Black and fab. 22. Libra. ENFJ.
Bay Area. UC Berkeley Grad: Media Studies.
Writer, artist, illustrator, producer, critic.
Benevolent Media Proprietor in training.
I #E*TonesOrBust.
It's also my business standard.
“The Last Airbender” - Honest Trailer
So true!!! <3
The whole fandom needs to see this, I agree 10000% omfg
DIES of LAUGHTER
GREATEST THING.
YESSSSSSSSSSS
Or lack thereof.
This probably isn’tt he best way to open up my thoughts, but there was this one time, during my OMG SRSLY THO rants about the really notable dearth of Black women + Asian/AsianAm men in the media* Keish pointed out that there isn’t even readily available porn with that combination.
That was at least a year ago.
And I still haven’t seen one, son.
Not a one.
*Seriously though, since we’re talking about it, let’s play a game.
Give me, I don’t know, three mainstream examples where there is a Black gal/Asian guy couple that isn’t:
- Romeo Must Die — cop out ending
- Ninja Assassin — cop out everything
and - Doesn’t involve Dante Basco. (Sorry Dante, ilu, but with a total of not one but two examples, you are too wide a loophole, if not a paragon.) Yeah, I see you all about to bring up Fakin’ Da Funk or that one Proud Family Episode. I sees you.
((Oh Proud Family. Gone too soon.))
But because I created a Basco clause, I’ll throw in Roger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella for free.
Bonus points if the couple progresses beyond second base (if it’s that kinda narrative), isn’t sensationalized/played for laughs/intensely problematic, and one or both members of the couple are considered desirable/romantic leads.
Answer/reply is on:GO.
Random links of relevance:
- Racebending, as usual, does a great job of pointing out that neither Asian males nor Black women get much -if any- top billing, including the role of romantic lead.
- Racialicious discussed the John Cho/Gabrielle Union pairing in Flash Forward, and posted their interracial dating panel.
- This is a nice general look at the treatment/casting/marginalization of Asian/AsAm guys in the media.
- No, seriously, a Black girl/Asian guy couple doesn’t even pop up on the list of 5 Films where the Asian guy gets the girl.
- Remember the Romeo Must Die almost-kiss? I do.
- YMMV on the entirety of the blog, buuut here’s a Ninja Assassin mention, too.
- This link is informative but positions consummating a relationship with a White woman as the ultimate achievement, which needs some fucking unpacking and is a whole ‘nother conversation.
- Author Jeannie Lin discusses AA male portrayal here.
- Even Yahoo agrees, y’all.
- While I came across an interesting abstract, I can’t even find a comprehensive list when I google “Black women romantic lead” which is saying something right there.
- And don’t forget that okcupid article on Black women being the most negatively affected by their race re: online dating.
FORREAL Y’ALL.
what is up with this unacceptable absence? I do not dig it.
It is some shit up with which I will not put.
look who’s finally joined!
look who got pushed to the side
Didn’t even have to read te comment to notice..
Right? LMFAO.
Like…wouldn’t it make sense to organize them by the years their films were released?
Because they smooth stuck all the WOC princesses at the end.
I love how they tossed Snow in back there to try and throw us off.
I’m not fucking surprised at all.
Same old bullshit.
And I guarantee you we won’t ever get WOC princesses ever again.
Completely consistent with how this franchise has treated women of color up to this point. Whether it’s limiting how they can be drawn or the merchandise they can be on—more in the disney princess tag on the Racebending tumblr.
And that’s why the role has been taken away from actors of colour and given to a white man. Racebending.com has always pointed out that villains are generally played by people with darker skin, and that’s true … unless the villain is one with intelligence, depth, complexity. One who garners sympathy from the audience, or if not sympathy, then — as from Kirk — grudging admiration. What this new Trek movie tells us, what JJ Abrams is telling us, is that no brown-skinned man can accomplish all that. That only by having Khan played by a white actor can the audience engage with and feel for him, believe that he’s smart and capable and a match for our Enterprise crew."
