Tag: representation matters

maryrobinette:

gehayi:

youmightbeamisogynist:

naamahdarling:

mythosidhe:

Although I have to point out that there was a piece of speculative science fiction called The Blazing World published by one Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1666, slightly predating Mary Shelley.

This is the thing. Women have been doing awesome shit since there was awesome shit to do, we’ve BEEN THERE, if anyone bothered to look.

Oh, they looked. And then maliciously and willfully erased us from the books to keep anyone else from “getting ideas.”

Hell, the first named author in history? Enheduanna, a Sumerian high priestess, poet and lyricist. She’s known as the Shakespeare of Sumerian literature.

The first American mystery novel was written by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor, as well as the first dime novel, and the first crime novel..

Perkins, a playwright, is the second female writer to join a DC series starring a high-profile female character in November — along with Meredith Finch, who’s taking over “Wonder Woman” with her husband David Finch. Supergirl #36 is slated to be illustrated by regular series artist Emanuela Lupacchino, also a female creator.

Kate Perkins joins Supergirl over at DC as co-writer in November. As the CBR quote above points out, Perkins is the second female writer to join a DC title in November alongside Meredith Finch — but that’s also following October’s addition of Genevieve Valentine as new Catwoman writer, and Becky Cloonan as co-writer on Gotham Academy.

Currently, the female writer/artist list with regular DC gigs goes Perkins, Finch, Valentine, Cloonan, Emanuela Lupacchino, Margueritte Bennett, Amanda Connor, Ann Nocenti, Babs Tarr, Caitlin Kittredge, Cat Staggs and Yuko Shimizu, right? Oh, and Sandra Hope, too. With Ming Doyle, Meghan Hetrick and Tula Lotay on minis, Gail Simone on a secret project yet to be announced and a handful of fill-in/irregular creators on other books (Joelle Jones on He-Man in November was a nice surprise).

Worth pointing out that neither Perkins nor Valentine were comic book writers previous to their new gigs, too — so it’s expanding the overall talent pool as well as expanding DC’s female creator count. A nice counterpoint to commentary about “the big leagues” and “running a business” from other publishers out there, he writes, pointedly.

(via graemem)

This is cultural bias in effect. General (generally white) audiences never question why characters are white and blond. If a character could be white, that’s usually justification enough. Whiteness as default becomes logical and comfortable. Only non-whiteness requires an explanation.

Indeed, if a character is not white, some people will cry out that their racial identity is the product of political agenda-driven tampering. If a character is white, the same people will comfortably assume that he or she came out of the box like that.

It should be noted that we’re not even talking about the broad US census category of “white”, which covers people whose families hail from Europe, North Africa or the Middle East — including many people with tan, olive or ruddy skin.

In comics, whiteness is predominantly represented by the pale pink complexions of Northern Europeans — the color once problematically referred to as “Flesh” on Crayola crayons, until Crayola changed it to “Peach” in 1962. Real world white comes in many shades, but in comics all white people seem to trend towards hex color #FFCFAB. (Individual colorists may of course bring more nuance to their work, but how many white superheroes can you name who are consistently portrayed with bronze or olive-toned skin?)

Superhero comics don’t actually favor whiteness; they favor a subset of whiteness that borders on Aryan idealism. We ought to regard that as uncomfortably fetishistic, because it’s an aesthetic that the industry has chosen.

All fiction is manufactured. Authors make their worlds and choose what goes in them. It is always possible to contrive a fictional justification for a character looking whichever way the author wants, up to and including finding a way to make a white person the hero in a story about, say, feudal Japan, or ancient Egypt, or Persia during the Islamic Golden Age. A white hero is not the most likely scenario, but it’s always a possible scenario, so in that way it always becomes justified.

The decision to cast Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch has been called out by message board posters as evidence of an agenda at work — but white heroes in these non-white settings are rarely called out as similar evidence of an agenda. It’s all artifice, it’s all contrived. Fiction exists in service to an author’s design. All fiction serves an agenda, whether it’s articulated or not.

Andrew Wheeler, “Radioactive Blackness And Anglo-Saxon Aliens: Achieving Superhero Diversity Through Race-Changing” (via fyeahlilbit3point0)

And then I saw that Melissa Fumero had been cast as Amy Santiago on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and I felt my guts roll up into my throat and try to escape out of my mouth. Omgomgomgomg that’s it then. There’s no way in hell a major network is gonna cast two Latina actresses in such a tight ensemble show I AM SCREWED.

And then next day my agents called and told me I’d booked it.

I couldn’t believe it. I had been saying to my boyfriend the night before how there was JUST NO WAY. Normally, The Latina is a singular element of the ensemble she is working in. She’s there to provide contrast, or sexuality, or humor. Or she’s there to clean the floors and/or steal your man. There are some serious stereotypes very much alive in film and TV today, and The Latina is one of them.

Here’s the thing though. The world is changing. Slowly but surely, television is changing. The character stereotypes are changing, or being turned inside out by some fantastic writers and actors (I’m looking at you, Orange is the New Black, Scandal, and The Mindy Project). People of color are on TV playing roles that are fleshed out, complex, human. And yes, some of those characters are maids. Some are sexy heartbreakers there to steal your man. Some own BBQ joints, while some are Chiefs of Staff. Some are prisoners, and some are cops. All are real people with hopes, dreams, ambitions, fears, and all the other vast human emotions and desires…

…This is important. Because young women are watching TV, and they are getting messages about who they are in the world, who the world will allow them to be. And in big important steps, television is showing a reflection back to those young women that YOU CAN BE WHATEVER THE HELL YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE, and that two Latinas on one show is NORMAL. I think that’s a win for everybody.

Stephanie Beatriz Shares Why Diversity On TV is Important (via eyewtkas)

phoenixfalls:

I remember talking to my mother and seeing Snow White and wondering if there’d ever be Chocolate Brown or something like that. But my parents were very good at making sure I had dolls that looked like me, and books with brown children in them, and birthday cards with brown children on them. They were very aware. When you discount a child from fantasy, it’s a very strong statement. You think, Wow, somebody made an entire movie with elves, and trees that talk, and things that fly, and there was no room for me.

Anika Noni Rose in Vanity Fair. (Interview by Alex Beggs; Photographs by Justin Bishop.)