Tag: minority representation

whuts all the poll stuff? you dont poll

The ‘poll stuff’ is media companies, looking for clickbait, create popularity polls that pit popular ‘ships’ against one another and create unreal levels of cattiness amongst fandoms.  Considering how many of these ships are canon or ‘fanon’ f/f or m/m relationships, it’s arguable they are queerbait as well.  There is no real prize, nothing but the satisfaction of making (young) people quibble and quarrel over trivia while they rake in the cash.  

This time around, three f/f fandoms decided to support one another when it looked like there might be cheating.  I support them working together, but wish they’d ignore these ‘polls’ and do something that actually pushes the industry to make changes in its discriminatory practices in minority writing/representation. 

You actually think you’re a better writer than Jason and the rest of the writers? Clexas really have gone to delusional level now.

viguaquis:

geryonwoods:

OK anonymous stranger on the internet super qualified to judge writing quality. Do I believe it? Let me tell you something…if they kidnapped us, put us both in a room, told us to write something to save our lives, and that they were going to shoot the worst writer of the two I promise you that by the end of the day I’d have convinced them to shoot him not just once, but twice.

😃You are amazing, i love your work.

Don’t tell them how a Xena fan fiction writer (Melissa Good) actually wrote for the show (some Xena ff writers went on to be published professionally).

In fact, fan fiction writers do go professional (some already are, they just don’t want you to know it).

Don’t mention that some of the Clexa fan fiction authors are, in fact, published authors, some even work in film.  Many famous writers/producers today have written fan fiction when they were younger.  

Oh, definitely NEVER bring up that some Clexa fan fiction receives more views (individually and collectively) than most books on the bestseller lists are able to sell hard or digital copies (3,000 – 9,000 copies is all it takes to get on a bestseller list).  It’s arguable more people have read more fan fiction than have actually watched the series (16 – 13 episodes a season and how much fan fiction is there?).   

If you want to be successful in Hollywood, you could probably spend years sucking up to enough people to get a job, without much in the way of qualification, either (I’ve never seen a showrunner with so little reported experience), or you could learn your craft, build up a following and, if you desire, seek professional representation.  

The work that goes into producing 200k page fan fiction is no different than what JK Rowling put in or what Stephen King puts in or anyone else, for that matter.  

There is so much fan fiction in this world, right now, if you could publish each one (and I’m not saying you should) in a hard format, you could probably fill a few libraries a few times over – all over the world.  

For some, fan fiction is a serious form of literature and deserves respect, certainly the writers do.  There used to be a time when it was extremely difficult to publish fan fiction anywhere.  But fans have fought for and studios and copyright holders have recognised that fan works are serious business (they are also free advertising) and nothing to scoff at.  

It is important, too, to understand that fan fiction is, basically, punk. It is rebellion.  It has helped queer people  and POC find their voice and find community and respect.  It has helped create positive representations of minorities where so little exists in ‘professional’ media.  

I do realise the anon is just trolling Clexas, looking for a response – and really, they don’t deserve it – but fan fiction is always worth talking about and any opportunity is a good one.  

yesbothways:

I wish I could say something to straight writers about their attempts at LGBT representation.  We diligently search through the world of stories for ones to tell us that LGBTQAI+ people can live and love.  That’s a message we constantly work to sustain in our own lives.  Because we live in a world that says we cannot.  

When they do something like what they did with Lexa and Clarke, I know they think believe have done us a favor.  They think, “But the characters’ sexualities were real. We affirmed this. Their relationship was consummated as a passionate one.  Their love for one another was deeply felt.”  

We already know that we are real.  We hold onto a believe that we can live and love.  Then we see that emerge as a flicker and die in these stories.  That rise and fall seems spectacular to their sensibilities.  They see it as something that wasn’t seen and was shown brilliant and bright,  

We watch ourselves die and our love to turn pain, impossible even in the realm of the imaginary.  There’s a haunting feeling when straight viewers fail to respond.  All we hear is the resonant message that even we are seen, our realities are still not seen.  

All we hear is the resonant message that even we are seen, our realities are still not seen.

We keep fighting and raising our voices till the world turns in our direction.  Keep pushing – why are there so few minority writers/showrunners on any production? When there is no authentic voice to represent, they can’t say their ‘art’ has any value. All of it is just pandering to a white, straight audience.  

Reflections…

aaronginsburg:

I have learned a lot this year about the power of art and our responsibilities as artists. And yes, I’m talking about #Lexa.

I resolve to do better going forward, to try harder each and every day, and I hope and trust that my work will be proof of that.

As artists, we can always listen and learn and grow, and we must keep pushing ourselves to create important work in disheartening times.

It feels like we all need powerful, challenging, empathetic art now more than before.

Problem: not one of those ‘in charge’ with this programme, especially those who openly and knowingly participated in the manipulation of an at-risk audience has shown the slightest bit of public concern for what happened to them.  No matter the potential legal or publicity ramifications: when Javier Grillo-Marxuach looked us in the eye, he connected.  His example was a caring and honourable one.  

When the shoe dropped and you were all called out for your behaviour, everyone ran to ground and hid instead of (like JGM) facing it and engaging with the people you hurt.  It would have gone a long way to helping a lot of young people heal and move on. These were kids who DID self-harm and suffered with suicidal thoughts and depression.  Many now deal with a kind of PTSD – they can’t heal from it. They’re still suffering depression and loss.  It was too much.  Not that any of you have taken any kind of responsibility – as adults in authority – for your actions.  Your ‘art’ comes first and whatever havoc it wrecks – you stand apart as if it has nothing to do with you at all.

