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brsb4hls · 5 months

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Right nobody will care, but it's important to me.

In order to get decent representation in media there needs to be a serious discourse.

This also refers to openly adressing and criticizing queerbaiting.

If you claim 'queerbaiting' every time two men get along with each other, you're effectivly killing the discourse.

It will have the 'cry wolf' effect and will not be taken seriously anymore.

There's obviously no point in sharing interviews that contradict the 'baiting', since nobody cares. I tried.

It's also useless to argue perception, you can't argue perception.

So lets try logic as a last resort:

From what I've seen Lokius hardly exists outside of tumblr. Some may ship it on twitter (daily lokius has like 4000 followers and there might he overlap with the tumblr croud), there's the occasional facebook comment, idk about TikTok.

On tumblr, how big is the fandom? The most popular posts I've seen have like 5000 notes.

So lets be generous and estimate 8000 people in total. (Edit: been informed it's 11000, still not a blip)

That's not even a blip in ratings.

It absolutely does not matter in any capacity.

Now why would the Loki show go through the trouble of creating subtle queer subtext for a handful of people who wont make them money?

Can't be positive reception, because the press focusses on the clever time travel stuff, easter eggs, cinematography, effects, what have you. There's enough positivity.

There is absolutely no reason.

And if you argue that queer shows are getting more popular: yes, thankfully they are, but if you look at the tv stats from just today, ofmd is ranked 67 in popularity, Loki is ranked 9.

Even if those stats weren't reliable, the bitter truth is that Loki does not need the Lokius shipping subset of queer fans (subset because there are enough queer Loki fans who watch anyways).

So tl;dr: By all means, celebrate your ship, that's what it's for. But get off the queerbaiting train please. That's so not what's happening here and it messes up discourse.

(Otoh I gotta admit if 8000 people complain about being baited next friday, it probs also wont matter. But it is so exhausting, you have no idea)

#loki #loki disney+#loki series #shipping #queerbaiting #lokius #it's not an anti ship post in any way #just anti current fandom discourse #queer representation #representation in media

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matt0044 · 1 year

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Is Steven Universe Racist?

Well, it has it’s blind spots like any other show.

Really, accusations of this sort stem from the phenomenon of queer media needing to be perfect without so much as a blemish of stereotyping, unfortunate implications or what have you. Because if they have these flaws that non-queer media have, well... it’s a bad look for representation.

So we dog-pile on Rebecca Sugar and discredit SU despite how a lot of goddamn people have been touched by it. Many have felt seen by the show in terms of personal experience. Many felt that the characters were complex in a way few cartoons truly get right.

Yet for some... that doesn’t matter. Caucasian Steven poofs black-coded Bismuth over her radical ideals no matter the nuance to it? Bad look. Human characters of color aren’t as fleshed out in Sugar’s ideas of Sublime Storytelling? She’s clearly racist. Pearl mourns her love in Rose Quartz? Bury Your Gays despite... many other living queer characters.

Even if this wasn’t an overstatement of harm, this impossible standards SU and its contemporaries are held to is harmful unto itself. It makes it so that nobody can see themselves in something that’s imperfect but feels personal to them.

Nobody really would expect much of this if it wasn’t swinging for the fences in terms of pushing for queer representation in children’s media. None of them can be personal because that means those potential blindspots become too hard to ignore. It’s like the paparazzi trying to catch celebrities in embarrassing scandals.

Like... what would a perfect piece of media that doesn’t “look bad” for representation even look like?

#steven universe #steven demayo #steven quartz universe #steven quartz demayo #Cartoon network #rebecca sugar #su #cn #queer representation #representation in media #fandom discourse #discourse

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eastasiansonwesternscreen · 4 months

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Here are some of 2024’s most anticipated new TV shows featuring Asians on screen. Which show are you looking for?!

📺 THE BROTHERS SUN (@netflix): 1/4 📺 EXPATS (@primevideo): 1/26 📺 MR. AND MRS. SMITH (@primevideo): 2/2 📺 ONE DAY (@Netflix): 2/8 📺 @AVATARNetflix (@netflix): 2/22 📺 @SHOGUNFX (@fxnetworks@hulu): 2/27 📺 3 BODY PROBLEM (@netflix): 3/21 📺 @SYMPATHIZERhbo (@hbo@streamonmax): TBD 📺 THE ACOLYTE (@disneyplus): TBD

*List based on TV shows officially confirmed for 2024. Premiere dates subject to change.

