EkiAku
I figured out my issue with racebending is (and why I have no problem with genderbending.)
EkiAku
Racebending is limited
EkiAku
You make Elsa into a black woman and everyone is fine with that
EkiAku
but you make Tiana into a white woman and everyone is NOT fine with that
EkiAku
and a lot of people just for "diversity" sake
EkiAku
meanwhile gender bending is just playing with designs, and making a woman a man is not viewed negatively
EkiAku
I don't think I would dislike racebending objectively if it worked the same as genderbending
EkiAku
but it doesn't so I have issues with it
yukimura 〭
i think the problem with racebending tiana into a white woman is that there are already so few animated black characters
yukimura 〭
white is the 'norm' and that's the problem
EkiAku
but it's just a fuckin' design thing
EkiAku
like, again, no one gets mad if Elsa is racebended to be black despite being you know, an ice queen, because it's ~diversity~. LLike don't get me wrong, I love a diverse cast
EkiAku
but if you're literally racebending characters just for diversity, it's shallow, and stupid
EkiAku
it's so politically charged and it's fuckin' stupid
EkiAku
just let people play around
EkiAku
(on a side note, I saw an article on this norm thing that was interesting. It was in relation to how many Americans think that manga and anime characters are white.)
EkiAku
(I forget what they called the thing behind it though.)
EkiAku
but yeah, one shouldn't be more okay than the other, especially when it's just a creative exercise
EkiAku
and it just completely turned me off from the thing in general
EkiAku
(also the fact that the default race bending is black, when there are a lot of other races and ethnicities out there.)
EkiAku
and bleh now I'm just full of bad feelings
yukimura 〭
i don't really think it's shallow. it makes me sad that we have to racebend white characters in fanart bc of a lack of diversity; not being diverse creates a feeling of exclusion, from what i understand.
yukimura 〭
and the fact that if you involve a non-white cast, and it's perceived as political; that's another problem. and that's troubling. it's kind of a mess, really
yukimura 〭
i'm personally uncomfortable with the idea of racebending a non-white character to be white because of the fact that they're so limited.
yukimura 〭
i understand why you don't like one being more okay than the other, but i want to play devil's advocate.
yukimura 〭
(as for the manga thing-- well, most of the time manga/anime is hyperstylized and doesn't really look realistic, and the fact that some Americans sees them as white is... telling)
yukimura 〭
(and Japan's got its own whooooole bag of issues regarding race and ethnicity. yeesh.)
EkiAku
(it's not telling in the way you think it is, from what I remember from the article. It has to do with your own ethnicity, if I remember. And in fact it extends in other ways too
EkiAku
An ambiguously brown character in manga is usually identified as black by Americans as well. When they might not be.(
EkiAku
)*
EkiAku
Basically, Americans seeing manga characters as white isn't wrong. It's a default due to majority of Americans being white. The fact that many black Americans see white as default is a problem though
EkiAku
Basically, seeing your own race as default isn't a problem, but if other races have been conditioned to see YOUR race as default, that's an issue.
EkiAku
Which is why the best cure for diversity is to have diverse creators
EkiAku
reason why there's so many white YA characters is because most YA authors are white
EkiAku
I believe it's 98%? It's something WAYYYY too high
EkiAku
for the authors, not the characters
EkiAku
characters are slightly more diverse
EkiAku
but yeah racebending still bugs the shit out of me, regardless the way it goes
EkiAku
but I think that might just because people on tumblr are all bleh about it
EkiAku
(Oh no, Disney has a white protagonist. Therefore I'm going to bitch and complain and racebend to make myself feel better. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for EVERY white protagonist.
EkiAku
Even if the protagonist before that one wasn't white.)
