starvinbohemian

So, lately I've become rather obsessed with racial issues in fandom and television.

I've been participating in online fandom for almost eight years now, and I'm embarrassed to say that it was only recently that I became aware of all this anti-racism-in-fandom business. Of course I noticed that women and CoCs (characters of color) were under- and misrepresented in our entertainment media, but there's such interesting discussion out there on fandom's mishandling of CoCs. Absolutely fascinating (and a little horrifying). I've been submersing myself in the [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] communities, the latter dedicated to our beloved (and nameless) Haitian on Heroes. I highly recommend checking those communities out.

Some interesting links:

*Meta and discussion on the much-despised twins in Heroes, and why their treatment by fandom (and the writers) makes some fans uncomfortable. I'm no fan of the twins, but there's some great discussion on WHY the fans haven't been brought to care about the twins and other minority characters on Heroes. I'm still not ready to jump on the "Heroes is racist" bandwagon, but I do admit that are enough issues in the show to give pause. For example, all (but one?) of the minority characters are either ex-cons, drug-addicts, plague-bringers, dead, or written off, while the white characters (and actors) appear to be bullet-, sword-, plague-, and coffin-proof. One bullet took out DL, and six weren't enough to keep Parkman down. Plus, the recent addition of African!Isaac, who is darling but very clearly a magical black character.


*Discussion on the racist implications of calling Lana Lang on Smallville a "squirrel" and fandom's rejection of Lana as an "All-American Girl." Again, I'm no fan of Lana's (in fact, I think she's the worst character ever written for television). But I was always confused by SV writers' refusal to acknowledge Kruek's Asian lineage, and I had no idea that so much fan hatred was expressed in this manner.


*A REALLY intriguing discussion of the fledgling comic Genius and the debate it's sparked between readers from different backgrounds." Genius asks the question: “Alexander, Hannibal, Napoleon, Patton. What if the greatest military mind of OUR generation was a 17-year-old girl who grew up on the tough streets of an urban war zone?” The best comment that really reveals the societal (and racial) divide I read was from a mother, who wrote, "I can't teach my kids the cops are always right and always on their side. Why? Because they are young black males and the cops aren't always on their side, especially living in the United States. My kids get caught with drugs? They're going to jail, not a nice rehab facility."


*A GREAT quote from actor James Marsters (Spike) about the lack of CoCs on Buffy. ( Quote cut for length. ) Very honest. The link goes to the full quote. There is a TON of interesting discourse on the treatment of CoCs in Buffy, and I wish I could re-find some of those entries. :( BONUS: But I do have a great Gunn/Wesley fic rec about Wesley's White Guilt.


*FOUND ONE! An excellent essay about the lack of fic for CoCs in popular television. Ex: Forrest in Buffy, Pete in Smallville, and Henry in The Sentinel.


*While everyone was freaking out about Miley Cyrus' virtue, no one cared to mention that Disney's other princess, Asian Brenda Song, was used in an escort ad.


*Discussion on a quote from Russel T. Davis of Dr. Who, claiming that Martha Jones was always meant to be second best to Rose. I'm not a Rose OR a Martha fan (however, I love me some Donna), but still interesting in that Martha was apparently short-changed before she even got started. Here's the actual article the quote comes from.


There are also a BILLION entries on racism in Firefly available upon request. ;)