(via capeusa on IG)

#the brothers sun #avatar: the last airbender #atla netflix #the acolytes #the sympathizer #shogun #3 body problem #expats #mr and mrs smith #one day #media representation #representation in media #news

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illgiveyouahint · 1 year

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this brings me joy: mental health + My Mad Fat Diary

#my mad fat diary #mmfdedit #mental health #representation in media #mygifs #*sparksjoy #ableist language cw #eating disoder tw #self harm tw #I tried to avoid the big triggering content #so hopefully this is fine #as always please tell me if anything else needs tagging too

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 1 year

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Still thinking about this one dude on Twitter that left a comment on my post about how Buddy Daddies isn’t a gay anime, but a queer one because Rei and Kazuki willingly chose to live and raise a kid together, so it goes against societal expectations and heteronormativity....

And they were like, “It’s sad how neither of them can have a real family because of their line of work.” :(

....??? Hello? They are a family. They are a found family. Like...??? I responded back as such (a bit more eloquently worded), but like...??? The OP for the series even states that this is a FAMILY STORY:

The part that I circled in red says: Family Story of Two Killers and a Girl.

FAMILY STORY.

Some dudebros out there are pretty desperate and insistent on not acknowledging the family aspect of Rei and Kazuki’s situation. They’ll just be like, “It’s just two friends co-parenting a kid together.” Literally like this meme:

The meme image is of the dog with the ball in its mouth. In the first panel, the dog looks pleading. The text above it (which I put in myself) is a question: “Two men living & raising a child together?”

The next panel is of the dog with the ball in its mouth. It looks angry this time and a human arm and hand is in the panel. It’s trying to take the ball. Above the image is the text (which I put in myself) that says, “No queer.”

The last panel is just of the angry dog with the ball in its mouth, and it says, “Only friends.” (Text was added by me).

Basically, not acknowledging that they are a family. They always hone in on how they are friends. And not in the same way that fellow aspec people like myself do, in the sense of something like a queerplatonic relationship or platonic life partnership, but in a very “they are JUST friends” kinda way. Not a family. Nothing queer. Still straight, kinda way.

It’s eye-roll worthy for sure, but also rather interesting to see the reactions too. Since Buddy Daddies has, so far anyway, gone for a normalization approach to this situation. Not the usual “gay or queer subtext that stays subtext and is meant to tantalize the audience” kinda way that we often see in anime. And usually these dudebro guys would just poo-poo away these kinds of series as “fujobait” and these sorts of readings as “yaoi fangirl delusions,” and the like.

But Buddy Daddies is putting it out there - normalizing - this fact that Kazuki and Rei are partners in this (regardless of eithers sexual orientation, that really doesn’t matter here), that Miri is their daughter, and that they are being viewed as a family, and I am living for it!

It’s causing these type of anime fans to flounder.

#Buddy Daddies #Rei Suwa #Kazuki Kurusu #Miri Unasaka #queerplatonic relationship #platonic life partners #representation in media #queer anime #queer stuff in anime #found family #long post

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let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 1 year

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How do you feel about the representation ( or lack thereof) in TOH?

I'm not sure to which representation you're referring to but I will try to be comprehensive. Just a note: representation in media is highly subjective; one person may feel seen by a show's representation, another may not. For example, as an ace person, I don't feel like Lilith is good ace rep because it is never even mentioned in the show. It's only in supplemental materials. If your show is going to tout itself as being diverse then the bare minimum you should do is put that diversity front and center so that even the most casual fan can see it.

If you like Lilith's representation or any other character from the show, then I will not take that from you.

The rest will be under the cut.

The biggest draw the show has is its queer representation; we've come a long way from Korrasami, now we have our main character in a sapphic romance that forms a key part of both characters. We have pride flags as a casual part of the background, non-binary characters, and no one angsts over being queer, it's just a normal state of being. I feel like this is the strongest aspect of the show in terms of representation and I'm glad people are feeling seen as a result of it.

Where I feel the show needed more work on was racial/ethnic diversity. TOH is a rather white show; despite Luz being biracial and having poc friends, most other significant characters are white-coded. Eda, Lilith, Amity, Belos, and Hunter are all white or white-coded characters and they take up significant portions of the overall story while Gus, Willow, Raine, and Darius are in supporting roles. This is especially egregious with Gus and Willow since they're the first witches that Luz befriends but they don't have as much focus in the later seasons, especially once Hunter is introduced. It's also worth noting that any kind of character development the non-white characters have is nearly always in relation to white characters: Willow and Amity, Gus and Hunter, Raine and Eda, and Darius and Hunter/the previous Golden Guard.

