthering that stereotype.

There were many, many other points made in that post that I think bear repeating and further attention. I hope that this made sense. It's hard to condense literal centuries of racism like this, and of course I am only talking about the context in the U.S. I'm sure it's different elsewhere.

The main takeaway from that post, though, is that it wasn't about the world itself. It was about the way that the fandom engages with the world, and how they utilize some problematic tools to do so. Critiquing the world itself is a completely different issue, which... I will sorta touch on now!

One last point, since you brought up Amarantha and the potential of her being a WOC and a rapist - it could be viewed as problematic and racist, due to the oversexualization of Black women in particular (again, the context throughout history supports this). However, that would not be a fandom problem! That would be an sjm problem.

BTW - I do have serious problems with the way that Illyrians are portrayed in acotar, again because of the history of POC being portrayed as uncivilized, brutish, violent, and... that word that means someone isn't religious. I am getting tired and forgot the word. When sjm says that Illyrians are that way, and when she emphasizes the fact that they are a race... yikes. It's not racist of us to point that out, but it was highly questionable that she created them to be that way in the first place.

Let me know if any of this doesn't make sense, please! To anyone reading this to the end, first off RIP! But also let me know if I've gotten something wrong or if you see something differently.

Genuine non-troll white woman here - you wrote "So I already knew that Good Girls was a white feminism phantasmagoria...But, jesus fucking christ, y'all are just showing your true colours lately. The way you talk about a MOC in relation to a white woman is disgusting." Not asking you to call out specific people or posts or start any kind of flame war but what would be a general example of what you are talking about? I follow a good chunk of people and I'm not seeing this maybe b/c I'm not following the same people, maybe out of willful blindness, maybe I'm not recognizing it - again, b/c of ignorance, etc. Just trying to understand what you mean - and not do it obviously, if I am doing it.

I apologise for taking a longish time to answer this. Honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to get into it. Anyway, I'd first like to say that this is all my opinion. What bothers me might not bother someone else. BIPOC are not a monolith. Even subsections aren't. Not all Mexican trans men are a monolith. Neither are all Japanese lesbians. You get the idea. And that's not even including people like Ben Carson or Caitlyn Jenner—people who support and work for policies that actively harm the marginalised group of which they are a part. Secondly, I know this isn't your intention, but asking POC to tell you what is ok to do and what is not is a slippery slope to "my [blank] friend said this was ok." Finally, the fandom is quite small so it is pretty hard to give general examples. I don't know if it's more trouble to quote specific posts or not, because some will think it is about them anyway. Anything I'm going to mention I've seen on Tumblr, Instagram, Reddit and/or Twitter. But there are definitely popular Tumblr blogs that all push the same narrative. Oh, and one last thing, I haven't seen any of what I'm referring to from people I follow.

Ok, let's go. For a very long time, mainly WOC have pointed out the racial problems within the show and the extremely dismissive attitude about those problems from mainly white women. And while these same women have written thousands (even tens of thousands) or words about Beth (it's always Beth) and her struggles and the amazingness of such a complex female character (ymmv), they brush aside commentary about racism as either nitpicking, not understanding the show is about the 3 women (tell that to all the white men with fleshed-out storylines), or misogyny. The last is especially hostile because they are often talking over Black women and misogynoir is a very real fucking thing that couples the fun of being hated for being a woman with the delight of good old-fashioned racism. They espouse the idea that people having a problem with Beth are all covert & overt misogynists. But talk out the other side of their mouths that they can't possibly be racist even when they support racism in the show or ignore concerns brought up by fans of colour. And that is just the absolute height of hypocrisy. Because by the former they acknowledge that people in a marginalised group (women) can still be anti- that group (a phenomenon with which I agree). But in the latter, suddenly they don't understand that concept.

Specific to the post you are responding to, fans that purport to like Brio write about the relationship in ways that reveal how much of their enjoyment comes from Rio being inferior to Beth. It's all about what he can do for her, how he acts against his best interests for her, how he literally denies himself sexual pleasure for her. Those are all meant to show how in love he is with her. But the show never bothers to tell us why. And, no, this is not because the show is so deep. Other romantic relationships they have scenes that are explicit about the characters' feelings. But Rio, after being shot, after being betrayed, after being mocked, is just so in love with Beth....because. (MYSTERIOUS!) And the Beth stans are more than fine with this because they think everyone should be as obsessed with Beth as they are. But it's bad storytelling. And, in this particular case, it gets into very dicey racist tropes. A white women treating her Latino lover like an afterthought is not the same as a white women treating her white lover like an afterthought. It just isn't. And if some of these fans are as smart as they pretend to be, they know that. They just don't care. Much like the showrunners.

There was so much talk defending the drawn-out Boland marriage because why can't we understand how hard it is for Beth—who is, at various times, claimed to be emotionally abused by Dean or staying with him because it is safe and comfortable—and we don't appreciate how difficult it is for her (I may be one of the few divorced people talking about this show on Tumblr, so this has always made me laugh). Yet there was nothing but glee when Rio flipped on his brousin (who was written as both abusive and safe) for Beth. Where was the empathy for Rio and how hard it was for him? Especially because, unlike Beth, he didn't even have one parent? Hadn't the Beth stans used her very tragical history™️ to explain away her every shitty act? idk, not having any parents and going to jail (as a minor?) and being betrayed by your family seems pretty tragic. But I didn't see them all of a sudden excusing Rio's bad behaviour. Because, feminism or something?

What about Beth's feelings? Last season she spent trying to have him killed. This season she spent looking annoyed by him. Throughout both she talked down to him in a specific white woman way that every BIPOC has experienced, even if some of them are cool with it. There were multiple opportunites for Beth to talk about her feelings with Ruby and/or Annie, but the writers made the deliberate choice to always make it about sex (and god, the immature way they had these three grown women talk was fucking obnoxious). She spent the last 2 seasons also wanting him out of her life to the point that a majority of her actions in S4 were motivated by getting to Nevada with her husband and kids. Beth doesn't care about Rio but Rio needs to put Beth above everything because he's just so in love like he's never been before (which is blatant Marcus & Rhea erasure). And anyone who doesn't think Beth would have just as happily been sitting on that bench plotting how to "run the city" (hahahahaha!) with Nick if the situation worked out differently hasn't been paying attention.

So, what do we have? A white woman who is constantly excused (by the loudest portion of the fandom) for all her ill treatment to her Black BFF & her Black husband, her Asian coworker, her Latina "friend," and Rio (among others) because her life is hard and who is not required to even be nice to her supposed "endgame". And a MOC who is expected to accept being treated poorly by the white woman because he loves her.

And, a last thing, this attitude grossly crossed over into talk about real people when the fans—who self-righteously claimed to be above anon sources or talking about the actors—latched on to the narrative and enjoyed blaming the MOC actor for the cancellation of the show, even dragging his insignificant (in terms of influence) Black wife into it. All while conveniently ignoring that the creator/showrunner is a white woman. The star & producer is a white woman. The people making the decisions at NBCU & Netflix were white women. All white women with so much more power than the Latino actor.

Shit, did I answer your question? I know this is a lot. But I could honestly make mulitple posts on each issue I touched on here. Basically, white people ain't slick, be they content creators or fans. We see how & what y'all talk about. We see that Rio not having a last name is not a big deal to you and we know why that is. So we're fucking tired. And we're over a show that had so much potential crapping all over their POC characters to prop up a white woman. And we're repulsed by the white women in the fandom who use their tears to seem oppressed and who toss around the word misogynist because POC dare call a Karen a Karen.