EkiAku
So you know they're only happy if every protagonist is not white
EkiAku
Can we just agree that tumblr ruins everything?
yukimura 〭
they've been conditioned to see white as the default because of truly racist history. people in general are self-centered when it comes to their culture and sense of self/ethnicity because it feels normal to
yukimura 〭
them. it's the default. and when you're suddenly thrown into a situation that is not your default, you're left rattled more often than not.
yukimura 〭
a lot of people on tumblr are rude as fuck so yeah
yukimura 〭
we need diverse creators, too, but we need white creators to not be afraid to be diverse either instead of falling back on what's easy.
yukimura 〭
we need both. nothing's gonna change if not.
yukimura 〭
which is why i have such a problem with the social justice movement on tumblr. if you want diversity, you need to take the steps to do so.
yukimura 〭
i think Disney needs to be at least more diverse in character design. i was completely disinterested in Frozen before it came out because the character design was so fucking dull
yukimura 〭
thing is, Disney's pretty Eurocentric, they like European fairytales. i do too, but there's a lot else that could be adapted and made into film. or adapt a popular european fairy tale into a diff. culture
yukimura 〭
you just gotta be smart and not fall back on easy stereotypes
EkiAku
Here's the issue with adopting not European fairytales
EkiAku
people be okay with that?
EkiAku
Or will they think Disney is stealing from that culture
EkiAku
(I mean look what happened with Aladdin)
EkiAku
and people's complaints with Aladdin make me laugh, considering what its original text is
EkiAku
A bunch of Muslims in CHINA
EkiAku
with a stereotypical Jew
EkiAku
who cheats people out of things
yukimura 〭
there'll of course be people worried about them screwing the story over, and there's always the possibility of them not handling it very well. (though really you shouldn't expect faithful adaptions from disney
yukimura 〭
ever)
yukimura 〭
Disney just needs to take a couple risks, do their research, and adapt the story with respect
EkiAku
tbh
EkiAku
if it's a faithful adaptation
EkiAku
what's the fun in that?
yukimura 〭
as long as Disney knows what they're doing, i think ppl will be okay with it!
EkiAku
they're fairytales
EkiAku
everyone knows the story
EkiAku
and Kelly, that's what I'm talking about. They did really well with Aladdin. But nooo
yukimura 〭
when it comes to me and adaption, here's what i think: you can do whatever you want, just keep the spirit of the original
yukimura 〭
they did pretty well with Aladdin, yeah! but you're not gonna please everyone :l
EkiAku
Once i knew more about the original story, I really liked what they did with Aladdin
yukimura 〭
they could've fallen back on some... really... awful stereotypes so thank fuck they didn't
EkiAku
A big complaint I hear is that the middle east was melded together in that fill
EkiAku
fim*
EkiAku
...
EkiAku
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
EkiAku
ANYWAY
yukimura 〭
YEAH I KNOW LMFAO
EkiAku
like I said, the original was set in China
EkiAku
because it was exotic to them
yukimura 〭
hmmmm i see Aladdin's 'verse as more a fantasy version of the middle east/Arabia
yukimura 〭
than an actual place
EkiAku
Well of course, I mean the text itself had it in CHINA
EkiAku
and the book?
EkiAku
It's a mesh of Arabian, Persian and Indian (at the time, really Pakistan because it was of Indian Muslims.)
EkiAku
There's sources from all over the place, and a lot of the stories are actually of Persian origin, translated into Arabic
EkiAku
so really, the setting being a mesh of them, reflects the book itself, and gets rid of that nasty exoticification from the specific fairy tale.