Another thing that others have pointed out is that despite the number of poc in key roles, the overall aesthetic of the Boiling Isles is very Euro-centric, even in the Deadwardian Era (its name a pun on an English monarch). It's such a missed opportunity to not play around with the overall aesthetic of your show and have it be more unique looking, maybe take influence from real world cultures and apply that to how magic is used based on a character's background.

The show is also touted for its disability representation and neurodivergent characters; however the former is more of a metaphor and the latter wasn't intentional. Fans noticed that Luz displays signs of ADHD and Dana admitted that she wasn't written that way but approves of the interpretation. It's great that fans can project their own head canons and for the creator to be fine with it, but it would have been even better if she was written that way from the start; really show how people perceive her as different because of how she is. We got some of this with how she struggled in school and how she loves learning but not about what the boring topics in school but by then, it's rather late. I feel like the show had a missed opportunity showing how isolated Luz was in the human realm; we got her high jinks and school pranks but nothing really that would make her an outcast and thus want to leave Earth.

Eda's curse as a metaphor for disability has been well-received but it makes me wonder what a disabled witch would look like in the show? Someone who was born with weak magic (Willow doesn't count she was in the wrong track). How would they navigate the track system? What aid would they need to perform basic magic? What prejudice would they face?

We get that in the form of Hunter, who while technically not a witch, functions as a disabled witch. And we get how he had to work twice as hard to earn any decent respect but it's not really because he lacks magic, it's more due to the fact that the coven heads perceive favoritism as the emperor's nephew.

We get some more challenges a disabled witch would face when Eda loses her magic but it doesn't really go anywhere and she utilizes her harpy form and seems to get along fine.

When I think about how disabilities are usually represented as just metaphors in popular media, I think of Toph. In Avatar, Toph is literally blind, there's no metaphor here. But the show is extremely clever depicting how she navigates the world using earth bending and justifies why she is the master of her craft because she was taught by the original earth benders and uses it ALL the time.

TOH could have done something similar by having a character with a real world disability and think of a creative way to show how they utilize the magic in their universe.

Basically, the show is very good at depicting queerness, but could have been better in its disability representation, and definitely dropped the ball on its poc characters.

#the owl house #toh critical #toh criticism #diversity #representation in media #long post #luz noceda #emperor belos #lilith clawthorne #toh hunter #eda clawthorne #amity blight #willow park #gus porter

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summerongrand · 23 days

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6x02: Hammering in on 'The Hammer'

My episode recap ...

The opening is so unhinged. A flashmob for Daddy Cop. Please be for real 😂

Next up is Chastity and STR. Chastity is beautiful. We'll get back to her.

~~~

We've come to the first Chenford scene.

Lucy: You got a minute to talk? Tim: Uh, sure. There's nothing to talk about. You felt I undermined you at a crime scene to stop you from making detective. I explained that I didn't. Now we're moving on. Okay. This is (presumably) the first time they've seen each other since he gave her ultimatums the night before, then left her alone in the parking lot. Lucy's trying to open up to him; she's trying to make amends with a clearer head. It's the mature thing to do. He leads her on with the affirmative "Uh, sure" and closes off completely. Tim is being really dismissive here.

Lucy: Well, while I appreciate the efficiency, that's not how actual healthy communication works. Tim: Wow, that's not condescending at all. Explain to me what there is to talk about that isn't just a retread of what I just efficiently covered?

Tim shut her down with the "Now we're moving on." And now Tim's rolling his eyes at her, looks annoyed the whole time he's talking to her, sounds annoyed, and meanwhile Lucy's talking to him calmly and trying to get him to open up. How is Lucy the one being condescending, Tim?

Lucy: Well...that's not the point. Look, if I have to start another deep undercover assignment, there are real issues here that we need to talk about. Tim (full of irritation and eye rolls): Which we will deal with if they come up then. I gotta get to work. Have a good shift.

Also Tim: Presses his body weight against the door so that it shuts in Lucy's face.

The point is to talk about the UC issues before Lucy goes UC. She didn't have much lead time prepping for her other UC ops. Tim is a total planner but he's so feelings-avoidant about this issue that he'd rather just stuff it down and let it go unresolved than process them with Lucy. Tim conveniently uses work as an excuse when it suits him. His body language, tone of voice, and door slam are not it. Lucy deserves much better treatment.