Marissa Sammy on Star Trek: Into Whiteness.
perfect commentary which parallels what Rawles was saying earlier about the possibility of Moriarty being a person of color:
- “…The actual issue is that black people aren’t often allowed to play full and complete characters, and an antagonist who isn’t unintelligent, thuggish cannon fodder is just as much of a rarity for black men as the stubbly hero who saves the world or wtfever. “
- “…The stereotype in no way intersects with brilliant geniuses who choose to step outside of the boundaries of society in order to exercise their intellect while having no concern for lesser beings.
Or to break it down further: the problematic stereotype regarding black people is that of being, in essence, subhuman. Characters of the Moriarty (and Holmes) archetype are rooted in being superhuman.”
You see? It’s more complicated than “people of color get typecast as villains.”
Black people get typecast as an extremely specific type of villain - they’re thugs, brutish and animalistic. South Asian actors are similarly typecast as scary oppressive (usually coded Muslim) terrorists.
But when your villain is of the superhuman archetype? When they’re brooding antiheroes, when they’re nuanced, when they’re multi-faceted?
They’re white.
(And check out this post on the glorification of white criminality in shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, Weeds, Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, etc.)
remember that one time sir patrick stewart really wanted to play othello because othello is gr9
and so his solution was to do a racially flipped cast of othello and he hired all black actors for the rest of the story so he wasn’t being mr. all the time white dudes while at the same time providing opportunities not often available in theater for black actors to fill the stage, incl. an interracial relationship w. a black woman who was presented as desirable
without changing the original text and having “an increased emphasis on abuse against women”
…this was in 1997just throwin’ that out there
*sips grape drink*
“People have no idea how often this happens. I have seen similar things happen to almost every writer I know who has written characters of color prominent enough so they could be on their covers.
Sometimes these writers get whitewashed covers they are forced to swallow… Sometimes the covers get changed, but if the books sell badly the covers (and the writers) are blamed, and the writer may not get another contract. People are being punished in this way, for writing characters of color, every day.“
"- young adult author Sarah Rees Brennan.
Check out Racebending.com’s full interview with young adult authors Sarah Rees Brennan and Holly Black. They talk about writing and advocating for diverse characters, non-whitewashed book covers, and more as allies in the industry. If you’ve ever wondered how publishing or book covers works, read on!
(via racebending)
Can someone explain to me why this actress, Analeigh Timpton, is playing the role of Nora in Warm Bodies?
I’m reading the book now and Nora is said to have “thick black curls”, “long brown legs”, “her eyes are earth brown”, “her skin is creamy coffee” and her dad is Ethiopian.
Did I…miss something?
Of course.
Deeply disappointing and utterly unsurprising. This is what we mean when we talk about Hollywood whitewashing.
Hollywood needs to stop white washing characters.
Because black people aren’t real people dummy! It would be unrealistic to show someone with skin darker than a snowman! Obviously it’s impossible to light that black skin, it just soaks up all the light!
Urgh.
Now I’m upset.
aw, and i was a little interested in this movie…
Disney princess redesigns have had the princess fandom in a snit of equal amounts of love and hate lately. This is pretty much my current thoughts on it, some of the comments are my own others I have come across and agree with them.
Ruth Negga from Misfits would have been ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for the role of Nora in Warm Bodies. She is a phenomenal actress and she actually IS half-Ethiopian.
In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, see my Nora rant from a couple of days ago.
When we wrote about whitewashing in Warm Bodies people said that a white actress had to be cast because it would be too hard to find a half-Ethiopian actress. Yet, here is an actress who is half Ethiopian and has more acting experience than the person they actually cast.
Not just more experience. More talent. She’s amazing.
WE COULD’VE HAD IT ALLLLLLLL
A. Ezra Miller
B. Jared Leto
C. Rami Malek (Voice of Tahno)
D. Nicholas Hoult
E. Someone we haven’t thought of? Tell us below!
woooowwwww who the hell let this person blog for korranation.
this is awful.
WOW UGH. Korranation, how about not perpetuating whitewashing and WHITE GUYS 4 EVERYTHING? Hows’about not contributing to the erasure and marginalization of PoCs?
How about that?