It’s nice that you’ve figured out something for yourself – about ‘Lexa’ – but it isn’t about Lexa anymore. It’s about the kids you took advantage of.  The audience you recklessly and sickeningly manipulated.  It’s about your behaviour in the aftermath.  How they don’t matter to you.  And no one is particularly impressed with ‘what you’ve learned.’  Your show isn’t art. It’s a hack job at best and those in charge of it have proven themselves greedy and irresponsible in their need for fame and acknowledgement.  It isn’t art.  It’s commercial manipulation.  All your post is – framing yourself out of an honest historical context.  

Until the entire production team engages with what they did – engages with the people they did it to – and no, not ten years down the line on a special Oprah – you deserve nothing, and your words mean nothing.  Even in this post they are hardly original.  And they show no real contrition.  I find it disturbing as well that you speak of creating important work ‘in disheartening times.’  Are you so unaware of the impact of what you produce?  You don’t see your part in creating these ‘disheartening times?’

Tell me, are you aware that programmes like The 100 that show a stylised post-apocalyptic future where there are white heroes aplenty is the sort of programming admired by racists?  Are you aware of the number of openly bigoted fans your show has?  Not just the homophobic ones, no.  Your ‘apology’ sounds unnervingly naive.  

Self-importance is a bit of an issue in Hollywood.  So is being disconnected from reality.  If one good thing emerged from the Lexa debacle: there is a generation of youth who will not be had by such arrogance again.  They see it for what it is and won’t let it stand.  

Want to be a better person and not another male who benefits from rape culture politics (you know, where a powerful male authority figure can harm a group of disadvantaged people, a minority even, and get away with it, protected by his powerful male bosses)?  Stand in front of those you harmed and apologise. No excuses. No hiding behind ‘the art.’   

We know you’re not likely to let it happen again.  Most of you will be too afraid to attempt to ever include another lesbian character in anything you do again. Look at Joss Whedon. After he killed Tara (and the outrage that caused – how lucky he was we didn’t have Twitter back then), he’s never included an explicitly queer character in anything else he’s done. It’s just as well – I doubt anyone would accept it from him.  We don’t have enough queer writers telling our own stories (in Hollywood and elsewhere) as it is.  Writers rooms are not known for their diversity.  It’s not something we see too many stand up for, either.

It feels like we all need powerful, challenging, empathetic art now more than before.

Does this mean you would stand up for more minority writers telling their stories? Would you make sure any writer’s room you are a part of from here on will include queer writers and POC writers and more women?  Can you explain why ‘now’ is more important than ‘before?’  

 The Lexa debacle will be talked about for years to come and your show will never escape being associated with it. Anyone associated with the show will never escape it, either, no matter what successes (or failures) you may have down the road.  

So good for you and your late-breaking epiphany – but it looks like you’re still missing a lot.  This is a shame. You work in a powerful medium and we know what comes with great power, right?  Your team failed to respect that.  Instead of recycling trite sentiments, dig a little deeper.  There’s always more to it.

What do you think about people getting upset over trashverse? Saying things like making the lesbian abusive isn’t something that’s needed considering that’s how lesbians are always seen. And the same with torturing a bisexual considering the bisexual is always getting tortured these days

entirelytookeen:

I think there’s this function on Xkit called “blacklist,” and it’s very easy to use on tumblr once installed. 

I’m not sure I follow the logic, though. The toxic stereotype I know is that lesbians are predatory – towards straight women and more generally towards younger girls, since the divisive tactic used to isolate younger queer individuals from their greater communities was to spread the belief that same-sex desire = pedophilia. (“Predatory” in the sense of pushing their sexual interest on those who don’t share it or “taint” otherwise blameless straight women by “making them gay.”) I’m not familiar with “the lesbian is abusive” a trope; the opposite, actually. I’m only familiar with the (specious) argument that Lexa is abusive. As I’ve talked about, one of the personal appeals of the trash verse is that it proves how far you have to warp the character and canon events to achieve anything close to that standard. 

Regardless, I don’t agree with the idea that all representation has to be positive. There are lesbians who are abusive to their partners, and certainly a look at the surveys done on the health and well-being of bisexuals will prove there’s a lot of suffering in that community. When we do our own writing and creative work, should we abstain from drawing on our own experiences or observations? Just because they’re not the “best” face to put on an under-represented group? That’s a good way to create propaganda, but there are more stories out there than “perfectly balanced, healthy-minded, mature individual meets same.” I don’t see myself in that story, or many of the people I’ve loved. The whole point is to be able to find ourselves in the narrative after being written out of it for so long – not to make sure everyone else has the best impression of us because of it. 

The danger of toxic stereotypes is twofold: one, when they’re the only representation available, and two, when the characters are reduced to those stereotypes unthinkingly. (As in: “well, the character is [x], so of course they’ll do [y].”) There are absolute bunches of Clexa stories which don’t play with the potential darkness of this world or investigate the extremes of those characters’ psyches. Compared to most fandoms, Clexa fic is especially heavy on the sweetness and light. And one reason I enjoy the trash verse is because I think it takes a lot of care in examining what could put these characters in this scenario, and what could push them to these acts and emotions. It’s also very honest about what it’s portraying. I’m much more disturbed reading a fanfic which is supposed to be about a happy and healthy relationship, but where I can clearly see the codependency or emotional abuse which is meant to be read as entertaining relationship angst. 

That’s not meant to read as an argument that people should like this story. (Or dislike others.) If we all wanted the same thing out of our fictions, fanfic wouldn’t exist in the first place. If someone is uncomfortable with stories or headcanons that explore certain extremes, that’s fine. But claiming there’s no way to thoughtfully explore those extremes, or that one person’s exploration is automatically damaging to the entire group, and all because of the identity of the characters or the writer involved… That’s not angling for better representation, that’s respectability politics. 

Read this. Please.