~~~

STR/Chastity/Lucy scene

Lucy's ruminating. She's going through her detective's exam in her head. She's in her predicament because she helped Tim in her 5 Player Trade. Meanwhile, the writers are like ... let's take her out of her concentration with a little zaniness.

~~~

Chenford/Angela scene

Okay, first of all, where did you come from, Eric Winter? You popped out of nowhere, not from underneath a doorframe, so were you leaning against that window ledge...? And now you are interjecting yourself into their conversation. What happened to "I gotta get to work. Have a good shift."?

It's on Tim for not telling Lucy that The Hammer is a 6'7" 300 pound guy who likes to fight cops. If he told her, she wouldn't have the resistant reaction she did. To echo Lucy: Well, while I appreciate the efficiency, that's not how actual healthy communication works.

Tim: Okay, do you want my help or not? Also Tim: Whateverrrrrr. And Tim: I knew you weren't gonna be able to let it go.

Well, that's not condescending at all, Tim. You slammed the door in her face that same morning and now you're telling her that she can't regulate her emotions. This is the kind of argument that should not have happened in front of Angela at all.

~~~

Chenford hallway scene

Lucy: Well, after you Tim: No, ladies first. Also Tim: Pushes Lucy towards danger.

And Tim: Guess you're gonna have to fight him.

So Tim tells Lucy he'll go with her to visit The Hammer. Then he doesn't give her the lowdown of how big The Hammer is. Now he pushes his girlfriend towards The Hammer and tells her she has to fight him. There is zero humor in Eric's delivery. And Mel's exasperated reaction is a tell that Lucy took his words seriously. Why is Tim doing this to Lucy?

Lucy's "are you okay?" is incredibly soft. She's so pure in heart.

~~~

Wedding prep scene

Tim: We're great when she's not accusing me of made-up transgressions. Lucy: Look, I'm not imagining things. Tim is traumatized by what happened with Isabel. He just won't admit it. Tim: Honestly, I think she's projecting or just using this as an excuse.

Tim is totally throwing shade at Lucy's character. Meanwhile Lucy's trying to help him by figuring out what's going on and getting to the heart of the issue. He's accusing her of falsifying, projection, and using him as a scapegoat because she doesn't want to go UC/Detective. Why are you talking so much crap about your girlfriend, Tim?

~~~

Let's analyze this Chastity/Lucy part for a moment. Chastity (to Lucy): Yeah, well, undercover work is kind of scary and dangerous. Maybe he's not the only one that's scared of what might happen.

The fact that I have to bring this up and highlight it means that network TV shows are not doing this nearly enough. And I haven't seen this mentioned in the fandom at all so I am going to, because it is important and needs to be acknowledged: this is a powerful interchange. What makes it different is that it's between two badass women of Asian descent on a network TV show that's marketed towards a general audience. And that's rare. Super rare.

Chastity barely knows Lucy and she clocked it. She validates Lucy's feelings about Tim while digging into Lucy's psyche and figuring out something about Lucy that Lucy in all her psych training, self help books, and being raised by two psychologists, couldn't. Tim who knows Lucy "too well" couldn't even clock it. Chastity could and did.

~~~

Chenford lie detector scene

Lucy: With a lie detector test? Tim: Yes!

Tim is so done with Lucy's questioning. But then he smiles right after his annoyed yes! This is Tim being able to convey nuance and his true emotions when he wants to. This wasn't there at all when he wanted Lucy to fight The Hammer. This needed to be there in that scene and for it to be nonexistent there tells me that he wanted her to fight The Hammer.

Lucy: Do you love me?

Tim's internal monologue: What kind of question is that? Of course I love you. I've been in love with you. You have no idea how much I love you. The fact that you're asking me this while I'm hooked to a lie detector tells me that maybe I'm not saying these words enough to you or maybe I'm not showing you enough that I, Tim Bradford, love you, Lucy Chen.

Also Tim's internal monologue: I've never been so sure of anything in my life.

Lucy: Do you want me to be an undercover detective? Tim: Yes. Lucy: You liar!

Clocked him, girly.

I do not think that this was their first I love you. Lucy's big question to Tim is the detective one. I do think that after their argument in the parking lot the night before, the ultimatums he gave her, and the way he treated her that morning, raised doubts in her mind.

gifs by @livelovecaliforniadreams

~~~

And then there's this scene. The first three seconds is the show taking advantage of Eric being a former model. It's just pure gratuitous panning (similar to when he adopted Kojo and was was walking down DTLA with him).

The lie detector test did nothing to resolve tensions between Chenford. If anything, I think Lucy was hurt by the truth, by Tim's treatment of her (dismissal, barking, shutting the door, denial, ultimatums), and by Tim's own projections of his prior relationship onto her. As soon as she catches his eye, she turns away. Well-positioned Lucy does not do that. Hurt Lucy does. Love that she has her new friend Chastity by her side. Even STR is more of a friend to her in that moment than Tim is.

~~~

The wedding ...

"Sit down, German! I got this!" Richard's pretty religious so I'm glad his character officiated.