EkiAku
what I found interesting with Aladdin was that the Djinn was generally a good person
EkiAku
Djinn are known for being tricksters and generally not nice
EkiAku
idk about the original text, but it was an interesting spin in the movie
yukimura 〭
same!! and Persia was kind of a melting pot (huge trade spot and all) so it makes sense that it seems like a mesh
EkiAku
I think the only part that felt really stereotypical was that merchant in the beginning
EkiAku
the guy Robin Williams also voiced
yukimura 〭
yeahhhh it was
yukimura 〭
but it was 90s so :\ not surprising
EkiAku
Honestly, though, the fact that the movie was made at all is impressive. Just think about if Walt Disney was still alive
yukimura 〭
he'd throw such a fit
EkiAku
man like, there are people who want him to live again
EkiAku
fuck that
yukimura 〭
EW EW EW
yukimura 〭
NO
EkiAku
Snow White was my least favorite of the three
EkiAku
three originals, I mean
yukimura 〭
god Snow White was so boring
EkiAku
Aurora, Snow White and Cinderella
EkiAku
nah, I like HER
yukimura 〭
NO NO LMAO i meant the movie
yukimura 〭
Snow White herself is cute
EkiAku
she does have some character to her, her naivety is sorta cute
EkiAku
...hahah same idea
EkiAku
and the villian is great
yukimura 〭
Cinderella (the film) is kinda mehhhh
EkiAku
BUT THAT PRICE
EkiAku
...PRINCE*
EkiAku
FUCK THAT PRINCE
yukimura 〭
Sleeping Beauty's my fav out of the three
EkiAku
like what is that shit
EkiAku
I never really watched Sleeping Beauty
EkiAku
I WATCHED ARISTOCATS
EkiAku
AND LION KING
yukimura 〭
i lOVED that movie so much ngl
EkiAku
I liked cats
EkiAku
...I like cats
EkiAku
kittiiiies
yukimura 〭
I REALLY LOVED ARISTOCATS TOO
EkiAku
BECAUSE I'M A LADY
yukimura 〭
and Oliver & Company
yukimura 〭
yukimura 〭
i think the disney movies i watched the most were Hunchback, Lion King and Beauty and the Beast (which are my three tops favs)
yukimura 〭
AND LADIES DO NOT START FIGHTS
yukimura 〭
but they can finish them
EkiAku
oh I love Belle ;;
EkiAku
She was my favorite princess
EkiAku
she might still be I'm not sure
EkiAku
I really like Rapunzel too
EkiAku
I LIKE THE PLUCKY GIRLS APPARENTLY
EkiAku
though Belle was more refined
EkiAku
omg speaking of Belle
EkiAku
I remember reading someone criticizing Belle saying about how there was a whole song about her being strange and that she is never shown being strange
EkiAku
and I'm like
yukimura 〭
for her time period, uh, yeah she is???
EkiAku
She's a girl who loves to READ in old France
EkiAku
I mean, Gaston makes it PRETTY clear that she's suppose to get married and have babies
EkiAku
(with him, of course.)
EkiAku
of course she's not weird to us, because Belle's not SUPPOSE to be strange. She's just stuck in a place that treats her (and her eccentric father) like dirt
EkiAku
I mean, for Christ's sake, they fuckin try to put him into an insane asylum
yukimura 〭
which is a thing that did happen in europe :\
yukimura 〭
yeah to us as a MODERN audience, it's not weird, but for her time? yeah it is, by a lot
yukimura 〭
and even when the movie came out little girls would get bullied for being bookish types : (
EkiAku
I certainly did
yukimura 〭
same here
EkiAku
though
EkiAku
I mean
EkiAku
I'll be honest, I understand why I was bullied
EkiAku
it wasn't because of what I liked. (Everyone loved what I loved back then. We were kids.)
EkiAku
it was because how I was
EkiAku
I did not interact with people correctly
EkiAku
I didn't know.. how
EkiAku
I still have a hard time with social cues
yukimura 〭
i was bullied for some pretty dumb reasons: mainly my red hair, weight, and last name. and since i had a hard time making friends as a result (plus family strife), being a bookworm made me more of a target
EkiAku
aw D:
yukimura 〭
kids are stupid and mean for the dumbest reasons, man
EkiAku
yeahhh
yukimura 〭
but then they started to leave me alone when i fought back. physically : )
EkiAku
...oh dear
yukimura 〭
leeeet's just say i had some serious anger issues when i was a kid
yukimura 〭
but i got some seriously bad harassment when i was younger, of the sexual kind for a long time too, so i kinda snapped
yukimura 〭
HOWEVER i've mellowed out a lot since then so it's all goooood. it's hard to really make me angry lmao
EkiAku
I noticed