~~~

The dance ...

I debated whether or not to split my analysis of the Chenford dance into its own post. I decided not to because I didn't want to dismiss the buildup, the angst, the importance of Chastity, and the lie detector that led to the dance. I also didn't want to take away from what Lucy and Tim went through as a couple by focusing just on the fluff.

(These gifs were made by @relentlessescapism)

Lucy does not appear to be having a good time here. There's something painful about Lucy dancing by herself. Her head is dipped, she has on a smile that doesn't reach her eyes, and they convey hurt. I see here a childlike quality to Lucy - she's always the one that helps others pick up their broken pieces even though she's just as broken the inside. It reminds me of @poppypickle's fic with her OC Miles Santos teasing Lucy and telling her to 'go back to where she came from' (it’s an offensive remark to an Asian person) even as she defended her friend. Like she's being strong on the outside but on the inside she's deeply hurt by Tim.

Clearly Lucy's being the bigger person here. Meanwhile Tim is all Mr. jaw clench and puffing his chest before he deflates. Is this a male ego thing? I dunno. Is it, Eric?

Lucy still has the same hurt look in her eyes. But she's also like, so ready to set aside the pettiness. She's like get over here, you idiot.

It's a little odd how Lucy is written. Just before they encountered The Hammer, she apologized to Tim. And now as they're dancing, she's thanking Tim for acknowledging that her dreams should be separate from his issues (like yeah of course they should be). I think Tim should be the one apologizing to her.

Throughout the dance scene, it appears that he has one arm around her. Also, she initiates the kiss. She's initiated a few of their onscreen kisses. Even the second first date one, he waits for her to kiss him. Like, why do you have one arm around your girlfriend when you're slowdancing with her? It doesn't affect blocking at all.

Love the huge grin that he uses on her (right before Aaron interrupts them). It's the same one from that 5x12 scene.

The rest of their dance is just pure fluff. Lucy and Tim making amends. Her reassuring him that she loves him, that they'll get through this, is reminiscent of 5x10(?) when they acknowledged that the only way to move forward was if he moved out of her chain of command, that breaking up was not an option. The banter about the lie detector was very cute too. Clearly their issues are still unresolved, but in that moment they just needed to be a couple.

If you want to read my thoughts about the last few scenes, here they are: optics, grabbing coats, and a friend's post which summarizes things very nicely.

#please be respectful if you choose to engage #episode recap #the rookie #chenford #6x02 #the hammer #tucy #lucy chen #tim bradford #eric winter #melissa o'neil #meg delacy #representation in media #representation on tv #things that matter

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artist-issues · 8 months

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Snow White's Race and Skin Color Are Not Integral to the Story.

They're just not. It doesn't matter if she's brown or black or white or literally anything in color. Im sorry. I know it's a talking point, but it's not a very good one if you know how many different cultures have stories with the exact same point and themes as the popularized German version that Disney's is based off of.

I know, I know, it's in the name, her NAME is "Snow White," how can whether or not she's white not be a thing?? Because the point of Snow White is not "she's white." The point of Snow White is, "she's pure and beautiful." And the popular version just uses the symbolism of "Snow" to make that point with a clever name. She could also have been named after her "blood-red lips" or her "ebony-black hair."

But they didn't name her "Blood-Red." They named her "Snow White." Because the point wasn't really on the way one specific feature looked--it was on who she was. Pure.

It's a story about purity. So sure, the Disney version--and the only versions in any cultures that can lay accurate claim to the title "Snow White--" depict the lead character with white skin.

But that really only matters to the story if you're trying to associate her, by look, with the color of snow. Which you don't strictly need to do. Because the color of snow is not the only way to communicate "this girl is pure and innocent."

Any skin color can go into portraying that. There's lots of different ways to say "pure and innocent."

NOW

You can say, "but this proves that the Live Action Disney creators are racist against white people now; they're erasing white people culture! They're erasing white people history! They're just being ridiculous, because the word "white" is in her name!"

You can say all that if you feel like it. But those are different issues than the one I'm talking about, and for the sake of argument, it should be very clear: The STORY does not need the Princess to have pale skin in order to work.

(The character doesn't even need pale skin for her name to still be "Snow White," because again, the snow-and-white-thing was only a word picture for "purity." Her name could also be "Silver" or "Salt" or "Refined Gold" or "Filtered Water." It would all serve the same purpose. It just maybe wouldn't have the double-ness of the meaning unless her hair is refined gold-colored or her eyes are the color of filtered water or something. You get what I'm saying)

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